tbutler

We're out! We never leave the RGV that early in the season and if we do it is to visit family. We have a springtime cruise coming up, Tahiti and the Society Islands, April 1-15 and we're going to spend a week on Tahiti before the cruise. Needless, we're tapped out. You'all have fun!

Mt. Rushmore is great any time of the year. South Dakota is hot in the summer but at altitude it is a little better. If you miss the kids there, you miss a chance to see the wonder in the eyes of the little guys. Kids can be fun if taken in small doses! Be sure to visit Custer State Park. They have large herds of free roaming bison in the park. We've had our best luck seeing the herds at their best with summer visits. It will send chills down your spine watching several hundred bison wending their way across the landscape. There is great scenery all over the Black Hills and Custer State Park is no exception. Badlands National Park is also nearby. This is spectacular scenery but can be very hot in mid-summer. Still, watching a summer thunderstorm in the distance from any viewpoint in the badlands is spectacular. On I-90 you will see many advertisements for Wall Drug, might as well stop to see this 1940's tourist trap, everyone should stop once. Deadwood is more than Casino's, it is a National Historic Site. They have a variety or reenactments of events that occurred in the area. The actors are professionals and they do an excellent job of explaining what the whole scene is about. They will also bring visitors into the play including children. The results are some charming situations. There is a campground in town on the grounds of the Deadwood Historic Museum. Water and electric only but they have very nice showers and restrooms for the campground. Those are housed in the Museum with access from the campground only. There is a shuttle that runs through town, it stops at the campground entrance. For those who enjoy walking, the main strip in town is well within easy walking distance from one end to the other. There are plenty of shops, stores and bars to provide rest stops along the walk. And, yes, there are several casinos. The Crazy Horse Memorial near Custer, SD is worth visiting, we have enjoyed the Volksmarch which takes you to the outstretched arm of the monument. Admission on the day of the event is a canned food donation. There is a small fee to the Volksmarch organization for the walk and you can purchase medals commemorating your participation. They are now doing one in the spring, June 3-4 2017 and another in the fall, October 1. It is a five mile walk through the woods where you see the monument from several different viewpoitns before climbing the maintenance road to stand under the face of Crazy Horse! We've done this several times and will do it any time we're in the area when the hike is scheduled. There is a nice museum there and during the Volksmarch they have many of the native American vendors with their wares. There is also a restaurant on site so you can make a nice day of it there. South of the Black Hills is the town of Hot Springs. They have an incredible fossil quarry there, The Hot Springs Mammoth Site has an indoor excavation of an ancient hot spring that became a trap for Mammoths. Dozens, perhaps hundreds fell into the springs, were trapped and died. Their skeletons are slowly being extracted from the quarry. Visitors can tour the quarry from an overlook walkway, There is a museum featuring some of the skeletons and information about the site. If you are interested in pioneer history, Scottsbluff, Nebraska has a number of points of interest. Located on the Oregon Trail, they have a nice museum with historic records and stories of the pioneers who traveled through the territory in the mid-1800's. Scott's Bluff National Monument provides scenic views of the area and there are a number of other scenic landmarks that guided the pioneers westward. Several years ago we enjoyed following Lewis and Clark across country from Louisville, KY and Clarksville, IN, all the way to Ft. Clatsop, Oregon. We purchased a guide book at the visitors center in Clarksville and Louise read an entry from Lewis' journal related to our travels each day. It made for a wonderful way to explore their historic journey. The same could be done with the Oregon Trail. A little further afield is Yellowstone National Park and to the north, Glacier National Park. When you finish all that, you could head south to Arizona, Texas or Florida for he winter before returning home to Boston in 2018!

Herman, Thanks for the invite for the rally in Bandera. Once we get to the RGV, we're in for the winter. Our coach is in the shop getting prettied up for the spring. Weather here is nice, playing tennis this morning at 67 degrees, just perfect. When we got our coach and realized that the tank wouldn't fill completely I learned the trick of tilting the coach to get a full tank of fuel. I had them reset the Aladdin System from 120 gallons to 127 which is what it does now. I get a good true fuel reading from the Aladdin. When I fill the tank it is almost always within a gallon of the amount shown on the Aladdin. By the way, if I'm not going to drive after a fill-up I won't pack the fuel into the tank, have to allow room for expansion, but most of the time we're on the road and that seven gallons gets us 50 or 60 miles down the road. Our analog fuel gauge is crazy, it sits past full for several hundred miles. At the 3/4 mark the tank is actually about half full and when it hits the half full mark I'll lose the generator because the tank is actually at 1/4 full.

Fuel capacity translates into greater choices of where to take on fuel. With GasBuddy and a general knowledge of the relative fuel prices ( I check Flying J just because that gives me an index of fuel prices) across the US you can pick the place with the best rates along your route. The greater your fuel capacity the greater number of states and stations you have to choose from. I have 127 gallons of fuel on board at full tank, 32 gallons when the generator runs out of fuel (keeps Louise happy when we have air conditioning, etc.). Generally when traveling west, I'm looking at the prices where I am and where I'm going. I try to fill up as I go because generally the prices increase as you get to the west coast. When traveling east, I'm looking at how far I can go without having to fuel up and what the price options are at stations along the route because generally prices decrease as you travel to the midwest. On a good trip, I never purchase fuel in California! This year was an exception, fuel was cheaper at Sam's Club in Sacramento than anywhere in Oregon (including 7 Feathers). Given the topic, cost of use, fuel prices are only one factor. Campground prices by the way, are not an expense of operating the vehicle. That is a whole other topic that depends heavily on what any particular person prefers in the way of campground amenities and their predilection for boondocking. If you just want to know what it costs to operate a particular vehicle, other costs incurred in the operation are irrelevant. It is entirely possible that someone might never stay in a campground if they were really determined not to do so. In the way of credit cards, the Sam's Club (not Good Sam) Synchrony Bank credit card offers 5% cash back on fuel purchases at any fuel station, not just Sam's Club. Grocery stores are the only exception (Kroger and Safeway). Five percent on fuel at $2.00 per gallon is 10 cents a gallon. It beats Flying J (Good Sam) more than double their 4 cents per gallon and you can shop at the cheapest station. I've bought fuel 40 cents per gallon cheaper than the Flying J in the same town and received the discount to boot! There is the club membership fee but if you can offset that with fuel savings, it can reduce your fuel bill nicely. That card also offers 3% cash back on travel (airlines, travel agencies, cruise lines, hotels, etc.) and 1% cash back on everything else. They pay cash back once per year at Sam's Club, either in purchase credit or an actual check. This year I'll get a check for over $500. It does add up but it only really works if you pay the entire bill each month, no interest. (The fine print... I own Synchrony Bank stock). If you can't read that, when I got the credit card, I bought Synchrony Bank stock. Cash? That's so 20th Century!

I don't think any of them are something any of us want to lift. Herman is correct, there a number of devices for hauling these behind a vehicle that have a lift. I've seen platforms that lift and also some units that have a wench to lift the scooter onto or into the vehicle. Obviously, the lighter the scooter, the simpler and easier on the vehicle the scooter will be. Some are quite large, I've seen some that are pretty small, it all depends on what suits your wife best. Almost all have batteries and that means weight. Batteries plus a sturdy frame is more than most people want to lift, at least on a regular basis. I started checking and this site has the widest variety of scooters. Take your time to find just the right one. There are a variety of ways to haul these, Some possibilities here. I am always sorry to see someone on a mobility scooter. Loss of personal mobility is a major change for anyone. Give your wife all the support you can to deal with this. The scooter will never replace her ability to go on her own. Best to you and Linda.

Interesting since many tire shops that I have encountered have no torque wrench! I've even encountered shops that have a torque wrench where the tech had no idea how a torque wrench works.

Mail order from Camping World if you don't have a supplier nearby. They handle a full range of sizes.

Well, I must not be paying attention! I missed this post originally. I have copied a reply I made to a similar inquiry earlier this year. My information and advice remain the same so here goes... Posted August 27 We've been wintering in the Rio Grande Valley (RGV) since 2001. We obviously love the area. There are plenty of RV parks to choose from and they range from the really nice with paved parking and ready storage sheds for your outdoor supplies to simple gravel and dirt parks. So you can go as inexpensive to as expensive as you desire. Parks are located generally from Mission to Brownsville along US 83 and US 83/77 and also out toward Port Isabel and South Padre Island. You can find several sources of information on parks in the RGV. Selected RGV Parks, Many More RV Parks in the RGV, You might find other references, there are something like 70 different parks. The cost of living in the RGV is really low. We now have a lot for a mobile home and can park our motor home on the same lot. Rent is less than $4000 for the year. RV lots in our park rent for less than that but you have to pay your electric bill. You can of course get a lot for a day, a week or a month. Many people decide to make improvements to their lots and thus rent them for the annual fee. You won't find that arrangement in every park but some allow individual improvements. Another reason to go seasonal is that if you are staying for four or five months the difference becomes smaller and if you like the location, the annual is the way to guarantee your lot. You will find parks that have many organized activities to keep you a busy as you want to be. Likewise, if your idea is to relax, enjoy the sun and warm weather and maybe make a few friends, you don't have to go all out chasing every activity. Some parks have heated pools, others have dance halls with a regular schedule of dances. There are parks located near state parks and parks located right near the beach on South Padre Island. Some parks are located in or near cities and others are in rural areas. The RGV is a major metropolitan area with plenty of shopping, dining, entertainment and recreational activities within an easy drive from almost anywhere. We play golf once a week almost all winter. There are always a few days when it is too cold for us (but not the Canadians). If you play golf you'll benefit from the experience you have gained with windy days. You will have no problem finding people to join you in golf, tennis, instrumental and vocal music, theatrical performance, and a host of other activities. Fishing opportunities abound with the ocean fishing out of South Padre Island being the deluxe version. If you are interested in wildlife, the RGV is a major destination for migrating birds. They come from all over North America, some winter here others pass through in fall and spring as they journey to Central and South America. In addition there are quite a few birds that come from Mexico and are found nowhere else in the United States. Numerous nature centers as well as the State Parks feature the wonderful variety of birds and people come from all over the world each fall for the RGV Birding Festival in Harlingen. The RGV also features the National Butterfly Center in Mission. Butterfly enthusiasts journey to the RGV as well and the wide variety of North and Central American butterflies can be see There are several college campuses, multiple quality hospitals with many specialists in senior care. The valley is definitely multicultural and as far as we are concerned, this is a delightful experience. There are many immigrants from Mexico here, some have been here for generations and others have very recently arrived. You will find several languages spoken almost everywhere. I always recommend that you come south without reservations or with reservations for a short period of time in one park. Use your time at the first park to go out and explore the valley and visit several other parks to get an idea of what is available. In recent years parks saw a decline in visitors with the increased prices for fuel but that has now passed and there are more visitors. The peak time is in January and February, at other times, most parks have some spaces available. The hot summer weather begins to abate in early October. We usually return sometime in late October, family schedules dominate our timing or we would be there in early October. Our winter months are December and January. During those months temperatures will frequently be in the 50's and 60's during the day with night temperatures in the 40's and 50's. There are usually a few days when the temperature drops below freezing by a few degrees. Last year we had no freezing temperatures and several years ago we had three periods of freezing temperatures for two or three days. We even had snow one Christmas Eve, about 3 or 4 inches that melted by the next afternoon! February usually sees temperatures starting to warm and by March days are usually around 80 degrees and nights in the 60's. April and May it warms up by the end of May we are long gone for the summer. April generally begins the real retreat of the snow birds, Easter and tax schedules drive people back to their northern homes. We pack the motor home and head for cooler weather, family visits and exploring the USA and Canada. If you have specific questions, don't hesitate to message me or post your question here for all to discuss. If you would like to read more about the RGV and what others have to say or recommend, use the search box at the top right of this page and simply type in Rio Grande Valley. You will get quite a few links to related discussions.

Monaco Coach: http://www.monacocoach.com/ You can also call customer service at 877-466-6226. Have your coach number handy, it is the last six digits of the coach serial number (not the VIN). If you don't know the coach number look behind the drivers seat on the wall. If they can't replace the key the can replace the lock.

Sorry I missed this post originally. I was at the factory service center in Oregon several years ago and they noticed there was some corrosion on my slide-out control module. I purchased and have in the coach the back-up module ready for that failure. If both are failing, it is likely that module. Anyway, anyone who has a Monaco coach should have the Monaco Customer Service number in their phone ready for a call. The records from before the 2008 crash are still intact with Monaco under the current ownership (REV). Your records survive. Give them your coach number and they can find the part you need or something equivalent. Give them a problem and they can solve it. Need service, you can schedule it with them, the real factory workers that built these coaches. Call 877-466-6226, the customer service number in your owners manual if you can find it... They can help.

Unfortunately, I'm not benefiting from the arrangement that Herman mentions. Guess I'll have to check on that. I don't mow grass in the summer because we are GONE! We hire one of our friends in our park (an independent contractor with a lawn mower) to take care of our property. He doesn't weed the garden so that is a task for me when I return each fall. When we had an RV lot, the park took care of the mowing in the summer. Once we put in a mobile home, we have to foot the bill.

Still working? That's sad... We retired in 2001 and went full time, living in a motor home for almost ten years. After almost ten years on the road without a fixed home, Louise decided we needed a home. Now I'm mowing grass six months a year.

We got on the Garden State Parkway a few years back, same confusion. I took the first exit after clearing about three overpasses that were at or near our height. As I approached each one (they are arched), I would pull to the center of the divided highway two lane pavement to get under the highest point and then slow down to inch my way under. I certainly didn't want to bounce. So in that case, no trucks also means no RV's. It's a problem with the signs which should have indicated a height limit or indicated no trucks or RV's. One of my favorite situations was a border crossing into Canada at Sault Ste Marie. As we approached Canadian Customs the first sign was for trucks. Well, I'm not a truck so we went on. The next sign was for cars. That could mean narrow or low clearance problems, we aren't a car so we continued on. That led to the only other passage through the checkpoint which was labeled buses. So I stopped at the appointed place. After a little wait I was greeted by an irritated CBP agent who groused at me that I should have gone through the car entrance. He processed us through and we were on our way. My hope is that it made him look at the signs and consider suggesting a change to indicate RV's on the car sign. Part of the problem is that we are a tiny portion of the normal highway traffic and most people have never owned or driven an RV so we are completely off the radar for decision makers and designers. When it comes to signs, there is no rule because we often aren't considered when wording the sign.

We have for many years made the Cummins Southern Plains Shop in San Antonio our primary service center for engine and chassis work. Frequently it is our last maintenance stop on our way south to the Rio Grande Valley. The last few years the oil change mileage hasn't favored them but we'll be back there again in the future.

It's a great big wonderful world! Have a great time! Nice rig, nice green grass. Are you thinking of heading south for the winter? It's the best way to winterize your rig!

A lot depends on your coach. In our coach, the corner panel on each side of the windshield is a conduit for any number of cables and wires. Adding an antenna to the roof and routing it down through that panel works for our Sirius/XM antenna. I installed a Wilson antenna several years ago and drilled down through the roof into a cabinet above the drivers seat. I could house the equipment I had in that cabinet with power from an outlet. There is always a chance you will drill into something vital like an electric line, look at what connections are around where you plan to drill. Sealing isn't a big deal, just one more spot to check periodically to make sure the caulking is in good shape to prevent leaks. Several years ago I removed the Wilson antenna (cell phone service is much better these days) and installed a second feed line from the roof dish antenna so I could have separate TV stations in the front and rear TV's. Now the grandkids can have their programs and I can have mine! The cable runs down through the roof into the cabinet, down the panel along the edge of the windshield into the generator compartment, through several basement compartments and up into the bedroom cabinet where the TV is located.

This occurs with our slide toppers. It is just a matter of tilting a slight bit. Once water starts to drain off, it generally will tighten up as the weight becomes less and less. We also sometimes simply bring the slide in a few inches, wait for the water to drain off and then bring in further in steps until the water is all off. Snow is another matter. We were in a good snowstorm once and it was several days before I ventured up to remove the snow from the slide toppers. The snow had pinned them down flat on the slide. I broke the snow into chunks and pushed it off. The next spring I was sitting in the the coach when I heard something snap. I went outside and the slide topper was slack, the spring had broken. I'm convinced that having it wound tight with the snow load is what weakened it until it broke several months later.

We have had Splendide equipment (combination washer/dryer) in both coaches we have owned. The control board on our current unit failed on two occasions. The first time Camping World did an on-site replacement at our winter campground. They replaced the board which then failed again about two years later. I called Splendide and they sent us a new board and a new pigtail that attaches to that board. Camping world hadn't replaced the pigtail. The tech at Splendide said it should have been replaced. The failure was caused by damage at the pigtail attachment on the control board. The 110V switching apparatus is on the control board and it flows through the pigtail and the plug on the pigtail. I think a better design would have been to put the 110V switch on a separate board or just to make the 110V connection a solder connection rather than through the plug. Anyway, I replaced the board and pigtail myself. There has been no problem since. If you are concerned about convenience of repair facilities for your washer and dryer, the home brand will be more available but those repair people may not want to work on a unit in a motor home. Likewise, RV technicians will be familiar with most appliances in a motor home including the Splendide equipment. Authorized dealers for Splendide can do repair but others can also repair the equipment. We did look at stacking units and apartment sized separate units when the second failure occurred. Both would have worked for us but we decided to give the Splendide one more chance. We hardly ever use the laundromat. Having the convenience of running a load of laundry at home while we go on about our lives in the coach is so much more convenient than going to a laundromat or using campground equipment. The bedding can be done in multiple loads, heavy fabrics like jeans can be hung out in the shower for final drying after the normal drying cycle. It is just like the rest of the RV experience, it's not like a sticks and bricks house, in some ways it is so much better and in other ways it has its challenges.

I purchased a Roadmaster Sterling tow bar when we quit towing with a dolly. It was used on two coaches for a total of 79,000 miles before I broke it. Believe them when they say that you can't back up when towing! You actually can fudge a few feet but eventually you will break the tow bar. It wasn't a catastrophic failure, one arm simply quit locking so had to send it for repair. There was no damage to the car, it didn't break loose. I returned the damaged tow bar to Roadmaster, they determined it was not repairable and offered me a rebuilt one for about half the price of the original. The replacement now has 104,000 miles on it (being treated much better) and is still serviceable. Beyond that, I had one other problem, one removable bracket that connects the base plate to the actual tow attachment broke after 131,000 miles of use. I had the other one welded earlier that year and did notice some wear on the other but should have had it welded at that time. Everything wears out eventually. Consider your level of use, how many miles do you drive a year? It's the miles and how you treat them that will wear them out. Both vehicles we towed during that time were near the 6000 pound capacity of the Sterling tow bar.

Surprised you haven't gotten more responses to this query. Use the search box at the top of the FMCA page, not your browser page, put in "full time" and you should get a large number of discussions. There is also a major topic on full timing here in the FMCA forum. There are 619 postings in that section. All these are good resources for anyone interested in full timing. I would also invite you to visit the meet-a-member section of this web site. There are some introductions there that include information about how people got into the full timer life style. I love to write and our information is pretty detailed, take a look here. I also blog here on the web site. My stories of our travels can give you an idea of some of the things that are possible when you cut yourself loose from the sticks and bricks home and join those of us who live on wheels.

If you will type in LLC in the search box at the top of this (the FMCA Forum) page, you will get a list of past discussions. One of the most extensive is this one which has a number of cautions to consider before making the decision to go this route.

The old saw, "If it ain't broke, don't fix it" is the simple answer. If a tank is leaking and can't be repaired then it should be replaced. How difficult this will be depends greatly on the manufacturer of the coach. In some coaches the tanks are more accessible than in others. Leaks can appear to come from a tank but may be just the drain pipe connection or a leaky valve. Depending on how accessible the tanks are, it may be difficult to determine the source of the leak without significant disassembly. We had a problem with the pipe connection on our first (used) coach. It was repaired and held until we traded the coach for our present coach. I replaced both valves on our present coach about three years ago. Not the most fun I've had but not that difficult if you follow the advice given earlier in this discussion.

The other limitation with the dome is the much smaller dish surface which will make strong signal a must. Add that to the problems with dew or moisture on the dome, makes for more loss of signal time than with any folding dish. Any weakening by heavy clouds or trees can result in no signal. We have a dome and when it is done, we'll change to a folding dish.

Give us some information on your coach. What manufacturer? What model? What year? We have a lighted handle that has a light bulb at the base and has lines, optic fibres, that illuminate the handle itself. Without information about your coach, it is hard to answer your question.

We replaced our Norcold 1200 with a residential refrigerator in 2011. I wrote up the replacement process at that time. You can read about it here on the FMCA forum. Our refrigerator is now 5 years old and functioning just fine. We haven't had a single problem with it during that time. We have a standard 4 x 6V battery set-up and that has worked well for us. We overnight at Walmart and other parking stops on occasions and the refrigerator and furnace can run all night, only the coldest nights will cause the auto-gen start to kick in to recharge the batteries. In 2013 I replaced an old set of lead/acid batteries with absorbed glass mat (AGM) for other reasons but the system is functioning fine with these as well. The shop where we had the replacement done did a fine job but, our more recent experience has been less than satisfactory and I wouldn't recommend them at this time. I'm afraid the owner has become less involved in the everyday operations and the staff are no longer driven to excel like they were when we had this done. The refrigerator you choose must be compatible with your inverter. There are refrigerators that will work with modified sine wave inverters. Most residential refrigerators are going to require a true sine wave inverter. We replaced the inverter several years before the conversion with the conversion in mind so we have a sine wave inverter. We also increased the inverter size from a 2000 W inverter to a 3000 W model. I never asked about the warranty, maybe just lucky. Costs for the conversion were about the same as replacing the Norcold with another. I like the residential refrigerator much better. The article I mentioned has quite an extensive discussion, questions and answers, and will give you many of the details. Use the search box at the top of this page to find other articles on converting to residential refrigerators. Quite a few people have done this successfully with a number of different models of refrigerators.