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Tiffin has just raised its rate to $95/hr in their Red Bay service center. Also raised the rate for the Allegro Campground to $20 per night for non warranty work.

I would expect that you would loose less money with the 2002 than the 2005. If each depreciates 30% over 3 years, you are out $9K on the 2002 and $18K on the 2005. Probably a better question is which one are you more comfortable in, assuming that the initial purchase price is not an issue on either coach. A motorhome is not an investment, it is a hole in the air to throw money into!

My Jeep tows with the transfer case in neutral, the transmission in park and the key out. There is no steering wheel lock on the 07 Grand Cherokee!

My 07 Grand Cherokee has Quadra-Drive II and I have towed it 4 down for about 30K miles with no problems! Quadra-Drive II is Quadra-trac II with the addition of locking differentials front and rear. I doubt that the 04's transfer case is different. As long as you have a neutral in the transfer case, you should be good to go. A Quadra-Trac I is a single speed transfer case with NO neutral position. Your owners manual should have instructions for prepping the jeep to be towed.

Seems to me that the Florida Turnpike is a place to avoid!

I am in Birmingham, Al right now. I suspect that the temps here are about the same as where you are. Low 20s at night, 35 -40 during the day. I am going through 3 - 3 1/2 gallons of LP a day. We do live in the coach so our consumption will be higher than one in storage. Still, I would guess that you would burn 1 - 2 gallons a day in this sort of weather which would deplete a 20 -30 gallon tank fairly quickly.

According to Monaco's web site, the 2011 Camelots come with " Cummins® ISL 425 HP Engine with Allison® 3000 MH 6-Speed World Transmission and Electronic Shifter; Torque: 1,200 Ibs./ft. Max; Engine Displacement: 8.9L/538 cu. in." Not a Navistar engine. This is the same engine that is found in the Allegro Bus. "Cummins ISL 450 HP / 1250 Lb. Torque" according to Tiffins web site. Note that the Tiffin version has higher HP and Torque. This is a DEF engine! They probably put Navistar engines is some of their smaller diesel coaches, probably not in Pushers. You can get the Navistar engine in a Tiffin Breeze, if you want that engine and a small coach. See the December FMCA magazine for an article on the Tiffin Breeze. You will probably be happier with Tiffin's after the sale support than with Monaco's, based on my experience with Tiffin and what I have heard about Monaco!

Interesting! There are no episodes this week, but three the following week. (11/22, 11/27, 11/28) I wonder how one is supposed to know exactly when these things are gonna be broadcast, unless they do the search every week. If I were an advertiser, I wouldn't like that too much!

I do see where the RVTV web site says that they are moving to the R&R channel on DTV and DISH, however when I go to the DTV schedule on my set, channel 354 (R&R) does not have the programming at the stated times. Also, I cannot find RVTV anywhere during the week! Since RVTV only makes about 12 episodes per season, maybe they are done for the year!

535 is Encore on my Directv system! What is the R&R channel?

We stopped at Flying-J in Salt Lake City today. Easy in and out. Filled up the propane tank, got a $.10 per gallon discount. Filled up diesel tank, got a $.03 per gallon discount. RV card worked in the reader in the RV lanes as it was supposed to, had to go inside to pay for the propane. The restaurant was torn up with remodeling, I don't know what they are putting in. I saw Subways in some Flying-J's in California last month. The discounts are better than they were before Pilot took over. The truck lane discount is supposed to be available in the truck lanes as soon as they can get their computers and pumps updated. Lets give them a break and allow them time to do their thing. So far, I have no complaints with the stations that I have used since the merger. Hopefully, some of what we liked about Flying-J will rub off on the Pilot stations and give us more options!

The newer Rover products, at least the ones sold in the US, do not have a neutral position in their transfer cases, so no towing four down, or any other way. The same goes for Mercedes Benz products. I'm a little surprised that the European versions are the same way. I think that the only bypass is a car hauler trailer. I don't think that Remco can disconnect both ends. I ran into the same problem when I was shopping for a Toad. I could have gotten a MB ML320 CDI unit for about the same money as my Grand Cherokee diesel, but the MB could not be towed at all! This is a common problem with vehicles that are "All Wheel Drive" as opposed to "4 Wheel Drive".

My Progressive Industries EMS shuts my coach down at 104 Volts low and 132 volts high!

Is it all wheel drive (AWD)? If so, there is no way to disengage the transmission from the wheels when towing two down, so you would burn up the transmission since the Dodge's transmission has no way to pump oil when the engine is off.

Queen size mattresses are fairly easy to get in and out of a coach. It gets messy with king size mattresses. My coach came withe a pair of long twins (36x80) side by side to make an "rv king size" bed (72x80) These mattresses lasted about one year. We had a mattress company cut a king size memory foam mattress from the standard 76x80 down to 72x80. They delivered it to the coach, brought it inside, and removed and disposed of the old mattresses. The memory foam came rolled up and compressed and was easy to get in the door. Once the binding was released, it opened right up. It is very nice and firm!

No question, HWH makes good stuff. I would like to point out that electric jacks can be raised with an electric (battery) drill and the proper socket. (at least mine can) Also, they can be removed and replaced in less than 30 minutes, by removing 4 bolts and one plug, and then reinstalling. The hydraulics, not so easy. If the jacks are properly sized, either should give you good service.

I stayed there several years ago. My memory says that it is fairly nice, but the sites are very close together. We generally stay at the KOA just off I40 in the east part of town. It is nice, but pricey. It is very convenient to where we want to be, however.

Where the tire diameter thing comes into play is if the GC is 4X4 AND has locking limited slip differentials on both ends, as mine does!

If you can dry camp, TRNP has, or had, campgrounds in both units. When we were there several years ago, we saw several 40 footers in the the lower unit.

Skype works pretty well as long as you have a fast enough Internet pipe on each end. I suspect that audio only Skype requires less bandwidth. We use Skype to see our grandchildren when we are far away (most of the time) and it works reasonably well. If we don't have a good 3G connection on the aircard, we don't bother. The kids have good high speed internet to their homes, so our connection is the limiting factor.

So if Dish puts up a KA band satellite, I guess that the Dish subscribers who use Kingdomes, etc are gonna get shafted like us Directv subscribers did in late 2007.

What are the chances that most of these pictures are Photoshop creations?

I believe that the issuance fee in Alabama is actually somewhat less for a motorhome than a commercial vehicle of the same GVW. My tag's issuance fee was $$1.25. The license fee for this year for a MH of 33K GVW is $275. By the time they got through adding ad valorum taxes, the tag was $1262.49. Alabama taxes motor homes as second homes, which means that the tax is based on 20% of the assessed value. A primary residence is taxed at 10% of the assessed value, less a homestead exemption. However, when you buy the motor home in Alabama, the sales tax is 2%, plus whatever your county charges. This is much less that most states, Montana being an exception. When I bought my coach, I paid 2.5% sales tax on it. Since I am a full-timer, I think that my motor home should be taxed at the primary residence rate, but I probably won't win that battle. I see a move to Texas or South Dakota in my future!

I assume that you want to put a rack for the bikes on a coach and tow your Toad at the same time. I have not used the dual hit type but I have used a "towing" bike rack on my coach which accomplishes the same thing. The rack I had was made by Blue Ox, and clamped the bikes by their crossbars. My biggest complaint with it is that the bikes were shaken up very badly as the coach went down the road and it did damage to the bikes. Scratches, nicks, etc. I carried them for about 20K miles that way, but now I have changed to a rack on the back of the toad. The one I got comes from Swagman (SP?) at camping world. It carries two bikes, and holds both the wheels and the crossbar, which keeps the bikes from moving and scratching and denting each other. The rack folds out of the way when the bike are off to open the tailgate on the toad.

The Carefree Awning has a 4 year warranty on the mechanicals and electrics, 2 years on the fabric. (At least mine does on the 08 Phaeton) I would contact Tiffin and Carefree ASAP and not attempt any repairs that could void the warranty!