tbutler
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Posts posted by tbutler
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Ouch! Hate to hear bad news like that. We'll hope for the best for you.
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The fact that the fuse burns out immediately means that you have some kind of short in the system. It could be a wire worn through or a loose wire. It's a 30A fuse so that means a good size wire. I'd start by trying to identify the circuit that the fuse protects and then try to follow that wiring from the part in the circuit back to the fuse. I'd try Monaco again, I've always had excellent service from them. You may have caught someone at a busy time and they lost information to contact you again. Have your coach number (last 6 digits of your vehicle serial number - not the VIN) handy when you call.
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On 8/26/2017 at 1:11 PM, obedb said:We have a Dirt Devil central system. Betty really likes it, because she will not use it. She made it my job.🙄 I think that it does a good job.
Borrow a Dyson and vacuum with it, then tell me it does a good job.
We have a compact (fold down handle) Dyson. The first time Louise used it she said, " Where did all that dirt come from?" We have carpet. The built in may work OK on tile or hardwood floors.
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We have the standard 4 x 6V battery set-up. They are AGM batteries and on their fourth summer. I'm suspecting they are nearing replacement. They used to run the furnace all night and the refrigerator as well without a problem so I'm seeing some reduced performance. I'll keep an eye on them.
We don't do the off-the-grid thing that often so I don't worry about the defrost. In fact, I get a certain amount of pleasure not having to do the dig-into-the-ice thing like I used to do with the Nocold.
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The RGV escaped without wind or rain. All the resorts from South Padre Island to Brownsville, Harlingen, Weslaco, San Juan, Pharr, McAllen, Mission and Edinburg, etc., all good, not a problem. Come on down.
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I have the decal on the "eyebrow" on our motor home. You can get any color. I put these on in 2013. I found a vendor, Simply Etched Stickers, at the FMCA Gillette Convention. They are easy to put on the coach and mine still look great. I didn't want to drill holes for the FMCA plaque for the front of the coach so I put these on. The link above has a photo of a coach with their stickers (decals) on the "eyebrow" (above the windshield) of the example coach. I have the regular FMCA oval (mine are the earlier design with raised letters) on the rear ladder as is traditional. The raised letters are loosing their ink. When we go to Gillette next year, I'll look for this company and may order one for the rear of the coach and get rid of the physical plaques entirely. In 2013 they did this on site. I paid and left the information one day and picked up the finished product the next day. Highly recommend their work.
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We leave our inverter on full time. Louise likes to have 120V electric all the time. I like it because you don't have to reset the clock on the microwave every time the inverter goes off.
We are in the coach about six months of the year so living in the coach, having the inverter on makes sense for us.
Our Xantrex inverter/charger has automatic generator start which will start the generator when the battery charge drops too low. This facilitates staying off the power grid. I never have to worry about checking the battery charge, the inverter/charger monitors that for me.
We store our coach with 50A power hooked up. We leave the inverter on all the time there as well. If we were storing the coach without any AC power, turning off the inverter would minimize battery drain. It takes electric to run the inverter/charger even if it isn't charging or powering anything (standby mode). The only way to get zero battery drain is to disconnect the house batteries. Your battery cut-off switch may or may not stop all battery drain. Many sensors like the smoke detector, carbon monoxide or propane detector may be wired directly to battery. In that case, your batteries will eventually loose their charge. You don't need much electric, an ordinary 20A extension cord can carry plenty of electricity to run the inverter/charger and keep you batteries charged. If you are parked in a storage area with no power, you could use a solar battery charger to keep your batteries charged.
The house lights in your coach and your water pump should all work without the inverter/charger. You can verify this, turn off the inverter charger and see what works and what doesn't.
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Every adventure expands you travel possibilities. Glad you were successful with your eclipse expedition. We spent Saturday night before the eclipse on the Little America parking lot. Little America is a travel stop on I-80 in western Wyoming. Our evening was cool and we shut the generator down before going to bed. I was awoken in the morning by the generator autostart. Our residential refrigerator had drawn the batteries down to the point where they needed recharging.
I checked the weather at a number of our possibilities on the line of totality. We decided to head north to Riverton, Wyoming. We left Little America about 9:00, filled up with diesel in Green River and then turned north. Louise called a campground in Riverton and we got a campsite with full hookups at 11:00 a.m. on Sunday morning. We were able to see the eclipse from that campground. Had we not gotten a campsite we'd have spent Sunday night on a parking lot or roadside somewhere and either viewed the eclipse from there or taken the toad to a spot where we could have seen the eclipse. Having the ability to live off the grid makes our coaches so much more useful.
Friday we are leaving Fort Morgan Colorado on our way to Valley Springs, California. We will spend our nights on this trip at rest areas, Walmart parking lots and similar locations. Traveling this way allows us to make and break camp with little effort and little delay.
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When we packed up and headed out to be full time, I imagined we would, at least for several years feel out different areas, moving from place to place throughout the winter. It didn't turn out that way. We spent Thanksgiving in the New Orleans area then moved on to the Houston area. From there we moved west on I-10 to San Antonio. We stayed a month. New Year's Eve on the Riverwalk was great. Dancing, fireworks and dinner outdoors on the Riverwalk made for a memorable evening. However, we had lap blankets and a propane heater nearby to make dinner anywhere near comfortable.
While we stayed in Houston one of the workers at the park asked if we had been to "the valley?" She had to explain what "the valley" was and in doing so made it sound very nice so we decided to see if we could find weather a little (Louise said a lot) warmer. When we pulled into Sandpipers Resort in Edinburg, we were warmly welcomed, by the staff, the residents and by the weather.
We have taken trips, motor home, aviation and auto during the winter and it is always cold and unpleasant. For years we spent the winter in the motor home, parked on a lot that we had an annual contract on so we could make a few improvements and to ensure we would have a place to stay next year. Now we have a mobile home with the motor home parked in the driveway for the season.
We found friends and a host of interesting activities at Sandpipers. Most of us are retired, similar in age and interest. We have many Canadians in the park and even had European visitors almost every year.
We play golf with friends all winter long. We bowl in a league that starts and ends with the Winter Texan season. There is a crew of tennis players in the park who will allow me to play with them. I have certified as a Texas Master Naturalist and do a variety of nature oriented volunteer work including assisting with banding of birds. I love birds and this gives me a chance to experience not only a bird in the bush but also a bird in the hand. Can you imagine holding a Cardinal, a Green Jay, a Great Kiskadee or a House Wren in your hand? The RGV is famous for its exotic birds, and they are just common birds where we stay all winter long.
Louise has established herself as a guest writer in the McAllen newspaper, The Monitor. She writes opinion pieces and theme articles regularly including while we are on the road in the summer. Louise has also been elected to the Texas Silver Haired Legislature and is taking leadership roles in the statewide organization. Louise also loves playing cards and there are a number of card games going on in the park almost every day.
So why would we leave this place? Because we have a motor home. But we're not leaving to head north in the winter. Tried it, not fun. When the temperature starts to push the 90's regularly, then, we're gone. We love being out on our own on the road when the road is welcoming. Are we permanently based in Edinburg for the winter? Maybe. Only time will tell. In our travels we haven't seen a place that fits us better so we'll be back in Edinburg about October 23, 2017.
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On 8/24/2017 at 11:50 AM, ajshepherd said:I'm the second owner of my 2009 CC motorhome. I live in the desert and not exposed to the winter salt issues like our East Coast members.
That said, you do realize that coastal dealers will move their stock to areas where salt corrosion is not common or expected. Unless you are acquainted with the first owner, I would assume that this coach has seen some salt, maybe at the coast or in the northern states where winter snow magically turns to salt. Even a summer trip to Alaska will result in a strong exposure to calcium chloride which they use for dust control on their road construction projects.
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Ouch, no one comes out of this situation smiling. Patience was in short supply. In New Zealand, all bridges outside of the cities and towns are single lane bridges. One side has a yield sign. If no one is on the bridge, you proceed. If someone is on the bridge you wait until traffic on the bridge clears then you cross. If you have no yield sign then when approaching the bridge with traffic coming from the other side, you proceed, the other traffic will wait.
If we aren't going to address the infrastructure problems in this country, we may be headed in the same direction.
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You are obviously in a coach you love. Have you considered just updating your thermostat and it's associated sensors to the more modern equipment? When our air conditioners quit (one or all), we'll have to upgrade to a new thermostat. I don't know how your equipment is holding up but I would suggest making the change now may be the best solution.
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We were in Yosemite in the Spring, before the rush. It was busy, plenty of activity. We took our bikes into the park and were able to ride around to the inner park features, lock them up and hike to falls, etc. There is basically a huge parking lot and then you take the bus if you don't have bicycles. We camped at a park near the Archway entrance (el Portal). The Archway is low clearance, under a slanted rock feature, not RV accessible. That is the heart of the park. The RV park we stayed in (Indian Flats) on Hwy 140, was cramped and difficult for a 38 foot coach. We made it in, stayed a week and then moved on. It was close to the park which made up for the tight facilities. Yosemite is a delight, not welcoming to RV's. Find the nearest park that meets your needs and then concentrate on enjoying the park. It is well worth a visit. Some of our best memories from that visit.
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Welcome to the forum.
Come on down! We've been wintering in the RGV (Rio Grande Valley) since 2001-02. There are about 70 or 80 parks from Brownsville to South Padre Island and north to Harlingen, west to McAllen and Mission and North to Raymondville and Edinburg. Parks vary from very simple with minimal fees and facilities to the luxury with a full range of facilities and activities. There are parks with large dance halls and others located near prime wildlife and birding facilities. We have the National Butterfly Garden and World Birding Centers that attract wildlife enthusiasts from all over the world.
You will be welcomed as a Winter Texan
, not a Snowbird 
. They really do appreciate the $money$ we bring to the valley. The population is delightfully multicultural. You will find all the usual city businesses and flea markets. There are all the urban restaurants plus a delightful variety of authentic Mexican and barbecue restaurants. There are major shopping centers (thriving) and arts and entertainment centers. Deep sea fishing and big game hunting are all available here.
Winter in the RGV starts in late November or in December. Spring begins in late February or in March. If we have more than three nights below freezing it has been a hard winter. Sometime winters are dry, others are windy or wet. We play golf all winter. There are bowling leagues specifically for Winter Texans, softball leagues and music and vocal groups also.
There are so many parks that I would encourage you to come on down and spend some time exploring the other facilities before you commit to any one facility. I am not familiar with Encore Resorts but their special may provide the perfect opportunity to do just this. I would suggest that you spend some of that time visiting other resorts. There are many and the rates are quite reasonable compared to what you will find in other winter resort areas. By all means if the Encore Resorts are your cup of tea, sign up and come back next year.
I would suggest that you plan to get to Big Bend National Park in mid to late March. Spring Break is their busiest time for a reason, the weather gets better then. As Brett says, the campground there is a parking lot. It is first-come, no reservations. We boondocked at a picnic area on the road in and then got up early to be one of the first few arriving and checking in. We got a spot our first try. The road to Big Bend is about 60 miles from the nearest town. Pick up supplies to keep you in groceries before you head into the park. There is a store in the park $$$.
We loved our visit there during spring break, it was a wet year and the cactus were in full bloom. There are 4WD roads including one that is about 80 miles across the park along the Rio Grande. There is plenty of hiking and lots of sightseeing in the park. There are people who do spend months in the park if that is your thing. Try it out, see what it is like and then make a decision for next year.
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Does the 2017 have a speed limit. Our 2012 has a 65 MPH towing speed limit. That was one bug I missed before we purchased. The Trailblazer we had before had no speed limit while towed. Having to stay below a certain speed is a constant irritation when driving in hills and on mountain roads. Truckers hate me going down long slopes at 65!
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18 hours ago, manholt said:Word of caution, do not look directly at the Sun/moon during the event unless you have NASA approved solar glasses or camera lens filters!
There are no ordinary camera filters that will protect your camera or your eyes. Neutral density filters do not reduce the UV or Infrared radiation from the Sun. Use only filters that are specifically solar filters for photographing or viewing the partial phases of the eclipse. For the total phase of the eclipse which will last a little more than 2 minutes, depending on where you are to view the eclipse, no filters are necessary for your eyes or your camera. If any tiny bit of the sun is directly visible, eye and camera damage can occur. Leading up to the total phase of the eclipse and following the total phase the sun will be partially eclipsed. Keep your solar eclipse glasses on when looking at the partial phases. The same with your camera.
The total eclipse is a spectacular event, nothing else compares. A partial eclipse is a poor substitute. If at all possible, get into the narrow strip of totality to see the real thing. Check my, blog for more details and to see where we plan to view the show. I have given a number of links in my first and following posts. Some of the links deal with exact maps of the path of totality. Others have information on proper viewing, safe filters and how to photograph the eclipse.
Good luck to all.
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Thanks Bill, great tips to add to my info. I'll have to put the drive to Telluride on my to do list...
Had a nice Zin with dinner tonight. Going exploring in the mountains above Fort Collins tomorrow. We'll be off chasing the eclipse over the weekend.
Tom
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Yes Carl, I've been to Nanaimo.
I've even had Nanaimo bars. In fact we have friends at Sandpipers who make their own Nanaimo bars for us once in a while. Love them. We had lunch at the Dingy Dock Pub in Nanaimo! Highly recommend for the food and the experience.
We never boondocked on Vancouver Island but on mainland BC we did overnight on some vacant parking areas. Got one hostile attitude at the mining museum north of Vancouver. We parked Sunday evening planning to visit on Monday morning. We went in to buy tickets and tour the museum and got greeted with basically, "Get that thing out of here." She did tell us where we could park nearby and we did. She told us we should park in an RV park. I told her there was nothing nearby that would accommodate our rig.
After that experience we didn't encounter any resistance to parking on empty ground as just an overnight. We've done it periodically throughout Canada, never more than an overnight. Even found Walmart stores in Newfoundland that allowed overnight parking!
All that said, I can't make a specific campground recommendation. It was 2006 on our way to Alaska when we were last camping there. I did check and AllStays Camp and RV has dozens of RV parks on Vancouver Island. A little bit of exploring the possibilities should help you find more reasonable accommodations. We have friends on Vancouver Island. They moved onto private land and work as house and dog sitters when the landowner is away. You might find a kind of workkamper arrangement. I know you can't work for pay in Canada but perhaps you could exchange some clean-up, gardening, landscaping or other work around the campground to help reduce your camping fees.
From the AllStays Camp and RV web site I found the Stamp River Provincial Park. It looks to be a very nice Provincial Park on Vancouver Island. It has vehicle accessible sites for $18 and a senior rate in the off season (before June 14) for $9. Some of the sites can be reserved, others can not be reserved. Just one example.
AllStays also has many inexpensive city parks and free parking places not necessarily on Vancouver Island but in many other areas.
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I've had paint jobs done at a variety of locations while we were full time. I've never had what I would call a bad job. Paint matching seems to be a given these days and the quality I've received have been very good. I just had a number of the storage doors that had been chipped or scratched repainted. The coach looks much better.
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If you head west on I-90 you can literally do a drive through of Badlands National Monument. The main road parallels I-90 and there are numerous places where you can pull out to get out and stretch, view the scenery and then continue on your way. Stop by Mount Rushmore and the Crazy Horse Monument near Custer, SD. The monument is under construction and there is a nice Native American history museum on the grounds and a restaurant as well. While in the area you may want to drive through Custer State Park. Most of the roads in the park are motor home friendly and you may find yourself driving through herds of Bison.
From there you can drop south on smaller highways toward Scottsbluff, NE where you can pick up a little of the Oregon Trail and Mormon Trail history and early prairie history as well. Drive south from there on smaller highways and you'll come to I-80. From there, the easiest way to Utah will be on I-80 across Wyoming. Coming into Salt Lake City on I-80 you will have an extended curving descent to the valley floor. Use your engine brake and stay within recommended truck speed limits. Then go south out of Salt Lake City to I-15 and then I-70. That will take you right to Zion National Park. Camp nearby, don't try to take the motor home into the park.
From there you can visit the north rim of the Grand Canyon. We stayed at a Forest Service Campground at Jacob Lake. No hookups but nice large sites, come with full water empty waste and plan to run the generator. This is the less visited rim of the canyon. Tourist activity on the south rim is a summertime mob scene. I wouldn't discourage you from a visit to the south rim but it is very busy. Bryce Canyon from there would be a good choice. There is a road from Zion to Bryce, Hwy 9, goes through a curving tunnel with an arched roof. Large vehicles have to travel the center line to get through so they require reservations, there is a fee and you are escorted through at a scheduled time. From Bryce we enjoyed the drive toward Capital Reef National Park.
Continuing on east will take you to the area around Moab, UT and Canyonlands National Park, Arches National Park and a host of others. You can access I-70 from there but you will experience some serious mountain driving on your way east into Denver. It certainly isn't impossible but will require all your attention, stay with recommended truck speeds even when the trucks are passing you.
I would recommend a visit to Mesa Verde National Park in SW Colorado. There are spectacular cliff dwellings here, some require a bit of walking and in a few cases, climbing ladders to get into and out of them. Tours are ranger escorted in most cases. We stayed in a park that is right across the highway from the entrance. Not far from there is the Four Corners monument, a small fee, marker at the junction of Colorado, Utah, Arizona and New Mexico. There are many Native American vendors there including some artists with quite nice carvings and other work. We came away with some interesting works purchased directly from the artist.
Just east of Mesa Verde is Durango, CO, the home of the Durango to Silverton Railroad. From there you can make your way through Colorado with some mountain driving or continue on east on US 160 to I-25 at Walsenburg which involves little driving that could be described as mountain driving.
One alternate would be to stop by Great Sand Dunes National Park and then continue on north coming into Denver on the SW side of town. That route has some mountain driving but the pass really isn't that high. I-25 through Denver is very busy and a real challenge at rush hour. Take the bypass on the west side to I-25 on the north side of town.
Another alternate of taking I-25 north into Wyoming and returning that way would be to turn east at Pueblo, CO and take US 50 into Kansas and across southern Kansas, visit Dodge City, Wichita on your way to I-35 north.
I haven't recommended much in the way of campgrounds. We use RV Park Reviews on the computer and the AllStays Camp and RV app on smart phone/tablet to find the kind of parks that we like. Summer travel can be a challenge near the National Parks and the more popular they are, the busier the nearby campgrounds. Weekends tend to be busiest so we always try to find a park near where we want to be with an arrival on Thursday and stay through Saturday or Sunday night. Traveling to and from, you will have less difficulty if you aren't near a popular recreation area. Given that you are traveling with two large coaches you may want to make reservations in advance to get the sites that you want.
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Always glad to see another face on the forum. Welcome, and don't hesitate to join in, the more the merrier.
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Monaco customer service phone number is 877-466-6226. Call, ask for the parts department. Be ready to give them your coach number. Your coach number is the last six digits of the coach serial number. That is not the VIN. Look on the label on the wall behind the driver's seat. Find the serial number and write down the last six digits. That is the key. They can look up all the specifics of your coach and if parts are available they can supply them.
If parts are not available, the salvage yards are a good choice. The price will be better, condition may be good or OK. There are many salvage yards located throughout the country and they do ship materials. The link above is an exhaustive list of salvage yards. Bookmark it for future reference. It is an invaluable resource for those of us who are maintaining older coaches.
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We have the same. I'll get around to removing it some day. For now, if you stand back about 20 feet you will hardly notice the cracks in the Diamond Shield. For casual observers from a distance, they can't see it at all.
I have had repairs done and a body shop will not take the patience to remove the Diamond Shield without simply sanding it off and repainting. You could just have them do it, mine would need repainting anyway.
I have a friend who has removed his Diamond Shield, also on a 2004 coach. His finished job looks great. It will be worth the effort either way. Without some protection, there will be chips. Even with it, my paint has chips. Travel long enough and you will pick up some serious hit that will chip your paint.
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I would agree, it suggests a hostile working environment and I would walk away from that job offer. If it were the only job available and you really needed it, or if the compensation were really way above other offers you might get, maybe it would deserve some consideration. I would tell them no and tell them why. Polygraphs are notoriously unreliable. If I'm not mistaken, they are not admissible as evidence in court.
Cummins ISL Exhaust Manifold Leak: Elkhart Area
in Engines
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Haven't been there but have nothing but good experiences with Cummins Corporate Shops. There is one at 3025 North Home Street, Mishawaka, IN 46545, 574-252-2154. Seeing that it's near Elkhart and Elkhart is RV Central and has been for years, I'm certain they would do a fine job on your coach. By the way, exhaust manifolds must be a problem with the 400 ISL. We are on our third replacement.