As seen in Madison, WI at the FMCA 86th Family Reunion Rally I took these pictures of the new 2012 40DPQ Monaco Knight. What personally struck me as an attention grabber, was the detail in the front cap. Gone are the days when you can't pick out one motorhome from another in a row. The design statement by the new Monaco lineup for 2012, is bold and will leave no doubt in the eye of the beholder. Even the rear cap, typically a non event, is an attention grabber.

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1. The MCD shades arrived in a what seems to be an indestructible shipping container.
2. The shades were bubble wrapped and identified by location. The clips (6) were taped...

These pictures were taken at the FMCA 86th Family Reunion Rally in Madison, Wisconsin. Seen is the 2012 40PDQ Holiday Rambler Ambassador. Throughout this rally event, temperatures were somewhat below normal in the mid - to high 70s. During the week prior to our arrival, temperatures were in the 90s with high humidities. We could not have had better weather than was enjoyed during the week of the reunion rally. The rally was held at the Alliant Energy Center.

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I just discovered that everyone has a Blog on this new forum software, should they choose to use it. Neat.

This may be the only post I ever make to mine, as just reading the forum messages takes a LOT of time. Still, I'd like to let others who may somehow stumble across this post that I DO have a web site dedictated to our Monaco Diplomat. I enjoy keeping it up...

I read a few threads about the pros and cons of adding a 110 volt electric heating element to my Suburban 6 gallon DSI water heater. The good, reduced propane usage when camping at hook up sites. The bad, voids Suburban and Atwood water heater warranties. After all my research all I could find was a few people saying it will damage your water heater, but no one with first hand knowledge of this. The good posts outweighed the bad, so I decided to go ahead and install the Lightning Rod kit.
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The 2011 Monaco Vesta

The first time that I saw the 2011 Monaco Vesta was at the Louisville RVIA Exposition this past December. At that time my impressions were that Monaco RV LLC wanted to make a statement and step away from the usual box appearance that so many motorhomes manufacturers present nowadays. Monaco states that Vesta is fully vertically integrated thereby giving Monaco complete control...

I find myself sitting in front of the fireplace, feet up and considering the status of my favorite adult beverage. We recently experience a warm up. The outside temperature went all the way to 29 degrees and is supposed to hit 35 by this weekend. First thought, go get Winnie out for the weekend! Reality hits this is temporary, very temporary by Monday the snow is supposed to return and temperatures are supposed to head for the basement again. Getting Winnie out is a bad idea.

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There are some things in this world I just don't understand. Why bottled water from a city tap sells for big bucks just because it's labeled 'mountain', why tiny trailers often cost more than large ones and why people choose to camp in a fancy parking lot for 40 dollars a night when you can camp for free with a view.

All things being equal, I'd prefer free water from the tap and a great view. Leave the asphalt campgrounds for others; I want to camp with a view.

Camping with no services used to mean no water, power or sewer but times are changing! Last week we spent a few days at Wallowa state park in Oregon and while there was power and some other services in the campground, there was no cell or aircard service. Imagine my astonishment - no internet! Getting connected involved driving about 12 miles and mooching off a local provider.

The state park was lovely and just barely opened for the season. While daytime temps were in the mid 60's,...

Hardly a day goes by without some reference to China and the damage they are currently inflicting on the United States with less expensive, or flat out counterfeit, products knocked off from American-made products that once drove the powerful domestic manufacturing communities that once drove this great nation to prosperity.

Economists and financial analysts are warning of future distress...

And now....the rest of the story

Once upon a time...a 9 yr old girl was practicing her passion...mathematics.
As an adult, she was blessed to have a 45 year career doing what she loves...teaching mathematics to anyone who wanted to learn, high school and college.
The greatest joy of my life was raising 3 amazing kids....God's gift to me.
In 2007....bought a brand new Class A motorhome....longed for the open road.
Son gave me a little 4 lb Maltese...

I am going to describe my media setup. I had this system working in my previous RV (2008 Fleetwood Discovery 40x), but was not as robust as I am describing. The features streaming features where all available, but the source selection was not. Since the Fleetwood was a RF signal, I was limited in how I could wire it. I setup a dedicated media server that ran off the middle television, and did the wireless streaming. Now that I have my 2013 Newmar Dutchstar, there is a lot of improvement. Below I...