RV,s

[phalanx]

Any of you guys have one of them? Wife really wants one, to go to Montana and Wyoming. And the Dakota’s. But not now ,until next spring. Fuel is expensive but her family’s rich. They said “you kids ?” Go do this while you still can.

[Ranger99]

They're a money pit
90% of ( the ones I've seen) them
sit in the driveway 90% of the time.
Unless you're seriously planning on
using it 9 months out of the year
for a decade, you'll never see a return
on your investment.
Stay at nice hotels and lodges if
you're just going 10% of the year.
You can sit down and figure what
a decent RV would cost for payments
and insurance and upkeep/maintenance
versus a few weeks at a hotel.
And you don't have to clean up or
maintain a hotel room after you leave

[NWBear]

Much as I like to camp in campgrounds, and I have had every type of camping "RV" camper, trailer (2), motorhome (2), It is still "cheaper" to stay in motels or campground cabins/yurts.  Still there is nothing like traveling in a motorhome... If you have the money...?

[Casull]

Well, they're not an investment.  They're a luxury or hobby.  You're also not going to see any "return' on what you pay for hotel rooms.  If you like staying in the outdoors and you like going off the beaten path, and you can afford it, I say go for it.  But, you might want to try renting one first to see if you really do like it.

[scattershot]

For my money, you can’t beat a 5th wheel. You tow it to your destination, and then unhook your tow vehicle and go exploring. Best room for the Length, too.

[phalanx]

My BIL has one he loans to us to go hunting. He lives in Lubbock, so it isn't hard to go get it.

[DDZ]

They're a money pit
90% of ( the ones I've seen) them
sit in the driveway 90% of the time.
Unless you're seriously planning on
using it 9 months out of the year
for a decade, you'll never see a return
on your investment.
Stay at nice hotels and lodges if
you're just going 10% of the year.
You can sit down and figure what
a decent RV would cost for payments
and insurance and upkeep/maintenance
versus a few weeks at a hotel.
And you don't have to clean up or
maintain a hotel room after you leave

My thoughts exactly. You can get a lot of hotel rooms and free breakfasts for what an RV costs over its life time. Also they are a lot of work when you go somewhere. Setting up, cleaning up from any food prep. Finding a place to park, and hook up to electric, sewage, getting water ets. I never had the desire to own one, but then some people just like the RV camping life 

[ulav8r]

My wife's problem with hotel rooms is that though they may look clean, you don't know who's cooties may still be in them.

Also, it is hard to have a campfire just outside your door in a hotel.  I also prefer to not clean my fish in the bathroom.

[Casull]

My wife's problem with hotel rooms is that though they may look clean, you don't know who's cooties may still be in them.

Also, it is hard to have a campfire just outside your door in a hotel.  I also prefer to not clean my fish in the bathroom.

Good points.

[Lloyd Smale]

agreed. I cant stand motels and dont sleep well if at all in one.

My wife's problem with hotel rooms is that though they may look clean, you don't know who's cooties may still be in them.

Also, it is hard to have a campfire just outside your door in a hotel.  I also prefer to not clean my fish in the bathroom.

[Lloyd Smale]

campers and boats are about the worse investment you can make. Nothing depreciates faster or so much as they do. So if your buying  either dont ever buy new. You might as well throw gas on your wallet and light it on fire. Another thing you have to factor in with both is if your buying something big enough to be comfortable in for any amount of time you will probably need to buy or upgrade to a different truck to pull one. I dont care for 5th wheels because i just dont want to convert my truck to be able to pull one. Two sisters have them but they both have 3/4 ton trucks that they have to live with every day that get terrible fuel mileage and they basicaly dont use them as a truck for anything else. Ones got a diesel chev that just the truck cost them 80k. Add a 50k 5th wheel to that and at least up here you can about buy a second home. Another thing that is the biggest reason ive never bothered with them is my idea of a vacation isnt being parked in a campground with your trailer 20 feet away from me. its about like living in a mobile home park. They spend there money buying those expensive rigs and i took mine and bought a hunting camp. I can open my door and the nearest person to me is 2 miles away and there isnt a city yuppy within at least 20 miles. I can walk out the door pee off the porch and sit there and shoot hundreds of rounds of ammo off the deck. Another thing is to me I already live where people come to for vacations. Ive seen a good amount of the US and havent really found a place that makes me want to return. Theres only 3 states id even consider and thats WY NC and TX. Mostly because people that i met there seem to share my values.

[Drilling Man]

. They spend there money buying those expensive rigs and i took mine and bought a hunting camp. I can open my door and the nearest person to me is 2 miles away and there isnt a city yuppy within at least 20 miles. I can walk out the door pee off the porch and sit there and shoot hundreds of rounds of ammo off the deck.

  You have to go to a hunting camp to do that??

  Heck, I can do that right at my house, and when I want, I can walk out back to shoot a deer or hunt small game.

  DM

[oldandslow2]

First off the only difference between a camper and a boat is that it is hole in the ground you pour money into instead of one in the water. We have had both and greatly enjoyed them. The thing about either is they need to be small as possible when towing them and the larger the better when in use. We seldom stayed in a campground but camped on a lake shore or in the boonies. I rigged up 6 solar panels on our last camper, a 30' King Of The Road fifth wheel, which allowed us to get along with out cranking our generator except to make coffee and run the microwave. The only time the generator got all day use was at the Kermit sandhills while 4 wheeling in summer to run the A/C. I towed both with a Duramax diesel which makes for a long rig even when the boat was left home and replaced by a jeep and you can't park just anywhere to grab a bite or make a pit stop. Due to inflation I sold the camper for more than I gave for it and because the truck was low mileage I got close to what it originally cost. I didn't do as well on the boat but came out fairly well. I'll add that we took good care of all of them and they weren't beat up in the least which adds dollars on a trade or sale. Would I do it again? Yes, because we got much enjoyment from it. Oh, I still have jeep from those days and it is still useful. Why did we quit? We became too old to handle it anymore.

Something to think about: The sunshine and hail storms are rough on these items. Closed storage is a very good idea and another expense.

[phalanx]

Down south of here you see a lot of migrant, transient oil field workers living in them and trailers. There are RV parks they hook up to rent a space. We have them here but not like you see down in Lea and Eddy counties.Eddy has Carlsbad so many of them are tourist, or they are heading to Brantley lake. I don't know if the Fishing at that lake is good or bad.  I’ve only been there once.

[oldandslow2]

I used to fish Brantley now and then and I would class it as never more than fair for fishing. I did catch the largest walleye I have ever caught there. One of the reasons that the fishing isn't that great according to the park rangers is that just after the fish begin spawning they water starts flowing out of it for irrigation and the beds dry up and don't produce new fish. The game department has no say in when water is let out. Also the lake has silted in a LOT since it was built and the upper lake is just mud now.

The east side boat ramp was built on the highest hill on that side. It's a tough climb for any other than young people. I watched my Army sargeant son run up it one time as he went to get the trailer. There was a young couple walking down to the dock and they turned around and watched him go. That hill was noting much at all to him as he was stationed at Fort Bliss and they ran over the Franklin Mountains and back to base three times a week.

[phalanx]

I remember when it was McMillan lake. Which wasn't much. We usually go to Buffalo lake near Lubbock. Texas stocks it for fishing, if needed.

[oldandslow2]

It's not McMillian although when Brantley was new and it filled up the north end reached almost to the old McMillian dam. You could get close enough in a boat to see the dam. McMillan is dry and the plan was to raise feed crops in it for wildfowl but I never saw much growing in the old lake bed. I pay property taxes to them every year but since I reside in NM I get to buy out-of-state licenses if if I want to hunt or fish, even on my own property.

I quit fishing Texas years ago as I didn't want to pay the price of the license. Alan Henry, close to Post, is supposed to be great for bass fishing but I haven't been there in years. The last time I went my son-in-law hooked something that broke his 30# Spiderwire line about like it was 2#. He set the hook, the rod bent almost double, and that was it, fish gone. Considering our drouth I wonder how much water is in it now. The lake was  built for an additional water source for Lubbock but after it was finished the city discovered that no one had made any plans for a pipe line to carry the water and there was no money to build one to boot. I never bothered to see how that mess turned out as the newspaper raised their rates a bunch soon after I read about it and I cancelled the paper. Haven't seen a copy of the Lubbock Avalanche Journal in years and don't know if is still in business or not.

[Lloyd Smale]

I can pee off the porch and shooting a few rounds doesnt bother anyone but if i shot hundreds it would probably attract some attention. Attention i dont want. Ive got LOTs of guns and LOTs of ammo and dont really care to have people around me know it.

. They spend there money buying those expensive rigs and i took mine and bought a hunting camp. I can open my door and the nearest person to me is 2 miles away and there isnt a city yuppy within at least 20 miles. I can walk out the door pee off the porch and sit there and shoot hundreds of rounds of ammo off the deck.

  You have to go to a hunting camp to do that??

  Heck, I can do that right at my house, and when I want, I can walk out back to shoot a deer or hunt small game.

  DM

[oldandslow2]

I pay special attention to traffic passing by not to let anyone see me with one. There isn't a great deal of traffic so it isn't hard to get in or out with them. I don't shoot around the house either. I feel like I would just be inviting thieves.

[Ranger99]

I pay special attention to traffic passing by not to let anyone see me with one. There isn't a great deal of traffic so it isn't hard to get in or out with them. I don't shoot around the house either. I feel like I would just be inviting thieves.

it's not always the people that see you.
a goodly part of the time it's the people
that tell somebody then they tell somebody
that they know a man that has a nice
car/gun/boat/loud radio/nice lawnmower etc.

[mcbammer]

I pay special attention to traffic passing by not to let anyone see me with one. There isn't a great deal of traffic so it isn't hard to get in or out with them. I don't shoot around the house either. I feel like I would just be inviting thieves.

it's not always the people that see you.
a goodly part of the time it's the people
that tell somebody then they tell somebody
that they know a man that has a nice
car/gun/boat/loud radio/nice lawnmower etc.

  exactly ^^^^    except is was a family member running their mouth about my guns ,wasnt long before they caught me gone an kicked in my back door .

[nw_hunter]

. They spend there money buying those expensive rigs and i took mine and bought a hunting camp. I can open my door and the nearest person to me is 2 miles away and there isnt a city yuppy within at least 20 miles. I can walk out the door pee off the porch and sit there and shoot hundreds of rounds of ammo off the deck.

  You have to go to a hunting camp to do that??

  Heck, I can do that right at my house, and when I want, I can walk out back to shoot a deer or hunt small game.

  DM

Yea, but that isn't hunting. It's harvesting!

[Mule 11]

I pay special attention to traffic passing by not to let anyone see me with one. There isn't a great deal of traffic so it isn't hard to get in or out with them. I don't shoot around the house either. I feel like I would just be inviting thieves.

it's not always the people that see you.
a goodly part of the time it's the people
that tell somebody then they tell somebody
that they know a man that has a nice
car/gun/boat/loud radio/nice lawnmower etc.

  exactly ^^^^    except is was a family member running their mouth about my guns ,wasnt long before they caught me gone an kicked in my back door .

Same way I lost my funnel. Took my dad there and he told others about me pulling deer out like clockwork. Next thing it was overrun with fat smelly men dragging everything from carts to snow sleds with gear. Deer quit using it, what a surprise hun? Probably good again now as it’s been years.

[Ranger99]

Same way I lost my funnel. Took my dad there and he told others about me pulling deer out like clockwork. Next thing it was overrun with fat smelly men dragging everything from carts to snow sleds with gear. Deer quit using it, what a surprise hun? Probably good again now as it’s been years.

Lost a good crappie jigging spot like that.
You can access it by passing through a
strip of private property. The man was
always agreeable as long as I didn't bother
anything and was really quiet and took
care to leave no trace of my presence.
Another guy that I'd went there with told
an acquaintance about how we'd filled
a fish basket with 2 limits to where another
fish wouldn't fit inside. The 3rd wheel made
his appearance with lawn chairs and
lanterns and a cooler full of beer and
a carton of marlboro reds. Never could
shut up and left butts and cans strowed
everywhere and needless to say, that
was the end of the access to that honeyhole

Shame too. Big nice crappie. Easy to limit
out quickly

[Drilling Man]

Yea, but that isn't hunting. It's harvesting!

  You mean when I walk out back to my woods, or sit by a brushy field, I'm not hunting??

  IF, I get in my pickup and drive around the block a few times before walking out there, will THAT then be hunting??

  DM

[Lloyd Smale]

yup it kind of makes me chuckle too. Its like up here. Most hunt over bait. Lower michigan baiting is illegal. but its ok for a farmer to have a stand right on the edge of a 40 acre alfalfa or corn field. If we had to stalk deer up here many people would be getting shot yearly. It would be a mess. Youd probably come across 20 hunters a day if they all walked. Who is anyone to decide whats ethical hunting and whats not. If you buy a tag and dont break any laws shooting your deer even if its off your back porch thats your business. Whats wrong is when the dnr is given so much power they can come on my land without a search warrant and give me a 300 dollar fine for putting more then 2lbs of bait on the ground on MY property. Especially when like i said about 10 miles away theres a farm with a big field with 4 blinds. One in each corner. Which by the way has 10 times more deer then our area. Brother in law lives in montana.. He told me probably 75 percent of mule deer and antelope killed by locals are shot by guys who ride around in there pickup till they find some and shoot one and go home. Im not a trophy hunter. Dont give a rip about horns or the EXPERIENCE. Ive killed deer about every way you can dream up. I hunt to get some venision. If you want to stalk through the woods with your coon skin hat then go for it but dont tell me that your any better then the guy sitting over a pile of apples.

Yea, but that isn't hunting. It's harvesting!

  You mean when I walk out back to my woods, or sit by a brushy field, I'm not hunting??

  IF, I get in my pickup and drive around the block a few times before walking out there, will THAT then be hunting??

  DM

[neckisred]

As I get a little older, I find myself being more of a commercial deer hunter. When a commercial comes on, I look out the living room window for deer.....................