akadeadeye

If all else fails, call ahead to dealers on your trip route to see if they have your tires in stock. Buy them on the road. Don

The American Express Blue Preferred card gives 3% on all fuel purchases, 6% on grocery purchases ( yes, 6%), 6% on some department store purchases and 1% on everything else. It costs $75/year. So far, from last October, we are $225 ahead. Don

I see no need to have two roadside assistant providers. Why? If the one you have does not send the right people, call them back and tell them to do their job! Don

99 Like some others, "the best" is often subjective. I can only tell you our real life experience with Newmar. First, the factory tour was very impressive. Second, the dealer was beyond reproach. Third, all warranty items were taken care of without question, plus some we didn't know about. Fourth, Newmar Customer Service after the warranty expired was and still is very helpful (albeit, warranty service now doesn't apply) with even follow up calls from them to be sure our problem was satisfactorily cured in the manner they had diagnosed. Newmar is like a "friend" to us which is a very comforting feeling since these behemoths we drive and live in have about a billion moving parts and I am only a weekend warrior mechanic. Actually, the word mechanic and my name do not belong in the same sentence unless the word "not" is there. But I can speed dial Newmar at any time and know a helpful voice will answer. Most of our issues have been very minor and easily resolved in the 5 years we have had our coach. We have some friends who have a Newmar Dutch Aire and their experience has been the same. We have some friends who have a Tiffin Allegro Bus and their experience has not been so good. However, both manufacturers are highly regarded. No matter which you get, you will have some problems to overcome over time. Hopefully they are minor. Good Luck Don

Thanks Rich. There is not a Regeneration switch on our chassis. My only options are to run it on the highway or take it to a dealer. I would rather do the former than the latter. Has anyone had experience with Regeneration while running? How long does it take, etc? We don't have an extended drive planned for a couple of weeks. Does it hurt to let it just sit in the garage until then? Don

Got a message "Regeneration Required" with a flashing icon while driving between home and local shop . We are not on a trip so with limited time I drove it pretty hard up I-10 for about 30 minutes. Message changed to "Regeneration Needed" and the icon was still there but not flashing. Do I need to just drive it longer under load to get the regeneration over with? The manual says "for at least 20 minutes" but I guess it takes much longer. Will it hurt anything to just let it sit in the garage a couple of weeks before our next trip? 400 HP Cummins, ISL 2009 Comments? Don

Those are good routes. You will actually take Hwy 89T instead of 89 as 89 is closed for major wash-out repairs. But 89T is a new highway which cuts through a reservation and is in good condition. You might consider altering your route if time permits. Check out Hwy 89 to Page, AZ, then to Kanab, UT, then on to Hwy 12 to the north of Glendale, UT, going east through Bryce, Escalante, Boulder, catching Hwy 24 at Torrey, UT and on east to Moab, UT. Highway 12 is not to be missed if you have the time for that drive. The scenery along the "Hogsback" part of the highway and through Capitol Reef, and Dixie National Forest is stunning. Your route takes you near Monument Valley and Four Corners. Nice, but NOTHING like the route I have described. It will take another day. Don

Our HOA has no age restriction for RVs but it does require "indoor storage" for any RV, and the indoor storage building must be built with a similar outside appearance (exterior walls and roofing) as the main house. I suppose this is one way to "get around" the bias of RV age, albeit somewhat expensive. There are no exceptions, however. Don

Your capital letters do not hurt my ears at all. I have never understood this "shouting" thing just because one pressed the "caps" button by mistake. My goodness, I am glad to hear what you have to say, however you say it.Don

Here you go. Use the lambswool. Never, never, never, never, use a brush of any kind. Never. It will leave microscopic scratches and "swirls" over time. I use Johnsons' Baby Shampoo. About 1/3 bottle per 4 gallons water. Usually takes nearly one whole bottle. Never use any kind of dishwashing liquid. Did I say Never use a brush? http://swobbit.com/shop/ Don

How can you tell where the loads are? It doesn't seem they form a pattern of location in the coach. Don

Just did that and found a popout fuse/breaker that was popped out. Pushed it in and now all power is restored. Thank you for your response. Learned something new. This is about the 742nd new thing I have learned about motorhomes. Again, thank you. Don

Here is the situation. Furnace failed (hydronic...another story) so I put a ceramic type heater in the rear of the motorhome and one in the front. 26* outside. Brrrrrr. Breaker tripped. I moved the front heater to another plug in an attempt to put it on a different circuit. Everything OK now. Until....I decided to heat up a sausage biscuit in the microwave. As soon as I turned it on we lost all AC power. I looked for a tripped breaker inside and out (on the pedestal). None. I tripped every breaker inside and out. The control panel shows we have 121v on Line 1 and 122v on Line 2. Checked the GFCI plugs. All OK. Control panel shows the only power is DC. Unhooked pedestal AC power and turned on the generator and checked the generator breaker. Same results. What is going on or what have I missed? Don

Sure, enter your starting point and destination into Google Maps. You can "drag" the route to different locations if you don't like the one presented. It usually presents more than one for you to look at. Upper left part of the screen, click on "directions" and off you go. Don

I guess it depends upon which direction you prefer. We started from our home in Texas and traveled up through Colorado to Moab, Canyonlands, Capitol Reef, Grand Staircase Escalante, Bryce, Zion, Cedar Breaks, North Rim of the Grand Canyon. Also the drive through several National Forests in between these parks and monuments was some fantastic scenery. Four Corners could be in there for you if you want as well as Mesa Verde NP and Monument Valley. Dip down into Arizona just a little and see the Petrified Forest and Painted Desert. I could go on and on but you get the picture. Enjoy and leave yourself plenty of time. Don't miss Dead Horse Canyon Point at Canyonlands. We like to stay in Glendale, UT as a base for driving to Zion, Bryce, Cedar Breaks and the North Rim. Bauer's Canyon RV is a good little place to stay there. Highway 9 to Zion has a tunnel you will have to negotiate and it is not big rig friendly. In fact, they have to close it to one way traffic when a big rig goes through and you have to be good at driving right in the middle through several curves. We just take the toad through there. Don

Which 5?

In Durango we stayed here. It is on the train route. Nice tree covered park. http://www.unitedcampgrounddurango.com/ In Moab we stayed here. OK park. Would probably do Spanish Trails or Dead Horse State Park next time http://www.moabvalleyrv.com/ In southwestern Utah we stayed here in Glendale, UT. Small family owned park. Very central to Bryce, Cedar Breaks, Zion, and a day trip from the North Rim of the GC. Great peaceful place. We were here in mid May and it was cool weather. It actually snowed one night about an inch but was all gone by 10 am. http://www.bauersrv.com/ Have a good trip. Don

We are glad we did not get the dishwasher instead opting for the storage. The extra water usage going to the gray tank in addition to the clothes washer would have been just too much. Plus, we just don't have that many dishes to do. Don

"my snow plow truck " "with this past weeks subzero temps" BBbbbrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr.............Thanks for your input alltooledup. If anyone would know how cold affects batteries you would. Bring your rig to Texas and thaw out. Don

Herman, they are too young for a nursing garage. Assisted living is not out of the question however. I will "assist" them for a couple more years if possible. Don

I agree that a hydrometer check is in order. Historically, one cell in one battery has shown to be slightly weaker than the others and it has been a while since I have checked SG. Thank you. Don

Brett, Thank you for your quick reply. Overfilling could be an issue, I admit. However, I don't understand where I would put a timer, and I am not aware of how the charger could be adjusted. I guess I need to do some homework. The higher float charge voltage is only recent and could be associated with colder ambient temps. It usually runs in the 13.2 to 13.4 range in warm weather. So where is this discharge coming from. Does it seep out of the fill holes, even with caps on? Don

I have 4 six volt deep cycle Interstate batteries that are 5 years old. I am very good at keeping distilled water in them. I check them every month on the first day of the month. They always have a trickle charge on them in our RV garage from the on-board inverter/converter charger. It shows about 13.5 to 13.9 volts on the control panel when "float charging" and I notice there are periods where the read out shows "fully charged". Recently I noticed some evidence of leakage on the garage floor (photo attached....the batteries are up front directly above the leak spots..that's a piece of cardboard to the right). The tops of the batteries show no corrosion at all. I keep them clean and spray red stuff on the terminals to prevent corrosion. So, what do you think is going on? I have not crawled underneath to try to look at the battery tray. It is very hard to see from below. Comments are appreciated. Don

The first time I got our 4 corners weighed was at a moving and storage warehouse location. They had an open scale out in the parking lot and let me manuever in order to get it done. They charged me $10. The second time, after we had outfitted our coach more, we drove about 40 miles to an RV Dreams rally in Kerrville, TX and got Howard and Linda Payne to weigh us. They are a part of RV Safety. You could check out their website to see where they will be. They charged us $60. Good luck. This is the ONLY way to be sure your tires have the proper inflation. Don

Mike, I get your point but the $0.27 translates into $27.00 on a 100 gallon fill-up. Anyway, if I can save $27 and it doesn't really affect our time on the road that much, I will do so and use the $27 to pay for a camping fee. To me, it isn't a question of penny pinching but of maximizing performance and that includes economizing where appropriate. I have read some good discussion here on how to maximize performance of my coach and appreciate all of the input. For instance, I didn't know that maximum mileage occurs at, or close to, when the transmission shifts into 6th gear. I don't know when mine does that, but I will watch next time we are out. Just me. Don