Gary RV_Wizard
Ancient Rver
Site Team
RV LIFE Pro
As you may have noticed from my thread count (this is #83,759), I've been around here for a long while. Joined the old Compuserve RVForum back in summer of 1994 and attended my first RVForum rally that Fall. There are a very few of us left from those halcyon days and still active, e.g. Tom Jones, Betty Brewer, Ardra Fitzgerald, and Lou Schneider, to name a few. Plus another dozen or so still registered here but rarely posting anymore. And sadly, so many more who have passed on to that everlasting campground in the sky (or is it the Cloud these days?).
Back in the day RVForum was heavily populated by Westerners and we Easterners felt left out of the rallys and casual meet-ups that were mostly near the Rockies. A long haul for those us well east of the Mississippi, though we did it a few times! Ken Batton & I decided to start a series of Forum rallys in the Southeastern USA, which we cleverly named RVForum Southeast. Within a year or so each of our rallys were attracting 10-15 rigs and we held two a year, Spring and Fall. Better yet, the Western members began to plan trips East to coincide with the rally dates. From 1997 to 2008 we held 19 rallys spread over 6 states. But Ken passed away and Nancy & I were spending our RV time further abroad, in Washington state, Maine, and the Upper Midwest, and nobody took up the torch to continue the fun. The Southest Rallys dies off.
I sold my last RV in December, 2016, when traveling got to be too much for my wife's long time battle with cancer. We were essentially reverse snowbirding, just driving the motorhome to a favored site in western North Carolina and where Nancy had a trusted oncologist to keep her going, and then returning to Florida 5 months later. We found it was easier and cheaper to lease a summer home in that same area and drive there. We did that for another 5 years before she too passed. But enough of that part. No regrets and many fond memories that I still cherish.
Upon selling the coach I wondered how long I would stay interested and be an able contributor to RVForum (and also IRV2, where I had been active since the day it was founded). Turned out to be No Worries. It soon became apparent that some type of questions and problems were pretty much eternal and the answers didn't change much over the years. Furnaces still won't light, roofs still leak, and newbies still ask how to choose and buy the perfect RV at the lowest price.
Only recently has technology begun to change RVs all that much, with more electronics, better batteries and increasing use of solar. But since I'm a tech guy, computers and engineering, the new stuff didn't stay new to me very long. And learning the ins & outs was fun for this old guy.
Now, after 9 years on the RV sidelines, I'm starting to notice that there are more & more threads where I can't contribute very much worthwhile. I still read & learn a bit, but sometimes I feel like a lurker. And more and more active members are people I've never met. Well, I'm 81 years old and nothing lasts forever. I've had a good run at the RV life and I've still got a few years years left, so the rest of you will just have to grin & bear it.
Back in the day RVForum was heavily populated by Westerners and we Easterners felt left out of the rallys and casual meet-ups that were mostly near the Rockies. A long haul for those us well east of the Mississippi, though we did it a few times! Ken Batton & I decided to start a series of Forum rallys in the Southeastern USA, which we cleverly named RVForum Southeast. Within a year or so each of our rallys were attracting 10-15 rigs and we held two a year, Spring and Fall. Better yet, the Western members began to plan trips East to coincide with the rally dates. From 1997 to 2008 we held 19 rallys spread over 6 states. But Ken passed away and Nancy & I were spending our RV time further abroad, in Washington state, Maine, and the Upper Midwest, and nobody took up the torch to continue the fun. The Southest Rallys dies off.
I sold my last RV in December, 2016, when traveling got to be too much for my wife's long time battle with cancer. We were essentially reverse snowbirding, just driving the motorhome to a favored site in western North Carolina and where Nancy had a trusted oncologist to keep her going, and then returning to Florida 5 months later. We found it was easier and cheaper to lease a summer home in that same area and drive there. We did that for another 5 years before she too passed. But enough of that part. No regrets and many fond memories that I still cherish.
Upon selling the coach I wondered how long I would stay interested and be an able contributor to RVForum (and also IRV2, where I had been active since the day it was founded). Turned out to be No Worries. It soon became apparent that some type of questions and problems were pretty much eternal and the answers didn't change much over the years. Furnaces still won't light, roofs still leak, and newbies still ask how to choose and buy the perfect RV at the lowest price.
Only recently has technology begun to change RVs all that much, with more electronics, better batteries and increasing use of solar. But since I'm a tech guy, computers and engineering, the new stuff didn't stay new to me very long. And learning the ins & outs was fun for this old guy.Now, after 9 years on the RV sidelines, I'm starting to notice that there are more & more threads where I can't contribute very much worthwhile. I still read & learn a bit, but sometimes I feel like a lurker. And more and more active members are people I've never met. Well, I'm 81 years old and nothing lasts forever. I've had a good run at the RV life and I've still got a few years years left, so the rest of you will just have to grin & bear it.
