I don't climb up on my soapbox very often, but being told I'm full of cr%p inspires me to do so, under a narrow span of conditions.

An iRV2 member took me to task for suggesting that the tire sidewall pressure value is a maximum, and that tire health and safety can be measured by temperature, as well as by pressure.

The discussion stemmed from another member posting that he had bought an undocumented brand of tire at a cheap price, he wanted to know an inflation value....

The Fort Worth RV Show yielded a few surprises, this year.

Foremost, Newmar has stepped up to the plate with some design changes that might reflect some of the discussions we're had on iRV2.

The 2012 Dutch Star offers a TV that is diagonally mounted in the left slideout, positioned so that (a) viewers don't suffer 90 degree neck strain, and (b) the retracted slideout doesn't preclude TV watching in motion.

Both Newmar and Tiffin have broadened their entryways,...

Well, it's off to Santa Fe!

I'd say we managed to escape the brutal Texas summer of 2011 with its record-breaking heat; but, things were cooling down nicely when we departed, and there was rain in the forecast.

Our goal for the first day was Amarillo, some seven hours of driving. About two hours out, DW suggests altering our course and heading for the famed Palo Duro Canyon, which I'd flown over numerous times but never seen up close.

Indeed, there is...

[B][I]Boondocking in heat sucks. [/I][/B]

There, I said it.

Sleeping is hard, with the ACs turning off and on, the generator racing and slowing in concert with their activation.

Then, there is the cost: in addition to wear and tear on the generator, the $60 per day price of generating your own power makes virtually all campgrounds seem like a bargain!

Some other forum topics related to summertime overnights:
[LIST][*]Keep those...

Leon, the buses' last owner, gave me a kernel of wisdom I've heard repeated on this site: "Always obey the 6/4/2 Rule: [I]Six[/I] for a party, [I]four[/I] for dinner, and [I]TWO[/I] overnight."

Well, there is a need to violate that in our household; and, no, I'm not one of those husbands from a recently-heard call in show whose wives insist on bringing a third party into the mix on occasions...

It's my beloved mother-in-law, whose thirst for adventure is a...

[SIZE="3"]Someone is suggesting I retire. I mean, we launched out of Tokyo, and an hour later got a message over datalink: "You guys got out just in time..." You guessed the rest. Landing here twelve hours later, DW was preflighting the bus while I drove home; I slept on the sofa while she drove us into the Oklahoma wildfire area. Literally, the final two miles to our venue was through scorched fields with fence posts lining the narrow roads burning like three-foot birthday...

As diesel nudges the $4 mark in the US, I'm here under the stars in Tokyo, pondering the situtation of RV'ers in 2011.

Prevost-owning mentor Howard put it best: [I]"Don't think about the cost of the fuel; but, just how much [B]more[/B] it'll cost.[/I]

With a weekend trip awaiting me when I return later today, Howard has a good point. While I doze, KayCee is going to drive us to a show in Norman, just north of the Texas-Oklahoma border. About 200 miles, in all....

We dodged a HUGE bullet, just now, and I want to take the time to document it (3:48AM).

In the habit of looking inside the shower when I walk past, I glanced at the pan returning from a 3AM restroom visit.

[COLOR="Red"]The shower was full of water, on the verge of spilling onto the floor![/COLOR]


We'd talked about the full grey tank indication, shrugged it off as an anomoly associated with freezing -- we'd just drained hours prior...

The [I]inside [/I]of the windshield, brow, windows may frost/ice.

Wifey just noticed that water is dripping off the motorized sun visors. No maintenance flaw, just Mother Nature doing her thing. I laid out a towel, made sure it is tucked into the trough between the windshield and dashboard, where water is pooling.

Here is a partial list, for aspiring Neophytes who think pressing their coach into Arctic service is a bright idea:
[LIST][*]Basement heat is contingent...

[B][I]Sometimes a solution arrives in the most unlikely form.[/I][/B]

Two 500W work lights in the heated basement, a ceramic heater, and reversion to 100% house heat, nearly worked.

Except, no hot water. Just a trickle.

Lo and behold, a [I]detached dryer hose[/I] was the culprit! The enclosed space behind the laundry combo was an open window, so the rear of the water heater was in a 20F environment.

Yes, snow on the back of the washer-dryer...

Sitting here just before dawn amidst "New Mexico's worst storm in decades," drinking coffee and warming up to the notion of sprinting 100 yds to my first-ever campground shower.

Okay, so it's only 2 degrees F, but at least it's windy.

We might be still operating at 100%: empty of grey and black, not hooked up to shore water, full fresh tanks, oil-filled radiator supplying half our heat and propane the other; 'cept for a fatal error.

Rather than...

Well, Momma said she wanted to see the snow...

In the words of my good friend [URL="www.pacificprowler.org"]Jim[/URL], [I]be careful what you wish for, you just [B]might[/B] get it![/I]

At present, the wind is howling, snow is drifting around the bus, and the temp is a balmy 10F.

We got a Honeywell oil-filled "radiator" heater from WalMart on Clearance yesterday, and it is a wonderful addition to the interior of our coach. No, the...

Momma got some great driving in, today. Gusts that pushed tractor-trailer rigs onto the shoulder moved her just a foot. Not that she has the arms of a Russian shot putter: the bus is stable.

I was gratified to feel the 350 Cat generate the same amount of pull at 7,000 feet that it did at sea level, too. In the mountains, I clicked off the Economy shifting switch, used the extra gas. Even on the uphill grades, the Cat was showing 6.5 mpg on the computer.

Tractor...

Good morning from pre-dawn Clovis, NM.

The wind outside is howling, it was painfully obvious at 4AM that the little ceramic heater left on the countertop in the kitchen was not going to keep the bus at a temperature to sustain life.

There are times when husbands and wives revert to the children they were; under the warmth of the quilt, we argued who would brave icy floors and a 58 degree room temperature to dash 39 feet to the thermostat.

Of course, the...

Here in our community, we have a rule that RVs aren't supposed to be in our driveways longer than 48 hours.

When I rolled in from Tokyo yesterday evening, we were pushing the limits; it was a good opportunity for the wife to try her hand at driving in close quarters.

She laid her iPhone on the bus' dashboard while I wore my headset in the Tundra while she finished the Pre-Departure Checklist, backed the RV out of the driveway.

Our streets are narrow,...