So today we became the newest members of BAC (Beaver Ambassador Club), This an organization of Beaver Motor Coach owners, They have rallies around the country each year. And we are going to head to the Quartzite rally in January, not sure how it will go, but you never know with these different groups until you try them.

We currently have a FMAC, Good Sam’s, Passport America, Harvest Host, Canadian Snowbird Association, and Explorer Club. We did have an Escapees membership which we have let lapse because we did not see the benefit and while each club offers different benefits some just fit our needs better than others…will the BAC be good fit, don’t know but I do know that some of these Beaver Coach owners could fall into the fanatic category, we have been following “Beaver Motorhome Fans” Facebook page for a couple of years now.

So far I have been able to find a 1998 Patriot 425 Thunder brochure, that I have added to Our Coach page, and have been boning up on the history of the  Beaver Motor Coach, and have been able to locate some technical information from the Forum page, you can never have too much information on a twenty year old coach especially when you own a twenty year old coach…just saying.

Member Benefits:

• Many of our members have saved thousands of dollars with information they have received from the BAC Forum.
  We have several retired diesel mechanics, a Caterpillar diagnostic technician, and many members with years of experience working on Beaver Coaches. The money you spend to join our club is well spent, and will repay itself many times over.
• You will receive the club’s quarterly publication, Beaver Tales, which has information on new rally offerings and news about the club, plus helpful hints on coach maintenance and more.
• You will be eligible to attend BAC rallies in all parts of the US and Canada. We are a non-profit organization. Our volunteer rally masters put on rallies for half the cost of the commercial rally companies.
• You will make new friends nation-wide. The Beaver Ambassador Club prides itself on being the friendliest club around.
• You will gain access to the BAC Forum where you can get immediate help with technical problems or advice on scores of RV related issues. This is worth the cost of the membership alone; our members have saved hundreds, perhaps even thousands of dollars, with information from the Forum.
• You will gain a nation-wide network of fellow members to rely upon when you need help.
• You will have access to our maintenance round tables at major rallies.
  All of these benefits cost less than $3.50 a month

Note: The  member benefits above is an excerpt from the join page of the BAC.

Well time will be the judge of the club but I am looking forward to meeting a bunch of Beaver owners in Quartzite in January, and I’m almost positive that there will be a follow up blog…so stay tuned…and you have to be wondering about that whole beaver racing thing…I know I am.

Unlike most Canadian travellers that  head south for a few weeks and have some coverage outside of Canada, with their mobile carriers, as full timers, spending about five month in the southern part of the United States on the “Roam like Home” plans offered by Canadian carriers are cost prohibitive. So we find it necessary to step up to a carrier that is more economical, last year we used a company called Roam Mobility, they are a Canadian based company that has purchased access to cellular service (T Mobile) in the States. We used them last year in Florida and have reasonably good service (all though where we were located in our park all service was spotty at best) and I just purchased coverage for this winter and hope the service in Arizona will be good as well.

Pricing is very reasonable, a three to six month snowbird plan includes unlimited texting and calling between Canada and the United States, it also gives 8 gig of data  at 4G and unlimited at 2G per month for $49.95/month. You purchase the whole plan up front so our two phones for six months cost just under $600 Canadian plus sales tax. Our U.S. phone plan starts November 1st 2019 and runs through May 1st 2020, we are able to maintain the same phone numbers that we used last year, and through the magic of call forwarding anyone calling our Canadian phones will be transferred to the U.S. phone once the plan is in effect. We may not cross on the first of November but the five month plan would not cover all our away time. Roam Mobility use the T-Mobile cellular towers and like any of the big carriers in the States, they all have gaps in their coverage.

I will keep every one updated as this year unfolds, and we see the extent of the coverage, but fingers crossed we hope the coverage is good, in the desert…lol. I will also be renewing our Verizon hot spot once we cross the boarder to give us our internet connectivity as we head south.