Frankturman

I have been towed three times by Coach Net and never had a bill other than my annual renewal fee. They have always sent some one to me in a timely manner. The operators have always been competent. I will continue to use them.

My feeling is if you have to ask you can't afford the coach!

Newmar hides the screws, access to them is through the cabinets on each side of the TV. Once the screws are removed the frame will come out. You may have one or two clips holding down the TV which will need to be removed. Odds are the new flat screen will not fit the opening. Good luck Frank

Have you checked the master switch? Sometimes the repair people will turn off the main power disconnect if the coach is in storage for a while.

We have only been full timers for 6 years but have watched both 5 W and Motor homes sit up and take down over the years. Motor homes are much easier to set up and get ready for the road. The other closer for us is what size of vehicle do you take to the store? A motor home you take the towed car and a 5W you take the truck. We only drive the motor home at the most once a week and only about 300 miles where the 5W owners must take the truck everywhere. Those are some of the reasons we are motor home people. We have a 43 foot Newmar and love it.

We have had coaches with kitchen slides for 12 years both Newmars with no problems. We have lived in our current coach for 6 years as full timers and love the lay out of this coach. Normally the kitchen slide is only about 18 inches wide to accommodate the pluming and gas lines that are necessary for the function of the kitchen.

I would call Spartan and talk to them about the problem. Sounds like you have some kind of short or ground fault that is causing the problem. Spartan is always ready to help out the this type of problem.

I would try another Investment firm.

We have been on the road now for 6 years and have Alternative Resources out of Sioux Falls SD. AS stated above there is no income tax in South Dakota which is an advantage. Other taxes are low. You only need to be in the state one day to get your drivers license and register to Vote. The Alternative Resources will assist with vehicle registration as well as most any situation that comes up. I was called to Jury duty once and they helped me out of that problem. All in all we have been happy with them.

Do you cook inside your coach? If so this may contribute to the oil and soot in side depending on the amount of ventilation you use. Open windows and run vent fans on high may help. Frying at a high Temp may contribute more oils and soot to the inside air. Take a look and this and see if it is part of your problem.

I agree Newmar is a top line manufacture of quality motor homes. We are full timers who are on our second Newmar Dutch Star and have loved both of them. A 2007 coach with only 1400 miles on it brings a little concern because it has not been used much. I would look at it in person and then ask to have the engine and transmission looked at by a good mechanic shop. If there is a Cummins dealer in the area that would be a good choice. Ask them to change the oil and filters at the same time. If all of the chassis equipment is in good shape the next step would be making sure all of the house equipment is functioning. That would be the air conditioners, fridge, water heater, heaters, and microwave. Look for stains in the ceiling as that is an indication of roof leakage. If all is well there you should have a good coach. Good Luck

I would look over the out side of the coach for bulges in the skin this may indicate water leaks. This would occur around the windows and the water heater. I would also check the inside ceiling for stains that would indicate water leaks from the roof. Check to see that the generator is in working order start it and power the coach for a few min making sure that all the air conditioners and other electrical appliances work. These items are high cost and difficult to repair.

You need to know that in this part of the country people drive 100 miles one way to have a beer with a friend. That being said, you could park at West Yellowstone and still drive over 100 miles to see parts of the park. If you were to drive to Grand Teton and back you could drive over 300 miles to make the round trip. Staying in two different parks is a good option. We have visited both parks for the past 3 years. Staying in West Yellowstone or in Gardner (Northwest entrance) are good options. We normally stay out side the park about 50 miles north and 20 miles south of Livingstone at a park called Yellowstone’s Edge, nice park with great owners. We stayed at Jackson Wy for our visit to Grand Teton. There are a few parks there and most are big-rig friendly. There is also a park that is in-between Yellowstone and Grand Teton. We have never stayed there so can't give any recommendations.

It sounds like California does not care about the business from the RV Public coming to their state. It is nice that they can turn away the dollars that we generate in these tough times.

I agree -- the more open you are with your business the better people feel about being members.

Have you tried your docking light switch. The ignition must be on to use it.

It has been nearly 4 months since our last entry and we are a long way from Port Isabel Texas. We spent the remainder of December in South Texas spending the Christmas Holidays in Mission and then moving back to the coast spending the New Year holiday in South Padre Island. We then started our trek along the gulf coast stopping at Corpus Christi and Houston before departing Texas for Louisiana. We spent a week in Breaux Bridge which is just to the east of Lafayette. This is a nice town deep in the heart of Cajun country. The food is great with a lot of local restaurants serving all of the Cajun delicacies. We enjoy this area the people are friendly and there is a lot to see and do. Our next stop was Slidell just north east of New Orleans; we parked the coach there and flew to Fargo ND to attend the wedding of a niece. The wedding was fun and we were reminded about the reason we spend our winters in the south. The snow was about 3 ft deep and the morning we departed the temperature was -11 degrees. During our stay in Slidell we were able to get our Louisiana winery. We then moved to Biloxi MS for a week. This is a fun area with a lot of good restaurants, including some from Diners, Drive-in’s and Dives, the Food Network Show. We always enjoy eating in these establishments when we can. The sea food in this area is some of the best we have been able to get. We then moved on to South Alabama where we stayed for two weeks, visiting one of Julie’s Cousins who winter in Orange Beach. This is a fun area with a lot of things to do and places to visit. The history of this part of the gulf coast is rich in both military as well as the early settlers. We enjoy both the Alabama and Florida Panhandle areas where the beaches seem to stretch forever and the sand is white like sugar. We then moved to Columbus GA where we prepared to attend the FMCA Convention in Perry Georgia. While in Columbus we were able to find wineries in both Alabama and Georgia. Both wineries had good wine for this region, that being according to our pallets. We then moved to Perry for the FMCA Convention, where we spent 6 nights dry camping along with the nearly 3000 other motor homes attending. This was an enjoyable gathering with great weather, and wonderful fellowship. We are now in Brunswick Georgia preparing to start our trek north along the Atlantic Coast. Our travels have not taken us to the North East states and we plan on covering those in the coming months. We have enjoyed the south east Georgia coast visiting the Islands and taking in the rich history of the area. We will have to try to do better about posting our updates to this rambling narrative so you can keep track of our adventures.

Due to a lack of availability of local campgrounds I am forced to arrive on Friday afternoon rather than my scheduled Saturday PM. Is there a problem with that? If so are there any suggestions as to places to camp for one evening? We are currently in Columbus GA and the park has no available spaces for Friday March 11 so we are in need of one night parking between here and Perry.

Heat pumps only work well when the temp is above freezing. That being said if you have heat pumps the function of heating the coach should switch from the heat pump to the furnace. This switch should be automatic as a function of the thermostat. Have you turned on your furnace? If so does it work? Frank Full Timer

I have had snow 3 to 4 inches on top of the slide out covers 2 to 3 times in the past. I try to get up on top of the coach and sweep the snow off of the covers before retracting the slides. A lot of snow will cause the cover to pinch between the slide lip and the side of the coach as it is retracted. I would agree about keeping a flexible travel schedule during the winter months. Arriving a few days later but safely is always a better alternative to damage or having an accident because of the weather. frank a full timer.

Until over a year ago I towed a 2003 Grand Cherokee with the manual transfer case for over 50000 miles with no problems. Just make sure you follow the procedure in the owners manual. We now tow a 2009 GC with the Quatatrac II Jeeps are great toweds. Frank A full timer

We departed Las Cruces NM and moved over two days to Kerrville Texas, a nice little town in the heart of the hill country. We have been in this area before and enjoy revisiting the area and its attractions. The town of Fredericksburg is about 30 miles north of Kerrville and is a great place to visit each time we return. Fredericksburg was founded by German immigrants in the mid 1800’s and retains some of the culture of the founding fathers. While in Kerrville we also visit a local meat market where they make some wonderful sausage as well as the fine Texas beef. From Kerrville we moved to San Antonio where we spent over 12 days at Lackland Air Force Base. This took us through the Thanksgiving holiday. We were able to take some time to tour the city especially the downtown River Walk. Whenever you are in this area this is a must visit during your stay. We next moved to Corpus Christy Texas staying in a nice campground north of the bay and located right on the water. We were able to spend a lot of time at the local beaches and enjoyed the local sea food. We particularly enjoyed the Padre Island National Seashore. This park has more than 26 miles of undeveloped beach where driving on the beach is the only way to see the park. We are currently in Port Isabel Texas located about 25 miles northeast of Brownsville. This is a small fishing port across the Inter costal Waterway from the South Padre Island resort community. Lots of great seafood available here as well as fresh citrus. We are staying in a campground with a lot of Winter Texans who all originate in the northern states and Canada.

We moved north out of Gallup N.M., to the town of Farmington to attend the Rocky Mountain FMCA Area Rally. This was a nice event held at the Fairgrounds, where we had electrical and water hookups. The rally was relatively small, only about 330 coaches, but was well-run. We had a great time and met a lot of wonderful people. While we were at the rally we discovered that our refrigerator was going bad again. We departed Farmington on Sunday for Albuquerque with the plan of having the annual service preformed on our motor home. En route about 30 miles from our destination the dash board lit up and all kinds of warning lights came on. It seems we had blown a coolant hose and antifreeze was coming out all over the place. To make a long story short, we ended up being towed in the last 30 miles and spending the night in the motor home in the parking lot of the local Cummins dealer. Thank goodness for great roadside services -- the cost of the tow was covered by them as part of our coverage. The Cummins people had us up and running on Monday but needed an extra day to finish the service because of the extra repairs. With the coach fixed we were able to concentrate on getting the fridge repaired. We contacted a dealer in the local area and were able to get the diagnosis completed and the parts ordered. We were able to stay in the coach and found space at Kirtland Air Force Base in Albuquerque while we awaited the arrival of our parts. All in all, we spent a little over two weeks waiting for the repair work to be completed. We were able to see all of the sites in Albuquerque and the surrounding area. Following our ordeal we moved to Las Cruces, N.M. for five days, mostly to catch up with our mail and spend a few days in this area. Tomorrow we depart for Texas. We have not decided a location yet, so we may just wing it for a while.

I would also check the front window in that area. Front windows are not immune from leaks but a little silicone will normally stop any water intrusion. Frank

In my coach, a Spartan Chassis. there is a fuse panel behind the rear axle near the battery compartment. In that panel there are fuses for the brake lights and the tow electrical system. I think that is a part of the Spartan system. I would also check the Spartan manual for additional fuse information. Frank