Thinking about a Bus/RV

Some times you need to stop, and see what the sign says. Then there are days that you must make tracks, but the 650 mile days don't come as easy as they used to.
 

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got to remember trailers and motorhome have a different purpose.
I recall in Santa Fe NM, it was raining as had as could, and we watched a couple trying to set up their trailer, it wasn't pretty, they finally gave up.
There is an advantage for fully contained. couple of buttons and give me a beer. :)
 
bobmrg said:
You don't. That space is for use while the vehicle is stopped. One more time: You must be seated and buckled up when the vehicle is in motion. This applies in all states.
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Alright, I'll take this one.

Bob..you're wrong..it absolutely is not true that all states require a seat belt in a RV for passengers. In fact, in the majority of states in this great union, you do not need seatbelts on passengers in the back of a RV.

These states are still part of America and don't require the government safety straps for passengers in the back of a RV. Only require for occupants in the front seats:
  1. Alabama
  2. Arkansas
  3. Connecticut
  4. Florida
  5. Hawaii
  6. Illinois
  7. Indiana
  8. Kansas
  9. Louisiana
  10. Maryland
  11. Michigan
  12. Minnesota
  13. Mississippi
  14. Missouri
  15. Nebraska
  16. New Jersey
  17. New York
  18. North Carolina
  19. North Dakota
  20. Ohio
  21. Oklahoma
  22. Pennsylvania
  23. South Dakota
  24. Tennessee
  25. Texas
  26. Virginia
  27. West Virginia
  28. Wisconsin
These states do require seatbelts on passengers:
  1. Alaska
  2. California
  3. Colorado
  4. Delaware
  5. Washington
  6. D.C.
  7. Georgia
  8. Idaho
  9. Iowa
  10. Kentucky
  11. Maine
  12. Massachusetts
  13. Montana
  14. New Hampshire
  15. New Mexico
  16. Oregon
  17. Rhode Island
  18. South Carolina
  19. Utah
  20. Vermont
  21. Washington
  22. Wyoming
Disclaimer: The above lists are probably inaccurate. Laws change all the time. Check the actual statutes for the states you're traveling.
 
Probably more importantly nobody can see inside to enforce with the curtains down anyway.

Dog leash retractor, some skateboard armor, a helmet, pad any squared off furniture corners, good to go! LOL.

Kidding of course — but the reality is nobody cares. The ticket would only be handed to you after you killed an ankle biter anyway, and the $100 would be the least of your problems. LOL.

Most fatalities in these things are from rolling them. That gets ugly.

SOME states still even allow riding in trailers. That’s entertaining...

If the non-padded back of the school bus seat is good enough for the high school marching band at 75 MPH... beaded to the away game in a blizzard... LOLZ.

But definitely stop at all railroad crossings. Hahaha.
 
There is no arguing the convenience of a motorhome when you have a family with you. Hell, just being able to ask someone to fetch something from the fridge for you is pretty nice as the driver.

That said...without a family...a motorhome makes about zero sense compared to a travel trailer or 5th wheel. Driving my truck is by far more comfortable than most RVs would be....and the last thing I want is another engine I need to maintain. Plus, once you drop the travel trailer at the campground, the truck is a really great vehicle for exploring.

In the event of a mechanical problem during a trip, much better off with my truck. You can tow the truck to the local aluminum scrap yard, the RV to the campground, then just buy a new truck and get back on the road (fords are one-time use disposable).

For some reason people assuming travel trailers are useless until you're at the campground. Not true. I keep all the systems cranking when I'm rolling down the highway. Whenever I stop for gas, I grab some things out of the fridge, toss them in a small cooler I keep in the truck, and use the rest room in the camper. Sometimes I stop in the middle of nowhere and just take a nap. It's great.
 
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Wait a second. Your list adds up to 50, but you included D.C. What about the 50th state!?!? :eek:
 
PPC1052 said:
Wait a second. Your list adds up to 50, but you included D.C. What about the 50th state!?!? :eek:
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Feel free to figure out which one it is, research the laws, and update the list as appropriate.
 
jesse said:
That said...without a family...a motorhome makes about zero sense compared to a travel trailer or 5th wheel. Driving my truck is by far more comfortable than most RVs would be....and the last thing I want is another engine I need to maintain. Plus, once you drop the travel trailer at the campground, the truck is a really great vehicle for exploring.
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Yeah, that I agree with 100% and if it were just Laurie and me we'd probably look for a big 5th wheel to tow behind the Ram, or some travel trailer.

The problem we have now is that I've got a perfectly capable vehicle for local and off-road kind of stuff (granted a 1-ton Ram may not be ideal but it works). But now I'm looking at either buying or building some kind of street legal dune buggy that we could all 5 fit into for exploring wherever we go. And I don't want to build one.
 
Ted DuPuis said:
But now I'm looking at either buying or building some kind of street legal dune buggy that we could all 5 fit into for exploring wherever we go. And I don't want to build one.
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Sounds like you just might need to get that new Ford Bronco.
 
Nevada is missing too. Washington is listed twice. I'm not looking up the Nevada RV laws. When living there, we just did whatever we wanted anyway.
 
Law or not, it ain't smart.
 
We see a lot of trailers full of ATVs with one for each kid.
 
@Llk whats the brand of motorcycle lift you got? I’m about certain I need to buy one.
 
jesse said:
For some reason people assuming travel trailers are useless until you're at the campground. Not true. I keep all the systems cranking when I'm rolling down the highway. Whenever I stop for gas, I grab some things out of the fridge, toss them in a small cooler I keep in the truck, and use the rest room in the camper. Sometimes I stop in the middle of nowhere and just take a nap. It's great.
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But with a motorhome, you can do those things without stopping.
 
Ted DuPuis said:
@Llk whats the brand of motorcycle lift you got? I’m about certain I need to buy one.
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Ted,

Mine isn’t made anymore. It required a three point lift installed on the frame to receive it.

There is hydralift, mighty lift and cruiser lift.

I’ll trade you mine and will include the Harley for your MU2 :)


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Llk said:
Ted,

Mine isn’t made anymore. It required a three point lift installed on the frame to receive it.

There is hydralift, mighty lift and cruiser lift.

I’ll trade you mine and will include the Harley for your MU2 :)
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I will happily decline your offer. ;)

I need to play around now that I have this new trailer. The Harleys are basically 3' wide (at the widest point) and 8' long each. The trailer is about 5'8" wide inside and 13'6" long. They advertise it as a 12' length but there's a V-nose. I'm thinking that with that and the proper angling of the bikes (and maybe removing the saddle bags from Laurie's bike for transport) that I can fit both of the Harleys in there. If that's the case, then a smaller/lighter weight standard motorcycle rack on the back would suffice and be a good idea. Easy enough to throw the Guzzi or something else on for quick runs around to either scout out an area before taking the big rig in, or run to WalMart/etc. to buy something but without having to tow a car around (since we don't have an easily towable car).

Might play around with that tomorrow or Thursday.
 
Ted DuPuis said:
I will happily decline your offer. ;)

I need to play around now that I have this new trailer. The Harleys are basically 3' wide (at the widest point) and 8' long each. The trailer is about 5'8" wide inside and 13'6" long. They advertise it as a 12' length but there's a V-nose. I'm thinking that with that and the proper angling of the bikes (and maybe removing the saddle bags from Laurie's bike for transport) that I can fit both of the Harleys in there. If that's the case, then a smaller/lighter weight standard motorcycle rack on the back would suffice and be a good idea. Easy enough to throw the Guzzi or something else on for quick runs around to either scout out an area before taking the big rig in, or run to WalMart/etc. to buy something but without having to tow a car around (since we don't have an easily towable car).

Might play around with that tomorrow or Thursday.
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Have you been up any of the 0.00002% grades in KS to asssess power? One thing I’m afraid of is losing options in a class a. Right now I have 500hp and 1000lbs of torque in a combined 13,000 lb package. I never even have to flog it up 7% grades. How are the diesel pushers in comparison?
 
MIFlyer said:
Have you been up any of the 0.00002% grades in KS to asssess power? One thing I’m afraid of is losing options in a class a. Right now I have 500hp and 1000lbs of torque in a combined 13,000 lb package. I never even have to flog it up 7% grades. How are the diesel pushers in comparison?
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I can top the grade of Washington pass at 55. If there isn't a tourist in the way. the down grade is the problem, brakes get hot. I gear down to 3rd, and use compression breaking as much as I can.
My problem is with crooked roads.
 
MIFlyer said:
Have you been up any of the 0.00002% grades in KS to asssess power? One thing I’m afraid of is losing options in a class a. Right now I have 500hp and 1000lbs of torque in a combined 13,000 lb package. I never even have to flog it up 7% grades. How are the diesel pushers in comparison?
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It's probably good to go in with proper expectations and looking at making an apples to apples comparison. Stock, the 3126B in my rig makes 330 HP and 800 lb-ft. There are chips that will take it up to 400 HP or so but those aren't recommended because the engine might not hold up too well. Stock, I think your engine made something on the order of 350 HP and 700 lb-ft? So not too different from your stock engine.

Now, my RV also weighs something around 20,000 lbs empty and I think the max gross is around 30,000 lbs. So no matter how you slice it, you're looking at a significantly higher amount of weight than what you have with yours. More weight with same or less power will make it slower unless you have gearing to try to make up for it, but ultimately that gearing means you're revving more so that gets into the flogging it aspect.

The trip out to Rushmore should be a good time to check out the performance, but I'm not worried about it. My friends who've owned the diesel pushers say that they still do fine going up, whereas the gasser Class As really bog down and you're getting passed by bicyclists. I'm not planning on racing the thing here - it doesn't handle anywhere nearly as well as my Ram and we're supposed to be taking our time enjoying.

With all that said, I've been surprised at how well the thing accelerates. No it's not going to win any races, but it doesn't feel underpowered and the engine doesn't feel stressed pushing it down the road at speed.

Like Tom said, braking is going to be the bigger concern on bigger hills. This does have an exhaust brake (not jakes, but a flapper valve) and the transmission also will automatically downshift when you engage it. The brakes like on most big vehicles are giant drums, and they stop the thing remarkably well. No complaints so far.
 
Good perspectives Ted. I guess it’s simple math as you describe to show hp/lb.

I, reasssured that both you and Tom feel that it’s not sluggish. I accept that it’s likely to feel exceptionally heavier and will absolutely require more cautious and plan full driving


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MIFlyer said:
Good perspectives Ted. I guess it’s simple math as you describe to show hp/lb.

I, reasssured that both you and Tom feel that it’s not sluggish. I accept that it’s likely to feel exceptionally heavier and will absolutely require more cautious and plan full driving
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Yeah, if you consider the difference between your pickup + Airstream and a standard passenger car and then extrapolate that difference to the RV, that's about right. Honestly, I find it fun driving a big thing like that even if it's slower.
 
Had a productive weekend on the RV. Yesterday I had the kids spend the day at the babysitter (especially with no in-person school I want to make sure they do more of that for socialization... she has 7 kids, 5 still living at home, 2 in their age range) and I spent the day working on the RV. At this point it's completely mechanically back together and ready to hit the road. The new front anti-roll bar is supposed to show up tomorrow and I may throw that on if it looks like it'll be quick enough to do, and anti-roll bars usually are.

Got the new shocks put on all around. Replaced the old Bilsteins with new ones. The old ones didn't appear to be as shot as I expected they would be when I removed them, but doing a side-by-side comparison, the old ones definitely were worn. So I should see an improvement from those.

Also replaced the cooling fan for the engine-driven AC condenser, which was seized up completely. Got the system appropriately charged, it was a bit low and now it's blowing cold air. It was doing a good enough job yesterday that I might not need to run the generator for the roof-mount ACs going down the road, have to see. However it also appears that there's no (or no functioning) doors to adjust whether the air is going to the windshield, face vents, or floor vents. So I need to look into that and see if I can figure out how that's supposed to work.

The HEUI high-pressure oil line replacement was the hardest part of the job. For how big the engine is, it sort of surprised me how tightly they had the various lines in place. Not the worst job in the world for sure but it could've been better. That said the Cat engineers definitely think about this stuff better than GM or Ford. Very complete service bulletin kit with good instructions.

So now it's just a matter of getting the second motorcycle rack installed in the trailer, buttoning that up, getting my Harley back, maybe a few other details and we're ready for next weekend. I'm sure then I'll come up with more items.

We're starting to think about the Black Hills/Mount Rushmore trip some more. It's a bit over 700 miles drive each way, and we're trying to figure out how many miles/days we want to take heading up and back. I sort of figure two days each way (or at least leave on day 1, arrive on day 2 at some point) is probably about right with the kids, especially if we're stopping to smell roses along the way. We just have to figure out what we want to do.
 
I grew up in the Black Hills. I’ve got a couple of “what to do there” write ups I’ve done I the past. I’ll dig around and post one up if you want it.
 
gkainz said:
I grew up in the Black Hills. I’ve got a couple of “what to do there” write ups I’ve done I the past. I’ll dig around and post one up if you want it.
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That would be much appreciated!
 
This is something I sent to a airplane co-owner who was flying up to Rapid City.
——————————————————-
Have fun! The Black Hills was a great place to grow up! However, once you grow up in a tourist area, I believe you're jaded for life, so my apology ahead of time for "some attitude".

At KRAP, you can use West Jet (nice lobby and people), but the other shop to the NW (L&D Aero), at the self-serve pump (Rapid Fuel) is good, too (free tiedown - at least for my day trips). They do/did have a loaner car for local use, but you'll probably want a rental car, so Signature is probably preferred.

I haven't been to Ellsworth museum in years, but was good then and has good reviews now.

Going east ...
Besides the Badlands, there is a Minuteman Missile Silo (National Park) out near there - I think they let you go through the control room.

Of course, Wall Drug is a can't miss (eye roll) ... if you've never been there before. Otherwise, yeah, more tourist junk.

coming back to Rapid and then SW ...
Around Mt Rushmore, Keystone is a small little tourist town with the typical tourist junk to buy .

If you like steam trains, the 1880 train runs out of Hill City and lets you see some back country. Was featured in a couple of episodes of Gunsmoke TV show.

Between Hill City and Custer, south of Mt Rushmore - Needles Highway - rock spires, tunnels, views of the southern hills

I would add Crazy Horse in Custer. It gets mixed reviews, tourists usually love it, locals kind of roll their eyes. It's been "under development" since the 60s and a lot of local "opinion" on it ...

If you like caves, Jewel Cave, east of Custer is awesome. Family friends (Herb and Jan Conn) mapped most of the known cave. I believe they switched to reservations a few years ago ... not sure what the pandemic lockdown has done there.

East and then decide ... south? or more east and loop back to Rapid City ...

Custer State Park and the Wildlife loop is worth the drive - at least half a day or more.
Custer State Park airport 3V0 - not much to see but at least you can say you've been there!

Game Lodge in the middle of the park was a great place to eat (tourist prices) - was the Summer Whitehouse for President Coolidge.
Further south is Blue Bell Lodge and a drive across a couple of "pigtail bridges"
Continuing south takes you to Wind Cave National Park, then Hot Springs.

Mammoth Excavation site in Hot Springs is interesting if you're into that thing. Wind Cave between Custer and Hot Springs is interesting but not pretty, whereas Jewel Cave lives up to its name. Well, so does Wind Cave :)

Or West of Rapid City ...
Sturgis ... just because "Motorcycle rally" but that's about the only attraction to Sturgis
Lead - Homestake Gold Mine - largest producing gold mine in North America (?) might have to fact check that - now closed
Deadwood - bars, cemetery, historic sites, casinos now I guess

Well - there's a week's worth of activities for you!

Greg
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Coolest thing I remember about the drive to Rapid City (heading west) was coming over the hill and seeing the Missouri River valley at Chamberlain SD. Get your camera ready.
 
The Homestake Mine in Lead is now the Sanford Underground Research Facility (SURF), one of the world's premier research facility for nuclear and sub-atomic particle physics! SURF is the deepest underground laboratory in the United States, it houses multiple experiments in areas such as dark matter and neutrino physics research, biology, geology and engineering.
 
I remember Wall Drugs. The kids will enjoy it.

Maybe this is why I remember it. I see it every time I walk into the second bedroom. One of the few pieces of furniture I brought from Colorado.

98DE86CE-89DF-40C8-82C4-1BE3B78A594B.jpeg
 
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Well crap. With Laura heading the direction of Branson, it's looking unlikely that this weekend's trip will work. Now I'm trying to figure out what some good alternate destinations might be if we have to do that. Colorado is the next closest idea, but that's 600 miles one way instead of 200... part of the appeal of Branson is being closer. So, now thinking about a backup that's not too far away...
 
I've always looked at Grand Lake, OK as a place for an XC in the plane. But haven't been there yet. It might be worth a quick look.

A couple of State parks, and it's a straight shot south from your place:

https://www.stateparks.com/honey_creek_state_park_in_oklahoma.html


(edit: I did look at the wx forecast, looks like it might not be perfect)
 
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Lake Okoboji, Iowa? I haven't been there, but a guy I flew with had a family reunion there and enjoyed it. Seems like you need to go north or west from where you are.
 
Everskyward said:
Lake Okoboji, Iowa? I haven't been there, but a guy I flew with had a family reunion there and enjoyed it. Seems like you need to go north or west from where you are.
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Possible but a bit further than we're thinking and I'm not convinced will have too many other roads.

I'll keep watching and we'll see. It does look like the forecast may leave the Branson area pretty ok off... hopefully.
 
Ted DuPuis said:
Well crap. With Laura heading the direction of Branson, it's looking unlikely that this weekend's trip will work. Now I'm trying to figure out what some good alternate destinations might be if we have to do that. Colorado is the next closest idea, but that's 600 miles one way instead of 200... part of the appeal of Branson is being closer. So, now thinking about a backup that's not too far away...
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Offer is always open but my driveway is REALLY boring. LOL
 
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denverpilot said:
Offer is always open but my driveway is REALLY boring. LOL
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It looks like it'll be unneeded. Laura is out of the way, doesn't look like the Branson/northern AR area got hit hard. So we're going anyway. Potential for some storms tomorrow afternoon but I think it'll be good enough for our riding and what we want to do. Purpose of the trip is to do some riding, have fun, get the RV thing figured out.

I have a feeling that ultimately we're going to want to do more boondocking rather than being at a "proper" RV park. Hookups are nice but we live on 11 acres for a reason. We'll see what we think of this setup. I'm excited to try it out for the first time "for real" today.

The real thing I've taken away from this is that you really are getting both a car and a house set up when you buy one of these things. You have all the needs of both. Just like a used house (especially one that's been vacant for a while), you have to do cleaning when you get in as well as either moving in your old stuff or buying new stuff. In this case for us, it's buying a second home so we had a lot of new stuff to get. That said, done right, it feels homey and feels like a second home as opposed to just a house. We're not 100% there, but we have the front end essentially done.

One thing I do need to try to figure out is how to make the generator (Onan Quiet Diesel) quieter. I do feel like it's louder than I want. Not sure how much I can do with it, but if we're doing more boondocking long term then I will want it to be quieter if able. Something to look at on it.

I think I've found a pull-behind for the RV... have a tentative agreement to pick it up next week. The question then becomes whether or not I'll want it for Black Hills. It's a 4x4 family-sized vehicle, so my thought is probably yes.
 
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