 Happy Sunday everybody. Welcome to another Sunday morning view cue where I answer your questions about my full-time RV life And I'm in a good mood today Because today I'm going to answer a bunch of questions that came up on Wednesday's video where I got clipped by a semi in the Cabela's parking lot. You guys asked me about police reports and deductibles and cameras and putting your slides out. I'll answer all that stuff today and There were also some great questions from the last view cue like how do nomads complete the census? How do they vote? How do you find good roads in national forest land? So I'm gonna address all of that and more. Happy Sunday birdwatchers. I hope you're all doing well out there So I'm gonna get right to the questions today because there are a bunch of them and they're really really good The first one I want to mention is Chris Thompson said now your camper has character. Oh, yeah I don't think you can be in an RV Especially if you boondock or go to like national forest campgrounds like I do and not have blemishes on your RV They're battle scars. They're love scars and on my last two rigs also Yeah, I had some little dings and scrapes You know sometimes you go past a tree and you know the trees are going into your road There's nothing you can do and they'll put little tiny scratch marks. That was not this Yeah, I got a lot of character a lot of character now first Let me mention Cabela's really quick Cabela's and like Walmart cracker barrels some of those types of places do allow RVs to stay overnight But it changes by city and county and the manager of that store I actually did a video like a year and a half ago as Walmart over where I post the actual rules And sure enough, they say don't put your slides out I've shown you rest area things where they say don't camp that means don't put out your chairs Don't put out a barbecue. Don't put out your slide You're not camping you're staying overnight and I have to tell you I have said myself that you shouldn't do it Because you might get clipped. I don't want to be an attractive nuisance. So I try not to put my slide out, but I Went to this Cabela's in the situation. I thought was a little bit different. This is what happened I don't like to go to cities and just stay in a parking lot to stay in a parking lot I always do it for a logistical purpose like when I go to Phoenix it's to have work done or something like that Well in this case I had to go pick my mom up from the airport and then we were going to go boondock because she's never done that in The desert which we did it was great and then take her back to Phoenix her flight left Early in the morning and got in late at night So we were going to stay at a casino that I usually stay in there, which is great you go in and register you can stay for a couple days and My dumb butt didn't call first. So I pull up Security guard said we're under renovation But go to the Cabela's around the corner. They allow overnight parking Well, I knew where the Cabela's was because I had shopped there But I called just in case because every place is different and sure enough this Cabela's was a little weird Sometimes Cabela's have their own campgrounds and dump stations and horse stalls and all kinds of stuff, right depending on where they are This one Does not own their lot So I called and the lady said yes, we have an RV parking lot the city of Glendale owns our Parking lot and they allow you to stay for one day after that you can be ticketed, but we don't provide security So let me get to a question that many of you asked Road carver said I heard RV etiquette in overnight parking spots says you should never put out your slides Has anyone seen this online? Well, I've said in my own videos like the Walmart video you shouldn't do it and then people yell and say well You don't understand my RV doesn't work without the slide out. I do understand. That's why all three of the rigs I've had you can get to all your stuff with the slides in my break. I can get to the bedroom I can get to the bathroom. I just can't get to the kitchen so I Come back to this Cabela's and I scored this great spot, which I'll show you right here This is the actual parking lot. I scored a spot up near the exit that actually on the right-hand side had a storage container That was on blocks so not moving. So on the right-hand side the non-damage side I shimmy that close to that and then on the other side. There was actually an empty space I kept my slide in but then another couple came in a trailer who were arguing by the way Like all day in the morning. I got up I Wanted to sit in my chair and have a cup of coffee and wait for rush hour to die down before I went to my boondocking spot. I Think there's a container right here The couple was still right there So I put out the slides enough to get in my chair make a cup of coffee Didn't really think it was that big of a deal didn't think it was that big of a risk because I thought I was between two stationary places My slide was not in traffic. My slide was not out on a turn Where I thought anybody would ever get close to it, but they did what happened was I was sitting here These blinds were closed where the couple was this blind was open Some sit in my chair and I see the semi come straight down like you'll see here in this reenactment I made for you guys. He comes straight down takes a left-hand turn into the space next to me going like 20-25 miles an hour and a right turn out which made my whole rig go like this He kept going. I thought it was fine. So a couple hours later. I see the damage Like Carol says when I park in a parking lot, I always park next to a grass island I make sure I pull in with the right side facing the island. That's the only slide I put out Carol I hear ya. I thought I was safe between two stationary objects, but I wasn't so the guy hit me, right? Didn't even know it. I got some Variation of this question a lot Becky and said dash cams use a cigarette lighter. You can program them to turn on when they detect movement Yeah, I have one of those So they actually don't work if you put them in your cigarette lighter because when you turn off the car They don't have any more power. So I got a special adapter. It goes down into my diagnostic port I had taken the SIM card out of it so I could download some footage while I was in the RV Otherwise it would have turned on when it felt the jolt and I would have gotten the guy's information But I didn't a lot of you wanted me to get a bunch of cameras And now I'm thinking about it before I thought the cameras were just to pick up like wildlife and stuff But not anymore. A lot of you said something like Debbie Schoop who said doesn't cabellas have cameras That guy needs to be caught. A lot of you said this so I did not call cabellas to ask if they had footage because the lady told me there was no security and Cabellas was on this side of my rig The guy went through literally on that side of my rig So if they were pointing a camera, they wouldn't have picked it up anyway and as you may know I worked in insurance for like 20 years and Doug still does and It's extremely rare that they could get information like license plates And CPU numbers and stuff off those cameras and it's a hassle for insurance and I'll explain that in a second You know stuff happens a lot of you asked me if I thought He knew he hit me You know in the beginning I thought there's no way he did not know that he hit me and Then I thought maybe he didn't know he hit me I mean the thing is that the lines go like this which happens when people are correcting So if I had to guess I'd say maybe I don't know You know a few truck drivers got on in the comments and they said There's no way that guy didn't know he hit you and the next guy would say there's no way that guy knew he hit you Right people were all over the board. So I mean, I don't know probably I think he probably did because of the correction lines glorious life on wheels I love that name by the way says hit and run as a crime You can file a police report and they will pull the parking lot camera footage to identify the driver Okay, just because I worked an insurance that I did go ahead and verify so I make sure I'm giving you guys the right information Hit and run as a crime But the police will not come to a private parking lot to take a report. They won't it's private property and If you really harangue them, they will come out and write something called an incident report It's not the same thing as an accident report. It's basically if somebody Insists that it be on record, but it's not the same thing as an accident report where they you know take pictures And there's the trajectory and they you know see who may have done what they don't do that because it's private property So it's just my background. I already knew that They probably didn't have security if they did it wouldn't have caught the accident and If I could get the footage They probably couldn't read it And I couldn't get a police report anyway plus This happened the week that the state started to lock down and I thought Cabela's probably wasn't even open I don't know. I didn't ask. Oh, I wanted to share this comment with you from Texas. So hi Robin It happened to us too. We were in a left turning lane a semi came up beside us very close I figured he was going straight and relaxed a bit until I heard it felt what I thought was the wind and Turning right. He scraped our right side of our trailer We never got him and now we're worried about all the semi trucks that go by They buffed it out. Yeah, it happens. Actually, I looked at a bunch of stuff You know for this view cue, you know, how I could go down rabbit holes and it does happen You know, I interviewed about a hundred truckers on truckerreport.com Asking them about us being in truck stops and rest areas and got safety tips from them And for the most part they were just great and I have said to people I support the truck drivers They have a hard job. We need them But they do have 70 to like 90 turn over on the latest stats I found So there's a lot of new ones. They're under a lot of stress and they have to stop On a clock And rest, you know, where they could get fined or lose their cdl. I try never to take a trucker spot But you know, I'm not bagging on the truck drivers um There are good truck drivers and bad truck drivers just like there are people so that's the way it goes Jeffrey Vasquez said eight thousand dollars. That's nuts. No way. It's somebody else said be free lmao Eight thousand dollars. Oh you guys I was completely shocked I was pleasantly surprised to find out that the windows were like 200 bucks apiece a little less I was just going to order them through the dealer Buff out some of the scratches get a new vent cover, but then I saw how deep it was and these grooves in the paint are very deep some of them And that's what led to the big bill. I did not have any interior damage during the cabinets or Undercarriage or anything like that that they have found so far, but I've only had the window fixed Right because of the quarantine and everyone's just getting back to work when the dealership did their estimate They decided that they were going to completely have to take off the panels on the outside And replace the panels because they couldn't fix the paint. Otherwise the paint was so deep It could not be buffed out or repaired. They would have to actually Replace the metal piece and that's why it was so expensive. I don't even know if I'm going to do it. I mean honestly Okay, t.s. Said did your insurance cover all but the deductible? Yes It's not that big of a deal. I got sites wiped in a parking lot. I'm lucky it wasn't on the road I'm lucky it didn't hit my gas lines, right? I'm lucky that I have insurance with a five hundred dollar deductible. Happy I did that instead of a thousand I'm going to move on to happier topics Okay, I got a few like this recently Trey tech says do you think you'll ever get a beautiful scenic piece of land one day? Since you like to stay in one spot for a while Like the other nomad tiki did which I just visited her property by the way in new mexico just gorgeous That's similar to the question from lori that said I'm hearing from so many nomads that things have changed so much Especially for people who want a boondock. They feel it's not going to be doable As it has been many are purchasing home bases. I'd like to know your thoughts Okay, a couple things I think about getting a little piece of land Someday the problem though is that um, I keep thinking off on love with someplace, but I fall in love with every place And every time I go to a new beautiful spot. I go. Oh, I could live here. Oh, I could live here Oh, I could live here Right now I'm in an rv park because of some personal considerations. I had to be in one spot Um for about another month because I've got some other stuff coming up here that I'll tell you about later In about a month. I'll have a better idea What my travels are going to be I'm already antsy. So that tells me maybe no Maybe I won't yes. I still think our being is doable There are so many options. In fact, I've been working on a big article and video for you guys that's going to come out A week from today on all the different options right now And how to check and see what's available and then also how to do some planning It was tricky there for a couple weeks and it might continue to be a little tricky in some areas I think if you have the widest arsenal of camping options that you can It absolutely makes it more doable. I always say camp like you So staying in an rv park for a couple of months works for you do it I know some people that have done that recently so they can see what happens if boondocking works Do it if you want to be long term in a spot or do national forest campgrounds or be a part-time or what do it? It's up to you. Just know that there are so many ways to do this and I'll share it with you next sunday Okay, j l corn camper says How do full-time nomads get counted in the census and how do we vote? Okay, in my second to last book be a nomad change your life. I have a whole section on residency I've also done a video on it. I think as a nomad you get to choose your state of residence the one that works for you But there are some logistical and tax considerations Let's say that you are resident in a state that allows mail-in voting or absentee voting You can have a forwarding service forward that piece of mail to you So you can fill it out and vote If you're a resident in a state that does not allow that for some reason Then you have to be prepared to be in that state to vote As far as the census goes, it's the same thing You want to choose your state of residence to go in and fill out the census so that they have your information You know, it's nomads. We're not homeless We just choose an alternate housing option But most of us like me, you know, have jobs. We pay taxes We have a driver's license. We're residents of a state and so like everybody else we get to vote and also Fill out the census and all that good stuff. Okay, k t said I watched your video on how to find free camping An oldie bit of goodie I can find the forest service roads, but how do you know what the terrain is like? Certainly an rv isn't exactly off-road capable. Well, k t l tell you when I started I went down roads I had new business going down because of that when you go into google maps You can change the terrain setting And you can actually see what the terrain is like So what I look for is really steep up and downs around that forest service road I'll go into like free campsites.net for that area and see what the comments are about off-roading and I always If I'm going to be camping in the mountains, especially Not so much in the desert because it's not as bad. I always look at the spot on google earth Because then you could actually zoom down and look at all the little veins in the road that you can park in You can see how far it is from the paved road and you can really see the condition of the road It does help a lot Finally, I want to address a comment that I got About a week ago on the video with no legs no problem Which was about a triple amputee who lived part of the year in a trailer solo and how we did that And I got a comment from somebody else that was disabled and I apologize because I can't find it now I don't know if you removed it, but I forgot to take a screenshot of it So I apologize, but it really stayed with me because basically that comment was um, she doesn't like it when I say What one person can do another person can do Because she's disabled and she's on a fixed income and I have to say I really gave that a lot of thought afterwards and I get your point. I see it I guess what I want to say is When I think what one person can do another person can do It's a pep talk for me personally That if I'm about to do something and I get scared I might go Well, Tiki did it Doug did it You did it I can do it But I can't deadlift 500 pounds I mean somebody else can I can't right somebody else can maybe buy a yacht I can't those Are the things I think of when I say that phrase personally What I mean is I don't want to limit myself for myself If I see another woman for example doing something That I thought I couldn't do I want to rethink that think maybe I could do it Like have happy travels and be free. I'm not living for free in this RV. The repairs on the RV aren't free what I Say that for is that for me When I first started this journey Those are the things that I wanted. I really had to write down what I wanted out of this life I wanted to have a happy life and I wanted to be Free from those things that I thought were holding me down And that's why I am my videos that way So thank you for your very thoughtful comment and thanks to everybody else who left comments If you have a question or a comment, please do leave it down below I hope to see you all out on the road soon or doing something you love until then Have happy travels and be free