BlueSky

There must be a nationwide campground guide available. Years ago when I had a camper, I had a hard copy version that supposedly contains info on all the sites in the country with all the details on what facilities they had. Yep, I just googled and they appear to be available on line.

During my misspent youth, I bought a 59 Chevy Impala coupe (1964)with the 283 cu in V8. It developed a knock that sounded like a main bearing. I had a good mechanic listen to it and he also thought it was a main bearing knock. It didn't appear to be getting any worse so I continued to drive it. This car came stock with a 4.11 rear since it had the electric overdrive 3 speed manual tranny. One night I wound it up and a valve lifter collapsed. I replaced the lifter and the knock was gone. Noises are very difficult to diagnose sometimes. I bought a new 70 Mustang fastback with a 302 V8. It started whining when I put it in drive or reverse and would stop whining when I started moving. I had a 50k warranty on the drive train and it was running out on a 6k mile tour of the country so I pulled into a Ford dealer shop in Ft. Smith Arkansas. I had thought it was the transmission making the noise. The shop foreman agreed with me. He had several mechanics listen to it and they all agreed it was the tranny and they started talking about rebuilding it. Then one guy said, maybe we should get "old Joe" to look at it. "old Joe" was in the office with his feet on a desk drinking coffee. He came out, listened to it, pulled out the longest screwdriver I have ever seen and placed it on several parts in the engine compartment and listened. The he picked up his coffee, said take off the alternator belt and see if it still does it, and went back into the office. they removed the belt and the noise went away. So, "old Joe" saved Ford Motor Co. the cost of a transmission rebuild that day and saved me a lot of inconvenience waiting for them to rebuild the tranny. I wonder how many dealer shops today would keep an experienced "old Joe" around. They all seem to be hiring parts replacers out of the tech schools.

When I bought my 85 Kawasaki ZN700 in 2009, it only had 1,054 miles on it. The owner had died and his nephew had attempted to clean the carbs to get it running correctly and gave up. When I bought it, it was running rough on 3 cylinders. I put a bottle of FI cleaner in the gas and it finished cleaning the carbs and it ran great but only on 3 cylinders. I checked the spark to the spark plugs and they were all getting spark. Turned out the #2 original 24 yr old NGK spark plug was completely dead. I guess it didn't like sleeping all those years in a barn in Wisconsin. That is the only plug I've ever experienced that was completely dead. New spark plugs and the bike ran like a champ. 74hp 4 cyl engine in a 500 lb shaft drive bike and it's a blast to ride around town.

Sometimes a main bearing will knock on startup until the oil pressure hits the bearings. But that knock is more of a dull metallic sound. Lifter noise is usually more high pitched.

I would think it is related to the valve train if it makes the noise on startup. Goes away when the lifters pump up or the cam chain tensioner gets presurized by oil if it has one of those. Is it a pushrod engine or OHC?

Awesome!

Makes me wonder where he got his money? Lots of cash invested in his "hobby".

Congratulations on you new adventure. May you find full-timing all the fun and enjoyment you hope it will be!

OMG! I hope he has a lot of security. That's a terrorist's paradise!

Congratulations! Now begins the process of becoming an expert Venture mechanic!

Tell them that your policy is to not buy any parts from a dealer who won't work on your bike.

I suggest that you drain the other carbs to prevent them from plugging up.

The dealer probably gave the PO $500 for it in trade!

Take a look at craigslist for a local mechanic.

One major flaw in the US system is that there is nothing to control cost of Doctors and Hospitals. The AMA meets once a year to set prices for the doctors and have a monopoly that has been allowed so far with the exception of medicare patients where there are allowed prices. The hospitals in the USA charge people who have insurance exorbitant prices to make up for the ones who never pay.

I don't think med ins will ever be affordable again. There are so many super expensive operations and procedures that modern technology has given us that so many people need, it has to be very expensive in my opinion. Dental cost can be prohibitive too if you need dental implants.

I think the ACA was created to insure all the people who can't pay for insurance and to create such chaos that it would pave the way for a single payer system which is the preference of the party that created the ACA.

Well, lets face it. Medical insurance is a form of socialism. If we were totally independent, we would not participate and would pay for our own medical costs. If we take risks or over eat and eat food that is bad for us, we would pay out of our own pockets for our higher risk choices. But we choose to have medical insurance that we pay for individually into a pool and expect the pool to pay for our medical costs. And the pool pays for our high risk actions that we demand to be able to do as we choose. Nothing is that simple it seems. Both houses of Congress and the President are trying their best to come up with an equitable lower cost answer to this issue. Good luck to them. They are going to need it. I hope they succeed.

Thank you for your views. I spoke of disability SS checks. I get an SS check. I filed when I was 69 years old because I was still working. Health care cost is rapidly spinning out of control. I don't know the answer to get it under control and still provide quality health care for everyone. Most countries have single payer where health care is rationed to keep cost down. Older people who need the most health care don't get the care they need. We are unique in our way of providing health care. I hope we can come up with a decent system that the country can afford, but I'll believe it when I see it.

I appreciate your response. A few years ago, I would have agreed with you. However, Americans are getting SO FAT. Women weigh more than men did 50 years ago. Obesity is a major problem that is only getting worse. Every time I go to Walmart, I see many shoppers riding the motorized shopping carts with fat hanging off the seat. Invariably the cart contains Pepsi, chips, and maybe ice cream. I suspect they are all getting a social security disablility check. It's contributing to major increases in health care cost because of joint problems, heart problems, diabetes. and mulitple other problems. Since we don't have the self discipline to keep from getting fat and driving up health care costs, I think a sugar tax is a great idea. Sugar is a carbohydrate that provides calories and no other nutritional value. We tax the heck out of alcohol and tobacco. Maybe sugar taxes should be implemented.

Yeah, those breakfast bars are loaded with sugar. They may be nutritional but not low calorie. I wrote emails to my Congressman and both my Senators suggesting they implement a tax on sugar and an additional tax on soft drinks to help pay for health care. If it reduces sugar consumption it will make us healthier. If it doesn't the health care system could use the money to pay for health care for all those people who consume the sugar. It's a win, win.

Everybody has opinions on linked brakes versus de-linked. Most if not all touring bikes these days have linked brakes as well as ABS on the newer ones because it is a safety feature. I will leave mine linked because in a panic situation, we tend to jam the brake pedal. Years of driving cars have trained us to do this. If you do that with a de-linked system, the rear wheel locks up and you crash. If you are just riding the curves agressively, I'm sure most of us would prefer de-linked brakes but it's those panic stops where we mess up. Like I said, everybody has their own opinion.

I have to respectfully take issue with this based on my personal observation. If I use sugar in my coffee, I will gain weight. If I use Splenda, I don't. Not a scientific study, but just my observation.

Living off the land is not as much fun as I thought!

I don't like the taste of the minerals in bottled water, spring water, and tap water, so I drink distilled water.