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Having a diesel work truck back in Illinois (2012 to 2014) most stations started having a winter blend. I still added Diesel Kleen with every fill up during the winter. Never had a fuel gel issue on the F350.

We are really Newbees! Raising 6 kids and working crazy hours we never got into camping or RVing. As soon as we were Empty Nesters we began our nautical adventure, working up to ownership of our 40' twin diesel motor yacht (well used). Since it was docked up north we only lived on it full time during the summer, but we began to make our plans for retirement. Plan was to live aboard and travel full time upon retirement. As we approached retirement though we got cold feet and began looking at RVs. Bought our first fiver a week before the house sold and after closing went full time. After a couple years decided to buy a home in Florida. Missed the full timing RV lifestyle so we recently sold that house and are now back full timing but in a coach. We are locked in to this full time adventure until our health makes us stop.

I totally agree that you have probably done enough. I guess the only thing I would worry about is what if the good old weatherman misses their predicted target temps?

Blake is correct. If you are saying the fresh water pump isn't coming on while you are hooked up to a city fixture then you need to turn the water off coming from the CG feed and then try the pump by opening a faucet. Also, depending on how your system is set up you may need to move a valve in the water compartment to switch from city/CG water to coach water tank.

Currently we are full time with a HD TG plus a car. We tow them in an enclosed trailer. The first time we sold a home and went full time I sold my Harley (white Wide Glide) because we bought a fiver. Then we ended up buying another home but this time in Florida. We switched to a gas coach and traveled during the summer pulling an open trailer and only our HD Ultra Classic, no car. Last year we traded for the HD TG and towed it all over out west for the summer. I am almost finished getting my enclosed set up. I have all the Gladiator cabinets installed plus the wiring in. The chock is mounted and all tie downs are now in place. I installed my window in the side last week. I still have to build a small work bench in the front V and it will be finished. I am doing my first oil change on the Harley in my new "garage" this week.

Happy New Year to you and your family Carl. After the autopay and military vet discounts my Verizon Unlimited plan for 3 devices will go up only about $50,00 a month. We were on the medium plan (4gigs a month). We did drop my Mom's phone which let it go down another $20 or so. If we would have kept her phone it would have been about a $75 a month increase because we would have had 4 devices (3 phones and the MiFi). We don't stream movies or anything like that. We surf the internet and the DW is on facebook a lot. With our old plan we were having a very hard time staying at 4 gigs a month unless we were in a CG with good wifi.

The CG we are in is finally getting full of snowbirds, so the "free" wifi is now so slow you would have to spend half the morning in front of your device just to check your emails. Considered the new and improved FMCA Verizon deal but just couldn't force myself to add 2 more years of FMCA membership onto the cost of getting the unlimited plan. Stopped in the local Verizon corporate store and had our old MiFi with us. They switched us to the Unlimited plan, activated our MiFi, gave us a new discount for autopay, another new discount for being a vet, and we were done. The whole process took about 15 minutes. Easy peasy, no phone calls and emails back and forth. They explained that each of our devices get 15 gigs but then could be throttled down to 3g speed after that. However, depending on the demand in your area you may keep getting the higher speeds no matter what. She said it was different depending on what part of the country you are in.

I won't comment on TDconsult's posting. The first couple of sentences are the only part that has anything to do with the original OP's question. Everything else has to do with him having bad luck after buying a used coach, which maybe he should share in a new thread. To the original OP, we recently went through a lot of searching for a DP. We wanted one with a tag and one of our major concerns was drivability in all types of conditions. After having a 38' gas coach I was tired of getting blown all over the highway by every truck that passed me. We drove several brands, both new and used. None of them drove out as good as our Newmar!

OMG.....come on man. "Added 30 quarts without draining what was in there?"

I lived outside of Las Cruces NM back in the early 70's. Used to be able to drive the 50 miles or so to El Paso and cross the border. I could have dinner, shop, and drink in any bar in Juarez, no problem. Not anymore. Between 2010 and a couple years ago we have made several trips out west to include Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, etc..., one of those trips was on a Harley Ultra Classic and all 2 lane roads plus second rate motels. Never felt threatened nor did we witness any crime and on that trip we were all over Arizona. I consider myself very observant and I am probably 100 times more suspicious of folks than the average person, however I have never felt threatened or unsafe traveling out west. I guess it is just different perceptions by different people.

When I regret not having a fiver as a full timer is when I need to haul something. Currently our personal mode of transportation is a Mini Cooper 2-door convertible. It seems like every week I am trying to pick something up in it that won't fit. It is times like those that I dearly miss my F350. But then again when I pull into a gas station to pump 8 or 9 gallons of gas in it cause it is almost empty, and the lie-o-meter says I just got 33mpg with that tank, don't miss the F350 so much.

I don't think he is coming back.

Good idea Ken. The way things are in the world today with mass shootings every few months and bombings all over the place I imagine EMS folks have a hard job finding victims family in a timely manner sometimes.

Ken, when we started our initial search for an RV to full time in (first time around) we discounted motor homes for the reason you stated. If there was a drive train malfunction or service was needed then the whole unit would be in the shop. We were fine with that decision and enjoyed every minutes of our travels for almost 3 years of full timing. However, now starting out again I guess I am spoiled. I want to have both a car and my motorcycle with us all the time. So this time around we will take the risk for that trade off. The other advantage is with my fiver it would take me at least 15 minutes to get completely leveled and set up. If it was raining all that set up was done outside basically. With my coach I can kick on the generator, put the slides out, level, and never go outside until the rain stops if I want. But who knows, won't be riding a Harley forever. In a few years might end up back in a fiver.

I would call Gene's Auto & Frame (239/334-7427) in Ft. Myers. They do alignments on large rigs, towing, body repairs, etc. Not sure how much mechanical stuff they do but when I have been there the county always has school buses and squad cars there being worked on. Other than that I don't know who services Cat engines in this area.

Just a word of caution about drug sniffing K-9 teams. The misconception is that these dogs are detecting the actual drugs. They are simply detecting the odor of certain things they have been trained to detect. In my experience we certified/trained our dogs on cannabis, cocaine (rock/powder), meth, H, and several other illegal substances. But my partner was just detecting the odor of those substances, it didn't mean the actual substances were still present. In other words if someone smokes a joint in your front passenger seat and then the next morning you get stopped and a drug dog takes a sniff he may alert on that area. Much depends on how sharp the handler is and how much he trains with his/her dog. Drug sniffing K-9 teams are just like anything else, there are really good ones and then there are not so good ones.

If Law Enforcement or EMTs can get into your phone or not may still not solve getting in touch with family in the case of an emergency. What if your phone is damaged? This is our second entry into full time traveling after selling a home. There is a ton of factors to consider and it is not the same for everyone.

The discounts are similar, in other words if Lazy Days in Tampa has a new Montana fiver with a MSRP of $95,000 then they only have about $45,000 to $50,000 in it and you can probably get 25% off on your deal. We owned one used fiver and one new, both Montana models. Bought a 2012 F350 diesel truck new but had the advantage of writing it off for my contracting business for 2 years, so in reality a $52,000 truck cost me just under $40,000. We fully retired and traveled for just under 3 years putting 42,000 miles on. When the F350 was 3 years old I sold it for $46,000. The Montana had Splendid w/d, Winegard Traveler Sat dish, auto leveling, and 3 TVs. Since it was 39' long with 4 slides (king bed) there was a lot of living space. So all in all it was a really good way to travel for us at the time. Now going back to being full time we wanted to have a car plus the Harley with us all the time. Obviously this requires being in a coach.

There are numerous options to consider Bill. I prefer to have a "real" physical address where someone I know actually lives. During my career I had to make numerous death notifications in the middle of the night based on just the victims driver's license. I'm not sure how that goes in present times if that victim happens to be using a fake address with a mail service. I suppose if the police officer can get into the persons cell phone and find information they could track down family. I would suggest anyone full timing carry a card in their wallet listing next of kin information (a person they are not traveling/living with).

Bill, actually they could have some of the required items. When we bought our Florida home 3 years ago we wanted to change our DL and registrations over right away because of wanting to file homestead paperwork for our property taxes. If I recall correctly we used our Direct-TV bill, our Verizon Wireless bill, a bank statement, plus they let us fill out and sign an affidavit swearing that was our legal address. Even when closing on a home it takes a few days to generate a utility bill with your name/address on it. Last month we went in after selling our home to get our DL and registrations changed to our new address in Florida. They wanted the same type of proof. Our address is just where we get our mail delivered and is actually a friends residence. I had my name put on her electric bill plus I signed an affidavit. The clerk said I could have used a couple bank statements, a Verizon bill, plus signed an affidavit if I hadn't had a utility bill. I'm not saying one way is better or worse than the other. Going through a mail handling service like Escapees has many advantages. The main downside for us would have been we wanted to be able to pick up our mail in person for at least some of the winter months. By using a friends address close to where we winter, or using a Mailbox Express service close by we could accomplish that.

We have been doing winter vacations in Florida almost every year since 1982. Always Sarasota and further south. Have never experienced any temps in the low 30's. In the last few years living down here (Cape Coral/Ft. Myers area) we have had a few nights where it got down to low 40's but almost always recovered to 70 or above. I think there is a line where you have to be south of for warmer weather in Florida, but IMHO it runs from Sarasota over to Ft. Pierce. Anything south of there you are good all winter.

Tom, the last year prior to us retiring we decided we needed to spend part of a winter in Texas. We had always went to Florida and once and awhile Arizona for relief from the frozen tundra. We did about 5 weeks on South Padre Island in March. We had a Harley Ultra Classic at the time with us. We actually got to ride about 3 or 4 times. We had almost a week where the temps were in the 40's. They had an ice storm that closed the island for 2 days! After that experience we pretty much made up our mind that between December and March there were only two states that we could be found in......Florida or Arizona.

In Florida you can also use Mail Box Express stores, which are in probably every country in the state. For example, I believe between Cape Coral, Ft. Myers, and North Ft. Myers there are at least 4 of them. If I remember correctly when you go in to get your Florida DL and registrations you have to show either 2 or 3 pieces of proof of your new address. A utility bill with the new address, a bank statement with the new address, or something similar I think.

Congrats on both selling your house and purchasing the Challenger! We really liked our 2014 Challenger 37GT that we had previously. Not sure what you are basing the statement on "do like the fact that I can do mountains at speed and not block traffic if I want to fly"...... , possibly a test drive? Unless they have doubled the HP in those V-10 gassers since 2014 you won't be flying up any grades with it once you are loaded or pulling a toad. If you are full time and traveling 10,000 miles or more a year it probably makes sense to be in a diesel, but if you are just living in an RV full time and not really traveling much then the V-10 should serve you well. I could buy my oil and filter at Walmart and change it in about 15 minutes. The V-10 is an easy bullet proof motor that is cheap to maintain IMHO.

Thanks!