tbutler

Each coach has it's unique storage opportunities and challenges. In general, for fixed basement storage spaces store materials that are used regularly just inside the door and those that less often used at the back of the compartment or in a pass through compartment, in the center of the coach. Time will help you sort those you use most often. Storing frequently used items in a container of some kind will allow you to pull them out quickly when you need something behind them. If all your items are stored in easily moved containers, you can empty a whole compartment very quickly without having to rearrange lots of individual parts to put everything back in place. If you have a slide tray in your basement storage, store your most used items on that tray, it is far easier to access items on that tray without having to move everything in front. I stack things on the sliding tray and use very long bungees to strap them in place so they won't slide off and block movement of the tray. I have all my cleaning materials in a basket (like a laundry basket with open sides) so they are all together. Open sides allow better air circulation so damp items will dry faster. My freshwater hoses are in a basket, washing hoses are in another basket. I have 50A and 30A extension cords in another basket. I found the baskets at Walmart last year. They are black with handles and are convenient size to move, can stack inside the basement and I don't have to fiddle with lids. I use containers with lids for all the small parts (replacement and repair parts, miscellaneous hardware and a few other items in that category). Those containers are about 5 inches deep and fit inside the slide tray. Four of them form the bottom layer on that tray with lawn chairs and other tool boxes stored on top of them. I broke down and got a multi-drawer tool box last year, best thing I ever bought. I eliminated several smaller tool boxes and everything is much easier to find than digging through bunches of different toll boxes. One drawer for wrenches, socket and open ended. Another drawer for various pliers and cutters. A drawer for screw drivers and bits and drill bits. The last box gets all the miscellaneous tools. The top compartment under the lid gets the big tools, a drill, a power screw driver, jig saw and chargers for all.The box fits the width of the slide tray and can be accessed without pulling out the tray if desired. It will slide under center so I can pull the tray out both sides of the coach. Below the slide tray is space for thin tools like my long reach tree trimmer, some scrap boards for spur of the moment fixes. Along side the tray I store other useful thin items, my step ladder folds 1.5 inches thich and a bungee holds it against the side so it won't interfere with the tray. I keep a small folding two wheel dolly also stored along the side with a bungee to hold it in place. What? You don't have a slide tray. There are lots of people who make them, custom for your coach, well worth the money for the convenience. There are spaces on the roof of our basement storage that are above the center rib and can't be used for sliding trays, those are dead areas that are good for light items like the pool noodles that I use to prevent concussions from walking into storage doors and slide-outs, I store pipe insulation for those few times when we are in really cold weather and I need to insulate the water hose. I use screw eyes and bungees to hold those items in place. All my water connection parts are stored in trays that I added to the water/sewer compartment on our coach. Dogbone electric adapters are stored on hooks in the compartment with the electric cable. Our pantry had a dead space above the top shelf. I built wine glass holders in that space. Bungees strung across the space keep the glasses from sliding off the rack. Glasses are wrapped with non-slip shelf liner cut to fit and held in place by rubber bands. The bottom of the pantry also has a similar space well above the doors and out of sight. I got loop wine storage racks at IKEA. I used half of each rack for the bottom of the bottle and the neck of the bottle rests on the part of the cabinet above the doors. Six more bottles of wine than we could store otherwise. I have added a shelf to our coat closet at the top of the closet behind the coat hangers. There is just enough space for our cold weather hats and gloves. In our bedroom there were two large cabinets under the TV. We could stack clothes in there but stacked clothes soon become a jumble. I added a shelf to each cabinet to divide them into more useful spaces. I don't expect you will find all these things in your coach but these ideas may help you look at unused spaces for storing materials.

Try posting this on the Forum as opposed to a blog. The Forum is where you will find answers to your questions. Blogs are for stories about motor home travels and adventures. They tend to be continuing stories as opposed to the questions and discussions of problems on the Forum.

For a load test, I always check our Aladdin System built into our coach. It shows the voltage in real time. In summer that means I watch the voltage as the air conditioners come on. If it holds steady or drops only slightly we are OK. We've been in parks where the voltage will drop from 120 to below 100 with one air conditioner on. Alaska, Maine, Newfoundland are a couple of locations where this occurred. In those cases, we either move to a new site or to a different park or we don't use the air conditioners. When this happens it is a clear indication that the wiring is insufficient, either too small a wire for the amperage or too long a run (which requires larger wire size) from the supply to the post. This should not be a problem in modern parks but those that are older it is a serious problem. Park owners will try to tell you it is a problem with the electric company. I tell them that I'm certain that the generators aren't suddenly lugging because I turned on my air conditioner! The problem is 100% in the size of the wire in the campground.

I would give up on the Riverpark system, how old is that? Get a stand-alone GPS. You can get a large 7" screen GPS for around $200 and that includes lifetime map updates. I have never used a dedicated RV or Truckers GPS. I want the driving stuff, not all the RV resources, I can get those from dozens of other dedicated sources for that information. I like Garmin GPS systems but there are others that perform as well. Other than downloading the map updates, you have all the maps you need on board at all times (including all of Canada). No need to download maps for a specific trip. I like having the GPS on the dash in front of me with automatically zooming illustration for turns, etc. The Garmin shows what lane to be in for intersections and interchanges, distance to turn, pictures of the exit signs, etc. It also indicates the next turn when you are on the highway, even if it is 200 miles ahead. That gives us a head's-up as to the route it intends to use. If we want to do something different, we'll take the road we want and it adjusts. I also find the speed indication to be quite useful, it shows the speed limit (usually correctly but not a legal reference - still have to watch the signs) and if over the speed limit it shows our speed in red. It does easy quick searches for stores, attractions, etc. Type in post office and it gives you the location of the nearest 20! Take your pick. The same for Walmart, Lowe's or Safeway. Updates occur several times a year and keep the system up-to-date. In addition, they also make software improvements from time to time to take care of problems that crop up. We do use the maps on the iPad at times if we are having map problems and need to get a second opinion but I would never try to drive from a cell phone or iPad, too much heads down activity unless you have it mounted on the dash in front of you. We took our car Garmin with us to New Zealand and Australia. I purchased the maps for both countries from Garmin. They were on a single Mini SD chip that plugs into the side of the GPS. I had every road in both countries, every round-about, school zone warnings and all the rest. It was one of the best things about driving in those countries. It made adjusting to driving on the wrong side of the road much easier to handle.

Yes.

The fresh water tank fill should not go through the water pump. That should be prevented by a back flow valve. If the lever on the valve you mention is turning the valve and the valve is operating properly, then you should be able to fill the tank unless there is some kind of shut-off at the tank also. I'm not familiar with Beaver products specifically so someone who owns your model may have a suggestion.

I have to ask. The 30A outlet at your home, is it specifically installed for the motor home? Who installed it? How certain are you that it is wired properly? All 30A circuits are not the same. If it is a standard appliance 30A circuit, like a clothes drier, it would damage the circuitry in the motor home. If an electrician installed the circuit, even if they knew it was for an RV, they may not have installed a proper 30A circuit. A good primer on electrical supply for RV's is RV Electric. Take a look and ensure that you have a good 30A outlet. The correct wiring should have one hot wire, one ground and one neutral. It should be a 110V connection, not 220V. If you are not familiar with electric, get a professional to check the outlet you plugged into. At the same time, if you don't have one, purchase a test meter at a hardware store and have the electrician show you how to use it to check what you are plugging into.

Happy birthday to our National Park Service. One hundred years ago this week, Congress created the National Park Service. There were national parks before the park service was created. The park service became the agency that managed the national parks. In the last few weeks we have visited four parks. At each park we found amazing views, exciting experiences and crowds of people enjoying their heritage. Our first stop on the way west from Denver was the San Luis Valley of Colorado and Great Sand Dunes National Park. The dune field at GSD is located on the east side of the San Luis Valley. Winds picking up sand particles from the dry lake bed of the San Luis Valley drop them when they encounter the Sangre de Cristo Mountains. We've seen and walked dune fields before but these are unique for several reasons. The highest dune in the field is over 600 feet high. You can rent sand boards to surf the dunes and many people climb all the way to the top to do just that. Younger sand surfers were busy learning on the lowest dunes. But before you reach the dune field, you have to cross Medano Creek. In the spring, Medano Creek carries large amounts of sand from the Sangre de Cristo Mountains to the southwestern edge of the dune field. Choked with sand, the stream periodically experiences blockages and then breaks them creating pulses of water that people surf on. In mid-summer the stream flow becomes more docile and it is filled with young children with buckets and shovels who enjoy a great cooling sandbox. Shortly after we reached the dune field, the wind began to pick-up and we were treated to the marvel of dune formation. Sand grains began dancing around our bare feet. With each gust of wind the sands around us began to flow along the ground toward the dune field. Our footprints in the sand were quickly turning into mini-dunes. Moving on toward southwestern Colorado we stayed at a campground across Highway 160 from Mesa Verde National Park. Mesa Verde is a very large park and features hundreds of cliff dwellings of the Pueblo people. There are overlooks to view many of the cliff dwellings but the real highlight is to actually tour some of the dwellings. There is currently one that can be toured on your own. Another that was open to touring is currently off limits because of potential rockfall. Ranger guided tours are available for three others. To manage the size of the audience, you purchase tickets for each tour. The ticket specifies the time of the tour. Tours involve walking and climbing stairs or ladders. To walk the ground where the Pueblo people lived and learn about their lives and their history in this area is an amazing experience. There are also museum exhibits with some of the artifacts from the park. A recent series of fires on the mesa has exposed hundreds of archaeological sites on the mesa surface. Prior to the cliff dwellings, the population lived on the surface where they farmed. The cliff dwellings are the final phase of their history at Mesa Verde. After about 100 years living in the cliff dwellings they were abandoned as the Pueblo people moved on to other locations. In northeastern Arizona is Canyon de Chelly (pronounced Shey) National Monument. A National Monument is designated by Presidential proclamation, National Parks are created by an act of Congress. Canyon de Chelly is an example of a national monument. It is administered by the National Park Service but has limited visitor information. There are cliff dwellings at Canyon de Chelly but none are open to visitation. There are places to view them from a distance. One can be viewed up close by hiking two miles down into the canyon and back out. We made that trek one afternoon. Along the trail we encountered many Navajo people on their way to visit the cliff dwellings. Near he site we witnessed a religious meeting of the Navajo people. In fact, the national monument is located on the Navajo reservation and many of them live within the national monument. Access to the canyon floor is limited to Navajo escorts at all other locations. Jeep and horse tours are available. The canyon itself is quite spectacular in its beautiful formations. Sandstone layers were formed by ancient sand dunes that migrated over the area many millions of years ago. The cross layering within each layer tells the story of the passage of another dune. From Canyon de Chelly we traveled to the granddaddy of all canyons, Grand Canyon National Park. It had been a long time since either Louise or I had last visited the Grand Canyon. Needless to say, things have changed. Louise had been there as a young teen (no year given ), I was there in the late 70's. While the experience was different, the park service is doing a wonderful job of managing the crowds and keeping the canyon accessible to all. Visiting the south rim, large parking lots at the visitors center are the starting point. There are shuttle buses, tour buses and a train to bring you to the park in addition to your own private vehicle. Yes, they do have an RV parking lot. Parking becomes difficult to find early in the day during the peak summer season. Once at the visitors center, a bus system will transport you around the central park area and out to the viewpoints which are scattered along the canyon rim. Walking part of the Canyon Rim trail gives you a constantly changing view of the canyon. You can also ride the shuttle bus from one major viewpoint to another. As interesting as the canyon was the amazing variety of people visiting the canyon. Foreign languages were as common if not more common than English. The story of the formation of the Grand Canyon is the story of Earth's history. Along the rim trail there is a timeline of Earth history. Markers on the trail about every 30 feet mark the passage of 10 million years. Our national parks are a national treasure. Our Senior Pass allows us free entry to these parks. When we got our lifetime pass to these parks we became members of the National Park Foundation, a private foundation which assists in funding the parks. It is a way for us to continue support of our parks while we enjoy our Senior Pass. Find a park near you and drop by to visit this week.

For ordinary prescriptions there are solutions but I have no experience with controlled narcotics. When you get this worked out, please return to this discussion and let us know what finally worked for you. Those of us who travel extensively face quite a list of challenges when taking on the rules and conventions that assume a stationary existence. Sharing your success will help all of us in the long run.

The problem occurs when the warning comes too late to turn around or avoid that hazard. Posting the height on the bridge itself is the wrong place to put the warning, though it is useful there also. The warning needs before the last alternate exit so you can drive around without having to back up. I've come up on low clearances without any warning that a low clearance bridge is ahead. Low Clearances POI can be set for a warning signal when you are within a set distance.

The timing is interesting, I got this e-mail yesterday. "Hi , We are working hard to bring you more great POI products, and next to be developed are Weight & Width restricted bridges. So if you know of any bridges or underpasses with a weight or width restriction (in USA or Canada) then please send us the coordinates, and help us to create the best database possible for you and your fellow drivers. We look forward to hearing from you. Best wishes and many thanks, LowClearances.com" It sounds as if your concern has made an impact somewhere. It will no doubt take time to assemble this information but using this POI it should help. As travelers that are frequently off the main roads, we can all help expand the POI database by reporting any load limited bridges or narrow bridges that would be of concern. The way these POI files work is that all limits are compiled, even if they are greater than our own motor home. When the files are copied to your GPS you can select only the limits that are of concern for your vehicle. So basically, they will be looking not just for the really low weight limits, all weight limits might be useful to someone. The limitation of the Rand McNally Motor Carriers atlas is that it covers those roads that are designated as truck routes. If you are going to depart from truck routes, you are on your own. We frequently travel smaller roads and the Rand McNally atlas doesn't include any information on those roads. The POI files are constantly being expanded. They do cover low clearances in many if not all roads that are non-truck routes. We have the Road Carriers atlas and Louise uses it regularly. It helps us to know when we are leaving truck routes so we can weigh the decision to go onto smaller roads.

FMCA has mail service out of Sioux Falls, South Dakota. We used South Dakota as our base for 10 years while we were full time. Things like motorhome registration, licensing and insurance are less expensive there and you have the same "no state income tax" advantage that Texas offers. We finally made Texas home because of the climate advantages. Our South Dakota drivers license qualified us for the Texas drivers license to drive a vehicle over 26,000 pounds without a test of any kind. We used My Home Address, Inc. out of Emery, SD. They handled our vehicle registration each year and were very dependable handling our mail.

At an FMCA rally, I asked the Bilstein rep about the life of shocks. He said they should last the life of the coach. I don't know about that but I've driven a coach with bad shocks and our present coach is fine. We have 155,000 miles on it now. As Bill said, if no evidence of failure (leaking bent, etc) they should be fine.

If you are looking at used vehicles, consult the Towing Guide for the year vehicle you are considering. Just select the year of Back Issues and then the January Issue to get the older versions of the towing guide.

If you have the 2016 issue of Family Motor Coaching magazine, you will find a complete towing guide. This is a regular feature in the January issue. If you don't have that issue anymore, you can find it on line here on the FMCA web site. On the home page, go to the tab FMC Magazine in the headline menu. From there, go to Back Issues. Select 2016 and if you look at the right side of the page, it has most popular and you will find Towing Guide listed at the top of the list. Clicking that entry will take you to a PDF version of the article which you can read on line or download to your computer. With the caveat that you have to check with the manufacturer to verify the information, the vehicles should be towable though what you have to do to make them towable (such as pulling fuses, speed limits, periodic stops to circulate transmission fluid, etc.) is variable and should be summarized in the article. Dealerships may not even realize that their vehicles have this capability. I purchased a GMC Acadia several years ago. When asked about towability, the salesman said no. I said that the information I had (from FMCA) was that the vehicle could be towed. So we got out the GMC Acadia manual and sure enough it had information on towing. The manual is the source of the official GMC information. Ask to see the manufacturers official manual and what it says about towing before you purchase any vehicle. That is the manual that comes with the vehicle and it is the official word. Sales people are notoriously ill informed on vehicles. When I asked where the fuses that had to be pulled to tow the Acadia, the sales person had to go find out where the fuse panel was! All of this is a benefit of membership in FMCA. I believe that you have to be logged in to get to this information.

Every organization goes through reorganization periodically. FMCA is ripe for such a change. Times are such that those in the process of raising children find their lives so busy that their schedule is totally dominated by the school/sports/band/scouts and other community organizations. Simply getting the kids time off coordinated with the schedules of mom and dad becomes a barrier to travel and exploration. Then there are financial considerations. When I was raising children, there is simply no way I could have afforded a motor home. Being young and vigorous, I was happy with tent camping and activities like canoe camping and car camping. We traveled extensively and spent plenty of time outdoors. I suspect that a major barrier is that the few people who travel extensively in motor homes with children is so small that trying to get a group together is difficult and if you did form such a group, the differing family schedules would be a major barrier to consistent participation in the group. In our family, we have three different patterns of vacation travel. One family takes the kids on trips in a travel trailer. Another takes their children on plane and hotel vacations. A third family has a "summer" home where they vacation with their family. Despite the model that we, Louise and I, have set, economic conditions and other factors have affected their decisions. They may all end up traveling in a motor home someday but it will likely be after their children are grown and gone. Perhaps the model that should be encouraged is to have individual chapters equipped with information that will attract and encourage families with children to join them and a ready list of the kind of activities that will keep those members engaged in their chapter. Time will tell us how best to renew and bring young people and families into FMCA. In the meantime, let's see more campfires and marshmallows and fewer happy hours!

Welcome Shelby and Tom, If you are like us, the full time adventure will become so enjoyable that finding a spot for a home base will take a while. Enjoy the adventure as long as it suits you. Welcome to the FMCA Forum.

So many amazing things to see. Now were making second passes and looking for some of the things we didn't take time to see on the first pass. It helps to have others making suggestions. Sometimes like the Old Arvada Tavern and the Sheridan Rodeo, it takes us out of our normal pattern of travel and into places or things we wouldn't normally try without a recommendation or other incentive to go there.

Obedb Said: "Research the Slumgullion Slide. Formed Lake San Cristobal. " Great post! I wasn't familiar with this slide. I'll have to put it on my must see list. The thing that makes this so interesting is that while the lake was formed 600 to 800 years ago, the slide continues to move. It is a mass of loose materials which are slowly creeping downhill. If you google this there is a US Geological Survey article on recent studies of the movement. You could think of this as a kind of dirt glacier, slowly sliding down the mountainside.

Please re-read, we were there when they opened the visitors center. I just checked the date, it was 2008. That is the year the visitors center was opened.

I'm guessing that little bitty end loader wouldn't budge those rocks. There may also be problems with what is downhill from the roadway. In areas like this is isn't uncommon to have switchbacks below the road that is shown. I know there is one area in Zion National Park where this is the case. We were in Mesa Verde National Park last week. There are several areas that are identified as being rockfall danger areas and no stopping is permitted! One of the cliff dwellings was closed for touring because there is a section of rock that is about to fall. They are trying to resolve that without destroying the pueblos below. Anytime you have steep slopes this kind of thing can happen. Actually this is really minor compared to what has happened in other areas. There are several slides I have visited where entire mountainsides have dropped into the valley. If you have a chance to visit one of these, they are quite amazing to see and contemplate what happened. North of Jackson Hole, WY is the Gros Ventre Slide. The link has part of the story, Wikipedia has more information. This occurred in 1925. The scar is still clearly visible and the lake that was formed when the river below was dammed is still there. In 1959 a 7.5 earthquake northwest of Yellowstone National Park collapsed a mountainside into the valley of the Madison River creating Earthquake (or Quake) Lake. There is a nice visitors center near the lake in the vecinity of US 287 and Montana Hwy 87. The visitors center is built on debris from that collapse. The collapse of the mountainside buried several campgrounds and killed 28 people. In 1903 in Alberta, Canada, a mountainside collapsed and buried part of the town of Frank. Known as the Frank Slide, this collapse killed 76 people and trapped 17 miners in the mine under Turtle Mountain. We happened to visit this area the week that they were opening the visitors center. It is well worth a stop if you are in the area. As you travel the mountains of western North America, for that matter, any mountainous area throughout the world, you can see scars on the mountainsides where rock falls, rock slides, landslides (names vary based on volume of material) have occurred. These are not uncommon, only the largest of them are uncommon. In geology these are lumped together as erosion in a category called mass wasting which just means things sliding or falling downhill. Look for them, you'll see them everywhere.

We just left Durango this morning. Actually we stayed at Ancient Cedars which is right at the entrance to Mesa Verde National Park. There were plenty of places available there. We couldn't find a campground in the Durango area. We were about 30 miles from Durango. Took the Durango to Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad, what a great experience. Mesa Verde was a fantastic experience as well. Enjoy.

I think you have a complex issue. You are planning to drive a vehicle combination which is clearly illegal in your state and in any other state in the US. I know of no state that allows motor home combinations of 70+ feet. Most are 65 feet but some are quite a bit less. You say everyone tells you it is no big deal but someone has clued you in that people have been stopped and had to hire a commercial tow so... everyone hasn't told you it is no big deal. Don't listen only to what you want to hear, listen to what you are told. I don't think having a CDL is going to help you. You may be licensed to drive a commercial vehicle but the vehicle you are driving isn't licensed as a commercial vehicle and even if it were, it is still a motor home, not a tractor trailer truck which may be allowed a longer total vehicle length. I guess you could see if you could get an oversized vehicle permit in each state as you traveled through but I don't think that is what you want. Even if you did that, you would have to inform your insurance company and likely get special insurance to cover this situation. If I were you I would consult an attorney before proceeding. As Brett indicated, you may get by for a while but when a problem occurs will be the wrong time to get the answer you are asking for now.

This summer is our 15th summer on the road. We've traveled in every state in the US (except Hawaii) and every province in Canada (except Nunavut). Given that experience, there are still new things to do and see. We left Scottsbluff, NE on August first headed for Denver. We have family, a sister and daughter there and we've stopped there at least once every year. Still, we found something new on this trip. Louise's sister and her husband have now retired and we had a nice visit with them and their family. We've done dinners out with Elaine and Lou before but this year we had the younger generation making suggestions for places to eat. We found ourselves in old Arvada, a ten block area in the center of the old town. The old town area is thriving as an evening hot spot for the younger generation. Bars, restaurants and parks all with music make it a world of pleasant experiences. The Grandview Tavern and Grill has a back yard patio and it made for a relaxing meal and conversation. After enjoying a good meal we spent some time strolling the streets marveling at all the activity. Lou and Elaine took us on a tour of the old town, pointing out points of interest and places with family connections. Our next stop was the Old Arvada Tavern. In Lou's memory, it was a rather drab old bar, a place he hung out while waiting to pick up his son from ball practice. Today it is alive with young people. Downstairs there is a full menu and the place was packed. Our social advisors had directed us to take a right inside the entrance and go through the "telephone booth" to the upstairs. We followed instructions and were welcomed into a world of entertainment. Like many of the bars, this one featured live entertainment on the weekend. The band for this evening was a bluegrass band. They were just warming up and adjusting the sound. We found a vacant table next to the stage. I've never been a big fan of bluegrass but a live performance would be a first. Once the band was warmed up they launched into their performance. Watching the musicians and listening to the music was a real joy. We stayed through the first set then retreated to quieter surroundings at their home for the rest of the evening. After a week and a half in Denver we drove to Sheridan, WY to spend time with our daughter and her boyfriend. Karen works in Westminster near Denver but is dating Brent who is living in Sheridan. The occasion was the Sheridan Rodeo. We settled into Peter D's RV Park for the week on Monday evening. Tuesday morning we explored the town. If we're going to spend a week here and there is going to be a crowd, we had better know our way around town. We found the rodeo arena and got an idea of the schedule. Wednesday evening we purchased tickets to the rodeo and watched the program on our own. I had been to small town rodeo's years ago but this was a much bigger deal. For Louise this was all new. The evening began with the Indian Races. Teams of Native Americans race around the track surrounding the arena. Starting standing on the ground they have to mount their horse, no saddle, ride a loop then change to a new horse, off of one, on the next without assistance. Run one more loop and change to a third horse for the final lap. Pandemonium reigned at each change of the horses. The rider had to do this unassisted. Other team members were charged with managing the horses during the race. Some horses had their own mind how this was all to work. More than one horse ran a lap without a rider. One rider chased the horse all the way around the track then grabbed the next horse and completed the race. Another rider rand several hundred yards holding on the the horse's tail before giving up. After four nights of racing, the team with the best time would claim a $10,000 prize. Other events were pretty much what you can see on TV but far more exciting and amazing when watching it in person. While in Sheridan, waiting for Karen to arrive for the weekend, we played a round of golf at the local golf course. We also toured King's Ropes downtown. This is a western store and more. The Kings have been saddle makers for several generations. They also stock a whole warehouse of ropes that are made on site. You can watch the ropes being made by hand. There are also several workstations for saddle work You can drop off a saddle for repair or restoration or order your own custom saddle. Behind the store is an amazing museum with hundreds of saddles of all kinds, photos, books, guns, spurs, cowboy gear of all kinds and old time photos. You can stand in one place and look from ceiling to floor to see everything on display in that area. We spent an hour and a half in a quick walk through. Karen arrived late Friday so we met her and Brent at The Silver Spur for breakfast. From there we were off to watch the bed races. Teams with specially built beds race down the street for two blocks to a packed house on the sidewalks. Fun is had by everyone. To get front row seats, you have to park your lawn chair on main street Friday afternoon. Following the bed races is the big parade. This is a major parade with horses, cars, floats of all kinds, and audience participation. Watchers and float riders battle with water cannons at various locations along the route. Mars candy magnates live in the area and there is no shortage of Mars candy distributed along the route. Lunch followed ant then I spent several hours at the Native American Pow Wow on the lawn of the Sheridan Inn. Native dancers performed a variety of dances with narration to explain the significance of each dance. We had ordered tickets for the Saturday night finals more than a month before the rodeo. The grandstand was all sold out so we purchased tickets in what we learned was the new stands on the west side of the arena. The rodeo clown labeled this area as the newbee section! We had front row seats, just a fence separating us from the horses and livestock. We were just a few yards from the gates and had a great view of the entire arena. All the participants were pushing their limits for the final performance of the rodeo and the show was spectacular. Sunday was a day to relax and wrap up visits. We slept in then joined Brent's family for a birthday celebration for his sister. We said good bye to Karen then returned to the park for the evening. We would leave Monday morning to return to Denver for another week and a half. On the way south we drove over the Bighorn Mountains enjoying the spectacular scenery on US Hwy 14. We stopped for a few days near Thermopolis, WY, Camping at Boysen State Park. One of the surprises of the trip was our entrance into Thermopolis. The hot springs there has a spectacular travertine terrace visible from the road as you enter the northern end of town. There are several venues offering hot springs for swimming and soaking. The grounds are pleasant to walk, offering great views of the spring and the mineral shelf. Just south of Thermopolis is the Wedding of the Waters. An informational display marks the place where the Wind River changes its name to the Bighorn River. The river was given different names upriver and at the mouth and when it became apparent that it was the same river a compromise arrangement was to use both names for the same river. The Wedding of the Waters marks the location where the name changes. Up stream, the Wind River Canyon is a spectacular sight. At the upper end of the canyon is Boyson Dam and Reservoir. There are numerous campgrounds there, above and below the dam. All campgrounds are dry without electric which made the stay a little uncomfortable with temperatures near 100 during the day. Fortunately, breezes off the lake made for cooler evening temperatures. We stopped in Rawlings on Wednesday night and spent Thursday night at Cummins Rocky Mountain in anticipation of scheduled maintenance on Friday. We were in and out Friday morning and into Dakota Ridge RV Park that afternoon.

Still, if you are considering a purchase and want an idea of what it will cost you to keep your Class A motor home on the road, the OP asked a very pertinent question and I think that answers have been given which should be helpful. There is no question that each individual case is different but the overall responses fall within a fairly narrow range. This kind of question is what an informed consumer asks before making a purchase and then finding out that they can't afford to use it because it costs too much or, conversely they may decide it isn't feasible as it probably is too expensive to operate when it turns out to be quite affordable for that buyer. Gathering information before making a purchase should be done by every purchaser, whether considering a motor home or a lawn mower. The larger the purchase the more carefully it should be investigated before making the purchase. The information is out there, in this case on the FMCA Forum but there are other sources. Before we went full time we read books and a number of articles, browsed magazines on RV'ing and examined a number of other sources. We considered all aspects including communication, financial and legal aspects of living full time in a motor home. Having done so, we never felt as though we were in over our head or had unrealistic ideas of what purchasing and living in a motor home would be like.