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Qwerty
12-23-2018, 06:17 PM
Like many from the northern states, we like to 'snowbird' in Florida. Our usual spot is the Fort Pickens campsite on Santa Rosa Island, Pensacola. It's an Army Corp of Engineers site, therefore federal.

In January during the last shutdown, park rangers told everyone to leave by 4 pm (including the campsite hosts), until the government reopened.

For the period of the shutdown, we traveled to Georgia where my wife's cousin lives. Getting there and back to the campsite added 600 miles to our traveling but others had nowhere to go and so, congregated at the local Walmart parking lot. The sheriff ordered them to leave after just one day.

This turmoil was a huge for hundreds who'd traveled thousands of miles for their retreat in the warmth. And this unnecessary disruption lasted just three days. :banghead:

Fast forward ten months and here we go again. Thankfully we're not there but my heart bleeds for those who'd made plans for Christmas on the Gulf.

If you were out there on a federal campsite & are now using Walmart WiFi to read this, know than your fellow campers feel your pain and wish you a

:xmas3:Merry Christmas!:xmas3:

Global Driver
12-24-2018, 08:40 AM
Sorry for the chaos.
Maybe our politicians can quit acting like small children and actually work together for what’s best for us American taxpayers! Novel idea huh?!?!

Merry Christmas to all y’all!:xmas14::xmas10::xmas4:

travelin texans
12-24-2018, 06:12 PM
Sorry for the chaos.
Maybe our politicians can quit acting like small children and actually work together for what’s best for us American taxpayers! Novel idea huh?!?!

Merry Christmas to all y’all!:xmas14::xmas10::xmas4:

It's Christmas, don't insult small children like that, they've been good all year for Santa, can't say that for those others!!!
MERRY CHRISTMAS & HAPPY NEW YEAR!

roadglide
12-24-2018, 06:51 PM
There was some disruptions in quartzsite with volunteer taking dues for BLM services last year . From the information I'm getting it's business as usual in quartzsite this year.

fatcatzzz
12-25-2018, 12:39 PM
There was some disruptions in quartzsite with volunteer taking dues for BLM services last year . From the information I'm getting it's business as usual in quartzsite this year.

BLM is on furlough again with the permit takers. Have not been kicking anyone out yet.

Steve/
12-25-2018, 06:06 PM
A few years ago when we were told we would need to leave campground in colorado the ranger pull out a map and showed us where the dispersed camping was as it was not being closed.

Local150
12-25-2018, 06:42 PM
Very interesting

cathcartww
12-25-2018, 07:44 PM
It seems like they always try to eliminate the things that will inconvenience people the most. For instance out at Hatteras Nation Seashore, they are maintaining the rangers that patrol the beach to make sure people have permits, but closed the office that sells the permits. Up until a few years ago, permits weren't even required. It's not tourist season!

I guess they don't want people to find out how many unnecessary employees there really are .....

sourdough
12-25-2018, 08:14 PM
It's just me but we are skating on the edge of "politics" in this conversation. My SIL works for the NFS and they have obviously been affected. My thoughts on if it's good, bad etc. and how it affects him aren't really relevant to an RV forum. Most of the last post was OK IMO -generally, but the last comment was probably out of line....whether I agree with it or not.

Not trying to direct, redirect or anything else. I, like most everyone these days, have VERY strong feelings about what is going on in government...good and bad; but, that's for a different place - I'm wondering how the weather is going to be next week for the week I gave to my nephew and his new wife at Emerald Grande in Destin....!!!

FlyingAroundRV
12-25-2018, 09:17 PM
It's just me but we are skating on the edge of "politics" in this conversation. My SIL works for the NFS and they have obviously been affected. My thoughts on if it's good, bad etc. and how it affects him aren't really relevant to an RV forum. Most of the last post was OK IMO -generally, but the last comment was probably out of line....whether I agree with it or not.

Not trying to direct, redirect or anything else. I, like most everyone these days, have VERY strong feelings about what is going on in government...good and bad; but, that's for a different place - I'm wondering how the weather is going to be next week for the week I gave to my nephew and his new wife at Emerald Grande in Destin....!!!
Once again Danny, I find I'm in furious agreement with you. When I saw this thread, I thought "I'm not going to get into this one. I know the official policy of these fora is no politics and that is as it should be.

Global Driver
12-26-2018, 07:35 AM
Not sure what constitutes political or not per your scale, but what CathCartWW mentioned was a true observation. The permit patrol remains while the permit office remains closed.

Hopefully they come to an agreement and this all ends very soon so everyone who works can get back to work.

labman
12-26-2018, 08:18 AM
All trouble for a snowbird can certainly be avoided during a shutdown. Just reserve a spot in a non government owned campground. if you are driving 1000+ miles to stay in warm weather, doesn't it make sense to pay for a spot to insure you have one for the season? I am all for squeezing everything out of my fixed income dollar but I wouldn't want to jeopardize my winter trip trying to save a buck. I may be wrong about why you would stay at a place with no sewer hookup for any length of time if so I apologize in advance.

Qwerty
12-26-2018, 09:15 AM
We stay at ACE sites because of the senior half price discount, although Fort Pickens went from $13 to $20 this year.

When you have clean, well maintained bathrooms combined with a portable waste tank, who needs sewage hookup. I've never found it any hassle

JRTJH
12-26-2018, 09:25 AM
There are a lot of military Fam Camps that have overflow parking without hookups other than electricity. One in particular, the Navy Fam Camp in Key West has more overflow camping sites than full hookup sites. Most (well, many) people prefer the overflow area because it's closer to the water, less noise and offers the same atmosphere as the more expensive FHU sites. Two times we've been there when there was a waiting list for the overflow area and open sites in the FHU area.

If we're staying for less than a week, with two 6 gallon fresh water jugs and a 30 gallon blue tank (exclusively for gray water) we can stay at either the overflow or the FHU areas with no change in lifestyle (other than trips to dump the blue tank rather than pulling a valve handle).

ctbruce
12-26-2018, 11:43 AM
Just a moderator note to put everyone at ease or on notice.

1. The last thing we want to do is close a thread. Theres no joy in that.
2. Theres a lot of great information flowing both ways and at least for me, I'm learning quite a bit.
3. So far, things have been civil as people have dealt with the cards they've been dealt. A little upset or disappointment is understandable.
4. The moderators are reading each post and participating in the discussion. If it goes off the rails we'll try to steer it back between the ditches.
5. If the wheels come off, rest assured it will be a short train wreck.
6. As your mom says, dont make me come in there.

Carry on and be civil. It's all good...so far.

Global Driver
12-26-2018, 03:12 PM
6. As your mom says, dont make me co.e in there.

Specially when she calls you your full name!!

fjr vfr
12-26-2018, 05:17 PM
I hope this is not out of bounds, but wouldn't it be great if every time there was a shut down it would shut down all the pay and benefits for the politicians and bureaucrats involved.
Maybe they would work a little harder and quicker to bring it to an end? :)

roadglide
12-26-2018, 05:32 PM
It could be miserable if the blm locked the gates for water and dumps
When a million people attending quartzsite jamboree and senator wash .

Happy Dad
12-26-2018, 05:44 PM
I hope this is not out of bounds, but wouldn't it be great if every time there was a shut down it would shut down all the pay and benefits for the politicians and bureaucrats involved.
Maybe they would work a little harder and quicker to bring it to an end? :)

Unfortunately that won't do a lick of good as the majority of them are pretty well off to begin with. How about NO days off until they learn how to play nice together and figure it out?

sourdough
12-26-2018, 06:40 PM
Just a moderator note to put everyone at ease or on notice.

1. The last thing we want to do is close a thread. Theres no joy in that.
2. Theres a lot of great information flowing both ways and at least for me, I'm learning quite a bit.
3. So far, things have been civil as people have dealt with the cards they've been dealt. A little upset or disappointment is understandable.
4. The moderators are reading each post and participating in the discussion. If it goes off the rails we'll try to steer it back between the ditches.
5. If the wheels come off, rest assured it will be a short train wreck.
6. As your mom says, dont make me co.e in there.

Carry on and be civil. It's all good...so far.


Chip, there is nothing in the previous thread that would warrant closing it IMO. If your comment is about my post about this being political; I commented on one sentence in one post....the OP, I'm sure, never meant it to be political but it was, again, IMO. Nothing has gone sideways since then.

I think, from my participation on this forum for years, that most folks want to be able to voice their opinion about most anything - to the benefit of us all. At times a comment may cross the line of what one of us may view as "political", "religious", etc. - some just go down the road; I mention them - but not to start fights or close threads.

Qwerty
12-26-2018, 06:55 PM
As the originator of this thread I'd just like to say that my intentions were to simply give a shout-out to all those (hundreds) of campers who've had their holidays ruined. :(

ctbruce
12-26-2018, 06:57 PM
Chip, there is nothing in the previous thread that would warrant closing it IMO. If your comment is about my post about this being political; I commented on one sentence in one post....the OP, I'm sure, never meant it to be political but it was, again, IMO. Nothing has gone sideways since then.



I think, from my participation on this forum for years, that most folks want to be able to voice their opinion about most anything - to the benefit of us all. At times a comment may cross the line of what one of us may view as "political", "religious", etc. - some just go down the road; I mention them - but not to start fights or close threads.Nope, never even connected the two. Just wanted to let all know that expressing your opinion was ok and welcome. The mods do not have short fuses and are glad when discussion happens and stays reasonable. Just wanted those who may wonder, that one was no where near being discussed about bad behavior. It would be great if they all went this well.

As said above, carry on.

sourdough
12-26-2018, 07:17 PM
As the originator of this thread I'd just like to say that my intentions were to simply give a shout-out to all those (hundreds) of campers who've had their holidays ruined. :(


Personally I read the post and think it was right - folks knowing the impact of the shutdown is very important, to me, for those trying to use federal locations. IMO we had one post that went over the bounds of talking RVs and moved to ;

"I guess they don't want people to find out how many unnecessary employees there really are …". I think the comment was just not thought through.

Whether I agree or disagree with that is irrelevant - that's really not what you want to talk about when we are discussing how our RVs operate, how fun they are, or problems etc.

chuckster57
12-26-2018, 07:24 PM
RV’s are fun?? Oh yeah, I forgot, they are when you using them. Not so much when your working on them.

sourdough
12-26-2018, 07:34 PM
RV’s are fun?? Oh yeah, I forgot, they are when you using them. Not so much when your working on them.

You are SO right! We, like most I'm sure, do everything we can while the RV is "sitting" to keep it up to snuff for the next trip. When we travel and have fun you just have fun - generally, unless something breaks. For us it is a LOVE, love a little less, relationship depending on what's going on:).

FlyingAroundRV
12-26-2018, 08:32 PM
RV’s are fun?? Oh yeah, I forgot, they are when you using them. Not so much when your working on them.
Chuckster: I know where you're coming from with that, being a service tech, but personally, I like tinkering on my rig.
So far (fingers crossed) it hasn't ventured into major repairs territory, or significant renovations like my S&B.:)

roadglide
12-27-2018, 04:08 AM
I have social media for venting about politics. There are private areas around BLM where water and dumps for 10 dollars . The lines for BLM dump stations are backed for some distance a good number of high end rv will only boondock one or two weeks a year and it's for quartzsite rally .

AbbyinTN
01-17-2019, 03:55 PM
I am reading conflicting information in regards to the Corp of Engineer campgrounds in Tennessee. Although they do not open until Mid-March, I read that the parks were fully funded through fiscal 2019. Anybody know if this is true or will the campgrounds not open as intended? Thank you.

Qwerty
01-17-2019, 05:12 PM
The Fort Pickens campground (the ACoE site that I referenced in my original post) is closed because it is situated inside the entrance to The Gulf Islands National Seashore site.

I believe all other ACoE campsites are operational as normal. If they're not, their website will tell you so.

KCSA75
01-17-2019, 06:44 PM
I am reading conflicting information in regards to the Corp of Engineer campgrounds in Tennessee. Although they do not open until Mid-March, I read that the parks were fully funded through fiscal 2019. Anybody know if this is true or will the campgrounds not open as intended? Thank you.

Let's hope those yahoos in Washington get their act together and get this resolved long before March.