We would do it all again

[ducksface]

Originally Posted by spdjeep23

"The mis-memory of the past need not blacken today.

My old car base price when new, was a comparable to todays 14months of average income"

The 'average' monthly income sits at $4,125 today, at least per google. So you paid $57,750 for that hoopty? I have to hand it to you, at least you practice what you preach, walk up and pay what they ask without questioning the price.

No.
In 1963 the base price of the car was 14 months of 1963 household income.
Yes
The car cost in 1963 income dollars was todays equivalent of today's $80,000 median household income PLUS two months.

But
I used it as a loose and silly example of how the past is not today and how mismemory from the past should have nothing to do with today and enjoyment of today's RV.

If price is a factor, you bought too much. It's that simple. Newell or Henway, be happy.
If gas price is a factor, you cut it too close. If too close is a factor re weigh the happiness your rv brings. This thread is about the happy sacrifice of disposable income.
Some can, some can't. If you can't, don't.

Romantic memory kills facts.

Facts say rv'ing makes the op and those of today, happy today.

[MJC62]

If I were a younger man than perhaps my attitude would be different. But when you are closer to the end than the beginning money is not the biggest issue anymore. Enjoying what you do in the time you have left on this earth is more important than the cost of the endeavor. Sure we would prefer to give less to the oil companies and have more to leave to the grandkids, but we refuse to let the costs stop us from doing what we love. Reality is yesterday is gone & tomorrow is not promised to anyone, all we have is today. ​

[ducksface]

Exactly.
All we have is today.
Adjust accordingly.

About tomorrow:
Plan for the worst.
Be pleasantly ecstatic when the worst doesn't happen.

Enjoy THIS RV.

[spdjeep23]

Originally Posted by ducksface

No.
In 1963 the base price of the car was 14 months of 1963 household income.
Yes
The car cost in 1963 income dollars was todays equivalent of today's $80,000 median household income PLUS two months.

But
I used it as a loose and silly example of how the past is not today and how mismemory from the past should have nothing to do with today and enjoyment of today's RV.

If price is a factor, you bought too much. It's that simple. Newell or Henway, be happy.
If gas price is a factor, you cut it too close. If too close is a factor re weigh the happiness your rv brings. This thread is about the happy sacrifice of disposable income.
Some can, some can't. If you can't, don't.

Romantic memory kills facts.

Facts say rv'ing makes the op and those of today, happy today.

All condescending undertones aside... I sure would have loved to of had a 1962 Ford Galaxie if I were around at that time. $22k would buy you a base model Kia Soul today... I somehow doubt that will become a classic car

[ducksface]

1962 galaxy 500
292 v8

top speed: (101 mph) (©theoretical);
0- 60 mph 11.2© s; ;
1/4 mile drag time 18.8 sec

0-60 at 11.2 for the 292 v8.
20 second 1/4 mile without brake loading.
13mpg, maybe 8 in town, maybe 6 in town.

Base price $2,600
6,200 income
0.419
41% of yearly household income

People remember it differently than it actually was.

Kia soul
Turbo 1.6L Turbo 4-cylinder 6.4 Seconds
EX 2.0L 4-cylinder 8.0 Seconds
X-Line 2.0L 4-cylinder. 8.0 Seconds

16.5 quarter mile

29/35 mpg..

Top speed 128mph

Has a.c.
Has airbags
Has 50,000 mile tires.

Base price
$17,590
$80k income
0.2199
22%of yearly household income.

People will romantically memorialize these too.

Kia costs half as much per household income dollar.

https://www.classiccarclub.org/approved-classics
THESE are classic cars.
Others are old cars.

We can all talk about cars in my signature thread. I designed it for instances like this.

[Bob Nodine]

Originally Posted by MJC62

If I were a younger man than perhaps my attitude would be different. But when you are closer to the end than the beginning money is not the biggest issue anymore. Enjoying what you do in the time you have left on this earth is more important than the cost of the endeavor. Sure we would prefer to give less to the oil companies and have more to leave to the grandkids, but we refuse to let the costs stop us from doing what we love. Reality is yesterday is gone & tomorrow is not promised to anyone, all we have is today. ​

AMEN

At 75 my main goals are to keep my mind active and my body moving.

[spdjeep23]

Originally Posted by ducksface

People will romantically memorialize these too.

No.... Just... No....

[Scubawise]

Originally Posted by MJC62

If I were a younger man than perhaps my attitude would be different. But when you are closer to the end than the beginning money is not the biggest issue anymore. Enjoying what you do in the time you have left on this earth is more important than the cost of the endeavor. Sure we would prefer to give less to the oil companies and have more to leave to the grandkids, but we refuse to let the costs stop us from doing what we love. Reality is yesterday is gone & tomorrow is not promised to anyone, all we have is today. ​

Great comment..the end could be today ..enjoy

[Scubawise]

Originally Posted by Bob Nodine

AMEN

At 75 my main goals are to keep my mind active and my body moving.

Bob we are proud of you. Keep us pushing!
June of this year I asked the wife about going to Hawaii in November..come back..1 week to pack MH for a full winter trip. SHE ALMOST WENT CRAZY!

I SAID TOMORROW IS NOT PROMISED
well maui kauai 15 days..packing now to leave on the adventurous winter trip. No real plans..weather mood will guide us!

[dkoldman]

I guess I don't get this, are we saying that there is something wrong with people that dare complain about the cost of fuel ands / or what their net cost of an RV may be?

Also can complaining be defined / clarified. All my life way before I knew what an RV was; I read every sign while on a highway trying to find a good price for gas. If one station was .20 cent higher I would drive another 50 miles to the next one. When that same gas is now $1.50 more per gallon I would think it is natural to complain, be mad or what ever one may call it. The fact that you may have an RV just magnifies how much that price increase really is. With respect to TCO for an RV, it is very possible that x % of people simply miscalculate. They see the lifestyle and a easy path to buy an RV by some of these ridicule's loans they sell to people these days without knowing what the cost to own for things like Insurance, Service, Maintenance / Repairs, Storage, Cleaning, Upkeep and gas cost and one day they do the math and they realize they only use the RV 2 or 3 times a year and it may actually cost them effectively $8k per trip TCO so they complain. Yes they should get out if they can't afford it; but some can afford it; but simply just don't like it. What's so wrong with that?

I also agree with the poster that cites age as a factor and the thoughts that if you are looking at life like today may be your last why not spend to you drop, I know I could care less about how much anything would cost if I was thinking in that mindset.

I will have to choose my words carefully in the future, next time I make a short weekend trip and pay $800 on gas roundtrip, I won't say anything about how ridicule's the cost of gas was relative to just a year ago it only cost $400 for same trip. I don't see it as a complaint but a material fact. My RV is Not for Sale, but I don't have it full of gas with engine running 24/7 for a trip every weekend either. Now on the flip side my personal TCO despite gas has gone down and a lot lower than I had planned. i.e. My Insurance has dropped my a whopping amount 2 years straight now and is really a non factor now. The hefty bills I had projected for RV repairs and service has simply not materialized (yet); so I am very happy but I still don't like price of gas and how much it cost!!!

[ducksface]

It's not about complaining.

It's about wasting one of the best times of your life, your RV, by complaining of something that you have no handle on, can't do a thing about, and is the equivalent of yelling at clouds.

Clouds of the present and ghosts of the past taking away the best times of now.

[dkoldman]

Originally Posted by ducksface

It's not about complaining.

It's about wasting one of the best times of your life, your RV, by complaining of something that you have no handle on, can't do a thing about, and is the equivalent of yelling at clouds.

Maybe I need a few cocktails, sleep on it and the lights will come on.

You ever bumped your shoeless foot on a hard corner of table of something and cursed? Did you feel better. You didn't stop enjoying life, you made it out to back yard to play with the kiddos anyway.

It just seems to me that there is a zone where some people can afford to buy an RV and the lifestyle; and all be okay, but life's changes can impact their comfort zone whether it be a job loss, reduction in pay, divorce, outrageous insurance or gas that has doubled in cost. It could very well be that they can no longer enjoy the RV that it may actually be something that they no longer have control over.

I know at the marina it happened all the time. We spent 14 years at our slip but we had dock mates come and go all the time. I never viewed or equated their dismay about paying $7k per year for slip fees as not enjoying life. Just because they owned the boat didn't make them immune to excessive increases in slip fees. Eventually we moved out too, sold that boat and bought another type of boat that I can keep at the house.

[Chance]

Identifying and expressing opportunities for improvements is not the same as complaining in my opinion.

I suppose some would argue it’s a minor distinction.

[Bob Denman]

Originally Posted by spdjeep23

No.... Just... No....

https://www.thorforums.com/forums/at...1&d=1637326003

[RACarvalho]

Originally Posted by Chance

Identifying and expressing opportunities for improvements is not the same as complaining in my opinion.

I suppose some would argue it’s a minor distinction.

My wife would agree with that 100%

Now this is a very interesting conversation... Wish we where all around the campfire....
I perceive Ducks is a conformist (if the wind changes, adjust your sails and keep going) and conformism has its place in our lives... It helps us move on and don't lose/waste our lives living in a mental situation which will change nothing, but: Is there a place for complaining (expressing opportunities for improvement) in the inflation (high gas & motorhome prices) issue???
Lets say your spouse is 103 years old, you lived a beautiful, fruitful life together and one day you wakeup and he or she doesn't... He or she died at 103 yo while sleeping...
Another situation: Your 25yo spouse die at home when someone shoot a rocket and blew your house...
In both cases the end result is the same: It is terrible. Your spouse died and that is it, they are gone...
but can you see a difference in expected reaction ???

My point is: If you are dealing with an act of God or like some like to call it, "nature", etc... You should "adjust your sails" and move on... there is nothing you can do and complaining will do nothing BUT if the pain you are dealing with is self inflicted or inflicted by someone else, you should complain and do whatever you can to avoid it happens again...
If what you are dealing with is inflicted upon you by someone else and you keep adjusting, your destiny is to become a slave...
Inflation is inflicted upon the people by their governments...
Some look at this and decide there is nothing they can do, some others don't think that way...

[dkoldman]

Originally Posted by Chance

Identifying and expressing opportunities for improvements is not the same as complaining in my opinion.

I suppose some would argue it’s a minor distinction.

Originally Posted by RACarvalho

My wife would agree with that 100%

Now this is a very interesting conversation... Wish we where all around the campfire....
I perceive Ducks is a conformist (if the wind changes, adjust your sails and keep going) and conformism has its place in our lives... It helps us move on and don't lose/waste our lives living in a mental situation which will change nothing, but: Is there a place for complaining (expressing opportunities for improvement) in the inflation (high gas & motorhome prices) issue???
Lets say your spouse is 103 years old, you lived a beautiful, fruitful life together and one day you wakeup and he or she doesn't... He or she died at 103 yo while sleeping...
Another situation: Your 25yo spouse die at home when someone shoot a rocket and blew your house...
In both cases the end result is the same: It is terrible. Your spouse died and that is it, they are gone...
but can you see a difference in expected reaction ???

My point is: If you are dealing with an act of God or like some like to call it, "nature", etc... You should "adjust your sails" and move on... there is nothing you can do and complaining will do nothing BUT if the pain you are dealing with is self inflicted or inflicted by someone else, you should complain and do whatever you can to avoid it happens again...
If what you are dealing with is inflicted upon you by someone else and you keep adjusting, your destiny is to become a slave...
Inflation is inflicted upon the people by their governments...
Some look at this and decide there is nothing they can do, some others don't think that way...

Wow two great back to back posts. Maybe now I am glad the pricesof gas is so high so I am at home to read them

I am a big admirer of the Damn Duck, he is my kind of guy, a straight shooter, a man's man and I would never approach him half stepping, but I never really thought about him as a conformist until now I think you may have nailed it.

I find it ironic that the very few that may be annoyed that others may speak openly about their disdain for high prices of gas would also admonish others who are willing to spend $600 for Pure AGM batteries over the significantly cheaper FLA batteries. It is all a value proposition.

Who said “These are my principles, and if you don't like them…well, I have others.”

[Bob Denman]

It's all actually so simple...
https://www.thorforums.com/forums/at...1&d=1637334280

[ducksface]

Most would not think
Spartans
Stoics
Nindzas
True, dedicated subversives

Are conformist.

Those listed above just leave the small battles to the small folk.
They walk around the herd of elephants instead of carving a path through them if they are given the chance.
Not given a chance, god couldn't help those elephants.

We explore our way through problems if given the chance.
All of my RV mods were to answer a problem.
I didn't complain. I absolutely positively removed the problem from my life before I had a chance to complain.

I can tell you how to make gas prices less uncomfortable.
Read the article:
25 ways to make money while driving your RV.

I own an rv because I made sure I was 50% reserve above all. Broken windshield at $3,500. Covered. Fuel prices, covered, blown engine, covered.

There are absolute reasons I don't have a Veyron. I can't afford the car or lifestyle.

Maybe, just maybe, there's an absolute reason some shouldn't own an RV.

I will not buy a Veyron and then complain of the 3mpg and the $22,000 EACH wheels.
But I could go to the Veyron forum and complain about it.

If gas is too much, you cut it too close.
There is no other ANSWER.

Some are about how to answer dilemma, some are about wallowing in dilemma.

I can not only kill those elephants with a plastic spoon, I've made sure I can hire the job out.
(otherwise I wouldn't be dicking with the elephants)

Pick your game, be best at it.

Blaming government is ok. Thinking your smallest most insignificant cog self has the job of trying to try to drive down prices to meet your inadequacy...maybe not the best tack for a nit.
Openly showing how you(you all) are
The lowest common denominator,
and thinking you're posting from a position of strength...wow.
If you can't 'afford', you're the lowest common denominator in house, dress, RV, car, RV.


Family, friends, the house, the yard, RV ability, your finances.
Get those in perfect shape, THEN tilt at windmills.

Anyone complaining might be trying to justify their own inadequacy.
Some of us will always see it that way first and adjust upon further detail being provided.


Let's boil it all down to:
Whoop or be whooped

Signed,
Nindzas don't wear the pajamas in public because it's all about the happy not the status.

[RACarvalho]

Originally Posted by ducksface

... Family, friends, the house, the yard, RV ability, your finances.
Get those in perfect shape, THEN tilt at windmills...

The underlining forces that are driving gas prices up are the same ones that will take all the above from you(us) if not opposed/addressed.

[ducksface]

Originally Posted by RACarvalho

The underlining forces that are driving gas prices up are the same ones that will take all the above from you(us) if not opposed/addressed.

And you'll do what?
Ulcerate from worry?
Or
Enjoy that rv and have what may be the best memories you'll ever create.
This thread is about ignoring excuse and enjoying the lifestyle, not underlying forces making you worry.

Every one of the too many words I've typed into this thread were/will be only to counter those who refuse to enjoy the rv with great verve, bar none, no excuse.