tbutler

I could write a book but hey, somebody already did. Pick up a copy of Milepost at any bookstore. It is an annual publication and it has the final word on everything Alaska. It covers routes, and things to see. It has advice on Canadian customs and current and forecast road conditions. It is an overwhelming piece of work. You should get a copy as soon as you can. The trip to and from Alaska is one we'll never forget. I'm sure it will be the same for you.

Glad you came out of this one OK. Sharing your experience will help others so you end up doing a good deed! It is unfortunate that many campgrounds are in low places. The land is generally inexpensive and the creek or river that runs through the campground is an attraction most of the time. When you get the kind of rains we saw on the news from Tennessee last week, even places which might not normally flood can be inundated. When you pull into a campground, assess its nature. Is it near a lake, river or creek? Did you cross a bridge before turning into the campground? If so, you need to pay special attention to the weather forecast. The rains that hit Tennessee last week were well forecast complete with severe storm warnings. We had a similar experience several years ago. Tornado warnings were posted for the area where we were. Part of the campground was already flooded and they had been moving trailers our of the flooded area all morning. We decided not to sit and wait to see if a flood occurred. We packed up and hit the road. Louise drove the car, I drove the motor home. We drove through some frog stranglers but were away from the area of flooding. It is human nature to dismiss dangers in the environment. If we didn't do so, we couldn't climb that volcano, spend a day in San Francisco or go to Alaska. Still, it is important to realistically examine your situation periodically and sometimes take evasive action.

The only way I see campground memberships paying off is if you really really like being in their kind of campground and spend plenty of time there. Most membership campgrounds have a limited number of campgrounds. If several of those fit your travel plans then a membership is what you want. Our style of travel during the spring, summer and fall is to go exploring. We spend a week here, three days there, sometimes we stop along our route to several times in a day visiting interesting places and then spend several nights in a campground resting and relaxing. Generally we don't hang around campgrounds when we stay in them. The campgrounds aren't our destination. Our destination is a museum, a hike in a canyon, a wildlife park or some family event. During the winter, we seek shelter from the cold in deep south Texas. We've been coming back to this park for nine winters. We have explored the area and know it well. We spend lots of time in the campground visiting with friends and participating in activities in the park. Louise can find a card game any day and I have a regular schedule of golf, bicycle rides, tennis and bowling. Everyone has their own interests and desires for their travel experience. If you want the campground experience, find a membership park that fits you and join up.

In Eastern Canada the same applies. We ran into locations where no firewood was allowed to be brought into the campgrounds. As Jon said, there are lots of plant diseases spread by carrying wood from one area to another. There are of course other restrictions related to foods and diseases carried by moving them. California is the state that comes to mind for this restriction. Plants are another potential problem. Potted plants have insect pests which can escape to native habitat and cause problems for years to come. If a potted plant is discarded it could escape and become a threat to native species (think kudzu - it didn't escape, it was planted intentionally by someone who thought it would solve erosion problems). The gypsy moth is a concern in the mid-west. We were constantly cautioned to check the undercarriage of camping equipment when coming from other parts of the country into Missouri. I'm sure it seems to be a mission impossible to those trying to contain these disease vectors. All of us should be aware of the consequences of disobeying these restrictions.

Our house arrived on schedule and we are in the process of turning it into a home. Even when the house arrives fully constructed there is so much to be done to make it a home. I watched in fascination as the house was leveled and tied down to its foundation. Being a do-it-yourself kind of guy, I then set about hooking up the water, sewer and electric. To a specialist, these things go quickly. For me, they take somewhat longer. Not content to simply hook up water to the house, I planned a remote line to the front yard. Knowing that I will put in a tankless water heater and a solar hot water pre-heater I put in plumbing connections for a water softener to protect the water heating equipment. Each connection has its own master shut off so that any one can be shut off without turning off all the water to the house. Thus I can work on future additions without disrupting the water for showers or laundry. Electric connections are similar. An additional panel will accommodate the power loads of the motor home and the tankless water heater. A junction box provides access to the incoming line so that when it comes time for the additional panel the work will be easier and faster. The work could have gone faster but would have taken longer in the future and would have caused greater inconvenience. This was written on May 8. Picking up where I left off with this message, now a month later, we are living in the house. The whole process has been an extraordinary adventure. After getting the house up and running, there was a furniture delivery, then a concrete pour for a room addition. That pour like the first was delayed by the weather until I finally made the call and told the concrete contractor to go ahead a pour despite the forecast for rain. We got a two minute sprinkle just as they were finishing up the concrete. Nerves were on edge but everything turned out fine. The third and final concrete pour was for the driveway and was done while we were in Missouri for my son's wedding. True to form, it was scheduled to be done before we left but it rained again and we had to postpone. It was almost a week before the work could continue. About the time we arrived in Missouri for the wedding my computer just about died. The tech that diagnosed it said he didn't know why it was still running. Despite that, they installed a new hard drive with about 1.5 x the capacity of the old one. They installed most of my software, just a few things I'm still working on. I got the computer back last week just in time to return to Texas. Our return to Texas was uneventful. We rented a 5x8 foot U-Haul trailer and loaded all our possessions (other than the stuff in the motor home). We had a few things in the Trailblazer but all in all, I thought it was a pretty lean existence. Two days of hard driving and we were at Sandpipers Resort ready to go to work on the room addition. In the meantime, my mother fell and broke a bone in her leg. At 87, she is slow to recover. Right now she is in a rehabilitation facility and we, my brother and sisters are dealing with life changing decisions for her. Some of us think her days of living alone in her home are at an end. This fall was unnoticed for about 10 hours and she was dehydrated and hypothermic when she arrived in the emergency room. I stayed in Missouri until she was safely in rehab and hope to complete work on the house before she leaves the rehab facility. It looks like I'll make it, they told her 6 to 8 weeks. Now if the rain would just stop so we could get to work on the room addition. Thunderstorms this afternoon brought a halt to all work. The forecast is the same for tomorrow. At any rate, it is good to be back on board! The motor home is safely parked in my daughters driveway in Missouri and we are living in our stick house for the first time in almost 9 years. Can't wait to get back to the motor home! Will we hit the road at all this summer? I sure hope so but it looks like slim pickins (not the actor) this summer.

The mattress in our motor home is custom made. We can't even switch it head to foot. The foot of the mattress is rounded to allow the mattress to fit when the slide out is brought in. If reversed head to foot the corners of the mattress are compressed against a cabinet. Also, the queen size in our motor home is slightly smaller than the typical queen size mattress. When it comes to storing goods, you have to ask yourself how long you expect to stay on the road and how do you see this ending? We are currently in the process of setting up household after nine years full time on the road. I have no regrets in getting rid of almost all our furniture. Our old furniture wouldn't have been useful to us in our new digs. The analog TV's would have been worthless today. The furniture wouldn't have fit the space or style of our new home. The furniture would have been used and then stored. The storage costs would likely have outweighed what we paid for new furniture that fits the style and space of our new home. Everyone has their own answer to these situations. I'm sure you will find a solution that fits your level of comfort. As to the question of the midwest rally in Wisconsin, I think you will be pleased with the rally. Get out and meet people, make friends, attend classes and workshops and enjoy the rich resources offered at the rally. The more you put into the rally, the more you will take away with you.

There have been several discussions of fogged windows here on the forum. One of them I found via the search button in the second menu line above is Fogged Windows which explores various solutions. No one has suggested replacement with single pane so there is no information about that but perhaps some of the companies mentioned could help.

I've seen these in the sewer pipe when I connect or disconnect. We don't have a problem with them in our black water tank. What do you use for your tank treatment? That should take care of the problem. If you are part time in the RV, do you dump and flush the tank every time you park it for a period of time? All tank treatments lose effectiveness with time. I'm sure that something like a chlorine bleach would take care of them but there may be better choices. I'm sure someone will chime in with a cure.

You will find a wonderful cross section of America on the road. But your advantage is that you have something in common with everyone you meet. We are all crazy! We don't need a big house with a bunch of stuff to be happy. We have all found happiness in a journey across the country. Let that be your starting point and don't prejudge responses from your neighbors. They will constantly surprise you! Be open and friendly and you'll find it coming back to you in return most of the time. Like I said, you'll find a cross section of America. Not everyone is outgoing and friendly and you may encounter occasional hostility. As a rule, most RV'ers are a live and let live group if they aren't outgoing and friendly. Enjoy the trip. If you see us on the road, stop by and say hi!

Beware of the ladder as well. Most RV ladders have a weight rating that will be listed in your owners manual. If you don't have the owners manual, contact the manufacturer or a dealer and ask for a weight rating for the ladder.

One thing I know about the weather, you never know about the weather. All we can do is rely on old patterns with clear knowledge that there are always exceptions to past patterns. If you are worried about the weather, and everyone should be constantly aware of the weather, there are things you can do to help you keep track of what is going on. Without being obsessive, you should check a local weather forecast first thing in the morning and again in the evening. If either of these forecasts indicate a cause for concern, keep checking the weather throughout the day. As you see the weather for a day developing, ask youself, "How does the days weather match the forecast weather?" If you see a clear difference in the weather as opposed to the forecast, it is time to check the weather forecast again. Simply being aware of the current conditions and changes in the weather can alert you to possible problems. The National Weather Service operates continuous weather broadcasts that can be picked up on special weather radios. Radio Shack has dedicated radios for this broadcast at reasonable prices. Our CB radio has weather channels and I can usually pick up the current local weather conditions via these broadcasts. My favorite weather program for the computer is the Weather Bug. It is a free program and has local data available for most areas. Frequently you can call up the weather conditions and forecast for a location within 20 miles or less from where you are, complete with radar and storm alerts. As I mentioned in a recent discussion, as you travel you need to know what county you are in as severe weather alerts are usually issued by counties. This makes the information difficult to understand if you aren't familiar with the counties in the area. The best source for county information is a paper map. I haven't found any computer or GPS program that gives county names. Surely there is one but a truckers atlas, state maps from state welcome areas and many other paper maps will give this information but you have to look for it. The more you know about the weather, the better prepared you are and that takes some of the worry out of weather. We never hesitate to plan travel that we want to do. We'll deal with the weather that comes our way. That includes leaving an area early if heavy rains are coming in, avoiding travel into an area of severe weather until it passes and yes, we've taken shelter when tornadoes threaten. Enjoy your trip to Pennsylvania and New York, it is beautiful country, plenty to see and do. We wish you fair skies and following winds.

Leary and Sandra, So glad to hear you had a great time at the convention. Once you attend one, you'll be back as often as you can. We never get to attend as many as we would like. Redmond is a great place for a convention.

We bought our first motor home from some Candians from Thunder Bay! We saw an ad in the classifieds in the St. Louis Post Dispatch! Had to get it imported to the US! Just a paperwork jungle as it was manufactured here in the first place. Always had the challenge of the metric speedometer and odometer. Anyway, there are magazines like FMCA that have listings of motor homes. There are other RV magazines with classified ads. Good source of comparative information about prices, etc. You could put the motor home on a consignment lot. Check on insurance if you do this, your present insurance company may not cover you if it is on a consignment lot. Sorry to hear you are from Ontario and selling your motor home. Where will you go next winter, eh?

You can drill for oil in the Gulf of Mexico for years; it only takes one disaster to change the whole game. What GMAC is saying is based on statistics and numbers, cold and hard numbers. The facts are what they are ...

We've run part of this highway, from John Day Fossil Beds to Redmond the highway is good enough for travel. We visited the fossil beds and enjoyed the museum and a couple of short hikes. We had been on Hwy 218 and 19 through Fossil and I wouldn't recommend those for anyone! I saw snakes on 218 that couldn't get around the corners! That was one challenging drive. By the time we came through those roads, 26 looked like a super highway! Nice scenery all the way as I recall.

There are just four days to go until our manufactured (used to be called mobile) home is moved onto our lot at Sandpipers Resort. I guess they renamed them because they tend to be parked pretty permanently once they arrive on their home location so they really aren't that mobile. Now a motor home, that's mobile! What a funny language we have. Here in the Rio Grande Valley the mobile homes do usually move one more time. Local residents, many of them recent immigrants will buy them for pennies on the dollar when they can no longer stay in the winter Texan parks and they become home to a dozen people in what are called the Colonias. These are small communities with minimal utilities and hardly any roads that become their dream home, getting a toe hold on the good ol' USofA. It's the modern version of a "soddie." Anyway, I'm in the process of running the utilities from the fence line through the conduit to the location where they will be hooked up to the house. Today I managed to get the water line connected and ready to hook into the house. There is a satisfaction that goes with getting everything to fit and work like it should that is hard to achieve in the more temporal occupations. I like building things. I'm not particularly talented at it, every project is a learning experience. I do love to learn! Today Tom and Adelle stopped by to watch me work and visit. I bowled (had my best ever game, a 255) with them several years ago and really enjoyed getting to know them. Tom offered any tool (no help but any tool) I needed. Since I was working on plumbing he offered to bring me his PVC pipe cutter. I had never seen one but, OK, I'll try anything once. He brought it and it looked like a giant scissors. Well, that is exactly what is was and it cuts PVC pipe like a scissors. Wow, I never thought this was possible. For years I cut PVC pipe with a saw. So, I learned something new. There's a tool I've got to have! But, hey, I've got friends and I do have that tool! I found that the main cut-off for our lot didn't cut-off anything, the water kept flowing so I had to shut down one whole section of the park and install a new cut off valve. Thanks to Tom's pipe cutter, I had it all done in 10 minutes. That was a snap! I don't think anyone even knew the water was off. There are only two other couples home in that part of the park. One helped me find the main shut off valve and the other was mowing his yard right by the valve! I guess they knew. Can't get away with anything in a close community. This evening I made a trip to town (Edinburg) to Lowe's to get supplies to keep a crew busy tomorrow. They will arrive at 7:00 a.m. to avoid the heat to the day. We'll put in a half day and by then the temperatures will be well into the 90's. That's why most everyone has headed north by this time. The park becomes a quiet ghost town. During the peak season in the winter, there will be over a hundred people at a feast. We'll be lucky to have 30 people at Cinco de Mayo. It is a quiet calm that makes the park quite enjoyable. Tomorrow I have several members of the concrete crew (see my previous post) coming at 7:00 a.m. and we'll work on some landscaping and final preparations for the arrival of the house. Half the lawn can be roughed in and that is tomorrow's agenda. I have all the "stuff" for the day. Some conduit and gutter drains to be put under the dirt fill. I also have a shopping list for the next day! I hope Lowe's is open late tomorrow night. My project for Sunday is to get the electric run from the main panel on the fence to the point where they will hook up to our home. Bring it in and plug it in! I've done that a few hundred times! I'm excited!

We're on the same wavelength with Brett. We haven't attended any Good Sam events but are members for the campground discount and the discount on the Trailer Life Directory, which we find to be the most comprehensive RV campground directory. We also have and like the GS RV Insurance for Full Timers (GMAC Insurance), which I notice that FMCA has recently brought on board. As far as I can tell, GMAC really doesn't care if you are or aren't GS. Every year when it is time to renew, we debate whether we should renew GS, but we keep coming back. I think the campground discounts are the tipping point. We save more than the membership fee in campground discounts. Unlike GS, FMCA has motorhomes as a common factor. This makes the gatherings more focused on our interests.

Ok, based on that information, I would refer you to this discussion on RV Salvage Yards which are numerous and they are located all over the country. You might be able to find just what you are looking for! If you don't find what you need at a nearby yard, more distant ones will ship. Good luck, let us know what you find. By the way, you can find a number of other articles on salvage yards by going to the search button in the second menu line at the top of this page. Right next to help is search, type in salvage - or any other topic - and you get a list of discussions on that topic.

Welcome sancat11, Here, Smoking Engine, is a link to a previous discussion of a smoking/performance problem with a Cummins 400 ISL. While you have a different engine and the circumstances are somewhat different, you might take the advice in the that discussion. Contacting Cummins with your engine serial number might give you some help.

This is a good question, a common problem that is fairly easily solved. Unlike an automobile which operates in a fairly narrow range of weight, and thus a pressure can be assigned for the front and rear tires, an RV is different. Some people travel with everything including the kitchen sink. Others put only a few things on board for a weekend camping trip. Your first task is to load your '95 Coachman Santera as you plan to travel with it. Be sure to fill the fuel tank and propane tank. If you don't have water in the fresh water tank or the waste tanks, you should calculate the full weight for those tanks. A gallon of water weighs 8.3 pounds. Then you must get it weighed. Before you drive off, inflate the tires near the 80 pound pressure maximum specified on the tires (and I would hope the rims as well). You should not inflate the tires to greater than the smaller of the tire or rim pressure rating. Weighing should be done one wheel position at a time if possible. If you can't get weights for each individual wheel positions, at least get axle weights. Divide by two to get the average weight on each wheel on a two wheel axle, divide by 4 to get average individual wheel weights on an axle with dual wheels. In our motor home the fresh water tank is by the front axle so I would add its full weight to the front axle weight before dividing. Our waste tanks are by the rear axle so I would add their weight to the rear axle before doing the division. If you never use the fresh water or waste tanks you would not need to worry about their weights. Finally, take into account the average weights if you don't have individual wheel weights. In an RV the weight from one side to the other or from one corner to another can vary considerably. Add 10% to the individual wheel weights you have calculated above. Some may recommend a higher amount such as 20%. You be the judge of how much variation there is in your side to side weights and corner to corner weights. Next get a weight chart for the tires you have. You can find them on the internet for most tires. If you don't find the weight/load chart for your tires, see a local dealer to get a paper copy. Be sure you have the correct diameter/ply/model of tire when consulting the chart. Look up the weight on your tire and it gives the pressure to which you should inflate the tire. Note that there are different tables for single tires and dual tires. Now add an additional 10% to the recommended pressure. If it goes over your 80 pound tire limit or the rim pressure limit, you need to shift the load from one tire or axle to the other or reduce the weight of your vehicle if both axles or all wheel positions are at or above maximum. There is an extensive discussion of tire weights in an earlier posting, see GCVW vs GVWR. You might want to take a look at it for more detail and some suggestions on where to get individual wheel weights which will be your most accurate way to determine weight.

You haven't indicated what your problem is. Do you need a new radiator because the other has been damaged beyond repair in an accident or is it a matter of a leak? If it is a case of a leak, I had a 1994 Dynasty with a leaking radiator. I had Cummins take a look at it. They took the radiator to a radiator shop and had it rebuilt. As I recall, the cost was in the $1200 range and covered removal and replacement of the radiator. They replaced the core of the radiator. It worked fine for us. I would check with a local repair shop to find out who rebuilds radiators and get an estimate.

Hello Hop, Thanks for your service. The 101 was not easy duty by any means. Mine was somewhat less hazardous. I was with the 51st Med in Qui Nhon. We ran ground ambulance evacuations from An Khe and Pleiku to the airbase in Qui Nhon. I served there from February 1970 until August when we phased out the 51st and turned in all our equipment. I served with the 498th Medical Company Air Ambulance in An Son for my last six months in country, returning to the US in February 1971. I went straight into teaching and spent 28 years doing that before retiring in 1999. Missouri allowed us to purchase our military time in the teachers retirement system, that made it all possible. Louise and I worked two years after that, bought the Dynasty in April 2001 and were living in it full time by July 2001. We've been on the road ever since. When we purchased our Dynasty, it had been used by snow birds from Canada for several years. They had purchased it from the original owner who hadn't driven it much at all. It had about 50,000 miles on it when we got it. We kept finding little things the previous owners had been making cheap repairs on and spent a fair amount of money getting the rig into reliable traveling shape. It was a good coach for learning and we really enjoyed our time in it. Now we're looking forward to establishing a home at our winter park. We'll keep our Windsor and travel in the summers but will have a manufactured home to live in for the winters. I've just made an entry in my blog here on the FMCA web site. It has been almost six years since we traded the Dynasty so my information isn't fresh in my mind but I'll be glad to offer any help I can in getting your rig mechanically sound. Are you still flying helicopters? I wasn't flying in Viet Nam but did get my pilots license thirteen years ago. I fly single engine planes for fun.

For almost a month we have been trying to get concrete poured for a manufactured home at our winter home in Edinburg, Texas. Today we finally achieved our goal. We have concrete. It is curing and we will have our home moved onto our lot next Tuesday... if the weather holds. Heavy rains could still make the move impossible but we are looking at good forecasts with temperatures in the 90's, sunshine and low humidity. Meanwhile, we have picked out the furniture for three rooms and just went shopping for appliances. Almost as soon as the house is delivered we'll have the basics for living in the house. We won't be there long. We'll be departing for our usual summer travels as soon as we get everything set up. I really enjoy working with the crew that did the concrete work for us. There are ten workers, all speaking fluent Spanish if not speaking only Spanish. Luis and his brother Javier are the crew leaders. Luis does all the business end of things and Javier is the crew boss. The rest of the crew speak English in varying degrees. I was talking with Luis today before the first concrete truck arrived. He mentioned the language of the workers and commented on the attitude of many people about non English speaking people. I related to him our visit to Ellis Island this summer. One of the things that impressed me about this wonderful place was a room that had books brought by the European immigrants, some of their writings and one wall filled with ballots from many locations in the country printed in every language from Europe. Clearly, the ancestors of many if not most of us came to this country speaking a language other than English. Ellis Island should be on your list of places to visit. There are photographs of immigrants coming to America and the faces tell stories that are hard to miss. You can not look at the faces of these people and not feel compassion for them and their plight. What brave people they were and what wonderful contributions they made to this country. Immigrants have always looked different from "us." Immigrants have almost always talked different from "us." Immigrants have consistently enriched the United States of America even though the people who came to America weren't always the best educated, most upstanding citizens. Their experience and hard work have built the great country we have today. The concrete crew that did the work for us today is an example of the kind of immigrants we've had in the past. They came to America with one plan in mind, to work hard and to give their children a better life than they have had. I really appreciate the hard work these men did for us today and I don't care what language they speak, the language of their work is universal. They are recent immigrants to the United States of America and they are following in the footsteps of many of our ancestors. America has a bright future with hard working individuals like these men.

In the event of severe weather (tornadoes, severe thunderstorms) you should do as Brett said in preparing your coach IF you have time. In all cases, you should seek shelter in a permanent designated storm shelter. Most parks in severe weather country will have designated shelters. I've checked in at some parks during severe storm season and had them take us to the shelter to make sure we knew where to go. And, sure enough, we spent about an hour there hoping we would see our motor home again when we returned. In the case of a tornado, you hope to escape with your life. If you are lucky, the tornado will miss you and if your neighbors are lucky, the tornado won't develop. For tornado safety, make it a point to know what county you are located in as tornado watches and warnings are often given by county designations. Again, campgrounds in tornado prone areas may have this information printed on your campground map and rules publication. For a hurricane, I would get rolling at the first possible opportunity. You can do all the prep Brett suggests if you have plenty of warning but I wouldn't delay my departure. If you live in hurricane country, keep your coach travel ready. Besides, hurricane season is the travel season. If you are ready for summer adventures, you're ready to be a hurricane refugee. You don't want to get everything set and then find yourself stuck in bumper to bumper traffic. Many areas subject to hurricanes have limited evacuation routes and fuel and roads can become overstressed in short order. Get some miles behind you, get away from the expected area of landfall and then stop to get any maintenance work done. A motor home is the ideal way to deal with a hurricane, no hunting for motels or driving to the relatives to seek shelter. You can get along anywhere out of the storms path. By the way, we sat out Katrina in Maine. It was one really rainy day followed by a day exploring some of Maine's best waterfalls in full "bloom." I commented to Louise that we should make it a point to follow hurricanes around to see all the streams in full flow! Well, it was interesting from 1000 miles from landfall! Be aware that the landfall is the big news story but the storms that come inland from a hurricane can spawn tornadoes, heavy rain and hail and of course flooding. I'd prefer to be out of the path of the storm if at all possible. The further the better.

Hello hopmarcollinfam, I don't have a solution for you but wanted to say hello. We started out full time in 2001 in a 1994 Dynasty, I know that coach. We had three great years in it before we traded it in on our current coach. There is a company that supplies washable filters for diesels but those who know diesels say it is a bad choice. You can get away with it for a while but they don't remove all the particles they should. Eventually it will cost you more in repairs and damage to a very expensive engine. Good luck with your search. There should be a less expensive product out there but Cummins is still using the same format.