bizsmith@yahoo.com

We spent Christmas at Topsail. Pretty quiet for Christmas but the campground was packed for New Year. If you prefer state parks, Rainbow Springs is further south and has some full hookups. We like it a lot. Pretty quiet park but close enough to Ocala if you need urban shopping.

We noticed a couple who seemed to be having trouble getting set up and offered to help. They said they couldn't get the shore power to work. They were newbies, first time out with a new (to them) motor home. To make a long story short, they had had a so called expert RV serviceman check the coach over. He said their shore power cord needed to have a new plug and the coach end to be cleaned up. This so called expert reversed a hot and the neutral on a 50 amp cord. They had no surge protector and the results were a fried microwave and probably the transfer switch for the generator has to be replaced. I think the only thing that saved two thin screen TV 's was that the GFI breakers they were connected to tripped quick enough. I don't claim to be an expert but I would pit my knowledge against some of these jokers that hang out RV service shingles.

I still maintain that the best BBQ is in the eye of the beholder. If I like it, it doesn't mean you will. My preference is a dry rub slow cooked and no sauce. The next guy will prefer drowned in sauce. You just have to try the place and decide for yourself.

Hermanmullins, You are correct. The powerpack is in effect an auxiliary compressor powered from the coach. I am not quite clear on how the brakes are applied proportional to the braking in the coach. If it is inertial, I still do not like the idea but it is an improvement over a system that pushes the brake pedal.

Any system that sits on the floor and pushes on the brake pedal does not make sense to me. It has been brought up the amount of pressure on the bake pedal is very high without the power brakes. Also any inertia system for applying the brakes seems suspect to me. I like the M&G system but of course it implies that your coach needs to have air brakes or an auxiliary compressor. I guess you have to decide based on your coach and toad.

We have towed a Honda CRV since '03 with almost no problems. Ours is 4WD. We will probably trade for a '12 this spring. We don't really need 4WD any more since we spend winters in the south.

We got lucky and visited a dealer that had them 2 days before the official introduction. The young salesman insisted that they were not towable but I persisted until he found a manual and it clearly has a section on towing behind a motorhome.

I took a look at the manual for the 2012 CRV and I see that once again it is towable. Good news for me, as I plan to trade in my '03 that I have towed with no problem for 8 years.

Since originally posting, we have purchased a Weber Q120. It has a couple of features not found on the Q100 (electronic ignition, higher dome). Since we don't grill a lot, I think it's smaller size is going to work out fine for us.

There are as many different opinions as there are posters. I do it but that doesn't mean it's right. And just yesterday, I was asked to turn off the propane before boarding a ferry.

As a PS to this post we have found that many times the checkout person will give you the store or chain discount if you tell them you don't have the store in your home area. Saves applying for and carrying multiple discount cards. Doesn't work all the time.

As we travel we see and visit so many new (to us) grocery stores and chains. We are in Galveston Island SP and in this area Kroger is big. I had never seen a Kroger Signature store before and I guess it must be the ultimate Kroger. It is very large (the frozen food section is bigger than a lot of stores we've been in). Publix is prevalent in the southeast and other chains are popular in other areas. I guess we were most impressed by Whole Foods in Denver. For the most part I am partial to the smaller well organized stores. They may not have everything but it is usually easier and quicker to find what I want. I sort of have a phobia against Walmarts. What is your favorite grocery store or chain?

Is it possible for non community members to comment on my blog? Although my blog is set up to allow guests to comment, I see no way for that to happen. When I look at my blog and I am not signed in I see no way to add a comment.

The attached map shows our track and stops so far. We are at Lake Whitney State Park to spend Thanksgiving with a cousin. The campground is top notch for a state park and filled up rapidly yesterday. It will be interesting to see the cooking that occurs today. There are bound to be a lot of deep fried turkeys. There is a burn ban so there will be no open fires, propane only. The deer population is abundant and just stand and watch Kirby and me walk by. Kirby would love to get off the leash and chase them but he would probably run forever and we would never see him again.

I wish I could help with Walmart, but I will tell you that we love Silver River State Park.

I have used the TST for a number of years and it works well except for a problem with tire transmitters failing early. At the Madison convention TST admitted having had problems with sensors in the past and they exchanged my remaining sensors free of charge. Hopefully the early sensor failure has been corrected with their new sensors.

What is the difference in public and private blogs? Can I have a blog where I can invite only certain people to view?

The trip so far: Nov 7 - depart home only 2 hours late, arrive Lake Mills, IA late afternoon, municipal park Nov 8 - travel to Lincoln, NE. Overnight KOA. Nov 9 - travel to Lebanon, NE. Stop at York to replace tire valve stem hose extension. Nov 9-12 - visit with cousin, another cousin from Kansas arrived also. Nov 12- travel to Floris, OK Nov 12-16 - visit with cousin Nov 16 - traveled to Palo Duro Canyon, the Grand Canyon of West Texas. Spectacular scenery. 10% grade to canyon floor. Great campground. Nov 16-19 - Palo Duro and Canyon, TX. Visited Panhandle Plains Historical Museum. Nov 19 - travel to Abilene. Overnight KOA Nov 20 - travel to Whitney, TX to visit cousin.

One thing we do to aid the dash heater is to hang a shower curtain behind the driver's seat. This reduces the area to be heated by the dash heater tremendously and a comfortable temp can be maintained. Same thing in summer. The dash air can keep this area cool and we don't run the generator and roof AC's.

I too vote for M&G or any system working from the coach air brakes. I just can't see using an inertia based system.

Good info from the posters. I will steer clear. Sounded suspicious anyway.

I wanted to purchase an Element and I know it has a drive train almost identical to the CRV. Based on the input from titanbus, it works fine for a toad. But the problem was the instruction manual says not to tow except in emergency and Honda will not honor the drive train warranty if a problem occurs so I stuck with my 2003 CRV. I almost wish I had taken the gamble and gone with the Element because I loved the inside configuration. Now the Element is no more as they discontinued it this year. Oh well!

Still unusable on the iPad.

We have a Companion and really dislike it because it does not cook steaks and hamburgers well and that is our primary use for a grill. We do not want to carry another grill. I will admit that the Companion does well for cooking as you would in an oven but we have an oven in the Motor Home for that.

To Bill Adams-I like the Solaire for its heat to properly sear steaks but we would not use it enough to justify the cost. Thanks for the input from someone who has actually used it.