Free State Wyoming Forum
Prospective Free State Wyoming (FSW) Members and Interested Parties => Prospective Free State Wyoming (FSW) Members and Interested Parties => Topic started by: Have RV, Will Travel on August 20, 2010, 08:58:06 PM
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Not sure if this is the right place to post this so moderators, please feel free to move it if it belongs elsewhere.
This is my first post so let me give some brief background. I read a friends copy of ML several years ago and mentally filed it away as an interesting concept. Last year, I read One Second After (Forstchen) and Patriots (Rawles) and that spurred me to buy ML and reread it. I then loaned it to a friend and it wasn't until this spring when he mentioned looking into FSW that the seed germinated and I discovered this forum. I've only been on here a few weeks and I know that I haven't found all that can be found here so please bear with me if I ask something that I should have found in a search.
We live in Oklahoma and I'm blessed to work for a small corporation that treats us wonderfully but I'm getting tired of the heat and humidity. We're scheduled to take some vacation time in October and are considering bringing our motorhome to WY for a week or two to see what might be there for us. I know that it's late enough in the season that we may even hit snow but can we still get a good feel for what WY has to offer or are we wasting our time coming this late in the year? I'd expect that many of the RV parks and campgrounds may be closed for the season so we may have to get creative with our parking accommodations but I'm betting we can do it.
Looking forward to exploring more of this forum and getting to know WY.
J
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You are right about winter setting in by October; you may see snow. However, perhaps that's good. You'll see evidence of the WYO motto: "There are two seasons in Wyoming. Winter and July".
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We live in Oklahoma and I'm blessed to work for a small corporation that treats us wonderfully but I'm getting tired of the heat and humidity.
I lived almost a year in Norman, and it was really no fun at all.
We're scheduled to take some vacation time in October and are considering bringing our motorhome to WY for a week or two to see what might be there for us.
A vacation in a motorhome sounds really nice wherever one might go. October here might have snow. It might have cold rain. Or it might be just a series of dry and cool days. My advice is to go for it! My first visit to Wyoming was the last few days of September and the first few days of October in a FWD econo-car, and we had no problems whatsoever.
I suppose there is a chance you could be hammered with hailstones, burnt by lightning, washed away by floods, smashed by tornadoes, and frozen by blizzards. Did I miss anything? Well, Yellowstone is going to blow up any time now and destroy all life within a thousand miles (and cause hardship for the rest of Earth for decades.) But for some reason, these ominous and imminent dangers don't bother me a lot.
I recommend that you give the finger to naysayers and do what you feel like. Wyoming has all four seasons, and there is no reason to look at one and ignore the others. All four seasons have something to offer, if one will look at the opportunities instead of the difficulties of trying to force the environment to adapt to one's notions of city living.
I will end this post with an observation that may also be a rant. It seems to me that there is a large number of people that seem to believe, expect, and desire that everything should be easy to have or buy. All problems should be solved by a phone call to some "expert" and quickly remedied by some expenditure of money. Life should be smooth, even if some of the difficulties turn out to be expensive. I say BULLSHIT!
I say that some problems can NOT BE SOLVED BY SOMEONE ELSE. You HAVE TO figure them out yourself. You can NOT expect someone else to solve your problems. YES! You will have plenty of support from friends, but ultimately you will have to solve your own problems as they come up. For example, just recently I had to learn (relearn actually) ion exchange in a water softener, and how the entire system works, from salts to zeolites and so on. Now I feel better educated on the process and my options. But someone who is not willing and ready to learn is just a worthless person, and should probably stay in the city where slavery is easy.
I do not mean this rant to apply to you. It just came out ... against those city creatures who might also be reading this.
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I suppose there is a chance you could be hammered with hailstones, burnt by lightning, washed away by floods, smashed by tornadoes, and frozen by blizzards. Did I miss anything? .
LOL. Are you trying to describe Wyoming or Oklahoma? About 3 years ago, we had 2 once-in-a hundred-year ice storms within 12 months of each other so we even get the ice but not near as much snow.
I will end this post with an observation that may also be a rant. It seems to me that there is a large number of people that seem to believe, expect, and desire that everything should be easy to have or buy. All problems should be solved by a phone call to some "expert" and quickly remedied by some expenditure of money. Life should be smooth, even if some of the difficulties turn out to be expensive. I say BULLSHIT!
I say that some problems can NOT BE SOLVED BY SOMEONE ELSE. You HAVE TO figure them out yourself. You can NOT expect someone else to solve your problems. YES! You will have plenty of support from friends, but ultimately you will have to solve your own problems as they come up. For example, just recently I had to learn (relearn actually) ion exchange in a water softener, and how the entire system works, from salts to zeolites and so on. Now I feel better educated on the process and my options. But someone who is not willing and ready to learn is just a worthless person, and should probably stay in the city where slavery is easy.
I do not mean this rant to apply to you. It just came out ... against those city creatures who might also be reading this.
Feel free to rant away. I just recently had to learn how a generator works because the "experts" at the RV shop miswired the new regulator and then misdiagnosed the problem and wanted to sell me a whole new generator and then charged me for their miswiring and misdiagnosis on top of it all. Fortunately for me, a new generator wasn't in the budget and I had to disassemble the old one myself, seek out true experts who would tell me how to correctly diagnose it, reassemble it and reinstall it. Yes, diving into new adventures can be intimidating at times but if you know your abilities and are willing to push your own limits a bit, you'll be amazed at what you can do on your own.
OK, enough preaching to the choir. As you said, it just came out.
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Have RV: My suggestion is simple-GO FOR IT! October should be just fine and yes, likely snow in higher elevations and maybe a blow. Just all depends. ;) Really shouldn't have an impact on travel to speak of. However, you'll likely run into below freezing temps at night, so make sure you've got your RV set up for that.
You'll want to see all the seasons anyway, so anytime is a good time to start exploring. Enjoy!
You're frustration with the 'instant/easy/entitlement' crowd is shared by many of us, so you're not alone. Just another symptom of a rotting society and something of a basis for Socialists... You know the old saying, 'Socialism works great until you run out of the other guys money'. ;)
Self reliance seems to be quite a commodity these days. :)
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You are right about winter setting in by October; you may see snow. However, perhaps that's good. You'll see evidence of the WYO motto: "There are two seasons in Wyoming. Winter and July".
You definitely forgot the third season here.... CONSTRUCTION ;D
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Feel free to rant away. OK, enough preaching to the choir. As you said, it just came out.
I think you'll fit in just fine here. :)
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I do not think you will have very many problems parking your RV. Here in Newcastle there is an RV park that is open yr. round here. You must understand people here have to survive so they go to whatever lengths to do so. Its not like we have kazillions of people and the job opportunities that that much population provides. Overall, Wyomings weather is pretty decent if you compare the geographical areas and the weather in other locales. Of course we have our storms, once over things get pretty tolerable again. There is only one way you'll find this out for YOURSELVES and that is to c'mon up.
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Glad to hear about the year-round RV park in Newcastle. I read that the water is turned off at the Keyhole State Park campqround as of October 1 (not that that would keep us from stopping there) so I assumed that some RV parks might close then as well. As long as we're only dealing with periodic snow and melt and not full snow cover by then, we should be OK. We're self-contained and sub-freezing temperatures shouldn't be a problem but the RV just isn't set up driving in snow at this point.
We don't have our plans all made but I know that I want to spend some time checking out the areas around Newcastle and Sundance. Hopefully this trip will serve to whet our appetite and start the process of moving us towards more self-sufficiency.
Some of the primary obstacles that I already see include employment (as I posted earlier, I am blessed to work for a very good company that puts employees before corporate profits), medical (my wife has numerous medical issues and finding replacement doctors can be a challenge), and family (stepson and daughter-in-law live just an hour from us and are expecting their first child in December). I know that all of those can be overcome but it will take some creative problem solving to find win-win solutions for each.
One thing that I noticed as I just checked weather.com is that both Newcastle, WY and San Augustine, TX (where we are currently working) are at 95* right now but down here, it feels like 108* and in Newcastle, it feels like 90*. The difference, of course, being the 13% humidity up there vs. the 57% humidity down here.
Thanks for all the information and encouragement. Looking forward to coming and exploring eastern WY.
J
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The state parks shut down in the winter, they are not RV parks. RV parks stay open all year, and provide hookups that "aren't suppose to freeze shut."
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October? Not only are the rv parks open but crammed with elk and deer hunters! You'll see LOTS of folks walking around with rifles. ;D
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Well, it's October and we finally made it to the Black Hills last night. We plan to take in Mt. Rushmore and surrounding area this weekend before heading west to explore eastern WY.
Anyone care to post the phone number for that RV park in Newcastle?
Thanks in advance,
J
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There's a KOA campground right up here at Devil's Tower.
Ooops. I did a little investigating and their site says they are only open till Sept 30.
Here's the info though just in case:
Devils Tower KOA
60 Highway 110
Devils Tower, WY 82714
Information: (307) 467-5395
Email: info@devilstowerkoa.com
Reserve Online Now!
Or By Phone: (800) 562-5785
KOA Pet Policy
Mac
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Rim Rock RV & Camp307-746-2007
2206 W Main St, Newcastle, WY
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There is Auto Inn Motel and RV Park -2505 W. Main St Newcastle
Phone: 307-746-2734
Right on highway 16.
Give us a call if you want and maybe we can feed ya.
lindab
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Didn't see that one, Linda! Will add it to my list. :)
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Thanks for all the information.
I think we'll start at the Mountain View RV Park in Sundance [www.mtnviewcampground.com] and then go from there.