tbutler

Immediately after leaving Joshua Tree National Park we turned north to Death Valley. Our base of operations was just inside the Nevada state line at the Longstreet Casino in the Amargosa Valley. We arrived and parked at our very nice campsite, which was flooded in just an hour or so as the sprinklers came on at the golf course. We moved to a different site. It turned out that the Casino was celebrating their seventh anniversary and we would enjoy their celebration. They had scheduled David John and the Comstock Cowboys, a western singing group that we had seen several years earlier at a convention in Reno. We were there for each of their performances through the weekend. We even got the lowdown on the singing group from the parents of one of the band members who was sitting at the same table with us. We added to our collection of their albums and still enjoy the great campfire songs they sing. From the Amargosa Valley we traveled through Death Valley Junction into the park. Once we turned toward the park, we could coast most of the way to Furnace Creek and the park headquarters. On our first trip into the park we drove south from the headquarters to Badwater, which is near the lowest point in the park, more than 260 feet below sea level. Along the way we stopped to see the Artists Palette, the Natural Bridge and the Devils Golf Course. The following day we contrived a bicycle ride from Zabriske Point, coasting down to Badwater Road to Golden Canyon. It turned out the wind blowing through the valley was strong enough that Louise had to walk her bike the last quarter mile. We locked up the bicycles at the Golden Canyon parking lot and then hiked back to Zariske Point, where we had left the car. On the hike we took a side trail to see the Cathedral formation and had lunch on the way back from that side trip. Sitting in the shelter of an overhanging rock in the narrow stream, we were joined by a Raven that waited just a few feet away from us as we ate. We continued on over Manly Beacon and then to Zabriske Point. We lost a hat along the way when Louise bent over to tie a shoe. I started to go after it, but after we watched it cross the second line of hills, I decided it wasn't worth it. Death Valley is a desert virtually without plants. It is just bare naked rocks! As a retired earth science teacher, I found the exposed rocks and the erosional features laid bare to be quite amazing and in their own way beautiful. It is obvious that there are periodic heavy rains within the park as the evidence of water erosion is everywhere. In fact I remarked to Louise that I would rename the park, "Erosion National Park." Once we arrived at Zabriske Point we retrieved the bicycles and returned to camp. The next day we drove to Dantes View, which overlooks Badwater from 5,600 feet above and just two miles from the lowest point in Death Valley. The view was spectacular and I formulated the plan for the next bike ride. The next day, Louise drove me to Dante's view. I unloaded my Bike-E and coasted from there to Furnace Creek, a distance of 23 miles. I had to pedal just a few times, but most of the time I was just enjoying the ride. Coming off the alluvial fan at Dante's View, Louise clocked me at 35 miles per hour -- coasting! What a ride! We moved to the Stovepipe Wells Campground after several weeks. This was the only campground in the park with hookups and it only had 30-amps and water. We stayed for just four days as the temperature was now hitting 100 degrees every day. From Stovepipe Wells we explored the northern end of Death Valley, including Scotty's Castle, the area around Ubehebe Crater and Emigrant Canyon. We also saw the Desert Pupfish in Salt Creek. Our favorite adventure in this part of Death Valley was a hike to the Keane Wonder Mine. The trail to this abandoned gold mine features the remains of a tramway used to bring the ore down the mountainside, several entrances to the mine and the main shaft opening and processing center at the top of the tramway. The trail is a torturous 1,300-foot climb in about a mile of trail. We had lunch at the mine site and enjoyed a spectacular view across the valley before descending. At the base of the mountain is the mill, which we explored after the hike. Our egress from Death Valley provided another thrill. Departing from Stovepipe Wells to the west on California Highway 190 provides some heart stopping driving for RVs as the road is narrow with no shoulder and steep drops. Louise had a spectacular view out the passenger window when she could open her eyes. I bought a paperback book, Death Valley '49, written by William L. Manly, one of the guides who led a pioneer group into Death Valley. After finding a way out, Manly returned to save the pioneers who had been left in Death Valley. No one died in Death Valley, but the wagons were abandoned and most of the oxen eaten while in the valley and on the way out. The tale was a riveting description of the hardships endured by these '49ers as they traveled west to a better life. Our final encounter with Death Valley on this trip originated from Visalia, CA. I got checked out in a Piper Arrow at the Visalia airport. From there we flew over the Sierra Nevada to Death Valley making a landing in the park at the Furnace Creek airport. This airport is the lowest airport in the US being almost 200 feet below sea level. We had lunch and then took off for the return flight. We circled over the Keane Wonder mine and flew east to the Amargosa Valley and our campsite at the Longstreet Casino. Then we crossed Death Valley again headed westward over Scotty's Castle and Ubehebe Crater. Continuing on east, we crossed over Yosemite National Park, we saw frozen lakes and Half Dome from the air. We landed in Columbia, CA had dinner and then flew back south through the central valley of California at night.

I just switched to Verizon wireless phone and spent the next two weeks at a campground with no service. I couldn't get service at my daughter's home, either. In a final insult, when I could get service there I couldn't pick up my voice mail. This was in California, not Alaska! So, yes, it does depend on where you travel. We've been using AT&T for Louise's cell phone, Sprint for mine and T-Mobile for Internet with the theory that we should surely have one of the three working so we could communicate with family. T-Mobile works well for us for cellular, their service isn't the fastest but we find few places were we can't get service. Sprint was not very good for cell service, the vote is still out on Verizon...

I'm with Wayne, got to have the latest greatest! I have no idea how my step works! When I open the door it comes out. If I start the engine it comes in. If something goes wrong, there is a light on the dash that indicates "Step Out". Magic is wonderful. If I turn on the step switch, it comes out every time I open the door and comes in every time I close the door. So I don't worry about the switch. Open the door and the step goes out and stays out. Start the engine and the step comes in. It works for me! Now if I could ever get this pants and shoes thing down, I'd really be on top of the world!

Talk to Allison about your concerns and see what they say. Anything that is programmed can be reprogrammed. I have had our Allison transmission reprogrammed to adjust for my driving style when we purchased a used motor home. Actually it was deprogrammed and then set to learn mode again. I'm sure they can make an adjustment for tire diameter if need be.

For my money, nothing beats and FMCA Convention! If it is motor homes you want to see, you won't be distracted by dozens of trailers, etc. Check the convention schedule for the coming year. You can attend even if you don't own a motor home. By the way, you meet thousands of motor home enthusiasts who are more than a little willing to talk about their motor home! All this and there are workshops on a wide variety of topics and entertainment. By the way, Neal and Carol, we used to live in the St. Louis area before we bought our motor home!

Green Beaver is on target! We have used the RM Motor Carrier's Atlases for years. The detail is great and the large-scale version is perfect for those of us who find tiny type difficult to read while bumping down the road. They are laminated and will last longer than you want to keep them. We still go back to the large scale version that is several years old for detail we can't get in the regular version. This all being said, today I put the computer with MS Streets and Trips in front of my technophobe wife and I think she will likely not use the maps again. She said something to me yesterday about not having the detailed view of some small town in western Nevada and I thought, "I'll bet the GPS maps would answer that question." So I set everything up for her today. We were in new country, on a route we'd never taken before. She was into the maps on the computer in no time. I could tell she was enjoying the whole "new" process when she started offering me several different routes to save time/distance. She noted all the small side roads that were showing up on the computer. At one point she started reading off all the information on the screen to me and I knew my life would never be the same! Now we have two GPS units, his and hers. It is still good to grab the map for an overview sometimes but nothing beats the detail you can get from GPS maps. Only time will tell if we ever rely on the paper maps like we have in the past! Now, this is the FMCA web site, so I must confess that this summer while traveling with Pipewrenchgrip and Laura they were able to locate Wal-Marts better than our GPS using the FMCA Atlas.

We've had a number of these kinds of queries and if your dealer or E-Bay doesn't help, check the RV salvage shops. There are several entries among these posts (use the search feature) that give references for RV salvage. Some of these salvage yards specialize in manuals and documentation. They do ship across the country so you wouldn't have to be near one to get satisfactory results.