jdwright

Not many recent cat RV post. We bought our first motorhome in 1972 and are on number 6 now. We have traveled with dogs [anywhere from one to three at a time] over the years. My wife hated cats, but following the death our oldest son in December 2012, God sent us cats to help comfort us. Since then we have been traveling with two cats and two dogs and made several trips of a month or longer. Both of the dogs do quite well. Both of the cats do well when we reach our destination. The other does not like the starting or traveling part of the trip and when the engine starts, he heads under the couch where he stays until we stop for the night. This cat either has a 6th sense or can understand what we are saying because when we start talking about leaving, he disappears under the couch. The other cat sits on the dash, or in either my wife or my lap and naps. We tried teaching them to walk on leashes, but that didn't work too well. While we are in a park, they know that they are in their alternative home and enjoy it. The dogs and cats get along well and when we take the dogs out for a walk, we give them a treat when we return. It didn't take but one or two of those for the cats to gather with their hands out for a treat when the dogs return. The cats have been a joy to my wife and I, and I would have never believed that she would have taken to cats since she always hated them. We have found out with two cats, you don't need TV because the cats will keep you entertained. Would not think about leaving either the cats or dogs at home when we travel. JDW F78957 Member since 1986

A 29 year FMCA member is NOT a NEWBIE.

Motorhome travel gives us the ability to live a more nomadic life without the structure and issues associated with travel via other means. One of the best items is the ability to make short term decisions about where your next desitination will be and how long you wish to stay. With smart phones and all sorts of RV Park and Resort apps available, the process is far less complicated than the old method of going to a park to see if they have any suitable space available. I am planning a trip to South Louisiana and intend to spend a week in New Orleans. We go when our schedule allows. We discovered that the NO Jazz Heritage Festival would be in progress during our stay which would likely limit available space. We stayed twice previously and Ponchartrain Landing RV Resort. Our experience with their reservation system, for this trip and previous trips were unacceptable. The information below is from an email message I sent after waiting 30 hours for them to tell me they had no space other than overflow: As an individual who has stayed at Ponchartrain Landing more than once and had other travelers who also stayed as the result, I must say that I am sorely disappointed with your reservation procedure. This is not the first time that I experienced this problem with Ponchartrain Landing. I logged onto your web site on Wednesday and complete the reservation information below. I recall that the web site says something like we will be contacted within 12 hours of the availability of a site for the period of our stay. First, when travelers call a hotel or motel for reservations, they would not get many reservations if their system told them it would be 12 hours before they know if the requested room is available or not. As a long time RV’er and a business traveler, any place who could not tell me if they had space available or not would be off my list permanently. My wife and I have enjoyed Rving for more than 40 years, and one of the points we enjoy is not having to make reservations well in advance which gives us a lot more freedom to travel on our own schedule, not someone else’s schedule. A 12 or 30 hour response time to whether a RV Park or Resort has space available for the period we intend to stay is simply unacceptable. I can drive from Dallas to New Orleans or in the latter case from the East Coast to New Orleans and not know if we are going to have a site reserved in a Park or Resort. Secondly, I did not receive any response whatsoever in 12 hours. Finally, I received a non-descript email 30 hours after placing my reservation request on line to find the only space available is overflow. Overflow works in the short run, but the notice didn’t mention the short run or the long run, or a price adjustment for lack of services available. Ponchartrain Landing is OK, but for the rates, I would expect paved streets in the park at a minimum. It rained several days of the last two times we stayed and the park becomes a huge mud hole. A waterfront view is nice, but it would be better if it were Lake Ponchartrain rather than a canal. But even so, we lived with it twice because of convenience, but there are limits and we have hit ours. J. David Wright F78957 The park is not that great but it is convenient which is why we stayed there before. The last trip we were returning from Florida and logged on seeking reservations, and did not receive a call back either and drove from Florida to the edge of Louisiana on I-10 and finally called them about our requested reservation. This is a prime example of what RV'ers don't want from RV Parks and is also one of the reasons that other alternatives such as Walmart overnight is so popular.

I installed the same Wilson 3G Booster on my motorcoach last October. It works great! Have the Trucker omni directional antenna mounted on the ladder and the amplifier in the rear closed and the directional antenna mounted mid coach so the full front area is a 3G hotspot. I have been a FMCA member for 26 years, so I don't think I qualify as a newbie. I have owned 7 motorhomes including 3 diesels. JDW F78957

Perhaps the question was not asked, but the KVH R5SL will not pick up Direct TV HD programming. You can get standard definition, but not HD regardless of the Direct TV Box you chose. If you want HD, forget Direct TV and go with the Dish Network Pay as you go. They actually make RV specific Satellite receivers and if you don't have home Dish Network, you can get East and West Coast Network programming for a small additional fee in lieu of local channels. Been down this road all the way, had Direct TV at home and in my motorhome and was never successful at getting East or West Coast Network feeds and Local channels did not work. Upgraded TV required upgraded satellite receiver, which would not work with the antenna which ended up in buying a Weingard Traveler for Direct TV. It worked great, but traded the coach last fall and the dealer said he would add a satellite antenna, and before I could say "Weingard Traveller for Direct TV", they installed a KVH R5SL on the new coach. It would work great but would not receive HD programming with Direct TV, vut with the right receiver, you can watch TV driving down the road. So I am in the mountains of Southwest Colorado watching Dish Network West coast network feeds over a KVH R5SL and a VIP 211K Dish Network Satellite receiver. By the way, don't know what a newbie is. I have been a FMCA member for 26 years and have owned 7 motorhomes including three diesels. I wouldn't call that a newbie. JDW F78957

I have a Dometic CF 110 with a slide out tray. It runs on AC [or inverter] or 12VDC and is 3.77 CU ft. It does not draw a lot of current and can be used as a supplemental refrigerator or a freezer and can maintain temperatures from 0 degrees to 40 degrees or so, I had this box in my previous motorhome because it had a gas/electric refrigerator that like every other gas/electric I have owned, did not work well, so I bought it as a supplemental refrigerator. We bought a new motorhome in September 2011 with a residentail refrigerator, and I took the box and installed it in the new unit. I keep drinks, etc in it mostly and it stays 35 degrees all the time. JDW F78957

I have a 2003 Imperial and had the same problem on the road in Tennessee about 4 years ago. I had no luck with several local dealers. I called Monaco and they couldn't help but suggested I call Roadmaster. The guy I spoke with said he remembered something about the ATC light and ask another guy. He came back and said that it is likely the fuel separator. I said you must be kidding me! He said that if the fuel separator [which is first] or the fuel filter becomes obstructed, under load the instant fuel supply may drop causing the computer to believe that a wheel is loosing traction and the ATC engages. Roadmaster suggested I take it to Cummins Cumberland in Nashville. It took them less than an hour to check it, replaced the fuel filter and fuel separator filter and that cleared the ATC problem. I still occasionally get an ATC light. I stop at the next rest area and bleed about a pint of fuel out and restart the engine and away we go again, with no ATC light. Every time I have found some very small specs of something in the fuel drained, but there has been present in the fuel separator filter every time. Since that time, I always carry two spare fuel filters with me.