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Location: We_tside PNW (Columbia Gorge) / CO / SA TX / Thailand
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Quote:
Originally Posted by MadManofBethesda
...
Oh, god. That sounds like a polybutylene pipes system. Was your house built in the 70s, 80s, or early 90s by chance? If so, you better find the valve to shut off the water to the interior of the house when you leave because PB pipes are infamous for leaking and bursting with no notice. ...
or...
could just be PEX or equivalent, being added to thousands of homes daily since 1990's
As expected (by professionals, and plastics and metal engineers...) ... it is best to use METAL crimp rings and fittings. Plastic is... PLASTIC, i.e. only solid temporarily. (heat, cold, extended time, pressure, sunlight (UV)... are all BAD for plastic)
very common,
Very dependable, (not the choice of all)
Very easy to shut off. (recommend doing so if gone for extended time)
Long but interesting thread...we have done many extended vacay trips both here in US and abroad, inc a few several weeks long m'cycle cross country trips, which required serious small packing, lol!
A 3 month car trip a few summers ago, 35 states/5 or 6 provinces of CDA, in our Vette Vert, also req'd packing 'down'.
For the high elevation areas, eg 8,000 ft and higher, we packed cool weather stuff. On the way back across the US, at lower elevations, we stopped and shipped that colder weather stuff home via UPS.
We did laundry every 3-4 days; every hotel/motel had one. We rarely made rez ahead of time except for key towns/areas around holiday weekends. Never had a prob finding decent lodging and most had better rates late in the day as we rolled in, vs their sites days ahead. Plus, we didn't have to always 'be somewhere' that night.
Staying in one place for a couple three days provided for really seeing the area and hitting the Nat Parks in early morning and late afternoon for good photo light.
If OP is hitting Nat Parks, get the Geezer Pass, (lifetime and the best deal from gov't on the planet), or at least the Season Pass if OP is old enough.
Get someone to turn off your water, if you don't know how. An occasional house watcher is rec'd: we have one for both of our houses, NC Mtns and SW FL.
Don't worry about your FL grass: it will start raining in June, on...
Scan and print copies of your DLs and Passports and tuck in purse/cam bag.
Take lots of cash, (different places in your stuff), and a couple of CCs with good 'headroom'. We have kept up paying off our CCs while on the road, via laptop, and have never been hacked that way. Gas stations, et al are the hacker's heaven, however.
With Internet and media, one can stay in contact with other fam easily, from the road.
If OP likes sushi/sashimi and/or TexMex, nearly every town in the US has one of each minimum and always decent.
If OP has a 'fun' car to drive, I rec'd the remarkable two lane blacktop roads vs the interstates, if some days don't require you to cover long distances.
In all of our road trips US, CDA and many northern Euro countries, we have never had any untoward moments, knock on wood.
Have fun, make your trip an adventure, take lots of pics and be open to doing and seeing things you would not normally see. And, avoid packing too much into any given day(s)!
GL, mD
I confess I don't understand all the advice to bring loads of cash. Most things can be paid by credit card, and they have these things called ATMs if what you bring starts getting low. It's not like she's going to some rural area of Madagascar.
I confess I don't understand all the advice to bring loads of cash. Most things can be paid by credit card, and they have these things called ATMs if what you bring starts getting low. It's not like she's going to some rural area of Madagascar.
Agreed. I usually start a trip whether one week or six weeks with $120 in my pocket. In most cases, I return home with $50 or more with NO ATM stops. We put everything on credit cards.
The ONLY region that I have traveled to and had to stop at an ATM is the Northeast, especially Boston and New York City where a number of restaurants only accept cash. I have only used an ATM maybe once in the last three years.
Location: We_tside PNW (Columbia Gorge) / CO / SA TX / Thailand
34,712 posts, read 58,054,000 times
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Tolls?
Is there a decent method for USA travelers to cover tolls for our various non-attended tollways?
Ireland had a way to pay at freeway fuel stops. By logging your number plate when you bought gas.
Rental cars in USA seem to be the worse since the toll company is charged $40-$80 by rental company to track you down (which you get to pay along with your toll + penalty). Then you get charged a daily fee for transponder, (if so equipped) even if you use an airport toll road for only 5 minutes of your one month rental.
My travel cash is usual for tolls, and usually I have under $100 on me, unless in France or Italy.
My first day in Italy I racked up 86,000 lira in tolls ... 100,000 lira sounded like plenty to carry for a week.
Guess not.... = $62.00 at the moment. That does not go far on toll roads.
I confess I don't understand all the advice to bring loads of cash. Most things can be paid by credit card, and they have these things called ATMs if what you bring starts getting low. It's not like she's going to some rural area of Madagascar.
Actually, we won’t need boat-loads of cash, but lots of National Wildlife Areas and other various wilderness areas still require cash for their entrance fees. Not tons of cash, usually no more than $5, but cash nonetheless. And we have had been seriously inconvenienced in the past by not having cash on hand. So now before we leave on any trip, we d make sure we have at least $100 or so in cash.
ETA: We do have an annual pass for all federally-run parks, but we will still sometimes need cash for parks run by state or more local governments.
Is there a decent method for USA travelers to cover tolls for our various non-attended tollways?
Ireland had a way to pay at freeway fuel stops. By logging your number plate when you bought gas.
Rental cars in USA seem to be the worse since the toll company is charged $40-$80 by rental company to track you down (which you get to pay along with your toll + penalty). Then you get charged a daily fee for transponder, (if so equipped) even if you use an airport toll road for only 5 minutes of your one month rental.
My travel cash is usual for tolls, and usually I have under $100 on me, unless in France or Italy.
My first day in Italy I racked up 86,000 lira in tolls ... 100,000 lira sounded like plenty to carry for a week.
Guess not.... = $62.00 at the moment. That does not go far on toll roads.
^ One does not...exaggerated.
But, some cash for any trip is handy to have; not thousands, but a few Bens and some $20s,10s/5s and 1s.
CCs work all over Northern Europa; not so much in some of the smaller towns/odd situs here in the US in our experience.
Is there a decent method for USA travelers to cover tolls for our various non-attended tollways?
Ireland had a way to pay at freeway fuel stops. By logging your number plate when you bought gas.
.
There was a federal mandate for toll transponder interoperability that was supposed to happen by something like 2015 but it keeps getting pushed back. There's partial interoperability at this point in some regions- SunPass and PeachPass have reached agreement in that they can play with each other and rumor says EZPass and Sunpass are very close to interoperability- but it's still a few years out before we get atruly national system.
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