Kirk W

After 40+ years as an electrical service tech, I assure you that a blown fuse does not always mean there is a problem. Fuses are in some ways similar to a lightbulb as the element must pass all of the current for the circuit all of the time and like the light bulb that element creates some unwanted heat which will eventually damage and weaken it. Fuses do sometimes fail just from age or even from vibrations. It is wise to always have a selection of them available when you travel and always try replacing a blown one first before you spend a lot of time trying to figure out why it failed. If it opens again in a short time that is an indication of some problem.

Start by making sure that there is 120V power to the refrigerator's outlet. If you don't have a meter, take a lamp or some other appliance outside and open the refrigerator access panel and look for the power plug the refrigerator is connected to. Pull out the cord from the refrigerator and connect your lamp and see if it turns on. If it does you have power there so next go to the main circuit board and look for two fuses there. Make sure the refrigerator is turned off and then make sure that each of the two fuses is good. Looking at them may not be sufficient so it would not hurt to replace both of them. The 3a fuse is for the 12V power and the 5a fuse supplies the electric heating element.

Although I could make the same comments about your examples, I prefer not to make a disagreement personal so will not to go there. My point is that any time you impact a business no matter how it happens, you also harm the security of the employees. I believe that debate is a good thing and in this case, I prefer to spend my money with businesses whose principles I agree with, at least to the point that I am aware of. Clearly, you should go and buy something from Anderson Hitches to demonstrate your support. That is how the free market works and others of us will take our business elsewhere.

If we follow the logic of those who argue with Daveh's position on the Anderson issue, very little would change in the future and we would likely still be ruled by the Queen of England. Didn't those ruffians in Boston understand that dumping that English tea into the harbor would destroy the businesses that depend on selling tea for their income? Would this not have the exact same effect on the cowboys who work for these ranches that depend on federal grazing? Absolutely I would wonder such and I would never go back to that medical facility if they took no action to remove and punish the doctor involved. But like most of the arguments against punishing Anderson's owner via his business, this has nothing at all to do with it since we are comparing an owner of the company to a key employee of the medical practice. At what point do you think it proper to refuse to do business with a company and risk harming the employees? Such thinking could be taken to just as ridiculous an extreme as the argument to harm Anderson Hitches. Perhaps the Dallas Police Department should be admonished for having closed down a chop-shop last week as it was employing more than 20 workers who now do not have jobs? Do you not care about those workers' now hungry children?

It would help the enforcement people who are there if visitors like yourself would get digital photo evidence and then be willing to testify if the case should be prosecuted. No amount of enforcement will work unless everyone who loves the backcountry helps to enforce the rules. And making a public example of those who are prosecuted would go a long way to letting violators that we are watching. Do you know what the current fees are and also how those fees compare to what the same fees are for privately held land? Here is a link to the current fees. Even though those fees are quite low when compared to the cost to graze on privately held land, based on the figures for 2014, increasing the fees even excessively will do little to solve enforcement problems. You are oversimplifying things and even if all that you say is accurate, what does that have to do with the Anderson case? The issue of which problem is greater, or even more important does not warrant the downgrading of people for wanting him punished. You should be encouraging of those who wish to join in to stop things like the Anderson case and recruit them to join your cause as well. Demeaning others for wanting him severely punished does nothing to help your cause but probably does it real harm. Better to do what we can than to complain about worse things while doing nothing at all.

My point is and was that we must start somewhere, sometime or nothing is ever going to change. I can't think of a better case to make an example of if we want the perpetrators to realize that we are serious.

Off-Road Vehicle Reform Off-Road Vehicle Damage in TX Off-Road Vehicle Damage to the Watershed This in no way minimizes what this guy did. He took the actions intentionally and in an area that was known to be protected and what he did can never be repaired. In terms of off-road issues that might compare to violators of public lands that have been closed but lands that are not closed but should be is an entirely different issue. Do you believe that we should not enforce the laws that we have to protect some areas because some areas that should be protected are not? I believe that we should get serious about protecting what is now in that status and then address adding other things and areas which should be protected. I also believe that anyone who is serious about protecting our resources should be willing to help with that protection. That means that if you see violations you take pictures and then report the violations to the authorities. Having worked in more than a few federal and state parks and refuges, I know that enforcement officers have difficulty in protecting our resources and need our help. Just telling them about what you saw does little unless you stay there and go to court but most of us today have digital cameras and cell phones that will take pictures and photographic evidence can usually be enforced and really helps the agencies responsible. Those who are truly serious about changing things need to get busy politically to change protected area boundaries and to increase enforcement.

I totally agree with this. I will never believe that he had not previously damaged any public property.

Management does not monitor the forums. Contact the office and they will be happy to answer your questions.

Since I see no question in your first post, I would assume that you wish to return to the opening one from the thread, "Can I travel fulltime on $2000 per month?" As others have indicated, minimum budgets are a very personal thing, In addition, the locations where you stay will also play a major part as nightly rates vary across the country from as low as $30 to more than $100 per night. Monthly rates vary just as much and in some of the higher cost areas, it can be difficult to find a park with a monthly rate. Places like CA or FL are very expensive while in places like KS or NB you may find a few places that cost even less than $30/night. In addition, your diet will impact grocery costs and those too vary widely by region of the country as do fuel prices and pretty much everything you need. What hobbies you have will make a big difference as some folks wish to play a lot of golf or attend movies while others prefer to go on a hike or take digital photographs. Most people will tend to wish to live a lifestyle that is pretty much the same as you did before going on the road. Most of us spend whatever amount we are used to having to spend.

If you are meaning an aftermarket switch put in to isolate the battery, it may be you are right. If you mean one of the commonly found battery isolator devices that may be true but it is also very common for RV builders to connect some things between the switching device and the battery thus bypassing it. I still think that the first step should be to get a meter and see what the battery voltage is. Once you know for sure that you do have a voltage source, then you can trace it back to see where it is lost. Until you do that you are just groping about in the dark. Another possible cause is that some battery cables have a fusible link in them and if that opens it can cause the symptoms you have. After you verify that you have battery voltage, check to see if you have continuity through the battery cables by tracing the voltage or check it with the ohm meter. I have seen battery isolators for the coach battery wired to do this if shore power is connected. You may want to try disconnecting shore power and see if that still happens. I would not expect it to be connected in that way if the isolator is for the chassis battery. In most cases, when you have a chassis battery isolator there will be two switches, one for the coach and one for the chassis.

What chassis does your motorhome have? If you have no lights on the dash at all, then there is no power and I doubt it is a switch unless that switch is somehow draining your batteries. With your new meter, measure across between the two battery posts first to see what it reads. It should be at least 11V.

That is because the impact of not having to pay for an RV site clearly does stretch a limited budget. For us, volunteering also helps to keep us busy and interested and gives us a sense of satisfaction from accomplishment and thus avoids any boredom that might lead to finding some means of staying busy that would cost money. We happen to enjoy working with wildlife habitat programs and studies and find it a form of recreation that costs nothing when living in the location of the work. The net effect is that we do save significant expenses while performing a service that would either take from a limited budget or not get done. As it happens, we also do volunteer work of similar types when not traveling, and in fact, spent all day yesterday at the Texas Freshwater Fisheries Center helping to put on an event for the public and we drove there from our house, receiving no compensation or benefits. For us, the value received from most volunteer positions is far greater than monetary benefits. While many of us would do so, there are bound to be those who either would not or who could not. In my case, we could not have afforded to do nearly so many such positions had we been required to pay for an RV site as we would probably have found ourselves doing some sort of paid work at least part of each year in order to be able to travel as extensively as we have. The reason that agencies like the USFWS are spending their limited capital funds on adding RV sites and increasing the amenities is that they gain more in help than the cost of their expenses. The RV sites do have value and to some of us, it goes far beyond the limited money that we save. We get to live in areas with only a few other volunteers or even all alone, wherein a paid park there would be dozens of other RVs if not hundreds. I would far rather stay in a site on some wildlife refuge or historic site than in the most luxurious of commercial parks. I also put great value in the sense of satisfaction and accomplishment that I gain from the things which I do that would not happen if the agency had to pay someone to do them. I have always felt rewarded by the people or children that I have been able to influence as a volunteer leader before we retired and today as one who volunteers in places that we visit. Even now that we are sitting in our home-base we continue to do this sort of work and spent yesterday doing it at the Texas Freshwater Fisheries Center. Actually, your numbers do add something to this thread as they point out the reason that what we do is considered to be volunteering and is not taxed. Unfortunately, posts such as yours tend to be taken by most of us who do this as attacks but perhaps they shouldn't be. There is no doubt that some such posts have been attacks on the integrity or intelligence of those of us who enjoy this lifestyle, but you may well be an exception to that. I take great pride in the value of the many hours that we have spent as volunteers in different locations and your post does add a perspective to that value. I have an award from the USFWS for 2000 hours of volunteer time and Pam has one for 1500 hours. We each now have a 500-hour award from the NPS and we have several other awards for service from various agencies. Thank you for pointing out that aspect of RV volunteeing !

Some very good answers. Some people simply do not do anything without pay. Those of us who do volunteer lead children's activities, while others drop their kids off and then complain about what their kids experience. We clean up parks and others leave the trash for us. We do the things that won't get done otherwise since there is no money to pay for it, while others are not content to not help but feel the need to criticize the people who do volunteer and they always find a reason to do so.

Agreed! If the questions is, "is it possible for someone to live in an RV on $2000 per month?" the answer is definite yes it has been and is being done. But that does not mean that you can do so. And there is also a major difference between managing to survive and traveling about the country in comfort and having fun. Before you believe that you can do what someone else is doing, make sure you know in detail what they do and how they do it.

First, welcome to the Escapee forums. We will help as much as we are able. While there really is no legal issue with owning a licensed vehicle in a different state than your driving license, each state has it's own laws about who may register vehicles and hold driver's licenses and they also have laws about who must do so. If you plan to use a mail service as your legal address, doing these in separate states could bring legal problems about your domicile as well. There are cases where it is not only legal but even required that someone have 2 vehicles registered in different states. State governments require that any vehicles which are "garaged" in the state, or kept there when not in use, must be registered in the state. It is done mostly for tax reasons but this means that if you have two homes with a car kept at each one, then each of those cars should be registered in the state where it stays. In no case will a vehicle having been legally registered in one state protect you from enforcement of the laws of another state when said vehicle is in the second state. If you are contemplating going full-time, and are choosing where to claim as your domicile and to register and license, I suggest that you read this article from Escapees magazine as it may help. You should also be aware that many states have become very aggressive in the enforcement of vehicle registration laws because of residents registering their vehicles in another state to avoid home state taxes.

Don't overlook changing the interior decorations. When you move into a new house you always make changed to things so that it reflects your taste and becomes your home. Do those same things in the RV. We changed all of the window coverings in our RV, replaced all of the pictures and added more, put up family pictures in the bedroom, and many small things that came directly from our stick home. You know that you have made the transition to fulltime when you begin to say "let's go home" and you mean back to the RV.

My wife had drops for some food allergies back in the 80's. When we stopped smoking she was able to stop using the drops.

And at least some of what she did can be removed. This guy cut it into the rock to make it permanent. My mother had a favorite saying about that sort of thing. "Fool's names and fool's faces are always seen in public places."

Either this section or the general one. There are no hard rules about that other than for advertising as some subjects over lap areas. I would think that this was most appropriate where it is. Our son's shots that were self-administered were for grass allergies. He still has them but not as bad and he is nearly 50 now and retired from the Army. He weaned himself back at 17 in order to go into the Army as they won't take a person who needs them. It sounds like what you have is much more severe and probably more serious. Hope that you do find an answer.

If you keep doing business with him out of concern for his employees, then you should never shut down or boycott any business that has employees for that same reason. If an RV dealer sells you a poor quality RV and refuses to honor the warranty, you can't stop buying there because it might harm his employees! Exactly the way that I see it.

Our son has been towing his hybrid with 3 beds with a V-8 Toyota Sequoia for the past 3 years and likes it. While the 4 Runner would tow a hybrid, the Sequoia would do it better & more safely, and also handle better when doing so.

You have to leave your email address in order to leave any comments so making threats wouldn't be very smart. I would point out also that the letter is on a separate site created for his purposes and not in any way is it connected to that of his business. The way I read this is that he did that in an attempt to make all of us who are connecting him to his business go away and forget that connection. His real regret is that he got caught!

If nothing is done, why would his children not continue the activity that he is teaching them? I find it very difficult to believe that he has never done anything of that sort in his past. It is just that he previously didn't get caught.

Very well stated. So far as I am concerned, any place that I shop which carries any of his products will be told that if they continue to carry Anderson Hitch products they will lose all of my business.