BillAdams

Caulk under the bracket (between the bracket and the roof), screw the bracket in place, caulk over the bracket and screw(s).

Are you hoping to see 10-12 MPG results from your Country Coach? Is this a 25 footer? Planning to drive no faster than 45? If not, I can't begin to imagine one of our big 'ole CC's every seeing anything close. What was your MPG before the flash?

I think you completely miss the point but I can understand how you might take it with the slant you have put on it. This has nothing at all to do with the class of owners or their associated vehicle. This is all about keeping the magazine and rallies and forum focused on motorhomes and has nothing what-so-ever to do with the folks who own RV's in general. Good Sam and Escapees already cater to all RVers but this was a group focused on the products and manufacturers of motor homes. I have nothing bad to say about anyone who owns a trailer or 5th wheel but I also have no interest in them, will never own one and cannot relate to the product or the majority of the issues that trailer and 5th wheel owners have to deal with. It's really no different than being a member of the Prevost Prouds group or a Mobile Suites owners group. Why would anyone who owned something other than a Prevost or a Mobile Suites want to join and if they paid the fees to join they should expect information that could be of use to them to be provided. I really am sorry that you see it the way that you do as I don't believe that it is anyone's intent here to make non-motorhome owners uncomfortable but FMCA is a Motor Coach Assn. looking to change their stripes and become a run of the mill "Any 'Ole RV Assn" just like the other organizations that already do this.

Ignore those who say you need to buy chains. DO DRIVE ON SNOWY DAYS! If you are in PA and headed to FL just watch the weather forecast so you are driving when the roads are clear. FL to TX in Feb should not cause you any problems at all but, again, watch the weather. Today, tomorrow or the next day might be the best day to leave. TX back to PA in March? SSDD! Hope you figure that one out as it's really about just using the tiniest bit of common sense and driving when driving makes sense and not driving when it makes no sense to drive. This will only add or subtract a couple of days to each leg of your travels but it's just a matter of getting there safely and not a matter of getting there.

I never travel with an empty fresh water tank but I do try to dump grey and black at appropriate times. I don't want to break down on a weekend with no water and be sitting there wishing I could take a shower. I try to keep about 1/2 tank of fresh and the others empty or below 1/4 a we travel to ensure I will be able to live in the RV without sacrifice should something bad happen.

I would say that describing camping hook ups a "most have openings high enough" is an exaggeration. While some are that way, "most" of the RV parks we have visited have a good downhill connection to the sewer (as they should). Leaving the grey or black tank connections open for any reason after dumping is, IMHO, a bad idea.

Not sure about the I-Phone but I use an Android. The phone will use data if you want it to so you can get live traffic data but this is not required for navigation. You can download the maps while you have a free internet connection available and the maps of the area you will be traveling are in your phone forever. They can be changed or updated as your travels change. You can then turn off the mobile data on your phone and use it like any other stand alone GPS without the live traffic data. As to data usage, again on an Android, I watched my data usage on 2 separate 250 miles trips. One trip I was using Google Maps and it use a whoppingly small 8Mb of data and the 2nd trip I used WAZE and it only used 15Mb. That's not enough data to make any difference in anyone's data plan.

A phones GPS system works using the EXACT SAME satellites that every stand along GPS uses. I don't need cellular data as my phone GPS is a GPS and uses GPS for guidance. It has nothing what so ever to do with cellular data. The phone based GPS units actually have MORE accurate information than ANY stand alone GPS as the data is updated more often and sometimes in real time. Here's how to get from Auckland to Tauranga. https://www.google.com/maps/dir/Tauranga,+New+Zealand/Auckland,+New+Zealand/@-37.3632963,174.9000257,9z/data=!3m1!4b1!4m14!4m13!1m5!1m1!1s0x6d6e76e77bd464e5:0x500ef6143a39926!2m2!1d176.1651295!2d-37.6877975!1m5!1m1!1s0x6d0d47fb5a9ce6fb:0x500ef6143a29917!2m2!1d174.7633315!2d-36.8484597!3e0

Folks often ask questions about something while not being aware that there is another option. I am not sure what ever happened to the OP but I don't believe letting him know that there are other, possibly better, options is a bad thing.

The bus Icon you see if for those who are trying to get from point A to point B using Public Transportation Bus. It's not for Car or RV routing. When you lose cellular connection you only lose the traffic data. The software keeps maps along your route downloaded for some amount of the trip ahead of you but I am not sure exactly how much. If you believe you could be in an area without any cellular data for an extended period of time (hard to imagine) you can download the maps before you go so you will have all the directions you need even in a cellular blackout (but no traffic info).

Where did we sway from "What GPS?" Google Maps and WAZE are both very powerful and accurate GPS systems. They are both as good or better than any stand-alone GPS with only a few exceptions. Considering you are making a choice between Free and $300+ I think this is just the information the OP can use.

I assume you mean you are using WAZE? You should also try Google Maps. They are different but both are good.

Of course it's greed. Before Flying J went broke and got bought out by Pilot, I truly never stopped anywhere other than Flying J. That's not a joke. I was driving 20,000-30,000 mile per year on business and that was my go-to fuel stop. Today, I look to any other option as I know they will be priced WAY higher than any other option in the vicinity. This just happened to have been the most atrocious example of their greed.

Or just join FMCA every 7 years or so, buy tires and let it expire until you need it again. If that's all FMCA can bring to the table, that's a problem.

I I just said that there was a cost to the additional miles. Never said it paid for itself. The final total in tolls from MI to NJ came in just shy of $200. While that totally sucks, I get reimbursed so it costs me nothing and I get reimbursed based upon miles driven. The company has to balance the lesser miles with the cost of tolls and the value of time. For me, time is of the essence so it really wouldn't matter what the costs are. The company just wants me where they want me as soon as I can get there.

Just headed from MI to NJ and as we got into NJ the Pilot Flying J locations were charging as much as $3.30/gallon for diesel. I saw a $3.03 I think. Driving up the NJ turnpike I stopped and filled up at $2.69/gallon. (less the 3% cash back) Holy Moly!

If you are going to promote having RV's of all kinds in FMCA and you don't change then you are cheating the folks you are courting to join. There MUST BE immediate changes (as already indicated by the Website Under Construction) to the format. It must share the airways and the magazine pages equally with all manner of RV. The industry is already flush with this kind of an organization. I just don't need to spend the money to be an FMCA member when I get much better benefits from the others. Heck, the savings on my camping with Good Sam MORE than pays for the membership. I suppose if the FMCA tire program continues I could consider the annual fee as a savings account that will save me money every 7 years or so but otherwise, what makes FMCA special disappears when this vote passes.

I am having no fun at all heading from MI to NJ. The tolls on I-80/90/76 are over $100 so far and the segment of the PA Turnpike from the PA border to our overnight stop in Bedford, PA was $47.00. At least my Company will re-reimburse me but this is just stupid. Doesn't the "I" stand for Interstate and receive Federal funding? Why am I being charged tolls? I could have avoided most of the tolls but it would have added over an hour and a half to the drive and many more miles so there is a cost there as well.

I know. It's disappointing but it's clearly inevitable.

When were you last on the Hardy? They recently removed all toll booths between Houston and Woodlands. I did forget that there are "parts" of Beltway 8 that have toll booths but if you head East of the 59/69 it also goes to EZ only.

Just to be clear, if you replace 2000W modified sine wave inverter with a 2000W sine wave inverter you would not need ANY wiring upgrades and the only cost would be the new inverter. If the old inverter was 1500W and you want to move to a 3000W then the wiring between the battery and the inverter may need to be replaced with larger wires.

Good Sam Life Members can get a Flying J CC that deducts 9 cents I believe (the standard 3 cent discount plus 6 cents more) but it's only good at Flying J and it's not a standard CC but only a CC that can be used at Flying J. If you go to Flying J and swipe your RV card and then use a CC with a 5% rebate then you get the 3 cents plus about 11 cents or 14 cents instead of only 9 (or 8 if they have cut the rate recently).

Strangely enough, if FMCA makes the mistake they are obviously about to make, I will pay more for my tires even if it is only cutting off my nose to spite my face. I have watched this business go down the tubes and it has now hit rock bottom. Unless this measure magically fails, I'm done. This is about greed and has not anything to do with the word Family or Motor Coach. The Assn. part has one extra letter at the end.

Tireman, I can tell you that ALL of the toll roads in the Houston, TX area are cashless and you are not allowed to use them without a transponder. They don't do the tag toll by mail. You are simply not allowed to use them. Interesting thought about the transponder on my car, however. We are leaving MI for NJ today and the transponder on my car is a tiny "chip" attached to the windshield and can't be covered up or put away. We are going to go through a lot of tolls getting from here to there so I hope there is not something that will end up getting the charged as we travel along as well. Yikes!

My membership expired a month or so back and I suspect my 23 year membership is done.