Jump to content

  • Please note, Blogs are intended for stories about your RV travels.  Please post technical questions/comments in the forums located at:

    https://community.fmca.com/

Blogs

Tom and Louise on Tour in North America
 

Heat Lightning

I am at our new home in Edinburg, Texas. Louise is in Foristell, Mo., with the motor home. We've been meeting in the evenings via phone to catch up on the day's happenings. I was hoping to be able to tell her I would be leaving in the morning to join her, but construction continues on our home. At the end of the day when all has quieted down, I have been enjoying the evening on the porch of our manufactured home. We have been staying at Sandpipers Resort in Edinburg for nine winters now. They
tbutler

tbutler

0
bradleytsteele's Blog
 

What Happens in Santa Fe...

Dear Readers, By now you know we have made it to Witchita Falls and, of course, we made it to our final destination for our shake-down cruise, which was Santa Fe -- not without incident(s), of course. But we made it there and back home to Longview, Texas. Although we had our share of mishaps along the way, I'm pleased to report that my marriage to Ms. Wendy is stronger than ever (I hope) and that Gracie and Coco enjoyed the trip immensely. You would have thought the two of them had been RVers
bradleytsteele

bradleytsteele

1
"Gramps" Blog
 

The Human Whisperer

Nickolas, the family pupster here! I asked Dad if he would let me post again. Last time, I hijacked his blog and posted on the sly. This time he said okay. I wanted to leave him and Mom a note. They may need what I write here one day. I am almost 85 years old now, in relative terms, and so I can say that chances are I have a little bit of time left, but only a little. I don't worry about the end of my life. Mom and Dad do that for me. They comment on how white my face is compared to how it u
-Gramps-

-Gramps-

6
bradleytsteele's Blog
 

Santa Fe, Here We Come

Dear Readers: As I mentioned, in preparing myself to be a good RVer, I read lots of articles and books about the RV lifestyle and tips for do's and don'ts. I anguished for a good month or so about what kind of vehicle I should be towing behind my Gulf Stream. Should I acquire a Saturn and join the "in" crowd? (I had read it is the most popular vehicle, but I'm not really a Saturn guy). Plus, I already have enough vehicles titled in my name with two sons in college and a daughter who is about t
bradleytsteele

bradleytsteele

0
bradleytsteele's Blog
 

Second Phase

Dear Readers, First, let me say a thank you to the moderator of the FMCA online Community, for his kind words and welcoming me to this community of folks. I hope that what I have to say will be worth reading and perhaps funny, if not informative. When we last spoke I had decided that we would head out on our first big adventure to Santa Fe rather than Big Bend National Park. We had a limited amount of time for this initial trip and the distance between Longview and each destination was essenti
bradleytsteele

bradleytsteele

2
rogedie's Blog
 

Electrical Pedestal Warning

During our recent annual AZ winter visit, we stayed at View Point Resort in Mesa. Upon plugging in we noticed no power. After checking the pedestal, my husband discovered an open neutral which allowed 220 to flow into our coach. This had blown out some of our electronics. We immediately called the office and their head maintenance person was sent over. He confirmed that there was bad wiring and told us to call a repair service he recommended and that the park would pay for damages. A week
rogedie

rogedie

2
bradleytsteele's Blog
 

Our First Adventure (but not our last)

Dear Readers, I have always wanted an RV. I love the outdoors and I love to travel. I looked a long time before settling on a 2007 Gulf Stream Tourmaster with 17k miles that I purchased for 20k less than book value. It has everything I wanted in a coach, and it looks good, too. No buyer's remorse for me. I'll introduce you to my traveling companion: my lovely wife of 17 years and my best friend, Wendy. I would describe her as a somewhat reluctant RVer. You see, she camped all of her life as a
bradleytsteele

bradleytsteele

3
Jack & Peg's Great Adventure
 

How It All Began

The Journey "To finish the moment, to find the Journey's end in every stop of the road, to give the greatest number of good hours, is wisdom." -- Ralph Waldo Emerson Jack and Peg's Great Adventure," Part I First, allow us to introduce ourselves. I'm Jack, a retired Navy chief and just now a retired high school chemistry/physics teacher. Peg is retiring from a 30-year career in federal service as a safety specialist for NAVOSH, which is the Department of the Navy's answer to OSHA. We are cur
Jackhal49

Jackhal49

5
Tom and Louise on Tour in North America
 

Stuff

Do you have stuff? We have stuff! George Carlin used to do a routine on stuff. He had stuff, but he had another s word for other people's stuff. George was probably right, we have too much stuff. Andy Rooney, are you reading this? Louise and I are coming in off the road. In July of 2001 we moved into a 1994 Monaco Dynasty (no slides) and we've been living on the road ever since. This fall Louise decided we needed a home, so like a good husband I set about working on the project. We knew where
tbutler

tbutler

1
JMGOLDEN's Blog
 

Comments on the Monaco Cayman article, June issue

I read with great interest the article on the 2011 Monaco Cayman. It's great to know Navistar has picked up this line as I have always liked the style and features Monaco provided. I have a problem with Monaco's marketing director Ryan Lee"s comment that he and the staff at Monaco think this coach could easily be priced into the $400,000 or $500,000 price range. The article then states "Instead, the Cayman is offered at a base price of $226,350, running up to around $260,000 for a fully tricked-
JMGOLDEN

JMGOLDEN

1
"Gramps" Blog
 

A bit about Wi-Fi

It's been awhile since I blogged and a lot has happened since the 23rd of May or whenever it was since I last posted. I say a lot has happened, but not really. Diane, Nickolas and myself traveled to our spot at Deer Creek Motorcoach resort, the one in Galax, Virginia, not Florida. Barry, the owner and developer, asked me to point that out. While there, I did my best to improve my golf game and beef up our Wi-Fi. The golfing was fun ... more about that later. A bit about our Wi-Fi. It is n
-Gramps-

-Gramps-

0
Julie and Frank's Continuing Travels
 

Prosser, Wash.

This past month has been a whirlwind of family, friends and weddings. We departed Storm Lake, Iowa, and made a two-day jump to Aberdeen, S.D., where we spent a few days with Julie’s aunt Mary Joan and her daughter Kim. We had a great time there visiting and, of course, enjoying some good food. We then moved to Bismarck, N.D., to visit Frank’s mom as well as numerous family members who live in the area. Both of us originate from the Bismarck area in the days before our military days, so it
Frankturman

Frankturman

0
"Gramps" Blog
 

It has been a year

It has been a year, this week, since I started blogging here at FMCA.com. Boy, time sure flies when you are having stress. I have had a boat load of just that over the last year, I am talking about stress. It started building up more than usual around Christmas 2008 after I realized something was physically very wrong with Mike, my friend and business partner. By late March he was gone. Many of you know the story. He "passed over," to use that innocuous phrase, just after our trip to the FMCA
-Gramps-

-Gramps-

0
artbalog's Blog
 

Duo Therm Heat Pump Repair Problems

I have a 2003 National Islander with two Duo Therm heat pumps and have not been happy with the performance of the units. I contacted Holland Motorhomes in San Diego about service on the units and the service writer told me that if the units are low on refrigerant, the units cannot be recharged and will have to be replaced. Not beleiving that Dometic would put out a product that could not be re-charged, I emailed Dometic with that question. Dometic customer service got back to me and without givi
artbalog@aol.com

artbalog@aol.com

8
"Gramps" Blog
 

Better Than New!

Click on any thumbnail above to see a lot more pictures! Gary, Janis, Diane and I are good friends. We travel together and we both own the same coach. It is a Holiday Rambler Vacationer XL, model 38PLT built on the Workhorse UFO chassis. The UFO has the engine in the rear and it is gas not diesel. We get a lot of comments when we pull into a campground together or separately. For example: "Man, your coach sure is quiet, what's wrong with it?" (Nothing) "Well, it sure is a funny sounding Die
-Gramps-

-Gramps-

0
Julie and Frank's Continuing Travels
 

Storm Lake Iowa

I am told that I made a grave error in our last update to this blog. I mentioned that the bluebells were prolific this year when in truth they are bluebonnets, the Texas state flower. My apologies to all you Texans out there. The end of our last entry had us in Grove Okla. From there we moved to Branson, Mo., a drive of a little over 100 miles. We really enjoyed our stay in Branson, not that we took advantage of the many shows that proliferate the area. The part we enjoyed was the Ozark Mounta
Frankturman

Frankturman

0
Tom and Louise on Tour in North America
 

Making a House a Home

Our house arrived on schedule and we are in the process of turning it into a home. Even when the house arrives fully constructed there is so much to be done to make it a home. I watched in fascination as the house was leveled and tied down to its foundation. Being a do-it-yourself kind of guy, I then set about hooking up the water, sewer and electric. To a specialist, these things go quickly. For me, they take somewhat longer. Not content to simply hook up water to the house, I planned a remote
tbutler

tbutler

0
"Gramps" Blog
 

Pilgrimage to Elkhart, Day 3 and Day 4

For the last week and a half I have been sick. The first couple of days I was forced to just lay around the house drinking Alka-Seltzer Cold remedy (every four hours) and feeling sorry for myself. Last Saturday afternoon around 2:30 p.m., I decided that I had had enough of being ill. I drank my last seltzer, put on some shorts and my mowing shoes. I mowed the yard, then trimmed and edged it. I also pulled all the weeds out of the flowerbeds. When I was done, I was tired and sore but I felt much
-Gramps-

-Gramps-

3
Tom and Louise on Tour in North America
 

Excitement Builds!

There are just four days to go until our manufactured (used to be called mobile) home is moved onto our lot at Sandpipers Resort. I guess they renamed them because they tend to be parked pretty permanently once they arrive on their home location so they really aren't that mobile. Now a motor home, that's mobile! What a funny language we have. Here in the Rio Grande Valley the mobile homes do usually move one more time. Local residents, many of them recent immigrants will buy them for pennies on
tbutler

tbutler

0
Tom and Louise on Tour in North America
 

And Finally Patience Pays Off

For almost a month we have been trying to get concrete poured for a manufactured home at our winter home in Edinburg, Texas. Today we finally achieved our goal. We have concrete. It is curing and we will have our home moved onto our lot next Tuesday... if the weather holds. Heavy rains could still make the move impossible but we are looking at good forecasts with temperatures in the 90's, sunshine and low humidity. Meanwhile, we have picked out the furniture for three rooms and just went sh
tbutler

tbutler

0
"Gramps" Blog
 

Pilgrimage to Elkhart, Day 2

Saturday morning was sunny, but a bit chilly. Gary and I broke camp and pulled in our slides. He had not put his main one out because it just did not work smoothly. We discovered, the night before, that my main slide had a fraying cable so it would not be deployed for our second night. This would make the interior of the coach a bit tight but that was the breaks so to speak. The night before, while Gary and I were repairing my bedroom slide out topper/telephone pole mishap we had a visitor fro
-Gramps-

-Gramps-

0
"Gramps" Blog
 

Pilgrimage to Elkhart, Day 1

It is the 100th anniversary of the RV industry, so it seems appropriate to make a trip to Elkhart. Actually, I had no idea that it was or is the RV Centennial until I walked through the doors of the RV Hall of Fame in Elkhart, but I am getting ahead of myself. Diane and I, along with our friends Gary and Janis, have been planning on a trip to Elkhart, Indiana, for some months now. We were hoping to go there this past March 2, but the weather gave us all cold feet. In some places in Ohio there
-Gramps-

-Gramps-

2
Tom and Louise on Tour in North America
 

Patience Is Wearing Thin

We have been home from the sea for just over three weeks now. I had grand plans for our return. I had outlined on my calendar the progress of work that should take place upon our return. We are in the process of putting a manufactured home on a lot at Sandpipers Resort in Edinburg, Texas. The home was ordered in December 2009 and delivered to the sales lot in late January. The lot which would be our home was occupied by another couple who had decided not to follow through on their commitme
tbutler

tbutler

0
×
×
  • Create New...