PREPARING THE MOTORHOME

We've spent months preparing for this journey. If we were just driving a car we'd probably just jump in the car and go with minimal planning. A good bit of time has been spent refining the route for the GPS. We use an RV GPS that allows and limits routing for weight (bridges), vehicle height (underpasses and tunnels), width( narrow roads), fuel locations etc., and RV parks for overnight stays. The routing is planned on a web site that compensates for the various factors to be considered in routing the vehicle, such as tunnels, restricted bridge height and weight limits etc. Its then loaded into the GPS .

The big issues facing us are gross vehicle weight and individual axle weights. While our individual axles have been underweight we have been slightly over or barely under gross vehicle weight much of the time with this rig. Vehicle weight is critical for several reasons. First and foremost is safety, being overweight isn't just illegal- it impacts braking and vehicle control- especially on steep grades .  We fought vehicle weight problems on the trip to Alaska last year when we were using the truck camper. To compensate for this we stripped equipment from the vehicle and limit water in the storage tank of the camper to 1/2  of capacity thus saving several hundred lbs. Our goal is to keep the gross vehicle weight under 16000 lbs (including gas and fresh water in tanks). We have also shifted some of the load to the tow vehicle to get the weight out of the moho and on the axles in the empty toad. Hopefully the weight in the rig is now under control.

Our experience last year with the truck camper rig educated us on the problems with insects in the far north. Yes, Florida has its love bugs, but they don't hold a candle to the way mosquitoes and other creatures of the far north can cover the front of an RV. The front of our white truck and camper last year became a solid mass of black bug carcasses literally leaving no white showing when we arrived in Anchorage. This year our frontal surface is roughly 13 high by 8 1/2 feet wide. We have loaded the entire vehicle up with lots of wax and elbow grease- especially the front-  in hopes it will help ease the pain in washing/removing the insects that sacrifice their life for our trip.

A few other systems needed attention in the motorhome in preparation for the trip. As mentioned earlier the hydraulic systems on these rigs can be finicky and ours is no exception. The recommended fix is a type of hydraulic fluid additive that can correct some of the operational weaknesses. The particular additive is made and marketed by Caterpillar. Surprisingly we could not find the fluid in LaGrange even though Caterpillar has a significant manufacturing presence here. We managed to purchase a quart of the fluid in Columbus at quite a premium. The jury is still out in whether or will make a difference in the operation of the hydraulic leveling jack system.

Last year's trip along the rough roads of the northwest and Canada took a toll on the plumbing of the truck camper we used. A broken fitting resulted from rough roads and shut down our water system. It took a day and many miles of travel to find a replacement part. This year we're packing some extra pipe, fittings and parts in anticipation of a plumbing failure.  Most RV's now are plumbed using a product called PEX. For a hobby plumber it's a wonderful product as it is  so easy to repair. Before we even leave we've had one valve failure that we have already had to repair.

The days can be very long with the sun setting very late at night and rising up in the wee hours of the morning.  This can make sleep difficult if you can't blackout sources of light around windows and skylights.  Our windows have room darkening shades, however, the moho has a skylight positioned over the shower stall in the bedroom area.  Using Reflectix (available at Home Depot), we customized a cover over the skylight.  This system reduced about 95% of the light coming in from the skylight and can be easily removed when light is desired from the skylight in the shower.  We also have similar removable coverings customized for the living area roof vent and entrance door.

These are the before and after pics of the shower skylight cover installation.

These are the before and after pics of the roof vent cover installation:

 Velcro holds covers in place.

We got this idea from following the goodsamclub.com/forum.  RV forums have been a daily read in our house for many months in preparing for the trip.