CONFESSIONS OF AN INSURANCE PROCRASTINATOR

As most of you RVers know, full timers need special insurance on their rigs and for liability purposes. We had a full timers policy but after the episode with the generator when they couldn’t figure out which part of the policy to cover it under, I decided maybe I should be more aware of our insurance issues.

We have been full timers for almost four years and I’m just now figuring out that we needs to take a good hard look at our insurance coverage. That’s not a good thing. I should have been paying attention four years ago. And I did attend a couple of seminars on insurance at the Escapade Rally.

In fact they were both put on by Jack and I learned several things but never did anything about it. Didn’t make any changes to my coverage or even let him look over my policies to see if he’d suggest some changes to them.

Now we’re at the Good Same Rally and we head over to an insurance seminar and Jack is once again the presenter. He’s been specializing in RV insurance since 1999 and was a full time rver until they decided to buy a farm in Virginia.

After attending his seminar, no more procrastinating. We went back to the rig, rounded up our policies and headed to his booth to see what he could do for us. Left everything with him and told him we’d be back the next day.

Bottom line – he increased our coverage, lowered our deductible, increased our contents coverage and saved us a whole bunch of money.

Our original limits on our truck were 100,000/300,000/100,000 and 5,000 each person. Our deductible was 1,000 for collision and comp coverage. At a cost of $1445.98 per year. (This price did not include our latest claim for the tailgate and generator so the cost of the policy would go up in September when it was time to be renewed.)

Our new policy has limits of 250,000/500,000/100,000 and 5,000 each person. Deductibles were lowered to 500. And the cost per year is $909.00. A savings of $536.98 per year. And the new policy takes into consideration our claim on the truck and generator.

As for the RV – We increased our limits and reduced our deductible as well as increasing our contents coverage to 10,000 from 5,000. The cost of this police did go up from $447 per year (not including our generator claim under contents) to the new policy amount of $545. An increase of $98 which makes for a net savings of $438.98 a year. That’s money that can now go in the fuel tank!!!

Everyone’s situation is unique to them, but I would highly recommend that you have your policies reviewed by someone who is a specialist within the RV industry.

Jack is with Twin Peaks RV Insurance Agency and they represent several different insurance companies. http://www.twinpeaksinsurance.com

Jack also looked over our boat policy which we have with State Farm and told us that we have the best coverage there is with them so we won’t be changing that policy.

Be safe out there as you travel the highways and byways.

FRUSTRATION

Have I mentioned how frustrated I am with the internet connection in this area? I am about ready to cry. I have tried to comment on several blogs and all I get is “cannot connect to server.”

I want to let Nan know that I am praying for John and wish I could be there with her. I want to say goodbye to Toni and Doug. And I’m so glad to hear Motormouse is feeling so much better. And to all of you, I am here and trying to find out what is happening in your life.

LEAVING THE RALLY

Views from the roof.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Jan and Bill hitching up. But not before Jim had to do a little bit more repair work.

 

Just needs a few screws to hold up the belly pan. Then they were good to go.

 

Jan, Karen, John

Jim, Jan, Karen, Sherry, John

 

Jan, Sherry, Dave

Scooter and Skittlez

RALLY – FINAL DAY

This was by far the best day as far as seminars for me.

In the morning we went to an 1886 Cattle Drive. A cowboy from Texas took us back in time and told us all about what life was like on a cattle drive from Texas to Dodge City. He did an excellent job and nobody left early.

One of the most interesting facts I learned was that cattle drives only lasted about six or seven years. Then the railroad was built and it was much cheaper to ship the cattle by rail. The cook on the drive was worth a whole lot more than the cowboys and was paid double what they earned. Each cowboy also picked out five or six horses to take with them and the horses were chosen because of different abilities – a couple that could see well at night, a couple because they were really fast, and others for having a calm disposition.

In the afternoon I went to listen to Barry Goldwater Jr. and Marshall Trimble (AZ’s office state historian). Excellent presentation. Goldwater is a staunch Republican just like his father who ran for the office of the President in 1964. However, he did a great job of keeping politics out of the stories until people asked him specific questions about his thoughts on the current election.

Marshall is so entertaining. He tells the most wonderful stories of the history of AZ and also sings folk songs and plays the guitar. Totally enjoyable and I would definitely go hear him again. 

While I was being entertained, Jim was learning about solar. We’re not ready to upgrade at this time but some time in the future I would like to add some solar to our rig.

The entertainment Sunday night was Ticket to Ride, a tribute to the Beatles. They did a great job and stayed really true to the sound of the music which is what I like. A wonderful ending to the Rally.

Jim’s big purchase at the Rally were his chocks:

RALLY – SATURDAY

The big tent – looks just like the one in Q.

Inside the big tent. Hard  to get pictures of vendors because of all the shoppers. I did like the fact that most of the vendors really did cater to RVers. There were a couple of jewelry booths and pet booths and other miscellaneous things, but the majority were items for your RV, such as stabilizers, back up cameras, holding tank options, tire pressure monitors, awning decorations, and on  and on. We bought new chocks which Jim has been wanting for some time. Also some more LED lights (we buy them a couple at a time because of price) and Jim found his  30 amp male plug that he’s had a hard time finding. Lots of good stuff.

If anybody is interested, I have a complete list of vendors and also all of the seminars that were presented.

This is Rusty. I sat and visited with his owner while I was waiting for Jim. Isn’t he so cute. He’s a beagle/boston terrier mix and a rescue.

 

 

 

 

 

We spent most of our time at the show working on our insurance policy but I’m going to make a separate post about that.

Saturday went to the dogs. Literally. They had a huge dog show and parade and also brought in dogs to be adopted. We didn’t get to see very much because there were so many people and it was really hot. And they only brought in a small number of dogs for adoption (maybe 6 or 7). The good news is every single one of those dogs was adopted into a forever home.

Saturday night’s entertainment was Martina McBride. Jim and I are country/western fans and were really excited about the concert but we aren’t familiar with Martina’s music. I don’t want to offend any Martina fans out there but we were not impressed and actually left early. In fact, many people were leaving early. Our tram was full headed back out to the parking areas.

(Standing in line for the entertainment) Most of the music she performed was slow and rather dragging (IMO). There was no real beat or excitement in the music. One song was about cancer which was supposed to be supportive but actually was very depressing. Especially for an older audience with many members actually fighting cancer. Jan made an observation that I thought was a good one. She wondered if Martina misjudged her audience and thought because we are “older” that we would like the slower music. Definitely not the case with RVers. We want music we can move to. Not just stand and sway. Once again, this is my opinion.

We were sitting outside visiting after the concert and got a phone call. Jeff and Tina found us and came to visit. So much fun to see them again. They have been busy attending seminars and looking through the vendor tent.

RALLY – FRIDAY

One of the seminar tents.

There were nine seminars tents spread out over the infield along with hundreds of RV’s for sale and the Big Tent for the vendors. Other vendors were set up outside the big tent.

One of my biggest complaints about the Rally is the tram service. I haven’t heard exact figures as to how many people are here but it is somewhere between 6,000 and 7,000 (not including the day pass people). That is a whole lot of people to transport and I figured there would be some problems but it was worse than that.

The trams were given a set route they “had” to follow per the rules. That meant that those of us waiting near the end of the pick up route could not get on a tram because they were always full. There were times when we counted 12 to 14 trams pass us before we could finally get on. And it was a really long walk to some of the earlier tram stops. One of the things they should have done was to run every other tram the other direction on the route. But when people tried to talk to them about it, they were told the trams “had to follow the rules”. No flexibility allowed. They were totally disorganized with the tram service after the entertainment in the evenings. It was total chaos.

Another problem was the tunnel that we had to go through to get to the infield. This really became a bottle neck because of the number of trams, golf carts, motorhomes, trucks, cars, etc.

 

Bill Cosby was our entertainer on Friday night. What a funny man. He’s 74 years old and his delivery has slowed considerably, but very very funny and entertaining. I couldn’t get a picture of him because of the distance and the fence but they had him on the big screen which helped because his expressions are a lot of his delivery.

After the show we get home and sit outside to visit and pretend we have a campfire going (like in Q).

The wind picked up just a little so we decided we should put our awnings up. Jan’s didn’t want to cooperate and the guys had work to do. Success!

Vern and Bill

GOOD SAM RALLY – THURSDAY

Jan and Bill had a battery problem when we arrived on Monday. The guys immediately set to work to find out what was draining their battery. Got the generator running to get them charged up and finally figured out it was a dead cell in the battery. Off to Costco for a new battery and all is well.

Jan and Bill bought the same generator we have and Jan is having more fun with that remote control switch than I ever did.

This is our first Good Sam National Rally. We attended a Samboree in Casa Grande in 2009 and vowed never to go again. No one would talk to us. We asked if we get sit with some of them at a meal and were told that the seats were saved. We went in to play bingo and when we sat down were told that those seats were taken. It was terrible. But we did meet Jan and Bill there which made it all worth while.

I wanted to try one of their big rallies to see what they are like. And the big difference this time is that we are with four other couples. Believe me, this makes a huge difference. Here we have Sherry, Dave, Jan, Bill and Jim waiting for the tram.

Now having said that, I make an effort to talk to lots of people. We’ve met several new folks who are parked around us and visit with people who have dogs or just smile. I really do try to make an effort because I know there are several people who are attending for the first time.

I am going to get Jim up on the roof to take some pictures to give you a better idea of how many rigs are here. They are selling pictures taken from the sky but they want $15 for them and I don’t want one that bad. Let’s just say there are lots of us. I’m still hoping they give us a count sometime.

Registration went really quickly. Of course, we had all of our paperwork all filled out.

I haven’t been real impressed with the seminars being offered or the number of vendors that are here. I’ve talked to several people who have been to other Good Sam Rallies and they have told me that this one is much smaller and the number of vendors is way down. Not sure what the reason is. Might be because they are holding three Rallies this year across the country. With the price of fuel that does make sense.

As far as the seminars, I think it’s because we’ve been to several rallies and have been living the full time life style for almost four years that the majority of them are nothing new. I also found that many of the seminars at this rally are geared towards motorhomes and not fifth wheels.

The social aspect of the Rally has been great fun. It’s been wonderful to catch up with John and Karen, Polly and Vern, Sherry and Dave, and especially Jan and Bill. We are getting a lot of time to visit and catch up on what everybody is doing and where they are headed for the summer.

(Not a very good picture. We are a long ways away and there’s a fence in between us.) The entertainment tonight was Bowzer’s Rock and Roll Show and it was fantastic. You remember Bowzer from Sha Na Na, don’t you? He may be getting older but he can still hit those low notes without any problems.

He had four women on stage for a hula hoop contest and let me tell you, one of those gals could really keep the hoop going. Then he brought up four guys and they were good for laughter. A whole lot of fun going on.

These are just a few of my impressions and thoughts on the Rally. If any of you have any questions, just let me know.

ROAD TO THE RALLY

I forgot to post these pictures showing the snow on the top of the Superstitions after our storm last week-end. And it is much too pretty not to post.

We headed out for Vee Quiva Casino about 1:00 Tuesday afternoon. I thought we wouldn’t run into quite as much traffic at that time of day. Wrong.

Where in the world are all these people going in the middle of the day.

Thank goodness we weren’t going all that far. We were at the casino by 2:30. We were later joined by a Class A and a Class C. I had thought there would be several rigs but no.

The casino is nothing to get excited about. Just a squat building and not very pretty. I didn’t even take a picture of it.

But I did have to take a picture of the toilet. Now I don’t normally take pictures of toilets but I had never seen this before.

Push the green button and the toilet seat cover moves around to give you a clean seat. Just cracked me up. And they have the instructions in both English and Spanish

 

We spent a very peaceful night.

Wednesday morning Jan called when they (the other four rigs) were almost to the casino. We pulled down about two minutes before they got to us and we led the way to the Rally.

More tomorrow.

FISH!

Now this is one beautiful big mouth bass. Needless to say, this was a keeper. Jim also had another nice size bass but for some reason we didn’t get a picture of it before it became filets.

He’s been having a great time going fishing and all of a sudden lots of the guys in the park have decided that they might want to go with him. For fishing purposes he only wants to take out one other guy, so we may have to put up a sign up sheet. A lot of the guys are getting ready to head out but have already told him that they want to fish next fall when we get here. Works for me.

Apache Junction got almost an inch and a 1/4 of rain this week-end but the sun is shining today. Still chilly out there though.

We are headed out today. We are going to the Good Sam Rally over in west Phoenix at the racetrack. This afternoon we are going to Vee Quiva Casino where we’ll spend the night. That way we don’t have to fight all the rush hour traffic in the morning. We have four other couples who will be heading up from the Casa Grand area who will be joining us Wednesday morning. We’ll all go to the Rally together so we can park together.

We are going to be boondocking and the battery on my computer is shot, so I’m not sure how much posting I will be doing. I’ve also had the slowest internet connection later and I’ve had a lot of trouble commenting on blogs. But I am reading them when I can pull them up. Hopefully as people head north, that will ease the useage of the internet and I’ll have better connections.

When Jim’s not fishing I keep him busy with other projects.

The girls got new toys. Scooter disappeared with hers.

Be safe.

TO STORM OR NOT TO STORM

Been an exciting day weather wise around our house:

No snow.

I didn’t take any of these pictures because the battery in my camera died. Not sure who took the pictures but they are beautiful and I do appreciate finding them.