tbutler

We haven't run into the utility bill requirement yet. I don't know if South Dakota is requiring this. Guess I'll have to print out the electronic bill I get on the internet for my cell phone or satellite TV bill. These have my SD address on them. Perhaps I'll have to request a bill be mailed to me so it will be on the "official" paper. Ironic isn't it? We finally get to the point where we can eliminate paper billing and now we need it to get drivers licenses. If anyone getting a South Dakota license this year has some feedback and/or suggestions for meeting any SD requirements, please post your experience to help the rest of us be prepared.

Bob and Freda, Enjoyed your note. Eighteen years full time! But how else could you get around to see all the children and grandchildren? What a great lifestyle being full time is. I can't imagine giving it up until I am forced to by health or finances. Enjoy your trip. Maybe we'll see you on the road. We're leaving California the end of the month headed to Texas for our winter stay.

We have always been welcome at rallies when we have attended. Sometimes we arrange with friends to be at the same rally together and other times we go on our own, not knowing anyone. We've attended rallies where everyone was welcoming and friendly and occasionally we've been to rallies where we don't make many connections. For us as full timers, we travel on our own agenda and don't want to be tied to having to be in a certain place at a certain time. We belong to the Monaco International Chapter and the Full Timers Chapter and try to get to those rallies if we are "in the neighborhood." Otherwise, we take advantage of the rallies of other groups when we are near their rallies. If you enjoy rallies, make them a bigger part of your plans. If you don't find them to fit your style, you certainly don't have to feel like you should be attending them. If you find a group that you really want to be a part of, make their rallies a priority. Life for the full timer is a buffet, take what you like and leave the rest for someone else!

Welcome grmalv1, If you haven't already read the discussion Full Timer's Residency Requirements in this Lifestyles section of the Forum, you should take some time to read and follow that discussion. There is a post there citing another thread, Registering Your RV Using a Montana LLC, which deals with some legal complications that is directly applicable to your situation. I won't go into details because there is simply too much in the above cited discussions to summarize in a short posting. You create genuine problems for yourself if you don't clearly have a state of residence. It is something like standing with one foot on the dock and one foot in the boat. Both states may apply their laws to you or your estate, and next thing you know you're needing a life preserver!

Jack & Peg, I wish you luck in selling your home! Like you, I need to digitize my collection of slides from the pre-digital age. I've delayed longer on that than I should. We were through Maine this summer. We really enjoy the scenery in the summer, we're past enjoying the winter scenery though I'm sure it is delightful. When you get ready to head for Texas give us a holler! DaSwansons, I hope your full timing experience continues to be everything you want it to be. We're still enjoying the road after 8 years. Where do you plan to spend the winter?

In our first year of full-time living in our motor home we enjoyed a number of deserts in California. Since then we have visited deserts in other areas and always enjoyed the experience. Having taught school all my life, I had never had the privilege of traveling extensively in the cooler months of the year. This, it occurred to me, was the reason I had never spent time in any desert. Our first real desert experience was Joshua Tree National Park near Palm Springs. We stayed in Indio, CA, for a week in early March while exploring the southern part of Joshua Tree. We hiked to several oasis and gold mine sites enjoying exploring the unique terrain and identifying various kinds of cactus. Following that week we had a meeting in San Diego and spent a week there. When we left San Diego we decided we had to see the rest of Joshua Tree so we headed north to Twentynine Palms. Twentynine Palms is the "home town" of the U.S. Marine Corps Desert Warfare School and a more appropriate place couldn't be found. The Marine Corps Base is just north of Twentynine Palms and Joshua Tree National Park. We stayed at Twentynine Palms RV Resort, which offered a free round of golf per person per day at the adjacent golf course. They even had tennis courts, though they weren't well cared for, they were playable. We took advantage of all those resources as well as the national park. We stayed for two weeks before departing there for our next desert. While at Twentynine Palms we explored one of the most spectacular oasis I have ever seen. Just west of town is Fortynine Palms Canyon. The hike from the parking lot takes you up and over a ridge and then down into the canyon. Along the way there is a spectacular array of cactus. As you approach the canyon, you see the palm trees around the oasis. They stand as a glaring patch of green against a backdrop of desert brown. There at their base flows a spring that supports a whole living community. In the dead fronds hanging from the palms a world of birds live. There is a constant coming and going and a cacophony of chirping comes from within the dead foliage that most homeowners trim from their palm trees. We rock hopped around the pools of water and enjoyed the view before returning to the car, the setting sun lighting our way. Our most extensive hiking experience in Joshua Tree was the seven-mile loop at Lost Horse Mine. We followed the trail from one gold mine to another. There is a large stamping mill at Lost Horse Mine while the rest of the mine sites along the way were mostly holes (deep foreboding holes) in the ground. A few had remnants of the equipment used for mining and at one site we enjoyed the sight of the old rusted box springs of a bed in the corner of the remains of an old mining shack. Most of the miners lived in tents so this was likely the mine owner or superintendent's home. The last mile of the hike was the toughest, slogging our way through the sandy bottom of a dry creek back to the parking lot. We also enjoyed climbing over large granite boulders at Jumbo Rocks Campground. This same granite formation provides some excellent rock climbing experiences in the northwestern part of the park. We saw hundreds of climbers out scaling the sheer faces of rock. There are numerous schools that will take you out here so you can learn the skill of rock climbing. We passed on that! The Cholla (Teddy Bear) Cactus Garden has a spectacular assemblage of Teddy Bear Cactus. These when viewed at sunset are as beautiful as they are painful! The sun shining through the thousands of slender spines catch sunlight forming a halo around the cactus. From Salton View you can look out on the Salton Sea and the area around Palm Springs, California. You are also looking out at the southern end of the San Andreas Fault. This was one of our last stops before leaving Joshua Tree National Park.

We had a Splendide vintage 1994 that was not vented. The dryer operates by circulating cold water through a jacket that surrounds the drum. Water from the clothes condenses on the inside of that cold jacket and goes down the drain. Substantial cold water is used to keep the jacket cold and it will remove water from the clothes but not very effectively. A vented drier is a much better option. We have a Splendide vintage 2003 in our current coach. It is vented and works much better at removing moisture. Heavy clothes such as blue jeans still require some air drying or a second run in the dry cycle. If you have a vented dryer and it isn't drying most of the clothes in a load, you are either overloading it or have a blocked vent. Our dryer is so close to the outside wall of the motor home that the dryer vent is flattened considerably. Even with this, it functions well. Doing a new install, be sure that the vent on the outside wall lines up properly with the vent on the rear of the dryer if possible. Ours is offset about 8" and that is where the vent is flattened.

I'll weigh in on the side of turning off the water heater! That is if you really want to save propane, turn it off. If you don't care about the propane, leave it on. It really depends on your use of water. If you are going to turn it off, do so before the last shower! Then let your wife shower last! If you shower serially, one after another in quick succession, there may not be enough water in the hot water tank for the last person. If you have some time between showers, there will be a full tank of hot water for the last shower and you should be able to turn off the hot water heater before the shower and not notice the difference. By doing this you will be storing a tank full of cold water which will likely warm up (if the outside air temperature is above the ground temperature) even if only slightly. If you turn the water off after the shower, the water heater will have been working hard to heat that water and then you turn it off with a tank of warm water which will cool. You will have wasted the propane used to heat that last bit of water while you were showering! Now, here is the kicker. You probably will save water and propane by showering serially, one after another and then turning off the propane at the end of the second shower. The reason is that you will likely use most of the hot water in the water heater and the water in the water heater will be mostly cold water. You will have avoided having to send hot water through the pipes to the shower twice. For even more fun, you could turn off the water heater before you shower together! But then you might run out of hot water and there goes all the fun.

One of the big errors in storing tires that I have seen on occasion is to store the tires with part of the tire off the side of a board or other surface. If a tire is stored on a surface other than the pavement beneath the coach, the material under the tire must support the entire tire footprint evenly. If part of the tire is off the material, the cord of the tire will be damaged. A friend of ours purchased six cutting boards at Wal-Mart and uses them for parking his motor home. I personally use boards, 2x12's, which on our sloping parking spot bring the coach to nearly level when using two layers on the drivers side and one layer on the passenger side. I always check carefully to make sure that each tire is entirely on the board before hooking up. I also inflate the tires to as near the maximum pressure allowed as I can get them. I have tire covers that protect the tires from UV radiation.

After we hook up, Louise does the light check. When the lights are OK, then she watches me pull forward to see that our toad is free wheeling and also checks the tow bar to make sure the arms have locked. Only after that will she get on board. It has worked for us so far. I have a set of plastic wheel chocks that I use when we park. This summer after parking and hooking up the electric I decided to move forward. When the coach didn't move easily I pushed harder on the pedal. Now we have one wheel chock! I've scraped up the coach on a couple of occasions by moving without having my guardian angel watching while I move. The insurance company paid for both repairs but of course we paid the deductible and suffered the lost time while waiting for repairs. You know the saying, slow but steady wins the race! I've learned that it really helps to have a second set of eyes on the outside whenever I move in close quarters.

Welcome Jack, I can't give you a book but there are numerous resources on the web. There are web sites for the border services for Canada and the US. Look at the discussion under this forum titled: Border Crossing web sites... There is also information on documentation required for the border crossing to Canada and the return to the US. You will also find sites for each province and many of the cities in Canada. We have traveled through all of Canada with the exception of Newfoundland. You will find the campground facilities similar to the US for the most part. You will find almost no campgrounds with 50A service as the cooler weather and the native clientele simply don't demand it. Also you'll find that the Canadians call full hookups three way hookups. Just a little different terminology. Canadian campgrounds are listed in both the major campground directories and I would recommend that you get current copies of both before going to Canada. You will find the best roads in Canada to be similar to good roads in the US. Secondary roads are another matter. You don't have to get far off the traveled path to find narrow, rough roads. That doesn't mean you shouldn't take them, just be prepared for their condition and travel accordingly. A toad is useful for getting to the remote areas that are very interesting to visit. We seldom use phone service in Canada as the roaming rates for cell phones are so expensive. We use Wi-Fi when we can. Most campgrounds along the routes to Alaska have good Wi-Fi. We found good Wi-Fi service more rare in eastern Canada. Many campgrounds there charge for service. The exchange rate for the US and Canada fluctuate constantly. Currently the rate is in our favor but that may change by next year. We were getting about a 10% break in our favor this past summer. We charge many of our expenses on a credit card which has a small exchange charge. We always get Canadian money after we have crossed the border. We use an ATM and get the cash we expect to need. Putting most major charges, campground fees, etc. on the credit card we find an amount near 300 dollars to be sufficient for a month of cash expenditures. Visa and MasterCard are welcome throughout Canada but you will find few if any places that accept Discover cards. Canadian fuel prices tend to be about 25 to 40% higher than in the US so be sure to take a full tank across the border! We have on several occasions returned to the US from Canada to get mail, shop and refuel. This only pays if you are close to the border and the fuel stop is conveniently close also. Sometimes as we travel in Canada we just need to get back "home" for a little while. We enjoy having our phone and cell internet service working. It gives us a good feeling to have all our regular services available. I have blogged our most recent trip through Quebec province into Ontario here on the FMCA site. Share a little more specific information with us, where do you plan to start, when will you be traveling? What are your interests? We have many Canadian members who can add information and make suggestions for things to do and see.

As my granddaughter would say, "Ewww." Cathe, I hope that Wolfe10's post helps out. There is indeed nothing you could have done to prevent this assuming that your engine had oil! In terms of a blow-up diagram of your engine, you may not be able to find something specific to the Cummins 400 ISL but you could look for a blow up of any kind of gasoline or diesel engine. The rod is connected to the crankshaft with a u-shaped piece that completes a circle around the crankshaft. This u-shaped piece (I don't know its proper name) is held in place by two bolts, one on each end of the U. This is a little different than the description of the defect referred to in Wolfe 10's post. That failure would have occurred at the connection of the rod to the piston itself. Either way, the result would be similar to what you describe. At the very least, Cummins should give you a sizable discount on any costs if not paying for the entire cost of repairing the engine. Cummins engines routinely have a 5 year warranty. Best of luck and let us know how things turn out.

In most motor homes there is a large (6" x 8" or so) gray box somewhere in the basement which is a power transfer box. If it has been an instantaneous change in the past for your motor home but is now delayed, it indicates a failure of the electronic components which sense the source of the power and make the switch without delay or interruption. There are many varieties of these switches. If you replace yours, find the exact replacement. I replaced one once that had a momentary interruption with each transfer and it meant resetting every clock in the motor home!

Hello Jack and Jo-Ann, We have spent our winter in the McAllen-Edinburg area each winter for the last 8 years, number 9 is on the horizon. Besides birds which you'll be able to explore to your hearts content, there are bike trails, fishing on the gulf, trips to Mexico, museums, performances of the college groups-sports-orchestra-or any other interest. We love to play golf, swim all winter and join a bowling league. There are dance classes for any kind of dance you want to do. If you want to volunteer, there are opportunities at schools, parks, museums and civic organizations. Various RV parks have entertainment in the parks and there are events that visit the Rio Grande Valley or "the valley" on a regular basis. South Padre Island and McAllen both have convention centers that draw major entertainers on a regular basis. Corpus Christi and it's many entertainment opportunities are a day's drive away. We've spent weekends in San Antonio to see events and to simply spend time walking the River Walk or celebrate the New Year. We always try to make a stop or two when coming into or out of Texas. It is a great state to explore. Take your time coming and going. The Natchez Trace is a great way to get from south to north or vice-versa. Each spring and fall in Natchez there is the pilgrimage which features tours of twenty to thirty homes of the 19th century. These are home tours like no others. The home owner usually greets you at the door. Assistants are all dressed in period costume. Stop and visit parks in states along the way, next thing you know it will be May before you get back to Michigan and you'll be leaving in October and you won't have to winterize at all! If that isn't enough, there are many flea markets. There is a publication "The Winter Texan" which lists all the events at other parks throughout the valley. Many of these events are y'all come type events. They range from dances to performances to dinners (we have lots of dinners). You could just sit and enjoy happy hour with your friends and neighbors. We make friends easily in the valley. Feeling young and crazy, you can join the spring breakers on South Padre Island! Regarding winterizing, we avoid it at all costs! We arrive in the valley in late October or early November and leave in mid to late April. We've spent time in winter climates on occasion. Yes, we use the propane furnace when traveling in cold climates. I would regard the heat pumps as useful only in the 45 degree and above range. We have a winter package with heaters for all our water/waste tanks and use that with the generator if temperatures outside are well below freezing. We've never stayed north in cold enough weather to have to winterize but if you are in Michigan in December, you should probably do the whole bit. When we have had reason to be north in December, it has always been a short stay and we've been able to avoid the full winter treatment. I've always regarded my wheels as the best winterizing method! See you in the valley.

If this method works, I want to hear about it!

There are three discussions relating to this topic under the heading: Motorhomes: Buying a Motorhome Have you read these? If not, check them out. If you have read them or when you do, please post any additional specific questions and we'll try to answer them. One of the difficulties in this forum is finding topics that have been posted in the past. There is a search feature which works and I encourage everyone to seek previously posted discussions and read them. Then, post your specific questions that go beyond the discussion in the current topic. Those questions can be posted within an old topic and it will "pop up" to the recent list of topics to bring it to the attention of all.

Regarding the use of solar panels to charge the batteries and run the refrigerator, this would be a really expensive alternative. Solar panels simply won't put out enough current to run the refrigerator unless you had several of them. Solar panels would provide a charge for the batteries which would slow the discharge rate but they couldn't keep up with the refrigerator. We have a single solar panel on our roof and it supplies only about 12% of the 660 watts needed to power our refrigerator. It would take eight panels to provide all the power for the refrigerator. Even if I had enough roof space for all those panels, I wouldn't spend the money to purchase seven more!

Brett has the best idea, if you can get help from Winnebago they should be your best source of information. If not, we did exactly what you want to do with our coach last winter. We, like you, had a very squeaky TV. Ours had a rear louvered removable panel that helped with the process. That allowed me to examine the mounting method and be able to disassemble the cabinet quite easily. It also allowed us to disconnect all the wires and cables attached to the back of the TV. The key to our cabinet was to look at the bottom of the cabinet on the outside. There were four screw holes, carefully covered and stained so they were almost invisible. These screws held down the angled platform that the TV was mounted on. Once these screws were removed, the platform and the TV were loose and could be moved back in the cabinet to allow access to the mounting straps that secured the TV to the platform. Our TV cabinet also had a removable frame that covered the front of the cabinet. Taking that off allowed easy (well relatively easy) removal of the TV. I should have taken pictures as I was disassembling the cabinet but didn't. I did write up the process, you can find the entry under Coach Modifications. Good luck with your project. I think you'll be delighted with the result.

We visited Coastline Cover Company several years ago and they showed us a "building" like the canvas carports you see in some places. It was a size that would house a motor home. It wouldn't be a building in the standard sense but would keep the rain and sun off the motor home. It would not be in contact with the motor home so the problem of chafing and/or mold would not occur. Coastline Cover Company is located near Los Angeles, CA and has a wide variety of cover products for motor homes, boats and more. We had a custom bra made for our motor home and a custom tow car cover made before our trip to Alaska in 2006. They did the work very nicely and their rates were very reasonable for custom work.

If you reach the point of replacing your refrigerator, one option you may want to explore is to abandon the absorption refrigerator in favor or a household refrigerator. This of course will require a larger electrical supply which may not work with your motor home. I have read of others who have done this. Newer high end motor homes are coming from the manufacturer with household refrigerators. The replacement refrigerator will be much less expensive than the absorption model. Since the household refrigerator won't run on gas, the refrigerator would have to be off during travel or have a battery supply with an inverter to power it during travel. One thing proponents say is that with the household refrigerator, the better insulation keeps the interior colder so the need to have constant cooling is less. Also, the compressor is much more effective at cooling and so it will cool the refrigerator much more effectively than the absorption process. I have a friend who did a bus conversion and used only household appliances. He has no problem traveling for days with his refrigerator. Our refrigerator is nearing the end of its useful life and I am making plans to replace it with a household model. I have plans for moving the chassis batteries to the engine compartment and using their current location for additional house batteries. We have recently replaced our inverter with a larger model capable of supporting a household refrigerator. When our current house batteries (in their 3rd year) and chassis batteries (6 years old now) reach the end of their useful life, I'll make the change in batteries. An additional 2 house batteries, 6 total, are sufficient to power a 3000W inverter which will operate a household refrigerator. I haven't started searching for a suitable refrigerator but have read on other sites of models that some are using. Considering the cost of replacing the absorption refrigerator and its limited operating parameters, I think that a household refrigerator is a viable alternative for motor homes.

After a short stay in Denver, we headed west to California. In Denver we had a couple of days of nice weather followed by snow, rain and cold. We were busy visiting, but the cold and wet weather was something we don't find pleasant. It even managed to snow enough one morning to turn the foothills white. I took care of a few tasks around the motor home while Louise assisted her mother with trips to the beauty shop, grocery and other shops. Our friends Bill and Laura stopped by for a morning visit. We went to breakfast and then they helped us set up our new Wii game. We had parted just over a month ago and were glad to make this connection as they were headed east and we were on our way west. When Thursday arrived I topped off the air in our tires. It was 80 degrees when we rolled in and low 50s when we left, so the tires were a little below specs. Leaving Denver we encountered a few sprinkles but it was otherwise dry. A tailwind eased us across Wyoming. We stopped in Rawlins to fuel at the Flying J. Their website showed that to be the lowest price for fuel this side of Winnemucca, Nevada. Louise took a turn at the driving, taking us almost to the Utah border. We pushed on through Utah, passing through Salt Lake City just before sunset. The setting sun was directly behind many of the highway signs, making the trip much more interesting. There were several turn decisions we had to make simply based on what looked right and our experience of passing through Salt Lake City numerous times before. West of SLC is a rest stop on the hill overlooking I-80. We've stayed there in the past and always found it a quiet rest for the night. It didn't disappoint us this time, either. After a stint of 590 miles, we needed a good night's rest. The next morning we were into Nevada in less than an hour of driving. A stop a Wells got us propane at 50 cents per gallon less than anywhere along our route. Another 180 miles down the road at Winnemucca, we stopped for the cheapest diesel we'll see until we're out of California. Our stop for the night was the Wal-Mart in Carson City. We pulled in just as the sunset was fading from the sky. Louise made a heavy hit on the groceries before we crossed into California. She was careful not to buy any fruits and vegetables, which are prohibited at the border crossing into California. We had covered 470 miles on our second day. This leaves just over 100 miles for our last day. Our route will take us over the Sierra Nevada at Carson Pass on California Highway 88. The climb from 4,000 feet at Carson City to almost 8,000 feet at the pass goes easily enough, though we certainly aren't the fastest vehicle on the road. At the pass is an overlook where we stop for breakfast. The trip down the western slope is more interesting. It is now mid-morning and the traffic coming up the mountain is heavier. The warm weather is perfect for motorcycles and there are numerous groups of 10 or 20. They are later joined by a sports car club. We must have met more than 100 sports cars on their way up into the mountains. We arrived at Gold Strike Village near San Andreas, Calif., just before noon. This will be our home for the next month. Temperatures are pushing their way toward the upper 90s, so I work quickly to get the basic hookups made. A rest in the air conditioning is followed by a stint putting the all-important front sunscreens on the motor home and getting the Trailblazer ready for travel. After a much needed shower, we're off to see our granddaughters and family. It has been just over a year since we last saw them and that's too long. There was a welcoming smile from the 3-year-old and a stare from the 1-year-old that said clearly she didn't recognize us. We had to admit that we wouldn't have recognized her, either. She had changed so much. Where did those curls come from? After this visit, we'll be part of her short-term memory. We'll be back in the spring to solidify that memory. It takes her about two hours to warm up to us. By bedtime she is falling asleep sitting next to me on the couch. The drive was well worth the reward.

I would point out that the heat of the sun screens themselves had another course to disperse heat energy than directly into the windshield and that is into the ambient air around the sun screens. They will radiate and convect the heat of the shades directly into the surrounding air as easily or more easily than conducting it into the windshield. The heat measured from the windshield is not only from the shades but from the energy that passes through them. If you put aluminum foil on the outside of the windshield, that would reflect all energy from the sun but of course you wouldn't be able to see through it. The external solar screens are a compromise between totally blocking the suns radiation and being able to see through the windshield. Most engineered designs are a compromise. Usually there are opposing gains from one interest and another. Engineering is a process of balancing opposing benefits to maximize the value of the final product. You can design a motor home that has much better fuel mileage but is totally unlivable (think a Volkswagen bug). You can design a motor home that has terrible fuel mileage but is very livable (think - I won't name one but there are many). Engineering is to design the best mileage for this or that design. Various compromises will appeal to a variety of people. Business managers and consumer demand will shape how many bus conversions and how many class B or C motor homes there are. The Airstream awning for the front window would be ideal as an awning blocks all incoming radiation while eliminating all conducted heat. As Wayne points out, this would be a challenging application for a motor home. Even if you could design one for a motor home, it would almost certainly negatively affect the fuel mileage because of the aerodynamics (not to mention the aesthetics) involved in putting something on the front of a vehicle that would cover the windshield. I love trees as long as they are nowhere near my motor home. Trees provide the ideal shade from the sun in hot weather and drop their leaves in cold weather. But trees drop sap, leaves, seeds, pollen, insects and everything else on my motor home. Trees block my satellite signal to my television. Thus, my ideal shade is something which blocks all solar radiation in hot weather and lets it through when cold and of course allows signals from satellites in space to penetrate to stimulate my dish receiver so I can see Craig Ferguson on late night TV. Now, engineers in the audience, design that! Meanwhile I'll park in the sun, using the awnings I have and put on my MCD sun screens to take care of the rest. Stay cool!

Seatbelts for everyone! We have 3 seatbelts on our couch and of course the pilot/co-pilot seats. I have made one exceptions for my mother-in-law when traveling with us. We were on a long trip from Lake Havasu, AZ to Denver, CO. During that trip, my mother-in-law rode in the co-pilot seat for about 200 miles and then insisted in sitting in the recliner in the rear. At 81 years old, when she wanted something she got it. I wasn't going to argue so let her be as comfortable as she wanted. If we had made a hard stop or had an accident, she would have been severely injured. On another trip with my 85 year old mother, she also rode in the co-pilot seat from St. Louis to Kansas City but on the return trip insisted on sitting in the rear. She did sit on the couch with a seatbelt. We have had our grandchildren on trips and they have been raised with seatbelts and don't argue when told they must wear them. We put them on the couch with toys and games to keep them busy.

This recession or depression, depending on how hard it has hit you, has hit owners of all kinds of resources from rental business properties to boat and airplane owners, automobile owners and those of us who are RV owners. When this first hit I read of many boat owners who would tow their boats out to sea and sink them. I don't think our RV's will float that far! If you want to keep your credit rating high, you have no choice but to continue to pay on that loan. I don't think there will be any kind of relief from the government for what most people see as a luxury item. I hold out the hope, perhaps in vein, that motor home values will recover in the future. The large motor homes likely will not be manufactured in large numbers again in the future. I think most motor homes in the future will be smaller, 30 maybe 35 feet. Those that are manufactured will have environmental and energy saving features that will increase the price tremendously for new motor coaches. So people who want a 40 or 45 foot motor home at a reasonable price will be looking for a good used motor home. Let me draw a parallel from my experience in the aviation community. In the 1950's through about 1980, large numbers of airplanes like Cessna 172's and Piper Cherokees were manufactured. A new airplane cost in the neighborhood of $18,000 to $30,000. Today you can purchase one of these older planes in "good" flying condition for $75,000 to $200,000. The new planes of the same basic type with all the new required bells and whistles cost from $150,000 to $500,000. The reason behind this was that airplanes began to cost more because the FAA began requiring many safety upgrades and improvements plus the paperwork to get new planes and equipment certified drove the costs even higher. As a result, older planes increased in value as they became more in demand. When demand exceeds supply, price increases. So... If motor home manufacturers, the few that remain, continue to build large motor homes, I'm betting there won't be many and they will be quite a bit more expensive than in the past. At a recent Monaco International Rally it was pointed out that the old Monaco built 6000 motor homes in 2008 and that the entire motor home industry will build only 6000 motor homes in 2009. That is a startling drop in manufacturing. Will manufacturers be able to get loans to continue to build motor homes and expand their manufacturing to old levels? Will people who want to purchase motor homes be able to get ever larger loans to purchase ever more expensive motor homes? Will used motor home values behave the same way used airplane prices have? Only time will tell. In the meantime, I'm paying on my loan and I'm updating my motor home to keep it in top condition. I enjoy living in my motor home and if the values do come back, I'll be ready to take advantage of higher prices to move back to a nice sticks and bricks home when I have to give up the traveling life style. My conclusion: Be patient, enjoy your asset, you don't lose money until you sell it so keep it and see what happens... or you could become one of today's fire sale sellers!

Monaco International (MI) is a chapter of FMCA for owners of the Monaco family of motor homes including all Beaver, Safari, Holiday Rambler, Monaco and the new Monaco RV LLC motor homes. While MI was supported by the old Monaco company in the past, the organization has always been an independent organization and continues to operate with outstanding rallies around the country. Volume 1, Issue 1 of the Monaco International Newsletter can be downloaded from this web site. Read about organizational operations and get registration forms for rallies. The Monaco International Website has up to date information on the activities of Monaco International as well as helpful tips and information for Monaco family coaches. If you have a Monaco family motor home, check out these references for the latest information on rallies and activities of the Monaco International Chapter. Non-Monaco coaches are welcome at MI rallies at a slightly higher registration rate. Rallies featured in the current newsletter: Monaco International 2009 Balloon Fiesta Rally, October 7-11, 2009, Albuquerque, New Mexico Monaco International Pre-Rally All Roads Lead to a Rendezvous in the Desert, March 15-18, 2009 at Pima County Fairgrounds in Tucson Arizona. Monaco RV's First International New Frontier Rally (Sponsored by Monaco RV, LLC Navistar, not Monaco International) will be held October 26-30, 2009 at Beaudry RV and Rally Park in Tucson, Arizona. All brands of coaches welcome at the same rate as Monaco family coaches. See the newsletter and/or web site above for more information and registration forms. I have posted this as a MI member, I am not an officer or employee of the Monaco International Chapter of FMCA.