A timelapse of driving our RV, a Tiffin Allegro Bus motorhome, 47 miles from Albany to Eugene, Oregon. Then attempting to leave, but needing to return to Oregon Motorcoach Center almost immediately.
Albany to Oregon Motorcoach Center in Eugene, Oregon, again
We drove our coach just 47 miles, about an hour of driving, from Blue Ox RV Park in Albany to Oregon Motorcoach Center in Eugene, Oregon. Yes, again.
Here’s a map showing our route, heading south:
An interactive map:
The evening before, we had an issue with the electrical pedestal; one of the 50 amp legs dropped to just 42 volts, which is potentially damaging to a coach. Fortunately my Power Watchdog caught it, but not before the heat from low voltage and high amperage partially melted the plug:
I switched to the neighboring site’s pedestal, since that site was empty. In the morning, I notified the RV park, so they could fix the pedestal.
Leaving Blue Ox, again:
Arriving at Oregon Motorcoach Center… again:
This time we spent the day in their customer lounge while they investigated the things they broke:
One of the issues was the entry step, which was always retracting when the entry door was closed, even with the step switch off (and key off), which is supposed to keep it out. Something it didn’t do until they worked on the coach. They didn’t find the cause of that, but found a workaround, moving an entry step wire in the front electrical bay; fortunately there haven’t been any unexpected side effects of that change:
They also cleared the check engine fault code, on some implausible theory that they triggered it when fixing the accelerator pedal (the control to move it in and out wasn’t working, and the pedal was squeaking).
A tech took the coach for a long drive, and didn’t make the code come back. So we toaded up and left… but of course as soon as we got on the freeway, the fault code came back.
So we turned around and headed back to OMC:
They didn’t have any luck in tracing the issue (and may have triggered some new codes too).
We spent the night there, with the idea that they’d try again the next day:
Not entirely pleased with how things went. I used to like OMC, now I’m not sure I’d trust them with chassis stuff again.
Newport, Oregon
Since we had an unplanned weekend stay in Albany due to coach issues, we decided to make the most of it with a drive to the Oregon coast.
Here’s an interactive map of our driving route, heading clockwise:
Newport, Oregon is a fishing town, with a number of murals:
Yaquina Bay Bridge:
We went to Mo’s for lunch:
Jenn’s Crab Slumgullion sourdough bread bowl:
My cup of clam chowder; I also had fish & chips, but forgot to take a picture of that:
Crabbing:
Pacific Seafood Surimi Plant:
We bought some chocolates and taffy, as is required when visiting the Oregon coast:
Watching a snuggle pile of sea lions:
We then headed up the coast a bit, to take a slightly longer way home.
Video: Albany back to Albany, Oregon motorhome travel timelapse
A timelapse of driving our RV, a Tiffin Allegro Bus motorhome, 101 miles from Albany up I-5 for a while, then back to Albany, Oregon.
Blue Ox RV Park in Albany, Oregon… back to Blue Ox
We were on our way home after staying a night at Blue Ox RV Park in Albany, Oregon, when a check engine light and malfunction indicator light (MIL) came on the dash. Uh oh!
The fault was ECM SPN 102 FMI 18: “Engine – Engine Intake Manifold #1 Pressure. Data Below Normal Operating Range – Moderate”.
So we stopped at the next rest area, and I followed ChatGPT’s instructions on what I could see in the engine bay, but the fault was apparently likely somewhere that I couldn’t reach (and probably wouldn’t have been able to fix anyway). It was a Saturday, and Oregon Motorcoach Center was closed until Monday, so I made a reservation at Blue Ox again for the weekend, and we headed back. Sigh.
An interactive map:
Passing our site (the first empty one), and the site we came back to (the next one):
Soccer:
Joining I-5 North:
Canola fields:
BlueFire faults screen for ECM SPN 102 FMI 18:
Road works:
45th Parallel; we had stopped at a sign for the southern 45th Parallel in New Zealand, so it was fun to see a sign for the northern one:
More road works:
Rest area:
Looking at the engine:
Heading back to I-5, South:
Exit:
Back to Blue Ox; at least we didn’t need to check in at the office; they called us and said they’d check us in:
Our site, #145; we asked for one site over to give space to the neighbor, and for better Starlink signal (there was a tree partially obscuring our Starlink in the previous site):
I flew my drone:
Coming back here was not what we had planned to do with our weekend, but I’m glad we weren’t too far away, and Blue Ox had availability.
Taking a break
I’m taking a break from blog posts for a week or so.
See you in July!
Starlink mounted on RV roof
We use Starlink as our primary internet service, though with cellular as a backup. We used to use an Actuated gen 2 dish, but earlier this year bought a new Standard gen 4 dish, with the intention to mount on the roof of our motorhome, so we can have Starlink internet service while driving down the road, plus don’t have the hassle of setting up the dish each time we stop.
To mount the Starlink dish to the roof, I bought a magnetic mount, so we’d be able to somewhat easily remove it if needed:
Our coach roof is fiberglass, so I also got a metal plate for the mount to stick to:
I bought a modem mount that holds the Starlink modem and power supply, but decided I wanted a different arrangement:
Instead I bought a different mount that I thought would work better, with separate pieces for the power supply and modem; they are meant to screw to the wall, but I attached them with heavy-duty velcro strips:
Cellular internet cupboard on the left, Starlink on the right:
While at Oregon Motorcoach Center we got them to install the Starlink mount on the roof for us:
Flying my drone later, showing the Starlink mount installation:
The wire from the dish going across the roof to a new junction box on the back of the front cap:
So nice to have Starlink always available. The only downside of the roof mount is if we park under trees, but most of the time the dish can still see enough sky to work well.
Video: Eugene to Albany, Oregon motorhome travel timelapse
A timelapse of driving our RV, a Tiffin Allegro Bus motorhome, 47 miles from Eugene to Albany, Oregon.
Eugene to Blue Ox RV Park in Albany, Oregon
We drove our truck about five hours from our home base to Oregon Motorcoach Center in Eugene to pick up our coach after its annual service, repairs, and improvements, then just 47 miles, about an hour of driving, from OMC to Blue Ox RV Park in Albany, Oregon.
Here’s a map showing our route, heading north:
An interactive map:
Arriving at Oregon Motorcoach Center to pick up our coach:
Our coach waiting to be picked up:
Toading up:
Beltline Road, Eugene:
A skoolie:
“Top speed 61.27435 MPH”:
Heading to I-5 North:
I-5 North:
Albany exit:
Arriving at Blue Ox RV Park:
Parked at the entrance as directed:
Office:
Campground map:
Our site, #144, the same as last time:
Other sites:
Indoor pool:
BLUETTI Elite 30 600W 288Wh portable power station
We have a Starlink Mini dish mounted on the roof of our truck, for use when we are driving in areas with little or no cell service, which can be quite nice. It was plugged into a 12V outlet by the back seat. But a minor inconvenience with it was that this outlet loses power when the truck is turned off, so we lose the internet connection, and it takes a minute to re-establish after starting the truck again.
To address that, I got a BLUETTI Elite 30 600W 288Wh portable power station. It is plugged into that 12V outlet, and the Starlink dish is plugged into its 12V outlet.
So now we can control whether or not to start the Starlink connection by turning on the DC output of the battery, and it can continue as long as we like. Plus the power station may be useful for other uses when out and about.
Unboxing:
Front of the power station; it has an input for DC or solar panel, three 12V DC outputs, two USB-C, two USB-A, and two AC outputs:
AC input on the side:
Stats:
Initially charging the battery via AC:
In the back seat of our truck, with 111W input from the truck (while idling) and 26W output to the Starlink Mini dish:
It has an app, which is more convenient to adjust settings:
