Floridafrances wrote:
Hi all,
We're back from our 5 weeks trip and have almost caught up on all the things that pile up while you're gone.
Had a great time and want to thank you again for suggestions from this thread that we used in some form or another.
Now that I've caught up on reading the newer posts here, I have some questions and comments.
We too had experienced the mysterious disappearing fresh water. Like others, we discovered that overfilling the tank, and the non-stop siphoning this produced, caused the water loss. Tom resolved that by putting a cut-off valve on the overflow tube. He leaves it open to fill the tank. (And we now make sure we never fill the tank to overflowing.) Then he flips it to the off position which closes off the tube. If we're dry camping, he opens it. If we're hooked up to city water, he leaves it closed. So far it has worked fine.
We carried a couple of very small electric heaters with us on this trip because we don't like to listen to the electric heat pump cycle off and on all night. With the little heaters on, and the furnace set at a fairly low temp, we stayed warm and used very little propane to heat. Usually the furnace would only kick in a couple of hours before we got up, and only for short periods of time. Once we were up, we switched totally to the heat pump. While in Glacier, Yellowstone, and Tetons we had nights that never were above high 40s and often closer to freezing.
We haven't experienced the problem with blowing the breaker, but I do like the idea of adding that dedicated plug by the dining table. Will have to show Tom those photos.
rondeb,
I have a question. What was the 3M film you used on the cab windows? In the afternoons (heading West) and the mornings (heading East) the sun nearly blinded whichever one of us was driving. We both vowed to remedy that before we go on another trip.
goldencrazy,
We have the 2011 chassis on our Vista and have never experienced the poor handling that some people complain about. I don't know what they changed after the 2010 model year, but we experienced some pretty strong and swirly crosswinds - with semi backwash sometimes throw in for added fun - with no problems. Overall, we've been very satisfied with the ride and handling. If we do anything, it will be to add something for added safety in case of a blow-out.
We don't have an automatic transfer switch. Will have to look into that.
Yesterday, I started to post if anyone had heard from you guys. I thought it was close to when you should be back home. Glad you had a good time. That is beautiful country. We have traveled that area on the motorcycle for weeks on end. Just so much to see.
Regarding the window film, I got it at Walmart. It is the 3M vinyl film. It is the removable one. We measured and cut it to fit exactly the size of the windows and you can not tell it is one there. We really noticed the difference driving East from Spokane WA to Omaha. It cuts the sun and the heat. You will only get one set of windows per box. I think we used 6 boxes. It really was easy to put on. The hardest part was figuring out how to measure it. The best way is to measure across and measure down and cut to sharp corners the window size, then round any corners that need to be rounded. We used a metal square and an exacto knife to get very straight squared cuts. You use the sweegie tool that you can buy right next to the film and use lots and lots of water. I watched a u-tube video first so I had a pretty good idea how to put it on when I started. We put it on all windows and the door window except the front window. We put it about 1/3 of the way down which was more than enough.
