tbutler

As mentioned above, many of us do as much of our own work as possible. When I can't do my own work I try to keep a close eye on what is going on. I'll try to talk to the tech who is working. I give them as much information as have on a problem. Then I always try to be present when the work is going on. If I can, I'll be somewhere where I can watch the shop work in progress. Many times I'll talk to a supervisor and have them escort me into the shop. The number of things we've had go wrong with maintenance at various shops is similar to yours. Each was a lesson and the next time I am more cautious about repairs. I have educated myself about tires enough that I know at least as much as most tire people about RV tires. There are shops that I will not return to because of their poor quality work and there are shops that I do return to because of the excellent quality of their work. I think part of the problem is that in the total world of large vehicle maintenance, RV's are a small amount of the work done. If you spend most of your time working on trucks, then an RV rolls in, they are a special challenge. Each RV manufacturer has their own materials and methods of building the RV. Even from year to year the same manufacturer may change the way they do things and the kind of parts they use for a vehicle. As a result, there is no consistent set of parts or way the parts are assembled that tech's can count on. When working on an RV you have to be a problem solver, looking for the best way to accomplish a task. You have to be always questioning if what you are about to do is going to fix something or make the problem worse. Not everyone works this way. We've all encountered the know-it-all mechanic who only has one way to do things and won't change no matter what you say. Despite all this, the rewards of traveling in an RV make it worth the challenge of getting repair work done.

Our motor home always has something that needs fixing. This has been the history of the coach since we bought it. This is not a complaint, it is the nature of a well used motor home to need things fixed on a regular basis. Call it upkeep or maintenance, it has to be done. I'm glad that I enjoy doing things myself because the cost of hiring someone else to repair all the minor things that can go wrong would be exceedingly expensive. We just reached the 120,000 milestone on our last trip. That meant that the transmission fluid and filters needed to be replaced. We were en-route across Kansas when this occurred. I put Louise to work while I was driving, looking for an Allison dealer somewhere in Kansas in the hope that we might get an appointment and be able to stop and get this done that afternoon. I handed her my iPhone so she could do an internet search. So we started with opening the browser, that is the third button from the left on the bottom line. It is labeled Safari. When it opens, tap the space that says search. Type in Allison. She says I thought we had a Cummins engine. Now I give my five minute lecture on the transmission. Later I would follow this up with pictures of transmissions but for now I'm driving so I have to rely on words which we all know take at least 1000 to make a picture. So it is back to the iPhone, the Allison International web site comes up. Louise can't find any way to navigate from there to finding a dealer. She describes what is on the screen, I suggest trying several things, nothing works. Thank goodness there is a rest area coming up. I park and take over the search. She is correct, if there is a way to get from Allison International to any kind of dealer search I can't find it either. So I start trying other things. I take the basic web site entry, http://www.allison and delete the /index one letter at a time then put something like /dealer and I get a different screen which asks for country and half a dozen other choices before I finally come to a list of Allison dealers in Kansas. Louise says how did you do that. I start to show her and realize I can't duplicate any of it. I called the dealer in Salina, a friendly voice answers (always a plus). It is 10:00 a.m. and I ask if there is an appointment available later today to change the fluid and filters in the Allison 3000 in my motor home. He starts naming off times starting at 12:00 noon. I'm at least 120 miles away and we will stop for lunch somewhere so I select a 3:00 appointment figuring that will get us out the door by 5:00 closing time and we can camp somewhere nearby. I'm amazed, the usual answer to a request for work today is laughter. So we have an appointment. It took us a little over two hours to cover the distance to the Salina and another fifteen minutes to find the dealer location which was right by the interstate exit but the Garmin GPS had no clue! We unhooked and backed into a bay at 1:00. We were allowed to stay on board the entire time. They set up a fan, opened the engine compartment, and basically let everything cool until 3:00 when the actual work began. Everything was done by 4:30 and we were on our way by 5:00. The dealer had hours until 7:00 p.m. so it wasn't like they were hurrying us out the door. I was delighted to have this done while en-route rather than having to pick up and travel to and from a dealer to get the work done. We drove to Topeka and made our way to the Hilltop Campground on the NE side of Topeka. This was well off the beaten path but gave us a great nights sleep and a good start for the next day.

For many years while I was teaching meteorology I subscribed to weather publications. I can't cite the specific information for reference right now. I tried searching the internet and haven't been able to come up with it for now. There are two articles that are applicable here, both accompanied with wonderful photographic evidence of lightening strikes. The first showed a car parked under a tree. The tree was struck by lightening, from there the bolt went straight from the branches down to the roof of the car which was completely obliterated, a hole about 2 feet in diameter with burned edges. The bolt continued straight to ground through the passenger seat and the floor of the vehicle, melting and destroying both. Needless to say, the tires insulating the vehicle were ineffective. So much for the protective nature of tires. If lightening can pass through hundreds or thousands of feet of air which is an excellent insulator, a few inches of rubber won't stop it. A car or motor home may feel secure but your safety is not guaranteed in any vehicle. The second picture showed a golf green. Lightening had stuck the flag stick in the cup on the green. There was a pattern of dead grass on the green showing how the lightening had traveled across the surface of the ground as it dissipated. In an even pattern around the hole were branching lines of dead grass. It looked much like the roots of a grass plant pulled from the ground, evenly distributed in all directions. The lesson from this picture was that you should not lie on the ground in a lightening storm, instead you should minimize your contact with the surface of the ground. Stay away from tall objects and crouch low but stay on two feet. There is no absolutely safe place to be in a lightening storm but being inside a substantial building, staying away from electrical appliances and lines and also water lines and fixtures provides your best protection. Lightening can strike miles from where the storm is so when you hear thunder you are at risk. Distant thunder is your warning to seek shelter. As the thunder becomes louder the storm is telling you to hurry to shelter. If you are outdoors and can not reach shelter, head down hill, find the lowest place you can and shelter in place as described above. Remember that lightening can strike miles from the storm. Once the storm passes and the thunder is becoming more distant you are not our of danger. Stay in place until the storm is well away and you can no longer hear thunder.

The manual for our coach does say that the alternator "also maintains a charge to the house batteries. The function of the alternator is an electrical system voltage maintainer, not a battery charger." There is no information about the nature of the maintainer as to diode or solenoid based. There is a solenoid shown in the diagram but I believe that is activated by the battery boost switch on the dash. No I haven't done any research on this, only what the manual says. There is a battery maintainer which will shunt electric to the house batteries when their voltage drops below 13.5 Volts and will drop out if the voltage drops below 12.9 Volts. I know that when we travel for a day without the generator the house batteries get a good charge when we plug in. The charging rate on shore power will initiate in the 60 to 70 amps DC when we first plug in following such a day. We always start with fully charged batteries in the morning. If we're dry camping we'll start the generator in the morning and then leave it on until the batteries are fully charged before we shut off the generator. Even then, the batteries will need a charge when we plug in for the evening.

I have a good friend that did this when we were traveling together! He was maneuvering to get to his campsite and clipped a water outlet that was near a curve in the road. There were three of us in the group. We still remind him of it occasionally! I try to remember not to laugh too loud, who knows what I'll do next!

We have a Whirlpool which was installed two years ago replacing the Norcold 1200. We have a 3000 W sine wave inverter. Our engine running does not charge the house batteries. We have the standard 4 x 6V house battery set-up. I do not turn off the ice maker. We have the refrigerator on 24/7 for months at a time and have not had a single problem. It is entirely possible that your inverter, battery set-up, or engine charging capability while driving may be a factor in the recommendation to shut off your refrigerator while driving but it certainly isn't a rule for everyone. As Rich said, ask the rep why he feels it is necessary to turn your refrigerator off while driving.

I think your problem will be the age, not the miles. At 12 years old, many things like rubber seals and oxidized electronic connections, etc. are going to become a more persistent problem. None of these are insurmountable, they will just take a bigger bite out of your purse and/or your time for routine maintenance. Appliances are also in this category. You are already seeing some of this with the decals and the entry step. As far as the engine, transmission and chassis issues, the same kinds of problems will appear. Belts and hoses are at an age where replacement will be necessary. At 12 years old, I would replace any belt or hose that hasn't already been replaced at least once. Depending on conditions of storage when the coach wasn't on the road, you may have some engine and/or chassis issues. (Indoors is much better than outdoors and heated/cooled is even better.) Naturally these will increase with age. They may not be major work issues but the expense may gradually become major. A well maintained gas engine should be good for 200,000 miles before major work is necessary however, those miles are easier on the engine if they come quickly. At 4500 miles a year, there is a lot of time between driving and those down times are hard on an engine. Have you for instance been changing oil every 6 months or every 6000 miles? Most maintenance specifications have a mileage and a time standard. It is easy to let the time standard slip in a vehicle that isn't driven much and the next thing you know it has been a year and a half since the oil has been changed. When the standard is 6 months or 6000 miles (just an example) the phrase that follows is key, "whichever comes first." Many people find it hard to justify the cost of changing oil at 6 months when they have only driven 700 miles. So if your care and maintenance has been excellent you can expect excellent performance from your engine, transmission and chassis components.

You express a decision that you definitely want a new coach. I suggest that you should consider a used coach. This is a big investment and without any experience, you are putting a large amount of money into something that you may find doesn't suit you. We purchased a used coach and traveled in it for 2 1/2 years then went out and purchased a new coach that is now 10 years old and we are still very happy with our purchase. You indicate that you want a size that you will feel comfortable driving. After using a coach for a while you may decide that the coach you selected is too small for your needs and by that time, you may realize that you can handle a larger vehicle safely with confidence. Or, you my decide what you have selected doesn't work for you and you need something smaller. You can test drive motor homes, just like you test drive a car. You can get an idea of what a specific motor home feels like but it won't give you the whole experience. You are unlikely to get the feel of a fully loaded motor home driving up and down mountains in a short test drive. After you have lived in the motor home for a few weeks or a few months you will know if the size is right for you. Be open to the possibility that your travel needs may require taking a toad with you. Without a toad, you have to pick up stakes and drive to the grocery store in your motor home, not an easy process. We started out with a car on a tow dolly and within a year purchased a vehicle we could tow with all four wheels on the ground. We find this very convenient and our travel needs definitely require a toad. Everyone has a different style of travel and each has to find what is right for them. DickandLois have good advice for where to start. If you have a chance to get to the FMCA Convention in Georgia next spring, or any of a number of other large motor home/RV shows around the country, you could get to see a wide variety of motor homes in one location. You could spend a lot of time trying to see a large variety of coaches one dealer at a time.

Welcome to the world of RV'ing! You are in for a steep learning curve as you get to know your new unit and learn to operate all its systems. Read your owners manual before you start, then after a little experience read the manual again. The information in the manual will mean a lot more after you have had a chance to operate your motor home for a few trips. Reading the manual will save you much heartache in the long run. That's my bit of old timer advice! You are about to discover one of the most amazing ways of traveling. Like a turtle, your home is with you when you travel. You will have one of the best views on the road as you drive to your destination. When you arrive at your destination you will have your house set up and be enjoying the surroundings in no time. Have a great time!

This sounds like a real plumbing mystery. My first thought is that the vent for the gray water tank is blocked and not allowing air to enter thus creating a vacuum in the tank. Such a vacuum in the gray water tank would suck air through the sink and shower drains causing a gurgling sound. The gray tank might drain slower but the tank would eventually empty completely and you would notice the gurgling in the drains. If there were some physical object blocking the gray tank drain, that might explain why tilting would cause the object to settle to one side away from the drain. I've read of people finding that tank cut-outs from the installation were left in the tank. These could block the drain. There is usually only one roof vent for the black and gray water tanks on most RV's and if it were the vent it would affect both tanks I would think. Flushing the toilet while dumping black water would provide another vent. If that works to free the flow, that would indicate a blocked vent is at least part of your problem. It is hard for me to imagine that there is a physical object blocking both tanks unless some debris was left in the tanks on manufacturing. You have indicated that it dumped normally before this occurred so that doesn't seem to be the case. It could be that there is some crusted hard deposits in the tanks that have broken loose and could be blocking or partially blocking the drains. You might try adding some cleaning agents to the tanks to help dissolve accumulated debris in the tanks. There are a number of additives which can help clean waste tanks, stop by your nearest RV supply. One trick that works with black water tanks is to put several bags of ice cubes down the toilet immediately before driving. As the ice cubes shake around in the tank they will help break up accumulated debris in the tank. When you arrive at your destination, partially fill the black water tank with clean water and then dump to flush out the debris which has been broken loose.

After our stay in California, we set out on our way east to St. Louis, Missouri. We’ve made this trip many times. The default trip going either way is to travel to I-80 east to eastern Nebraska where we pick up I-29 south to Kansas City and then I-70 to St. Louis. When we make this trip we are usually on a schedule so time is important and the interstate fills the bill. We’ve detoured several times, to visit friends, to see the Grand Tetons. We sometimes stop in Denver to visit relatives so the trip isn’t always exactly the same. This time we decided to take our time, traveling fewer miles per day and take a route which is not fast but has scenery we haven’t seen before. We departed on Sunday afternoon headed up California Highway 88 into the Sierra Nevada Mountains. In Carson City, Nevada we turned east on US 50, known as the loneliest highway in the US. It wasn’t lonely as we left Carson City. We parked at Wal-Mart for the evening in Fallon, NV. Fallon is home of the US Navy Top Gun training center. Leaving Fallon on Monday morning the road narrowed to two lanes with little shoulder. The scattering of houses and buildings soon disappeared. We drove for miles across the desert. There were other cars and a few trucks, and only an occasional small town. Historical markers, the Pony Express ran through this area. Imagine a man in the 1800’s riding a horse through this area. Even today it doesn’t look that friendly for one man or for the horse. The road rolled ever onward. For miles it was straight making only occasional slight turns to weave the way between the block faulted mountains that give the area the name, basin and range. We pulled over at a wide spot overlooking the community of Austin. Here the road began an assault into the Toiyabe Mountains and Bob Scott’s Summit which was 7205 feet, a climb of about 1000 feet from the floor of the basin. After we cleared the Toiyabe Mountains, the road once again straightened out and continued weaving between mountains. In places the desert was noticeably green and we saw water standing in low spots along the road. Then suddenly there was a car approaching flashing its headlights. Over the hill came a highway patrol car with lights flashing. But wait, he was weaving all over the road, into our lane and back to his lane. I slowed and he pulled up alongside us to tell us we had to pull completely off the road. He informed us there was a wide load coming toward us. I slowly pulled to the side, putting our right wheels in the ditch to get clear of the pavement. Louise grabbed the camera and handed it to me. Two more highway patrol cars appeared followed by the mandatory wide load escort vehicle and finally the load appeared. It was a dump bed from a mine truck. If it were driven down the center of the road it would have completely filled the road. The truck hauling the load must have been doing 60 MPH. It was gone in no time. I thought about the mountain roads we had traversed and wondered if they had to go that far. I guess US 50 was the highway to use for this trip, there were few vehicles to be cleared from the road and we hadn’t seen any overpass on the route. Soon after the wide load passed, it began to rain. It was cloudy and cool and we were crossing the vast span of desert. We realized how lucky we were to have such mild weather. The rain lasted for half an hour and we met several trucks. Of course the toad was stuck to our tail and all the spray we generated was sprayed onto the toad. I hate when that happens. In the desert, rain makes mud and the toad looked horrible by the time we parked for the night. We stopped in Ely, Nevada and stayed at the Valley View RV Park. Ely is the site of one gigantic copper pit mine. The tailings were visible as we drove into town. Now those in tune with mining know that there are copper ores in other countries and mining in those countries costs less than in the US for a number of reasons. Anyway, Ely’s main source of employment has dried up and it is easy to tell by driving through town. We spent a quiet night and slept well. For the first time since we left California we had internet access and our phones worked! I think that those who live in the heavily populated areas of the country would be amazed at how little of the modern electronic communications has touched the remote areas of the US. Even in Fallon, we had marginal phone service and I learned that many of the apps which I have are useless if we don’t have 3G service. Our hot spot was useless and we were totally out of touch for most of the day. From Ely we climb over another mountain range and then descend as we travel the remaining 70 miles of Nevada before entering Utah. US 50 joins I-15 for seven miles and then we’re back on US 50. About 70 miles into Utah we come to the town of Delta. Here we find beautiful farmland. Vast fields of hay and crops and a thriving farming community. We encounter I-70 next, now we are on the fast road. I-70 in Utah runs just north of the canyons, Zion, Bryce, Capital Reef, Canyonlands NP and Arches NP. As such, I-70 has spectacular scenery and numerous scenic areas. We spent the night at the Sand Bench viewpoint. The sunset photography was wonderful. In the morning we drove on stopping at several other scenic view areas. In Colorado we decided to continue our slower trip and diverted to US 50 at Grand Junction. We went up and over Monarch Pass at 11,000+ feet and down into the Arkansas River valley. We spent the night at an RV Park near Salida. We are in the mountain time zone and losing an hour but not losing that hour at night, we get plenty of sleep and wake up late. We pass the Royal Gorge area which has been destroyed by fire. The bridge is still there and will reopen sometime in the future. There is still a zip line in operation and all the Arkansas River float trip operators seem to be doing well. Colorado highway 115 takes us into Colorado Springs and US 24 takes us to Limon, Colorado and onto I-70 for the remaining trip back to St. Louis.

I sounds like you might have a problem with your gas pressure. Have your regulator checked to see if the pressure is appropriate. Otherwise, all gas appliances have a detector for presence of a flame. If that detector fails then it will shut off the gas automatically. You may just need a new sensor or an adjustment to your propane regulator.

BackhoeJ, I just sent you an e-mail with my mailing info for a kit. I guess it had to happen. We got almost 10 years and 120,000 miles out of that little gear. I was lucky, just four feet of cord off the reel and when I went to pull it in just whirring, no pull at all, done, kaput! So I'm adding that to my list of things to repair...

We were at our daughters home in California and plugged into a 20A circuit there and ran one air conditioner, battery charger, lights, etc. with no problem. Our Windsor has the Intellitec power management system which can be set for 20A and will shut off loads if the total load comes within 5% of the amperage we are using. I think the Intellitec shut off the air conditioner one or two times but when the other loads drop away, it turns the air conditioner circuit back on. If you don't have Intellitec, you will have to do the current management yourself or you'll be running to reset the breaker occasionally. The lowest amperage we can set the Intellitec at is 20A. It wouldn't help with a 15A circuit. I can only think of one occasion when we tripped a breaker on a campground and that was a faulty 50A breaker. I knew the breaker was faulty as we weren't using anywhere near 50A when the breaker tripped. They replaced the breaker and that solved the problem. I've done a good bit of electrical wiring and I've never seen circuits with outlets wired with anything less than 12 gauge wire which supports 20A. It is not uncommon to use 14 gauge wire for lighting circuits and these will then require a 15A breaker. If houses are being wired with 14 gauge wire for outlet circuits, they would be below national electrical standards. Of course not all areas impose national standards for buildings. Let the buyer beware!

We were there last year, didn't stay on the reservation but did spend several days in the village there. We had a wonderful time, it is a beautiful place and the people are wonderful. They do a drum circle one night a week and the public is invited. Go and stay for the evening, a very nice event that will give you great insight into the tribe. There is a nice cultural museum that the Makah tribe has in Neah Bay on the NW corner of the Olympic Peninsula. It is a two hour drive from La Push where the Quileute tribe is located. The drive is very scenic and the museum is really quite good. Our plans this summer are completely up in the air but we are hoping to spend some time with the Quileute in La Push in September. One of my blog entries details some of our experiences with the tribes of the Pacific NW. I think you will enjoy your visit. You may want to stay a few more days if the weather is good and you find the people as welcoming as we did.

There have been a number of previous discussions on this topic. Here is one of the more extensive discussions. You can search forums using the search box at the top of this page, search just this topic or search all topics. I used "supplemental brakes" as a search key. You could try other key words to get other discussions.

I had Sprint for about 8 years on the road. The coverage was fairly good but nowhere comparable to my wife's AT&T coverage. I dropped them after a go-round with customer service which is a complete misnomer. I went with Verizon and gave that up after two years primarily because one of the areas we stay (in the central valley of California where our daughter lives) has really quirky coverage. I can't figure out what the situation is but I couldn't access my voice mail without driving about 30 miles to a larger city. Since we were there often for a month or more, I gave up and am now with AT&T. So far, AT&T is the best of them all. I didn't have data service (smart phone) until I went with AT&T so can't say how the others would perform with data service. I think it all depends on where you travel. In our case, the best for the areas where we go frequently has worked out to be AT&T. If we had different locations where we stayed we might have a completely different favorite. You can live with occasional short periods out of service but if it is an area where you are frequently then you have to find something that works there.

After our blistering cross country trip to California, Louise picked up our two youngest granddaughters in Stockton at noon on Monday. I stayed at Paul Evert’s RV to have a spring replaced in the roller of our slide out cover. As soon as that job was finished I headed for Watsonville to meet Louise and the girls. I arrived about an hour after Louise but there is a playground at Pinto Lake Park where we would be staying so the girls had something to do until I arrived. Louise had checked in for us so I was able to drive right to our site. We set up the motor home, full utilities with 30A electric. It was late in the day so I took the girls, ages 5 and 7 back to the playground while Louise prepared dinner. The youngest, Audrey, knows no strangers on the playground. If there are kids there she will be playing with them. It starts with, “What’s your name?” From there it goes to, “Watch this!” With that they are off and running, sort of like the board game we used to play as kids, Chutes and Ladders. Hanging upside down, climbing up the sides of the equipment, trying run up the slides, no self-respecting kid uses the equipment as it was designed to be used. Fortunately, playground designers have found nearly injury proof surfaces for the kids to fall on. The girls played until the other children had to leave and then they lost interest so we returned to the motor home for dinner. Watsonville holds pleasant memories for me and Louise. In our first year of full timing, the summer of 1992 we spent a week there exploring the area. Watsonville is on the north coast of Monterey Bay. The coastal highway, CA 1 runs through Watsonville. The town is a working town, the industry of the area is farming. Fruits and vegetables are raised here in commercial quantities. One of the vivid memories I have of the area was buying a flat of strawberries (6 quarts) for $5 in 1992. There is plenty of harvest work which is low wage work. Many of the workers are from Mexico and the area has many Mexican restaurants. Another vivid memory is finding a little store front Mexican restaurant after an afternoon of bicycle riding. We enjoyed an excellent meal and great service. We brought the girls to this area because we wanted to share some of the interesting things in the area with them and we wanted to escape the blistering hot weather currently in the central valley of California. Tuesday morning we set out to Ano Nueva State Park, north of San Cruz on Hwy 1. The scenic highway in this area is a feeder artery to Santa Cruz and on to San Francisco. Traffic, even at 10:00 in the morning was stop and go all the way from Watsonville to Santa Cruz. As we approached Ano Nueva the girls were asking for food. We found a small café in Davenport so we stopped to quiet the hunger pains. After a nice lunch we were off to Ano Nueva. This state park and wildlife preserve is home to a number of elephant seals. The yearly cycle includes breeding in the winter months, pups hang around all summer while the females are out to sea feeding off the coast. The males take off to Alaskan waters then return in mid-summer for molting. They shed their fur and then return to Alaska. We hiked the two mile trail along the coast and over sand dunes to an overlook where we could see a group of 15 of the two ton males basking on the beach. Every once in a while, one would raise his head and bellow at the rest of the group. Inch by inch they would work their way toward the water as it retreated to low tide. The girls enjoyed everything about the walk and were excited to see the elephant seals. The return walk was less pleasant. Audrey was worn out and nothing was going to make her happy. We eventually made it back to the parking lot and returned to camp. Wednesday Louise had planned a visit to a goat dairy north of Ano Nueva. We would get a tour of the facility and get to meet the goats. The trip up the coast went faster today and we arrived well before the tour started. The tour began with a walk to the garden where we sat and listened to a talk that covered the history and nature of the farm. Then we walked into the barn lot with the goats. Lily is the serious sister, she went around meeting goats and enjoyed petting them. Audrey bounced from goat to goat and then wanted to meet the llamas that were with the goats. Llamas are less friendly than the goats but Audrey was insistent so she was introduced to the friendliest of them. She then went right to the larger and less friendly llama. I was following her around and trying to steer her clear of trouble but she moves faster than me. Turn your head for a minute and she is gone. I retrieved her quickly and escorted her out to the pasture to meet more goats. We toured feeding area and the girls fed the goats. Then it was into the milking barn. Being mid-day, there was no milking underway. We then went to the dairy where the milk is processed into cheese. Our guide worked up a batch of chevre (goat) cheese while the girls and other children in the group were given a variety of flowers. They were to take the petals from the flowers and put them in a bowl. Then our guide placed the cheese in the bowl on top of the flower petals. She had Lily and Audrey hold out their hands. She turned the bowl over dumping the cheese ball into their hands as she said she would make cheese magic. When she removed the bowl there were the flower petals on top of the cheese. She then unwrapped the cheese and passed out samples on pieces of bread to everyone in the tour group. The girls will never forget this tour. Thursday we took the girls to the Monterey Aquarium. It was a very busy day at the aquarium and keeping an eye on the girls kept Louise and I on our toes. Lily would stand and watch an exhibit for a long period of time. Audrey was off to see the next thing almost as soon as she glanced at the first. We saw amazing things, a huge orange octopus moving back and forth in its tank did keep both girls attention. There were large tanks with big sharks and small tanks with tiny jellyfish. In fact, the jellyfish exhibit was extraordinary. Equally extraordinary was the exhibit of sea horses. The variety of sea horses was amazing. Who knew there were so many different kinds of sea horses? We stayed almost to closing time before leaving. Friday was moving day. Audrey is starting kindergarten and Friday was meet the teacher day. We had to be at school by 3:00. Since mom and dad were on vacation, Louise and I would play the part of parents today. We made the trip back to the girls home without incident and parked the motor home in the driveway next to the house. That afternoon we met Audrey’s teacher and walked through their morning routine. Then we found Lily’s classroom. She will have meet the teacher night later next week but at least she knows who her teacher will be and where her classroom is located. Later that evening we got a call from the girls’ mother and father. They had decided to return early and would be arriving about 10:00 p.m. When they walked in the door we all greeted them with cheers and hugs. Louise and I were off duty now, we could begin planning our next trip!

We took the same path you are taking with slight variation. We retired after 30 years, worked another two years in a different job and then bought a used motor home, sold our house and 95% of our possessions and we hit the road full time. We began with a trip south for the winter. We only stayed in the park for two months before we headed west to California for a convention related to our professional lives. We stayed in California and spent the summer exploring the deserts, mountains and coast of California. We biked and hiked, photographed and wrote. We visited with each of our children and grandchildren as we made the return trip south for the next winter. We went back to the same park and have made many dear friends there. We were hooked. Once you leave the house behind, your whole world is in the motor home. You will be amazed how traveling while you are at home changes the way you think about travel. I did work one summer and spent a fair amount of time in interesting areas. Unfortunately to make the job work I was so busy that I didn't get out to see the many interesting things those areas. I haven't worked since and don't miss it at all. After 2 1/2 years in our used motor home we decided we were in this for the long haul so we traded for a new coach with more room and lots of conveniences the old coach didn't have. The first coach was 10 years old when we traded it. We'll celebrate 10 years since the new coach was put into service this fall. We're on the road half time after we put in a mobile home in the park where we winter. This year we have taken several out and back trips during the spring and are now on the road until the end of October. We are still traveling as much as before we just live in a fixed house during the winter. We just finished a week with our youngest granddaughters. We took them to the California shore and visited the Monterey Aquarium, saw elephant seals at Ana Nuevo State Park and visited a goat dairy. The girls had a great time and their parents were very grateful for some vacation time without the girls. There are so many great memories from our years of travel. We wouldn't trade the great times the motor home has given us for anything. There is no way our lives would have been as full any other way.

Kudos to DD69. He came up with the name. All I had to do was search that name!

OK, I hit Bing for Eldorado Motor Homes and found this. I tried to attach the photo but apparently it is not allowed on this forum. Something about the extension or type of photo. I'm 99% sure this is what you are looking for. It is listed as a Class B and has lots of new stuff on board. This is listed as a 1988 Eldorado EMC Starfire For Sale in Silvana, WA and can be yours for just $10,995! See this at RV Shape Up

These plans are written by lawyers. When they stipulate that maintenance must be done on a specific schedule at a licensed repair facility and receipts must have specific information or claim may be denied, they are setting hurdles that you must clear each time you have a repair done. Miss any one of these hurdles and you have just voided your contract which gets them off the hook. Think about your break down somewhere on the road. You want it repaired at a nearby shop but they don't meet the requirements of the contract. You have to go miles an miles to get service and if the coach won't go, you may have to be towed. You will also find that the hassles of dealing with the warranty company may cause repair shops to refuse to do a repair if that warranty company is involved. So you have to pay for the repair and hope the warranty company will reimburse you for your expense or you have to find another repair shop. Even companies who have a reputable name are difficult for repair people to deal with and will be boycotted by repair facilities.

We have a 400 ISL. Our coach GVWR is 37,600 and the GCWR is 47,600. Our last weighing we came in with a GCW of 37,925. We have never had any problem with overheating. You are about 4000 pounds heavier or about 10% over our weight. I wouldn't think that little difference would make the engine overheat. We top out in the low to mid 190's on a long grade on a 90+ degree day. Since you had the same problem with the previous engine, has this been a problem since the coach was new? Perhaps the problem lies outside the engine.

I think you have a GMC motor home in mind. Check this link and see if that isn't what you are thinking of...

We have just completed one busy week while putting some serious miles on the motor home. We've made a few trips like this before. I would like to think that this is the last one but somehow the need to quickly move from one place to another seems to keep popping up. Unlike much of our travel, this trip was in the middle of summer in the very places we have avoided during the summer for the past 12 years. We have never been at home in Edinburg, Texas in July. The same could be said for June, August and September. I had cataract surgery on both eyes in May, just before the FMCA rally in Gillette, Wyoming. We made the trip to Wyoming and then returned to Edinburg so I could get my new glasses. Louise had a series of meetings in Austin starting on July 14 so we decided to make the trip back to Texas in the motor home and then set out for cooler locations in mid-July. Meanwhile our daughter in California requested some babysitting time with their two girls, ages 5 and 8 and the timing was really tight. They were taking a trip on Tuesday, July 23 and wanted us at their home in Valley Springs on Monday the 22nd. With the hot weather we decided we would stop at RV parks each evening rather than staying at rest areas and Wal-Mart stores. We would have electric to operate the air conditioners through the night and a quiet place to get good sleep. We started out on Sunday the 14th of July in Edinburg, Texas. We spent the Saturday before departure in the motor home doing our normal daily activities. We've started doing this as a means to find those few things we have forgotten. We eat and sleep in the motor home while parked at the house. If something has been forgotten it is just a few steps away. The toad was hooked up before we went to bed, the motor home was in the street, ready to roll first thing in the morning. Louise likes to sleep late, I like to drive at daybreak during the coolest part of the day. We would drive early, reaching San Antonio shortly after noon. Louise drove on to Austin while I stayed in San Antonio to have the engine and generator serviced at the Cummins Service Center on Monday morning. I stayed at Greentree Village RV Park just off I-35 and six miles from the Cummins shop. Sunday, July 14, 231 miles. Work started at noon and was finished at 4:00, just in time to join the rush hour traffic leaving San Antonio. Couple that with a heavy thunderstorm and flooding roads meant really slow traffic on I-35. I headed to Austin to join Louise. She was attending an orientation workshop for The Silver Haired Legislature, a senior citizen group that works to influence issues of concern to all seniors in the state of Texas. The orientation started Sunday afternoon and continues through Thursday noon. I parked the motor home at McKinney Falls State Park just outside Austin and Louise joined me there Monday evening. Since she had the toad during the day, I was free to explore the park and relax in the motor home. Monday, July 15, 70 miles. My relaxing schedule ended on Tuesday afternoon. I had fallen asleep with the computer on my lap. I heard a sound like an awning snapping. Since it woke me up, I didn't have a clear idea of what happened. I looked out the windows and everything looked fine. A little later I decided to go outside to check the awnings. I found the slide out cover on the living room slide was slack, laying on the roof of the slide. I got on the ladder and sure enough the spring that holds the awning taut had snapped. I got on the computer and looked up Carefree of Colorado repair shops in the Austin area. I had to leave a message at both shops. Now the problem was that we were scheduled to be on the road Thursday afternoon and I couldn't drive with an awning flapping loose. I've taken that awning off before but it isn't easy and is at best a two person job. I was alone and needed to get the job done quickly. I dug out the owners manual and looked over the instructions. I found a way to get the roller loose from the mounting just enough so I could slip the awning off the roller and off the roof at the same time. Then I put everything back together but with no canvas this time. With that done I went back to the computer. Since I couldn't get in touch with the local shops I'd call one near our destination. I called Paul Evert's RV Country in Fresno, California. We have dealt with them before and they are one of several shops around the country that are really friendly to traveling RV'ers. The other criteria that puts them at the top of our list is the excellent quality of their work. They were very helpful, the spring could be replaced and they called Carefree and confirmed that the spring was in stock. From the information in the owners manual I didn't think there was any alternative to replacing the entire awning. There was no part number for the spring. Paul Evert's would have the spring Monday which is when we could be there. Things were working out pretty well. Thursday we left Austin a little ahead of schedule. I topped off the fuel tank with almost 50 gallons of diesel at $3.76 a gallon at an Exxon quick shop. We were on the road at noon headed for Abilene, Texas; Clovis, New Mexico; then to I-40 and on to California and Fresno. We drove through some afternoon showers, something that Texas dearly needs. We stopped for the night at Lubbock, Texas staying at Lubbock RV Park on the northwest side of town. A spectacular rainbow had many campers out admiring the show as the sun set. Thursday, July 18, 416 miles. An early start on Friday morning put us into Gallup, New Mexico and the USA RV Park on the west side of town. I had just finished the outdoor work when the rain started. There was a good shower and everything was wet in the morning. Friday, July 19, 462 miles. Saturday morning we started at sunrise again. With the fuel tank near empty we made a stop at Speedy's Truck Stop on the AZ-NM border. A gallon of diesel was going for $3.76 cash (or debit card in our case). We purchased about 102 gallons and were off to cross Arizona. This was to be our long drive day. We paused for lunch at an exit just beyond a closed rest area. Before leaving Arizona we stopped at the US 95 exit to Lake Havasu City to top off the tank at the Pilot station there. We got an additional 32 gallons of diesel at $3.79. That was 2:00 in the afternoon and I told Louise leaving the station that she could pick the stopping time and place for the evening. We discussed possibilities and she decided on Barstow as the goal. A check of campgrounds and we decided to stop just short at Newberry Mountain RV Park in Newberry, CA. The park didn't look too promising as we drove up to the office. That turned out to be a real surprise. The owner was quite pleasant, we maneuvered into our site which was way too short but she said not to worry, just pull through far enough to leave the space behind clear. Louise wanted to do some laundry so I hooked up all utilities. It took every inch of sewer hose we were carrying but we were able to get everything hooked up. During the night we had a good thundershower - in the Mojave desert! Saturday, July 20, 509 miles. Sunday morning we started a little later. I was up early to unhook and stow the hoses while Louise slept in. It was shortly after 8:00 when we pulled onto I-40 for the trip to the end of Interstate 40 where it joins I-15. We left Barstow on CA 58 to Bakersfield, CA. After a short lunch stop on CA 99 we rolled into Paul Evert's RV. We checked in with the sales staff receptionist and got our assigned space for parking. We have electric and water hookups and a Monday morning appointment. Louise will drive to Stockton on Monday to pick up our granddaughters while I have the motor home at the repair shop. After the repairs I will leave headed for Watsonville, CA which is between Monterey and San Jose. Louise will meet me there and we will spend four days with the girls on the coast in an attempt to avoid the 100+ temperatures expected in the central valley of California this week. Sunday, July 21, 258 miles. In the course of 8 days, Sunday to Sunday we drove almost 2000 miles, got maintenance and repairs done, attended a 5 day orientation workshop and moved our base of operations from our home in deep south Texas to the central California coast. Along the way, we enjoyed a few new roads and many miles of familiar territory. We enjoyed exploring the new and had fun remembering some of our previous trips over the familiar roads. This summer we are celebrating 12 years of traveling in a motor home. We are enjoying one fabulous adventure.