Update: Battling a Deep Freeze -- 1/27/19

Our planned departure for the Florida Panhandle is only a week away, but local overnight temps have been well below zero Fahrenheit and falling fast.



Because the NewAire has been parked since October, I decided yesterday morning to get her fired up in advance, figuring if I encountered any...

Well I got shook up by the loss of power to the a/c and heater panel so of course I checked? the fuses. all looked good I even found a fuse laying on the floor. three days of crawling around testing for power produced no results. so I went to the Intellitec site and read their trouble shoot info, One suggestion is to check the 5 amp power fuse to the control circuit board for the a/c units.... yeah that's right, the fuse on the floor was 5 amps so I stuck it in the only empty slot on the distribution...

Update: Preparing to Head South -- 1/24/19

We are bound for the Florida Panhandle in a little over a week, but right now the Chicago area is entering the deepest deep freeze yet in an otherwise mild winter.



The snow isn't going anywhere as temperatures are expected to hit -17F by the middle of next week. And if you believe local forecasters, there's even more snow on the way....

I broke down and replace almost everything in the steps and they are operating fine.


I recently installed new batteries all around.



now my a/c control panel lost power so no a/c or heat! trouble shooting is underway.


I installed a new battery control circuit board and things seem ok but little problems keep popping up.


I did a check up on the generator and it showed improvement, when i start it I get power...

While the Camper is ready to drive it is not ready in other areas. Since I am new to the systems on this and campers in general, I am preferring to have a Service Place do the checking of the propane, heat, and Water to make sure it is up to date and ready.

Meanwhile I have removed the radio, GPS and am upgrading them if possible. Everything is at least ten years old!
I am using some propane heaters in the storage unit until the freeze is off.

Our children, Emily, now 20 and Ryan, now 16, have been camping since they were just babies. I remember the first trip in our first Popup camper when Ryan was just 5 months old. It was a warm Columbus day weekend in Michigan and the excitement of that first trip is still fresh.

We mostly camp in State or National parks, and for the best spots, reservations fill very quickly. I enjoy the hunt for the best site, looking through the satellite images of each campground, trying to find...

When we got the coach a few months ago we did the usual walk through "Tour" then we were waved goodbye.

I had a pretty good idea of the depth of the pool I had just jumped in, I knew the water temp and thought I could recognize the hazards..

I remember this like it was yesterday, (For those with a Fleetwood Discovery you may want to take notice here),

During the new owner walk through, I was shown how to open the pull out for the generator....

We left Austin for the coast this morning with 1/8th tank of fuel. Waiting for the cheapest diesel I could find I put myself in a position to buy the most expensive..

Also the pumps machines were down so you had to go inside. While waiting to pay with the other 5 truckers, a few other "truckers" came in bitching loudly about the pump blocking RV driver ME,,,, I spun around and told them very loudly that I was in line to pay just like the other...

Well, I think there are different types of MH families;
1. FT'ers
2. Store at CG (part time'ers - Weekend'ers)
3. Store off Site 'ers
4. Store at Home 'ers

We are Home'ers; DOOOH

Once we decided to get a coach (cant call my coach a motor home, sounds to much like mobile home ) I knew I did not want to store it off site. Out of site out of mind. The more I see it the more I want to use it. Our neighborhood has no restrictions...

Its early December in Texas and starting to get cold (for us). I decided to go ahead and drain everything. We did not have a trip planned for a few weeks and I was concerned we might really drop in temp. I did not want to do this procedure for the first time at night when a norther was blowing in, freezing my butt off outside hopping I did it all correctly.

I opened the door of the wet bay and followed the directions to the letter. Step by step winterizing directions are on a sticker...

Update: More Mirror Woes -- 12/1/18

The mirror replacement verdict is in!

As previewed in my previous woeful post, I finally got the gumption up to call NewMar about replacement mirrors. (An original is not available.) As I feared, replacing both sides would run right around $1,500. That's before paint, etc.

While NewMar respectfully declined to disclose their OEM supplier, some digging around online finally led me to Velvac. Of course, the mirror I need...

Update: Storage Woes -- 11/25/18

I was tinkering around inside the RV a few days ago and just happened to run through the battery and tank level display panel. Surprisingly, my FRESH water tank read 3/4 full; that's about 30 gallons. My first reaction was faulty sensors (although the panel has always been accurate in the past). After all, I had opened both the fresh and hot water low point drains while returning from our last trip of the year.

Just to be sure, I opened...

Day 3 we spent in Hot Springs shopping and walking around the town center. Cute little stores but nothing really special. We found some Christmas presents and did a lot of walking. It was still pretty cold so we ducked into every open store. Had great pizza at Grateful Head. This was a very good pizza, loaded very fresh topping and an awesome crust. Highly recommend going here. They also have homemade root-beer for the kids. Their 14” large was way more than enough for me and my wife. Daughter had...

We left Crater of Diamonds at 11 and made it through some amazingly beautiful country without getting distracted, much….

This is a beautiful state with pretty good roads. Logging trucks like to haul ass but they do that everywhere. Pulled off on the shoulder a few times to let traffic by so we could drive slowly and enjoy the mountains and incredible views. Nice windy roads big shoulders not much traffic and its warming up nicely during the day so my feet are not hating me as much...

We left Austin at 7:30 am heading up 281 towards FW Texas. Not having RV'ed in the cold (yeah I know 40s not cold to some of yall but its FEEZIN TO US).. We left some things at home that we should have brought. cold weather boots, fuzzy socks etc...

Apparently, the coldest place in the RV (other than in the darn freezer) is the floorboard on the drivers’ side. Who the heck though that they could save a nickel by not putting a vent here needs to drawn and quartered. My feet were frozen...