We picked the motorhome up at Newmar on Friday morning at around 9:30 am and took off for Berea, Kentucky. Other than having to drive through heavy rain for the entire trip it was pretty uneventful. After spending the night in a not so great but convenient rv park we left the next morning for Gaffney, SC. We arrived at the campground in Gaffney on Saturday evening at about 5:00 pm. On our drive from Berea, Kentucky to Gaffney we were on some fairly steep grades for extended periods of time so I really got to see how the motorhome would do in mountains. I remember one of the climbs and descents was a 7% grade for six miles. The motorhome did a great job going both up and down the mountains and I learned a lot about driving it on these kinds of roads. If you want the motorhome to maintain the speed set on the cruise control or close to this speed then it is better to take it out of economy mode. This lets the transmission down shift much sooner while climbing to maintain a higher speed. I also manually shifted the transmission on some of the climbs which allows you go up at a higher speed and stay in lower gears while manually watching the engine rpm and the transmission temperature. We were in the mountains while the outside temperature was 90 degrees and the transmission never exceeded 195 degrees. Keeping the transmission in lower gears longer actually keeps it running cooler. Coming down the mountains was very easy and rarely required me to even touch the brakes. Between the transmission and the two speed engine brake you could descend the mountains and not touch the brakes. In some instances I would have to touch the gas in order to keep the engine brake from slowing the motorhome down too much since whenever you press the accelerator the brake automatically turns off. In other instances I would just manually turn the engine brake off. Much easier and less stressful than hauling the 5th wheel and the motorcycle on the swivel wheeled trailer.
Today we drove out to the Freightliner location where the class will be held tomorrow and also stopped by to look at the factory to see where the chassis is manufactured. At the Freightliner plant in Gaffney they call it the Custom Chassis Plant where they make motorhome, delivery, shuttle bus and school bus chassis. We stopped at a parking area and I took some pictures of several motorhome chassis one of which I think is just like ours. Today we drove around town a little and stopped for lunch at a great place called Fatz that had fantastic food. Since we were in South Carolina I had sweet tea which is something I rarely ever drink but it was very good. The rv park we are staying in is very nice with a mini golf course, swimming pool and a fenced in dog play area. We learned that South Carolina grows more peaches than Georgia even though Georgia is known as the Peach State. This must be why they have huge water tower shaped and painted like a peach just outside Gaffney where we ate lunch. Below are some pictures of our trip the last day or so and some that we took today around Gaffney.
The next few pictures are of a chassis like the one we have. I would just like to be able to spend a couple of hours just looking this over and taking some up close pictures. Janet thinks I am anal and nuts. Probably true on both counts when it comes to this kind of stuff. I enjoy tinkering on things and could probably do most of the maintenance I want to do without going to the class but I think I will learn quite a bit that should help me going forward. I have already serviced the diesel generator on the motorhome and the Oasis hydronic heating system but won't need to do maintenance on the engine until we come back from going out west this summer.
Last week I finished waxing the motorhome which I started doing while we were in Florida. When we got back home I did everything I couldn't reach from the ground that I did in Florida. When I finished I used one entire large can of Meguires wax. I also cleaned the roof which I learned was a fiberglass roof. I originally had thought it was Newmar's version of a rubber roof. I don't remember seeing the fiberglass optional roof on the sticker and I am sure Kyle said it had a rubber roof. I will have to dig out the sticker and double check. This is a three thousand dollar option on this particular motorhome. I didn't go on the roof before because the ladder on motorhomes is not the greatest especially for people my size. In fact the ladder weight rating is not rated for someone my size. In my garage I have a ten foot step ladder that I kept close to the motorhome ladder when I first went up it. The motorhome ladder held me fine and seemed very sturdy even though it has a 225 lb weight rating.
