Jaimepoulin1

Hi, I have a 2002 Newmar Dutch Star 40' Class A. Recently, in the last few days, my toilet starts to "burp" when I flush. After a couple of times, I can see that the down spout is starting to fill. I plunge and all is good but a day or so later I have to do it again. There are just 2 of us on the coach. We have been full timing for just under a couple of months. I always drain the septic when it gets to a quarter. Usually this is about once a week. I probably am guilty of not using enough water..... Any thoughts on how to clear this? Thanks Jaime

Bill, Thanks for the input. It doesn't usually cross my mind that it could be something other than my coach. I did call maintenance, and kudos to them, they were there in 3 minutes. Turns out it was indeed a 50 amp breaker on the park side that was going south...... They replaced it and no problem for a couple of days since..... I do appreciate your direction!

I searched around the forums a bit, but did not see this particular issue. We have been staying at Ocean lakes in MB, SC for ten days or so, and using the 50 amp service here. All has been good. Last night around midnight my wife woke me and told me we had no power. I went out to check. The breakers at the pole were good, but there were no voltage readings on the EMS. I have a 2002 Newmar Dutch Star Coach with a Cummins diesel pusher. It is equipped with both an EMS and a transfer module. I disconnected and reconnected several times. Each time the EMS would "try" to kick in and the coach lights would flicker but it would not stay up. On a hunch, I connected my 30 amp adapter and switched over to 30. The power immediately came back on line. This morning I reconnected the 50 and although the ems and transfer module groaned a bit, I do now have good clean power on the coach at 50 amps. Has anyone seen anything like this? Thanks. Jaime

Almost since the day we left Maine, Michelle and I have been thinking about getting a dog......We had a beautiful guy that we fostered a little over three years ago. His name was Sparky and he was 8 or 9 when we got him. We had gone down to the local SPCA to get a puppy, and while we were touring the kennels, we happened to see him. He was very forlorn, just lying quietly in his cage in the midst of all the chaos. We kept coming back to him and finally our guide told us his story. They were not sure of his age but estimated him to be about 8-9 years old. 105 lbs worth of Mixed Labrador and they were treating him for heartworm and an ear infection. We immediately agreed to "foster" him for 90 days so that he could get better in a quiet comfortable environment. You might guess the rest....90 days came and went and we kept Sparky......for 3 more years. One of the best dogs I have ever had the pleasure of knowing. Sadly, he left us a few months ago. So we have been keeping our eyes out and trying to decide what was the best pup for us. Lots of research here and other places about just what makes a good rv dog. Not too big but not too small. just right for us. They say everything happens for a reason. About 5 days ago, I woke up to see that some new campers had showed up, right next to us. 960 Sites here at Ocean lakes and they pull in with 8 fresh little Labrador mixed pups. Just 4 weeks old and had been taken from their mother when they were only a week old. The wonderful lady that was caring for them already had 4 dogs of her own but couldn't bear to walk away so she had fostered them in hopes of finding good homes for them. Bottle feeding all of them 4 times a day, God Bless her. She had brought them to Ocean Lakes in hopes that there would be good homes waiting. She found three. What a great dog. Sleeps through the night (so far) and has yet to make a mistake in the coach. We had her checked out by the local vet and of course she had worms but we treated her for it. She is healthy. We are looking forward to many years with Miss South Carolina Sadie. You can follow Sadie and Michelle and I too as we motor around the Country Full TIme in our Coach. Like us at www.facebook.com/everywhereamerica

It is a great question and one that we frankly agonized about. Michelle and I are both animal lovers. For us it came down to the welfare of the cats. They are both outdoor cats, avid hunters, and super enjoy their outside time. While living in Maine, we had plenty of both open space and woods for them to play and hunt for hours on end. Cats are more or less creatures of habit and in my humble opinion, do not adjust well to new surroundings. I do suppose that if you raised them in a mobile environment from birth, it would be different but not in general. We figured that our options were to re-home them or bring them with us and confine them to the coach. We were both very frightened that if we let them off the coach at anytime that they could simply either eventually wander off or worse, find a hiding spot and not come back. Or get lost, or succumb to what ever predator was out there. By rehoming them, we did realize there would be a short period of adjustment in their lives but that they eventually would become very comfortable once again. It was also very important where they would up. We were not going to simply let anyone have them, it had to be the right fit. In the end, Zen (3 years old) went back to live with the couple that gave her to us. They live in the woods, and Zen's mother still lives with them. There was a short period of adjustment but everyone is doing great. We have been able to check in on her and are glad that she has a loving home. Vinnie (10 years old) ended up going to an elderly woman that very much loves animals and already has a dog and another cat. She has a rolling piece of land and is next door neighbor to Michelle's mother. She too has mad a wonderful adjustment and is both receiving and giving great love to her new caretaker. Both have plenty of free area to roam, hunt, play and live peacefully....... I am grateful for your concern. Jaime

Hi everyone! You guys are always so helpful so I thought I would ask .... For the Month of November Michelle and I are staying at Lake Norman RV park in Sherrills Ford, but it is a bit much for her drive to the office in Charlotte. She will be retiring at the end of Nov. so we just need to be near. Lake Norman is a good 50 minute drive. The only decent looking website I found was for Elmore RV park, which is supposedly in the center of Charlotte. Have any of you stayed there and if so what do you think? Also, if you have any other suggestions, I would love to hear them. Thanks. Jaime

We are relatively new to the coach world. Our Dream is to see The United States of America on it.....We dubbed it "America" and had that put on our license plate....... Miss Lueffies owner is correct. We just started our first journey on a Friday with both Michelle and a girlfriend of hers aboard. We were headed to North Carolina.....we did get there.....on the following Tuesday. Spent a couple of nights at Candy Land in Winchester Virginia with a busted air leveling system courtesy of I-84 in PA. That and a new front tire for about 1200 bucks and we were on our way....... Herman- we had unfair winds and in your face seas!!!! Life is good!

I try to live my life that way! take care

Brett, you are the best. I think we are all set. Thanks so much, it is a bit of a learn as you go proposition. Before we have even left, I have learned so much. Have a great night!

Regarding the gauge, I am not sure. I am not there to look. If this helps it is a standard thick black cable. Michelle hooked it back up on a break from work today and it has been humming along nicely since. All appliances are humming along nicely now. Or at least the heater is. The condition of the plug ends is good, no melted plastic, hot spots or corrosion. I honestly am thinking it is just due to the length of the extension, the relatively low service at 20 amps, and the basic draw of being plugged in and powering minor systems. The Battery is reading fully charged and the readout says 13.1 for now. I suggested to Michelle that when she retires for the evening, unplug the shore power, and let the furnace fans run on batteries overnight. Plug it back in in the morning. Thanks again!

One of my challenges frankly not stated earlier is that I am in Tennessee and the Coach is in Maine, so I am relaying this info through Michelle. I did talk to my Awesome RV service provider, Mountain Road RV in Sabattus Me and they said it is most likely due to the fact that I am using a 20 amp service and an extension cable. The bus is about 35 feet away from the power pole. Over time, the heat builds up and kills the service. Michelle is going to check for corrosion and melting around the prongs of the extension. Also, the refrigerator is running off electric as opposed to gas so she is hitting the button on that to reduce the load. Hopefully this will not require replacement of any components. When I checked the voltage of the battery the coach had been running the furnace all night off just the coach batteries so I am not surprised there was a discharge. When she was able to get power it came back up to 13- 13.1 I hope she will be okay. If not, she can rough it for another couple of days till I get home. Not Ideal but a learning process certainly. Thanks for your help. Does this sound plausible to you? J

13.1 13.2 when all is good. 11.7 as of this morning when out. The only thing running was the furnace and a couple of minor systems. Cable box.....etc..... I will check the plugs. I believe I am using a 30 amp connector though.... Thanks for the help.

I am plugged in to a 20 amp service for shore power. I am using a standard 30 amp plug. The first day we had no problems for about a 30 hour period. In the middle of the following night we lost power. It was out for several hours. In the morning I switched park pole outlets to plug in to and that seemed to take care of it. There is no visible breaker on the pole. All went good for about another 16 hours until about 4 o'clock this morning. I went to the main power pole outside (supply side) and switched again and the coach "tried" to power up. the lights flickered a few times then nothing. ten minutes or so later with no tinkering it "tried" to power up again, but nothing. This is confusing as everything seems to be good. I could only think that there might be some overnight condensation on the connections but all seems to be dry. Any ideas?

We are going to set sail Friday, October 25th. Ready or not, here we go. Michelle thinks I am goofy because I refer to everything on America in nautical terms. The other day she asked me where something was and I told her it was on the starboard side of the bus near the galley. She just looked at me for a minute or two before moving on wordlessly. I know sometimes she looks at the choices she has made in her love life and just thinks quietly "Why?" I say ready or not because although we put this trip together in a couple of months the both of us are starting to feel like it has been going on forever, and forever is a really long time. We have shed 95% of what we own, rented out the house, filled a storage unit with memories that we cannot replace, had get-togethers with co-workers and old friends, re-homed two very well loved cats, and generally turned our lives inside out, all well still working and outfitting the coach for us. I don't know if all that makes us ready or not, but ready or not, we're going! I particularly like the trips to the storage unit. We have taken some boxes back and forth to the house 3 times or so. Funny. Michelle has been the best. Divorced for 5 years prior to meeting me, she had put a tremendously large effort in to building a stable life for her and the kids. Michelle's life centers around routine. Everything has it's place and she determines that. I can ask her on any given day where anybody's anything is and she will know instantly. She works hard. Same career for 27 years. And she is giving it all up to drive around in a 40' bus with me. I really don't know what she could be thinking. For about the last ten days we have been living aboard America. We could not find any place open past the 15th so we made an agreement with our tenant that we would be in the front yard until we left on the 25th. They were agreeable but I am not really sure they are too keen on it. Our yard is not that big and their view from the front window first thing every morning is me in my bathrobe perched on a gravity chair in their front yard wearing a robe and drinking coffee. Gotta be a little weird for them. At the tail end of last week Michelle said she had enough of living in a small home in front of her big home and made arrangements to move it, temporarily, to another place. We like this place much better. It has power and is paved and now we feel like we are getting somewhere! I do know what we are ready for.........I think we are ready to go. We need to get to the fun part, this has been a lot of work and not without its frustrations. We are ready to get in the coach and drive. Not look behind us for a while. Just vamoose. Scram, get out of Dodge! You can follow our travels on facebook.com/everywhereamerica

Well Yolanda, We are now about ten days from our departure time and everything is pretty much in place. This has been one of the most wonderful and also very hard things that Michelle and I have ever done, and not without it's frustrations. But all in all I wouldn't change a thing. Sometimes you just have to follow your dream. I do write in the blogs if you want to catch up and I will be posting a lot more, hopefully soon. I try to keep them humorous and light but also educational....I hope someone gets a little help from them. What is your story? J