Poco Loco wrote:
On Tue, 30 Sep 2014 11:12:38 -0500, Califbill
wrote:

F*O*A*D wrote:
On 9/30/14 10:24 AM, Poco Loco wrote:
On Mon, 29 Sep 2014 17:32:59 -0400, Harrold wrote:

On 9/29/2014 2:30 PM, Poco Loco wrote:
On Sun, 28 Sep 2014 20:52:21 -0400, Harrold wrote:

One of my favorite destinations is Cody Wyoming. The town itself is
charming but it's proximity to Yellowstone, The Beartooth Highway, The
Buffalo Bill Dam and several other attractions make it worthwhile
spending a week or more, there. All of the nearby campgrounds were
cramped and booked solid. Nicer spots could be found near and in
Yellowstone, but most had no sewer and some had no water or electric.

How far in advance should reservations be attempted at those nearby
campgrounds...any idea?


Not sure, but I would recommend at least a month for Cody if you want
full hookups. Due to a campground screwup, we had to spend our first
night at Walmart with about 30 other RVs. I don't know anything about
the federal campgrounds other than they looked pretty nice from the road.

We've 'almost' stayed at WalMart a couple times, but changed our
minds. We've stayed at Flying J's and Pilots several times. The RV's
stay out front, not back with the trucks, and we've never had a
problem. Usually the food is pretty good also.



Ma and Pa Herring Joad.

Nice thing about an RV. You can stay lots of places where there is no
hotel available. In 1986, I had a sabbatical from my company. We bought a
Class A motor home and towed a VW Rabbit. Did not have to worry if there
was a room available when we got to an area. Ate healthier, and the kids,
10 and 13 at the time could do crafts while traveling. Was not Walmart
parking in those days, but next to a lake in Georgia, nice camp ground in
E. Islip, NY and take the train in to Penn station. Nice way to take 2
months to see the country. Stayed in a campground somewhere near a Metro
stop for DC. Couple long days. One, for two tours of the White House.
8am for the East Wing tour, and a private west Wing tour in the evening.
Helps to have friends. Nice way to travel. Not cheaper than motels, but a
lot more convenient.

We keep kicking around taking a couple months trip to Alaska. The
problem, from my perspective, is the house and lawn. I suppose the
thing to do would be to let the lawn go without watering. Now's when I
wished we lived in a condo.

Hire a mow and blow for the yard. Get the neighbor kid to bring in the
mail. I auto pay all of by recurring bills, so not a problem there.

On Tue, 30 Sep 2014 18:10:55 -0500, Califbill
wrote:

Poco Loco wrote:
On Tue, 30 Sep 2014 11:12:38 -0500, Califbill
wrote:

F*O*A*D wrote:
On 9/30/14 10:24 AM, Poco Loco wrote:
On Mon, 29 Sep 2014 17:32:59 -0400, Harrold wrote:

On 9/29/2014 2:30 PM, Poco Loco wrote:
On Sun, 28 Sep 2014 20:52:21 -0400, Harrold wrote:

One of my favorite destinations is Cody Wyoming. The town itself is
charming but it's proximity to Yellowstone, The Beartooth Highway, The
Buffalo Bill Dam and several other attractions make it worthwhile
spending a week or more, there. All of the nearby campgrounds were
cramped and booked solid. Nicer spots could be found near and in
Yellowstone, but most had no sewer and some had no water or electric.

How far in advance should reservations be attempted at those nearby
campgrounds...any idea?


Not sure, but I would recommend at least a month for Cody if you want
full hookups. Due to a campground screwup, we had to spend our first
night at Walmart with about 30 other RVs. I don't know anything about
the federal campgrounds other than they looked pretty nice from the road.

We've 'almost' stayed at WalMart a couple times, but changed our
minds. We've stayed at Flying J's and Pilots several times. The RV's
stay out front, not back with the trucks, and we've never had a
problem. Usually the food is pretty good also.



Ma and Pa Herring Joad.

Nice thing about an RV. You can stay lots of places where there is no
hotel available. In 1986, I had a sabbatical from my company. We bought a
Class A motor home and towed a VW Rabbit. Did not have to worry if there
was a room available when we got to an area. Ate healthier, and the kids,
10 and 13 at the time could do crafts while traveling. Was not Walmart
parking in those days, but next to a lake in Georgia, nice camp ground in
E. Islip, NY and take the train in to Penn station. Nice way to take 2
months to see the country. Stayed in a campground somewhere near a Metro
stop for DC. Couple long days. One, for two tours of the White House.
8am for the East Wing tour, and a private west Wing tour in the evening.
Helps to have friends. Nice way to travel. Not cheaper than motels, but a
lot more convenient.

We keep kicking around taking a couple months trip to Alaska. The
problem, from my perspective, is the house and lawn. I suppose the
thing to do would be to let the lawn go without watering. Now's when I
wished we lived in a condo.

Hire a mow and blow for the yard. Get the neighbor kid to bring in the
mail. I auto pay all of by recurring bills, so not a problem there.

Yeah, a nice family moved in across the street. I've had the middle
kid do the yard a couple times. Works well. We'd take the dogs with
us, so boarding wouldn't be necessary.

On 10/1/2014 8:39 AM, Poco Loco wrote:
On Tue, 30 Sep 2014 18:10:55 -0500, Califbill
wrote:

Poco Loco wrote:
On Tue, 30 Sep 2014 11:12:38 -0500, Califbill
wrote:

F*O*A*D wrote:
On 9/30/14 10:24 AM, Poco Loco wrote:
On Mon, 29 Sep 2014 17:32:59 -0400, Harrold wrote:

On 9/29/2014 2:30 PM, Poco Loco wrote:
On Sun, 28 Sep 2014 20:52:21 -0400, Harrold wrote:

One of my favorite destinations is Cody Wyoming. The town itself is
charming but it's proximity to Yellowstone, The Beartooth Highway, The
Buffalo Bill Dam and several other attractions make it worthwhile
spending a week or more, there. All of the nearby campgrounds were
cramped and booked solid. Nicer spots could be found near and in
Yellowstone, but most had no sewer and some had no water or electric.

How far in advance should reservations be attempted at those nearby
campgrounds...any idea?


Not sure, but I would recommend at least a month for Cody if you want
full hookups. Due to a campground screwup, we had to spend our first
night at Walmart with about 30 other RVs. I don't know anything about
the federal campgrounds other than they looked pretty nice from the road.

We've 'almost' stayed at WalMart a couple times, but changed our
minds. We've stayed at Flying J's and Pilots several times. The RV's
stay out front, not back with the trucks, and we've never had a
problem. Usually the food is pretty good also.



Ma and Pa Herring Joad.

Nice thing about an RV. You can stay lots of places where there is no
hotel available. In 1986, I had a sabbatical from my company. We bought a
Class A motor home and towed a VW Rabbit. Did not have to worry if there
was a room available when we got to an area. Ate healthier, and the kids,
10 and 13 at the time could do crafts while traveling. Was not Walmart
parking in those days, but next to a lake in Georgia, nice camp ground in
E. Islip, NY and take the train in to Penn station. Nice way to take 2
months to see the country. Stayed in a campground somewhere near a Metro
stop for DC. Couple long days. One, for two tours of the White House.
8am for the East Wing tour, and a private west Wing tour in the evening.
Helps to have friends. Nice way to travel. Not cheaper than motels, but a
lot more convenient.

We keep kicking around taking a couple months trip to Alaska. The
problem, from my perspective, is the house and lawn. I suppose the
thing to do would be to let the lawn go without watering. Now's when I
wished we lived in a condo.

Hire a mow and blow for the yard. Get the neighbor kid to bring in the
mail. I auto pay all of by recurring bills, so not a problem there.

Yeah, a nice family moved in across the street. I've had the middle
kid do the yard a couple times. Works well. We'd take the dogs with
us, so boarding wouldn't be necessary.


It helps to be friendly with the neighbors. The fellow across the street
cut my grass and looked after the pool and took in the mail. He had to
have the pool place put a new pump in. Ouch! $800. And the salt
chlorination stopped working at the same time. Must have been a power
surge or lightning strike. He fed the pool chlorine tablets until I got
home to find out what was wrong. Two bridge rectifiers and a thermistor
fixed that problem. Then the plumbing had to be sanitized to cure a foul
odor in the water. Then there was weeds and trimming to deal with, and
fire ants, who lived here unmolested for 3 1/2 months.

On Tue, 30 Sep 2014 18:10:55 -0500, Califbill
wrote:

We keep kicking around taking a couple months trip to Alaska. The
problem, from my perspective, is the house and lawn. I suppose the
thing to do would be to let the lawn go without watering. Now's when I
wished we lived in a condo.

Hire a mow and blow for the yard. Get the neighbor kid to bring in the
mail. I auto pay all of by recurring bills, so not a problem there.

===

If you are going to be away for a while as we frequently are, there
are better ways to handle mail. We use a forwarding service which is
popular with boat cruisers, RV people and ex-pats. It is called St.
Brendan's Isle and they provide fantastic service which we and many
others have been using for years:

http://www.sbimailservice.com/

We tell the post office to forward all of our mail to SBI. They scan
the incoming envelopes every day and forward us a summary by EMAIL. If
there is something important in the summary where we need to see the
contents immediately, we check off the box for that item and return
it. They then open that piece of mail (with our advance permission),
scan the contents, and EMAIL it to us the next day. It's a great
service, professionally done, and reasonably priced. They hold all of
the paper and send it to us periodically on request via UPS or Fed Ex.

All of our bills are paid electronically with online banking.

The lawn and pool are under contract with service professionals that
we have used for years, and we have neighbors who check up on things
and let us know if anything is amiss.