kingfr

Try Collier Memorial State Park. It is about 30 miles from Crater Lake.

I wonder if they are ticketing truckers who sleep in their sleeper area in the truck stops?

I just got two new front tires installed at Simmons Tire in Sheffield AL, along with an alignment job. Mike Simmons did not know how to do the FMCA discount program when I contacted him, but he said that he would find out about it. To make a long story short, I got the discount, which amounts to about 10% on my two new tires. The discount is on the tires only, not the installation, balance, etc. It is basically fleet pricing and Michelin actually runs your credit card.

:)

We drove 550 from Durango to Montrose in our 40 footer towing our Grand Cherokee two summers ago with no problems. Just take your time and keep your eyes on the road. Do not let people behind you push you. Pull over and let the speedballs pass you when possible. It is verrry curvy. There are campgrounds in Silverton, Ouray, and Montrose. it took us about 4-5 hours to Montrose, I think, about 150 miles. Montrose to Grand Junction is another 60 - 80 miles. I don't know about getting easily to Telluride from 550. We drove a 4x4 Jeep trail from 550 to there the last time we did it. 550 is a spectular drive. Pull over often to admire the views. DW loved it.

Slowe, I am a Host at OMSP right now. It is a very pleasant park, very woodsy. It is 30 Amp. They have just opened a 50 amp, full hookup area near the front gate if you are just looking to overnight. It is primarily there for horse people on the weekend but it is a good overnight spot. I rarely see anyone in it. Do not follow GPS directions to the north gate unless you are in a van camper or a small class C. You have to drive over a dam and through a ford in a deep dip (the spillway) to come in that way. GPS units want to route you that way because it is maybe 1/4 mile shorter. If you arrive after 8 PM, that gate will be locked.

As Tom noted, it travels just fine. We do not turn off the Icemaker. There was more than enough room behind the Norcold to accept the Whirlpool. I think that the installer removed some wood in the hole, however there was enough of a gap over the Whirlpool to warrant a wood piece to fill the gap. The installer did move the power outlet to the "Basement" for clearance. The Whirlpool goes almost to the outside wall of the coach. He plugged the roof vent and we installed a plate in place of the vent behind the Norcold. We also replaced the 2KW MSW inverter with a 2.8KW Magnum pure sine inverter, and upgraded the 4 6V flood cell house batteries with 6 6V AGM batteries. Our batteries were 4 years old and probably were due to be replaced anyway. In our case, the refer is in the hall between the kitchen and the bath. We actually have a little more clearance between the refer doors and the opposite wall. I know this because we have a wire kennel for our dogs which we move from the LR to the BR in front of the refer. It is easier to move now. (Our Norcold had raised wood panels which probably took up more room.) He also installed some drawer slide stops on the doors to keep them from flying open on the road. All in all, the RR upgrade was fairly expensive, but worth it. We now have a great refer, DW loves it, and I am no longer concerned about the Norcold burning down the house. (Yes, we had the "Recall" done!)

A 21.7 CF Whirlpool side by side fits very nicely in the hole vacated by the Norcold and is light years better. We made this change last month! It works great, ice cream is now solid!

+2 for the Trav'ler. If you want Directv HD, it, or the Motosat lookalike, is the only game in town. We have had an in-motion dome for four years, have used the in-motion feature only once to watch TV. We do look at it when we get on a campsite to see if we can get service on the site.

Some of the General Motors products with automatic transmissions are towable 4 down. Jeep Liberty, Wrangler, and Grand Cherokee 4x4s tow very nicely. Most of the transmission problems that I have read about occur on Ford automatic products. See the Motorhome Magazine or FMCA Magazine towing guide for the official word from the manufacturers.

This is the unit that I had installed. Everything Bill says is involved, including relocating the electric plug to the basement of the coach. It makes a very nice installation when done. Brannon Hutchinson at Custom RV in Vina, AL did the work. Vina is about 6 miles from Red Bay Al which is where Tiffin Coaches are built. Brannon worked for Tiffin for a number of years before striking out on his own. They did use a fork lift to get the old unit out and the new unit in through a side window.

I just had a 21.7 CF Whirlpool Side by Side installed to replace my Norcold 1210.

If you are going to do stuff in downtown SLC, genealogy and the like, KOA is an excellent location. They do offer 7 nights for the price of 6 and the RV sites are nice!

Take a look at the Garmin Nuvi 560LMT which has a trucker OR RV setting. I have described my coach to mine, as an RV, and so far, it is doing well. I know that it will keep me away from low underpasses and roads which are too twisty for large coaches that are towing based on several hundred miles in western NC and eastern TN. LMT means lifetime maps and traffic updates at no extra charge.

Run the generator and the roof airs! We have the generator autostart set so that when the front A/C unit wants to start the genny starts and we get cool. We keep the thermostats set on 75 degrees. Both a/c's run in really hot weather, but we are able to stay cool even in the hot southwest in summer. Do be sure that your electric hot water heater switch is off, or you can cause the genny's breaker to pop if both a/c units AND the hot water heater try to run.

Grey water is 70 gallons Black water is 45 Gallons Fresh water is 90 Gallons LPG is 24 Gallons

According to my latest "Roughing It Smoothly" magazine, which is a publication from Tiffin for Tiffin ownwers, The UVW of a RED 38QRA is 25,200 LBS. UVW is defined as the approximate weight of the vehicle with full fuel, oil, and coolants. It does not include cargo, fresh water, LP gas, passengers or dealer installed accessories. The 38QRA is a quad slide, bath and 1/2 floorplan.

I can't speak for the RED's mountain climbing ability, but the 2008 Phaeton, with 360 hp and 1050 ft lbs of torque climbs nicely. We have traveled all over the west, including the Rockies and Sierra's and are in the Appalachians right now with no power problems at all. We have had the same issues with curvy roads as any 40ft coach pulling a Toad will have. The 340 hp Red sounds good, and probably gets better fuel economy than the 360 Phaeton, but 1050 ft lbs of torque trumps 660 ft lbs any day. Torque is what moves these things up mountains, not HP. Also, I prefer the Allison 3000 to the Allison 2500. The 2500 is why the RED is only rated to tow 5000 lbs. As far as Tiffin vs Winnebago, they are both good coaches. I do not know what the power train in the Journey is. My memory says that 2008 Journeys had ISB engines and 2500 transmissions. If that is so, that could be an issue. I think that the Journey is a bigger, heavier coach than the RED. Go to WWW.tiffinrvnetwork.com for more information than you can stand. You can't beat Tiffin's service!

I would expect that a Toad would affect the mileage of a gasser more than a diesel. We had a 1991 Allegro gas coach (Chevy 454) towing a Jeep Cherokee and got about 6 1/2 MPG. Our current DP (360 Cummins) averages about 7 1/2 MPG pulling a Grand Cherokee which is about 1500 lbs heaver than the Cherokee. We also run 5 to 8 miles per hour faster in the DP!

It's too bad that Flying-J had to use bankruptcy because the drop in oil prices ate them alive during the "recession". They had just bought a bunch of oil at pre-recession prices. Looks like if they could have held out they could have gotten their money back based on where oil prices are headed now!

I have seen many campgrounds, especially in resort areas, which will not return any of your deposit if you cancel a reservation. Many KOA's take a $10 cancellation fee if you cancel which is more than 20% of the cancellation fee that Two Rivers is charging. You might check the policy of the Operyland KOA where you are going to stay. Most of the CGs where I have seen this policy will apply the deposit to a later reservation, if you wish. I have stayed at Two Rivers many times, and I find the owners and staff to be very nice and responsive to their guests.

FYI, Tiffin is offering tankless water heaters as an option on the Phaetons and Allegro Buses. They are LP fired.

I guess that it depends on whether you are a "Glass half full" person or a "Glass half empty" person. As for us, it's been and is worth every bit of the cost. If you have to "Cost Justify" everything you do, then you probably will sit in your residence and do not much of everything.

If you want ribs, try Dreamland in Tuscaloosa Alabama!

Cash price, no trade, you should be able to negotiate 20 - 25 % off list at the major dealers in the southeast. Don't know about other parts of the country. There might be less margin in gassers, I know these discounts are available on diesel pushers because I got 25% off on my Phaeton. (in 2007) Go to www.tiffinrvnetwork.com to find out others experience and the dealers that they used.