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mb36912

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  • Website URL
    http://rvliferocks.blogspot.com

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  • Gender
    Male
  • Location
    Alpine, TX
  • Interests
    2006 Volvo 780
    2008 KZ Escalade 41 CKS
    2001 Honda XR650R
    2018 Kymco Spade 150

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  1. Hi Luke and all. My apologies for being offline and not checking this posting at all the last couple of months. We are finally home. Too many funerals and surgeries in the last 6 months........and one new grandson last week. The trailer sold before all the challenges hit but the truck has been setting for that whole time. So today, I got busy reconnecting the batteries and doing a "preflight" inspection. Everything looked good so I turned the key and she fired right up!! I continued checking tire pressures, etc. while she was airing up; everything still looked good. So I burped the air tanks, did a quick brake check, and off we went for a spin and some fuel. It was a great 30 minute drive. After owning it for the last 12 years, I am really going to miss this truck when she is gone, but we just don't use it anymore. Now, we have to get her washed and ready for the next owners.
  2. Due to having to leave to deal with family medical issues, the 2006 K-Z Escalade fifth wheel has been placed on consignment with Freedom RV in Tucson, AZ. We are still available to answer questions.
  3. Sandy and Luke I just sent you a text.
  4. 2006 Volvo VNL780 - $35,000 (Now located in Arizona) 1) Titled and licensed as motorhome in Indiana 2) 575,000 miles 3) VED 12 liter engine: 465 HP and 1450 ft-lbs of torque 4) 10 speed Eaton Ultra Shift automatic transmission 5) Tandem rear axles 6) Low mileage Michelin steers and Hankook traction drives 7) (2) 125 gallon fuel tanks 😎 All air ride: front axle, rear axles, and both seats 9) Hensley TSLB2H air ride hitch: rated at 32,000# GTW and 7500# GPW (has 3rd airbag) 10) Has upper bunk and convertible work station/dining table/bed below 11) All curtains and restraint webbing 12) Oil change, service, and DOT inspection on 6/29/23 12) Refrigerator 13) 1200 watt inverter 14) Custom bed built by B&G Truck Conversion in Argos, IN 15) (2) cargo/job boxes on bed 16) (4) new starting batteries 17) Custom painted to match trailer by Precision Paint in Bremen, IN (specializes in RV’s). Includes Diamond Shield on expected paint wear areas. Paint still has 5 years left on warranty.
  5. We bought a lot at an airpark in Safford, AZ and have installed power, water, and septic. We are now parked on it and will be here for the winter putting up a building to be used as a fallback plan if/when needed. We hope to be back on the road late next spring. CAVU!! Have a great winter, everyone.
  6. JRP absolutely nailed it!! We have looked at several places to put a homebase with the last being in southeastern AZ. It takes lots of research and checking into permitting and zoning requirements regarding permanent RV occupancy. [In Cochise County, you cannot use your RV as a permanent residence. You are technically only allowed to live in your RV for 12 months while building a permanent residence of not less than 296 SF. This is largely ignored.] The land itself was the cheap part of the equation. In addition to the land, the quotes for septic ranged from $7k-10k; the well was $14k-$20k depending on depth and whether rock was encountered; and power was $25-$50 per LINEAL foot to the property line depending on conditions encountered and easements required.....and then we needed to get it from our property line to our building pad site. Power installation costs killed that deal. If you can find something reasonable that already has these features installed, great. But they are very, very hard to find and typically reflect the costs people have already sunk into getting the site prepped. The simpler way is to get a lot in an existing area, RV park, or SKP facility and utilizing it.
  7. I hope your 3.4 mpg dash display is wrong. My display is usually within .1-.2 mpg of what my calculated number is. Our 2006 VNL 780 D12 465 hp with 2.86(?) gears, 579k miles, and a loaded towing weight of around 41k lbs gets between 6.3 and 7.5 mpg loaded when towing at 60 mph depending on wind and terrain and stops/starts. But I have seen as low as 5.3 mpg while towing and traversing steep roads. Bobtailing at 55-60 mph usually gets us 9.0-10.5 mpg....again depending on the conditions. Bobtailing with a strong tailwind on relatively flat land has put us over 11 mpg a couple of times.
  8. Sage advice and comments from ROUS. My background is in electro-mechanical engineering and project/production management. Most of my opportunities have come from within my network of colleagues, previous employers, and word of mouth. None have come from job boards, LinkedIn, or placement agencies. That being said, all of the companies have needed technical support in remote locations (Dakotas, Puerto Rico, Arkansas, Mexico, etc.) that needed a continuous support/presence (boots on the ground) for multiple months at a time......not just occasional visits from the parent company support personnel. I fully retired in February, but all my projects in the last 4 years fell along the border at various maquiladoras in Mexico. Of that, I had perhaps 6 months of remote, virtual support/monitoring and only traveling back when requested.
  9. Trailertraveler is correct. Those areas in New Mexico are not typical snowbird destinations but there are some that go there for the same reasons you mention. We stayed in Alpine, TX last winter and the weather was cool and mild (4500') with only one dusting, but nowhere near the snowy regions. Las Cruces and Deming are a little lower in altitude than here, but nearer to Cloudcroft and Ruidoso (7000'-8000') and the wintery weather.
  10. The lower fuel prices have still not arrived here in Alpine, TX. As of this morning, diesel is $2.59/gal and gas is $2.09/gal.
  11. JP70: I will have to take some pics of the bed and send them to you. The bed was put on 10 years ago by the previous owner. It was built and installed by B&G Truck Conversions in Argos, IN. They will build whatever you want, but mostly cater to the mobile home transport industry. The bed is not set up the way I would like it, but it has been functional and served us well so far. If we ever decide to carry a bike or car on the bed, we will make some changes. We are using a Hensley TSLB2H hitch. We added the 3rd airbag to bring the pin weight capacity up to 7500 lbs as our pin weight (with an empty garage) broke the 5000 lb threshhold. We were introduced to the HDT option by Henry back in 2010 at the Escapade in Goshen, IN when I asked him what he pulled his Royals International with. He showed me his truck and sold me on that being a less expensive and more capable option than the 1T dually I was preparing to buy. Thanks to Henry, we have the truck you see in the picture. Truck info: 2006 VNL 780 Volvo 12 L Eaton 10 spd automatic 2.36 rear 569,000 miles +/- Plated as an RV
  12. Very nice truck!!! How about some details/specs? The pics of Jon's truck gave me a bit of a start for just a second. My first impression was that it looked like ours.
  13. That is a simple solution that would work well also.
  14. I was working on making a "T" latch system to hold the fridge french doors and freezer drawer closed while in transit, when my wife said not to waste my time. She takes the belt off her robe and ties the doors together and then loops the end through the freezer drawer handle and ties it to the door above. I have to say it has worked well for the last 4 years of full-timing, doesn't chafe the finish, and the doors have never come open. Kudos to her for keeping it simple.
  15. We had a problem in our bed room closet (front of the 5'er) with the hangars coming off, but I made a pole (per SWharton) to support the center of the clothes rod and it fixed the issue. Evidently, the weight of the clothes made the rod bounce and flex and eventually throw the clothes off. We also have a rod across the very back of the garage that holds our coats/jackets. It too would throw them off on rough roads/expansion joints. The center rod concept helped but didn't completely solve the problem so we finally reversed every other hangar on the rod so the hooks went opposite ways and "interlocked". We then bungeed them all together. That solved the problem.
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