Whether we’re in our motorhome or our van, whenever time allows, we always prefer to travel the two lane back roads wherever we are going. A Denny’s or a Flying J truck stop are pretty much the same, whether they are at an interstate highway exit in Arizona or Tennessee.

But on the back roads you see the real America; the small towns, the neat farmsteads, the old courthouses with their Civil War statues, the fields of corn, and the roadside produce stands. You can’t travel as fast on the back roads as you can on the super highways, but why would you want to, anyway? There’s too much to see along the way.

Yesterday we drove back up to Allegan, Michigan to pick up the new issue of the Gypsy Journal from our printer. Our route took us up State Route 40, through the small towns of Marcellus, with its handsome old houses and storefronts; and Lawton, where the beautiful old stone railroad depot is now home to an American Legion post.

We passed a lot of farm fields, those roadside produce stands I mentioned above, and several lakes. I’d like to get our kayaks wet up here, and I bet there is some good fishing in these waters too!

I always like driving through the busy little town of Paw Paw, just for the name if nothing else. Paw Paw is the home of the St. Julian Winery, which offers free tours and wine tasting.

The Paw Paw Police (as opposed to the cantaloupe cops), have a neat old 1950s-era police car that we had hoped to get a picture of, but it wasn’t in its usual parking place, so we’ll have to try again one of these days.

We enjoyed the ride up to Allegan so much that, once we loaded the new issue into the van, we drove right back to Elkhart along the same route. (Of course, it’s the shortest and easiest route, so that helped too.

How would you like to spend the morning driving through all that pretty scenery I just showed you, and come back to find this parked next to you? No, the Beverly Hillbillies didn’t get a motorhome and hit the road, that’s my buddy Greg White’s American Eagle. Greg managed to scrape up his bay doors on a boulder or a panhandler, I forget which, so he took them off and our pal Michele Henry at Phoenix Commercial Paint is fixing them like new again. In the meantime, I just had to pick on Greg, because you know what they say, you can take the redneck out of the trailer park, but you can’t take the trailer park out of the redneck.

I was feeling a bit droopy by the time we got back to Elkhart Campground, so I laid down for a little nap, and woke up when my friend Orv Hazelton called to tell me he and his lovely wife Nancy had arrived and were parked next to us. We went over to check our their beautiful new Allegro four-slide diesel pusher, I fussed over their little mutt Duffy, who is almost acceptable for a wannabe dog, and then the four of us went out to dinner. We haven’t seen Orv and Nancy in quite a while, and it was nice to have some time to visit and catch up.

When we got back to the campground, I wanted to take a little walk, and then go inside and get caught up on e-mail from the day. But before I could, a series of folks stopped by to introduce themselves, say hello, ask about the rally, and to  talk about my Bad Nick Blog posts. I’m afraid I can’t remember everybody’s name, but they included Phyllis Schell,  and subscribers Gary and Elaine Regelman. My apologies to those whose names I missed, but my brain capacity is a bit exceeded right now.

I finally managed to get in a couple of laps around the campground, stopped to visit with some folks along the way, and got back to the Winnebago in time to check out the new series Hardcore Pawn on True TV. We managed about 20 minutes of the half hour episode and changed channels. It’s obviously an attempt to cash in on the popularity of A&E’s Pawn Stars, but we both felt that it pretty much sucked. We won’t waste any time on it.

Thought For The Day – If you can’t be a good example, then you’ll just have to serve as a horrible warning.

Last year I posted a blog about a visit that the Tin Can Tourists paid to the RV Hall of Fame Museum in Elkhart, Indiana, and included several photos of the vintage and homebuilt RVs the club members own.

One of my favorites was this beautiful  cedar sided fifth wheel, named Wayzalot. The unique RV that Hardy and Terry Evans built included more features than I can list here, but you can read about the entire construction process on the Evans’ Wayzalot website. The towed their RV to Tin Can Tourist events all over the country.

I wrote in that blog post that I would have liked to see the inside of Wayzalot, but now that will never happen. A few days ago Hardy and Terry were southbound on State Route 65 in Jeffersonville, Indiana, headed for a Vintage Camper Rally in Tennessee. Just before they crossed the Ohio River, a tanker truck ahead of them braked hard. Hardy managed to stop his rig before he hit the tanker, but then an eighteen wheeler slammed into the rear of Wayzalot.

The impact pushed the Evans’ truck and trailer into the concrete median, totally destroying both units. It was a huge accident that tied up the highway for hours. Fortunately, even though they lost their truck and beloved home on wheels, the only injury the Evans’ suffered was Hardy’s ankle, which was broken in two places.

These photos show the horrendous damage to both the Evans’ truck and trailer. It’s a wonder they escaped alive! Having built our own bus conversion, I know how many hours, and how much blood, sweat, and tears went into the project.

Terry said they had traveled several months a year in their RV for the last ten years, covering over 50,000 miles in over 25 states. Now all they have left are photographs and memories. You can see more pictures of the accident on their website. Folks, it can happen to any of us, at any time, no matter how careful we are. Cherish every day and every mile you travel.

Speaking of travel, my pal “Froggi” Donna McNicol clued me in to a new iPhone app called State Lines that every RVer can use. It includes information on things like state gun laws, rules on sleeping overnight in rest areas, state sales taxes, rules of the road, and lots more. The app updates as you travel, so you always have information for wherever you happen to be. In the coming weeks, the app will be updated for the iPad as well. I plan to get it real soon, because I can see a lot of times when it would be invaluable in our travels. 

I mentioned in yesterday’s blog that there is a noticeable slowdown in service on my iPad here in Show Low, away from AT&T’s 3G system. While we have high speed EVDO 3G service on our Verizon cell phones and air card, the iPad is on AT&T’s slower Edge system.

I did some speed tests last night, and here are the results: My desktop computer, operating off the Verizon air card and Cradlepoint router, showed download speeds of 1.73 MB and upload speeds of .43 MB. The iPad, on the AT&T Edge signal, showed .06 MB download speeds, and a dismal .007 MB upload.  As slow as that sounds, I have been able to get online and do whatever I have wanted to, including opening websites with lots of photos. I don’t know if that is due to the iPad’s own speed over my computer running Windows XP Pro, which seems to be pretty fast under most circumstances. When I switched to our WiFi signal, the iPad showed 1.30 MB download and .16 MB upload. Still not as fast as my desktop computer, but more than enough for my needs. Even on the Edge service, the iPad is still faster than I was getting a lot of times on my computer and air card in Apache Junction back in January and February. I’m very pleased with the iPad and its performance.

Yesterday I showed it to a friend who has never used a computer and who has always said he has no interest in them. Five minutes with the iPad had him asking me where he can get one! Contrary to what the naysayers claim, I’m convinced that this gizmo is going to make a major impact on the way people get online and access media. Now if it would just let me win at Scrabble once in a while!

Thought For The Day -The main reason Santa is so jolly is because he knows where all the bad girls live.

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In our nearly eleven years as fulltime RVers, we have stayed at many of the Escapees RV club campgrounds, from Washington state to Florida, Texas, Missouri, Tennessee, and Arizona, to name just a few. One we had never visited was the Escapees Pair-A-Dice co-op in Pahrump, Nevada.

Pahrump is about 50 miles west of Las Vegas, via State Route 160, a good, mostly two lane road that passes through the Toiyabe National Forest, climbing from 2300 feet in Las Vegas to 5500 feet at Mountain Springs Summit, before dropping down to about 2300 feet in Pahrump. Locals call this drive “going over the hump.

Yesterday, after an excellent brunch at Blueberry Hill Restaurant, one of a small chain here in Las Vegas, we took the trip “over the hump” to Pahrump. I’m sure glad we never tried to make this trip in our old MCI bus conversion! The V-8 engine in Greg White’s Dodge pickup was getting a workout as we made the climb.

We know a lot of folks who really like Pahrump because it is quieter and much more laid back than busy Las Vegas. But I have to be honest and say that we were just not impressed. There is little, if anything aesthetically pleasing in the community, just a lot of businesses stretched out along the main highway, a casino or two, a scattering of RV parks, and lots of subdivisions springing up out of the desert.

The office was already closed for the day, but we drove through the Escapees RV park, which was pretty full. But the few people we saw out and about didn’t seem too welcoming as we drove past and waved. Basically, the campground is all gravel and dirt, with some desert landscaping. It’s just not our cup of tea.

We did stop to check out another RV park that had been recommended to us, Terrible’s Lakeside Casino RV Park, a short drive off the main highway, and not far from the Escapees park.

This place was was pretty impressive. Many of the RV sites are situated around a small man made lake, there was plenty of grass, and lots of trees to provide shade. The view of the snowcapped mountains in the distance added to the ambience. The only drawback some people would find is that is that there were a lot of kids running around, though they all seemed to be well behaved.

Pahrump is in Nye County, where prostitution is legal, and Pahrump is home to two legal brothels, the Chicken Ranch and Sheri’s Ranch, which are located next door to each other.  Well, who can go to Pahrump and not at least drive by to check something like that out?  Not us, obviously.

We stopped to take pictures of both houses of ill repute, and noted that both offered free tours, and that ladies are welcome. Terry and Jan decided that seeing the places from the road was probably just fine, thank you very much!

Business seemed to be rather slow, there were just a few cars in the parking lot at either place, and I don’t know how many were there just to shop the souvenir stores that both businesses have. But if you saw me there, that’s all I was doing, shopping for souvenirs! That’s my story, and I’m sticking to it!

Actually Miss Terry is pretty open minded, and said I could go in and take the tour. But then she said something about me having to go into quarantine for 30 days afterwards, so I decided to pass.

Terry has the sharpest eyes of anybody I have ever known, and she constantly amazes me by pointing out wildlife I would never have seen as we zip down the highway. She spotted this hawk in a tree at the Chicken Ranch, and I told Greg it was probably a chicken hawk.  Hey, I have to get my material where I find it!

All too soon, or not soon enough, depending on whom of us you ask, it was time to get on down the road. So we waved goodbye to the brothels and headed back to Las Vegas. Judging by their signs, they’re friendly folks, aren’t they? They welcomed us to uhhh… return.

Bad Nick Doesn’t have time for such nonsense, so while we were out exploring the seamier side of life, he was home writing a new Bad Nick Blog titled Dumb A$$ Report, Vol. 2. Check it out and leave a comment.

Thought For The Day – When everything’s coming your way, you’re in the wrong lane.

I’ve had a few e-mails from readers who noted that we are currently staying at a Thousand Trails preserve and wanted to know if I felt that  Thousand Trails membership was a good investment.

As I have said many times before, like anything, a campground membership can be a good investment if you use it enough. If you don’t, it’s a waste of money. I know Thousand Trails members who get a lot of value from their memberships, and others, like Terry and myself, who really don’t use it enough to justify the annual dues.

We knew going in that it would take us some time to free up our schedule enough to really take advantage of our membership, and we got it cheap enough that we can handle that.

We have stayed at Thousands Trails and NACO campgrounds in Arizona, Pennsylvania, Indiana, Tennessee, Texas, and Ohio, and visited preserves in several other states. Most have been more than adequate for our needs, but overall we have not found them to be the idyllic resorts that the fancy brochures the marketing people put out depict.

This is our third visit to the Colorado River preserve in Columbus, Texas, and the first time that we have not had problems with electrical power (so far). As in past trips, the electrical posts at several RV sites are covered with plastic bags and inoperable, so even though the campground is supposed to have 94 campsites available, a number of them are out of service. Nobody ever seems to get around to repairing them.

This lack of maintenance seems to be a common theme at many Thousand Trails/NACO preserves across the country. We have been to some preserves where interior roads were in poor shape, and others where swimming pools and hot tubs were out of commission. There have been a couple that we have not even visited, because of the poor reports on them posted at the Thousand Trails Yahoo group.

Despite maintenance problems at some locations, every preserve we have visited or stayed in has been very clean, and the staff have always been very friendly and helpful.

Be aware that this system was designed for family camping, so in the summertime you can expect lots of kids, bicycles, smoky campfires, and such. If this isn’t your thing, like us, you will probably want to avoid the preserves when school is out of session.

Many Thousand Trails members have expressed concern over the growing numbers of RV sites that are leased out on a seasonal basis, taking them out of the pool for traveling members. These are usually the most desirable sites in the preserves. Given that, we still have always been able to find a site at any Thousand Trails or NACO campground we have visited.

What really burns me up is the fact that they have hired an outside company to handle annual dues payments. This company is also a collection agency, and there has been a lack of communication between them and the Thousand Trails office a couple of times in terms of posting payments.  Twice the dweebs at the outside company have called us and acted like we were deadbeats, when in fact the payment was already made, but Thousand Trails had not updated the records they share with them.

If you are interested in a Thousand Trails membership, be sure to get a nationwide one, with the NACO package included. And be aware that no two Thousand Trails memberships seem to be the same. It’s all about how good a negotiator you are and how hungry the salesman is, as to pricing and what added benefits your membership may have.

You can come to a preserve and sit through their sales spiel, but be aware that like all campground membership sales reps, some of the folks hustling these memberships are very much into the hard sell. A new membership will cost you thousands of dollars. Or, like us, you can buy a used membership.

There are tons of folks out there who have Thousand Trails/NACO memberships who just want to get rid of them and stop paying the dues. You can find a used membership for anywhere from free to about $1,000. Some people ask a whole lot more for them, because they believed the salesman who sold it and told them they could always get their money back.

When we decided we wanted a membership, I simply put a post on the Escapees forum and was swamped with folks wanting to unload theirs for anywhere from free to $5,000.

We got our membership used for $100 plus the $750 transfer fee, from a lady whose husband died and she wasn’t RVing any more. We can stay at any Thousand Trails or NACO park nationwide for fourteen days, and go directly to another one with no days out of the system. The original owner wanted to give it to us, but my attorney said to give her $100 to make it a binding contract.

Our annual dues are $500, which gives us 50 nights of camping, and after that, we pay $5 a night. If we wanted to pay higher annual dues, we could stay in Thousand Tails/NACO parks 365 days a year. So it can be a good bargain if we used it enough, which we hope to do, now that our schedule is not so complicated.

If you are considering a used membership, always call Thousand Trails and give them the contract number and ask what it includes, and if there will be any changes if you buy it. Here is a link to a website where you may be able to find a good deal, if you are looking for a used membership  http://www.rvparkstore.com/campground_memberships.htm

And while you’re online, check out Bad Nick’s new blog post What Does It Take? and leave a comment.

Thought For The Day – A cloth is not woven from a single thread.

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We got wrapped up in some projects that have delayed our departure for a bit, but with most of the things wrapped up that we wanted to get done before we leave northern Indiana, we hope to be on the road by the weekend. Now we just have to decide where we’re going, and how to get there.

We plan to spend November and most of December in Florida, and as I wrote here before, the plan was/is to go over to the coast someplace and go down the eastern seaboard. But since we’re getting a later start than originally planned, we’re undecided about which route to take.

We would like to go to Washington, D.C. again, and considered dropping down to Interstate 70 across Ohio and into Pennsylvania, and then dropping down to catch Interstate 68 across the northern edge of Maryland. But we may be too late in the season. Getting to warmer weather is a priority. Playing tourist is no fun when you’re chilly.

I thought about going to Lexington, Kentucky, and then taking Interstate 77 east to hook up with Interstate 64, which would take us to Norfolk, Virginia, but again, weather is a factor.

A third option was to go to Knoxville, and then take Interstate 40 east, but a major rockslide has closed the highway near the Tennessee – North Carolina border, and news reports say it could be weeks, if not months, before the road is open again.

Now we’re looking at going all the way to Atlanta, and then striking east on Interstate 20, but we’ll miss a lot of the territory we wanted to see along the coast going that way.

Then, just to muddy the waters even more, we have learned that Terry’s father has some health issues that are causing us some concern. Hopefully everything will be just fine, but we are prepared to scrap our travel plans and head for Arizona at a moment’s notice.

We have also been kicking around getting an extended warranty on our Winnebago motorhome. The Ultimate Advantage only has 34,000 miles on it and except for a contrary electrical side to our water heater, it’s in excellent condition. We’re debating whether the cost of an extended warranty is worth it.

Like any insurance policy, it’s a gamble. If we are lucky and don’t have any major breakdowns or system failures, we’d lose money on an extended warranty. However, a serious problem, such as an engine or transmission failure could easily cost much more that what we’d pay for an extended warranty. So do we bet against ourselves, or for ourselves? Why don’t some of you fulltimers and extended time RV travelers out there pitch in and share your input? Do you have an extended warranty? If so, who with, and are you glad you bought it? Is there anyone out there who decided to play the odds and lost with a major repair bill? Inquiring minds want to know.

Thought For The Day – Life is too short to waste time hating anyone.

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