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Thanks Herman.

We are visiting the Charleston SC area this week and took a ferry from Patriot's Point over to Ft. Sumter for the tour yesterday. It was very interesting and worth the trip. In the same boarding/docking facility there is the USS Yorktown you can tour and the Viet Nam Experience. I won't go into great detail about the Viet Nam Experience exhibit but if you served then you have to visit it if you are ever in this area. Part of the outside exhibit is set up outside with a guard tower and several buildings, including a small mess hall and a hooch. They have numerous speakers set up in this area with all the sound effects, announcements, chopper back round, and other realistic sounds from back then. As I stood there with my foot on the skid of an old huey it was like I was 18 years old again. I could almost see some of my buddies walking through the area with flip flops on and no shirt, dust everywhere. It was very moving for me especially since all but two of us are now gone.

We have Progressive for our car and motorcycle, but they were much higher for RV. For the coverage we wanted (Florida residents) Good Sams set us up for just under $2,000 a year and Progressive was almost $3,000. We were surprised they were that high because they have treated us good on our car/motorcycle policies for several years now.

Very interesting read and probably spot on for the most part. Obviously a good description from someone who has a lot of experience using them. We rejected them mainly because we did not want anything to "control" where we went and when, since we are truly full time travelers. We will always spend December through March in SW Florida. We found it better to avoid the hurricane season so we do November and April in Alabama. We also spend 3 months split up in a CG back in central Illinois during the summer for visiting family. The Alabama CG we use is $10 a day, the Illinois CG we use is $13 a day. So we know each year we can camp for 5 months very cheaply. The rest of the time we keep the wheels turning and travel all over maybe doing a dry camping night here and there. My point is if you are careful and plan correctly you can get by as cheap, and possibly cheaper than having a TT membership plus experience better parks/facilities. I read an interesting post somewhere this year. The person broke down his TT membership as a full timer and it came to around $20 something a night average. He then broke away from TT and was able to reduce his annual site expenses slightly.

We just left Anchor Down after spending a week there. We met two other couple there and generally spent the week riding our Harley's in the surrounding mountains every day. It is a really nice CG with a great staff. The only negative I found was the sites are not very level. All three couple booked another week next fall to meet up again there.

Dump stations are far and few between at interstate rest stops. Florida has a couple we have noticed and there has been just a handful in other states. Some Cabela's stores will have one if they have dedicated RV lanes on the side of the store. Most Love's will have one and most of those are situated out front instead of out back where the big rigs fuel. I have never found a site or publication that specifically lists all dump stations nationwide.

We started with a TST brand several years ago. Last year with our new set up we expanded/upgraded the TST system for 12 sensors. I have always been very satisfied with their system.

Since we are Florida residents (registered/insured there) our insurance covered our replacement last month 100%. We were in northern Indiana and had it replaced at the factory but there are mobile companies that do it, especially in Florida. Depending on where the crack is located and how long it is dictates if they can repair or not.

We looked at the TT membership two different times. Once when we first went full time in our fiver, then again last year when we sold out again and started a second stint. This second time we actually got so far as to visit some of their CG's. For the most part the CGs we visited were pretty bad with very small sites and not very well maintained. For some it may work great. We don't plan our travels based on where we "need" to stay, we plan them based on where we "want" to go and then do our homework and find places to camp. There are many other things we do to keep our annual average camping fees low, without belonging to TT.

Jim, you are correct. I now have right at 6,000 on the register, should have over 8,000 by the time we hit SW Florida for the winter. Every travel day is something to look forward to with comfort drive!!!!

Like many full time RVers, and probably most regular RVers, I browse more than one forum. Different RV forums serve different purposes/needs for me. I have only owned three different brands but I always try to seek out the best brand specific forum for my current RV and stay active on it. It has always served me well and probably saved me thousands of dollars by sharing information with folks who have the same RV as me. The last 2 stops our kitchen slide would not extend. Yesterday we arrived at a CG early so I posted the issue on my brand specific forum and then went out to start trouble shooting. After tightening bolts and doing general slide maintenance I came back in and checked the forum. Three folks had basically told me how to fix it, shut my battery switch off, wait one minute, turn it back on and hold the kitchen slide extend button. It worked perfectly! Now I'm not saying someone on here or another forum may not have come up with this exact correct answer for my current coach. However thanks to my brand specific forum I had the answer in about 30 minutes.

I would at least make reservations for the more popular areas you will be hitting, plus be sure to make reservations for around any of the holidays you may encounter. A couple years ago we were planning a trip out to Seattle so we could park the RV and take an Alaska cruise. We made advance reservations and everything worked great at all the CGs going out. We were lazy and thought we would make the return reservations when the ship came back in. It was too close to the 4th of July week and we had issues finding sites. Your rig isn't that long so you will be able to camp about anyplace. RVParky (I-phone app) is an excellent way to search for CGs.

I was running a little more in my steer axle tires than the chart called for. Not sure if you have the Spartan or Freightliner chassis. My FL chassis rode a little rough in the front so I reduced the psi on the steer axle closer to chart. If you are on a Spartan chassis it probably rides pretty good with closer to 110psi in those front tires would be my guess. Do you have, or are you considering a TPMS (tire pressure monitoring system)?

I doubt my Newmar model will every have a dual tag Carl, it is a turning tag so that wouldn't work too well. I'm guessing these turning tags are so popular that they would never change that configuration, or at least I hope not.

Not sure where you are weighing. The best way is to get the four corner weight then consult the tire charts. I've weighed twice in the past several months, once without my toad (24' enclosed trailer) and once with. This was my weights without the toad: Steer: 13,660 Drive: 22,020 Tag: 2,860 I looked at the charts, considered my weights from weighing with my trailer attached, and I am running 105 cold psi in my steer axle tires, 100 cold psi in my drive duals, and 95 cold psi in my single tag tires. Our coaches are similar but yours may be heavier, not sure. If you have a Spartan chassis it could be heavier but then again we are loaded for full time travel so who knows. Hope this helps, safe travels.

Do they have class A's with dual tags? I've only seen one tire on most RV tag axles.

Good information tireman9. In just less than a year I have went across the scales twice. It is easy, cheap, and painless to do at almost any truck stop where you are getting fuel. I would like a 4 corner weight sometime but wouldn't pay a lot or go out of my way to get one. If I come across a place doing them and it is convenient I'll have it done.

Good looking coach! Sounds like a good trip even though you had to have your gen set repaired. Welcome to the forum.

This always comes up on different RV forums, is it best to just stay close to exits and pay a little more for fuel or search in towns/cities for cheaper prices? With my current set up I can't squeeze into a local Shell station 10 miles off the interstate and pump diesel even if I wanted to save 20 cents a gallon. I like fueling up where the big trucks fuel. It is easy in and out, generally fresh good fuel, and I can always park to take a break or eat lunch afterwards if I want to. We almost always use Pilot or Flying J and have the card. I take a pic of the pump when I'm done plus the receipt shows up on my phone a minute later, so there is no need to go inside, easy-peasy. Someone said they have a 185 fuel tank plus carry another 96 gallon tank in their toad. I really don't need fuel capacity that allows me to drive over 1,500 miles, nor would I want to haul almost 2,000 pounds of fuel up some of the mountains we have experienced. I'll just stick with my little bittie 100 gallon fuel tank and fuel every 400 miles or so.

We were ready to go with a Mail Box Express in Cape Coral when we went full time last November (sold our home in the Cape). A family friend who lived nearby offered to let us use her address and it has worked really great. I don't know of any way it will effect her taxes or anything else.

In 2011 we purchased a TST brand system with 6 flow thru sensors. Used it on two different fivers and a gas coach. Last November needed to add 6 more sensors due to our current combination. Upgraded to a new TST with 6 regular sensors and still use my original flow thru. They all work great and are easy to change batteries in. For my money TST is the way to go.

Sorry for all your problems. Sounds like you purchased a used coach that had not been service or taken care of very well. Did you consider an extended warranty when you purchased a 6 year old coach? If you had your post probably would have been titled "Have Now Made Over $5,000 On My Extended Warranty". You may be surprised what Newmar would cover after the warranty is expired, however the issues you listed were not built by Newmar. I searched for a used Tiffin or Newmar but couldn't find one that I thought would fit our needs. The one possibility we found was an extremely good price but was a piece of crap and had not been taken care of (43' Tiffin), so we passed on it and ended up purchasing new. Our experience has been Newmar is a great company that stands behind their product and they are certainly treating us well. Good luck on your next non-Newmar coach. There are many out there to pick from.

We started our full time adventure several years ago. After only 2 years we decided to buy a sticknbrick in Florida, mainly due to the housing market at the time. Another 2 years went by and we missed being on the road full time so much the house got sold and here we are again. This time we are staying out as long as our health will allow it. Love this lifestyle. Hope you enjoy the new chapter in your life.

Welcome Mel and Dayna. Sounds like a fun trip. We are originally from central Illinois (Peoria) but have spent time in southern Illinois visiting relatives (Christopher/Benton), and return to those areas each summer to see family. We recently returned to full timing and have talked about putting either a Canadian trip or Alaska trip on our bucket list. Not sure if we would be ready for it in 2019 but I will follow your progress and plans.

Thanks for the link and info! I saved it to my favorites and signed in. Haven't played around with it yet but it certainly looks promising. I am picky about pre-planning my fuel stops mainly due to our size, but I also like to know in advance what the fuel stop has to offer and what the entrance/exit looks like. I check prices but it isn't my number 1 priority in every case. I can see where this app could help save some bucks though.