24/7 Chat About Anything

[maki2]

It is surprising that any Walmarts allow overnight parking. It made sense years ago when Walmarts used to stay open 24 hours a day. But the Walmarts all stopped the open 24 hours routines when Covid showed up and staffing and health restrictions got all screwed up. So in a way you can actually blame the beginning of the end of the era of Walmart overnight parking on Covid as that really did create the biggest impact on its loss. The city parking ordinances could not stop people parking in the lot and shopping all night when stores are open but they can stop people parking in the lots of stores that are closed under the category of public health and safety, crime reduction, etc.

 

[maki2]

My plan to get an early departure to my next campsite to avoid towing in the stronger winds got delayed due to lack of wind. The NFS is conducting a large prescribed burn a few miles NW of Bellemont AZ and last night after the sunset and the wind died down the smoke came down tot the ground level like a thick fog. This too shall pass by the time I finish breakfast and finish securing stuff. But I will wait to hitch up a while longer to avoid breathing in the worst of it and so there is good visibility out on the Interstate hwy.

Fortunately no prescribed burns near my next campsite but it is likely to be crowded there on Memorial Day weekend.

 

[Happy Camper]

My plan to get an early departure to my next campsite to avoid towing in the stronger winds got delayed due to lack of wind.

Thank you for that. I actually laughed when I read it. Needed that this morning. Keep on keeping on, and stay safe.

 

[maki2]

This afternoon I made it to one of my favorite summer season campsites by the South Rim of the Grand Canyon and found it occupied by friends I had let come camp there with me in previous summers. Fortunately it is a large enough area for all. They all just went into the park to do laundry so at least for now I can unwind after my drive.

There was a lot of smoke by the town of Williams. There is no way anyone should try dispersed camping at the NFS dispersed camping area just north of Williams as there is way too much smoke there. Even the town itself is very smokey. It is decidedly unhealthy to camp on Garland Prarie road NFS dispersed area or at the Kaibab Lake NFS campground until they are done with that burn. I do not know if the burn will continue on through the holiday weekend. But at least there was plenty of NFS camping available near the town of Tusayan. Barely any tourist were hanging around the stores and eateries in Tusayan. Now I just need to finish the unhitching chores.

 

[maki2]

My campsite is relatively close to the Grand Canyon park entrance and it is very peaceful here in camp as the weekend campers are all inside the park or waiting in line to get into the park. I just hang out at camp on the weekends and let them suffer the lines. You can see by the webcam shot at the park entry station the line is likely more than 2 miles long. It is 4 northbound lanes heading into the toll booths near the entrance but narrows to 2 northbound lanes just over that rise in the distance. These people are most likely driving in from places at a further distance to be arriving this late in the day. That is okay, the town of Tusayan and the park need the business. Most of these folks will be staying in motels in Tusayan, Flagstaff or Williams. But there is as bunch of “glamping” in yurts and domes down by Grand Canyon Junction, formerly that small village was called Valle.

 

[Gr8ful]

WOW too many people for me!

 

[maki2]

^ that is just because of the 3 day holiday weekend. It is not normally like that on weekdays. My campsite is very peaceful although the coyotes were howling a short while ago.

 

[maki2]

Hooray! A whole week of sunny weather with high temps right at 80 degrees looking ahead and no strong winds!

Unfortunately this forum has now “gone to the dogs” with most of the new postings being made in the new forum section titled politics and controversy. Exactly the kind of stuff I never want to look at in a forum that is supposed to be about Van Living. So I will leave this newly minted version of the forum to those who enjoy daily dog fights in their lives because that absolutely is not my idea of a peaceful, happy Van Life.

 

[Camper]

I've quit donating to this forum for that reason.

 

[Morgana]

The saguaros are blooming, they look like prickly Maypole dancing girls.

 

[bullfrog !]

^^^ get a big hat for shade when viewing as it’s gonna be in the 100’s this next week!

 

[INTJohn]

Unfortunately this forum has now “gone to the dogs” with most of the new postings being made in the new forum section titled politics and controversy. Exactly the kind of stuff I never want to look at in a forum that is supposed to be about Van Living. So I will leave this newly minted version of the forum to those who enjoy daily dog fights in their lives because that absolutely is not my idea of a peaceful, happy Van Life.

Disagree completely............
The new forum is breathing new life into an otherwise somewhat stagnant site and its really just a subset forum of
This Forum: Off Topic & Chit Chat. This forum according to your logic you shouldn't want to look at either little lone post on it because it too; by definition is Off Topic & Chit Chat hence not about "Van Living".

No reason for someone to stop supporting the site, either. These Internet Forum based Sites are somewhat of a dying breed and reality is they are depended on VIEWS!
You get views by someone contributing POSTS!
You get Posts by someone starting THREADS! (I try to do my part on a constructive basis)

The Site makes $$$$ by membership fees & donations as well as the Number of Views/Clicks; which the new forum in less than a month has, as near as I estimate, over 11,000 Views. (I'm sure the site powers that be have a better census & account of this than me)

Soooo, if one is not interested in a particular Site Forum or thread, one doesnt need to punish the entire site because of it. For example - myself personally - In over 7 years on this site I've never once viewed anything on the "For Women Only" Forum.........I'm not a Women and since its specifically labelled & addressed to a particular gender which I'm not a member of, what's ever in there is not addressed to me - even if there might happen to be contained someplace therein something that may pertain to men in general or myself in particular.

Some people enjoy, flowers, or waterfalls or skateboarding or golf or painting, etc and enjoy conversing on those things.......... Other personalities care about the Planet we live on and the Forces thereof - both "Natural" and Human - this includes those Human Forces thatt are not only spiritual, but Terristrial and this includes Politics or anything environmentally controversial that is worthy (or unworthy) of constructive, dialogue, debate & discussion.

No, the place is not "going to the dogs" its opened up a new avenue of exploration & interaction for those of us who do live in a Vehicle..........

As I See It
INTJohn

 

[Malamute]

Hooray! A whole week of sunny weather with high temps right at 80 degrees looking ahead and no strong winds!

Unfortunately this forum has now “gone to the dogs” with most of the new postings being made in the new forum section titled politics and controversy. Exactly the kind of stuff I never want to look at in a forum that is supposed to be about Van Living. So I will leave this newly minted version of the forum to those who enjoy daily dog fights in their lives because that absolutely is not my idea of a peaceful, happy Van Life.

Reading your posts about Arizona is one of the things I like about the forum. I didnt know there was a new section about politics, but was wondering why there was so much political horsesh!t showing up in the daily digests recently and why those discussions werent shut down. If this is the new trend I also dont foresee hanging around.

Several forums I formerly liked have become more tolerant of political garbage, I dont visit them much any more, if at all. I predict it will be the demise of this forum.

 

[vanbrat]

I personally don't read a few of the things in here. I also am not letting the current politics into my choice of friends nope not letting anyone's dumb ideas about politics get in the way of my friendships. I have some very strong ideas too and if ya get in my face about yours, you will get my voice in your face as well. That said I hope this political stuff runs its course soon. Seriously you are not going to change my vote anymore then I will probably change yours. That is not why I came into this sight. I understand the use of a politics sight maybe it will keep it out of the other ones... If you don't want to see the politics don't go to that spot.



That said I LOVE the photos of the cacti. And oh how I wish I was somewhere warm and dry!

 

[NctryBen]

I personally don't read a few of the things in here. I also am not letting the current politics into my choice of friends nope not letting anyone's dumb ideas about politics get in the way of my friendships. I have some very strong ideas too and if ya get in my face about yours, you will get my voice in your face as well. That said I hope this political stuff runs its course soon. Seriously you are not going to change my vote anymore then I will probably change yours. That is not why I came into this sight. I understand the use of a politics sight maybe it will keep it out of the other ones... If you don't want to see the politics don't go to that spot.



That said I LOVE the photos of the cacti. And oh how I wish I was somewhere warm and dry!

Yeah… the only deal is they overrun the new post deal. I’ve lost a bit of respect for certain posters because of it. Much of the info, stats and whatever is garbage at best… The forums with integrity usually just say adios to the whole political BS…
So many people just know it all… but they are the foolish in the end…
Hang in there Maki…

 

[Morgana]

So maybe ... moving the political posts to a separate section, while a good idea to try, isn't working out as hoped? Maybe we should go back to the stricter "no politics" rule?
Seriously, nonpolitical spaces like this one are a rare treasure these days and I suspect they're about to get rarer. People who post political stuff have plenty of other places they could post it. Especially, grabbing random scary angry videos off YouTube and re-posting without checking if they're accurate, if you must do that there are other places for it.
I'd rather have a banquet without strawberry pie, than insist on my strawberry pie and have no banquet at all.

 

[INTJohn]

Sounds to me like one of you should post a thread on this controversial subject in the Controversial Forum for a nice discussion instead of discussing controversially Non-Politics Politics in this forum.

oh yee hypocrites
INTJohn

 

[dreamrunnerjt]

A new thread titled Political Garbage for everyone to complain or compliment about politics?

 

[bullfrog !]

While I agree political posts are easy to become name calling events and probably should be expected to contain a lot of varied perspectives most everyone will be affected by political out comes. It has been interesting to see and discuss in a somewhat loosely civil manner the issues with other generally polite and caring members on this forum. Are there bad actors and extreme viewpoints? Yes there are but there are also bits of fact and opinion from rational people. Whether you take the time to ferret them out and discard the ridiculous is up to you. You are not being forced to participate and can continue to only click on subjects you find helpful or enjoy. Original Posters can work with moderators if posts are made outside the original subject to be moved or deleted I believe. Start a new post and specify no political posts will be allowed if necessary. Or post in a section where politics are not allowed and work with the moderator to keep it that way. This forum is still one of the best around if you need help or advice on cheaprvliving even though its areas of discussion have sxpanded thanks to good moderators.

 

[maki2]

Today there was a much better balance of discussion about Van living topics in this VanLife forum.

Now that it is after lunch time on Memorial Day the long line of cars going into the South entrance has dissipated. All 4 lanes are open and each has only 5 or so cars waiting to reach it.

I am camped barely a mile from the entrance on a forest service road. It is not noisy in the daytime or at night. But there is some small plane noise as the flight path at the small airport has some traffic going overhead. Some private planes fly in but there are also excursion flights over the canyon in the mornings when the air has less turbulence.

Yesterday when I drove into the small villagev of Tusayan and approached the traffic circle at the north end of town the traffic slowed to a crawl. At first Inthought there must be a bunch of people who did not know how to use a traffic circle because it was stop and start slow crawl. But then I was able to see the reason for the slow down, there was a very large male elk with a huge rack of antlers calmly grazing in the middle of the traffic circle but very close to the pavement. . People kept going around to get a photo of him. I cannot them at fault for wanting to do that, he was magnificent and not at all concerned by the slow moving traffic.


I definitely feel like I am on a little summer vacation including the nice weather this coming week. I do want to get onto one of the free excursion busses in side the Park this week that goes a long way west along the south rim stopping at various vista points out to a small historic 1914 stone building designed by architect Mary Colter at the last stop on the Red Bus Line. You have to ride the bus or do a very long hike along the rim to get there. It is a hop on and off at stops bus allowing people to do some shorter hikes between vista points into the canyon. The buses run approximately every 15 minutes so no super long waits if you want to linger a while at any of the vistas.