"Doing things Differently"

Here are pictures and descriptions of our trip to Ca.  This will be our first Real vacation in 8 years.  Our expectaions are to take about 5 - 6 days and drive to Moscow, Idaho.  Spend a week there, then on to Ca. just northwest of San Francisco.  After leaving there, we would like to visit the Hoover Dam in Arizona, maybe visit a couple of Rv Manufacturers and take their tours.  We hope to arrive in Idaho on Saturday if possible, or Sunday at the latest.  If all goes well, I will post some pictures of the trip as we go.  I have a laptop computer and a cell phone internet connection to transfer my information to this website, so the connection will be painfully slow.  However, I will try to post as many pictures as I can (aren't digital cameras great?).



This is the "Rig"

Our thanks to our friend Chuck for Polishing it up to make it shine - Thanks Chuck.

It's a 1983 Pace Arrow Motorhome on a Chevrolet P-30 Chassis that's 27' long.  It has a Chevrolet 454 engine, 3 speed automatic transmission, and dual rear wheels, with an airbag assist rear suspension.  At the time of this writing, it has 111,000 miles on it.  Fully loaded it weighs in at about 12,000 lbs. - under the GVW.  In the last two years, the following items have been repaired, replaced, or added.  Some of it was specifically for this trip, hopefully to minimize any breakdowns on the road, and some was just general maintenance.

Rebuilt alternator and rebuilt starter with new solonoid.  Also did some re-wiring for the starter, as the wiring and wire ends were in poor shape.  Tune up - including new distributor cap, rotor, coil, spark plugs, spark plug wires, fuel filters, air filter, radiator cap, all new fan belts.  Both coach batteries were replaced as well as the chassis battery.  Six new tires, complete exhaust system from the manifold back, new refrigerator, tachometer, amps guage, temp. guage, oil pressure guage.  I added a hose to the front of the air cleaner to extend in front of the radiator so the engine would get clean fresh air from just behind the grill instead of the hot engine air behind the radiator in the engine compartment.  Also, changed oil and filter, lubrication, serviced the 4.0 kw generator that will hopefully provide us with power to run the overhead air conditioner.  I am assuming we will need it during the warm weather expected throughout the month of July.  Also added a Turbo/Maxx overhead fan/vent to help draw air through the coach.  Due to it's design, it can be run/left open while it's raining, with no danger of water getting into the coach.  It looks like one of the previous owners replaced the fuel pump, water pump, and radiator, as they do not appear to be originals.  I replaced the screening for the windows, sealed a couple of small holes in the roof, where someone had removed some screws and not caulked the holes shut.  We also bought a macerator pump and 1" hose to be able to empty the holding tanks if we are within 75' of a sewer connection.  Hopefully, we have covered enough of the bases to keep us motoring during the expected duration of the trip.