Tag Archives: RV Driving School

2015/03/14-16 (S-M) Escapade to RVillage

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2015/03/14 (S) Wrapping Up; Signing Up

I spent most of the day and evening processing photos, although I took time to dump the holding tanks and fill the fresh water tank.  Linda and Val did Laundry and then went grocery shopping after which Linda started preparing the inside of our coach for travel.  It was a long, busy, productive day but it was mostly chores and work, so not much to write about.  We did, however, sign up to be staff at the July 2016 Escapade in Essex Junction, Vermont.  I signed up to be the assistant staff photographer again while Linda signed up for any job that was in a quiet environment so she can hear.  We really do enjoy the Escapade rallies.

Sunset as viewed from our campsite at the Pima County Fairgrounds near Tucson, AZ.

Sunset as viewed from our campsite at the Pima County Fairgrounds near Tucson, AZ.

2015/03/15 (N) Back to RVillage WHQ

Today was our scheduled departure date but we did not need to vacate the Pima County Fairgrounds until noon.  We would be caravanning a relatively short distance with Lou and Val and targeted 11 AM for our departure.

The more time we spend in our bus the less anxious we are the night before we are going to move to a new location, but there is still a certain anticipation about it.  Moving the bus is not like getting in a car to go to work.  It’s a big, complicated, machine and there are many details to attend to before we can move it.  It also rarely travels the same route twice so we spend time researching and planning travel routes.  Fortunately, we enjoy these aspects of the RV lifestyle and had most everything in order by the time we went to bed last night.  We both slept well enough having worked and played fairly hard all week.

We had a leisurely morning and took care of the final preparations for travel.  As it was getting to be 10 AM we had to ask someone to move a car so we could pull out.  Paul Evert’s RV dealership had moved some of the rigs they had sold during the rally to the full hookup area where we were camped all week and had folks pull there trade-in units there so they could transfer their belongings.  As a result the area was getting crowded and obstructed with cars parked wherever it was convenient (for the owner).  The RV Driving School was also busy in one of the parking lots near us teaching people how to turn, back up, and park, including teaching the “spotter” (co-pilot/navigator) how to give hand signals to the driver.  (This is actually the more difficult job requiring judgement, proper positioning, and clear/timely signals.)  As long as the driver can see the spotter all they have to do is follow directions.  Many of the Escapade staff were still at the fairgrounds and attendees who signed up for HOPs (Head Out Programs) were still camped there as well.  The HOPs are organized outings that sometimes involve a tour bus for transportation, a tour leader/guide, admission to one or more venues, and possibly food.

We pulled out roughly on time with Lou and Val right behind us.  We headed out of the fairgrounds and then north on Houghton Road to I-10 where we headed west.  They needed fuel so we took an exit on the west side of Tucson where there was supposed to be a truck stop, but it wasn’t there.  Lou pulled into a station where we could not get in/out so we found a spot a little farther down the road where we could turn around and waited for them to pull out of the station.

We followed them back on to the highway and then retook the lead.  We exited at Eloy where there were both Pilot and Flying J truck stops.  We topped up our diesel tank while Lou filled their propane tank.  We got back on I-10 for another eight miles and then exited at Sunland Gin Road and headed south into Arizona City.  A few miles, and a bunch more minutes, later we pulled into the rental property that currently serves as Curtis Coleman’s residence and headquarters for the RVillage social network.  Good things are happening for RVillage and it was good to be back here to spend a little more time with Curtis and his adorable dog Augie, a Bevar (sp? may be Biewer) Yorkshire Terrier.

A panoramic view looking west from the deck of RVillage World Headquarters. It was very peaceful here.

A panoramic view looking west from the deck of RVillage World Headquarters. It was very peaceful here.

We got settled in and then visited a bit.  We eventually went to Duffer’s Restaurant at the golf course and then went back to the house for movie night.  The film for this evening was “The Social Network” about the founding of Facebook; a most appropriate choice given where we are boondocked.

2015/03/16 (M) Florence, AZ

Someone at the Escapade told Lou about a road that runs between Florence and Kelvin Arizona.  They said it was mostly good gravel and very scenic and Lou was determined that we find it, drive it, and photograph it.  Linda and Val packed a picnic lunch while Lou and I prepared our photography gear.  I grabbed the Garmin GPS out of our car (just in case) and we took off, leaving Curtis some peace and quiet to attend to RVillage.

I managed to navigate us to Florence where we decided it would be prudent for Lou to top off the fuel tank in his truck.  We pulled into a Circle K (Kangaroo?) and took care of that.  When Lou tried to start the truck the starter would not engage.  It would turn but made a really bad grinding sound.  Sometimes the throw-out gear binds and we tried tapping on the starter with a long stick and hammer but it did not help.  The starter had just been replaced a month ago in Mesa, Arizona and had a 60 day towing policy in addition to the parts and labor warranty.

Val, Lou, and Linda having lunch by the fuel pump island at the Circle K in Florence, AZ.

Val, Lou, and Linda having lunch by the fuel pump island at the Circle K in Florence, AZ.

Lou called the repair shop and they dispatched a tow truck.  I then called Curtis to see if he could fetch Val, Linda, and me from the Circle K and he graciously agreed to come get us.  We let the station attendants know what was going on and they were cool with the whole thing even though we were blocking one of the pumps.  It took a while for the tow truck to arrive so we ate our lunch standing in the shade at the end of the fuel island.  We must have made an interesting sight to passersby.  The tow truck eventually arrived, pulled the pickup truck up onto the flatbed, and drove off with Lou riding shotgun.  A little while later Curtis arrived.  We loaded our picnic supplies and camera gear into the back of his SUV and he drove us back to his place.

Lou photographs their pickup truck being loaded onto the flatbed hauler at the Circle K in Florence, AZ.

Lou photographs their pickup truck being loaded onto the flatbed hauler at the Circle K in Florence, AZ.

I expected to get a call from Lou letting me know that I needed to drive to Mesa to pick him up.  What we got instead was a call that the truck was repaired and he was on his way back.  The problem was that the starter mounting bolts had not been torqued tight enough and had backed out about 1/4 inch.  As a result the throw-out gear was pushing the starter back rather than engaging with the gear teeth on the flywheel.  As we thought about it we were realized we were very lucky this did not happen on the road from Florence to Kelvin.

Bonnie was also staying at the RVillage compound and joined us for dinner last night.  This evening we did a pot luck thing and dined at the outside table by the lake.

 

20140418 (N) Taxi Turn Oops

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We complied with the Fairgrounds’ request that we not depart until today, but we wanted to be on the road by 9 AM.  We were up at 7:30 AM and got busy right away with our departure routine.  The 5th Wheel parked next to us decided to leave last night.  They were from Alaska and the husband was an instructor for the RV Driving School.  He had also been an “ice road trucker” at one time.  I told him that I was not sure what the best technique was for exiting the infield over soft ground with freshly spread loose gravel.  He suggested the following technique: 1) Pull up the tag axles to put more weight on the drive tires and to keep them from dragging on the ridges created by the space between the drive tires; 2) transmission in 1st gear (manual selection); 3) Keep the engine at 900 – 1,100 RPM (high-idle) and avoid quick changes in engine RPM to keep from spinning the drive tires; 4) keep moving; don’t stop.

We were ready to go by 8:00 AM and said our farewells to Butch and Fonda.  We were anxious to get home and decided not to stop at the dump stations.  Linda went ahead of me in the car to block any traffic from entering the infield through the gate.  I made it through the soft part of the infield just fine using the technique as previously described.  I got across the horse track without difficulty and then made a sharp turn onto an interior road where we could stop to hook up the car.  As I came around the corner I clipped a sign with the driver side rear view mirror.  In my defense I thought it was a cloth banner, but it wasn’t.  The mirror was pulled loose from the motorized base and plastic parts were broken in the process.  Butch and Fonda were pulling out behind us and stopped to see what the problem was.  We used some of the Rescue Tape we keep on board to tape the mirror onto the base and adjusted it by hand as best we could.  I had an adequate view down the driver’s side of the coach, allowing me to drive it safely.  We hooked up the car and were on our way by 9:00 AM.

The rest of the trip was smooth sailing and without incident.  We exited the fairgrounds onto Monroe Street east to County 29 north to IN-4 east to IN-13 north to US-20 east to I-69 north to I-96 east to MI-59 east to Hacker Rd south to our house.  We had light traffic and pleasant weather for the whole drive.  When we pulled up in front of our house (on the street) Linda got out to help position the coach in the driveway.  Jasper immediately came out from under the passenger seat and got down in the stairwell to look out the lower window and I had the sense that he recognized we were home.  As soon as we got parked, Linda took the cats inside and then took off for the grocery store while I plugged in the shore power, unhooked the car, and started unloading the bus.

I spent a little time getting a couple of blog posts uploaded to WordPress before John and Diane arrived around 5:00 PM.  Linda made a very nice green salad with walnuts and dried cranberries and a bow-tie pasta dish with sun-dried tomatoes, mushrooms, garlic, and pesto for dinner.  John and Diane brought a bottle of Barefoot Sweet Red wine which we had with the meal.  We had fresh mixed berries with biscotti cookies for dessert.  Tomorrow was a work day for everyone but me, so John and Diane took their leave around 8:30 PM and Linda headed off to bed shortly thereafter.  Since I did not have to get up at Oh-Dark-Thirty I worked at my desk for a while before retiring for the night.  Linda has not been feeling well for the last few days and cannot figure out if she has a cold or allergies or both.  I’ve been tired too, but rallies can do that, especially when we are working.

 

2013_07_02 (Tue) Escapade Day

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I attended two seminars in the morning on RV satellite TV systems, each presented by one of the two satellite TV vendors at the Escapade.  Linda stayed at the coach and made phone calls related to the pending sale of our old house and insurance changes we made yesterday on our motorhome and towed car.  She then attended a seminar on healthy living.

Although I have invested a fair amount of time in researching communications and entertainment technology options for our converted coach, I have not yet come to any conclusions regarding many of the systems, especially satellite TV. Thus, I continue to attend seminars and glean new insights from each one, and today was no exception.

Each of the seminars talked about both Other-The-Air (OTA) and satellite (SAT) antenna systems, as well as TV sets (monitors).  The monitors and OTA antennas are a settled issue in our coach, as already discussed in previous blog posts.  Still, the seminars confirmed our choice of 1080p monitors with digital tuners and rotatable antennas to capture the highly directional UHF digital TV (DTV) signals.

The big insights today had to do with SAT antennas and programming.  As mentioned previously, Moto-Sat is no longer in business, which I had not heard prior to the FMCA rally.  Former Moto-Sat employees created RF Mogul, which I had also not heard of prior to the FMCA rally, but whose SAT dishes were very much in evidence both at FMCA and at Escapade.

If /when we add SAT capability, we want to be able to watch different programs simultaneously on our two monitors, including a mix of standard definition (SD) and high definition (HD) channels.  There are only two ways to do that, and only one that involves a single SAT antenna (dish).  An “obvious” solution is to use two SATs as each one can then fix on its own satellite, even if it is a single satellite dish.  Any dome-type antenna could be used in this configuration as all domed antennas are one-satellite-at-a-time.  That might be a solution, even with the added costs of duplicated hardware and programming, but we cannot mount any SAT dish on the roof, much less two of them, so this is not a solution for us.  I learned that the only single SAT solution that meets our requirements is a 3-axis multi-satellite dish (multiple LNBs).  These dishes come in manual models, like the ones used on fixed houses, and automatic ones, as seen on many RVs.  In our case, we would have to mount the dish on a tripod or set it on the ground, and figure out where/how to store it when not in use.  The manual dishes are not too heavy and not very expensive, but have to be aimed manually (duh).  I have talked to folks who have manual dishes and it can be a time-consuming and far from certain process to get them lined up with properly.  The automatic dishes find and lock on to all of the required satellites at the push of a button but are heavy at about 50 pounds.  They are also large, which is why they capture signals well, but that poses a storage problem when not in use.

The two major sources of these open, fold-down, 3-axis dishes are Winegard and RF Mogul, each represented by one of the presenters.  Although both dishes appear to work well, it appears there are differences, especially with respect to maintenance.  The Winegard dish apparently has two controllers, one of which is in the motorized dish base, while the RF Mogul has only one that goes inside the RV.  Also, it appears that the RF Mogul dish has field replaceable positioning motors, whereas the Winegard does not.  What this comes down to is that it appears the RF Mogul dish can be repaired in-situ, while the Winegard dish must be returned to the factory.  That’s a potential problem even if the dish is not mounted on a vehicle, and a bigger problem if it is.

With respect to programming services, both presenters seemed to favor Direct TV for various reasons from programming choices, to signal acquisition, to technical support.  We were leaning towards Dish Network, but we are now reconsidering that choice.  The issue of major networks (ABC, CBS, NBC, and PBS) remained unclear to me.

Basically, residential satellite TV customers typically get the local OTA channels (major networks) for their geographic market.  The satellite companies do this by using “spot beam” technology where the satellite signals for a major market like Detroit are beamed (like a flashlight) to an area on the surface of the earth a couple of hundred miles in diameter.  If you take your home receiver outside of that area, perhaps in an RV, you lose those local channels, and you do not get the local channels for whatever area you happen to be in.  Both Direct TV and Dish Network appear to “solve” this problem by offering RV programming packages that include either the New York or Los Angeles local OTA stations, as these are transmitted to all of the continental US just like the rest of their channels.

The choice for us is bigger than just RVing.  We do not have cable or U-verse at home, and are too far from the local OTA transmitters to receive them very well, so we have not had any form of TV since mid-April when we moved to our new house until we started RVing in June and got our OTA antennas working (sort of).  If we get satellite TV at all, we are looking for something that will work at home and in the RV.  We are also considering simply not having satellite TV.

After lunch we went to seminars on Full-Timing, presented by George Maylaben of the RV Driving School, and Windows 8, presented by Chris & Jim Guld of Geeks On Tour.  George gave a thoughtful overview of the issues facing full-timers and those considering moving into this lifestyle.  The Geeks did their usual excellent job of presenting an understandable and actionable overview of the topic, and Linda was able to go back and use some of what we learned on her laptop.

We spent some time in the Paul Everts outdoor RV display area and then went to the Tri-Chapter (6, 36, and 51) social at 4:30 PM.  There was a small but friendly group present, and we got to chat with a full-timer couple from Michigan who are now residents of South Dakota.  There weren’t any evening activities that interested us, so we had a quiet evening “at home” and watched a program on Wyoming PBS about Mt. Rushmore.