travelingsages

My car tows 3' behind the motorhome. I can't imagine someone expecting to get a 15' car between the two. I also don't think a sign would have any effect on them. They will just tuck in behind me or try to pass the entire rig on the right. A sign won't change that because they are not looking for a sign.

I have a larger and newer rig than you have but these numbers might be of interest. Mine is a 2007 Itasca Suncruiser on the Workhorse W24 chassis/ I have the Allison 6 speed tranny. Over the lift of the motor I have averaged 6.7 mpg while fulltiming. I weigh 23,500 pounds and tow a 3,500 pound Suzuki Grand Vitara. That makes me 27,000 pounds overall. I too have found that speed and wind makes the greatest difference. I have averaged 9.28 mpg while driving the Natchez Trace where the road is flat and the speed limit (enforced) is 50 mph. I have also hit 5.5 mpg many times (maybe 10 - 15). I have been in the Rocky Mountains where my speed is 35 - 40 with heavy climbing and still gotten 6 - 7 mpg. The speed is more important than the mountain climbing for my load. I would guess that you are running a little lower mpg than you should but it might be that your older motor doesn't have the horsepower and tuning that my newer rig has. Also, the difference on a 1,000 mile trip at today's gas prices between 5.5 mpg and 6.5 mpg is only $100. You really can't spend much money on Banks or other systems and get a payback. Just drive a little slower and avoid full throttle starts and enjoy your motorhome.

Remember that mileage is dramatically affected by speed. You will get measurably better mileage at 45 mph or even 55 mph than you will at 65 mph. Secondly, I have actually had instances where I got better mileage while climbing passes than while driving on flat ground. The air resistance at higher speeds is tremendous. Driving slower will oftentimes give better mileage regardless of the terrain. So don't worry about a route that will slow you down going through small communities.

The Geeks on Tour did a review of the Rand McNally GPS and while it has some nice features the GPS can take a full minute to calculate your route. It is extremely slow.

RVBusiness magazine had some stories about the difference between EGR and SCR on new diesel engines. http://www.rvbusiness.com/2010/11/monaco-c...pro-scr-letter/ Pages 46 through 52 on the link below have stories written by Monaco and Freightliner describing why they support their systems: http://www.rvbusiness.com/wp-content/uploa...ness1011_12.pdf I think the bottom line is that there are pluses and minuses on each system. They both add some weight. One may slightly improve mileage and power but probably not enough to notice and the other doesn't require the DEF, but only time will tell what problems either one have in actual use on RVs.

I have been in at least two RV parks where the power sagged during the day because it was hot and everyone was running their air conditioning. The voltage got down low enough that my Surge Guard shut off the power to the RV. While this was inconvenient it saved the compressors on the air conditioners. I also have had a surge that was caught by the Surge Guard which again turned off the power to the rig. All of my electronics were protected and no damage was done except to the Surge Guard. I took it out and sent it back to the factory and it was rebuilt and returned. I would not be without some form of surge protection along with over and under voltage protection.

I have discovered that my black water flush will stop working if I turn on the water too fast. It apparently jams the anti-backflow valve. I have a water line with a shut off on it where only a quarter turn of the lever either turns it on or off. This sudden surge of water seems to create a problem. I have found that if I turn on the water supply very slowly then I don't have a problem and the flush works just fine. You might try this and see if it helps you too.

I will give the other side's opinion. We have seen people call cabs to their campground so that they can go to dinner or the store. Obviously that is only an option in some towns and is not an option if you are out in the woods somewhere. The answer depends a lot on what you want to do as you travel and how often you move. Are you going to stop and get groceries as you drive into the RV park? What will you do if you need another quart of milk? Will you ever go to the movies? Will you ever go up the road to a fishing spot? Will you ever drive the Going to the Sun Highway? It is a pain to pack up your rig and take it out just to do an errand, go to a doctor, go sightseeing, etc. There are a lot of places where sightseeing in an RV is difficult because of the size of the turnoff or parking spots which are designed for cars. There are lots of places where roads have size limits on vehicles. We are near Aransas National Wildlife Refuge in Texas and there is a road on the refuge that is limited to vehicles seven feet wide, eight feet high and 24 feet long. Does practically any RV fit this size? We were in Wyoming last year and found a road where we could see wild horses. It was dirt and gravel and occasionally muddy and steep. We found the horses and were thrilled. There is no way we would have done that with our RV. We have toured all of Yellowstone and the Grand Tetons. It was nice to be able to take a side road and be able to pull off in small spots to see the animals. Parking in some of the smaller thermal feature areas would have been tough in an RV. We have driven into large cities and their downtown areas. You can drive down a inner city street but it is tough to make the right hand turns in town when the blocks are full of cars and parked cars. It is the turns that are the problem. The bottom line is that you are so limited when you have to rely on your RV for all local travel. There is no way I would travel with out a toad.

I also have had a lot of piece of mind with Pressure Pro. The only problem that I have had is related to temperature. I am a full timer and when I set the Pressure Pro air pressures on my toad in the winter and then drive to somewhere warmer the tires warm up from driving as well as the tire pressure goes up because it is warmer. This causes the total air pressure to go over the 10% limit and I get an overpressure alarm. My car's tire pressure is set at 28# so 10% is under a 3# increase. I wish that I could set the overpressure limit for the toad's tires only to a higher percentage.

Great stories. You are quite the humorist. Did you take a van or your class A motorhome to Alaska? A "van" is like a Ford Econoline. A "motorhome" is a motorhome, a RV, a rig, but not a van.

I also have Progressive. Can't say enough good about them. They saved me a bunch over Allstate and they handled a claim better than any insurance company ever has! We do have two policies however. One is for the motorhome and includes the extra liability insurance and a high limit contents insurance. The second policy is for the toad and is a standard auto policy.

I have a couple points to consider. Watch out for the btu ratings. Some bar-b-ques look nice but have low btu's so they have a devil of a time cooking steaks, etc. There is one model of bar-b-que that uses a smaller than standard propane tank that is not readily available. Another point is that some are pretty wide and large. Make sure that you have the space to store them. You may need a wire table for them if they don't come with tall legs because most RV parks do not have tables or do not want you to put your bar-b-que on the table.

We have used Roadmaster tow bars for 10 years. We started with the Falcon 2 which held up quite well. We never had a problem like the Blue Ox people have with broken fingers on the bar. We have now moved up to the Falcon 2 All-Terrain which works great because it allows you to hitch and unhitch when the two rigs are twisted. Great improvement! I have not used the Sterling but have seen and talked to those that have it. It is really light! - but strong. It costs quite a bit more but if you have weak arms or arthritis then it might be worth it.

Google Earth is a good way to see the nearby road construction or railroad tracks when you are checking out a campground.

Hi, we are Doug and Sheila. The travelingsages. We have been fulltiming for two years now. I grew up camping as a kid and in the mid 60s we started RVing on our own. We went through a tent trailer, 4 sizes of pull trailers (each getting bigger), a 34' Bounder and now we have an Itasca Suncruiser 38J on a Workhorse chassis. We have been in all but about 6 states so far as well as Canada - no interest in Mexico at this time. We are into genealogy, geocaching and birding. I also have been doing some kayak fishing lately. We spent the first three months of the winter near Apache Junction, AZ and loved the weather and area. We have now moved to the Texas Gulf Coast at Rockport and there is a lot to do here too but it has been awful windy for the last several weeks. We are looking forward to the song bird migration which should start in the next few weeks.

Good input above. There also needs to be a way to keep the data current. An example is the experience that I had last spring. I am from the West Coast and found myself in College Park, MD which is near Washington, D.C. I needed to have an oil change and lube job done on my motorhome which is on a Workhorse chassis. I looked in my Workhorse Chassis manual which listed a location right nearby. I drove by to make sure that I could get my big rig in and out of their facility and it appeared that they were pretty busy. I then stopped in and made an appointment for my service. When I returned to have the service done, it turned out that they didn't even have the oil filter and had to send someone out to get one. The final bill was about 50% more than they had quoted earlier and they would not budge on it. I ended up putting in a review on www.rvserviesreviews.com but that was all I could do. I later went into the Workhorse web site and found that they had an online version of the authorized service centers and this company was no longer on the list! Anyway, my point is that FMCA would need to keep their business list current. I am sure that they know we expect them to do some vetting and not just take their money for a listing. It will do me no good to have a reference to a business if they are sleaze bags and no one will tell me.

I have bookmarked this site. It will be helpful in the long run. I used to search the US Post Office web site for Post Office locations as I moved around the country but then the search page stopped working on Motosat connections. I just tried it with Microsoft Live and it does the job! I like to have a map that shows the location as well as the address which I can key into my GPS. Of course the results are only as good as the original data. I tried two RV parks that I have been in lately and they were not in the database. Other parks were found in the area however. By the way, it does a great job locating Dairy Queens!