RV Voter Rights Challenged in Tennessee

While fulltime RV folks who call Oregon their registration "home" may not have trouble with upcoming elections, that apparently isn't the case with those from the Volunteer State. According to news from the Good Sam Club, 286 fulltimers who used a mail forwarding service in Cleveland got tossed off the Bradley County voter's rolls. Why so? Because they'd dared to use the mail forwarding facility's address as their permanent address.

The American Civil Liberties Union has stepped into the fray, filing a lawsuit on the part of the disenfranchised RVers, with the claim that these folks have had their constitutional rights abridged by the action of the local county government. The afore mentioned RV club says they'll file an amicus brief in support of the RVers. This "friend of the court" brief, coming from an outside party, is aimed at assisting the court in making a fair decision. It will be up to the court to determine whether it wishes to admit the brief or deny it.

Whether or not the court will hear--and decide--on the case in time for next fall's elections remains to be seen.

To listen to the story, check out this audio post on NPR radio.

Photo: CAVE CANEM on flickr.com

Keeping Timely: Fulltimer's Maintenance Checklist

Life is pretty busy, even for fulltiming RVers. Actually, maybe it's "mow busy" for us fulltimers. It seems like if we have a spare moment, something comes up that eats at that spare moment, to the point we find ourselves coming and going.

But if we slip up and forget something important, we all know what happens. Any of those spare moments we were looking forward to spending on ourselves wind up being spent on something else--like changing out a hot water heater that went gunny bag because we failed to spend a few minutes when we should checking on its welfare.

Enter "Firedude," a fulltime RVer with a heart. Firedude has put together a nifty maintenance checklist in "Word" format. You can download the list, print it out, and hang it up with your calendar as a reminder (with a suggested timeline) that will help you remember to check on the anode rod in the water heater, the batteries, and those other important items that get swept to the backs of our minds by all those other pressing issues. Follow this link to your own copy. It might help you to keep from having a Homer Simpson day.

Photo: Grant Robertson on Flickr

Oregon Voter Rights for Fulltimers?

With the election on everyone's mind (kind of hard to be away from your mind if you watch the news) the question of voter rights often is raised. How about fulltimers out on the road?

If you're an Oregon resident--and just what constitutes an Oregon resident is a subject taken up in the Albany Democrat Herald newspaper. Using the illustration of the Oregon resident who a decade ago sold their 'stix n brix' home, bought a motorhome, and ran off to sunny Mexico, the Democrat Herald writer points up that Oregon law still considers you an Oregon resident. What marks the point when your 'Beaver Tail' disappear? Apparently until you 'intend not to return.'

I'm not going out the limb and hand you the saw. Since the law on the Oregon books is considered a bit vague, then leave me out of it. Just read the story for yourself and draw your own conclusions.

Photo: BBC

Firemen Ask for Solo RVer's Help

In a free seminar put on by the Quartzsite, Arizona fire department for RVers, an interesting--and somewhat 'stop and think about it'--topic was brought up. Almost every year, says the fire department representative, a body is found in the Quartzsite desert, usually of someone who wandered off, got disoriented, and never made it back to their rig. Since solo RVers have nobody "at home" to notice their absence, 'could we please make it easier on the fire department and medical services folks?'

The recommendation was that solo RVers put emergency contact information on their person and in their rigs? One possibility is the so-called "vial of life," something as simple as a jar inside your refrigerator with your personal information inside. At times government officials finally wind up going inside an apparently abandoned RV to try and get the bottom of a missing owner. Too often they're able to identify the owner from vehicle registration information, but just who to contact may not be clear. In one instance the police found a cell phone in an "abandoned" rig and kept it charged up and at the station until a concerned friend called find out why they hadn't heard from their loved one.

Sobering, yes. But loving kindness moves us to do what we can to avoid this problem.