We are in LOVE!!! with our 98' Alpine!

[Virginia]

This was the first weekend for a full trip with everything fixed, adjusted, installed and working when we left home --- until we noticed that the fridge hadn't switched to "gas" mode - read the book - did the reset and all was good and OH,I almost forgot - the Dish network is the pits - still working the bugs out of it but that doesn't have anything to do with the coach performance. We went to Silverwood Theme Park in Idaho. Coach driving went well (according to Steve - he's the driver - I get to back it up into dumping position occasionally). The trip over Snoqualmie pass was a dream. This is our first diesel and for certain we are hooked. Loved the power. First dry camping will be the Cougar football weekend of Sept. 15th - hoping all goes well for that too. So anything I may have said in the past was sour grapes because of temporary insanity - I'm cured now and happy til next time!

[Virginia]

This was the first weekend for a full trip with everything fixed, adjusted, installed and working when we left home --- until we noticed that the fridge hadn't switched to "gas" mode - read the book - did the reset and all was good and OH,I almost forgot - the Dish network is the pits - still working the bugs out of it but that doesn't have anything to do with the coach performance. We went to Silverwood Theme Park in Idaho. Coach driving went well (according to Steve - he's the driver - I get to back it up into dumping position occasionally). The trip over Snoqualmie pass was a dream. This is our first diesel and for certain we are hooked. Loved the power. First dry camping will be the Cougar football weekend of Sept. 15th - hoping all goes well for that too. So anything I may have said in the past was sour grapes because of temporary insanity - I'm cured now and happy til next time!

[gjstacy]

Virginia & Steve,

This is really good to hear! Sure glad you are enjoying your "new" Alpine.

Since you live up in Washington, have you given any thought to joining(or perhaps already joined)the Northwest Region (NoWACA) of ACA? If you haven't, you might think about attending one of their upcoming rallies just to see what it is all about.

Have fun!

[hrhuggie]

Virginia and Steve,
so good to hear that you are enjoying your "new" Alpine .

We have had ours almost 1 year now and have put close to 25,000 miles on it. We are sooooooooooooo in love with it that we can't wait to get in it for another trip. We just got back (last week) from a 3700 mile trip up the coast (after the ACA rally at Newport OR) to Victoria, Vancouver Island BC and then back down the coast. Its been in storage 5 days now and we plan on a trip next week

As Gail and John said, hope you will join ACA and perhaps NoWACA and join us at one of the rallies. Post often and let us know how your travels go

[Dave & Colleen]

Virginia & Steve
We know just how you feel! We just purchased a 1999 and have only made 3 short trips around the Seattle area for learning. Gosh, driving it, just sitting in it, and riding in it alone hooks you on it. Give the NoWACA folks a call. They have an outing this weekend..... .I think its at Pac Beach., WA. This weekend, we will try the Snoqualmie pass for our first climb

[Jeff and Cheryl]

Steve and Virginia,

Glad to hear that you finally got to make that first trip! As impressive as it is to go over Snoqualmie Pass, I've found it equally wonderful to be able to pull the Vantage Hill at 53 MPH with the toad attached.

After an irritating week of work, 5 minutes behind the wheel of my Alpine and the world is a peasful and tranquil place again. I do hope you find the same joy that Cheryl and I have traveling in your coach. And BTW did i mention that Cheryl is a Coug too?

On a related note, with the dish network, are you using the crank-up Winegard dish, or did you have a new dish installed?

[Jeff and Cheryl]

Hugh and Cyndi,

I am so-o-o-o jealous, 3700 miles in one trip. Did you find a place to get that alignment done? Those peaches and tomatoes were perfect.

To sort of mess with a phrase, "The open road is a terrible thing to waste." Many happy trips and miles to you both.

[Virginia]

Jeff, we had a new stationary dish installed. We wouldn't ever watch while driving so chose the stationary model. It does it thing well, the issue seems to be with the receiver - we will try it again on the 15th - on this last run we may have been under too many trees. The other issue seems that it may have lost its programming - when we stopped at Rye Grass the receiver said that no programming was associated with this receiver. If I have to call everytime we want to use it --- that will be highly inconvenient. Still new to this satellite stuff too so it may be my learning curve that is the problems. An I D 10 T error.

[Donna & Chuck]

Virginia & Steve - a note about the sat. dish. We have the King Dome w/DirecTV. When all this was new I was always having problems connecting to the satellite until I finally called King Dome and was told that sometimes it will take up to 20-30 minutes for the thing to lock onto the satellite - especially if you have traveled several hundred miles from the last connection. Seems it has to relocate the satellite. If you have King Dome go to the web site and download the instruction manual. There is a section that tells about searching shortcuts.

Good luck and enjoy your Alpine (and your TV if you ever get that mastered!)

dj (Donna)

[OldForester]

Virginia and Steve,

I also have Direct TV and KingDome dish. I don't think there's many things with this combination in one year and 21,000 miles I don't understand, along with a previous coach with the same combination. We're currently in Texas and will be home to Auburn by September 13.

I would be glad to come by your coach when we get home and help you with the tricks you need to make that combination work regularly if you wish my help.

[Virginia]

Thanks tons for your offer OldForester, you are welcome to stop by anytime but our dish is a Winegard - the one time it did work - it worked great - no problem - I think part of our issue at the RV park was the trees - and where we park at home is between two houses - so I think we are doomed until we get out in the open again --- we are leaving for Pullman the evening of the 13th so we won't be able to make connections with you but we will try the sat again when we park at the Rye Grass rest stop for the night --- thanks again and I'll let everyone know the results after our next try.

[OldForester]

We had a Wineguard Moving Vu dish on our previous motorhome. It actually worked better than the Kingdome on our current coach.

You do need a clear view of the southern sky; a good rule of thumb is the Direct TV satellite needs to be pointed over Texas if you're in Washington, so a little Southwest is area that should be clear.

let us know if it works; know the Ryegrass rest stop well. Ours works fine from there.

[hrhuggie]

Jeff and Cheryl,
we did finally get the front end aligned in Spokane, they did a great job, drove straight enough that I could actually take my hands off the wheel (for a short test only, I dont recommend it). we actually stopped in the Walmart parking lot in Olympia one night (got too late to find a campground and we were determined to make it to Port Angeles)

Yep, 3700 miles on that trip, now over 27000 on the coach (on our way to Laughlin this weekend) and then the so cal Havasu trip. Cant seem to pry us out of this coach!!!
Glad you liked the peaches and tomatoes, should have given you more... LOL