Ron Jones

Bob, we went on the Polar bear trip a few years ago to Churchill, Manitoba. Could be wrong but I think we did it with Monaco International and they (somehow) shared the trip with one of the commercial tour groups (not important to know now). What is important is that we initially met (got together) with the group in Winnipeg, Manitoba. Many left their coach in Winnipeg. We left ours in North Dakota. From Winnipeg, we were bussed to The Pas, Manitoba. There, we got on a train for a two-day trip to Churchill. It was a great ride, good food, good sleeping, and good scenery. They put us in a BASIC motel (had everything we needed) in Churchill. We were toured around town AND went out to see the bears in what they call a "Tundra Buggy." Our guide was wonderful. We spent the night out in the tundra in the "Tundra Buggy Lodge" and, again, everything was fine. (I'm guessing that the facilities are more "up-to-date" know than when we went - but NO complaints. We flew back to Winnipeg. I STRONGLY recommend doing the trip AND spend at least one night in the Tundra Buggy Lodge. It's one of those you remember and talk about. While I have LOTS of pics, I've attached two. Ron

I will state that when my wife and I took driving instruction, it was well worth the effort and cost. I was so impressed that I wrote an article about it. Go to my website (link below) and also know there are several more driving-related articles on my site. We both attended the two-day Driving School and have sat in on the driving instruction offered at Lazydays in Tampa at least two or three times. You don't know what you don't know!!! http://www.aboutrving.com/rv-topics/driving-a-big-rv/ Go to my website (aboutrving.com) and search for "Driving an RV" (or just "Driving"). You should be able to see the list of driving articles.

I have been to the RV Museum several times. It's definitely worth the visit but in my opinion, not worth it if you have to drive there from Cincinnati. You mentioned Aquahot service, I STRONGLY recommend you call so see if you can get an appointment. We were in Elkhart about a month ago and many places were 2-3 months (yes, months) of waiting for an appointment. I have used Paul's RV Service and Interiors, 66540 State Rte 19, Wakarusa, IN 46573 (574) 862-6778 (be sure to call for an appointment). on two occasions and thought he was fair, did good work, and I would use him again. I've known Tom at Elkhart Sales and Service for several years and recall that he told me they were writing appointments nearly two months out when I called him.

Trying to guess at what you will need is simply impossible. Plan your trip so IF you break down, you are not obligated to be somewhere else or it's something that can be cancelled. That way two things can happen... First, buy the part you need since you won't have to guess what it is. (Do your shopping on the web and they will ship it or bring it to you.) Second, have an RV tech (maybe back home) on speed dial and they might be able to order for you. Then just set there and wait for the part. I also recommend getting some emergency road service coverage. (I use Coachnet - I do NOT sell it)

Not trying to open the proverbial "can of worms" here but I need new tires - all of them. I've ran Michelins for the past almost five years and been happy with them but it's time for replacements. I bought the last set through thee FMCA discount program and it worked just fine. Does anyone have a suggestion for a tire company anywhere along the Gulf coast (from Georgia to north Texas) that carries a good inventory. Send me their phone number, I'll call. Thanks.

A few years ago (when we still had our Monaco), I ruined a compartment door. Alliance in Wildwood, Florida, BUILT a new compartment door in their shop (while I watched), painted the two-tone brown, mounted it, it dried overnight, and all was good. Everything took less than one day. Now, I need a new compartment door on my current coach. I am searching for any dealer (anyone) that builds them. I really don’t want to wait the 5-6 weeks if I order one from Newmar. If you know of a company that builds these, please let me know at rej@gte.net. Please, no west coast companies. Thanks.

This is just a "heads up" for anyone planning to go somewhere in your RV in the next few months. We are located in North Texas (close to Dallas) and Friday are headed north to Des Moines, Iowa, then east to Chicago, then just south of Elkhart, Indiana, back up to Charlotte, Michigan, back down to Fort Wayne, Indiana, over to Toledo, then south to Dayton, Ohio, on south into North Carolina and then meander back to Texas. Please don't bother commenting on my route, we are going to those places for a reason and will spend 3-4-5 days in each location. My point here is that I have talked with many campgrounds, RV Parks, etc., and ALL have said they were busy. Many said they were the busiest they had ever been. Many have been totally full. So, if you are planning on any trip anywhere, I recommend you call ASAP to learn when you need to make that reservation (or just take a chance).

This is a small printer we have carried with us in a drawer in the RV. It can print In color, scan, or copy, works on battery (it has one) or plugged in (cord with it), but is only 14 x 7 x 3..5 inches. We haven't used it in a while since we no longer have a vendor booth but it worked perfectly when we quit using it. Plus, one granddaughter works for a printer! $35.00 and you pay shipping. I can email a copy of the Instruction Manual. rej at gte dot net

Regarding BLM spaces/sites... We RARELY use BML because of TV. My wife is a TV watcher (I'm not). We have driven our car through many BLM sites and found that most (of what we saw) were in/under the trees - perfectly nice sites but often blocking the TV dish (ours is on the roof of the coach). If the TV reception was okay, we would likely stay in BML sites but it typically doesn't work for us. Please, no suggestions to watch local channels. She records nearly everything so she can fast-forward thru the ads. The only other negative I can think of regarding BLM sites is that we have found that it was often challenging to drive to them as they were off the "beaten path."

We, too, boondock quite a bit and have done so in every state (except Hawaii), all ten Canadian provinces, and one territory. Our "normal" travel across country is to boondock 2-3 nights and get a CG for one. It works for us. Some comments... I looked into Harvest Host but was told by several people that they ended up parking in a lot of mud. We've never joined. If I was going to pay someone to park, I'd pay a campground. We have stayed at over 1,000 Walmarts or Sam's Club and a bunch of rest areas. I consider the Day's End Directory (daysenddirectory.com} the best "Guide" for finding boondocking spots. For me, Google is second. I NEVER stay at a truckstop. The "big rig" drivers have to get off the road (by law) and I don't want to get in their way. Except for rest areas, I ALWAYS call and check to see if overnight parking is allowed. If I can't reach anyone, I do not stay there. While we boondock for convenience, you can save a lot of money, too. Good luck.

Need some advice…On Thursday, wife was cleaning the flush valve in the toilet (flat valve in bottom that opens/closes by sliding horizontally) in preparation of lubricating it (Thetford told us to apply Vaseline to it). We have had this toilet in the coach for just over three years. It is a Thetford Aria Deluxe II. She has cleaned it using a small toothbrush and lubricated it several times.She dropped the small toothbrush into the black tank. That tank was about half full - about 30 gallons in it.Since it was Friday afternoon, I got through to NIRVC (they are local) and they suggested we first detach our Sanicon (We have the “600 Turbo” - it’s powerful and rated to pump at 40 gal per minute!!!)They then suggested we simply try to dump the black tank using a normal “stinky slinky” and HOPE the toothbrush came out. They suggested that IF the toothbrush got “crossways,” stuff would likely stop dumping and build up behind it. So this was something to sort of “listen and watch for” while dumping traditionally.A guy from the RV Park helped and we did just that… Unhooked the Sanicon, dumped the black using a traditional sewer hose, did a “black tank flush” with the built in spray, then opened both blade valves and let grey water flood in the black tank, and finally dump it, too.So now, we have empty tanks and until we turn ON that Sanicon switch, we will not know if the dumping attempt was successful (did the toothbrush come out). However, IF that toothbrush hits that Sanicon, I'm guessing that is about a $700.00 “fix.”Question... does anyone have any suggestions that we might try?Thanks,

My experience is that you leave when you have to leave. What I do is plan my route on Google and, knowing about how many miles we are comfortable driving daily, look for campgrounds along my route (again, on Google) at, roughly, my "destination" for that day. Then call them, ask them what you need to know to determine if you want to stay there, and if all is good, make a reservation. IF the reservation is over a holiday (or even a weekend), ask if someone will be in the office or get a cell number for when you arrive. Our experience is that nearly every place will be open but not all will be manned. I also look for boondocking sites along my route. We generally boondock two nights and get a CG for one.

I'm interested but would like to hear from someone that has these and ESPECIALLY from someone that has used these. Anyone?

Jack, Re your question about the lithium batteries... Yes, that was me. We finished the test (5 years long) and they were fine (my opinion). That was just four years ago - not 15!!! When we finished the test, we traded in our Dynasty and got another motorhome. The battery "company" told me to just leave the batteries in the Dynasty - NOT return them - so we did. I have NO idea where they are nor how they are now. The batteries worked for us and we were boondocking an average of 12 nights per month as I recall. Now, we boondock much less than we did back then so I do not have lithium in my current coach. Ron

Sorry guys, but in eighteen years of fulltime RVing and traveling somewhere in the USA or Canada EVERY year, I have found that campground recommendations are nearly useless. After all, we want different things, i.e.,my priorities are different than yours. Plus, we have different needs, too. I have learned to call a campground with my set of questions. I always speak to someone there who "knows" the property. When asking for information relative to making a campground reservation, ask them anything you need to know to make a good decision. For example, our TV satellite dish is roof-mounted close to the middle of our RV. We only get “recordable” TV if our dish has a clear “shot” at the southern sky. Cable is NOT an option for us as we cannot record some shows and we never watch a commercial. So, I always ask if the campsite is open to the Southern sky. Someone in that office usually knows the answer. If they don’t, I go somewhere else. Sometimes you get surprised... One time I called a campground named “Shady Oaks” for a possible reservation. Regarding my “Southern Sky and TV dish” issue, I asked my usual question: “Was the site open to the Southern Sky?” The lady paused for a moment and said “No! Why do you think they named this place “Shady Oaks!” We didn’t stay there. Now, after all this, if another RVer has recommended a campground to me, I will likely call to check it out. Sometimes it works, sometimes not. Good Luck.

We used to cruise pretty often. On our last one, we met a couple who were fascinated with our fulltiming lifestyle. They said they had talked about doing it but never owned an RV and were totally curious. We spent the evening together and they had a thousand questions. Ultimately, they returned home and bought a 24′ Class C and started RVing. They sent the following story to me about their first “shakedown” trip. Enjoy… We did have a funny thing, well funny now, happen to us on our way home from Spokane. Thought it might be funny enough for you to put on your website. We were heading home from Spokane, lost in our thoughts, chatting about how well our trip had gone for our first outing. We were completely lost in our thoughts as a bridge came into view. The instant we began to cross the bridge we heard the loudest horn either of us had ever heard in our lives!!! I just knew I had made a serious driving error and soon some 18-wheeler would send us to eternity. As we waited to die, my wife looked down and realized this bridge was over railroad tracks and the noise we heard was the train engineer honking his horn while we were DIRECTLY over him! Scared doesn’t describe it but we know now that our hearts are in good shape. It took a long time to calm down again and we laughed about it all the way home.

I have had the Air Force 1 system on three coaches - two Monacos and one Newmar. Never had a single problem. Highly recommend it.

Sorry, Can't help with that issue. Ron

Here's my experience. My jacks were retracting very slowly and would usually stop near the top (not quite completely up and stored). You could often see about 1/4 - 1/2" of silver (shiny) shaft and they simply would not go up any higher UNTIL I started the engine and literally moved the coach a bit. Then, they would "seat" themselves (fully retracted), my red light would shut off, and the green "travel" light would light up - but only after I moved the coach. I talked with a woman at HWH support AND another man who I had been told was the "guru" of HWH (totally different phone number but don't remember who it was and have since lost the name and number due to computer issue). BOTH said the same thing... With jacks down, I should spray (until drippy) the shiny shaft with regular WD-40 and do NOT wipe off excess. Then put the jacks up and down a couple of times and then use them normally I did this and it worked miracles. I have not had a problem since and have probably put them up/down at least 20 times - sometimes after setting for two weeks. The guy told me during the phone call that they had tried various oils/lubricants to test this but the WD-40 worked best. It did for me. It was a cheap and fast fix. Good luck.

John, I replaced the total arm w/new blade. I got mine through O'Reilly's. Around $50.00!!!

Try these places... https://wipers123.com/ Your local O'Reilly Auto Parts (they ordered my special wiper blades for me) - not cheap. I carry my old set as a backup. You might try a shorter blade. Good luck Ron

I wrote an article on what we did. Send me your email and I will send it to you. It has pictures. R E J at G T E dot N E T Ron Jones

This is the best potential suggested so far. Thanks.

Thanks but sorry, you missed guessing what I have. Currently, I have two lengths of Thetford hose permanently hooked up (about 40 feet). One has a small leak about a foot from the discharge nozzle. I want to cut off the end with the leak (about a foot) and reconnect the remaining good hose to the nozzle assembly using a rubber-like "sleeve" that was in my uploaded pic. I just can't find the "sleeve" NOR anything that looks like it would replace it efficiently. We can talk more offline if you want. Use rej at gte.net Thanks.

Thetford only sells the hose with a connector glued to each end. They do not sell the individual parts. These parts make a GOOD connection but I just don't need another hose. Home Depot AND Lowes did NOT have a "fix."