ispjs

Five, sounds like she gave you some correct info and some incorrect info, unless things have changed in the past 2 weeks since I fueled at Pilot. There is a PIN for your Pilot RV plus card, memorize it. Pull into the truck lanes, swipe card, follow directions on screen. You will be skipping "refer" and "DEF" unless you want one of those picks. If you want DEF you will need to remove that nozzle and lay it down unless your DEF inlet is right next to your fuel fill (mine is 40' away). The DEF will sometimes time out if you leave the nozzle hung up after picking it. Fuel up and when finished you can do one of several things. You can move your rig up to the line and go inside for a receipt. You can take a photo of the pump readings and leave. You can download the I-phone app and get your receipt in about a minute on your phone. What I generally do is take a photo of the pump readings, record my mileage, plus receive the I-phone receipt. Hope this helps, safe travels.

Five, sounds like she gave you some correct info and some incorrect info, unless things have changed in the past 2 weeks since I fueled at Pilot. There is a PIN for your Pilot RV plus card, memorize it. Pull into the truck lanes, swipe card, follow directions on screen. You will be skipping "refer" and "DEF" unless you want one of those picks. If you want DEF you will need to remove that nozzle and lay it down unless your DEF inlet is right next to your fuel fill (mine is 40' away). The DEF will sometimes time out if you leave the nozzle hung up after picking it. Fuel up and when finished you can do one of several things. You can move your rig up to the line and go inside for a receipt. You can take a photo of the pump readings and leave. You can download the I-phone app and get your receipt in about a minute on your phone. What I generally do is take a photo of the pump readings, record my mileage, plus receive the I-phone receipt. Hope this helps, safe travels.

Are you sure about the truck lanes having receipt printers? I have been fueling up at Pilot and Flying J's for years in over 35 different states and have yet to see a diesel pump in the big rig lanes with a receipt printer. Now if you find a Flying J with the RV lanes in front you can use a diesel pump with a receipt printer.

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.

I have Gas Buddy and Trucker's Path on my phone also. What is nice about this little blue Truck Stop Guide is that it is quick and easy to use when planning the next days route. Instead of going to one of my apps now (Pilot, Trucker's Path, Gas Buddy, Love's) I start with the little guide. Once I pick my fuel stop then I can start looking at prices, mapping for getting in/out, and distances with one or more of my apps. We also find it handy if we are rolling down the road and decide it is time to take a break. It not only lists all fuel stops but also rest stops that big rigs will fit into.

Buddy of mine was navigating his 42' fiver through a CG a few years ago and on a tight corner swung out and clipped a parked truck. Total damage to his fiver and the other guys parked truck totaled around $4,000. He filed a claim and his rates went up for 3 years. They are just coming back down a little now. You are correct, it is a scam.

I believe there are some high end Newmar models, and other brand/models as well that have built in drains. Of course these are just like any RV system they can get blocked. I put the snap on gutter end extensions on my four corner gutter drain points to at least get the water out from the coach a little bit. Even with those it can still run down the side. If I am going to be in one spot for a couple weeks or longer then I will put a plastic clothes pin on the end of the extensions, which guides the water out away from the coach nicely.

He is probably right Ken. When you think about it most truck-tractor-semi-trailer combinations sit about 4 feet off the ground and they are one huge square box. That huge square box is 53' long, compared to a 40' to 45' motorhome that sits much lower. If I am traveling down the highway at 65mph and a 60mph gust hits I would want to be in my MH weighing in at almost 40,000 pounds and sitting low. I certainly would not want to be in a 19,000 pound fiver nor a 53' semi trailer, both of which sit much higher off the ground.

Eric, prior to heading to Key West you may want to check North Trail's site online. Their busy season is just winding down so I am guessing they will be stocked with some pretty nice newer trade-ins. If you don't see anything interesting on their site you may want to still call. Many times they will have one they know is coming in or one that is there but just not on their site yet. They are right on I-75, easy on and off for a big coach. If you do decide to stay over to look around there try Upriver RV Resort for your camping needs. It is one exit away from North Trail and has 110' long paved pull thru sites.

Yep, I agree with that. Last Sunday the warning/watches were out way in advance. Everything was secured plus the slides were in. I stayed on leveling jacks instead of going on suspension, figuring that would make us more stable. This time the actual warning came so quickly without a watch being issued first that there was only time to grab rain gear and head to the shelter. Actually we are re-thinking spending next April in this area. We have really enjoyed exploring around here but they seem to have a lot of strong spring storms. Will probably just stay in Florida through part of April then maybe just come up to Top Sail for the last week or so of the month.

We have been camped outside of Robertsdale Alabama. Last week there was a large storm system coming through with advance tornado watches/warnings going on. We loaded vehicles into the trailer and put all patio stuff away. The CG has a block building about 100 yards from our site that is the meeting room, office, and laundry facility. We had our rain gear handy and ready to go. In other words we had a plan and were prepared. Yesterday it was just raining all day. No warnings and no watches. A little after 3pm our weather radio went off along with our I-phones. Our area had just went under a tornado warning. Rotation indicated around Foley, which is southwest of us. Of course it was heading northeast so we had about 15 minutes to prepare. We just grabbed our jackets and walked up to the CG building and waited. Some other folks came out of their RVs and were looking around but no one joined us in the building. The storm passed with no high winds or damage. On the news we found out that another CG about 20 miles away wasn't so lucky. http://www.wkrg.com/news/baldwin-county/ef0-tornado-leaves-significant-damage-at-foley-rv-park/1134473204 The warning for them may have came too late, I'm not sure. From the news on TV it looked like about 5 or 6 TTs and fivers were knocked over.

It was probably easy for him to play those parts.......it was him! RIP!!!

I think TT would only work for a very small group of full timers. I think on another posting I read someone bought a "used" TT pass that had the free days still on it. But even so they still paid transfer fees, maintenance, and such. Anyway they estimated the breakdown was about $20 a day it cost them to camp there. Based on a TT park we were in recently some of them aren't even worth $20 a day. But, even if they were all really nice parks with good sites, as full timers we are getting by cheaper than $20.00 a day average. When actually traveling cross country we mix in a lot of dry camping. This month is a stationary month in Alabama. Current park is $300 a month plus electric, sites are about 120' pull through. Next month dry camping on Tennessee River but then staying a week at Pigeon Forge (expensive week there). But then in central Illinois park on a river for $330 a month with electric included. We will stay there for 2 months. We will average $12.00 a day CG fees over the next 4 months is my point.