bradrm

We find the Gov's orders frustrating , confusing & annoying. He has lumped the 5 southern CA counties from San Luis Obispo all the way down the coast together. This latest order is based on dropping below ICU occupancy threshold of 15%. Here in SLO, they show a total of 53 ICU beds in the county & the County is reporting one covid patient in ICU. What this means is that the campgrounds in the Pismo Beach areas are being closed simply because there are less than 15% available occupancy in the LA & San Diego! Gov Newsom appears to have divided the counties in such a way as to justify shutting down essentially the entire state. I think that this is more about preventing us from enjoying the coming Christmas & New Year's holidays in a semi-normal way. We saw similar shutdowns for the Memorial Day & 4th of July holidays. I believe that we are mature enough to take the necessary precautions without the Gov dictating so harshly!

I think that there is little concern if we use common sense & be selective as to where we go to see things. Are the places you would like to visit open or closed? The issue for me is the political demands being made in some states regarding self-quarantining. One never knows what rules each state or city will impose & enforce. We do things wherever we live so why not live similarly wherever we go?

Hwy 223 going west from Hwy 58 does not have much of a grade...nothing to worry about. CA-166 across the valley is flat. Once you go thru Maricopa you will encounter a 6 -7 % climb for 3+ miles. Once you level off CA-166 is pretty much level then you will have an easy downhill ride to Hwy 101. The climb out of Maricopa is the only grade and it's uphill. Take your time & you'll not have any problems. 166 intersects 101 just north of Santa Maria, going south you will pass thru Buellton & then on to Santa Barbara. Going north on 101 you will be just a few minutes south of Pismo Beach. From there it's 40 some miles to the wine country around Paso Robles. Going north on 101 out of San Luis Obispo you will climb up Cuesta Grade, a 6 -7 % 3 mile climb. Going up is slow & easy.....be careful coming down, gear down to 3rd probably & use your exhaust brake but your service brake only as necessary. I used to have a 39 ft Safari with a 300 hp Cummins......40 - 45 mph, exhaust brake on as I crested the top...let it come down in 3rd gear watching the tach closely. North of Cuesta it's basically flat traveling until you get north of Ukiah.

When we visited the Boston area two years ago, we chose to stay at the Canoe River Campground in Mansfield, MA. We also wanted to camp outside of the greater Boston area to avoid the congestion & also because I had relatives in the Warwick, RI & Bellingham, MA to see. Mansfield put us roughly equi-distant to Boston, to Providence and to Cape Cod. Canoe River CG, like many CG's in New England are very family oriented, so they have many activities for the kids. The owners of Canoe River CG suggested taking the train to get into Boston & offered to take us to the Mansfield train station. He said that if we called him when we got on the train coming back, he would pick us up at the station. Normandy Farms is a very popular CG but is rather pricey. Another popular place is the Circle CG Farm Campground in Bellingham.

We have been talking about a trip to see these parks in Utah next year. Anybody have any campground recommendations near each of the parks in Utah?

I thought that the question of opening membership up to owners of towables was to be voted on in July. Does anyone know if the board has authorized the FMCA membership to vote for/against this proposal? If so, what were the results? I haven't seen anything here regarding this as yet.

I also use a Canon Pixma IP 110. I like this printer very much as it is very compact and the print quality is excellent! I have had this printer for two years and my printing demands are limited so I don't have a feel for how long the ink cartridges last yet.

We stayed at the Midessa Oil Patch RV Park last October & it was nice. Our experience there was good & we would stay there again if we pass through Midland-Odessa again. I believe it could have been a KOA at one time judging by the style of the office. The power & restrooms were good. I don't remember having any noise issues such as full timers leaving for work.

I recently ran across the planner that http://www.rvparky.com/ offers and found it useful. I especially like the way it changes all your dates if you choose to vary your schedule. It also does not list many RV parks but used in conjunction with http://www.rvparkreviews.com/ it is still helpful. I have not heard of RV Trip Wizard so I will continue to follow this thread to learn more of others experiences with it as we are planning a cross country trip this summer. Brad

We are headed to Crater Lake & Sisters from central CA this summer in our 38 ft Safari Simba towing a Ford Edge. We are looking forward to the drive up Hwy 97 out of Weed through central Oregon. After Sisters we plan to work our way west to Salem, & then the Tillamook area. We will be then traveling south along the coast on 101 on our way back home. The last two years we have gone up on US 101 & enjoyed that very much. There are so many small towns to see and enjoy. This year it's time to see the other side of the mountain! Does anyone have any favorite RV parks in these areas? I understand that wherever we stay we will have to drive a bit to get to Crater Lake NP. Thanks!

I have a Duo Therm heat pump that is not working as expected. The front system is running in "Aux Heat" mode, so the furnace runs when I set the CCC for heat pump to run. The rear heat pump runs normally. I understand that when the temperature drops below 30 degrees the heat pump will switch to Aux Heat but where I am located night time temps are in the high 50's. I suspect that I may have a bad temp sensor causing this. How can I find out what is happening here?

I recently upgraded to the wireless Genie system at home and plan to take it on the road soon. I plan to locate the host receiver in the bedroom, with the video bridge connected to the bedroom TV output jack coming from the video control box and use a wireless client up front for the overhead TV. Can I put the power inserter in line coming into the video control box or is there a better location?

We traveled on Hwy 18 between Lincoln City & Salem and Hwy 38 between Reedsport & Eugene in our 38 ft coach this last August. These roads were really nice to drive down and the scenery was great on both. I haven't driven Hwy 20 but I would think that Hwy 20 would be as good as Hwy's 18 & 38. Oregon's highways are far superior to those here in CA.

FYI - We got "promoted" to Member status at 10 posts. Thanks!

We are planning on going to the FMCA Western Area Rally in Indio in January. Does anyone have any RV park recommendations in the Indio - Palm Desert area? Any favorite places to stay for 4 - 5 nights? I have been looking at Desert Shadows, Indian Waters & Indian Wells parks and each seems to be nice and conveniently located to the Indio fairgrounds. Thanks!

Thanks Tom! I think I had found the answer to my question shortly after my post regarding getting promoted to "member" status. I have seen "members" with as few as 12 - 15 posts. It makes sense the way this works. The forum here is for each of us to participate by asking questions and contribute our knowledge and experiences to those who seek to learn. Thanks again. Brad

Just curious. When does a "Newbie" move up to the next membership level? We all have to start somewhere and earn some recognition before being "promoted" so I don't mind the "Newbie" designation. I think that it let's others know that I am new to RVing and may sometimes ask a question about something that many others have known for years. When I was in college, one of the professors used to tell us that "there are no dumb questions if there is something that you don't know or understand". He did say that there "are sometimes some rather "dumb" answers at times". In the farming world, I realized that I learned something new and useful almost every day. My experience here in the FMCA forum is that there are many good questions and I have yet to see an answer that wasn't helpful, if not to me, but maybe to someone else.

We have a 2007 Safari Simba FRED. This is our first coach and I see it as an entry level Class A coach for us. We plan to upgrade to a rear engine DP someday but we will enjoy this one for the time being. The engine can be heard more so than a rear engine DP but I haven't driven a DP so I can't really say how much different the noise levels are. After driving this coach for almost three years now, I don't really notice the engine noise other than when running at higher rpm levels climbing steep hills. The real difference that I see is the difference in the torque produced by the 5.9L Cummins engine vs. larger, DP engines that produce 1,000+ lbs of torque that allow you to climb hills with greater ease. The bottom line is that if you are able and willing to spend the additional money, then a DP would be a better choice. I am looking forward to driving a DP in the years to come!

I replaced the tires on our coach last month while we were in Oregon. The Michelin 255 R 70 22.5 tire price on the current Advantage Program price list is what I paid. I decided to buy tires while in Oregon to take advantage of not having to pay sales tax! I had them installed at Superior Tire Service in Eugene, OR and the work was completed in about an hour and half. I had two bad studs so STS sent one of their installers to pick them up from a nearby parts house. They billed me $7.60 for the cost of the studs but did not charge for labor to install them. I would highly recommend STS to anyone who is looking to buy tires.

Bob I am also planning a trip from Visalia to Oregon in August and you suggested using SR 20 from Williams rather than going across the delta on Hwy 12, to Hwy 101 in a response to my post a couple weeks ago. I appreciate your response to my previous post. I am curious where you like to stop the first night. If we were to drive 250-300 miles the first day that would put us in the Williams area the first night. I see there are several interesting CG's around Clear Lake but I haven't seen anything in the Williams area. John, we are looking forward to being in the Fortuna and Eureka areas for a few days on our way to Oregon. Hope you have a great time! Thanks to both of you.

It looks like it has been a while since anyone has posted here so I guess I will take a turn being that I am new here in the Forums. Brad Marchand Former CTI2, USN 1974 - 1979 DLI, Presidio of Monterey, 1975-1976 Air Force School of Applied Cryptological Sciences, Goodfellow AFB, 1976 NSGA Hanza. Okinawa, 1976-1978 USS Salmon, 1976 USS Oklahoma City, 1976, 1977 USS Coral Sea, 1978 USS Blue Ridge, 1978 Thanks to all who have served and given all over the years. I would not trade my experience and the friendships that I had during my years in the Navy.

Hi Everyone! We are Brad and Marsha from Visalia, CA. We joined FMCA last winter and have recently started reading the great forums here to learn from our fellow RV'ers. We are recently retired from farming (Brad) and teaching (Marsha) backgrounds. We bought our first motorhome, a 2007 Safari Simba FRED, two and an half years ago and now we have the time to start using it the way we have wanted to. Many years ago, I made my first extended trip in a pickup with a SixPac camper, to New England and back, traveling east on a southern route and returning across the northern part of the country. That first trip only took seven weeks! We have made several trips recently to Las Vegas where I grew up, to San Diego, to Paso Robles and to Morro Bay on the central CA coast since we got the coach. We are looking forward to a trip up the CA coast into Oregon later this year after we get Marsha's new Ford Edge ready to tow. I am a ham radio operator and plan to install one of my old vhf/uhf radios in the coach so that I can ragchew with my fellow hams along the road. I look forward to participating in the forums here and learning from our fellow FMCA'ers.

Thanks Bob and srfridley for the info. I was thinking that CA12 would be the best route to get to Hwy 101 north of the bay area. We want to see the redwoods and the coastal towns along the N. CA coast on our way up to Oregon. We are looking at staying in Cloverdale, Fortuna and maybe Crescent City on the way up. Midway RV Park looks good, Bob. We will probably choose 2 or 3 places to stay on the OR coast and then come back down through Salem, Corvalis, Coberg, Roseburg and then maybe a couple more places along I-5 before dropping down back into CA. Bob - Are there any steep mountain roads coming back down I-5 through N. CA? Thanks again!

Hi! We are planning a trip from Visalia, CA to the Oregon coast and am looking for the best route through or around the San Francisco Bay area. We plan to go up Hwy 101 north of the bay area and possibly returning on I-5. Do you have a favorite route that avoids the east bay traffic? I am thinking that it would be better to avoid having to cross the Carquinez or Benicia bridges. Can you use either of these bridges in a 38 ft motorhome + toad? I know it can be rather windy on these bridges at times. Would Route 12 between Lodi and Fairfield be a better way to go? Also, do you have any favorite Rv parks along 101 in N. CA or OR? Thanks in advance!