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RE: Hwy 89A in Northern Arizona
The stretch between Sedona north to Flagstaff has had a 50' maximum restriction for years but now with all of the ongoing construction/repairs they dropped it back to 30 feet {nothing over allowed}. As noted they have always enforced it. It is a gorgeous stretch of road but take your toad unless your coach is under 30' total length.
:C
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Desert Captain
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03/15/23 12:24pm |
Roads and Routes
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RE: Just added new tires...
Is 175 ft-lb the correct torque for the lug nuts? It's 140 on mine; however, mine is an '03.
As far as I know it is correct but approaching overkill. Fortunately I carry a heavy duty AC impact wrench
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Desert Captain
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03/06/23 08:29am |
Class C Motorhomes
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Just added new tires...
My 2012 24' Nexus Class C {with 75,000 miles} was due for some new tires and I finally pulled the trigger this morning. I have been shopping all over the internet for 4 Michelin Agilis Cross Climates - 225 75 R16's. I have three Cross Climates that are just over 2 years old, two on the front and one on the rear. The other three older Michelin rears are 5.3 years old and the spare is older than dirt.
How I ended with tires of mixed ages is a long story involving having one of the my 5.5 year old Michelin's grenading doing $4,181 in damage - it literally blew the wheel well up through the bottom of the coach. I now begin shopping for replacements when they get to 5 years old but admittedly Arizona is a tough environment on tires.
The plan was to put 4 new CC's on the rear, the fronts are fine and my remaining 2 year old CC replaces my spare. The nearest Discount Tire shop is 70 miles down the mountain adding $50 in fuel to the cost of the tires {$1,280 + $50} so after getting their quote I tried shopping closer to home. The local Big O came in at $1,332 and Firestone won't even look at a motorhome.
I have had great service using Jeff Cory Ford here in Payson dealing with their tire shop manager Jeff, so gave him a call. He assured me would meet or beat any other quote but there was no need as he came in at $1,245. When I asked he assured me that the tires would be "Fresh" and he did not disappoint as their DOT codes came in at 0123.
The two young guys tasked with my job earned their money as retrieving/replacing the spare from its mount under the rear of the coach is a PITA but the rest of the install went smoothly. Mounted, balanced and torqued to 175# my coach is good to go for another 3 years when I will replace the fronts. I like having all four of the duallies matched.
The coach has a GVWR of 11,500# and I run near or at that number most of the time as I often tow a 2,500# cargo trailer. I run the fronts at 60 psi and the rears at 65 which gives me a nice cushion above and beyond their rated {Load Range E} capacity was well as a very smooth ride with excellent handling.
Winter hopefully will be loosening its grip soon and I hope to get out to Pahrump towing our Can Am Spyder for some nice day rides exploring Death Valley later this month.
Here is a shot of our rig:
https://i.imgur.com/NOnqfXGl.jpg
This is our Can Am Spyder... one seriously fun Toad:
https://i.imgur.com/qlozcCWl.jpg
:C
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Desert Captain
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03/03/23 11:55am |
Class C Motorhomes
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RE: Winter in Arizona...
Houston Mesa is a great CG that very few people know about. They are currently closed for serious maintenance/improvements but should reopen this spring. We lived in Payson for almost a year before stumbling on it while out for a motorcycle ride. Canyon Point has been one of our favorites for 10+ years but being at 7,700' it is only open from May through October {barring early or late snow}.
Woke to another inch yesterday and after 10 snow events {1 to 4"} this winter going back to November 3 {my brides birthday} we actually have a couple of cool ,clear, blue sky days but... are expecting 1- 3 inches Saturday night/Sunday and more in the forecast for late next week.
Compared to much of the rest of the country this doesn't sound like much but for central Arizona we are loving all of the much needed moisture. Should be an awesome spring as we are already seeing new buds on many of our plants and trees.
Our 40 year old Maple tree got it's first much needed trim/haircut last week. It is covered in buds and should leaf out by mid April:
https://i.imgur.com/lpeuupkl.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/UV166cQl.jpg
:B
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Desert Captain
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02/24/23 09:01am |
General RVing Issues
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RE: Ram 1500 can it tow Keystone 280BH??
The big issue for the OP is what payload does your truck have. As noted earlier Ram 1500's are notorious for limited payload. Crew Cabs and 4 X 4's are heavy options that subtract from the original factory payload numbers.
"The tow vehicle is a 2016 Ram 1500 that has upgraded shocks, springs(TufTruck XHD), sway bars, Helper airbags and E-Rated tires. I will be using a weight distributing hitch just like I do with my current 26Ft Shadow Cruiser and my vehicle does have a brake controller/tow package."
None of the above will change the trucks payload.
Shortly after buying my 2019 Honda Ridgeline a guy I know tried to take me to task... "Why didn't you buy a real truck?" he asked. When I asked for his definition of a "Real Truck" he proudly pointed to his Ram 1500. When asked what his payload was he got kind of sheepish and said he wasn't sure.
I had him open the drivers door and there on the sticker it showed his payload to be 977#. My Honda is 1,477#. Almost made him cry. The OP is going to run out of payload with this trailer before he loads any gear or passengers. The other concern IMHO is that much trailer will be a textbook example of the tail wagging the dog... and not in a good way.
As always... Opinions and YMMV. Good luck.
:C
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Desert Captain
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02/16/23 08:13am |
Tow Vehicles
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RE: Winter in Arizona...
Winter just keeps on coming...
https://i.imgur.com/D0tx8NAl.jpg
Woke this morning to 3" of fresh snow and the temperature hovering at 10 degrees. This is our 8th snow event so far. Had a couple of visitors yesterday, a pair of young bulls have been stopping by and this one even did his squirrel impersonation trying to raid the bird/squirrel feeder:
https://i.imgur.com/g56ahs8l.jpg
:S
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Desert Captain
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02/15/23 08:11am |
General RVing Issues
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RE: 25% better mpg from current diesels? Too good to be true?
With diesel being about 25 percent higher in cost than regular gas where is the net savings?
Just saying/asking... :h
You’re not really a pot stirrer so why now?
Not trying to stir any pots but some folks here are playing fast and loose with the math...
"If" diesels get 10 to 15 percent better mileage and diesel fuel costs 25+ percent more than gas then once you add in the cost of these wonder pistons {I doubt they are free to buy much less install} there doesn't appear to me much of net savings {assuming they actually work as represented here}.
I like the power and reliability of a diesel, had one in my last boat {a 40' trawler} for 5 years but now, like many I simply have no use for that motor.
There are three kinds of people on this planet... those that can do math and those that can't.
:B
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Desert Captain
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02/07/23 08:25am |
Tow Vehicles
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RE: 25% better mpg from current diesels? Too good to be true?
With diesel being about 25 percent higher in cost than regular gas where is the net savings?
Just saying/asking... :h
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Desert Captain
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02/06/23 10:22am |
Tow Vehicles
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RE: Roadtrip by car vs RV, a couple of thoughts...
OP here... I have enjoyed and appreciate all of the input from you folks. Sounds like most of us are on the same page. Another advantage to having the coach even if we do stop for a meal on the road is enjoying it in our coach where we carry our own beverages. A soft drink, ice tea or even a simple cup of coffee will run you around $3 on top of the cost of the meal. With burgers climbing to nearly $10 {without fries :S} a simple lunch combo can easily exceed $15 + tax and a tip if you are in a sit down restaurant. Even fast food joints are hitting you up for tips these days.
:E Lunch for the two us at a lot of fast food places gets close to $30 OTD and that equals two or three home {RV} prepared meals for the two of us.
Just got the LP leak {bad gauge} repaired and the tank refilled so even though we missed Quartzite {again} we hope to head out for Pahrump and Death Valley this month. No more hotels in our immediate future to be sure.
:B
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Desert Captain
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02/04/23 01:13pm |
General RVing Issues
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RE: Winter in Arizona...
Thanks one and all for the kind words. We moved up here 2.5 years ago from Tucson and have not looked back. Payson with a population of roughly 15,000 is a friendly little town {the joke is if you go more than 2 miles in any direction you aren't in Payson anymore} with some amazing weather and nearly unlimited opportunities for outdoor fun. Occasionally need to go down to the Phoenix area but it is only a 90 minute trip {in good weather}.
The forecast is calling for more snow Monday/Tuesday so am hoping my mechanic can get to us on Friday. The low temps are in the teens so most of the snow is still with us but it is gorgeous and with 4" not much work to deal with. Took a nice ride yesterday in our Honda Ridgeline {AWD}. This pic is on the road off of 260 that leads up to the fish hatchery {about 12 miles from home} fortunately we were following snowplow:
https://i.imgur.com/cNSCzfTl.jpg
Once we return home it is time to fire up the wood burning stove and kick back with a beverage:
https://i.imgur.com/SNxMLx4l.jpg
:B
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Desert Captain
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01/25/23 08:15am |
General RVing Issues
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Winter in Arizona...
Not all of Arizona is desert. We live in Payson about 90 miles northeast of Phoenix at 5,000'. We had 2" of snow yesterday and awoke this morning to another 2" on top of that {our 6th decent snow event since November}. The temp at 0700 was 18 {feels like 10}.
https://i.imgur.com/auZhZwkl.jpg
Have been waiting for my indie RV mechanic to come out and make a couple of repairs {replace a leaking LP gauge on the main tank and repair/replace a leaking valve on the toilet} to our Class C out in the driveway but the weather is not cooperating. He can't work in these conditions and we can't use the coach until the repairs are completed. With no new precipitation in the forecast hopefully he will be able to get out later this week.
We were hoping to get back to Quartzite this year after a two years of Covid induced absence but that's not going happen anytime soon. Oh well, playing in the snow in our Rzr SXS is a hoot with miles of trails right out of our driveway.
We put out bird seed year round and while the birds do get some the local Grey tree squirrels get most of it. They provide endless entertainment with their antics which we thoroughly enjoy. Our daughter and SIL gave this upgraded feeder for Christmas and our fur buddies seem to like it:
https://i.imgur.com/ZUrUud9l.jpg
:B
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Desert Captain
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01/24/23 09:54am |
General RVing Issues
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RE: One night boondock at Quartzsite
If you get a chance-stop by Silly Al's Pizza for a beer and pizza-on Main St.
Be prepared to stand in line, a wait of an hour is not unusual during the RV show.
X2 on Scadden Wash. From there it is easy to get to the tent but if you are camped north or south of I10 traffic backs up for miles on 95.
Enjoy!
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Desert Captain
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01/21/23 08:17pm |
Public Lands, Boondocking and Dry Camping
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Roadtrip by car vs RV, a couple of thoughts...
We just returned from a 1,000+ mile 5 day trip from our home in Payson Arizona to San Diego. We combined an important business meeting with the opportunity to visit our daughter and SIL along with 8 of our best friends.
San Diego is one of the least friendly RV destination in the country. Parking restrictions and a expensive RV parks along with southern California traffic makes it less than ideal. Consequently we left the 24' Class C at home and enjoyed the 24 mpg of our Honda Ridgeline vs 9.5 of the coach. Full disclosure: I drive a bit faster in the Honda than our coach. :B
The first night we stayed with our friends in north county {Vista} ironically utilizing the master bedroom of their 40' DP as guest quarters. We enjoyed a great dinner with them and had a blast reconnecting as we had not gotten together in more than a year.
The next day we drove down to San Diego and checked into the Bay Club Hotel on Shelter Island. It is a very nice hotel and you can't beat the location overlooking the marina. Our room was $574 for 3 nights which with the fuel savings figured in and the cost of local RV parks enabled us to just about break even.
Food was a different story... Naturally we were eating out for nearly every meal and the costs added up quickly. We took the opportunity of being in our former home town to hit several of our old favorite restaurants. It's difficult to eat as healthy as we are accustomed in our coach when dining out but it was fun to just relax and enjoy. I was more than a little shocked at how high the cost of dining out had gotten as we don't do it often.
Bottom line... any fleeting/foolish thoughts about selling ther coach have disappeared into the spaceship along with Jimmy Hoffa's body {we get offers almost once a month as folks drive by and see the motorhome in the driveway}. I enjoy doing all of the cooking including when traveling in the RV where we do virtually all of our eating/imbibing in the coach saving serious dollars. While the hotel was awesome we really prefer to sleeping our own bed etc. and after 9+years and 74,000 miles have out pretty well gotten the coach dialed in.
Another factor for us is our habit of usually towing our 10' cargo trailer hauling either the Can Am Spyder or your Rzr SXS depending the destination and the nature of the fun we have planned. This drops the mileage to about 8.5 but we usually stay off the grid or in inexpensive CG's.
We had a great time in San Diego but it reinforced our enjoyment of taking the motorhome as we will continue to do. Coming up... Quartzite for the RV Show towing the Rzr {we'll camp out at Sadden Wash} followed in February by Payson to Pahrump NV towing the Can AM. From the Lakeside RV Park we will day ride the Can Am to explore Death Valley.
:C
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Desert Captain
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01/13/23 01:59pm |
General RVing Issues
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RE: Park pet peeves, Park owner’s turn
"You are very clear as to what you feel is the problem. What I don’t see is any patheay to a practical solution. How do you implement zero tolerance without a method to determine actual speed. Would you be ok if a park employee came up to you and told you to leave because to them it looked like you were going 12 MPH not 10? Do people get warnings or is it one and you’re out? If warnings, how many and over what time period? Two warnings in a day is much different than two warnings in a summer. And while word may get around in a seasonal park, it doesn’t in an overnight or destination park where people only stay a day or two. Much as it would be great if everyone idled thru the park at ten miles per hour, they often don’t. An absolute zero tolerance, one strike and your out policy would likely put the park out of business prior to stopping all the violators".
Ah, "Denial"....not just a river Egypt. If common sense fails you when observing folks speeding then yours is just a park/cg I will happily skip. We no longer have little ones or a pooch and are still pretty spry for old folks but having some fool drive through tight narrow cg at twice the common sense {and posted } limit with impunity is just a disaster waiting to happen. When it does some lawyer is going to have a field day when witnesses report that speeding was frequent, flagrant and totally unaddressed by management.
I know you see my points but just want to argue so not much point in continuing this discussion.
Good luck.
:S
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Desert Captain
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01/06/23 12:54pm |
General RVing Issues
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RE: Park pet peeves, Park owner’s turn
"So what do you see as proper enforcement of a speeding rule? And exactly how is the park supposed to determine who is speeding? Should the park invest in multiple radar stations to cover all the different roads? Do you enforce at one MPH over the posted speed? Or do you have a tolerance? And how does enforcing it strictly a few times prevent future problems when the park turns over its occupancy every few days? "
So if you have a guest who comes through your 10 mph CG at 20 - 25 every time you would take no action? It would be more than obvious {through the magic"sight"} the hazard they are creating in flagrant violation of your posted limit. If it happens roll by their site and remind them of the rules advise that if it happens again they will be leaving without refund and then enforce the warning.
This was a problem for awhile at one our favorite CG's until they posted a sign at the entrance stating their zero tolerance policy. Reminding folks when they check in leaves no ambiguity. After a few folks were booted the word got around and the problem all but disappeared.
Run your facility anyway you want... your park, your rules but know that if I visit a facility that does nothing to enforce basic safety/courtesy I won't be back.
:C
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Desert Captain
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01/06/23 10:11am |
General RVing Issues
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RE: Park pet peeves, Park owner’s turn
Dogs invading other sites with bad internet…
Wut?
Lmao... ya gotta love spell check.
:S
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Desert Captain
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01/06/23 09:58am |
General RVing Issues
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RE: Park pet peeves, Park owner’s turn
"Define chronic. Is it a dog barks once, once every few hours, for three minutes when the owners leave them in the RV? And how do you politely enforce a rule? A park is pretty much limited to letting them stay or kicking them out. I don’t think turning off the power or disconnecting the cable for an hour effectively giving the RV a time out would be practical, polite or non confrontational. Warnings only go so far and that is a very short distance in parks where the average guest stays for only a few days. Fact is, unless there are truly gross violations of rules, rule enforcement relies primarily on the good character of the violator. "
As noted chronic speeding is a biggie as it is liable to get someone injured or worse. The CG's that enforce zero tolerance don't have to do so more than a couple of times and the problem goes away one way or the other. Dogs invading other sites with bad internet {don't get me started on those retractable 30' leashes} or no leash any all and of course the folks that never clean up after their pooches.
Relying on the "good character"of the violator presumes/assumes they have some which sadly is often not the case.
:E
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Desert Captain
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01/05/23 08:22pm |
General RVing Issues
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RE: Park pet peeves, Park owner’s turn
Ok I'll play... If you are going to have rules and obviously you need to, enforce them consistently for the benefit of one and all. I appreciate it when upon checking in being given a copy, usually on the back of the CG map and yes guys I actually read them every time.
Every CG/RV park is a little different and if after reading their rules you cannot comply just put your rig in gear and get on down the road. The rules are not subject to debate and I would hope they apply to everyone, not just us.
On the earlier discussion about IQ...
Knowledge is knowing that a tomato is a fruit. Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad.
:B
Enforcing rules has to be done with discretion. It is never black and white. For example we have quiet hours, not silence hours. Barking dogs are a no go, but we don’t kick someone out for a dog’s random bark. Deal with the general public enough and you will inevitably have conflicts regarding rules and policies. It is impossible to settle then all to the satisfaction of everyone involved.
I have to disagree... especially when it comes to speeding in the CG but other chronic offenses should always be dealt with in a timely manner as well. No need to be a jerk just politely enforce them. Your other nonproblematic guests are entitled to know and expect what the rules provide for.
:C
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Desert Captain
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01/05/23 01:42pm |
General RVing Issues
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RE: Park pet peeves, Park owner’s turn
Ok I'll play... If you are going to have rules and obviously you need to, enforce them consistently for the benefit of one and all. I appreciate it when upon checking in being given a copy, usually on the back of the CG map and yes guys I actually read them every time.
Every CG/RV park is a little different and if after reading their rules you cannot comply just put your rig in gear and get on down the road. The rules are not subject to debate and I would hope they apply to everyone, not just us.
On the earlier discussion about IQ...
Knowledge is knowing that a tomato is a fruit. Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad.
:B
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Desert Captain
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01/05/23 08:01am |
General RVing Issues
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RE: Fun in the snow...
Dave, you were right about how filthy the beast came home but if you aren't getting them dirty you ain't riding them right. :B Took the time to blast the entire buggy, especially underneath with my best hose and lots of pressure. Not sure if there was more mud or just really dirty snow but it is about 95 percent gone now. Probably just ride again tomorrow {more mud less snow}.
Steve, where on the \Oregon coast did you ride? That area has been on my short list for a while.
:C
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Desert Captain
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12/12/22 02:09pm |
General RVing Issues
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