Tour Our Motorhome

In this Post

What's New With Us: Going to Alaska?.
Brief Article: Tour Our Motorhome.
Vicki's Recipes: Beef Flavored Rice
RVing Tip: Keeping Cool.


Going to Alaska?

Our latest e-book, RVing Alaska, Insights and Observations, will be available as soon as our webmaster can bring it up on our website.

If you are planning, or even thinking about driving your RV to Alaska, you will appreciate the wealth of up-to-date information this e-book makes available to you.

The book has three sections. The first provides an overview of what to expect and how to prepare for an RV journey to Alaska. Topics include personal and vehicle preparation, crossing the border into Canada, road conditions, campgrounds, availability of fuel, using the ferry system, and a brief description of the various highways you will travel in British Columbia, the Yukon Territory and Alaska.

The second section describes what it is like to participate in an RV caravan trip to Alaska. It also discusses the pros and cons of traveling solo versus going to Alaska with a group.

The third section is a detailed journal of the 44-day Alaskan RV journey we took in the fall of 2007. Each entry includes a description of the day's road condition, terrain, fuel stops and campgrounds. The journal can be used as a base from which to plan your own RV adventure.

RVing Alaska, Insights and Observations is not a flora and fauna book. It is a no-nonsense "how-to" book designed to help you make informed decisions and proper preparations for the ultimate RVing adventure.

Look for it in the E-Book section of rvknowhow.com


Tour Our Motorhome

We've been asked a number of times what kind of RV we owned. So here is a photographic tour of our combination transport, home and office. We have put about 190,000 milles of cross-country driving on it. No, it does not have any slides (or slide problems).

Click on any photo to enlarge it. Click on your "Back" button to return to normal.

1998, 37-foot, diesel-powered Country Coach Allure and 2007 Saturn Vue


















Notice all the overhead cabinets

The kitchen has a side-by-side refrigerator and a microwave/convection oven. The cantilevered dinette table has no leg to bump our knees. We traded the free standing chairs for the booth seating. We like the the large storage drawers and comfortable soft cushions.

We have written and talked about some of the improvements we have made to our motorhome. Here are a few of them:

A panel under the dash in front of the passenger seat provided access to the area under the dash. But there was plenty of room behind the panel. So our son, Sean the cabinet maker, built an open-faced cabinet. The upper shelf slants down towards the back so the campground directories do not slide out. A space is provided for the thermos that holds our morning coffee while we are driving. The cabinet is easily removed when access under the dash is needed.

The motorhome's deep pantry had solid shelves. That made it difficult to locate and reach items in the back. So Sean installed three slide-out shelves.

Our couch has plenty of undrneath storage space. But the only way to gain access was by lifting the entire seat cushion section. Sean built and installed three large drawers under the couch. A real nice touch are the adjustable dividers in each drawer.

Our seminar/writing business requires that we have certain files available to us at all times. We needed a portable file cabinet that could be moved between our home office and our motorhome, depending upon where we were at the moment. We also wanted it to be easily accessible but out of the way.

Sean built a combination center-console, file-cabinet and map-drawer. It is normally located next to the driver's seat and butted up to the dash. It has wheels under the rear two corners and short legs under the front corners. Lifting the front end slightly allows the cabinet to be rolled back so the driver can get in and out of his seat. The weight of the cabinet on the legs keeps it from moving while under way. It is amazingly stable.

The cabinet consists of three interlocking sections.The console portion is a removable tray with cup holders and compartments for maps, sunglasses, cellphone, loose change and miscellaneous stuff. Removing the console tray (we place it on the driver's seat) exposes the 18-inch long file box that is wide and deep enough to accommodate hanging file folders. A large drawer at the bottom contains atlases and map books.

When we arrive home the console tray is lifted off the file cabinet and the file cabinet is lifted off the drawer section. The file cabinet and its contents are carried into our home office and placed on a slide-out shelf in our desk.



















The television cabinet is located at the top of the entry stairs. It had a tendency to attack the heads of people entering the motorhome and the left shoulder of those who were exiting. The file cabinet, located on the floor under the television, redirected people away from the TV cabinet. But a better solution was cutting the cabinet back 12 inches and installing a flat-screen television.









































It shows what can be done if you have a talented cabinet maker in the family. We plan on keeping this motorhome for another 190,000 miles.

Vicki's Quick and Easy Recipe:

Bean Flavored Rice

(from My RV Kitchen and Favorite Recipes)

This rice dish always makes a hit with everyone. The recipe can easily be halved for less people.

2 cubes butter or margarine
3 cups uncooked rice
2 cans (4 oz.) mushrooms, drained
2 cans (10-1/2 oz.) French onion soup, undiluted
1 can (10-1/2 oz.) beef bouillon, undiluted
1 empty soup can white or red wine

1. Preheat oven to 350°.

2. Melt butter or margarine in a 9"x 13" baking pan.

3. Combine all other ingredients and pour into the
baking pan.

4. Bake covered for 1 hour.

Makes about 10 servings.


Keeping Cool

Whenever possible, select a campsite that points the front of your RV towards the east or south. This allows your patio awning to protect the entry-door wall from the hot afternoon sun. The opposite side-wall will be the naturally shady side of your rig during most of the day.


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Greetings from Huntington Beach, CA

We're Home! And the motorhome is in its storage spot.

Actually, we arrived home on Monday, March 31st. During the four-day Sacramento RV Show we had to stay in a hotel and eat in restaurants while our motorhome remained in a repair shop in Yuma, Arizona.

Tuesday, April 1st I drove our toad to Yuma and picked up the motorhome. The mechanics said they could not find the reason for the low-power, high-boost, high-exhaust temperature symptoms. They checked the turbo, waste-gate, exhaust brake, air-intake and exhaust symptoms (that's all diesel engine talk) but could not find anything wrong. They also adjusted the valves (long overdue). Joe Annuzio and Jerry Ray went with me to test drive the motorhome. We took it up and down a 6% grade. Both Joe and Jerry thought the engine performed as it should. Maybe it was my paranoid attitude, but I still felt the engine was not quite what it should be. The next day I drove 300 miles to Huntington Beach towing the Saturn Vue. A few days later I drove 80 miles round-trip to have a new microwave/convection oven installed. Each time I drove, it seemed like the motorhome performed better than before. I'm hoping the problem was something minor that was unintentionally cured with all the attention the engine received. Or maybe it was some bad fuel (or maybe my attitude improved).

After arriving home I tried to locate a diesel mechanic to check out my engine. Cummins in Irvine, CA apparently limits itself to maintenance and/or minor adjustments. They referred me to Cummins in Montebello, CA, who said they would not work on my engine because it had a Banks turbo. Banks, in Azusa, CA, said they would be happy to work on
any Banks products on my motorhome but were not interested in checking out the rest of the engine. And then there are the truck repair shops that don't want to work on motorhomes. I'm still looking for someone to check out my entire engine. If you know of a competent, conscientious diesel mechanic within a 20-mile radius of Huntington Beach who is willing to work on a diesel pusher, please let me know (joe@rvknowhow.com).

Today's fuel prices in Huntington Beach are: Regular Gasoline, $3.83 per gallon.
Diesel, $4.49 per gallon. Our next scheduled RV trip is to Lewiston, Idaho where we will be teaching RV related classes at the Life on Wheels Conference from July 6 to July 11. The way fuel prices are climbing, by that time diesel will probably be at $5.00 per gallon. Doing the math tells me that, at 8 miles to the gallon and fuel at $5.00 per gallon, fuel will cost us $0.62 a mile to move our motorhome down the road. Last July diesel fuel cost us $2.98 a gallon or $0.37 per mile.

We are looking forward to being at home for a while.

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New Alaska DVD!

Check it out! Our new DVD “RVing Alaska: What to expect, How to Prepare” is now available on our DVD page

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It's Always Something

"If you are going to be an RVer, you better have a sense of humor." "It's not a matter of if, but when." "These things always happen on a holiday weekend." These are the expressions I use when discussing the inevitability of RV breakdowns. Well, we had another one. While driving west through Texas on Interstate 10, I noticed my diesel engine was "working" harder to climb the highway overpasses. Normally, it doesn't even notice those brief hills in the road. But, while the motorhome cruised along at the same normal rpm, turbo pressure and exhaust gas temperature on level terrain, both the turbo pressure and exhaust gas temp. would increase considerably at the slightest incline on the road. And, I had a noticeable lack of power. And, of course, it was late afternoon on Good Friday. I replaced the air and fuel filters when we reached Van Horn, Texas but the only noticeable increase was in the size of my credit card balance.

Telephone calls to repair facilities were met with answer machines, no answer or, worse yet, "we won't be able to help you for another week." Fortunately, the terrain west of Van Horn is fairly level and the motorhome pretty much coasted all the way to Benson, Arizona on Saturday. I made the decision to continue past the Tucson Cummins dealer on Sunday and go to Yuma Arizona. I figured that Cummins would be up to their elbows with the weekend truck problems and the diesel repair folks in Yuma would be able to take me in sooner. WRONG!

The diesel repair shop in Yuma recommended by our RVing friends was overwhelmed and understaffed. They could not even look at our rig for at least a week. It took a few phone calls but we finally found a small diesel repair shop that could take us in on Tuesday.

We had to be in Sacramento for an RV show that began on Thursday. We wanted to be prepared in case the shop could not have us on our way by the end of the day on Tuesday. So we spent Monday moving the clothes, handouts, books and other "stuff " we would need in order to survive for five days in a hotel room in Sacramento. I suspect our Saturn Vue was loaded beyond its rated capacity. Sure enough, after a couple of hours of "testing" the motorhome, it was determined that the repair could not be effected in one day. So here we are, roughing it in a hotel and having to eat all our meals in restaurants. So far the shop has discovered a few minor ailments but none that would cause the loss of power and simultaneous increase in boost and EGT experienced when asking for acceleration. I'm searching deep for my sense of humor.

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The Rally in Perry, GA

The Rally is over! It took place in Perry, GA begining on Wednesday, March 12 and ending on Monday, March 17. We don’t have the exact figures yet but it was estimated that over 3,500 RVs were parked on the fairgrounds for the rally. The RV parks in the area were also filled to capacity. Needless to say, there were lots of people in attendance.

We arrived on Tuesday and were parked among the rally staff workers. The good news was that we had electric, water and sewer hookups. The bad news was that we were located about as far as possible from our seminar rooms. Too far to lug our books and handouts. So we rented a golfcar for $600.00. Ouch! But it was kinda fun to buzz around the fairgrounds on a motorized vehicle.

Our Verizon Aircard made it possible to go online while sitting in our RV. At times it was a little slow; probably because of all the cellular activity in the area

Fortunately, the weather cooperated. We had warm, sunny days, every day. It did rain hard one night from 10 pm to 2 am, and the wind damaged a few RV awnings that had been left out during one windy day (hello, is there a message here?).

Each of our seminars attracted audiences in the hundreds. And the folks were super responsive. Vicki introduced her new seminar, “The RVer’s Kitchen”. Folks seemed to like it. They bought a lot of her new book, “My RV Kitchen and Favorite Recipes”.

We also sold a lot of Alaska DVDs. We received our “RVing Alaska: What to Expect, How to Prepare” DVDs just two days before the rally started. Our webmaster assures us the new DVDs will be available on our website in just a few days. He is making a number of changes in addition to adding the DVDs so it will take a little time.

We left the rally on Monday right after our final seminar ended at noon. We have to be in Sacramento by next Tuesday for the Sacramento RV Show.

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Greetings From Myrtle Beach (Still)

Our time here is almost up. Saturday we will start moving towards The Rally in Perry, GA. We have made good use of our time here at Ocean Lakes Campground. A number of writing projects, along with some business chores have been taken care of.

The weather has been fairly cooperative. Mostly mild, sunny days with an occasional thunderstorm thrown in, and temperatures ranging from a high of 70 degrees to a low of 24 degrees. As pleasant as it has been here – overlooking the ocean, listening to the waves, eating seafood and Philly Cheesesteaks - we are ready to get on the road again.

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Our Verizon aircard, a device that plugs into the PC slot of our laptop and gives us a cellular connection to the internet, is working out great. We have spent a lot of time on line during the past week or so. We have enjoyed immediate connectivity and the speed is close to that of our home’s DSL service. This device and service is a genuine keeper. You can read more about it by scrolling down to our February 10th entry.

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Good News! John Holod, the DVD producer, told me the “RVing Alaska: What to Expect, How to Prepare” DVD should be through the duplication process and in our hands by Wednesday, March 12th. That means we will have them in time for our seminars at The Rally.

It was just about a year ago that Vicki and I got together with John Holod and Jodie Ginter to discuss this project. John and Jodie are videographers who produce unique DVD travelogues. They show and sell them at, among other venues, RV shows around the country. That’s how we met and became friends.

Anyway, John and Jodie were getting ready to go to Alaska to film a new Alaska DVD. We were interested in making a DVD of our “Alaska. The Ultimate RV Adventure” seminar to go along with our other RV seminar DVDs.

At first, Vicki and I were going to just film one of our Alaska seminars in front of a live audience, just as we had done with our “Choosing an RV” and Extended RV Travel” seminars. One thing led to another during the conversation and it was decided that we could produce a dynamite “how-to” DVD by having Vicki and I meet John and Jodie in Alaska. We would tape a DVD that would actually show the viewer what we were talking about. When we talked about road conditions - the viewer would see the various road conditions. When we talked about getting on and off the ferries - the viewer would see RVs getting on and off the ferries. When we – well, you get the idea.

Vicki and I went to work making a story board and writing a script. A story board, essentially, identifies and lines up the scenes you want to film with the things you want to say. The scenes are not necessarily filmed in the order they will be shown. But they do match the things that will be said in the DVD.

John and Jodie left for Alaska in early May. They filmed “B” roll for our DVD while they filmed segments for their travelogue. “B” roll is background shots that can be added to the final DVD but doesn’t necessarily require the presence of the people who are speaking. Voice and video are matched up during the editing process.

Vicki and I left for Alaska in late July. We met with John and Jodie to shoot the scenes that required our presence in front of the camera. This part of the DVD was a real challenge because the weather did not want to cooperate. We spent a lot of time waiting for the weather to clear so we could film a necessary part of the DVD. At the end of the day we would review the day’s footage. If the footage was not satisfactory we went out and repeated the scene the next day.

All total, Vicki and I spent six weeks in Alaska meeting and traveling with John and Jodie. They must have filmed miles of DVD footage with Vicki and/or me walking, talking and driving our way over the highways and byways of Alaska. We went home happy with the individual segments but not having any idea how the final DVD was going to turn out.

Next came the editing process. John is a skilled perfectionist. Editing takes time. And, at the same time, John and Jodie were flying all over the country showing their DVDs and trying to make a living. John sent us a couple of rough DVDs. In the writing world we call them outlines and drafts. I don’t know what the Hollywood types call them. Anyway we did see and approve an almost final version of the DVD.

While John was editing, the cover for the DVD case was being designed. And the picture and text that would appear on the disk itself had to be selected. Again we received drafts for our approval.

Part of the editing process involved sending the DVD to folks who created maps and graphics. And, of course, selecting background music and negotiating the rights to use it in the DVD also had to be accomplished. This ain’t no home movie, folks.

All of that work resulted in a master copy. The master copy was sent to a duplication company. They make the hundreds or thousands of DVDs that must then be placed in plastic cases.

Anyway, the reason I’m so excited, John said he was told by the duplication company that he would receive the finished DVDs by this weekend and he would send them to us by March 12th.

So, after a year of work and waiting, we are excited.

We’ll soon be offering “RVing Alaska: What to Expect, how to Prepare” for sale in the RV DVDs section of our website. That involves us making changes to the site and making arrangements for CCnow to put the DVDs on their shopping cart.

In the meantime, if you would like to be notified when “RVing Alaska: What to Expect, How to Prepare” is available for shipment contact us at kieva@rvknowhow.com
Put Alaska DVD on the subject line and provide your e-mail address.

By the way, you can see a description of the “RVing Alaska: What to Expect, How to Prepare” DVD content by scrolling down to our February 16th entry.

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Greetings from Myrtle Beach, SC (again)

The end of the North Carolina RV Show in Charlotte wrapped up our time in North Carolina for this year. This is the first time we have presented seminars in North Carolina that we did not experience the joys of a snowfall or an ice storm (see the accompanying picture).

Our next seminar presentations will take place at The Rally in Perry, Georgia from March 13th through the 17th. In the meantime we will spend the next ten days sitting next to the ocean at Ocean Lakes Campground here in Myrtle Beach.

This will be the longest stretch of time we have ever spent in one campground. We have some business chores to attend to, a few articles to write, and some restaurants to visit. Vicki will use the campsite's telephone hookup to make a number of 800 phone calls; I will stare at the ocean while holding a laptop in my lap; and we will visit places where I can get philly cheese-steak sandwiches and Vicki can put a serious dent in the sealife population.

We will also put the finishing touches on a new seminar, "The RVer's Kitchen", that Vicki will present at The Rally. During her seminar, Vicki will provide some observations on what to look for in the kitchen when choosing an RV. She will also share some ideas on quick and easy cooking and offer a number of helpful tips for using a combination microwave-convection oven. The seminar is based upon her book, My RV Kitchen and Favorite Recipes.

Well, as Gilda Radner's character, Rosanna Rosanna Dana on Saturday Night Live, used to say, "Its always something!" Rosanna must have been an RVer. Yesterday, while traveling the back roads from Charlotte to Myrtle Beach, we lost the outside access door to our RV's water heater compartment. How it happened, I don't have a clue. It was there and properly latched before we left the Charlotte KOA. It was absent when I walked our rig during our lunch stop. Also missing was a bent piece of wire, a little thicker than a coat hanger wire, that acts as a hinge pin. I had visions of us looking like the grapes of wrath while we waited for a replacement to be shipped from the factory (if they had one).

As soon as we settled into our campsite I called the Myrtle Beach Camping World parts department. The parts person said "Oh man, we did inventory last week and I threw out a half dozen of them things. Let me see if I can find one." He called back a few minutes later to let me know he had one left and would hold it for me. He also had a replacement "hinge pin". The green lower portion of our motorhome now has a shiny new cream-colored water-heater door. Its always something!

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