First Summer Roadtrip

[Retired]

We bought our 06 Fleetwood Flair at the end of March and spent all of April doing maintenance, repairs and upgrades. 14-15 May we camped at a local county park for a systems test before we hit the road. All is working well except the propane. I smell propane when I open the valve. The tank gauge reads empty, the monitor inside the RV reads full. We will have it checked out when we get to Tucson.

I am retired, my wife teaches and this year started taking summers off. This is our first real RV trip, we have been planning for this for years,

Day 1: We left home in Byron GA at 2pm. Sailed through Atlanta and Birmingham and stayed at Sunset RV, a small no frills but very clean RV park in Cottondale AL. 182 miles.

Day 2: 386 miles, stayed at Farmers Branch RV park in Dixie Inn AL. Clean no frills, good for an overnight if its all you can find.

Day 3-4: 120 miles. Stayed at Tyler State Park in Tyler TX. Beautiful park on a small lake, fishing, swimming and paddle boats.

The coach has been flawless. The 8.1 hums right along at 70 mph, 7.0 mpg so far, no TOAD.

We have been in and out of rain for the past 3 days, We will go from the mid-70s to high 90s tomorrow.

We should have done this years ago.

 

[Retired]

Forgot to mention, we are planning on Byron, Tucson, Vegas, Denver, Byron. About 5000 miles round trip.

My co-pilots:

 

[Retired]

 

[Hillman]

Sounds like an awesome trip. I'm not sure you should let those co-pilots read the maps for you, though.

 

[Retired]

Day 5 our longest yet. 427 miles. We left Tyler TX at 7am and were hooked up at Midland RV Park by 5pm. 4 stops along the way for fuel, pizza and to let the co-pilots tend to business. I-20 has been rerouted south of Dallas, flew right through mid-morning on a Sunday.

 

[Retired]

Day 6: 398 miles, stopped at Dream Catcher RV in Demming NM for the night. No frills, friendly people.

Day 7-15: We arrived in Tucson at the Davis Monthan AFB FamCamp, but not before stops at Texas Canyon Rest Area and a stop to see "The Thing." Had a nice visit with my sister and two brothers, we dont get to see each other very often, this is the first time in 10 years that was not at a funeral.

Day 16: We drove the 400 miles to Vegas and pulled into Nellis AFB FamCamp. I wanted to stop over in Hualapai Mountain Park near Kingman AZ, but no vacancy. We plan on being here until 7 Jun to visit grandkids then off to Denver. Its been 106-108 the two days we have been here. With both ACs running full blast and a big fan, its bearable in the coach but not much else. On the Tucson to Vegas leg I broke down and ran the gen so we could use the coach ACs. We have been averaging 6.55-6.9 mpg on the Workhorse 8.1 chassis.

The FamCamps are very nice. In Tucson we paid $26 a night, Vegas in nicer and only $22 a night. Power and water but no cable or free wifi. We have Amazon and Netflix and an unlimited data plan so we dont need cable or wifi.

 

[Retired]

Minor coach woes:

The steps work when they want to. The motor looks pretty new. I have cleaned the wiring connectors and lubed the pivot points. They worked fine the 8 days we were in Tucson. At the first gas stop after we left they quit working. They worked once today. Big PITA not having steps, tomorrow I will investigate more. I suspect the switch that keeps them out when parked.

The dash AC works until the temp hits about 100, then it blows hot air. Probably low on coolant, we will live with it until we get home.

The two big slides are being uncooperative. The sofa and dinette slide quit extending all the way out. I removed most of the basement weight but it is only extending about 1/2 way.

The kitchen slide is going out but it is moaning and groaning much more than usual.

On a positive note after 2200 miles the 8.1 is humming right along, the gen fires right up, the levelers are working great and all the appliances are doing what they are supposed to do.

So far it has been a nice trip.

 

[AuntieDodo]

It sounds like you are having a good time despite the steps and slide issues.

Did you have the propane smell investigated?

Enjoy the journey. Safe travels.

P.S. Your copilots are gorgeous.

 

[Retired]

We are living without propane. We just haven't had time to address it. We have granny's quilts if we need them in the mountains. It's been in the 50s in Denver. My granny made the quilts in the late 40s. They have never been used.

 

[Rbjewell]

We bought our 06 Fleetwood Flair at the end of March and spent all of April doing maintenance, repairs and upgrades. 14-15 May we camped at a local county park for a systems test before we hit the road. All is working well except the propane. I smell propane when I open the valve. The tank gauge reads empty, the monitor inside the RV reads full. We will have it checked out when we get to Tucson.

I am retired, my wife teaches and this year started taking summers off. This is our first real RV trip, we have been planning for this for years,

Day 1: We left home in Byron GA at 2pm. Sailed through Atlanta and Birmingham and stayed at Sunset RV, a small no frills but very clean RV park in Cottondale AL. 182 miles.

Day 2: 386 miles, stayed at Farmers Branch RV park in Dixie Inn AL. Clean no frills, good for an overnight if its all you can find.

Day 3-4: 120 miles. Stayed at Tyler State Park in Tyler TX. Beautiful park on a small lake, fishing, swimming and paddle boats.

The coach has been flawless. The 8.1 hums right along at 70 mph, 7.0 mpg so far, no TOAD.

We have been in and out of rain for the past 3 days, We will go from the mid-70s to high 90s tomorrow.

We should have done this years ago.

Keep on RV’ing! Sounds like you are having a wonderful time. Enjoy!