tbutler

Monaco Customer Service 877-466-6226 Ask for the parts department. Have your six digit coach number (Production Serial Number) ready, that is all the information they need to identify your coach and get the parts list specifically for your coach. They should be able to give you information but may not be able to supply parts. Monaco became Monaco RV LLC after their reorganization following bankruptcy and subsequent sale to Navistar. This has been followed by another sale to ASV (Associated Specialty Vehicles). Through it all the records have survived but the parts supply chain is no longer certain for some parts, suppliers, etc. I have found the parts people will do what they can to help but may not have the answer you want to hear. Be kind, they aren't at fault!

I agree with Rocky, I chock my coach as soon as I hook up the electric. When I unhook the electric I store the chocks in the compartment where the electric cable reel is located. I continue to do it as a reminder to make sure that everything is unhooked and put away before driving away. I've never driven off with the electric cord attached! I think it is just a good basic safety tool. I use the heavy duty chocks sold at Camping World. They can be crushed by a diesel motor home, don't ask how I know, doing so takes some effort and isn't an event you would not notice.

There is really no total protection for a car being towed behind an RV. If you've ever found yourself close behind a large truck, you know why. Even at a distance of 40 or 50 feet, you get pelted with bits of sand and debris. When you tow your car you are literally pinning it's nose to the rear of your motor home. We have used a Roadmaster Guardian shield since towing. Despite this, in some road conditions we will find bits of small gravel and sand on the windshield. Before we went to Alaska in 2006 we went to Coastline Cover Company, now doing business as Coastline RV and Off Road. We went to their facility and had a tow car cover made for our toad. We used it for the remaining life of that car. It did provide good protection but also caused some scuffing of the paint and clouded the headlight lenses. This was noticeable but we towed that car for over 100,000 miles. We haven't had one made for the current toad. Besides the scuffing of paint, the current toad requires replacing fuses and starting it each morning it is being towed so that would require removing the cover every morning we are on the road with the tow. If you travels don't have you traveling day after day frequently then this situation wouldn't be a concern. So far, the Guardian has done fine protecting this toad. There is one other problem with debris while towing, small sand and dust will accumulate on the side windows. The brushes on the outside of the window slot on our first toad would collect this material and the side windows would be scratched by the particles. I think you will find this to be a concern despite any protection you put on the front of the toad. If a trailer weren't such a hassle I would carry the toad in a trailer but we travel frequently and dealing with a trailer day after day is more trouble than I want.

This is important information that should be repeated frequently for all RV'ers. Thanks for putting this reminder here. Tom

Rich, Thanks for the comment and good wishes. I hope that things get better for Lois. Retirement is great but getting older is not for sissies!

A month ago we had the close call with fire (see my previous post, Good News, Bad News) in Lander, WY. Leaving Lander we made a dash for California. A night here, two nights there, and next thing you know we are in Valley Springs, CA. Our son-in-law and his father installed a 50A hookup for us on their home so now we can park next to their driveway. What about the lawn you ask? In this part of California, rock and gravel are a natural ground surface and we found the parking spot just made for us. There is water available and a sewer clean out that I can reach with the macerator hose. It is much more convenient than staying almost 20 miles away and driving to and from each day as we take care of our granddaughters. For two weeks we we daytime babysitters for two girls, ages 5 and 7. Their year-round school schedule has a vacation break in early October so this is a regular appointment for us the last few years. A babysitter could do the job but we can save their parents some money and connect with our granddaughters. We use the days to go on adventures. Apple Hill is a favorite for the girls. Located on US 50 just east of Sacramento, there are orchards and wineries in this region that have banded together to market themselves as Apple Hill. In October they have corn and hay mazes for kids, pumpkin patches to explore and pick out a special pumpkin. You can had feed the goats and sheep at one farm, at another you can go on a hay ride. On weekends, vendors open their booths and sell their wares. Lunch is available at most venues and there are some spectacular pies for sale. The girls enjoy almost any outing, a day exploring the local reservoir which is far below full allows us to walk on the lake floor and explore rocks. Bowling is a real adventure. Nothing is more fun that knocking down those pins, yippee! Louise and I love to play golf and we decided the girls would enjoy riding along. We got a loaner putter, kid size, so the girls could putt. They took turns dropping their ball next to grandpa or grandma and putting to the hole. Nine holes took care of their interest in golf. Leaving on Friday, I took the motor home to Lodi RV Center to have a new slide out cover installed, replacing the one with the burn holes. That done I was off to Sacramento to get two new tires from East Bay Tire Company. Monaco International, a chapter of FMCA has a purchase agreement with Michelin for tires similar to the FMCA program and I was able to get the tires at discount. I had the new tires put on the front and moved the front tires to the right rear replacing the oldest tires on the motor home. There was one more stop to make. Beverages and More, doing business as BevMo, has periodic wine sales, buy one, get another for 5 cents. It's basically a 1/2 price sale. We stock up on wine for our winter retreat at this sale. A ten dollar bottle of wine becomes $5, a forty dollar bottle is now $20. It is a chance to get an interesting variety of wines at reasonable prices. Louise meanwhile is finishing the last day with the girls at their house. As soon as their mom arrives home, Louise is off to Sacramento to join me. We meet at the Pilot Travel Center on I-80 just west of I-5, hook up the car and are on our way. We reach Corning, CA just after dark and park at the Rolling Hills Casino just south of town. This has been a favorite stopping spot for us, easy off and easy on with now special parking for RV's and trucks. Off early the next morning we keep the wheels rolling all day long, arriving in Olympia, WA just before dark. We'll spend two nights here and pick up a totem pole that we commissioned last summer when we were in La Push, WA. I fell in love with totems on our trip into British Columbia on our way to Alaska. We found an artist, teaching carving at the school in La Push. David Wilson has done the large totems and also does exquisite smaller works. We met David on Sunday and saw our totem pole for the first time. It is simply put, spectacular. Atop the three foot pole is an eagle perched on the sun. Then a whale with dorsal fin and at the base a bear. Each of the figures has significance for Louise and I so this is our totem pole. Monday morning we were on the road once more. I had contacted the Monaco Factory Service Center in Coburg, OR. They agreed to take a look at the damage to the motor home caused by the motor home fire in Lander. We arrived there just before noon. I had a good discussion with the shop foreman, the damage was much less severe than he expected from our phone call and photos that I sent. It could be repaired but the repair wouldn't be as good as the original wall is now and likely wouldn't look much better. The possible damage to the paint doesn't show. He recommended that we ask the insurance company keep the claim open for a year to see how the wall weathers a year of seasonal changes. I left feeling much better. From Coburg we headed east, almost directly. We dropped south to Eugene and picked up Oregon Highway 126 for a beautiful scenic drive along the McKenzie River and then through the mountains to US 20 which would take us across eastern Oregon to I-84 in Idaho. The drive on US 20 rivaled our trip on US 50 across Nevada. Both roads are little traveled across desolate areas. We stopped for the night at a roadside rest area near Buchanan, Oregon. The next morning we completed the last 100 miles of US 20, surprised to see corn fields, hay fields and finally the Onion Capitol of the US near Ontario, OR along the eastern Oregon border. We cross Idaho and enter Utah, pulling up for the night at a rest stop in Brigham City, UT. Our next leg took us out of Utah on I-80, across Wyoming and into Nebraska where we stopped for the night at the Cabela's campground in Sidney, NE. We opted for the electric only sites and enjoyed a good nights sleep. Leaving Sidney early the next morning we made an unplanned stop. Louise had been complaining of double vision the day before and it was worse this morning so we pulled up in North Platte, NE to visit the hospital there. We spent about six hours there getting excellent care. Louise had a number of tests run in the first 30 minutes that eliminated many of the worst possibilities. A CT scan and an MRI cleared most of the remaining possible causes. The doctor diagnosed a palsy of the sixth cranial nerve which controls eye movement. Her left eye is aimed slightly to the right and its movement isn't coordinated with the right eye, thus double vision. Needless to say, this is not a good condition when you are riding miles and miles in the motor home. The doctor says these often cure themselves. Meanwhile, Louise has an appointment to see an Opthalmologist next week. We finished our drive Thursday in central Nebraska at a Wal-Mart in Kearney. We completed the next leg of our trip on Friday as we pulled into 370 Lakeside Park in St. Peters, MO. Saturday we joined my son and his wife for a couples baby shower/happy hour. That evening Louise and I went to dinner and a show before turning in for the night. We really enjoyed Tom Hanks in Captain Phillips. It was really a spectacular drama and another great performance by Tom Hanks. Sunday we went bowling with my daughter and her family. Monday morning I made a run to my dentist for a cleaning and checkup. Then we were off to Warrenton, MO to meet my two sisters. We had lunch and celebrated the final closing of my mother's estate. Another chapter of life ends. By the end of the day we would be parked at Wal-Mart in Joplin, MO. Tuesday we crossed Oklahoma and made our way to McKinney Falls State Park in Austin, TX. Louise attended an executive meeting of the Texas Silver Haired Legislature on Wednesday afternoon. Today, Thursday we drove south to Hill Country RV in New Braunfels, TX where I will attend a weekend state meeting of the Texas Master Naturalist organization. Next Monday we'll stop in San Antonio for routine service for the Cummins engine and the Onan generator before rolling into Sandpipers Resort in Edinburg, TX where we will park the motor home for the next eight months! Whew! We will close out a much heavier year of travel than any time in the past, almost 17,000 miles from January to parking on October 28. The trip described above was over 5000 miles in just a month and 5 days. This is not the way I prefer to travel but I'm glad that I have the motor home and am able to do this when necessary.

When we were there none of the other outlets were in use so we could park sideways and we had slides out. I would imagine if they were crowded you wouldn't be able to put slides out. If the company decided to set these up for RV's I would think they would allow room for slides.

Avatab, I have seen these covered on TV before. They are meant to provide air conditioning or heat and other connections by inserting the unit into the window of a truck. I'm not sure how well these would work for an RV. I haven't seen any installations of these yet. And yes, the truckers seem to be slow in taking advantage of these connections. I suspect the drivers for hire aren't going to get compensated for using them instead of running the engine of the truck. I would think independent truckers would be very interested in the economics of these kind of installations. In the meantime, perhaps we as RV'er can take advantage of them. I looked at my generator expenses several years ago and over a 10 year period, my generator was costing me in the neighborhood of $3.00 per hour to run (includes fuel and all maintenance and repair). That generator now has almost 1600 hours so this is a long term look at what a 7.5 KW Onan generator costs to keep it running. I am not a do-it-yourself person when it comes to the generator, I take it to Onan and get it serviced and repaired when I have my Cummins engine serviced. At that rate, I'd much rather pay $1.00 an hour for electric than run the generator and that doesn't even consider the noise and exhaust of the generator.

I want to thank everyone for their good wishes. We are fine, the motor home can be fixed. In the meantime we can continue to travel. Cpenn asked about the road conditions in Colorado. I don't have current knowledge of conditions but will post the link for the Colorado DOT web site with road conditions. A note on the page indicates that there is a special page which can be accessed from their home page with current conditions on roads beyond the state roads. If you are headed for Colorado, check this information for the latest on road repair. As I indicated in my post, many of these road closures are going to last for months, in some cases, perhaps years. The damage is massive and the roads are located in places where repair or replacement is a major project. Tom

Boondocking. What is the definition? Is parking on the Wal-Mart parking lot overnight boondocking? Is parking in some remote area with generator power boondocking? What if you have satellite TV and/or internet? Does it still count as boondocking. If you have cell phone coverage does that still count as boondocking? It is hard to get off the grid these days. I'm betting most of what people call as boondocking still provides some or all of the above. The question becomes, does a wire define the grid? Is wireless access off the grid? I didn't mean to start an in depth discussion of what the boundaries of the term are. I just slapped a title on the post.

Here is the link to the post on my TV replacements, front and rear. There are pictures with my post. I did this in March of 2009, 50,000 miles ago and both TV's are going strong, no problems whatsoever. I didn't go into detail on the mounting bracket but it was a rectangle made to fit the inside width of the cabinet. The height of the rectangle was three inches greater than the spacing of the mounting lugs on the rear of the TV. Vertical members were installed spaced horizontally to match the mounting lugs on the TV. Holes were drilled to match. I've had no problems with that mount. As a bonus, I was able to cut down the size of the cabinet both in vertical dimension and also in depth of the cabinet. I hit my head much less often than I used to! Casual visitors would have to work to hit the cabinet as they come up the stairs now. Note that the second TV I purchased had plastic mounting lugs and would not have worked in this application. Check any TV that you purchase to be sure that the mounting lugs are metal and firmly secured to the frame of the TV itself. If I had read the mounting instructions I would have suspected this but I bought the second TV as a close-out when Circuit City went out of business. I had to download the owners manual after I had purchased the TV. The owners manual specified that the TV must be mounted vertically, not tilted.

I don't have a historical record for I-80 or that region of the country. I do know that there have been heavy snows experienced at times in the midwest in December. You are definitely in winter storm territory and my only advice here is to watch the long term (Weather Channel weekly) forecasts. The weather could be quite nice or you could encounter highway closings due to heavy snow or ice. In your motor home you are much better equipped to face the consequences of closed highways than other motorists. You have your motel with you and can conveniently wait out bad weather. People do travel all these roads all winter long. If you aren't on a have-to schedule, you can take your time and work your way along as the weather permits. As mentioned above, I am planning to be leaving Olympia/Seattle, WA headed East on I-90 this time next Monday. If weather looks questionable for that route I could drop south and take I-84 to I-80. This illustrates another way to handle storms, if you don't want to wait them out, travel where the storms are not going to affect you, change your route. I will be on a schedule that will require about 400 miles a day to reach the St. Louis area by Friday so I'll be looking to get some road behind me each day. If we fall behind one day, we'll try to make up some of it the next day. This time of year, the options are more open than they may be in December. By the way, your note brought back to me the name of a magazine I had forgotten. Weatherwise is a publication of the American Meteorological Society. I found their web site thanks to your use of the phrase. If you are interested in weather, this magazine features great stories about weather and also has some incredible photos. Unfortunately there is only a print version available though the archives can be searched electronically. I don't know if you can download reprints or if they have to be mailed. I'll be looking into that. I just did a brief search and found an abstract of a 2010 article, "When Winter Comes to Fall." It described a snowstorm that hit the Denver area the end of October. Up to four feet of snow fell in the foothills and I-70 was closed for a period of time. That brings to mind a late fall trip to Colorado we made in 2005. It was the second week of November before we were ready to leave the Denver area. We pulled up stakes late one afternoon with the forecast of a storm on the way. We stopped at a rest area north of Colorado Springs. I got up at 5:00 a.m. and turned on the Weather Channel to see the storm coverage from Denver featured on the morning show. The radar showed the snow just north of our location and moving our way so I woke Louise and we did an emergency - get out of town - drill and were on the road in about 5 minutes. We stayed ahead of a pretty good snow storm that time. Any time I'm traveling in late fall or winter I am always watching the weather!

According to information I'm looking at the forecast for Monday is a high of 58 in Rapid City and Tuesday they are expecting 62. Temperature is not forecast to drop below freezing overnight either night. It is 48 degrees right now and is expected to be 35 overnight Sunday night. The rest of the week, highs should be near 50 and lows above freezing. This is a part of the country where they have snow removal equipment capable of taking care of the snow in the heart of the winter. With warm temperatures helping out, I'd say that all you will see when you get there is piles of snow where it has been plowed. I would expect all roads to be clear. Check with your anticipated campgrounds to ensure they are open for business just to be sure.

By the time you can drive from Florida to western South Dakota, the roads will be clear and dry! We're safe in California. We'll leave Friday headed for Olympia, Washington to meet with an artist friend that has completed a carving for us. Next Sunday we'll head east to St. Louis on I-90, weather permitting. At this time I'm not expecting any problems but I'm watching the forecast to see what is developing.

It wasn't an RV Park, it was a parking lot. Isn't this what we have all been asking for? A cheap place to stay overnight. Why pay $30 or $40 for an RV Park when you come in at 8:00 in the evening and leave at 7:00 in the morning? Here you can get as little or as much electric as you need for a night at a cost that is much less than an RV Park. If this becomes widespread enough I'm betting that RV Parks will begin to offer overnight rates.

When we started towing four wheels down I purchased a Roadmaster Sterling tow bar set-up complete with supplemental and break-away braking and a Guardian shield to reduce rock damage to the toad. The first one gave up after about 80,000 miles towing. To be honest, I did back up with it a few times and that finally resulted in its failure. I sent it back to the factory and they gave me a deal on a re-manufactured model of the same tow bar. That one is still working fine (no backing up any more) and now has about 70,000 miles on it. Both our toads have been in the 5000 pound range so this bar will handle a good size vehicle and last a long time. The weight limit is 6000 pounds for the Sterling.

We loved our stay in Europe. We only spent 10 days in Paris and surroundings. We hope to return someday soon. In 2001 we were in southern Africa for three weeks chasing another eclipse. When we returned we bought our first RV, retired, sold our home and then moved into the motor home full time. We never looked back. We've been traveling regularly ever since.

We found a new resource that others may want to investigate. As you know, many more vehicles are being sold that depend on electricity. Answering a need for access to electric, a company called ShorePower Technologies has installations that provide power connections on an hourly basis. We stayed at Wendover, Utah, in September. We were looking for a casino parking lot in West Wendover, Nev., but in the process we found a large parking lot next to a casino. It turned out the parking lot was the truck parking for the AM Best Travel Stop. There was a casino RV park behind the truck parking but there were no pull-through spots in the RV Park and we didn't want to unhook. When we pulled into the parking lot, I noticed a number of fixtures that looked like power outlets on one end of the lot. I took a look and sure enough they were electrical outlets, four separate boxes per post. There were parking spaces marked for trucks to back in or pull in to a parking spot and hook up electricity rather than running their engine all night long. I went into the AM Best station and inquired about these connections. They indicated that we were welcome to stay on the parking lot for the night and I was directed to a kiosk to purchase the electricity. I picked up a brochure at that kiosk and returned to the motorhome to investigate further. There was a web site listed on the form (see link in the first paragraph). Logging on to the web site, I learned about the company, the power posts, rates and how to get the power turned on. It turns out there are 30-amp outlets as well as 20-amp outlets. Each post has three 20-amp outlets and one 30-amp outlet. The cost for using these is $1 per hour (20- or 30-amp the same) plus a $1 administration fee to turn on the electric. There was an 800 number, so I called and set up an account. I activated a 30-amp outlet at the rate of $1 per hour for the night. I said 15 hours in part because they indicated the first use was free! They set the electric to start at 5 p.m. and shut off at 8 a.m. Normally, that would cost $16, but this time it was free. There was a visible timer on the post, so I could see when the power was turned on and when it was about to go off. You could choose to have the electric turned on at 4 a.m. for three hours for $4, get your batteries charged and coffee made and be on your way for just $4 for a one- night stay. By the way, the power stations had connections for cable TV, and the web site indicated free Wi-Fi was available at some locations. Now, here is the thing. We were there hooked up all night long and no trucks came in to hook up. If the truckers aren't using it and we are, the company might see another market to address and we may get some of these that are better set up for motor homes. We parked at an angle to the post we hooked up to, which would have blocked two or three sites for trucks. But in this case the lot was large, there were only a few trucks and none of them chose to hook up to the electric. I can see the company working with other places that have large parking lots and would like to make a few bucks off the RVing community. Perhaps places like motels, community parks, convention areas, maybe even Wal-Mart and Sam's! The web site lists places where the company has installations -- there are about 50 scattered throughout the US. We'll be on I-90 in a few weeks and there are several stations there that looked like they might be where we might be making a stop. I'll try to investigate those and use them if possible. Clearly, some of the stations were in city locations for commuters plugging in cars and they wouldn't be suitable for anything but small RVs, but the trucking applications would work well for us. Imagine the possibilities if everyone with a large parking lot put in a few power posts and they could make some money from hosting overnight RV parking. We could find lots of large parking lots like Wal-Mart that would be welcoming us. Anyway, electric power is coming to the roadways and that can't be bad for motorhome owners!

As of our last post we had just entered Colorado as the heavy rain and flooding occurred. We stayed for a week and got a first hand look at some of the damage. What we saw in the Denver/Arvada area was minor compared to the real damage which occurred in the mountains and out on the plains as the flood waters continued to disperse. There are towns in the mountains which have no road access to the outside world and likely won't have until sometime next spring or summer. Countless roads washed out and many bridges were destroyed. At the time we left the death toll was still uncertain. Many people lost their lives and huge numbers of people lost their homes. Leaving Denver we headed north to I-80 at Cheyenne. The trip was delayed as we ran into stop and go traffic for miles as we approached the bridge over the Big Thompson River. Traffic was slowed, a giant gaper block, everyone wanted to see the rushing waters of the Big Thompson. Once clear of this traffic we were on I-80 westbound in no time at all. We made a stop in Laramie for diesel and then drove on stopping at a rest area near Fort Fred Steele. It was late enough in the day that we decided to stop for the night here. In the morning I learned that circumstances would change our planned trip to Olympia, Washington to mid October so we now were headed for a family commitment in California in about a week and a half. That gave us a little time to enjoy exploring some new territory. We talked it over and decided to head into west-central Wyoming and take a look at the area around Lander. We drove a short distance into Rawlings, picked up propane to make sure we would have enough for cold nights at altitude. From there, the road northwest to Lander passes through some very scenic lands in the Great Divide Basin. The Great Divide separates water going to the Atlantic from water going to the Pacific Ocean. Here in central Wyoming, the Great Divide divides into two, then rejoins south of I-80 into a single divide again. Between the two routes of the divide is an area where waters flow into a basin with no exit. It would be similar to the Great Salt Lake basin except that there is little rainfall here and no large lake exists here. We decided to stay at Twin Pines Campground south of Lander. This proved to be a good choice and then a bad choice. We were 7 miles from Lander and spent several days in town and exploring Sinks Canyon State Park nearby. In Sinks Canyon State Park, the Middle Popo Agie River disappears underground as it flows into a cave. At high water, some water flows overland but most of the year the river goes underground. Several thousand feet down the canyon, water from the river bubbles back to the surface and then continues to flow on the surface from there on. This is not a terribly uncommon occurrence, it happens in areas with Karst topography, typified by caves and sinkholes. We hiked the north canyon wall to a viewpoint that gave us an overview of the valley. The second day in the canyon we drove up and over the north canyon wall and across the mountains back to our campsite. The scenery was spectacular as the road took us past a number of mountain lakes and over several mountain ridges. Once again, we stumbled on a unique event without any prior knowledge or planning. We drove into Lander on Friday morning and saw a banner stretched across the main street, "Welcome to the One Shot Antelope Hunt." The hunt would be Saturday morning, the opening of antelope hunting season. This event started in the late 1930's as a challenge between Wyoming and Colorado. Each state would field a team of three hunters. Each hunter would get one round of ammunition for their antelope hunt. Hunting parties would be made of one hunter from each team accompanied by a guide. The team that bagged the most antelope or in the case of a tie did it in the least amount of time would be declared the winner. Over time, the number of teams increased. This year there would be eight teams. Participants are by invitation only. There is a museum in town, past shooters include astronauts, a who's who of actors, particularly the cowboy genre of actors, politicians (former VP Cheney was in this year's group of participants), and other famous people. We saw several teams touring Sinks Canyon State Park after they sighted in their guns that morning in a remote area of the park. There weren't a lot of events open to the public but we enjoyed learning about this unique event. We enjoyed a look at South Pass City on Sunday afternoon. This is a gold rush town that like many turned into ghost town once the gold mine became non-productive. The mine enjoyed several periods of development, starting in 1868 and finally ending in 1954 with the closing of the Carissa Mine. South Pass City was turned over to the State of Wyoming and has been preserved in its early 1900's condition. Returning to our park I prepared the car for our anticipated morning departure. Monday morning I was up picking up e-mail, taking care of computer tasks as the coming days may not have internet coverage. I looked up from the computer and out our front window I saw smoke. This was not light gray smoke, it was not a distant cloud of smoke, this was a boiling black cloud of smoke and it was right in front of our motor home! I jumped up and looked out the drivers side window to see a neighboring motor home on fire. The fire was coming from the front engine compartment of a Georgie Boy that was in site 20. We were in site 18 and site 19 between us was empty. I picked up my phone and called 911. The call took 4 minutes. During that time the couple in the coach had bailed out the emergency exit window of the motor home. Both were elderly with obvious limitations in their physical abilities but they did make it out safely. Their pets, a cat and a dog, unfortunately did not escape. The Lander fire department is at least seven miles away and it is a volunteer fire department. It was 22 minutes from the time I made the phone call until I started taking pictures of the fire department at work. Those were the longest 22 minutes I have ever known. After my phone call, Louise and I set about getting our slides in and preparing to move from our site. As I went out to pull the electric, water and sewer connections the heat from the fire was so intense that I decided we should abandon our attempt to move for our own safety. I could have driven off with utilities attached and perhaps I should have but we didn't. We got out of our own coach, Considering the propane tank and gas tank on the coach, I didn't want to delay getting away from the area. I have since imagined a number of scenarios which would have allowed us to get out of the way but of course none of that saved us at the time. Louise and I talked this over several days later, could of, should have, would have, is a game that can be played forever and it still haunts me but at least I'm sleeping a little better now. I assisted in getting the woman into a fifth wheel on the far end of the park as she was feeling faint and near collapsing. We watched the fire from a distance and worried about our own coach. When the fire department started putting water on the flames their entire coach was involved in flames. The coach was completely destroyed down to the frame. Their Jeep which was parked in front of the coach had nothing left but the metal components. All this took just 22 minutes from the time I noticed the fire. It took another 20 minutes for the fire department to put out the last of the flames, and a few minutes more to pack up and leave. From beginning to end it was less than an hour. It was a truly frightening event for all involved. Our coach sustained some secondary damage. Despite the fact that we got our slide-outs in as soon as we could, there were still numerous burn holes in the canvas covers. Embers from the fire rained down on the roof leaving little burn marks like a cigarette left on the sink in a motel room on the roof of the coach. Of greatest concern is heat damage to the entire port side wall of the coach. The fiberglass wall is warped just enough to make every vertical rib in the coach wall visible. We've had all this documented by an adjuster from our insurance company, now the repair work begins. So we've now seen flood and fire, what is next? I don't know but I would advise you to leave if you see us coming into a park near you! In the Peanuts comic strip there was a character named Pigpen. Pigpen was always unwashed, grungy looking, and everywhere he went he had this black cloud of dust and dirt following. That is how I'm feeling right now.

Yolanda, Your English is much better than my Dutch! We have fond memories of a couple from Netherlands who helped Louise and I when we were in France in 1999. We were chasing a total solar eclipse, taking small roads in the countryside attempting to find a hole in the clouds when we pulled off the road to turn around. Unfortunately the shoulder of the road was very soft and we immediately slid into the ditch. The only car that came by was the couple from Netherlands. They stopped and offered to call a wrecker. We gratefully accepted their offer and within about 15 minutes the wrecker arrived. As luck would have it, the clouds parted and we and the wrecker crew were able to view totality! Our adventures are posted on the FMCA Blog on this web site. Look down the list of blogs to Tom and Louise on Tour in North America. There are more stories there than you want to read! Enjoy, and I hope to see your own blog there soon.

I would not buy a TV with a DVD player. If the DVD player quits working are you going to replace the whole unit? Get a TV and a separate DVD player.

I want to start with one correction. A red flag warning is a fire warning, not a wind warning. A red flag warning is sometimes but not always associated with high wind speeds. Low humidity, high temperatures, plentiful dry plant materials and wind combine to create dangerous fire conditions but the wind factor may be only 15 or 20 mile per hour winds and the other factors will still be enough to cause the weather bureau to issue a red flag warning. There are a number of factors to consider when making the decision to drive or not to drive in windy conditions. Several are mentioned above. Driving in terrain with little resistance to the wind, open desert, high mountain roads, open prairie all will do little to slow the wind. A headwind or tailwind are easier to drive in than crosswinds. All other conditions being equal, driving in heavy traffic conditions can be more dangerous than in light traffic conditions. The nature of your coach is another factor. Some coaches are heavier than others, some steer better than others. I have traveled in groups with other coaches in windy conditions. Generally, strong winds are not a concern to me while others do not wish to continue. Our coach has awnings which are secured under metal covers and cases. I've never had an awning problem with our current coach. I've had to stop for members of our group who have had to reel in and tie up awnings in windy conditions. All these factors should be considered as should you own personal comfort with driving in windy conditions. If it is windy, plan a short day, have a fall-back plan if you feel you need to quit short of your goal for the day. Sometimes just a few hours during mid-day are a problem and you can just stop for lunch and get a nap until the wind abates. Other times you may want to just stay put where you are and let the winds blow. Besides driving in windy conditions there are other factors to be considered when it is windy. I pulled into a Flying J in New Mexico and had to corral several trash cans before they hit the coach. We had a garden plant display cart blown into the side of our coach one windy night at Wal-Mart in Oklahoma. There I was in the middle of the night putting their cart in an area it couldn't move! Be aware of trees, branches swing further in the wind and if they clear the coach when it is calm, they may start thrashing the side of the coach when the wind picks up. Of course, dead or diseased trees may be blown completely over in a strong wind.

Brad and Marsha, Welcome to the forum! You'll be newbies here on the FMCA Forum until you reach about 30 posts. It has nothing to do with how long you have owned a motor home or how much you know about motorhoming. We were all newbies when we started out. It's kind of like farming, you need a certain number of posts to put up a fence!

Welcome to the FMCA Forum, Rien and Yolanda, I would be very interested in hearing about your experiences on holiday in Europe! It would be interesting to compare our experiences with yours. I'm sure some things are quite different for you than for us here in North America. Keep us posted on what you are doing.

Regarding the width of tires on the rear axle, the spacing between the dual tires is critical. Using larger tires reduces the spacing between dual tires. The spacing accomplishes two things. There must be sufficient space between the dual tires to allow air for cooling the tires during operation. If there is insufficient space between tires air circulation will be limited and the tires will be more likely to overheat. Also, tires bulge when they come in contact with the pavement. If the two tires "kiss" there will be extreme tire wear and the tires will be destroyed by the friction and heat that results. If the tires barely fit the wheel well I would be very concerned about the spacing between the dual tires.