We had a great summer meandering around our great country and now we are back home in New York for the holidays.  We did a lot of great traveling this year.  We left the Florida Keys in April and traveled up the west coast of Florida stopping in the Tampa area to get the annual maintenance work done on our motorhome.  We were originally told it would be a one day process but after discussions about a finicky awning and the need to address a recall on our electric steps the servicing took three days.  Luckily the service center allows RV’rs to sleep in there unit if it needs to stay overnight.  So we spent two nights sleeping in our coach while it was parked in the service bay.  We finally got back on the road and slowly headed north then west.  Our first big stop was Panama City Beach Florida which is a beautiful place.  Then it was west for a few days in New Orleans.  Our plan was to then head west into Texas but due to severe weather in Texas we turned north up towards Missouri.  We needed to make a quick trip home to take care of some business so we decided to stop in Missouri.  After an internet search we found a great indoor storage facility with a 30 amp connection near Springfield MO.  We just plug the coach in, locked the door and left for New York.

After returning from home we got back on the road.  We traveled to many states including Missouri, Nebraska, South and North Dakota, Montana, Wyoming, Idaho, Washington, Oregon, Utah, Nevada, Arizona, New Mexico and Texas.  We visited many beautiful National Parks and stopped at many other points of interest.

Our travels were not without a few mechanical issues.  We had a rooftop air conditioner fan blade fail.  Tiffin quickly shipped us a new blade and I made the repair. A loose wire caused our slide control panel to malfunction.  Re-crimping a connector quickly solved that problem.  On our way from the Grand Canyon to Las Vegas our motorhome overheated.  We contacted Cummins who was booked solid. They referred us to Freightliner who agreed to get us in on our last scheduled day in Vegas.  They diagnosed the issue as a stuck thermostat and after a day to complete the warrantied repairs we were back on the road.  We stopped overnight in Arizona on our way to New Mexico.  On our trip from Arizona to Albuquerque we overheated again.  We again visited a Cummins dealer who tested everything but could not find anything wrong.  Frustration began to increase as we hit the road again.  After an uneventful trip to Roswell we headed to Texas and overheated again.  We also got a check engine light this time.  I decided to call Tiffin to see if they had any answers and to my surprise they did.  After asking for my VIN number they indicated that I had a defective fan clutch.   I was more than a bit annoyed that Tiffin new about the bad batch of fan clutches but didn’t notify their affected customers.  After overnighting a new clutch and an eight hour installation by Cummins in San Antonio we were on our way and trouble free.  Apparently the two speed electric clutch would intermittently fail when the engine ran hotter than normal due to very hot weather. 

So after seven enjoyable but tiring months on the road and the resolution of a frustrating mechanical issue we decided to call it a season.  We left Texas and worked our way back to Florida.  We spent almost a month relaxing in the Keys before leaving our MH there and driving home. Mid-January we will drive back to the Keys and enjoy a few more months of warm weather before getting back out on the road.  Where are we going next?  Stay tuned!