tbutler

Is the key turning when you try the lock? Can you hear the electronic lock release when it is activated? If you can turn the key and it still won't release and/or if you hear the electronic lock release then it may be a failure of the linkage between the handle and the latch. I've had that problem with our compartment door latches. With full width compartments I've crawled through to disassemble the latch mechanism from the back side of the door. I'm sure that isn't an option with the Aqua Hot compartment. Our water compartment lock failed in this manner and we had it repaired while at the factory service center in Coburg, Oregon. When I asked the tech how he had done it he said he was able to pry the side of the door open just enough to be able to get to the latch and physically release it. That door was a narrow door (16"). He said it would not work with a wide door.

When I update my units (one in car, other in motor home) this fall, variance from the GPS maps will be sent to Garmin. This data goes to the mapping unit which will compare my variances with those reported by others who are updating their units. Then they will need to verify the route changes. If your GPS is set to record and report changes to its maker, you are like a scout, gathering data and returning it to headquarters. I suspect it takes a while for these to show up in the updates. Keep in mind that our data goes to Garmin and only those who use Garmin maps would see those updates. I don't think that the companies share their map information. Rand McNally will have to get their update information from their users! We traveled many roads that are taken by few people so I would guess that the report we submit will be pretty valuable. When they get around to incorporating that into the maps will be anybodies guess. Few travelers on those roads also means low demand for the data so it may get low priority compared to routes in cities with 100's of users a day and dozens of reports of variance from users where I might be the only one reporting variances for some of the routes we were on. We've traveled over 10,000 miles, 19 states and 5 provinces of Canada so far this summer. We'll add at least six more states before settling down in Edinburg, Texas for the winter. We're being good little scouts for Garmin!

I chock our wheels whenever we hook up at a campground. I also chock the wheels when we park on steep slopes. It's old school. FMCA used to have a code of conduct. One of the items in the list was that you were to chock the wheels when you parked. It would have saved these folks a whole lot of misery. Perhaps FMCA should reinstate that among the tips from other motor home owners in the basics listed under "Advice for motorhomers, from motorhomers." My chocks are stored in the compartment with the shore power cable. I put them out when we park and remove them when I disconnect the shore power. I saw an individual rip the shore power cable out of the reel at a rally one time. He just wanted to reposition the coach and pulled forward without unhooking. Chocks would have prevented that misery also.

Welcome aboard! Hope you have a good ride!

I have to apologize to alltooledup, I missed your post. No, we have not used or purchased an extended warranty. I had a few items fixed under the new coach warranty but they were relatively minor compared to the costs for the remainder of the ownership period. To Drummer Mike, let me know where you are and I'll come collect those drinks! It will only cost me $3.55 a mile to get there! See you down the road...

My EMS doesn't sense amps, it detects 220V or 110V. 30A electric supply for RV's is 110V with one hot lead, a neutral and a ground wire. 50A electric supply for RV's has two 110 V hot leads which are opposing phase. In our RV, the electric is never used as 220V, the two incoming leads are used as two separate 110V supplies. The EMS looks for two hot leads which are opposite phase and this indicates 50A service. If the two hot leads are the same phase (ie. 110V) indicates 30A service and it limits usage to keep it under 30A. If the supply is 20A then there is a button to push to select that supply limitation as a 20A looks exactly the same (both 110V) as a 30A to the EMS. Again, our EMS has no way to detect amps, only the voltage of the hot leads. If the leads are same phase it sees 30A. If it sees opposite phase, 50A. 30A adapters supply electric to both 50A legs but both legs are receiving electric that is in phase, not opposite phase. That is why the EMS looks for the 220V opposite phase electric and interprets the supply as 50A if opposite phase and 30A if same phase. We have stayed in RV parks where the outlets were 50A but the supply was from a single wire (split at the outlet) and thus both sides of the 50A outlet were same phase. The EMS detected this and would limit our usage to 30A because the supply wasn't 220V. If your coach works properly with a 50A supply but the 30A cord isn't working, take a test meter and check the 30A cord and the drop from the house. Check also to be sure that the drop from the house is wired properly for an RV. Here is a good source of information on proper wiring for RV's.

That is a place I have wanted to go. You have a 40' and I a 45', will there be a problem for me? On roads and campgrounds? Do you reserve ahead, before you go? Thanks Carl Carl asked a good question so I'm going to answer it with this post. I've seen a few 45's on the road here. We've been able to find places to stay without a problem though the number of places with full hookups is limited. The standard is 30 Amps with water and a dump station. There may or may not be wifi and signal strength when they have wifi varies considerably. In many cases, you have only one choice of where to stay but we've been able to stay where we wanted almost always. We've found parking spots in cities a few times, Wal-Mart two nights in Clarenville, Royal Canadian Legion two nights in Deer Lake. We've also stayed in roadside pull-outs, one paved, one dirt/gravel. Visitors centers are common stopping spots for the wifi and parking is generally good but not always. Some visitors centers will allow overnight parking but most simply don't have enough room for that. We have found RV parking spots that aren't large enough for our rig but usually there are few places used and we've been able to park across several spots or park along a curb. In a few cases we've called campgrounds a few days ahead and been able to get a space reserved. The one area where this didn't work was around Gros Morne in mid-August. It's a popular National Park. We got a place to stay right on Bonne Bay for the first few days of our visit right in the heart of the park. When we wanted to relocate on the north side of the park all the close parks were filled. We found a place with full hookups about 30 miles north of the park and made that work. As in the US, you will find the National Park Campgrounds unsuitable for large RV's. We tried in Terra Nova National Park and there were sites that would have worked but they were all occupied. We pulled into several sites but slides and trees were a problem so we gave that up. That park didn't have any close private parks to stay at so we ended up taking on short day hike and went on our way. You will likely find yourself staying with the campgrounds that are near the Trans Canada Highway as the smaller roads on the peninsulas are narrow, no shoulders and in places pretty rough. We tried a few of the peninsula roads with the motor home and managed OK but it takes a lot of patience. Those roads are better done with the toad. There are many beautiful harbors and interesting places to see on these peninsulas. If you don't travel them, you miss much of the beauty of Newfoundland. Now in Labrador we are in a park just north of the Strait of Belle Isle ferry landing in Blanc Sablon. The park was full Thursday night, last night only a couple of small vans. The space is small and we are parked into the regular roadway with just enough room for traffic to pass. It was the best space available at the time. Someone had the space on the end of the row which was on a curve and would have been no problems. This park is gravel, pick your own spot, first come, first served. The parks here are gravel or grass and you may find tree limbs and maneuvering a problem in some. Others are wide open and not a problem. We haven't found any campgrounds that would be classified as a resort type parks in the US. The ferries here are all capable of handling large vehicles. They have many trucks on each ferry run. We did make reservations for our ferry trips. For the ferry from Nova Scotia we made reservations months ahead. For the ferry from Newfoundland to Labrador we called a few days ahead and got a space without a problem. I would not hesitate to come again. You will find yourself in the company of many smaller campers in most cases but hey, you drive what you've got! Had to laugh on ferry to Blanc Sablon we were in line with a small van camper and I noticed the license plate was Switzerland. I struck up a conversation with the driver on the trip across the strait. He laughed saying, "Our campers are like our countries. US is big, Switzerland is small."

By mid-August we had been in Newfoundland for three weeks. Our final week we explored the Northern Peninsula. This is the large peninsula on the western coast of the island. The peninsula is defined by the Long Range Mountains which run the length of the peninsula. At the southern end of this area is Gros Morne National Park. We stayed for two nights at a campground on Bonne Bay while exploring the southern portion of the park. The campsite was a parking lot type campground which doesn't sound exciting except that, parked nose-in, we were looking out the windshield at Bonne Bay just 15 feet away. Bonne Bay is actually a fjord, a glacially carved valley which is flooded with seawater. So we had beautiful scenery right there. We visited the Discovery Centre just a few miles from our campsite. There we learned about the key points of interest in the park and picked up information on ranger-led hikes. One of particular interest was the Tablelands Hike. The Tablelands are a series of flat topped mountains which are made of peridotite, material from Earth's mantle. The mantle is the layer of Earth that lies just below the crust. These mountains were pushed up in the collision between continents. Gondwanaland (now mostly Africa) and Laurentia (now mostly North America) collided forming the supercontinent Pangea. In the collision, Laurentia was pushed down under Gondwanaland. When the continents separated as the Atlantic Ocean began to open between them, a portion of Earth's Mantle was dredged up and became the area called the Tablelands. We took the hike and walked on Earth's Mantle. It isn't the only place in the world where you can walk on the material of the mantle but as our guide pointed out it is the only place where you can park your car and walk off the parking lot onto Earth's mantle. The next day we moved to the north side of the park for another two days. To get from the south side to the north side was about 70 miles as we had to go around Bonne Bay. On the way to our campground which was located north of the park, we had reserved a boat trip on Western Brook Pond. Pond sounds like a small body of water but that isn't the case here in Newfoundland. They call this body of water which is 14 kilometers long, 525 feet deep, a pond. It is a fjord that is cut off from the sea. At one time sea level was higher and the water was salty but now it is fresh water. This is a glacial valley and has all the characteristics of glacial valleys everywhere. It has a broad flat floor with steep valley walls. We couldn't see the floor but we sure saw the valley walls. There were waterfalls and towering cliffs through almost the entire trip. The trip started with low clouds, see the photo with this posting. During most of the trip we had beautiful sunlight but as the trip was ending in late afternoon the clouds once again closed in on the mountain tops. Either way it was a spectacular boat ride. We spent another day visiting the official Visitors Center for Gros Morne. Gros Morne means high mountain and the mountain that bears that name is the second highest in Newfoundland. Newfoundland was glaciated and glaciers destroy mountains so the second highest mountain in Newfoundland is less than 3000 feet above sea level. By the way, the rocks of mainland Newfoundland are part of the Appalachian Mountain Chain. The rocks of the Long Range Mountains, of which Gros Morne is one, are part of the Canadian Shield. The Canadian Shield is the northern portion of Canada which has some of the oldest crustal rocks on Earth. Leaving Gros Morne National Park behind, we drove north on a road that hardly shows up on road maps of the area. Our GPS only shows this road at the highest resolution. It is the newest highway in Newfoundland, having replaced a gravel road only ten years ago. So if you're looking at a map of Newfoundland and it shows the only road that goes up the Northern Peninsula as a small road, it is the equal if not better than many of the roads on other peninsulas. In fact, in some ways it is better. There are a few scenic pull-outs and some picnic areas, many of which are RV friendly. This is in stark contrast to some older roads which were strictly for getting from point A to point B, no funny business like stopping to look at scenery or having a picnic. As with all the roads in Newfoundland as you get near the end of the road the pavement becomes progressively worse! Still, it was all suitable for RV travel. We stopped along the way to do some hiking and see Thrombocites at Flower's Cove. Thrombocites were one of the few life forms that left any evidence of their existence in Precambrian time, more than 600 million years old. These were single celled communities that grew in warm shallow seas. They look like a pan of biscuits, one round topped mass next to other round topped masses. One mass was about six to eight feet in diameter and the whole collection could stretch out to 50 feet in diameter. In places these large groups were adjacent to another large group. We saw similar features in Australia last year, Stromatolites are also single celled masses growing in warm shallow seas. In the Australian example, they were still living. The Thrombocites were fossils, now rock masses that replaced the original living cells. Near the northern tip of the Northern Peninsula we pulled into Viking RV Park. We spent two nights here while exploring L'Anse Aux Meadows National Historic Park. This park encompasses an area where evidence of Norse settlements was found only a few years ago. Parks Canada has done a wonderful job of preserving and interpreting this site. The evidence is quite clear and the interpreters do a wonderful job of communicating the nature of the evidence and the nature of the Nordic settlements. Over 1000 years ago, the Norse visited and lived at the site. They discovered North America 500 years before Columbus discovered America. They didn't stay, returning to Greenland and eventually to Iceland and Norway. The entire tip of the Northern Peninsula celebrates this Norse connection. We booked a dinner theatre program, in St. Anthony, billed as a Viking Dinner. Our last night in Newfoundland was spent enjoying a sporting good dinner. A variety of seafood and game served up buffet style with a bit of wine and some Viking bluster made for a fun and interesting evening. On our way home we were rewarded with our first sighting of moose. We had been told on the boat ride that there are four moose for every square kilometer of Newfoundland. In a month of roaming The Rock, as they call it, we had seen nary one. This night as we drove back to our RV Park we were challenged by one large cow as she wandered onto the road. I stopped before we hit her at which time she looked startled and fled into the brush at roadside. Just before reaching the campground we encountered a bull moose in the middle of the road. He decided to run down the yellow stripe so we pursued him at a respectful distance. Louise tried to get a picture through the windshield but couldn't so I took the camera and handed her the steering wheel. I held the camera out the window and took a number of pictures as she steered the car. We were traveling slowly which was fortunate, I've got the camera out the window, Louise is laughing uncontrollably at the sight of this male moose jogging down the highway in front of us. He eventually departs the road to one side and I stopped to regroup. As I'm handing the camera back to Louise, looking in the mirror I saw the moose come out of the brush and dash across the road and into the brush on the other side. Like a chicken, he simply wanted to get to the other side! The next day we packed up and headed for St. Barbe where we would catch the ferry to Blanc Sablon, Quebec and then drive to L'Anse au Clair, Labrador. After topping off the fuel tank in the motor home we lined up at the ferry terminal. Shortly before the ferry was ready to load I noticed that many people were looking out into the water between the dock and the beach to the north. I expected to see a dolphin or a whale but it wasn't that at all. There in the water was a moose swimming across the bay. So our final, good bye moose was swimming in the bay and then having made it to the beach was walking into the town of St. Barbe! As we crossed the Strait of Belle Isle and the shore of Newfoundland faded into the distance I felt a wisp of regret, leaving such a beautiful and interesting place. It had been a great month and I was wishing it could last longer. We had been treated so well and there was so much more to see. Perhaps we'll be able to return another summer.

An alternative to the Kiley Mold product is from Plak-R. Their ladder mount is designed so the plate in the plate holder can be quickly removed to use the ladder then returned just as easily. When you remove the plate holder, the ladder is unobstructed. There are two clip pins that secure each plate and you simply remove them and the plate holder and plate lift out of the mounting brackets. At an FMCA Rally several years ago I purchased a decal of our FMCA plate and put it on the front of the coach above the windshield. The decal was clear with the black numbers looking like they are painted on our coach. You could also get colored backgrounds if you wished. The company that did this is Simply Etched Stickers, their web site has contact information and a schedule of rallies they have attended this year. Installation was simple and the sticker still looks great after two years.

I'm with Rich. We've been traveling in the motor home for 15 years, about 200,000 miles now and my major concern is fire, not theft. It all depends on where you travel but we've never had a single security problem and we don't make a habit of staying in premium parks. In fact, we often boondock and not always a Walmart. Bad things do happen. If someone breaks into your RV, you'll lose a lot of valuable stuff. Our safes may or may not stop the thieves. Ours are portable and not particularly well hidden. We were parked near a motor home that burned several years ago. I was particularly pleased to see the contents of their safe after the fire. The fire marshal and sheriff opened the safe, the contents were in usable condition. That was a Sentry Safe just like the ones that we have. What do we keep in our safe? Not much in the way of valuables, our cash reserve is less that $200 usually. We have our legal papers, passports, other documents that would be useful in an emergency. Mostly what thieves would find would not be worth their effort. Our computers would likely be much more useful. I would never discourage anyone from running a tight ship when it comes to security, keep it locked when you aren't around.

Brett's recommendation is a great source of information. I've bookmarked it for future use. I'm a weather geek, having taught weather for many years and being a fan of weather for a lifetime. I prefer a simpler approach using forecast information that is easier to digest. Any source that can give you storm warnings and watches will be useful. When I put together weather information, my sources are the Weather Channel (DirecTV Channel 362), Weather Now (DirecTV Channel 361), and Weather Bug. You can use the Weather Bug web site or download the desktop version. I use the desktop version on my computer and the app for my iPad. Since getting the iPhone and iPad, I use it most of the time. The iPad/iPhone version is easier to use, finds your current location automatically and shows you radar centered on where you are with your location marked on the radar map. You can easily zoom in for more detail or out for the bigger picture. The Bug gives me local conditions wherever I am and local radar, regional radar and national radar with motion if desired and also has forecast information, storm warnings, etc. The iPad version of Weather Bug even works in Canada where we are traveling now. I can select Canadian Radar and get the radar (or current conditions, forecasts, etc.) in Newfoundland or anywhere else in Canada. I've used these sources any time I'm concerned about, in or near storm conditions. With winter travel concerns it is always necessary that you have flexibility in your schedule. If you are traveling on a strict schedule then you should probably avoid taking routes that may be subject to snow or other bad weather. If your schedule is flexible you can always delay travel for a day or two which will take care of most fall and spring storms. Winter storms can stop safe travel for longer periods of time and bring the added problems of extreme cold weather. Be cautious about get-home-itis. This is a hazard that has caused many an aviation accident. The tendency to push the trip on to the destination despite weather conditions just to get home or to another destination as soon as possible. Respect nature, when the weather goes bad, park it!

Newfoundlanders wouldn't call it the outback, that's an Australian term. I'm referring to the places that are as far from the TransCanada Highway as you can get in Newfoundland. As with the outback of Australia, the connections to the modern world fade quickly and the natural world and early history emerge. We found some wonderful places on our way to the tips of a few of the fingers of land that are so common in Newfoundland. Leaving the capitol city, St. John's, we traveled to Placentia and stayed in an RV park near where the long ferry to Newfoundland makes its landing, Argentia. It isn't far from St. John's, just 98 miles, about 160 kilometers. The park had full hookups including 50A electric but no wifi. There was a visitors center less than a mile away where we stopped each day to connect and get our updates on things personal and business. It's an inconvenience that cuts into our exploring and sightseeing time and thus the number of things we can see during a day. Hint for the Chamber of Commerce, Internet is essential for tourists. It is true for us retirees and I can't imagine our grandchildren going anywhere they can't tap into the internet. Placentia is located on the western side of the Avalon Peninsula. If you don't have a map, picture the Avalon Peninsula as a big W. The first stroke of the W is where the Avalon Peninsula attaches to mainland Newfoundland. Each of the remaining strokes make a separate and unnamed peninsula, south, then north, then south again, and finally north. That last one is where St. John's is located. Placentia is on the lower portion of the first downstroke. It was a convenient base for our exploration of that peninsula. History here begins with Basque fishermen who came for the cod. They were followed by the French and the English so there were forts built because at the time each country was struggling for dominance of that part of the world. We toured the old French fort, Fort Royal, and learned of the hardships of early life on the island. The French eventually ceded the area to England and the English occupied the fort for a short period of time. They abandoned the fort in 1811 as England prepared to invade the United States in the War of 1812. We drove to the southern tip of the peninsula on another day and visited the Cape St. Mary's Ecological Reserve. The road down the peninsula was in poor condition (a charitable description). The had occasional markers out for "bump ahead" and "potholes ahead" which made us laugh. We never figured out what made them select certain bumps and potholes for signage. They could have put a sign on the road leaving Placentia indicating bumps and potholes next 60 kilometers! We dodged and bumped our way along, arriving at Cape St. Mary's about noon. Every birder knows that the best birding is early in the morning but we were here near noon. Still, we headed down the trail to the overlook to see birds. What a grand surprise we received. We were treated to magnificent views of nesting birds. The most spectacular were the Northern Gannets (see the photo with this posting). I fell in love with these birds when we first saw them on one of our first trips after we arrived. We got just a few distant glimpses as they were flying by but they were extremely graceful fliers and quite beautiful in binoculars. Since then we have watched them diving headfirst into the ocean to catch fish. Not just diving into the ocean, plunging vertically from a height of 30 or more feet into the ocean with hardly a splash. Now we were looking at their nests. These are pelagic birds, birds that spend most of their life at sea. They only come to land to nest, before returning back to the sea. Here they were with their fuzzy chicks, covering every possible spot on a large rock just off shore. We viewed them with binoculars and a scope that I tote around for just such occasions. There were gulls also, the Black-legged Kittiwake. These are also pelagic, spending most of their adult lives at sea. The young were old enough to practice flying and were particularly entertaining. They must learn fast. They will be flying away in the next month and they won't return to land for three years. We also saw Common Murres. How common are they? They are so common that they are hunted here in Newfoiundland. The natives call the Turres and they are allowed to hunt them here in Newfoundland because it is a traditional game bird here. We saw thousands of them on the cliffs, each tending a nest, raising a single chick. The Common Murres are also pelagic and rarely seen from land except when nesting. Leaving Placentia, we drove northeast to the peninsula which makes up the middle of the W. We found a park near Green's Harbour. It was a large park and we got a pull in spot. Yes, we pulled into the spot, the utilities were on the proper side then. When we left we backed out of the site. The site had at one time been occupied by people who stayed there as "permanent" renters. They had fixed up the site so it was much nicer than any of the others in the park. It was easily the nicest site we had anywhere in Newfoundland. It was level, paved with a clean dark red rock and surrounded with small trees but they were well trimmed and presented no problems. We had full hookups and no wifi. There was internet access at the office, a short walk from our site. Still not the convenience of relaxing in the motor home using the internet. From Green's Harbour we went south to the town of Dil--, yes, I know, but that is the name. It was named for one of the town founders. That's a name that would be changed today! The Di-do Dory Grill had been recommended to us so we had to give it a try. They had easily the best fish and chips I've ever had. The cod was spectacular and the fries were quite good, not greasy. Traveling north up the west side of the peninsula we stopped at Heart's Delight to visit the Cable Station. Heart's Delight is where the first trans-Atlantic Cable came ashore. We saw the actual cable and its successors on the beach and in the building. There was a short movie introduction and then we toured a massive display of the equipment and history of the cable station. Incoming Morse Code messages were received here and transmitted on to the rest of America. The first successful cable came ashore in 1911 and the station closed in 1965. For 54 years, this was a hub for communication between Europe and North America. This museum far exceeded my expectations and I would recommend it to anyone. Its displays touched on the impact of the business on the community, to women,s employment in Newfoundland and the history of communications. At the northern tip of the peninsula we walked among old rock fences that the first settlers used to mark their fields and pastures. The community of Grates Cove was representative of many fishing villages we have seen. Small roads branch off to houses that dot the hillsides. The amenities are few. There is a post office in most every village. A few have service stations which double as the grocery. Most of these villages have only housing. All have a dock or series of docks. The larger ones have a fishery were fish are processed and shipped to market. There isn't much for tourists in these towns other than their picturesque nature. We left the Avalon Peninsula traveling north toward Gambo. We had already explored the Bonavista Peninsula and Terra Nova National Park so we continued past them. At Gambo we turned north on Highway 340 and this time took a different approach. We decided to take the motor home on the loop around the Gander Peninsula. We had seen part of this peninsula making a day trip out of Gander to Twillingate. This trip rewarded us with wonderful scenery which is much better seen from the high seats and single glass windshield for a panoramic view. I don't think that I have mentioned the amazing presence of water in Newfoundland but everywhere we travel there are lakes, ponds, bays, harbors, and thousands of puddles and wet bogs. Water is literally everywhere, fresh water, bog water, sea water. In fact Newfoundlanders have a variety of humorous songs. One of my favorites is... "Thank God We're Surrounded by Water." Look up the lyrics on the internet, you can even find a link to a You Tube version of the song. I finally found a copy on an album, Good Work... If You Can Get It!, by The Government Rams. We heard this in the -ildo Dory Grill but the waiter couldn't identify the group. So our journey from Gambo north to Newtown was highlighted by lakes, ponds and other bodies of water all with scattered boulders from glaciers dotting the shallow waters. In Newtown we stopped to drive through town. With forty feet of motor home and a car in tow this is always a risk but we found a wonderful spot to pull off in the only loop in town. That turned out to be where the history tour of Newtown started out so we signed up and took the two hour tour led by two rosy cheeked young men. We saw an old school house complete with old classic school books, a fishing shed with tools for cleaning fish and two houses belonging to several generations of a fishing family. We found a spot to pull off near Musgrave Harbour to spend the night along the roadside. By the afternoon of the next day we were in Deer Lake on the western side of Newfoundland. Deer lake would be the jumping off point for our next great exploration, Gros Morne National Park and the Northern Peninsula. We laid in provisions, food and fuel, after a good nights sleep on the Royal Canadian Legion parking lot in Deer Creek. By ten o'clock we were on our way.

We have insurance through GEICO and they offer an umbrella liability plan that covers the motor home, campsite and our car as well. Geico recommended this as a way to save money, purchasing lower liability insurance on the motor home and car and then making up the difference with the umbrella policy. Our policy costs $218 per year for 300,000 per incident, $500,000 total coverage. That cost may vary depending on your locality. If you are renting your lot out, it could be considered a commercial property and there may be differences in the coverage you would have to purchase.

Well Carl, Thanks, you said what I would have said! Mission is the west end of the resort area. There are many parks there, small and large. Some are quite nice with paved roads and many activities, others are simpler, gravel and grass. You can find something to match your interests. Several in the Mission area are near Bentsen State Park which is a popular area for birding. There are also several there that have large dance halls if that is your interest. In fact, you should be able to find a park that just fits your needs and interests somewhere in the RGV. This link has 25 parks in the valley that are described as resort-retirement parks. This link is the RV Park Reviews for Mission, Texas. It lists 21 parks near Mission, Texas. This includes reviews from people who have stayed at these parks. I use RV Park Reviews as a primary source when hunting for parks in an unfamiliar area. This link is more the Chamber of Commerce type information but has an area map that may be helpful in searching for parks. All of the communities in the RGV have many RV Parks. There are over 70 in the RGV at last count. That is why I would suggest coming and spending a short time at one park while you explore the area and look at other parks that you think might interest you. The last few years there have been open spaces at most parks so advance reservations might get you a better site but you should be able to find a place at most parks just by showing up!

Where are you starting from? Would it be possible to travel for a day or two using rest stops, etc. before using the on board facilities? If so you might be able to get far enough south to escape the hard freeze temperatures before you have fluids in the tank. I would be extremely careful using any kind of light bulb as a source of heat. Make sure there are no flammable materials (or meltable plastics) possible to contact the bulb. In a closed compartment, a small light bulb should easily keep the temperature above freezing. An alternative may be to wrap the exposed plumbing with insulation. Fluids in the tanks would then keep the valves from freezing.

That's a killer list Andy! We're a lot less formal but have some key reminders that we use. We got one of those antenna tags they sell at Camping world with a clip that I attach to the ignition key ring when we put the antenna up (which these days is almost never - makes it even more important). I use wheel chocks on the left rear wheel - by the utility connections. I store them in the electrical compartment. For our slides, the engine has to be off to operate but we are to be plugged in (or generator running) to supply electrical power to the electric motors. So we are plugged in until ready to go. Once slides are in, I disconnect the electric and store the chocks. Then check the water and sewer connections to ensure that I haven't left something laying on the ground or attached to the water outlet. I walk around, checking to see that all slides are in tight, check by physically pushing each storage compartment door to ensure they are shut tight. Louise takes care of the inside and she has her regular routine that she follows starting in the rear of the motor home and working her way forward, clearing each space as she comes forward. Securing cabinet doors and refrigerator door, storing any loose items, etc. With the toad, she works the inside and do the outside connections. Everything has a routine order and when we complete we stop and look over the entire set of connections. Then we check lights, pull forward while Louise verifies the tow arms are locked in place. Before pulling out, the step cover is put in place and the door is electronically locked which also locks the outside compartments. Set the GPS and carefully check traffic and children and the indicator panel on the dash. Away we go! One thing to watch out for is interruptions in your routine. If something throws you off your routine - even with a checklist - you will be prone to skipping something. It can be a visitor from another campsite, a phone call or text message or almost any other interruption. When that happens and it will, stop and go back to the last thing you were working on and mentally restart that activity to ensure you completed it before going on to the next. When you catch an "oops" make note of it and find a reminder to help you remember to get that done from now on. Build your own checklist or your own routine. We're on the road almost constantly so the routine is practiced regularly. At the beginning of a long stay it is more important to go through things carefully and if you travel only occasionally, a checklist, followed item by item would be the only way for me.

Do as Brett says, if you find all well, then the following may give you another avenue to follow. We have a Xantrex 3000W inverter. It is an older model. Ours was discontinued shortly after Camping World put it on special sale! Anyway, it replaced an older Xantrex that had failed after many years of service. It took several years and many visits to shops until I could find someone who could properly program the new unit to get the auto generator start function to work properly. It was all in the menu choices, not the wiring in our case. Techs would check the wiring but nobody looked at the settings in the programming closely enough to find the problem or it could be that they simply didn't understand the program settings. Yours may be a similar problem. I read the manual and with my understanding could not get the thing to work. There was one setting that was labeled triggers and I assume that meant things that would turn on the generator. Turns out it wasn't so and that setting was the problem. I talked with Xantrex, hours on the phone, went to several Xantrex linked repair shops, none of them could find and correct the problem. Camping World was useless. It was finally at the Monaco Factory Service Center in Coburg, OR that I got a technician who found the incorrect setting and got the auto gen start working. Once he told me what the problem was, it was so simple but I had no clue from the information in the manual. While our problems were different, I would spend some time with the settings that control the inverter. Start by resetting the unit. For ours it means pushing a red button on the unit itself. Then go item by item through the menu while you read information for that setting in the manual. If that is doesn't work, go to Xantrex for help. Be prepared to give them the model and serial number and be at the controls so you can have them talk you through checks and settings. Maybe they can identify the problem for you. The magic in my opinion is finding someone who really knows and understands the system and then being able to communicate to them the conditions that you see before you.

Our inverter is integrated into everything in our coach. I think that any attempt to remove it would result in significant re-wiring to get everything working properly. We replaced ours several years ago but use it continuously. We would never remove the inverter, it is one of the great conveniences of our coach. I'm sure the coach could be driven safely without the inverter being in the coach, the engine side of the system is separate from the house side which the inverter supports.

We were next to a motor home that went up in flames several years ago. Both individuals were older adults, not very agile and not fit and trim. They both came out the window, scratched and bruised but alive! The front door was not an option as the fire started in the front of the coach. They had no ladder and also had no other choice than to bail out the bedroom window. When you have to do it, you will! The prop to hold the window is probably a very good idea, the ladder would be nice but when it comes to getting out, anything is better than the alternative. Unfortunately, they had pets, cat and dog. Both were lost in the fire. Cause of the fire was undetermined at the time we left the park. It started in the front in a gas coach, front engine. Something in the engine compartment seemed to have been the cause. Their propane tank was not involved in the fire, Everything above the floor was burned, tires went but the propane tank didn't. From initial smoke to fully involved happened within just a few minutes. I never heard a smoke alarm go off. Check yours today!

Call the phone number Brett gave you, it is the same number that should be in your owners manual. It is answered in Oregon I believe so you may need to adjust for time differences when calling. You should get the same excellent service you have always received.

I had one that was the extender, doing the same thing you are describing. I can't remember exactly what the problem was but replacing the extender solved the problem. Three PSI per minute sounds maybe a little slow but it does take a while to put enough air into those big tires to make a change in pressure. I have a chuck that has groves on the inside, it locks onto the valve when you tilt it slightly to the side. That way I don't have to hold it the entire time. Occasionally it won't lock on but most of the time it works fine. By the way, I can air my bicycle tires up to 100 pounds in about 1 second with my air compressor.

Wayne, A favorite for us on or near 101 is the Redwoods area in northern CA. We also love Astoria, OR. For some exercise you can climb the Astoria Column! They have a great Marine Museum that features the Columbia River and the navigation challenges it presents for ships entering and leaving the river. A short detour out of Portland to the east will take you up the Columbia Gorge. There is a smaller highway just off Interstate 84, labeled on my map program the Historic Columbia River Road. It is a great car drive, you can make many stops along the route, one waterfall after another coming off the northern slopes of Mt.Hood to the Columbia River. Multnomah Falls is one of the most famous. Our daughter and her family have a summer home near Elkton, OR. We visited them last year in October, likely be there again this October. Just north of the Umpqua River is the town of Gardner, a nice place to visit with shops and restaurants. Just south of there is Oregon Dunes National Recreation Area. We stayed at a campground just a few miles south of the Umpquah River that is nestled into the dunes, right on 101, can't find the name right now. You can rent 4 wheelers to explore the dunes or take a tour with a tour operator in that area. Hwy 101 through Oregon and Washington will be slow (curves and hills) in spots but well worth the time spent. Not all who wander are lost! Enjoy the trip.

Having owned 5th wheel trailers, you will be familiar with many of the systems and features common on motor homes. A built-in generator and inverter system that are integrated into your vehicle may be new and may take some time to figure out. Leveling will be a new and should be simpler process now. You may find that the ability to level isn't quite what you are used to with 5th wheels. A big one, assuming that you are towing a car is that you won't be able to back up easily. Backing up for us means unhooking and if continuing on our way, reattaching the toad. Given this information, you learn to be slower and more judicious about pulling into unknown areas. I was observing yesterday, the campground we are in here in St. John's, Newfoundland is a bit confusing. Those towing 5th wheels came rolling in at a good pace and weren't pausing to look things over. Motor homes were coming in slowly, pausing to figure out the road system and then proceeding slowly toward their assigned parking spot. You really don't want to be driving around a lot in tight spaces like campgrounds and parking lots. You are driving a much heavier vehicle now. I would guess the total weight is 70% to 100% greater than the typical pickup truck and 5th wheel combination. Adjust your following distance and stopping distances accordingly. Start thinking of yourself as a truck driver, not an auto driver. You will accelerate slower and stopping takes longer. When I drive I tend to follow the truck rules and directions, speed limits, route restrictions, road construction lane designations, etc. Know the height of your vehicle and watch the roof at service stations and bridges, etc. This is likely to be easier as you will be sitting in the nose of your coach, near the roof. You may have second thoughts about some clearances now that you see them closer to roof level. Trust the numbers but slow down and be ready to stop if in doubt. Driving a diesel pusher puts you in the drivers seat in front of your front wheels. That can be a bit disorienting at first. You will adjust your thinking to account for this. When they teach driving for these coaches, they will tell you to realize and think of the wheels being just behind your seat when making turns. The sharper the turn, the more extreme this affects your planned turn. You are driving a long wheelbase vehicle now and there are no sharp turns. You've been thinking in terms of the trailer, now you have to consider the vehicle you are driving. Here you are much more like a bus than a truck driver. You have to swing wide to get the rear wheels to clear the curb. Left turns are generally easy if you don't cut the turn short and get into the left turn lane of the cross road. Right turns in some cases will require a clear left turn lane in the cross road so you can swing wide enough to clear a curb. Positioning yourself away from the curb before a right turn can help. Sometimes that even means taking part of the left lane next to you. Unlike driving with a trailer, the motor home won't bend in the middle! At FMCA Family Reunions or Conventions there is usually a safety class run by the RV Safety and Education Foundation, RVSEF. They conduct classes for motor home drivers at those conventions. It is a paid class and is well worth the money. When I took the class it was 8 hours over a two day span. They were very thorough covering many aspects of vehicle safety. They also offer weighing for coaches at these rallies. Usually at the end when you are packed up and on the road they will have a location where you can get your motor home weighed. Unlike a truck stop weigh scale, these scales are put under each individual wheel. It s very easy to load the coach in such a way that one wheel may be carrying much more weight than another. In addition our vehicles vary considerably in weight due to changes in fuel, propane, fresh water and waste water carried at any given time. Tire care and tire pressure are critical. You need to know what weight you carry and have your tires inflated to the proper pressure to support that weight. If you run your tires with lower pressure than needed, they will fail. Tire failure is more exciting in a large heavy vehicle than most people want to experience. RVSEF has videos and also lists rallies where they will be attending to offer classes. Also at FMCA Rallies there are classes for your driving companion which include a chance to drive a coach with an instructor. It is always a good idea to have two trained and experienced drivers. Keep your favorite non-alcoholic refreshment in the fridge. Don't let anyone walk around in the coach when maneuvering. When the road is straight and smooth you may be able to get snack service but don't make any sudden turns or stops while passengers are out of their seat belts! Enjoy the ride. We love the convenience of our motor home and have enjoyed it thoroughly over the years. Obviously, we still do! Welcome to FMCA!

It sounds like your are having a great adventure. Regarding the pace and the cost of fuel, I would suggest you slow the pace, stay a while in a location before moving on. Less driving and more exploring will be more rewarding and a lot less hectic. When you were at Mount Rushmore did you do any hiking? There are great trails, short and long to explore in the Black Hills. Did you visit the Crazy Horse Monument? There is a great Native American museum on site and the monument is a story in determination. How about a drive through Custer State Park? They have roaming herds of bison that you will never forget once you see them. In Hot Springs just south of there they have a wonderful paleontological site, Mammoth Hot Springs is where many of these giants were trapped in a spring and died, were buried and now we're digging up the fossils. To the east of Mount Rushmore along I-90 is Badlands National Park with its stark and beautiful landscape. If the weather is cool you can hike if not, just take pictures and enjoy the scenery. We were there with our grandsons and did all these things several years ago. All these things are located close together so you aren't driving great distances to get to attractions and you'll have time to relax and sit beside the fire in the evening. Doing some trip planning before hand and finding a number of interesting things near your destination, check with tourist bureaus, most states and many localities have them on line now, get some advice here on the FMCA Forum and go out and have another great trip soon.

Not all step covers installed by Monaco are operated by air pressure. Ours is a mechanical operation. Look for the fuse where Herman has indicated, basically under the drivers left foot and accessed thought the panel on the outside of the coach in front of the left front wheel. I have had one time when our step cover got jammed a bit and the track system which pushes it into place got off track. I had to get out and work underneath to get it back on track. Once fixed it has worked properly ever since. Ours is motor operated and there is always the possibility of motor burn-out or simply a loose wire.