tbutler

Meme, We spent the summer in Alaska in 2006. First, get the bible on travel in Alaska, The Milepost. It will give you a near complete listing of possible things to see. Depending on the time you have to stay there, you can drive most every major highway in Alaska in a season. There is no way you can see anything near everything in a season! Now for more good news. On your way to Alaska you will travel through British Columbia and/or Alberta and then Yukon and if you want you can see Northwest Territories, all beautiful and amazing parts of Canada. It will take some time to see some of the sights here. We spent almost 3 weeks getting to Alaska and another week coming back to the lower 48. Now for the roads. Of course, my report is now 3 years old. That said, the roads to Alaska were generally good. The Alaska Highway pavement was fine through about the first half of Yukon. As you go further north from there, the roads begin to show the effects of the harsh winter. You will develop an eye for the closet dumpers! These are dips in the road caused by frost heaving and slumping. They are about the right length to cause your coach (trailers too) to settle down on the suspension and then coming out of the dip toss the rear end upward so as to cause all the clothes hangers to rise off the closet bar! Viola, a closet dumper! Once you have an eye for those you learn that 45 MPH is a good speed to travel, it allows you to slow just a bit to avoid the big down/up movement of the motor home. That was the good news. Road repair in Canada and Alaska is an on-going process and I'm sure you will see many miles of road under repair. You will drive over packed rock/dirt that is wet down with Calcium Chloride to reduce dust. Being damp this will sling Calcium Chloride laced dirt all over your motor home. Fortunately, most RV parks accommodate washing either with a free washing policy or a paid wash area. I washed the motor home just about every time we drove from one place to another. We were there in a very wet year according to veteran Alaska travelers and this probably contributed to the mud/dirt problem. Also, be aware that you will find few places where the parking lots for gas stations, grocery stores, souvenir shops are paved. Instead you will find them pot-holed and if it has rained, muddy. Is such a trip hard on your coach, yes. Would I go again? We are already planning to do just that, if not in 2010, likely 2011. Our next trip will be via ferry on the way north to see the coastal areas of Alaska, Juneau, etc. Our coach has more scars from other more civil locations than we got in Alaska. In our old home state of Missouri we had a flat tire on the left front steer tire in the fall of 2006, on I-29, none in Alaska! In the spring of 2007 we took a large rock in the windshield, again in Missouri, I-44 this time. We got plastered by tire debris from a highway department mower on I-80 in Utah in the fall of 2007. Now, we did see a motor home with a large patch on the upper rear quarter, apparently a sign or a tree caught the rear of the coach when making a turn. We saw a fifth wheel that had run off the road. There was a path of run down vegetation at least 300 feet long. We watched as a wrecker pulled out the pickup truck and fifth wheel as a single unit and they then drove away under their own power. I'm sure there was damage but it was still drivable. Caution is essential, don't schedule yourself into being in a rush. Take your time and enjoy the great experience that is Alaska. In preparation for our trip to Alaska, we made sure we had new tires on our taod. We purchased a cover for the hood and windshield of our toad and used it as well as the Guardian that we already had with our Roadmaster Tow Bar. We also purchased and installed a Bra for the front of the motor home. Big, ugly and black, it gave us extra protection for the nose of the motor home. We saw all kind of home-made devices to protect motor homes, windshields and toads. I think it makes sense to prepare though as it turned out, we could have likely done fine without these steps during that particular trip. Fuel prices in Canada and Alaska will be higher than in the lower 48. In 2006 we paid about $3.50 to $4.00 per gallon of diesel. On a drive to Inuvik, NWT we paid $4.50 for regular gas! That was the only station in a stretch of about 300 miles on that highway. Given the nature of fuel prices, I would prepare for prices greater than these for your 2010 trip. If they are less, you'll be prepared!

Strange73, I would have suggested a Class C for bunk beds, didn't know there was a Class A or Bus Conversion that had bunk beds until I read garykd's post. The standard saying for Class A coaches is, "Conversation for eight, drinks for six, dinner for four, sleeps two!" That would be the answer to the people who look at that great big coach and think it must sleep 20 people! Glad there are floor plans out there to fit your needs. Again, go to an FMCA convention if you can. I have never had a salesman pressure me to buy one kind of coach or another. If you show an interest in one coach or floor plan, then they will offer help but there are many browsers at the convention and the salesmen can't buttonhole everyone. In fact, the sales people are pretty low key the first day or so. Pretty much just answering questions. With all the coaches that are usually at the convention, you could spend the whole convention just browsing coaches! I wouldn't be afraid of an older coach if it is in good shape. We started in a seven year old coach and stayed with it for two and a half years. Once certain we were in this for the long haul, we purchased a new coach at a rally. We drove it over 7000 miles in the next six weeks. That is a good break-in run in a short time. Our last stop before parking at our winter retreat was at the dealer to get various items fixed. With the lower cost of the purchase of a used motor home comes increased maintenance costs! It would be hard for the maintenance costs to equal the cost of purchasing a new coach.

Thank you LovinLife! You made my day. Glad to have helped you with your decision. Hope to see you on the road soon!

Ouch indeed! I've been there and done that - more than once! The last time it took staples to close the cut. I was busy looking at the ground while walking and then started to bend over to pick something up... At that point I did purchase a hard hat and some safety cones that I put under the corners of the open bay door! So far that is working for me! Knock on wood!

Another source for repair and replacement parts is the salvage industry. There are salvage yards all over the country that specialize in RV salvage. I referenced this source in a topic, "A Great Resource for RV Information," under the General Discussion category. If you can't find what you need from the above references, check the salvage industry.

On the question of what to do with the stuff you have collected over a lifetime of living in a foundation home, everyone has their own connections here that are difficult to part with. From our experience, we started by selling my motorcycle. Louise says she knew I was serious when I did that! We had furniture that was of some value and we gave our children first choice on that. Daughter number two was moving into an apartment at the time and took several of the furniture and electronics items (sterio and TV). We also had a few family heirlooms among the furniture. Those were passed along to specific children with their concurrence. So many of those items were not gone completely though we have no intention of ever asking for them back. Then there is the whole category of collectibles. Both Louise and I had numerous collections of items from coffee mugs to fossils that we had assembled over the years. Once in a while I get a twinge for some of those items. We sold or donated most of those items. None were particularly valuable other than keepsake kinds of value. I would like to have had some of the fossils to give to my grandchildren though none are old enough to appreciate them yet. That collection was too heavy and too bulky to be storing in our daughters basement so it went. So now I look for rocks and fossils and transfer them directly to the grandchildren rather than keeping a collection on hand. Common household items were easier to get rid of. When you think of what you paid for some of these things and what you get when you sell them it helps to keep the RV lighter. My days of consummate consumerism are over and I am glad that I'm not throwing my money away on stuff that will be worth pennies someday when I am finished with it. We sold everything we could at a series of garage sales at fire sale prices and gave away what we could not sell. We had some nice artwork, our oldest daughter took some of those items and the rest we stored in her basement. They aren't heavy and can be stored in a compact space so we kept them. When we have to give up the motor home we'll have some artwork to decorate our new home with. Louise loves to read. She always has some books with her but she doesn't collect books. She loves to use the book exchanges at parks to find new books to read. She has a bread maker, blender and several other cooking utensils. Louise likes to keep the house decorated when we are staying in one place for a while so she has small photographs and nick-knacks stored away in drawers. I made a small table that fits over the steering wheel to hold some of the things we like to display. Many of these things are small souvenirs of our travels. She has a lace tablecloth we purchased in Mexico and drapes it over the dash and steering wheel table to make things look nice. As an amateur astronomer I had several telescopes. I rebuilt one of them to fit into the motor home, the other is compact in a suitcase style carry case and it fits under the bed. I get those out from time to time as we travel though not enough to justify hauling them everywhere. Still, I won't give them up. We have a friend who travels with her keyboard and sets it up to practice and play as they travel. We know another couple who travel with her sewing machine because she loves to sew. Those things that are of greatest importance you will find a way to keep and/or take with you. We had a nice home gym which our oldest daughter took and uses. We purchased a Bowflex, it fits into one of our basement compartments. We get it out periodically to keep fit. It is out more often when we are in a location for an extended period of time. We have items for our grandchildren when they come to visit. Coloring books from places we've visited, puzzles from National Parks we have visited, they love to play with tickets and our convention badges and ribbons. We got some native toys in Alaska. We keep some simple games they like to play. We can't keep them away from our dominoes and they love to play Mexican Bingo. We also have a collection of DVD's for them to watch. So plenty of rainy day stuff for the children. Life is simpler knowing that there isn't room for anything more so now we shop for the essentials. We invest our money in the experience of living rather than in things.

Brett, Thanks for the information. Your technical tips are very helpful. I always learn something. With our side radiator I usually hose it out good with a garden variety sprayer every time it gets a good wash. I hadn't used any detergent and that would be a good idea once in a while.

Now Wayne, nothing I said should discourage you. Filling out the form won't cost you a cent! It just takes a little while to put together an inventory. You don't need to include any of the stuff that is attached to your motor home. Just inventory all the valuable loose items, computers, cameras, other valuables you carry with you. You should have a good inventory of these items for insurance purposes anyway. Consider this a good reason to get it done now and go to Canada. We have been to Canada every year, for the last four years. It's a great country, go and enjoy. You don't have to pay anything at US Customs to process the form. It will take you a few minutes to process the paperwork. One hangup is that it isn't easy getting into Customs from the "back side." We can usually find a parking place on the US side somewhere nearby and walk in from there. I enjoy the reaction of the border agents, they don't see too many of these forms. I suppose that most RV'ers don't file this form but if you don't you leave yourself open to more problems than you want. Most border agents are quite reasonable but if you get one on a bad day it would be nice to have the form! With it you won't have any argument.

Here are the official web sites of the border crossing agencies in the United States and Canada. Consult these before making your border crossing. Even if you cross frequently, check this before you go as rules do change. Find out what you are allowed to take with you when you cross, regulations for food, animals, plants, liquor, cigarettes, firearms, etc. Both sites have extensive information on other rules and regulations for entering their respective countries. Before you leave your country of origin, you should know what you will be allowed to return with. Likewise, before entering another country you must know what you will be allowed to bring with you. For the US Customs and Border Protection: http://www.cbp.gov/xp/cgov/travel/ For those leaving the US: Look under the side heading: US Citizens/Legal Permanent Residents For those entering the US: Look under the side heading: For International Visitors For Canadian Border Services Agency: http://cbsa-asfc.gc.ca/menu-eng.html For those leaving Canada: Look under the side heading: Canadians and Residents For those entering Canada: Look under the side heading: Non-Canadians One of the items under US Customs and Border Protection (Know Before You Go - Tip: Register...) is of particular importance to RV'ers. Since those of us who are full time carry plenty of stuff with us, it would serve us well to follow this tip. I have always prepared CBP Form 4457 and get it verified by CBP before leaving the US. I have never been challenged regarding the contents of the motor home upon return to the US but it only takes once to make it worthwhile having this document prepared and verified before you leave the US. I have the form on my computer and update it as I purchase items. I fill out form 4457 and refer to the attached list which is printed from the computer. I have had agents come to check serial numbers and look at one or two items on the list and then go ahead and certify the remainder of the list. I have had agents simply certify the list without looking since it had serial numbers and identification information on it already. What they are looking for is anything you purchased out of the country and are returning with. You have to have some way to prove you took it out of country with you or you may be liable for duty on everything in your motor home! This is the wording from the CBP Web site referenced above: Tip: Register Items Before You Leave The United States If your laptop computer was made in Japan, for instance, you might have to pay duty on it each time you brought it back into the United States, unless you could prove that you owned it before you left on your trip. Documents that fully describe the items -- such as sales receipts, insurance policies, or jeweler's appraisals -- are acceptable forms of proof. To make things easier, you can register certain items with CBP before you depart -- including watches, cameras, laptop computers, firearms, and CD players -- as long as they have serial numbers or other unique, permanent markings. Take the items to the nearest CBP office and request a Certificate of Registration (CBP Form 4457). ( CBP Form 4457 ) It shows that you had the items with you before leaving the United States and all items listed on it will be allowed duty-free entry. CBP officers must see the item you are registering in order to certify the certificate of registration. You can also register items with CBP at the international airport from which you are departing. Keep the certificate for future trips.

In a previous article I outlined an alternate route for I-80 through Utah and Wyoming. One that isn't as fast but got us there just the same and we got to see new places. Here is another installment of that series. We have been across Kansas on I-70 at least once a year for the entire time we have been full time in the motor home and for years before that in cars. This spring when we left Denver, we dropped south from I-70 at Lyman, Colorado, taking US 40/287 south to Kit Carson and staying on US 287 to Lamar, Colorado. From there we turned east on US 50/400 and stayed with US 400 when the two separated. We stayed overnight at a nice rest stop on US 50/400 just before crossing into Colorado. The next day we drove to Dodge City, Kansas. We stayed at Gunsmoke RV, a nice park with large pull through campsites. In Dodge City we visited the Boot Hill Museum. They have a fine collection of pioneer and cowboy memorabilia. Both east and west of Dodge City we saw numerous cattle feed lots. East of Dodge City we stopped in Greensburg, Kansas to take a look at the community recovering from an F5 tornado. Construction is still going full force two years after the tornado. Wichita was our next overnight stop. We spent several nights at USB RV Park. Wichita has many attractions, museums, an old downtown area with shops and restaurant/bars and a Cowboy Town with many old original buildings from the era of the cattle drives. We returned to I-70 in Kansas City via the Kansas Turnpike and I-35 which takes you through the scenic Flint Hills of eastern Kansas. Most of this route is extremely rural. So rural that we didn't see a Wal-Mart until we got to Wichita. The wheat fields in eastern Colorado and western Kansas were beautiful and agricultural activity is everywhere. The roads are generally good roads with light traffic. In some places there are frequent passing zones to assist other traffic in passing you. These are things we enjoy and why we try to vary our route as we travel well worn routes.

Well said Gramps, can't wait for Rule #2 and the rest!

The Weather Channel is busy hunting severe storms. I am watching for their vehicles, when I spot them I'm headed in the opposite direction. Today we left Wichita, Kansas headed for Kansas City. Spring storm season is in full swing in the mid-west and the Weather Channel is making the best of it, pursuing storms across the very area we are traveling. The forecast for the whole trip was highlighted in red on the weather map. I told Louise that an early start was in order as the afternoon promised storms. So we were hooked up and on our way early. The trip was uneventful, I kept watching the skies and the clouds were small scattered cumulus. Driving on I-35, I could watch the cloud shadows zip across the highway and noticed that the leading edges were moving northward almost as fast as we were traveling. The warm air pipeline was really working hard today! We had a nice tailwind! We stopped in Emporia to pick up just enough diesel to make it to the Flying J on I-435 on the east side of KC. Why not fill up in Emporia? The price of diesel there was $2.19 per gallon and the price at the KC station was $1.99. Since it was on the way, I'll purchase most of my fuel there. It turned out the price had gone up by 2 cents by the time we got to the KC station but it was still a bargain. Pumping almost 100 gallons we saved $17.00 by making our major purchase at the KC station. Thank you internet! We arrived at the Flying J in Kansas City about 1:00 p.m. The pumps for car diesel are inaccessible for RV's so we went to the truck pumps. This made the fill-up faster because of those great big nozzles! Leaving the Flying J, we were driving into turbulent skies. Are those trucks from the Weather Channel? We made it about 7 miles north and just off the interstate highway before the rain started. When it started raining, it came in sheets. We went through hail and more heavy rain. We could hardly see the sign for the campground. It was only the last five or six miles that were stormy out of a trip of 225 miles. Still that experience dominates everything else for the day. When we finally found Smith's Fork Park Campground, the campground host came out to greet us in full rain gear! We invited him in because we weren't going out in this downpour. He gave us the layout of the campground and told us which sites were reserved and where we would find the 50 amp hookups. He also cautioned us about the drop off on the left turn corner ahead! Good information to have in a rainstorm. We found a campsite and pulled in, shut down the engine and relaxed back into the couch and recliner. I told Louise that I was glad we had a motor home, all our conveniences were right here for us. We didn't have to run outside to our home. We didn't even have to put out slides, there is plenty of room to move around. I started up my computer to check on the storm status. The Weather Bug gave me all the warning and watches, there were severe thunderstorm warnings, tornado watches, flood watches and flash flood warnings! The thunderstorms were lined up and heading our way our way like cars on a train. We just relaxed and enjoyed the show, lightening, thunder, flooded campground, a river flowing down an embankment from athletic fields to our north. By 4:00 p.m. the campground host was around to collect the rent! We had neighbors who had pulled in behind us and our toad was keeping them from moving forward. These sites are loops of the main drive, one loop after another. The exit for one is the entrance for the next. Their door was right by a mini-lake! We moved forward then put out our slides and hooked up the water. I would wait for the sewer connection until the weather was better. No rush there, our tanks last for days. Later our neighbors moved out to join friends in a different spot. Oh, well, we didn't have to move to let them off their site. The storms have passed off to the south and things are quiet now. The forecast for the next few days is sunny and cool. Ideal weather for relaxing in a nice campsite.

Hey Wayne, I nominate you for the FMCA GGA (Good Guy Award)! Not for helping them with the electric, anyone would have done that. But you didn't report the rest of the conversation. I'm sure there was much said after you solved the problem! And you probably didn't even hear the best part of it! We should start a summer camp, basic training for RV'ers! Can you find a DI hat? We could whip them into shape in no time! SEAJAY will help and we only have to pay him a dime!!!

SEAJAY, You are probably correct, we had a 1994 Dynasty and it had a four door refrigerator with an ice maker. When it started to leak we were told that the refrigerator had to be removed to fix the leak --- so we traded it for a new 2004 Windsor which doesn't have that problem. We agree with Wayne, you should have baught a new coach!!

Great idea SEAJAY, I'll credit 10 cents to your account! And I'll give it a try when we get to a a fixed location for a while. I did something similar this fall when we got to our winter quarters. I plugged a power strip into the outlet above the recliner and attached the power end to the underside of a small table that I built. It fits under the fold out table that I use for my printer. The under table held my photo printer, two 1TB drives and the USB port to connect them all. That way I could plug in one USB cable to my computer and be connected to everything! Then with everything plugged into the power strip I just flipped the switch on it to turn it all on or off. All this wonderful technology has its challenges! Having all the support power packs and chargers sure helps! Thanks.

Check my posting in reply to the windshield wiper question. I found a resource that has a listing of salvage yards for RVs. I went through the list and at least one of them mentioned manuals. You might find what you need at one of these sources if you haven't already found one. I have also started a topic under the general category with the resource listed.

This is the answer to everything! You might even find the meaning of life somewhere in this listing! Mark S. Nemeth has been full timing for five years and it must have been his passion to put together a resource list that includes most everything an RV'er could want to know. I was looking for RV Salvage resources for cheap replacement parts. His list is at least 50 entries from all over the country complete with descriptions of specialties of various salvage resources! That list alone could save any one of us thousands of dollars! But there is more... Check it out for yourself: http://www.ccis.com/home/mnemeth/index.htm

Thanks Jim, By the way, I'm going to go out on a limb here and suggest that perhaps a well maintained quality motor home might actually appreciate in the future... WHOA! What did you say??? What if... manufacturers of large motor homes go out of business because of the economy, inability to get loans to continue business or for customers to purchase, fuel prices, government regulation on engines related to pollution, etc., etc. Before the extreme high fuel prices, RV manufacturers were already looking at ways to improve fuel efficiency and to down-size their motor homes. Will RV manufacturers return to making as many large motor homes as in the past? Or will they look to Detroit and the auto manufacturing industry and reconsider their plans? Will the financing be available to manufacture large motor homes even if the manufacturers want to return to the old ways? What if... several million baby boomers retire about the time that the supply of new motor homes begins to dry up??? What if... these baby boomers were 60's hippies recalling the good ol' days??? Or maybe they weren't hippies and want to live the good ol' days??? Perhaps they aren't really campers but just want a comfortable life on the road. A good used motor home or conversion bus may just be the answer to their needs. Maybe, just maybe we may own the last of the dinosaurs and these things might just become quite valuable in the future. I wouldn't bank on the above but... When a finite supply meets a strong demand... I'm keeping my motor home in tip-top shape just in case!

Go to your favorite search engine on the internet and type in RV Salvage. I came up with plenty of entries. One in the center of the country is www.colawrvsalvage.com in Carthage, Missouri (SW part of state near I-44). I have had a friend who has picked up items like a replacement for his rear view camera. When the first one didn't work, they replaced it with another! I'd give them a try. They ship. Try searching the internet for similar salvage yards in other parts of the country, you might find one close to home that you can visit personally. I haven't been to any of these yet but I understand it is really interesting place to visit! PS: Here is the mother load listing of RV Salvage Yards: http://www.ccis.com/home/mnemeth/rvsalvage.htm

Good suggestions Jim. We started with a tow dolly. After one year we abandoned it. Problems we ran into included having a low front end on our toad which required we carry some wood blocks to raise the ramps so the front of the car wouldn't scrape on the dolly. The dolly had surge brakes (the weight of the car coming forward during a stop caused the brake cylinder on the dolly to activate its brakes) but the mechanism that activated the cylinder had to be replaced several times. Finally we had a flat tire and try as I might, I could not find a replacement tire for the tow dolly. I had to purchase one on a rim from a representative of tow dolly manufacturer. That was the final straw and I gave it up. We currently tow four wheels down. I would love to use a trailer to protect my toad but the hassle of dealing with a trailer in campgrounds is one that I am not willing to accept.

jroger, I will start by referring you to a discussion of 12V vs. 6V batteries in the section on Technology>Electrical. Since you are starting from scratch, you want to replace the 12V batteries with four 6V batteries in a series and parallel arrangement. There was a good article in Family Motorcoaching Magazine several years ago that I used as a reference for replacing my batteries. It has good step-by-step information to take you through the whole process. If you are not interested in doing the work yourself, I would suggest going to a RV shop and having them do the replacement for you. Suppliers for batteries of the wet cell type are many. I went to Interstate Batteries, www.interstatebatteries.com for a local supplier and they had them in stock. For the sealed absorbed glass mat batteries, check out www.lifelinebatteries.com These cost about twice as much as the wet cell type batteries. They should last longer but I don't think it will be twice as long.

After a one month stay in Denver, we finally said good-bye to family and packed away the loose items in the motor home and set out for Missouri and visits with my relatives. As soon as we unplugged the motor home from the shore power the alarm on the inverter went off, setting off a real learning experience. We had a new inverter installed, a Xantrex RS3000. We had left the electric water heater on when we unplugged the shore power and the inverter was telling us the batteries weren't up to running the water heater. Now I didn't understand that at the time and was concerned that something was wrong with the new inverter. I cleared the warning alarm and shut off the electric switch on the water heater. Now the inverter was switching on and off repeatedly. I was puzzled. We finished unhooking, then went to CW where the inverter had been installed. I needed some help figuring out what was going on. The clerks behind the service desk weren't as concerned as I was but we did finally get the shop foreman to take a look at the unit. He couldn't quickly identify the problem and suggested that I reset the unit. Now the genius who designed this unit put the reset button on the inverter itself, not on the control panel. The inverter is buried in the belly of the motor home in a compartment that is accessed from another compartment that is packed with all the necessary stuff the full time RV'ers need to survive. I unpacked the compartment, got to the unit and reset it. This helped! Now at least the menus were operating properly. I found the problem with the on-off-on-off behavior to be a load sense feature. It would test to see if there was a load and finding an insufficient load switch off again. I deactivated that feature and, viola, the problem was solved. I went through several other tests and everything seemed to be working fine. We were off down the road. Our next stop was the Flying J in Aurora, Colorado. We pulled into the lot and up to the propane tank. We had to maneuver around a truck and trailer parked just before the propane tank but got close enough to get a connection to our tank. We shut down everything including the generator. This made the inverter unhappy because I had shut it off with the manual switch. Apparently the inverter feels that it owns the generator and I should keep my hands off the switch. Now a number of the menu items disappeared from the menu and I couldn't get the generator auto start to work. AAARRGGHH! We got the propane and enough diesel to keep us going to a cheaper fuel source, a Flying J in Kansas. We took I-70 to Lyman, Colorado then dropped south to US 50 where we turned east toward Kansas. We had been with family for a month and I needed some alone time with Louise so we are taking the long way home through southern Kansas. I have traveled some of these roads a long time ago but it is always different. This trip the winter wheat is thriving and summer crops are being planted. We enjoyed the agricultural scenery and the leisurely pace of a non-interstate road. Just before reaching Kansas we found a nice rest area and parked for the night. We had truckers for neighbors and of course there was a railroad track right behind the rest area. There were no road crossings on the track so we only heard the rumble of the train, no whistle. The next morning I am on the phone to Xantrex searching for a solution. They suggest resetting the unit! AAARRGGHH! But this time I am ready. I think I can poke the reset button with the window awning pull rod (WAPR). I had to think about something while trying to go to sleep after each train! I crawl in over the top of the stuff as far as I can and then use the WAPR to open the plexiglass door in front of the inverter. With a little squinting I can just see that little red button. I brace the WAPR against the plexiglass and twist it so the end presses the red button. Viola! The inverter is reset! Back inside I am able to reprogram the inverter with no problem. I give Louise instruction on starting and stopping the generator by manipulating the menu for the inverter! We are off to Dodge City, Kansas by noon. No sense rushing things. We decided to stay at Gunsmoke RV and arrived there about 4:00 p.m. We got a nice pull through site and settled in for the evening. The electrical connection between the motor home and toad were not working properly so I spent some time working on that problem. I fixed one problem only to have another crop up. Turns out I can have the right turn signal or the left turn signal but not both! I am going to have to replace the receptacle on the toad. Those springy pins just don't last forever. I'll have a chance to work on this when I get to Missouri. In the meantime, I can't make any left turns. I'll be a UPS driver in no time! Wednesday we left Gunsmoke RV and stopped in Dodge City to see the Boot Hill Museum. I had been here before and remember it as kind of a tourist trap but Louise hadn't seen it. I was impressed, either they have improved things tremendously or my memory is really bad. Anyway, we enjoyed touring the museum before heading on down the road. Our lunch stop was a quick shop lot in Greensburg, Kansas. Greensburg was hit by a monster F5 tornado on May 4, 2007, just over two years ago. The quick shop lot where we stopped had only the flooring and the stubs of the pumps left. All around us were trees that had been trimmed by the tornado, just trunks with a few branches now growing out about 15 feet off the ground. Twisted sign posts and concrete pads marked other buildings that were no more. We saw lots of new construction going on as Greensburg rebuilds. Wichita is our next stop. We'll stay two nights here before heading to Kansas City and a weekend visit with my sister. We watched a line of thunderstorms develop off to the east of Wichita as the sun was setting on our campsite. There are storm warnings out all along that line. Could it be another night for tornadoes? Glad we're on the back side of the line. <UPDATE> Yes, we were on the back side of the line of thunderstorms which did produce tornadoes across Oklahoma and Missouri during the night of May 13-14.

OK, There have been a lot of words, here are some numbers. I went into Quicken where I account for every expense. Here are our expenses for the last 12 months, May 13, 2008 through May 13, 2009. I have rounded them off and they are yearly totals so if you want monthly expense, divide by 12. These are the full timer expenses. I have not included food, you should already have a budget for that, neither have I included medical expenses and medical insurance, you know what your expenses are there. I have eliminated many other categories like computer expenses, photography, astronomy and aviation. These are my hobbies and you will have your own hobbies and a pretty good idea of what your expenses are there. I will say that we are not trying to scrape by on the bare minimum. We don't stay at the most expensive parks but we will if we must to be where we want to be. This past year we toured central Canada from Ontario to Alberta, traveled to California to visit our daughter and family and returned to the midwest to visit more family before going to our winter resort in the southern tip of Texas. All this travel was at diesel fuel rates near or above $4.00 per gallon. Our total mileage in the RV for the last 12 months has been about 16,000 miles and this is pretty typical of our travel in the RV. The RV expenses (other) include two new LCD TV's which I installed myself this winter. The RV expenses (other) also include a new inverter and the costs of installing it. The auto and RV expenses both include major preventive maintenance costs. For the toad, a 60,000 mile service and some suspension replacement parts. The toad has 80,000 miles on the odometer and another 75,000 tagging along behind the motor home. So the engine is on one maintenance schedule and the suspension and tires are on another schedule. You will see electric costs under utilities because our winter resort bills that separately. We have an annual contract at our winter resort and that is included in the campground costs. Other utility costs include two different cell phone contracts. My wife has one company and I have a different to ensure we always have coverage. We also have internet suppliers with dial up access as well as cell modem for each of our computers. We have near full coverage from DirecTV, costs could be cut here if you don't want or need the TV. Auto Expenses 3800 Campground Fees 5725 Homeowners Insurance (Full Timers+) 380 RV Expenses Fuel 4960 Insurance 1450 Registration 260 Service 4000 Other RV Expenses 6400 Utilities Cell Phones 1135 Direct TV 1500 Internet Access 1350 Propane 610 Electric (at winter resort) 500 So that is what I see as the extraordinary costs associated with life on the road. Some like the utilities will be offset by what you now spend on those items at your home. And of course others have mentioned that the cost of purchasing the RV is money that you likely won't recover when you sell your motor home but then you can consider that money as what it costs to be free to explore and enjoy an new lifestyle. You can not put a price on the wonders you will experience as you travel. You will save money because the endless stuff that you purchase will be greatly curtailed by the limit of space in your new home. Your souvenirs become your pictures and an occasional piece of clothing or other small item with the emphasis on small!

Leroy, Be aware that if you plug in on a 30 amp connection, not everything in your coach will be able to work at the same time! You can use the electric water heater and maybe an air conditioner but if you want to use the microwave you'll have to shut off the water heater or the air conditioner. You might be able to use 2 air conditioners but don't try to use the hot water heater at the same time. Your limit will be 30 amps no matter what your power card is capable of carrying. That said, we stay at parks that have just 30 amp electric all the time. Our coach has a regulator system that will shut down appliances if we approach the 30 amp limit so we don't blow the circuit breaker. Without this feature, we would be outside resetting the breaker every time we switched on one to many appliance. If we need two air conditioners, we will try to get 50 amps because there is always the microwave, coffee pot, washing machine and drier and the hot water heater that need electric, not to mention the TV, etc., etc.!