Need Your Input!

[ThomasE]

Fred, if you don't mind driving inland, Death Valley national park would also be a pretty unique place to visit, and the best time to go would be in the spring.

[FRED SMAILES]

Well we may go to the Las Vegas Nascar race
(been a fan since the 70's when we were lucky to
get 5 mins of coverage once a week on
The Wide World of Sports, remember the guy falling off the
end of the ski jump?). So we may check it out, Thanks
Fred

[David Tilston]

Originally Posted by FRED SMAILES

The Wide World of Sports, remember the guy falling off the
end of the ski jump?). So we may check it out, Thanks
Fred

The agony of defeat!

[Greybeard]

Fred
Just realized we are almost nieghbours ;-)
We are really lloking forward to leaving Saturday after a week long delay.
Since this is our first trip and everything is new and an option, we don't know how far we will get daily or over the long haul.
We have a dark grey Ranger and a 17' Casita with a blck spare cover cover :-) If it stays on that long. If not, it will have an uncovered spare.
If we are in the area of Oceanside (if we can find it) at that time, will try to connect.
Will take a laptop so may be able to keep in touch that way, depending on free WiFi. In the past we stayed at motels and they usually had free internet. This will be yet another challenge for us.
Hope to see you Fred.
Take care,
Richard & Carolyn

[FRED SMAILES]

This is us!
http://www.fiberglassrv.com/forums/a...1&d=1309227589
Marilyn, Fred and FJ
FJ ,,Freddy Jr. Our adopted dog who had the name when we got him,,,, Chihuahua cross

[FRED SMAILES]

well, weve been in oceanside ca. for a week now and lovin it!
we really enjoyed our trip down with a couple of exceptions.
both in california. we came down the 101 till it started to head
inland than switched to #1 along the coast which comes down to ft bragg.
if your a boondocker (we are not) its ok, but we had a terrible time.
finally found a place with showers at least, no ele got there in the dark
took the dog for a quick walk he got ticks(200.00$ fixed that) ,,,,man.
we were pretty said pair sitting in our dark camper eating beans we
heated on the stove,,,,,,,but made me realize i need to be more prepared.
the other problem was gas stations, ya need a zip code to buy gas at the pump
in calif, even with a ccard so then you need to go in tell them how much you want pay for it then if the vehicle wont take it all go back in and get a refund.
now i go to the small independants, most of them will hold your card turn the pump on so i can fill then go in and complete transaction.
guess its a small price for palm trees and surf.
frederick,,,got caught on the 405 ,rush hour, in the dark 12 lanes of traffic!!!
wasnt that bad, we werd going real slow so i had lots of time to make decisions and look at all the new car models that i dont see in our little town
fred

[RRIZZO]

Hi Fred,
How much longer are you going to be around Calif.? Check your maps out and go inland from Oceanside to Temecula. Wonderful old town with great wineries and food. Sorry about Fred Jr and the ticks. They are a problem here. ADVANTIX is the best product for that. Not to far from you are friends who have Bolar, and two BIGFOOT 5th wheels
Welcome from a 2 generation back Canuck/ Pembroke,Ontario

[rgrugg]

For Alf...on the best time to retire is just as soon as you can make the finances work. For me that was age 53 and that was 22 years ago, For my wife it was age 55 and that was 18 years ago. She had to work longer to get her vested time in.

[Greybeard]

Hi Fred. We returned from our trip Feb 21, a couple of days ago. I saw a couple of casitas going in the opposite direction a couple of times and one parked beside a barn in a yard :-)
We were away from Jan 13 ( a Friday!) and drove just over 7,000km (4100 miles).
We drove the coast on 101 to around San Fara and then headed inland a bit.
I guess we missed you :-(
We spent 3 weeks around San Diego and went as far as Why Az, close to the Mexican border, but not over.
I just noticed your last post was sent just after we left so we were way out of each others paths.
Maybe next time?
Our next trip will likely be to Wpg, my wife is going to be a grandmother in May and wants to be close and seeing as we survived the 5+ weeks going South, we think we may be able to do a couple there :-)
Hope you enjoyed your trip as much as we did ours.
Richard

[Frederick L. Simson]

Originally Posted by FRED SMAILES

well, weve been in oceanside ca. for a week now and lovin it!

the other problem was gas stations, ya need a zip code to buy gas at the pump
in calif, even with a ccard so then you need to go in tell them how much you want pay for it then if the vehicle wont take it all go back in and get a refund.
now i go to the small independants, most of them will hold your card turn the pump on so i can fill then go in and complete transaction.

frederick,,,got caught on the 405 ,rush hour, in the dark 12 lanes of traffic!!!

Even the big name brands will hold your card and complete the transaction after a fill-up. It may take a little longer but I prefer to do that over paying at the pump. I've not been at a gas station what would not do this.

Oceanside is a nice community. Are you near the beach?

The 405 is way better than staying on the 5 through downtown LA...IMHO.

[theresa p]

fred---i have used this method of entering a zip code at the gas pumps..it was recommended by an attendant in florida. take the numbers in your postal code and then add 2 zeros at the end. it worked for us all last winter.
don't know if there would be a difference between california and florida stations but worth a try! the one thing i will NOT ever do again is leave my credit card inside with the attendant. our friends had their card number stolen with multiple charges put on it before they even were aware. if i cannot use this code i mentionned successfully, then i pay with cash.

[Lizbeth]

Originally Posted by theresa p

the one thing i will NOT ever do again is leave my credit card inside with the attendant. our friends had their card number stolen with multiple charges put on it before they even were aware. if i cannot use this code i mentionned successfully, then i pay with cash.

We were told by our banker to NEVER let a card out of your sight. If you can't hand it to the cashier, don't use it. That includes restaurants, fuel stations, and anywhere else you might hand it to someone else that walks away with it to pay. We now have a credit card that we use only for fuel because this is where most numbers are stolen. And always inspect the pump if you are using the card yourself, fraudulent card readers are the rage right now. Grab the reader and wiggle it to make sure it really is part of the pump. We learned this the hard way last month.

[FRED SMAILES]

Originally Posted by Greybeard

Hi Fred. We returned from our trip Feb 21, a couple of days ago. I saw a couple of casitas going in the opposite direction a couple of times and one parked beside a barn in a yard :-)
We were away from Jan 13 ( a Friday!) and drove just over 7,000km (4100 miles).
We drove the coast on 101 to around San Fara and then headed inland a bit.
I guess we missed you :-(
We spent 3 weeks around San Diego and went as far as Why Az, close to the Mexican border, but not over.
I just noticed your last post was sent just after we left so we were way out of each others paths.
Maybe next time?
Our next trip will likely be to Wpg, my wife is going to be a grandmother in May and wants to be close and seeing as we survived the 5+ weeks going South, we think we may be able to do a couple there :-)
Hope you enjoyed your trip as much as we did ours.
Richard

yes different timing,,well stop in on your way through creston
we are 5miles up the road in wynndel towards kootenay lake
fred

[FRED SMAILES]

as far as the ccard goes, the gas stations charge an extra 10or so cents a gal
if you use card out here so im on cash now.
fred

[FRED SMAILES]

well we're into our last few days in Oceanside, we would really promote
our rv place. We used Paradise by the Sea Rv Resort for our month long stay.
Only down side is the coaster train is close but we got used to it.
We decided to hit Vegas for a couple days prior to heading north.
Thanks to different postings on this forum we booked Sams Town for $22.50
a night. Either of us gamble but wanted to the spectacle plus Im working on my
Bucket List which includes driving a Nascar car. I raced a bit back in the 80'
and always dreamed of Nascar. Richard Petty started a business that allows a
person to drive one at the Vegas track up to 150 mph. Dont know how fast I,ll
go but I,m really excited about next friday!!
fred

[FRED SMAILES]

well its been a week since my last post.
we had a time in vegas! i drove the racecar
and reached an average lap speed of 145mph!
wondered up and down the strip. What a crazy place!!!
we then headed back to calif. up to san fran and spent a couple
days in the Napa Valley, what a beautiful place!!!
we stumbled upon an awesome campsite, skyline or something like that.
ill put together a review of it when i get home and post it.
tonight we are in redding ca. at redding rv on i5 exit 680
probably gonna sit on the interstates for the next 3days or so
to get home, been gone over 6 weeks, time to get back in the garage,
get my fingernails dirty and my knuckles scraped workin on a bunch of
modifications to make our boler more space effective
thanks to everyone who offered ideas of things to do. other than the racecar thing, walking the dog in a sunny warm day was hard to beat
fred

[Donna D.]

Thanks for checking in Fred. I'm glad you were able to check off a bucket list item too. Already looking forward to your final review and pictures.

Safe travels!