Noozeyeguy

We've had both as well. We started with a small toyhauler, then a big toyhauler before finally settling on a class-A and enclosed setup. The nice thing about the truck-trailer setup was the flexibility. We could drop the trailer and head into town for gas/food/whatever. At Ocotillo, my wife loved to take the Excursion out onto the trails and over to Blowsand... or load up for a trip to Boardmanville (at Glamis). Plus we never gave a Pismo trip a second thought. The monetary outlay was a real plus, too... until we traded the gas truck for the diesel Excursion. We upgraded the hauler to a 37' Sandpiper (room enough for three quads and a buggy, if you stacked it right). But towing 37' of bumper-pull trailer with a lifted Excursion probably took five years off my life. Three road trips with that rig and I was done. We sold it and bought a class-A gasser. For us, the moho is much simpler. The fam can do whatever they want (usually sleep) while we're on the road, and it's much easier to tow a 20' trailer with a 37' moho than a 37' trailer with a 20' truck. The moho is much more comfortable, has a lot more storage, and I can put the bikes in the trailer at night for safekeeping. On the downside, most toyhaulers have a lot more freshwater capacity than the average moho, so water conservation (on longer trips) is a necessity. Plus maintenance costs, insurance costs, etc are a significant added expense. The lack of 4wd means that Pismo is out, and I have to be careful at Dumont and Ocotillo to avoid getting stuck (never a concern with the Ex). FWIW...

That wasn't CHP video, it was shot by the paper. I'm not aware of CHP shooting video at all, if they document anything it's with stills and the body would not be tarped (part of the official investigation). At accident scenes it's SOP for the senior officer onscene to act as a public-information officer (PIO) and release whatever information on the incident as they are allowed. That would include name (if next-of-kin has been notified), age, city of residence, and circumstances surrounding the accident. But usually the reporter will summarize the incident and use selected quotes from the officer to illustrate. Then again, this is TV done by a newspaper, not TV done by a TV news crew. I've watched the video, in my opinion (as a professional news photographer) it was very poorly edited. Keep in mind that the scene is public, and the press has the absolute right to broadcast images taken on public property, but the public's right to know needs to be balanced by some discretion in the images broadcast. Repeated shots of a body under a tarp are excessive and gratuitous, especially with portions of the victim's body visible. I've been doing this a long time, and I would never have put a piece like that on the air. Not to say I wouldn't have used a shot with the tarp... I would have, but I wouldn't have used the tight shot nor have used it more than once. There's a lot of other shots there that tell the story without showing the victim repeatedly. RIP and Godspeed to the victim, prayers for his family.

Yer right, too many numbers to remember... I spend too much time on the road, it all starts looking the same after a while.

You're probably already enroute (or there) but FYI you can skip the 10 altogether. Just take the 215 N thru San Berdoo to the 30 E, then either go via the 38 or the 330/18 into Big Bear. FWIW I think the 330/18 route is quicker, the 38 route takes you around Rim of the World into Big Bear and is a longer route but less twisty-turny. Whichever way you go, you're still climbing to about 7000' on two-lane roads (at some point).

Link to the Dometic website. Input your model and serial # and it will tell you your height, weight, favorite color, and whether or not your RV is gonna burn down.

Are those the same models used in MHs over that same time period? I have a 2005 National, since the company doesn't exist anymore there might be a delay in getting a recall notification...

Ch 11 is "reorganization," Ch 7 is "liquidation." So under a Ch 11 the company remains (basically) intact, and restructures its debt with its creditors. I don't know if warranty claims fall under the "creditor" umbrella. But I'd think that they'd still be obligated to honor any written warranties still in effect once they emerged from Chapter 11. The catch is, it can take YEARS to go thru the Ch 11 process, and IIRC most RV warranties are a year on most items. Structural warranties might still be in effect... Ch 7 BK, everything goes out the window. The company ceases to exist as originally incorporated, and the creditors line up to pick over the carcass. The large creditors get first dibs, the little guys (read customers) get screwed. I've not seen anything official about Weekend Warrior filing BK either voluntarily or involuntarily, but if they filed BK it'd hit the papers sooner or later.

And the beat goes on...

Codes vary by municipality and/or state, but like Britincali said CA code is two straps. Also the water heater has to be at least 18" above-grade, and the T&P and drain valves have to be piped to the outside if the installation is inside the house (other than the garage). Also, a permit from the city may be required (I had to get one). Basically, it's a PITA. BTW your warranty co. likely will not cover the costs to bring the installation up to code, mine didn't. I wound up just buying a water heater and installing it myself. They reimbursed me for their calculation of the "cost of replacement," which was about half of what it actually cost. IIRC my total bill (minus beer for my neighbor the plumber) was around $1000, and the insurance kicked me a little under $600. The other problem I had was arguing with them about what was required for code compliance and what wasn't. I live in Ventura County, where the building codes are less restrictive than in LA (where the company is based). So their estimator quoted me almost $1000 worth of work that I didn't need to do... Example: the %$%#$ tried to charge me $600 for a water-heater stand. Solution: Home Depot, 1 water-heater stand, $40. The thing that sucks is, when your water heater goes out they kinda have you over a barrel. Luckily I store my moho in my driveway, so we had hot water for the three or four days the whole process took. Good luck, I feel your pain.... Edit: Randog.... "hot water heater..." :freakin_nuts:

We had to cancel our planned Idaho trip this summer when my fuel budget doubled. Maybe next year... I dunno. But the tradeoff I had to make was, one trip to St. Anthony's or four trips to Glamis/Dumont. No-brainer there, at least for me. I don't see us getting out of playing in the dirt and sand, we all love it waaaaay too much. But we will have to watch the budget a little closer.

"Just diggin thru the garage..." Man i want your garage!!! :beer_bang: Very nice... my pops had a '55 back in the day, I've always loved that body style.

Cal City for us, squeeze in more more dirt trip before summer. If anyone's in the area stop on by, we're usually at 140th and George near the prison. Seabreeze class-A w/Carson enclosed, white Z400, black Z400, red Outlaw 90... all have little green pennants that say "Regulatorz" :freakin_nuts:

I'll try... what this guy is saying is that with recent changes in the laws regarding oversight of commodities trading, it's become possible for speculators NOT involved in the oil bidness to bid up the price of oil. Possibly as much as 60% over the cost of production. That would mean that at $120/bbl, $72 is the result of market speculation (profit for someone). The remainder ($48) is what it actually costs to get the oil out of the ground and to the refinery... The other interesting thing there was his statement about surplus capacity. There's actually more oil available on the market than there are buyers for it. In any normal market scenario, that would mean a price drop. Instead the price is going thru the roof... again, because of the commodity market. What the media quotes as the "price of oil" on the daily markets, isn't really the price of oil at all. It's a "futures contract," an agreement to purchase a certain amount of oil at a certain price at some point in the future. The window is anywhere from 30 days on out to several years in the future. Hence the term "paper oil." So if somebody buys futures for x number of barrels at y price, and the price goes up in the time between the purchase and delivery, they can then sell the oil on the spot market for the going rate and pocket the difference. If the difference is great enough they can even offer a discount from the spot-market price, and still realize a healthy profit, which is why the spot-market price is usually lower than the futures market. Just like speculation in the real-estate market drove prices into the stratosphere, trading in oil futures is driving oil prices. It's a bubble, and at some point it will collapse. In the meantime a few folks are getting very very wealthy, at our expense. FYI... the weekly closes on oil, courtesy of the New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX). Look at the period from Feb '08 to today...

My daughter, Prez Day weekend...

I have State Farm on all the toys, runs me about $45/mo on the rail (full liability, $1k comp/collision) and about $100/year on each quad. I'm not worried so much about damage to the toys, I want to make sure I'm covered for damaging any people. I don't want anybody using my $$$ to make any more "Larry H Parker got me $3 million" commercials...

Just a suggestion: I wouldn't air down trailer tires unless absolutely necessary. By design, they have much less sidewall flex than an LT or passenger-car tire, by design. Especially the radials. When you air down, you're introducing a lot of sidewall flex into the carcass and that could lead to tread separation and/or a blowout down the road (literally). The truck tires are fine, especially if they're MTs or ATs, they're built for that kind of abuse. Also be real careful about jumping curbs or making really tight-radius turns, where the inside tires "scrub" the pavement... that causes the same damage. I store my enclosed trailer in my backyard, no driveway. So I used to just back the trailer up over the curb. I couldn't figure out why I was losing a tire almost every Glamis trip, until I put two and two together. Now I have ramps for the trailer, and voila! no more blowouts. Oh, and my : 2-6v batts over a 12v batt. Just keep on top of the water level, they cook pretty quick. Looks like you had a blast! I miss Pismo, but I won't take the moho there, just more effort than it's worth. 64' of moho and trailer sink like rocks...

It's the law now, in California. You have to have either a certificate from the ATV course for every kid riding, or have one yourself and supervise the little'uns. On public land, anyway. The law has been on the books for awhile, but the state just recently announced they'd be stepping up enforcement. The new legislation that Cheese refers to, SB 1228, sets the age requirements in stone. Right now they're just guidelines, conforming to the Consent Decree that the mfrs have with the CPSC dating back to the two-stroke three-wheeler days. Note: the CPSC is considering changing the age limitations, to a formula based on max speed rather than displacement... which would make the proposed California law outdated. FWIW, we've never been asked for our daughter's certificate while riding. Good thing, too, 'cuz it's still on the fridge door, so we won't forget to take it. Same place it's been since last July... :boyyy: BTW, the parent does NOT have to take the course with the child. I did this with my daughter (now 9) last July, when she still had her 50. Free for her, I watched. She aced it of course, not surprising since she's been riding since she was 4. Now she's got an Outlaw 90 like String, and "legally" will have to wait two-and-a-half years (12) to take the next course in the series... whatever. :dance: Suggestion: There's gotta be someone on this board with a 50 that they could loan/rent. Edited to add link... to a Cheese topic on the FoOD site. Dude, just how many forums do you post on???

CBS didn't stop him because he never said it... Snopes

Military in action: Read the fine print on the barrel... Where's Waldo?

You've seen this one... But what about this one? Same concept, different species... props to GI Joe:

Politics....

Ok, here goes...

I've bought three quads at OTD, two Z400s and an Outlaw 90 like String's. I paid $5899 out the door for the last Z, an '08 Limited-Edition in black... MSRP was $6199 + tax, license, setup, and freight... My local Suzuki/Yamaha dealer won't budge off MSRP either. The last time I was there quad-shopping (2003, my first Z) I offered to split the difference between OTD (at that time, LA Cyclesports) and their price... the salesman told me, quote, "Enjoy the drive to Inglewood." And walked away. So I did, since it's only fifteen minutes from work, and have enjoyed it twice more since then. Too bad for the local guys, I don't think I've bought more than a spark plug from them since 2003... and I've bought five quads since then, three of them brands that they sell.

Oh man I don't want to do this... :sigh: OK here goes :beer_bang: Per trip, Dumont or Glamis (roughly the same distance): Fuel for moho, $300 Fuel for toys, $100 Food/drink, $250 Pass, misc stuff at vendor's row: $100 Total $750, x 4 trips per year (avg) = $3000 Per trip, Cal City or Dove Springs (a lot closer): Fuel for moho, $150 Fuel for toys, $100 Food/drink, $150 (shorter trips) Total $400, x 4 trips per year (avg) = $1600 Annual expenses: Moho payment, $700/mo = $8400/yr Quad payments, $150/mo = $1800/yr Insurance, moho/trailer/toys, $1500/yr Registration for everything, $700/yr Maintenance, $750/yr Total: $17750 annually... dayumn. I'm sure I'm missing something, the real total's probably more like $20k/yr when I figure in credit-card payments and such, mostly from the buggy build. Total investment: Moho $110k, quads $15k, buggy $21k, trailer $4k... $150,000 in toys. I paid $184,000 for my house in 1998... :no_no: We're planning a trip to St. Anthony's this summer, the budget is $1500... mostly for fuel. :beer_bang: Thank you Big Oil. Quality time with family and friends: Priceless.

That's a nice back route, but if it were me I'd do freeways... single-lane blacktop gives me the willies if I'm on it for more than a few dozen miles. Too many ugly head-ons... DF: Instead of taking the 15 all the way to the 10, jump on the 215 in Devore. Then take the 30 east in San Bernardino. That'll cut about 20 miles or so off the route, and get you around the worst of the Ontario/IE traffic. Depending on the time of day, you'll still hit traffic up the grade thru Redlands into Yucaipa but that should be the worst of it. BTW: 93.7 KCLB-FM... nice mix of alt-rock and classic stuff... it's what I switch to when KROQ fades out...