tbutler

Thanks for the note. We looked at the dates for the convention in Albuquerque in 2010. We already have booked a cruise to Hawaii for exactly that time so we'll be at sea instead of in Albuquerque. We always try to get to FMCA if it is possible. We've made it to four in the last 8 years. We'll be at another in the future. Thanks for all the work you did for the convention!

I've traveled through some of this country but not on US 20. I plotted it on my GPS program and it shows elevations from about 200 feet above sea level to almost 5000' in several spots along the route. The worst grade looks to be a 1400 foot drop in elevation in 9 miles of road. As you go east from the last high spot near 5000' there are plenty of curves and plenty of hills and valleys which suggest very slow travel. My GPS shows a difference of 64 miles vs. going north to Portland and taking I-84 from there to the junction with US 20. Unless you really want to see something along the way or just want to see the scenery, I wouldn't take US 20. Someone local may be able to give you a better answer about US 20 and I hope we'll hear from someone with better information. By the way, if I want to go somewhere specific, I'll take my motor home on most any road if I can get information that the route has no low overpasses that would present a physical barrier to travel. We have driven the loop through John Day Fossil Beds in northern Oregon and those were some real curvy steep roads. Hitting 20 miles per hour was a real accomplishment on some of those roads. I will take shorter routes and slower roads if I have the time available. I would likely take US 20 just to see the scenery if I wasn't in a hurry.

Thanks for the information SEAJAY! This is something I had never heard or thought of. I guess you may not have regular roaming service but may be able to roam on any network in case of emergency. Everyone should know about this. Perhaps it should be confirmed with the cell companies and then published in Family Motor Coaching magazine.

Thanks, Jerry, for the information. We appreciate the detailed information about the decision. I thought about it later and I would bet that the comment by the incoming president was not meant as any kind of suggestion that the concert was canceled so the officers could sit around and visit. Those who are in leadership positions come to these conventions and work pretty much all the time, going from one venue to another to meet with various groups. I understand the Governing Board meeting on Monday went for over 12 hours. I believe his comment was an expression of joy at being able to have time to visit, which is so unusual for the organizational leaders. People who reach the top echelons of leadership do so after years of dedication to the work of the organization and likely haven't had much of a chance to relax and visit with people during conventions. I thought the convention was very well planned and run. Louise and I had a wonderful time and if you followed my BLOG, we did our best to keep the vendors happy as well. Thanks again for the information and all the hard work you do for us.

I am sure that everyone would have preferred to have the concert on schedule. As I recall, Wednesday night it rained and the concert was scheduled for an outdoor venue. Perhaps my memory fails me, but I know there was still rain on Thursday morning, which triggered the move of the general meeting to the indoor venue. Even if it wasn't raining during all of the scheduled concert time or not at all, the threat of rain or storms during the concert may have caused cancellation. Cancellations of events such as this one often have to be made hours in advance. All of the electronic equipment has to be set up for the concert and/or taken down before it is damaged by rain. Perhaps we'll get some answers from someone on the FMCA Staff. Remember, all of our officers are volunteers; they aren't getting paid for their endless hours of work on our behalf. Personally I am thankful we have people who are willing to take the jobs they do. The newly elected president didn't take office until Thursday morning, so I presume someone else made the decision on Wednesday.

Friday brought the end of the FMCA International Convention in Bowling Green, Ohio. Everyone was up and moving early. Neighbors said good-bye, caravans formed up, a few wise individuals sat in lawn chairs and watched the parade of motor homes. The electric was shut off as I was winding up my cord. We were away a few minutes after that. The parade out of the campus was orderly and didn't take long at all. The police were manning the signal light to ease our way onto the highway. Louise and I set out for Fremont, Ohio and the Hayes Presidential Museum and Library. We were the second motor home to arrive at the museum. The RV and bus parking was back in only so we circled through the parking lot and found a spot to park along the road. I checked in the office and they said that would be fine. A little while later motor homes 3 and 4 pulled onto the grounds. Apparently there were four people who wanted to sign up for the tour during the convention but the tour was canceled due to lack of interest. We had a lovely tour of the home. The Hayes home is quite stately. The museum was interesting as are all Presidential Museums. There was a special display of the gowns of the First Ladies which Louise thoroughly enjoyed. Leaving there we were headed for an RV park near Bellevue but found the park to be less than expected. We cancelled out of our reservation costing us the fee for a one night stay. It was a misunderstanding. We asked for full hookups with the expectation that included water, electric and sewer. At this campground, full hookups meant water and electric. Somehow that was never conveyed in the conversation. We called ahead to the campground we planned to stay at near Salem, Ohio and they had a site for us so we traveled on. Two and a half hours later we were welcomed into Chaparral Family Campground. It is Christmas in July here. Everyone is wearing Santa hats and decorations are up all over camp. Santa arrived this morning in a fire truck! We have just been joined by friends who will be traveling with us for the next few weeks. We will visit a number of our winter Texan friends as we work our way to the northeast. We'll work out our plans as the trip continues. Tonight we're doing dinner out with one of our friends from Berlin Center, Ohio. RVing makes great lasting friends!

Hello Patty, We have traveled much of this territory but don't know all the roads well. I can tell you that the best route through the Rockies is on I-80. The elevations and grades are not as extreme as other routes. Given that, I would suggest dropping west and south from Rushmore (Don't miss Badlands N.P. for scenery and Custer State Park for Buffalo) to Cheyenne, WY. Take I-80 across Wyoming to Rock Springs (Look for antelope along the highway on this stretch). From there US 191 and US 189 will take you to the Tetons and then on north to Yellowstone. 191 and 189 are two lane winding roads but nothing extreme as far as mountains. Beautiful scenery! We like West Yellowstone, MT for a base to explore Yellowstone but you may prefer another area. From West Yellowstone, US 191 or US 287 will take you to I-90 for your trip on to Portland. This won't be the shortest route but I think you will find it to be without the extremes of high mountains and steep grades for the most part. Enjoy your trip!

Today is the final day of the FMCA 2009 International Convention in Bowling Green, Ohio. We woke this morning to dripping rain. Not heavy but definitely wet. I left the bicycle at home today as our first meeting was at the stadium - or so we thought. Since it was raining they moved the general meeting of FMCA to an indoor location. Makes sense but no one told us. Worse, we didn't find a notice posted anywhere near the stadium so after exploring a bit around the stadium to ensure that the meeting wasn't there, we headed for the big tent. The big tent is where the morning coffee and donuts are doled out every morning. I figured there would be notice of the change in venue there. Before we got there we finally found an official who knew where the meeting was. He offered us a ride in his golf cart. A few hundred feet down the sidewalk we encountered another couple who asked our question and got a ride also. We arrived in time to get in on the drawing for the door prizes, cash money! We didn't win, oh well. But I did hear the name of Roger Marble called but Roger wasn't there! After the general meeting we hoofed it over to the vendors. I talked to Martin Perlot of Silver Leaf Electronics to let him know that he had solved my problem with the install on my new system. Then we renewed our Coach Net Membership for a sizable discount. We saw many people in the vendor area and noted many carrying goods out of the venue. I think the vendors had a pretty good convention. The official numbers on the convention were 2725 coaches, of which 299 were commercial coaches. Not a bad turn-out but slightly less than hoped for. I didn't see an official number but heard that there were more than 1000 volunteers who made this convention work for the rest of us. From an attendees viewpoint, this has been a wonderful convention. After visiting the vendors, we went to the session on Full Timing. Presented by the Full Timers Chapter of FMCA, this workshop addressed many aspects of living full time in an RV. There were four presenters and a moderator. Unfortunately, there was no time left for questions. The level of attendance suggested that there could be more done here. I suspect that this chapter could face substantial growth with the wave of baby boomers retiring in the next ten years. While retirement factors currently look discouraging, time may change the equation and I suspect there are many who would love to move to full time life in a motor home. We returned to the motor home and began preparations for breaking camp Friday morning. The electric goes off about 9:00 a.m. Friday and we hope to be ready to roll by that time. I made a quick trip to town for a few groceries. These trips are always easier when you know where you are going. We had been around Bowling Green long enough to find the basic stores. Karen Rambow called before I returned to check with me for departure time. Finishing our headlights required dry weather and while it had been dry for a while, there were still large cumulus clouds about. I asked Karen to go ahead with the job and we'd take a chance on the weather. She arrived within a few minutes of my return. The job was finished and the skies kindly cleared. I'll have clear headlights again. One more problem solved at this convention. Louise took a walk to the recycling and trash and busied herself with preparing the indoors for travel. I got the toad and motor home ready to go. We are essentially boondocking with electric right now. Tomorrow we'll get breakfast, hook up and be on our way. Many of our neighbors left during the day today. Maybe 20% of the attendees are gone by this evening. The grounds will be clear tomorrow. Those who want to stay in Bowling Green can stay at the fairgrounds. We will be on our way to Fremont, Ohio to visit the Hayes Presidential Center. There was a scheduled tour to the center but not enough interest so I told Louise we'd make that our first stop. We plan to park the RV somewhere near the center and spend some time touring before going on to the Lazy J Family Campground near Norwalk, Ohio.

Mike and Christina, Glad to hear your results were good. As the weather gets colder, you'll find these same principles work but you'll have to be more aggressive with them. Turn up the ventilation when at times when cooking or showering to keep the moisture from accumulating in the air. The colder the surfaces of the motor home the easier it is to get condensation on them. Enjoy your travels.

OK Gary, I don't know the kind of motor home you have or what your standards for campgrounds are. The closest community with campgrounds for the airport according to my Garmin MapSource and the Trailer Life Campground Directory is Frankfort Springs, next closest is Beaver Falls and then Darlington, PA. Frankfort Springs has one campground listed, Raccoon Creek State Park (888-Pa-Parks). it has 172 sites, 20x35 ft. size. and 50 amps. There is a dump station. If you are longer than 35, this won't work. Garmin shows the shortest distance from Frankfort Springs to the Airport road to be 13 miles and the fastest to be 17 miles. Beaver Falls lists Harts Content Campground, 724-846-0005, 110 sites, 30 available (transient), 22x38' size, sites have water and electric 20/30A and water. There is a dump station. Also at Beaver Falls, Shawnee Sleepy Hollow Campground, 814-733-4380, 76, 60 available, 4 pull throughs 55x80, back ins 45x50, sites have water and electric 20/30A and there is a dump station. Garmin shows the distance from Beaver Falls to the Airport road to be 27 miles by the shortest route and 31 miles by the fastest route. Darlington has Crawford's Camping park (724-846-5964) listed with 20 sites available, 30x90 pull throughs and 30x50 back ins, 40 have water, 7 have sewer, 40 have electric 20/30 amps. Garmin shows the fastest route here to be about 31 miles and the shortest route to be 31 miles! So there you have it. There is the usual disclaimer for variations in distance, these were calculated from city center, not the actual campground location. The Trailer Life Campground Directory is 1.5 years old (I get one every other year, alternating with Woodall's) so the information may not be entirely correct. Contact the park for specific up-to-date information and reservations. These locations were all to the NW of Pittsburgh. Since the airport is NW of Pittsburgh I would assume the easiest access to the airport would be from that direction. You may find some campgrounds closer to the southwest but would have to traverse what looks like urban traffic to get to the airport. If there were anyone from Pittsburgh keeping up with this forum, you might get a better answer. I have never camped anywhere near Pittsburgh so this is the kind of information we use for selecting our campgrounds. We, Louise and I, are adventuresome. Sometimes we find a gem and sometimes we find a real dog. Louise loves dogs, the tail wagging kind. We avoid the other kind. Still, it is only for a weekend I assume so you can live with the dog if that is what it turns out to be. As long as you dress well and shower before you go to the reunion, who is to know where you are living. Interesting that no one near Pittsburgh seems to need a sewer connection. Either no one there ever ... or maybe no one ever stays there long enough to ... This is free advice for what it's worth! P.S. Note to readers. Valuable resources: A Campground Directory (even if it is older) and a good mapping program. Google works but having one on the computer is so much faster and doesn't require an internet connection. Personally I find Trailer Life much more useful than the Woodall's Directory so even though I have a newer Woodall's, I didn't bother to dig it out because I wasn't being paid! We use it if we absolutely can't find anything satisfactory in the TL Directory. Woodall's doesn't give any indication of rates/prices on way too many of their entries. They do however occasionally have an entry that TL doesn't have. That's my opinion, I could be wrong.

Hello ChunkyB, I posted a list of salvage yards in the General Discussion under the title "An Excellent Source of RV Information." There is an extensive list with their specialties listed. I think several of them mentioned manuals. If you can't find the manufacturer (a real trick these days), give the salvage yards a try. By the way, I'm sorry to hear that you had such a bad experience from the dealer you purchased your motor home from. Thanks for warning the rest of us of this kind of conduct. We travel through New Braunfels every spring and fall. We love that area of Texas. We purchased a motor home at a rally from a dealer that went out of business a year later. They re-opened on the same site with a different name. This was four years ago, long before the current financial situation. Perhaps we'll put part of the payment in escrow next time! I don't know what other recourse we have, frustrating and costly for us. Fortunately, there are some really good dealers out there who will take us in and give us service when needed.

The flags and gizmos are flying high today. The parking area takes on a festive look with numerous coaches flying flags or wind toys of various kinds. There is a stiff breeze right now and they are in their glory. We just heard a clap of thunder from a storm that has been building over Toledo. We might have some rain tonight. Meanwhile, I am relaxing in my easy chair, dinner is a few minutes away. I have the Trailer Life Campground Guide on the floor next to me. I have been appointed to find a campground for several friends that are meeting us on Sunday. We will tour eastern Ohio visiting fellow Sandpipers (our winter resort) then set out for New York to pick up more Sandpeeps (another name for those of us who stay and play at Sandpipers)! Three or four of us will go on to Maritime Canada. Louise and I are resolved to continue on to Atlantic Canada. Atlantic Canada, that is the term the residents of Newfoundland prefer. I learned that at the seminar I attended yesterday. While all this planning and writing is going on, I have a Cummins technician busy changing the oil and filters in our generator. If the rain holds off I'll get a professional polishing of our headlamps which have clouded over so badly that I hate to drive at night. One of the benefits of the convention is the accessibility of service personnel for taking care of problems. Another is the vendors with all the stuff you must absolutely have for your motor home. I'm doing my very best to keep them in business. I was there when the doors opened this morning. I bought a set of plug dogs to help me separate my power cord from the extension cord or adapter I use. One yank and they are apart. Great invention! Motor Coach Designs had just the window shade I needed to fill the gap between the power sunshades on our windshield. How many times have we been driving with those shades down in early morning or late afternoon when the sun is right between the two shades? Now I'll have that solved. I found the waterless cleaning solution (Wipeout) that I use for keeping the coach looking good when we can't wash it and purchased a supply that will last me for a while. Much cheaper than ordering it and paying postage. And then there was Camping World. Some water filters with a special sale price and a spare hose. I stopped at a Pressure Pro dealer and picked up a couple sets of mounting brackets. The sticky Velcro tape gave out a few weeks ago. I'll see how permanent the suction cups are before I take them off and screw the clips to the wall! After this I had to make a run back to the coach. Any more and I wouldn't be able to carry it all back on the bicycle. This morning Louise and I got a run down on the National Highway System. Kent Lande is a civil engineer and a motor home owner. He gave us a fact filled presentation spiced up with photos of outrageous overloads from around the world and the ever popular road kill recipes. Louise packed a picnic lunch for us so we relaxed between sessions and had lunch. Then she was off to the vendors to purchase some sheets while I attended a workshop on the Silverleaf engine monitoring system. After that workshop I had to have that system. I purchased the computer version and will install it this evening. I also picked up a replacement cable for the break away system of our Roadmaster tow bar and braking system. I wasn't kidding when I said I was doing my best to keep the vendors in business! I enjoyed music while eating a doughnut and drinking some hot chocolate (never did develop a taste for coffee) for breakfast this morning. On our bike ride to the morning seminar, Louise and I enjoyed the sight of the children's activities. The youngest ones were busy rolling down a hillside, one after another. The older children looked to be on a field trip of some kind. Everyone seems to be having a great time. The buses seem to be keeping up with the moving crowd so I would have to say that transportation looks better but then I'm riding my bicycle!

Jose and Karen, I have had Coach Net Service for the last five years and have been very satisfied. I had Good Sam earlier and had some issues with their service. I have had good experiences with both when they have provided service promptly so can't say it is all bad. They will deliver a big wrecker as soon as they possibly can. When we were stuck in the mud with several thousand other motor homes at FMCA in Hutchinson, Kansas in 2002, we called GS and expected to be number 500 in line. We had a wrecker in about 15 minutes and were out and on our way in short order. We had one experience when GS told us no wrecker was available until tomorrow and we would have to call back tomorrow when we were ready to tow. They wouldn't make an appointment for tomorrow. We were in an RV park with an engine breakdown so it wasn't like we were in danger, just inconvenienced. On another occasion, they sent out a truck with a tire and wheel neither of which we could keep but would have to purchase to take care of a flat tire. I told them no deal but they said that was my service call. I had to arrange service on my own. I had to buy a wheel I didn't need but at least got the proper size tire. In the long run I came out cheaper getting my own service than I would have been taking their service. My expense wasn't their concern, they wanted to send the closest repair service. That was the last straw with their service. I'm renewing my Coach Net service at the FMCA Convention in Bowling Green. They are offering a $20 discount for renewals here at the Convention! If you are a first time customer, they should give you a better price for the first year. If you are renewing you could ask for the convention rate! Doesn't hurt to try! If they say no, you can always drop by the convention!!! Then again, the drive from California might cost more than your savings.

Hello Rayinnc, Our preference for parks while visiting Yellowstone has been West Yellowstone, MT. There is a top quality park right at the park entrance, Grizzly RV Park. There is also a KOA in West Yellowstone. We stayed at Lionshead which should now be KOA. It is about 7 miles from the park entrance. Staying in or near West Yellowstone has you near food and groceries, etc. We have also stayed in Grand Teton National Park but Yellowstone would be a longer drive from there. Grand Teton Park RV Resort is right on Jackson Lake at Coulter Bay and a beautiful wooded campground. The Tetons also have plenty to be seen. You will be just south of Yellowstone and it can be a base for exploring the southern part of Yellowstone. You haven't given us your interests, history, geology, wildlife, hiking, boating, fishing or just general travel. What ages are your children? There are some great hikes in Yellowstone that will get you out away from the general tourist population but I wouldn't recommend them if you children are very young. We purchased a small yellow book that listed about 40 of the best hikes in Yellowstone. It was only a few dollars, written by a park naturalist. It described the hikes in terms of difficulty and what you could expect to see. I highly recommend this for an activity if your children are old enough. You are in bear country and small children can be a concern when hiking away from the populated areas. Also if your children are small, keep a tight watch on them when visiting the geysers and thermal areas as many of these areas have only a thin crust of material over pools of boiling hot water. A small child can dart off a boardwalk and be in bad trouble in a flash. Big wildlife, elk and bison are abundant in Yellowstone. You will likely see some moose as well. You don't have to look for them, look for the traffic jams. You will see people who have no concept of a wild animal and will get way too close to animals. Most get away with it but once in a while somebody finds out how fast a bison or bear can move. The results are not pretty. The thermal areas are all worthwhile. Some have geysers which erupt on varying and sometimes unpredicted schedules. It is a treat to get to see a geyser when you are only one of a few dozen people watching. Yellowstone is a huge and very beautiful park with a little something for everyone. Give us a little more information, tell us how long you plan to stay, where are you coming from? Do you have a toad? The better we know you and your family, the better your answers will be.

In a post on June 30 in the Legislative Action thread, on the topic of Rest Areas, I suggested that this very thing might happen. I would bet that this is just the beginning of a tidal wave of cost cutting by states that will result in a variety of problems for the traveling public and motor home enthusiasts in particular. It is short sighted, traffic safety will decline as a result of this action. But when there is no more money, some difficult decisions have to be made. Virginia was never a really friendly rest stop state by my experience. This will take Virginia off my travel list for the immediate future.

It is hard to describe the wonder of watching close to 3000 motor homes assemble in one place in a matter of two days or so. Think of the dynamics of it, a city of 6000+ people (official estimate) and 1000+ dogs (my estimate) and who knows how many cats, suddenly assemble in one place. For the most part we are self sufficient. Sure, some of us have an electric supply but we could do without it. It really is quite an amazing event simply to watch the parking lots fill with motor homes and find yourself in the middle of this mass of humanity, all living in a few hundred square foot living space. We were up early this morning to attend a workshop on the Canadian Maritime and Atlantic Provinces. Timely information since that is our goal this summer. We have been there before but want to go to the extreme, Newfoundland and Labrador. The workshop was presented by representatives of Adventure Caravans but gave a fair account of the travels without mentioning the caravans until the final few minutes. The information was quite helpful to those of us who are more likely to travel on our own schedule and with our own interests in mind. We were uncertain about the additional expense of taking the motor home to Newfoundland but have decided it is definitely the thing to do. After that workshop I took a break to take a trip to town to get an inner tube for my bicycle. I had three tubes for the rear tire but none for the front tire which was now flat. The cause of the flat was a leak in the valve stem, not the valve but the side of the stem! I found the bike shop on the internet and picked up a tube and installed it on the bicycle. Shuttle problems solved. The shuttles seem to still be rather random. They are functioning but not by any system that I can discern. Now I have my bicycle and I am free!!! This afternoon we enjoyed a performance by the Bowling Green State University Brass Ensemble. The initial minutes of the performance was interrupted by the random activity of the lawn sprinklers! But after resolving that problem, the performance was wonderful. A wide variety of music was performed for a standing room only audience. In the end, the entire audience stood for a round of applause. The motor home exhibits were opened at 1:00 p.m. promptly and were well attended. The exhibits were a little more austere than in past years. Smaller, much less carpeting, and apparently the vendors were prohibited from offering the motor homes for sale by Ohio law. Ironic, we came here to celebrate the motor home lifestyle and the sale of the motor homes which is horribly depressed today is prohibited by Ohio. I guess Ohio doesn't need the income from this city of 6000+ motor home enthusiasts. We looked at a number of motor homes and as Louise said when we got home, our motor home looks even better now. We returned to our motor home late in the afternoon. I have a project in progress and spent most of the afternoon and evening working on trying to run the video cable from the dish on the roof to the rear bedroom. I am over half way with only a few obstacles yet to conquer. I passed the cable through the floor under the cockpit with great difficulty and spent much of the rest of the afternoon working under the motor home threading the cable over and through compartments. The neighbors were much amused at my obsession with completing the job. By the time Louise called me for dinner, I needed a shower badly before coming to the table. Tuesday brings the opening of the vendor exhibits and the regular operations of the motor home exhibits and the service center. We have scheduled a routine generator service with Cummins/Onan and it will be performed in the next few days. That will save us a stop somewhere on the road in the next month or so. If you haven't been to an FMCA Convention, the service center is one attraction. If you have a problem with certain systems, the vendor will schedule maintenance to repair you system if possible and it is done on site. That difficult problem that no one else seems to be able to repair is tackled by the people who built the system. Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday in full swing and then it all ends and in a day the whole village of motor homes disperses to the four corners of the North American Continent. Poof, we'll all be gone! But that is yet to come there is so much more to do and see! I'm looking forward to talking to Xantrex at their booth. Our inverter is very important to our lifestyle and we are having some problems. One more problem to be solved. There are many interesting workshops to attend tomorrow and many new friends to meet.

The Monaco International Pre-Rally for the FMCA Bowling Green Convention got underway on Monday, July 13. We had about 165 coaches on the grounds and one dealer, Paul Evert's RV Country from Fresno, CA, who had about 12 coaches for sale. Some sales were made but mostly people were looking. Louise picked out one she likes, I would go for another but not until we win the lottery! Mike looked up the blue book value of our motor home and it was an eye opener. We knew the value would get there eventually but were surprised to see it there already. The new Monaco, Navistar-Monaco LLC was at the rally and got a warm reception. Monaco remains alive and the company is rebuilding slowly. New coaches will come at a rate supported by sales. The new company has about 12% of the employees that were working a year ago. Without Navistar we would all have orphan coaches. To know that the parts and technical staff is coming back is very reassuring for all Monaco owners. We all had a good time. Some of the vendors were busy, others saw hardly any business. Service and repair were popular. We picked up a used satellite dish system to replace the one that came with our motor home. The old one was tied to an outmoded receiver due to the need for a slow speed data port. The new dish has all the software built into the dish unit. It does not need the receiver to identify the correct satellite. The vendor installed it for us. Now we are working on getting the new receivers installed. We added an incoming feed from the dish so we can have different stations in the living room and the bedroom. I moved the receiver in the front to a cabinet with a mesh front so it will work with the non-radio remote. I have run the new incoming cable to the floor and am ready to run it under the floor to the bedroom. The weather was excellent. We arrived in Springfield just behind some heavy thunderstorms. Those were followed by sunshine and moderate temperatures. The golf tournament had excellent weather as well. Our closing event was Friday evening. Three motor homes were sold during the rally. Saturday morning we left in a caravan to Bowling Green. We were number 24 in a caravan of 45 motor homes. Quite a sight to see that many motor homes all traveling together. An early start at 6:20 helped to get us down the road with minimal disruption of traffic. We arrived in Bowling green about 9:10 a.m. Attendance looks strong here at Bowling Green. I have no idea how many coaches are here and more will arrive today. The parking crew really has their act together. We arrived, unhooked toads and were in our parking spots in 15 minutes! It is a pleasure to see a great team effort, everyone knowing their job and getting it done! The electric was even turned on early and there are portable showers near the Bowling Green State University Stadium, just a short walk from our coach. The cool weather continues with early morning temperatures in the 50's (10's for the Celsius crowd). If you are in Bowling Green, look for our coach on lot 6-4, 1st Street, 14th coach on the south side of the street! F294521.

I'm hesitant to weigh in on this one. As Cookie & Gary said, beauty is in the eye of the beholder! I have been able to park my motor home in my mother's driveway when we visit her for several years now. I'm not sure if the town where she lives has any regulations but I do my best to keep a low profile while there. I'm sure if any of the neighbors were to object the police would come calling to ask me to move even if there weren't a regulation. Mom is in a sparsely populated area, nowhere near the heart of town, I think that helps. When we bought our motor home, I checked with the police in the county where we lived. It is an urban area and they would allow street parking for two days which is what we did when we were ready to move into our motor home. When the neighbors came by, we showed them through the motor home and told them of our plans to live in it. Everyone was friendly and we heard of no complaints. It is nice to be able to do things like this from time to time. Much like the overnight parking that some states limit or prohibit, parking and/or storing a motor home at your home should be done with the objective of being a good neighbor and keeping a low profile so as not to call undue attention to your motor home. By doing so, you may be preserving the rights of other motor home owners to continue parking at their homes. All it takes is one "bad" apple to spoil it for everyone else. If you are moving and know that you want to keep your motor home at your home, even if for a short period of time, you should check the community rules before purchasing the house, just as you would investigate the schools in a community to be sure your children will get a good education. If you are faced with a law limiting or prohibiting RV parking in residential areas, you can fight to keep your right to park at home. If it looks like the support for the law is strong, then you may have to seek some compromise that might set conditions (set backs from streets, screening, covers, time limits, etc.) for keeping the motor home at your home. If all else fails, you might try to get a grandfather clause written into the law. That would at least protect the rights of those who purchased their homes with this right.

We have a full width mudflap at the rear of the coach as well as a mudflap behind each rear dual tire pair. In addition, we have the Roadmaster Guardian in the link that Brett mentioned above. When we went to Alaska, we added a tow car cover from Coastline Cover Company, http://www.coastlinecover.com/ based near Los Angeles, CA. We went to the factory and they made a cover for our car and coach, custom on the spot. They have hook-ups for power and water available at the factory. At the time, they were offering to make the covers in custom colors. I don't know if they still do that. Anyway, they used our custom job to make a pattern for others who have our vehicle so they can enlarge their offerings. They didn't charge any more for the custom job than for the standard cover they sell. Given all this protection for our toad, we still find bits of gravel on the roof if we go over 20 MPH in a construction area with gravel (chip seal kinds of sites). We also get sand and grit in the sweep pads of the side windows. When you roll the window down after traveling, you will hear scratching and see the result of this. You can try to wash out the window sweep pads but can't get everything out. This sand and grit will be found when traveling any road, interstate or gravel, coastal or inland. We have had no major damage to our toad while in tow behind the motor home but there will be minor damage to paint and windows on an ongoing basis. We figure we'll keep the toad until the wheels fall off!

Hello Qjequack and Grammak! We are a friendly group! Except for a few marines and sailors who are busy scrapping with each other. There is a service star to put in your "window" for your son (look on the photo section of the community) and that will make any sailor and marine stand up and salute! We are coming through the NE this summer, join us and we'll get you out of state. NH isn't so big that you can't get out of state! Go to Ben-N-Jerry's Ice Cream in Burlington, Vermont! RVing is about exploring and having fun, even if just for a day or two. Spend a weekend in Newport, Rhode Island and explore the mansions along the sea. Take a drive to the Finger Lakes in New York! Just get out and go. If you catch the fever, follow it to where it takes you! If you think Clarke is going to quit working when he retires to go RVing, think again. I'll bet he is the one who dumps the waste tanks! He will likely take care of hooking up the utilities and unhooking them when ready to move! It is a great life, everyone works, everyone has fun. Welcome to the RV world!

Our destination park for the visit with my brother was Levi Jackson State Park just south of London, Ky. The signage is excellent. The trees on the road into the park need trimming badly. We will leave the park via an alternate route. Kentucky Highway 229 is much more motorhome friendly than the entrance off US 25 that is given in the directions in the campground directory. We arrived without reservations. We could have made them several days in advance, but when the awning repair was finished we were inside the reservation period. There was one site left with full hookups. They invited us to take a look at it to determine it's suitability. The site has a level concrete pad 10' x 50' with a 20' x 40' gravel patio complete with a fire ring and a sturdy picnic table. In front and behind the concrete pad is asphalt, so the total length of the pad area is about 80'. There are plenty of trees around but none will interfere with our satellite TV. With 50-amp service for $25 a night, this can't be beat. In the typical private RV park, we would have another RV between our neighbors and us, but here the sites are 60 feet wide so there is no feeling of crowding. The park is loaded with families in trailers. There is a nice swimming pool and many other recreation facilities in the park, so it is a great place to bring the family. We have one of about 12 pull-through sites. My brother lives about 3 miles from our campsite. Very convenient! The one downside is that there is absolutely no Internet service here. No Wi-Fi, our cell modems don't pick up any digital signal service. Most of the people here don't care, but we sure would be happier with service. We can get e-mail and a few other things done on the Internet while visiting my brother. He moved from Minneapolis last year about four months before FMCA was there. A year and a half after losing his job in a merger, he landed an excellent job in retail grocery. His success with the new company translated into a new position he accepted about three weeks ago. He is now the Chief Operating Officer of the parent company of the subsidiary that brought him here to London, Ky. We had a good visit and learned much about his new position. Our father, a lifelong grocer, would have popped his buttons! On Thursday we had an 8:15 tee time at a nearby golf course. The course wasn't the fanciest, but we got some practice for the golf tournament at the Monaco International Pre-Rally in Springfield, Ohio, next week. This was important, as neither of us had played golf in three months. It certainly showed. I won't disclose scores except to say that I managed to get one par late in the round, and that was an amazing improvement from the first few holes! After golf we drove into Corbin, Kentucky, just a few miles south of the golf course to eat lunch at the Colonel Harland Sanders Cafe and Museum. The museum is combined with a KFC restaurant in a re-creation of the first restaurant Sanders had in Corbin. It was here he developed his reputation for his fried chicken. The simple displays at the museum chronicle his starting days. Not a major museum, just samples of the good old days where Kentucky Fried Chicken really was fried in Kentucky. We left Saturday morning to drive to the vicinity of Springfield and the Monaco International Pre-Rally. Parking starts Sunday morning at 8 a.m. and the electric hookups are first come, first served.

Brett, Some good points here. I would consider using a different chemical than chlorine. I know this is the standard for public water systems but I haven't used chlorine in years. Chlorine is so corrosive, it chemically attacks seals and other components. I worry about what chlorine is doing to the plumbing in the motor home. Besides valves and seals, the faucets and drain hardware will be attacked by chlorine. I used to add a small amount of chlorine to any stored water but my hoses were breaking down at a high rate. Since stopping this practice, I have had many fewer hose failures. Now I concentrate on keeping the water fresh. My hoses are kept fresh by connecting ends rather than sterilizing them constantly. I use flat hoses and those are thoroughly drained and dried before storing. In addition with each use I give them a good flush with fresh water before making the connection to the motor home. I am also choosy about the water that I store. If possible I'll use the water for several days in a campground before filling the fresh water tank. If it is exceedingly hard or has any questionable characteristics, I'll not fill with that water and wait for another source if possible. Of course if boon-docking regularly we sometimes don't have a choice but then that water won't be stored for long. If water has been stored for a longer time than desired, I'll simply drain it and rinse rather than running it through the system. I always keep some water in the storage tank for emergencies so after draining I'll refill to at least half full with fresh water. Being full time it usually isn't a problem keeping the fresh water tank in good condition. It is a different game for those who use their coaches only occasionally. Finally, we have adopted the practice of purchasing filtered water in bulk for drinking purposes. I don't believe it is possible to maintain a 100% sanitary drinking water source in an RV water system given all the variables in where we get water from. It only takes one bad water source to contaminate the whole system. That combined with the fact that the fresh water is invariably found adjacent to the sewer connection both in the RV and in most campgrounds raises the likelihood of some kind of contamination for even the most conscientious person.

Steve and Lynette, Thanks for the great post! Duluth! We were just telling another couple about our visit to Duluth last summer. We stayed at the marina and loved watching the Great Lakes ships coming and going under the high bridge! Really had a fantastic time and recommend a stop there to everyone. I know what you mean about being in one place too long. We have occasionally packed up and taken a short trip during the winter and then returned to our winter home. We love our winter park and all the great people there. One year we spent two weeks at Big Bend National Park in late March. The desert plants were all in bloom and the weather was perfect for hiking. We did some 4 wheeling on some of the remote roads and just generally enjoyed the park. It was a refreshing break from the routine golf, bike rides, tennis, bowling, swimming, water volleyball and other activities at our home park. Besides the wonderful people and great activities, the advantage of staying at one winter location is that we have an annual lease on our lot. We can just show up and know our space is there for us. We have made improvements which can be sold to someone else if/when we decide to go somewhere else for the winter. The rates in south Texas are quite reasonable. If we stay five months, we are paying about $15 per night plus the electric used, about another $3 per night. Not bad for a first class facility. This coming year we will break up the winter stay with a cruise in March. We also do some weekend trips with friends. I fly small airplanes and we flew friends to Port Aransas, TX for a weekend. We are thinking our next trip to Alaska will be via the ferry on the inside passage, making stops at landings along the way for extended visits. Newfoundland is on our radar this summer. We're not sure if we'll take the coach or just the toad. There is a presentation at the FMCA convention in Bowling Green on Newfoundland. It is on my list of must see things. Not having to make definite plans is part of the joy of full timing.

AnnHester, I was reading the post, http://community.fmca.com/index.php?showtopic=244 Driver Licensing - SC and Other States when it occurred to me that you might have to consider the regulations in your home state for your drivers license if you are using your motor home in support of your business and deducting motor home expenses related to your business. If you read my post there, the response from the South Dakota drivers license bureau indicates that a commercial drivers license is not required if the motor home is used for recreational purposes only. That is South Dakota, what about your state? If their laws are similar, then you might need to get a commercial drivers license to stay on the right side of the law.

Ann, The short answer is yes, you can deduct some of your expenses while traveling in the motor home on business. The long answer will have to come from a tax attorney or a tax accountant who can sit down with you to discuss your specific situation. Things like the amount of time spent working vs. vacationing or sightseeing and visiting friends and relatives, etc. as well as whether you have a permanent home may affect how the law applies. There are IRS publications that you can use for initial guidance if you don't mind slogging through the legalese. Check the IRS website to download the latest of these. Of course those will currently be last years laws and regulations (Tax Year 2008). You will have to check again at filing time to get the latest word.