This old Soldier (Airman) will definitely keep off the grass.
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Good job there, Sir. Oh! I mean Monkey! I think I will bypass that one also. I've been to DC and seen all the sights and don't need to go again.
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I've had 4 major surgeries since signing up for TFL and my total out of pocket expenses is "Zero". Three years ago I underwent surgery for cancer and included radiation and Chemo. My medical bills for that alone has passed the half million dollar mark. I have yet to pay anything. What Medicare does not pay TFL picks it up. I get my medication thru Express Scripts and again pay zero. So you can see I'm a big fan of TFL. Now if only the folks in Washington keep there hands off. The only medication expenses we have is my wife's breathing medicine. Depending on what she takes it can cost anywhere between 10 to 20 dollars. But that's the only cost.
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You may or may not believe this. About 5 years ago my neighbors at Oak Grove Park on NAS Pensacola was from the Netherlands! The man was temporarily stationed at Fort Rucker, Alabama and had his family with him. When the lady said they were from Holland, at first I thought she was talking about Holland, Michigan. I think I said this before but will say it again. I've stayed in Canadian military campgrounds, not lately but several years ago. I have no problem with Canadians staying in ours if they are authorized. I live on the border with Canada and see Canadians in the USA almost every time I go some where.
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In the past I always used Flying J. I never liked Pilot because in my opinion they weren't RV frienly. When Flying J was taken over by or merged with Pilot I quit stopping there. This year on my way south I was getting pretty low on fuel in Knoxville and stopped at Flying J. I don't have the awards card but their diesel price was satisfactory to me and I stopped there again on my way home. At the pump after I put my credit card (Master Card)in it asked me to insert my rewards card or press enter to bypass awards. They let me pay at the pump with the posted price so I was satisfied with that. There's going to be a lot more coming out of this story down the road. And by the way, Pilot-Flying J's owner also owns the NFL Cleveland Browns.
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This came from the RV News Service dated April 22, 2013. The FBI and IRS invaded Pilot-Flying J home offices in force on April 15, 2013 armed with warrants to search and seize information and computers. On April 17, 2013, law enforcement officials released a 120-page affidavit revealing that the government alleges that the fuel retailer has been bilking customers out of millions of dollars in rebates for fuel purchases over several years.

The scheme allegedly involved several company sales bosses who saw to it that some customers who were in line to receive rebates got less than agreed upon. The affidavit alleges that the company CEO was aware of the scam. The afidavit points to several diffent trucking companies who were targeted for the alleged scam. There was no mention in the affidavit to RV customers, nor ties to the Good Sam Club. They said that, however, it is yet early in the investigation.
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Thank you John. I'm getting some good information from you folks and I'm taking it all in. I'm sure it's going to be a big help when I do decide on what I'm going to do. I had planned to go visit some stores today but lousy day put that on hold.
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Thanks Monkey. My brother has Verizon and pretty much told me the same thing. I'll know more this week after visiting the stores. I have Comcast at home and very satisfied with it but they don't do cell phones and mobile hotspots. So I don't want to sign a long contract. I may have to to get a good one but still going to look at a pay as you go. I don't watch movies on my computer and very few news videos. Your information was very helpful to me. Thanks.
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After a winter trip that sometimes included excellent WiFi, sometimes not so good WiFi and most of the time going to other places to access the internet like local libraries and Starbucks, I've decided to look into Mobile Hotspots. I admit, I had never heard of it until about a month ago while in a WalMart looking around the electronics department. I know a lot of you folks probably have the device. I've read about Monkey 44 talking about Verizon and LamSan talking about MiFi. Please tell me what you know about what you have and why you chose it. I'm looking for something without a contract, probably a pay as you go deal whenever I'm on the road. I'm going to the local AT&T, T-Mobile and Verizon stores next week and will talk to the folks there. But, the best information comes from people that have used it. Thank you.
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Amen, LamSan!
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We just stayed 10 days at Oak Grove Park (NAS Pensacola. They have a very large tent area and only 1 tent occupied space there for a couple of days. The only other occupant was a van camper. I have no problem parking next to a tent or any other type camping equipment. It's not the equipment type that causes problems, it's the people occupying them. It makes no difference what you are in, if you are a slob, you are a slob.
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We belong to Thousand Trails and can stay 3 weeks and have to move out for a week before we can come back to the same park. We can go directly to another park in the system. Now here at Pensacola you can make reservations 3 months out and stay 3 months, leave for a month and stay another 3 months. The Navy is trying to come up with one system and some campgrounds have gone from 4 month advance reservations to 6 months. One campground has reportedly gone from no reservations to reservations. At Pensacola the office clerk said they have been to meetings about the new Navy system but no talk of changing advance reservations from the current 3 months. Several campgrounds have limits of 30 days but I've seen the same people on the same site for at least 3 to 5 years.
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I don't travel with a weapon and the only base I remember ever being asked if I have one is Kings Bay Sub Base.
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They couldn't even cancelled the April 10 reservation until I called them twice from the road. I still don't know if I'm cancelled or not even though I have a confirmation number. I'll wait to see if I get a bill.
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You're guessing who is active duty? I'm retired and I believe a lot of folks that write things here are retired. About this website taking reservations? Read the owner's disclaimer. He runs this website and the website is not connected to the military. It's an information website and a darn good one at that.
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LamSan. Sorry you're victory didn't last long. We actually stayed in 6 military campgrounds but didn't count Pelican Roost as they had lost our reservations. I guess I just tried to blank that incident out of my mind.
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I quit complaining to on site management also. I do continue to complain on this site as a lot of people do. If a CG is too bad we don't go back. We stayed at 5 military campgrounds this winter and had a wonderful time at them all even though there were some problems. We stayed at Keesler 3 years ago and said we would never go back. But this year bad weather in the area caused us to stop there instead of the intended Gulfport Seebee base. We had a good stop but will try Gulfport next year. And with your recommendation, Lamsan, we are going to New Orleans next year for a while.
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And don't forget all the "volunteers" taking up space and not doing any "volunteering". There's at least 6 "volunteers" at Keesler taking up space full time and didn't do anything while I was there for a week. And across from me was a couple you could tell by their unit that they had been there for quite some time. I didn't see them do anything but sit around but I got a little tired of hearing the big mouth man telling people "I'm the host and I can do anything I want to." There was a diffent host checking us in on April 3 and he seemed ok. I even saw him going around the CG and picking up trash.
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That is good news. They must have just started the reservation system. We stayed at Keesler last week but had intended to go to Gulfport due to all the problems at Keesler in the past. We were on the road and got into a very big storm in Ocean Springs with 60 mile an hour winds. We got caught on the Ocean Springs-Biloxi bridge and it wasn't a good experience. Then we got sandblasted on Highway 90 in Biloxi. My wife had called Gulfport and they had a spot for us but by the time we got to Biloxi I was tired of fighting the winds and took a chance on Keesler. Thanks for the informtion. And by the way. I love trains. I love waking up at 3:00 in the morning and hearing those whistles. Now, police and fire sirens are another thing.
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I'm at Oak Grove Park on NAS Pensacola and forgot to mention that my retired next door neighbor has a refrigerator on the patio.
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We arrived at NAS Pensacola on Tuesday and I handed the security officer at the gate both IDs. He took them, looked at them front and back and looked at me to compare to the ID photo. On Thursday I came thru the main gate and handed the officer our IDs and he wouldn't take them. He just waved us thru. We again came thru the back gate on Friday and the officer still didn't take our IDs. He waved us thru. Today, we went thru the gate over by the commissary and the same thing happened. I asked the officer why they weren't checking IDs. He said he saw my blue retired ID and knows it doesn't expire so no need to check it. So, what I got out of that, the only thing they are checking is if the ID is expired. That doesn't sound right.
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Let me make one thing clear. I agree with what the lady is saying. I just don't like the way she says it sometime.
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Last spring we were at Kings Bay and my brother was on his way north and stopped at the nearby KOA. He is not eligible to stay at military campgrounds. He came out to the base to visit us at Eagle Hammock. He stopped at the visitor center and got a temporary pass but I had to drive out to the main gate, meet him, vouch for him and escort him to the campground. He was not allowed to drive around the base on his own.
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I finally have an internet connection. We just left Keesler Famcamp and if you want to observe homesteading that's the place to go. We were there I think 4 years ago and I swear the same old Winnebago that was there then is still sitting there.
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We are staying at Mid Bay Shores and took a drive yesterday to check out this new Famcamp. It's looking good but going to be a long time before completion. They are still working on the bathhouse. The utility post are in at each site. The sites are paved with concrete. There are street lights at about every four campsites. There is a row of pull thrus down the middle with two outside rows of backins. There are no trees except behind the back ins. I forgot to clock the mileage from the back gate to the park but estimate about 2 miles. The park is very close to the road. And if they don't gate it you're going to have a lot of drive thrus. I will try to check it out one more time before leaving town.
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There is no mention of MWR on my retired military ID card. Being retired military I am eligible to use MWR facilities. On the back of the card where it says Direct: Yes Civilian: Yes, that is related to your eligibility for medical. On my wife's card under the Medical, both Direct and Civilian is marked "Yes". Also on the front of her card it says Exchange, MWR, and Commissary. I don't know why they put it there other than she is eligible to use these facilities without me being with her.
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