ispjs

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.

That will probably be what I end up doing every fall also. I have a buddy that is looking at the Tandem tow dollies for hauling his car and trike around behind his MH. We have considered this as a possibility for the future if we end up wanting to shorten our present combination. However, looking inside my enclosed trailer I'm not sure where all my "stuff" would go.

DBenoit, I'm starting to get the impression that you are somewhat of a "city" person and new to this cross country RVing stuff. If you are not comfortable taking the toad then don't. I'm sure you can rent a car at your destination if you end up needing one, and you probably will need one. Maybe this first long adventure will be easier without a toad to worry about. Relax, preplan the route and fuel stops, enjoy the trip. You will be fine.

Just like with the appliances in your sticknbricks, they are not built to last. The days of having the same washer/dryer for 30 years is over, or the same frig for 25 years. That is part of the reason we negotiated an extended coach warranty when we bought this rolling turd. I'm thinking we have about $5,000 to $6,000 worth of appliances not counting 3 air conditioners plus the Oasis to worry about failing in the first five years.

My coach of course has a FL chassis. Maybe it is the comfort drive system, don't know. But if any of you drove my coach "wallow or sway" would never be in your description of how it handled. I don't know, maybe if I climbed behind the wheel of a Newmar on a Spartan chassis I would wet my pants because it drove so nice. My only experience with a DP is that mine goes down the road like a heavy Cady in all road conditions with very little effort from me.

We are stationary for 30 days up here in SW Alabama. You can only visit New Orleans and Mobile so much, so I have numerous days to fill in. After only 4.5 months of full timing it is time to weed some things out and lighten the load. I started going through tools and equipment today. Anything I haven't used in a few months, or I have more than one of, is gone. So far in just a couple of hours I was able to empty an entire trailer cabinet of extra "junk" My point is I want to be prepared and have most of the tools and supplies I will probably need. However, I am determined not to haul around 200 or 300 pounds of extra stuff that I may not use for years and years.

I will have to agree with Carl on a 40'+ coach that seats that many folks inside. We can seat 9 in our floor plan but that would be a little too cozy for me. We just went through our DP search last fall. My only suggestion would be to locate a Tiffin, Entegra, and Newmar in floor plans you like, and ones that have tags. Then take a test drive in each one. Generally speaking that is what we did and there was no way I wasn't buying the Newmar. But that's just me, and this is my first DP. I think if you are looking at 20 years on the note you may be able to get around 5% or 5.2%. As far as trade in goes we only had appraisals from Lazy Days in Tampa and North Trail in Ft. Myers. Lazy Days offered below "low retail" and North Trail gave us over $10,000 above high retail for our trade in coach. In addition Lazy Days wouldn't reduce the price of their unit nearly as much as North Trail did. This was just our recent experience between these two large Florida dealerships, you may not get the same results.

Very nice model. When you have a 40' plus model with a tag, plus Newmar's comfort drive system, you will have a hard time staying awake while driving! Keep us informed.

Wow Carl, taking the plunge at North Trail? Be careful when you get there because when I left they were pretty well stocked. While waiting on service on my coach last month I did my morning walk in their display lots. There are a ton of Essex's and Mountain Air's with your name on them!

Never been around NYC traffic on a Friday night, or any other night for that matter. I assume you are thinking of driving straight through the whole 15 hours? Unless you are young (25 to 40 yoa) and are a third shift worker, I certainly would not suggest you drive all night. Even if there are two drivers it can be a safety issue IMHO. Tired driver's probably cause about as many accidents as drunk drivers, plus it is much easier to hit something on the road at night (animals, re-treads, debris) and damage tires.

We are currently in Azalea Acres RV Park, Robertsdale AL. We picked it based on a recommendation from friends. They had evacuated Florida before Irma hit and landed up here. It is 30 miles east of Mobile and 154 miles east of New Orleans. There are other nice size towns all around and the rural roads in this area is great for motorcycle riding/exploring. The CG is very well maintained and clean. There is no pool but it has a extremely nice laundry and bath house. Many of the sites are pull thru and over 100' long, some with concrete and some without. All interior roads are gravel but flat and smooth. Staff is very helpful and friendly. This park has probably the fastest internet we have ever found. It is much faster than our Verizon MiFi and is just as fast as our old service in our sticknbrick when we had it. For some this may be a little too far out for visiting New Orleans and Mobile. For us it is just right. We booked a month and will drive our car into those cities and do our sightseeing. The rest of the time we can enjoy this rural part of Alabama. Oh, I almost forgot the best part, their current rate is $300 a month plus electric.

We mainly stay in SW Florida for the winter, so can't help you with recommendations. Your timing is good though. Folks that start trying to find a site in November are usually out of luck.

The only way I would ever buy another Class A gas (assuming it was on a F53 chassis) is if it was going to be parked in one CG all summer and then driven less than 20 miles and stored. In other words, I would never own another one to actually travel in. We had a Thor Challenger (2014) 37GT. Did front end alignment, Safe T Plus, Sumos all around, and it was still a pain to drive down the interstate. If the thing even saw a 2% grade a mile ahead it would start screaming! If we ever get rid of our present DP we will be going back to a fiver, lots of room and good drivability.

I agree that the air ride seats are great for taking the "bumps" out. Last spring I drove a brand new Penske with a load to Florida from central Illinois. I'm sure the suspension was a little more stiff on it because it only had about 400 miles on. That seat made all the difference in the world but you glide up and down a lot in them, or at least in a big rig you do. In a DP with our suspensions I can't imagine needing one.

So far this week a 5-ton box truck nudged the front of our Mini. Of course I thought the dumba&& was going to take the whole front end off. The only reason it happened was because he was in a hurry. In heavy 2-lane traffic he pulled out around me into the oncoming narrow lane and side swiped the front of my car. Then yesterday after 4 hours of driving in a storm we were almost out of Florida and into Alabama. The weather was clearing and I had the cruise finally set on 68mph. A flat bed truck-tractor-semi-trailer came flying around me running between 75 and 80 unloaded. He must have just dropped off some equipment that had mud and gravel all over it because dirt and rocks were flying off his trailer. Of course he pulled right back in front of me and I immediately started hearing the "pings" on the front of the coach. Got on the brakes quickly but it was too late, nice 4" crack on the right side of my windshield. Got fuel later and inspected the front of coach. At least he didn't give me any broken lights or paint chips. Another "professional" driver in a big hurry. Why not take a few minutes and either blow or sweep that trailer off before jumping on I-10 and seeing how fast your junk equipment can go!

For everyone north, I have just made it as far as western Alabama (30 miles from Mobile) and had to run heat and diesel burner this morning. I wouldn't break out the shorts for another few weeks yet.....just sayin....

Brian, I have 2 cents I ain't got nothing to use for..... I would get one of these: http://www.valterra.com/product/flush-king-reverse-rv-flush-valve-boxed/ With a Flush King you can back flush from the discharge which may or may not knock some of that bottom junk off the tank. They are not very expensive and usually allow more water faster into a holding tank. Another thing they are good for is back flushing your other tanks.