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Hey! No state income tax . They gotta get the cash from somewhere.?

For overall length RV and trailer visit: http://drivinglaws.aaa.com/ They have rules for all fifty states and since it is AAA. I am reasonably sure it is useful info for us non commercial drivers. Quite an eye opener, at least if I am right.

If I was younger, I could be a bus nut. Road a lot of them as a kid in the fifties. I have mentioned before that I have a friend that worked on both MCI and Prevost coaches. He liked the MCI units the best and said that in his opinion they were best. As far as length when towing goes. When so called Deregulation occurred in the trucking industry in the early 80s the Federally mandated max length for a single trailer eventually became 53 feet on the Interstate with no limit on the size of the tractor. I was normally 71 to 72 feet in combined length with extended hood tractors and some of the custom tractors with a really long wheel base were far longer. If you check the Motor Carriers Road Atlas you will see many non interstate routes in the lower 48 marked in orange that indicate that those rigs are allowed. I don't know how these facts pertain to non commercial towing, but it probably is affected by the Federal and complying state regs. A good internet search might be in order to figure out exactly what a motorhome or bus can tow. Possibly more than we guess??

Kay/ I have seen the class 8 tractors I mentioned pulling large racing trailers. If the OP found one with a regular fifth wheel they can be modified by a public garage specializing in large trucks for not a lot of money.

I wonder if the original poster pulls the key from the ignition switch? Perhaps that would stop the noise and the reason to unhook the starting battery? Just a guess, but my 2005 F-150 is noisy when the door is opened and the key is not removed. Probably the same wiring since his is a 2006 chassis. Perhaps many of us tend to leave the key in the switch on our DPs? I do.

There are some bargain used class 8 tractors out there with custom sleepers and the amenities of a small motorhome. Everything you need to sleep, shower, cook, and be comfortable. They can pull large loads, but you would have to be able to shift multi geared transmissions. 10 speed and up. Might find one with an automated tranny. Good luck finding a used Renegade. Might be my next motorhome if we had the $$$.

Merry Christmas Huff/ Wish we were there. There is a way around the LA mess when you head home. Ran it a number of times to miss LA traffic, Banning scales and Castaic scales. Starts on Ca 62 north to Yucca Valley. Send me a PM if you want directions. All good roads and light traffic. Found it myself. Would never go any other way if I did not deliver in the LA area.

I guess that it could be a coincidence that replacing the battery actually started the ignition switch problem. You guys know about the wiring in the column. I certainly don't. Good luck and Merry Christmas to all.

When I start mine over the winter, I sometimes take it for a drive, but more often not. Lot of trouble to remove the lumber under the tires, the oak blocks that the levelers are resting on, maneuver out of a less than perfect sight for a 40' and often deal with snow. I never slow idle during the exercise sessions. I usually use the cruise control to set the engine at 1500rpm for around 45 minutes. Yes mine will idle that high. I know that will upset the anti idle crowd, but when trucking, my sleeper was my hotel. APUs were unreliable and expensive when they were first available. Walmart runs Thermoking units on their fleet now. I would have one if still trucking, even though they come in at nearly $10,000, They are the gold standard in my eyes. My point is that there was a whole lot of idling in the trucking world until the police started enforcing the new rules against it. I always set my truck engine at a grand for heating and cooling comfort, and had no problems because of it. Weather permitting, I put my window screens in or crawled into a sleeping bag sometimes into the 20s. The electronic engines we are most all running in our DPs are very stingy with fuel at idle therefore they idle much cleaner than the mechanical fuel systems of yesteryear. IMHO

If your CAC plumbing is leaking, especially if loud enough ro hear it up front, there would be considerable loss of power. I have had a clamp break on some of my 18 wheelers over the years, and you know it right away. I have used hose clamps from local sources until I can buy a quality clamp replacement from a truck parts store.

Wayne/ mine stays dry and out of sight. Granted that the compartment doors are not very break- in resistant. Merry Christmas to you and yours.

I have an actron code reader that I use to read and erase codes on our three gas powered vehicles. Perhaps you can borrow one from a friend or purchase one? They have come way down over the years in price. Losing power sometimes upsets ECMs.

Carl/ You really brought me down. I was thinking of a Marathon Coach Conversion when we win the lottery.

Wayne, Try the extension cord I recommend. I really do rarely have to leave the Progressive unit outside. Our trip to Colorado and back to PA this year, only twice. Although they are advertised as weather resistant why chance it?

Huff/ Your post about running into the wee small hours of the morning to stay ahead of the weather reminds of my years trucking out there. Didn't have all of the sources that are available now, but there were some. The winter as a trucker in the west was often a struggle, but oddly, I miss it. Thanks for your account.

Try Friendship Village in Bedford Pa. They do have some permanent sites, but they look expensive and no junk allowed. It is the nicest park that we have seen in PA. I was surprised in view of all of the others I have driven by in PA.

Joe/ if you have a dog with you and decide to take the critter into Canada, you will need written proof from your vet of a rabies vaccination. The tag on the collar doesn't work unless that has changed. Also need it for NY state parks.

RV Upgrades is where I bought my Progressive Industries unit and the extension cord. It is a quality cord.

Looked up your chassis. Has a lot of parts to even include ball joints. You may need professional help. The bigger stuff that many of the folks here drive have solid I-beam front axles. Very durable and usually outlast the coach. Wish that I could help you.

Tom/ yes it is a generator, but I forgot to proof read my post. It has been modified. We don't know anything about their coach. Gas generators, especially on older rigs, can be quite noisy and of course bother everyone around the rv. Our 34 gasser had an Onan that was just plain loud. It would run both air conditioners and other stuff as well, but WHEW!!! I would have loved to have had the Honda back in the day because we were usually in Colorado in September at altitude. The Honda would have been all we needed.If they are going to do much dry camping, it would be a nice thing to have. I may take ours on the trip to Montana in case we decide to dry camp, although our Onan diesel generator is very quiet under low load.

If your budget can stand more money, a 2000 watt Honda Inverter generator at around $1000 is a great thing to have. Pure sine wave making it kind to sensitive electronics. It will keep your batteries topped off, the absorption fridge working, and computers running. Don't know the weather in Perry during the convention, but if no ac is needed it will be fine. Will not run an ac without a buddy. I filled mine and let it run all night to keep the battery up two years ago in a travel trailer. We were dry camping in late October (19 degrees). I let her run until out of gas. 15 hours and 40 minutes at 9000 feet with a frigid low on 1 gallon of gas and old people like me can't hear it from inside.

Why would you want to deal with LA on your trip? As Tom suggested, get on 99 to Bakersfield and then follow 58 to I-15 in Barstow. Short drive north and you will merge eastbound with I-40. The California side of the Colorado River south on US 95 is the way south to I-10.

5mbps will allow movie streaming?? Have not done that because we have slow Verizon DSL at home and of course slow park WIFI.

I have a Progressive Industry portable. Not as sophisticated as yours Joe, but a help anyway. I bought a quality 15 foot 50 AMP extension cord and when close enough to the electric pedestal I can keep it in the electric bay locked up and out of the weather. Oddly enough, I am usually able to do that most of the time.

I use our block heater with very good results on our CAT 330. As has been suggested, start the genset and turn the block heater on but I honestly don't know how long to be effective. Most places that I have parked big rigs over the years did not have electric. An ISX is a big rig engine. My guess is no manifold heater. Would be new to me if a large displacement engine uses one. Good batteries started my 12.7 liter Detroit Series 60 or my 15 liter CATs on zero degree days with short crank times. No experience with an ISX, but if your batteries are even in reasonably good shape it should start. Big companies use them and would not put up with a lot of no starts.