Your RV Shelter

Kitchen: whole wheat bread rising in a warm cozy oven.

Weather: Snow still in the forecast.

My camp coffee pot has perked so let’s get down to it.



On the political scene:


For those of you that wonder what there is to entertain your brain in addition to reading, how about enriching your brain. The Michael Savage show this evening (1/22) was based on President Obama’s use of the executive order to give terrorists more rights than Americans and meaning of the statement, and I quote him: “White men need not apply.” The Savage Nation is a free download that I bet you will not hear on the TV media. His website: http://michaelsavage.wnd.com/

And for the free show download:

http://www.910knew.com/cc-common/podcast/single_podcast.html?podcast=savage.xml


RoadScribe’s iRV: Survival on wheels

January 20th of 2009: The perfect ten year financial storm is here. Are you ready?


You either need an RV or you already have one. The secret here is pick one you can handle physically and financially, ideally that is paid for, and after the credit crunch, financing will be harder for some of us to get. Everyone has their needs. In my situation, I bought this fifth wheel RV knowing little about the subject. Matching the tow vehicle to what had to be pulled was a decision made with my mechanic that specialized in helping people keep their vehicles. Buying a 3500/350 four door dually would have been ideal and still a dream upgrade. But if you stop and ask yourself how can you spend less money the plan for a ‘96 GMC Sierra 1500 was: tow package, super springs, synthetic fluids all around, 10 ply tires, and a power chip. Less than $3,000.00. We could have replaced the transmission to a heavy duty, but the original worked just fine pulling the rig up those mountain inclines. Not far from my new base camp, I have another mechanic that thinks the same way. Thank you Steve Gherline and those working with you at CambridgeAuto.com in San Antonio, Texas. You have the heart of a teacher.

Shopping for the RV was best done taking my time, until coming upon a dealer with bankruptcy consignment. Now if I had waited and lived in my house while I was trying to sell it, and then shopped around in today’s economy I would have done better and not ended up with a bank note to pay off. There are a lot of dealers out there with inventory from manufacturers that have sadly closed down due to the economy. RV’s today, if you know what you want, are going at slashed rates. Or if you know what features to look for, say in my future upgrade, and are good at repairs, you could check out the auctions, CrankyApe.com or slightly used from private sellers. But what I am saving for is my next upgrade, the truck I have described and those prices are coming down. AutoTrader.com is a good place to watch, if they will let my mechanic look at the truck first.

Now if I were Dorothy in Kansas with red ruby slippers, I’d click my heels and get an Americana. Russ Anderson makes a quality fifth wheel RV that many full time RV’ers speak well of, a true four season 5'er that you order from AmericanaRV.com. His product doesn't really on dealers and is only sold through the web site. I mentioned custom made for a reason, some minor repairs I can do or learned to do with advise from fellow RV’ers and RVNet forums. After I got up here in the NM mountains we had hurricane remnants through with hail and those flimsy original vent caps were soon swiss cheese. By careful planning, a helpful lady RV neighbor experienced in roof work on their motor coach, and parts that arrived from PPL in Houston, I was able to replace those caps with non-breakable caps. In warmer weather I have renovation and repair projects planned and those will be in future entries.

Back to AmericanaRV. What I like about this idea for an upgrade is having a say, for instance, where the water pump is located. In this rig it is under my kitchen cabinet, and for me, hard to get to. If that fails, I have a $200.00 service call to get that replaced, or break camp to take it in for repairs. In my biz that is time and money lost. But that is in my dream world, now back to real time.

Deal with what you have. That is what this project is all about. Perseverance, determination and the ability to take a 'What if' and make it work.