We are talking and thinking we might try to winter in Vermont. We have children and a grandson in Rutland. If you know of a place in Vermont where we could plug into a simple 20A extension cord we could be happy. Access to water spigot would be a huge plus, but we can manage without.
We are good workers if work is needed but we are willing to pay.
Dave
I would go for 50 amp service to stay warm a very nice place and weather from May to the first of Nov it gets cold there :-X
Clifford got there first, Vermont is real winter, I would have a serious heating plan in place. Water spigots don't work past November. Neither do sewage dumps. Campsites close October 15th... You can sometimes get big propane tanks delivered if you have a propane furnace.
Brian
Quote from: luvrbus on October 01, 2013, 03:36:39 PM
I would go for 50 amp service to stay warm a very nice place and weather from May to the first of Nov it gets cold there :-X
We have lived our whole life in Northern Michigan. Actually Rutland runs about 10+ degrees warmer than our home.
Dump could be the biggest issue. Frost free water spigots are on most homes.
This can be done, if we can find a place.
Yea but you were not living in a bus :-X in Michigan when we there it was cold for a AZ person then I about passed out when I had to pay 4 bucks a gal for propane it was double in price from the AZ propane price FL would be better for me
You and my friend Cole are the only 2 I know with a bus that goes North in winter he heads to Vermont every winter with his grandkids to ski
I don't know you but he is crazy to leave Houston with 80+ degree weather and go to Vermont but a grand kid is worth it we go every where to see ours
I've taken our 4106 to Mt Tremblant twice for a Christmas vacation. It was cold. Very.
Clifford, I can't imagine considering human life in Texas, Arizona, etc during July. I'd be dead in an hour.
You might be right about the cold, but we're just weighing options.
The good thing about Mt Tremblant is, once you get on the road out you have 50 miles to bump-start the bus before you hit Montreal... ;D
We used to race cars at Tremblant every summer, great town for having fun.
Brian
This was the first time we stayed at home in July and Aug trust me 120+ degrees sucks big time but we usually just get that a couple of weeks in July and Aug
105 is not bad it makes one want a sweat shirt lol today is it is the 90's just beautiful weather it drops down in the 50's at night with a gradual warm up till about 4 p.m then it starts dropping again
I can handle 2 months of the heat with the AC for 10 months of great weather it really a good place to live for weather a 2 hr trip we can go from 120 to 80 degree weather in Aug
If I had to winter in Vermont in my bus I would look for a heated garage to park in.
Meh. We've done a winter already up here in Michigan. About to do another one. Just keep water tank bays heated and run heat tape on your water hose and insulate with hose foam. That being said, it can be cozy in a bus in the winter. Don't you guys remember my pics from this past winter?
(https://busconversionmagazine.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimg.tapatalk.com%2Fd%2F13%2F10%2F02%2Fdesany7a.jpg&hash=29989c72f092ccea715a2980056deebfeff0db76)(https://busconversionmagazine.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimg.tapatalk.com%2Fd%2F13%2F10%2F02%2Faha9esy2.jpg&hash=95d1452b7a0b4d634875ba66d0792e559228b877)
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk. Clumsy fingers may contribute to mistakes.
Cool bus photo Scott. I hope I never have one like it. Being from Wisconsin when we started this bus thing, we like to be south. The little of cold weather Iv'e experienced in the bus was not fun. Craig
Unfortunately my bus is not parked on my own land, if it was I would gladly offer you a parking spot, but their is no type of hookups, not even 20 amp. I tried to run my new AC last summer but the 15 amp outlet was not enough. Everyone is right about Vermont, but is sounds like you are experienced with cold weather living. The worst I remember is -40, we dont see that often, but -20 for a couple of weeks is something you can count on. Last winter we had the regular couple of weeks of -20 and the rest was mostly in the teens. I can relate to this little clip- enjoy!
http://youtu.be/qJUFTm6cJXM (http://youtu.be/qJUFTm6cJXM)
You have a bus, you have the freedom to go anywhere you want, so the only question is ......why?
Quote from: Tikvah on October 01, 2013, 04:03:00 PM
Dump could be the biggest issue.
We stayed in Montana in a 27' fifth wheel trailer one winter many years ago. We used heat tape on water system outside. Most of the system was inside the trailer. The gray water went strait to the sewer and we held the black tank and dumped as needed. I used rock salt to keep it from freezing. The temperature made it well below -20 deg. f. We used the factory forced air heater and two milk house heaters to heat. I'm not sure I would want to do it again but we made through. Our bus would be better for this type of living. I did have one freeze up caused by sewer hose being knocked off my board and causing a trap that froze. The result was a 30 gallon block of ice in my gray tank but that is a different story LOL.
John
Tikvah, be sure you've got good winter blended diesel in the tank, or maybe even a heated fuel tank. We had a church group from NC park up on the mountain one winter. 2 days later, when they wanted to leave, fuel had jelled. >:( We tried to tent the bus end and heat with salamander heaters, but, no luck. we ended up towing it down the mountain (no easy task... think triple axle tow truck and d-9 dozer hooked to it :o) and taking it to the state garage where they put it indoors to thaw. took 2 days and you should have seen the white frost that covered the engine as it warmed up. Just remember, the temps are bad enough, but the wind will chill it a lot more. :)
I remember living in the UP (Michigan's Upper Peninsula) back in the early 80s. At the time I didn't have running water in my cabin, so I drew water from a flowing well and kept a bucket under the sink to catch the drain. When the bucket was full I would walk outside and toss the water.
One morning, it was especially cold, I walked out (actually up because of the build-up of snow I would create steps in the snow to get on top) and tossed the water from the bucket - the water shattered when it hit the snow. It was hard to read the thermometer, but it was someplace between -40 and -50.
Southerners don't believe it, but you can go outside in a tee shirt at -40 and feel comfortable. Now understand you would be dead in minutes, but comfortable just the same. :)
We don't mind the winters, we actually enjoy the snow and bug-free weather. Going south seems like something we HAVE to do because the bus is complicated to heat, and maybe for the first year, even a little unsure of the issues we could face. However, we don't know where to go South. We don't have any contacts or friends in the south beyond this group. So, if you're in the south give me a shout. Now when I say south I'm thinking of places like the Carolinas, or Tennessee, not Hell Fire and Brim-Stone like Texas or Florida :P
We know we have to be in Vermont in Feburary and a short trip to Michigan in Feburary also. We could leave the bus in the south and drive the car, but.....
Dave
Dave, Dave, Dave,.... Places like Az. NM. Tx. and Fl. may be "Hell Fire and Brim Stone" in the summer but in the winter they are very pleasant. In fact they can get snow or frost at times. Even way down in Yuma we have seen frost for a day or two, 3-4 years out of the 9 years we have spent there. Every now and then Fl. gets a freeze that damages the orange crop. My dad spent 5 years up by the arctic circle and told me how a time or two it would get to -70 and when it got to -40 they thought it was t shirt weather. ;D
Ok! last winter I was in eastern Or. near Baker City, yes it got cold! Near 0 and a little below, With 2 cube heaters in the bus and 1 in the water bay no freeze. BUT I had the use of a house that was kept at 45, so showers in the house, laundry in the house.
And in Nov. of 2011 I was north of Chino Valley and on a 15 amp cord, and it snowed, that was cold. The bus is fairly insulated, no furnace.
Pose your ??? on one of the forums Escapees, RV.net ,, or go to Hitchitch.com and look at their RV links page.
This was last winter, but we weren't living in it yet.
(https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-UQmdtCoCLI8/UkxUpmJN-WI/AAAAAAAAGyE/EH1yfy2Wjoc/w1000-h562-no/winter+12.jpg)
He will be fine my point with no other heat but the cube heaters 15 or 20 amps is not going to cut it in Vermont and it looks like he has side windows unlike Scott which showed no windows on the sides
Well, on the upside, enough snow may be a pretty good insulation. Like an igloo, the walls should be a toasty 32 degrees.
Hi Dave, we will get down to 20 degrees in January, to us thats cold, here in LV, if you get here in November, you guys can come to Vans 2nd Dam NRG at Lake Mead RV park, when you live in LV you get more relative visiting you than you actually know! So your never lonely, lvmci...
Okay, I give....
Where is LV ?
Going out on a limb... I'd say Las Vegas ;D
Ahh... Las Vegas!
If we were to make a list of all the places....
Interesting what we see in our minds when a place is mentioned.
Dave you first need to thaw, LOL ;D
Dave5Cs
I would have the Aqua Hot double checked prior to the winter stay in Vt, of course I prefer warmer weather. If I could handle the low temps, I would be in the Black Hills SD year round. I spent a Thanksgiving holiday in Twin Cities, MN about 1973, lots snow, the highest temp was -15f, I say never again.
Dave, you also mention that you don't know anybody down south other than here on the boards. When you travel to new areas you will meet new people! It used to be that we only knew people from our home area, a few moved to other states and we kept in contact with them. From traveling and rallies we have met people from all over the US and Canada,.....it has opened up a whole new world for us.
Hi Dave, LV, LA, PHX, SD, SFO, SLC, just shorthand I guess coming from airports, Dave so many choices here in the capitol of the SW (south west), from $80 to $35 a nite, from expensive lots with casitas to impromtu mesa top boondocking overlooking a massive lake for free, lake side or poolside, wide open boondocking with no neighbors, to koa at circus circus off the Strip, 30 miles one way is a cool ponderosa forest, 30 the other is 2 lakes with great fishing. Th previous message has been brought to you by a vegas boy. Lvmci...
Sturgis in the middle of April,snowed in for a week,only reason the snow is not deeper in this picture is the gail force down to 0 wind chills kept the snow drifts moving around. had a good 50amp hookup 4 elect. heaters going not to bad inside.
Reminder to self,do not head north till at least mid may
LV-- I though that was Lower Vermont :D
When I was stationed in Little Rock, AR I had civilian employee who told me he was going to LA for the weekend, and after about the 3rd time he told me this I thought he must be made of money-----until one of the other civilians told me that meant Lower Arkansas where Civilian #1 had a family farm and went hunting!
Steve
Matt, i tried to tell you that you were headed north too soon! ;D
I just never imagined, with the quality of people we have on this forum, that anyone would be from Las Vegas! ;D
Okay, just teasing....
I've never been there, but in my imagination, I can't imagine going. Desert, rocks, prostitutes. I'm sure when people think of northern Michigan, you might have equal odd images. So often when people think of Michigan they think "Detroit". Yet, the truth is, northern Michigan is God's country. I guess I should go to LV just to prove to myself that there is better there than Hollywood has given me.
Unique country the Vegas area I live less than a 100 miles from Vegas the area has mountains, trees, lakes, rivers and desert about anything you ask for,except for the prostitutes they are not allowed in Vegas any longer now it is a escort service lol
Hi Dave, Having worked there for the past 40 years, I take umbrage at the fact you would believe anything that Hollywood feeds you! I would never sit down to eat with an actor or a producer, unless I knew them well! Usually an unpleasent event. Just kidding. Good guys and bad guys just like in any other business. Johnny Carson once joked that all women in Vegas were prostitutes! The nuns at my school got together a letter writing campaign that bombarded NBC for a month, poor NBC, we all know how good nuns can be at harangueing. The desert is different, a Joshua forest is a sight to behold, especially snow covered, a bald eagle swooping down to pick up a big grey carp is an amazing sight, as well as a wild mustang drinking from a creek in a bright red, sandstone canyon, this happens all around LV. I hope you can make it sometime, tom, lvmci...
That late spring storm caught me too, Matt. Lost 9 days coming home from Blytheville in late April. Fortunately I had Rusty to host me and give shelter in Longmont, what a great guy. You have to get out of town to appreciate Vegas, we love going up to the Red Rock area, pine trees, waterfalls, looking down at the lights of town.
Dave, hopefully you'll make another attempt at coming down here. If and when, I can give you a walk-around of our coach show you how we've survived the winters. Most people don't understand Michiganders. We are hard core when it comes to snow and cold. I've met Alaskans who fear our "Lake Effect Snow" muha! 8)
Red Rock Canyon National Park, 10 miles from downtown LV, winter picture & summer pic, lvmci...
Ya, we have rocks....
(https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/_ZUpwWBUi3LSvU9wVCpSaA47Xo5qwnU0By3HAXAEZb0=w800-h500-no)
and we have water.....
(https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/sK6y6ZhOE75sCmpPb-cKyvNd12M-iaYWN9TAZ-5A53E=w400-h300-no)
What else you got? ;D
Quote from: Tikvah on October 03, 2013, 10:29:44 AM
Ya, we have rocks....
(https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/_ZUpwWBUi3LSvU9wVCpSaA47Xo5qwnU0By3HAXAEZb0=w800-h500-no)
and we have water.....
(https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/sK6y6ZhOE75sCmpPb-cKyvNd12M-iaYWN9TAZ-5A53E=w400-h300-no)
What else you got? ;D
I'm liking you more and more Dave. :)
You guys do have some nice bugs that we do not have, a local in Wurtsmith where I spent some time told me the best mosquitoes repellant was a 20 gauge shot gun
The Air Force used those suckers in flight training for combat sometimes the mosquitoes won ::)
QuoteThe Air Force used those suckers in flight training for combat sometimes the mosquitoes won Roll Eyes
Okay, you have me there... we have mosquitoes that are viscous, but our bear are harmless.
I think you have some snakes that would make me afraid of running barefoot through the woods
Hi All, what a beautiful country we have, and the best way to view it. Ive been fortunate to see a lot of it while working, cant wait to see it from behind my big ole steering wheel, lvmci...
QuoteInsert Quote
Hi All, what a beautiful country we have, and the best way to view it
That's really true. I don't know how much we will get to see, but no point in staying home and never seeing it..... even Las Vegas maybe :D