When we arrived at the Las Cruces KOA, we got the Check Engine and Malfunction Indicator Lights on our dash, and the three error codes that indicated the dreaded DEF head failure issue — SPN 3364 FMI 9, SPN 1761 FMI 9, and SPN 3031 FMI 9:

We tried to reset the errors with the BlueFire adapter, which worked… but at the end of the next drive, the errors came back. So we knew we had to get the DEF head replaced. The DEF head is a component of the Diesel Exhaust Fluid system, that measures the level and temperature of the DEF tank. But coaches built around 2017, as ours was, had a part with a design flaw, causing it to fail for many coaches. It was pretty much a matter of time before ours failed, so I got a DEF head simulator as insurance, and we never let the DEF get below halfway, to help reduce the chance of the issue occurring. But our time came regardless.

We could have taken our coach to a Cummins service shop, but they operate on a first-come-first-served basis, so we’d likely have to wait a few days. Not convenient when we live full-time in our coach. But fortunately we were a few hours south of Phoenix, Arizona, where National Indoor RV Centers (NIRVC) has a facility. A place we were familiar with, having had our coach serviced there before.

So I contacted that NIRVC, and asked if they could get the replacement DEF head from Tiffin, and fit us in to replace it. They were able to do so. We were super-impressed with their service. They worked with Tiffin to get the part overnighted, and Tiffin covered the cost of the part and labor. When we arrived, the Service Manager (Andrew Pringle) greeted me and came out to help us get parked in a campsite.

We also got them to do a few other tweaks while we were there. One was I noticed this pump/compressor/thingy that’s part of the air leveling system had come off its brackets, and was vibrating significantly when used (we pretty much never use air leveling, but tried it when arriving at NIRVC; great time to find that!):

The brackets were broken, so the tech drilled out and replaced the brackets to get it re-mounted.

We also got them to look for a rattling noise elsewhere in the generator compartment, which they partially fixed with some foam padding. And we got them to add a cover over the ceiling vent in our rear bathroom; something we wanted to do at the recent NIRVC service in Dallas, but the part was out-of-stock there.

Not bad for a day’s work at short notice!

We had been scheduled to stay in Tombstone for seven days, but we left early to go to NIRVC, arriving in the afternoon, and staying overnight at NIRVC, so they could have the full next day to do their work. We chose to stay there that night too, before moving on.

Here are my usual campsite stats; not a typical campsite, but great that NIRVC offers the ability to stay overnight, even with an electrical hookup:

Dates:

• Check in: 2023-03-08
• Check out: 2023-03-10
• 2 nights

Weather:

• Mostly sunny
• High temps ranging between 75°F, lows around 42-44°F
• Negligible wind

Noise:

• Some road noise, no train noise
• Jets flying over from Luke Air Force Base

Site:

• #4, back in, gravel
• Needed to disconnect toad; parked beside coach
• Fairly level
• Medium site: about 70 feet long by about 25 feet wide

Utilities:

• 50 amp power, conveniently located
• No water
• No sewer (dump station available)

Internet (in usage priority order):

• T-Mobile: 62-75 Mbps down, 30 Mbps up, 80 ms ping
• AT&T: 33-49 Mbps down, 12 Mbps up, 70 ms ping
• Verizon: 47-70 Mbps down, 20-41 Mbps up, 60 ms ping
• Starlink: not used
• Campground Wi-Fi: none

Amenities:

• RV repair

Interactive map; the campsites are in the northeast corner of the grounds:

Our site (with the generator compartment open):

Electrical hookup:

Looking past our site to the front of the NIRVC building:

We sat in the waiting room for a few hours:

Kitchen:

The waiting room has windows overlooking the massive indoor RV storage facility:

Looking across the storage area, you can see the roof of our coach by the leftmost door:

We were very happy with their service, glad that they could fit us in, and solve our DEF head issue plus the other improvements. We highly recommend NIRVC for RV service.

We stayed at Tombstone RV Park & Campground in Tombstone, Arizona. (Campground Reviews listing.)

An uncomfortably short site.

Dates:

• Check in: 2023-03-04
• Check out: 2023-03-08
• 4 nights
• We were going to stay 7 nights, but left early to go to NIRVC (see upcoming posts)

Weather:

• Mostly sunny
• High temps ranging between 68-73°F, lows around 36-45°F
• Negligible wind, yay!

Noise:

• Some road noise, no train noise
• Occasional loud neighbors

Site:

• #45, pull-through, gravel
• Needed to disconnect toad; parked beside coach
• Fairly level
• Small site: about 38 feet long by about 25 feet wide
• Picnic table; no fire pit

Utilities:

• 50 amp power, conveniently located
• 35 PSI water, conveniently located
• Fair sewer connection, conveniently located (1 10-foot pipe needed)

Internet (in usage priority order):

• Starlink: 6-23 Mbps down, 3-8 Mbps up, 100 ms ping
• T-Mobile: 17-23 Mbps down, 2 Mbps up, 70 ms ping
• AT&T: 16 Mbps down, 2 Mbps up, 75 ms ping
• Verizon: no service
• Campground Wi-Fi: not used

Amenities:

• Garbage dumpsters
• Heated pool

Our review on Campground Reviews:

Good spot to stop close to Tombstone

This was a really nice, well-run park and a great launching point for all the area has to offer. The hosts were all very friendly and helpful from check-in, to guiding us to our site, to helping us with package deliveries. Our site was clean and level. On the other hand, it was also pretty short for our 40′ motorhome and tow vehicle. Usually, if we have a pull-through site it’s okay if we unhook the tow after we park the coach. Here, we really should have unhooked beforehand as the truck was completely blocking the lane until we unhooked it and parked alongside the coach. Even so, the motorhome was poking out to the front and rear. We had to use our safety cones for the first time to help demarcate our corners. We camped at Tombstone RV Park and Campground in a Motorhome.

Tip for Other Campers: Chiricahua National Monument and Fort Bowie National Historic Site are a good day trip away and shouldn’t be missed.

Interactive map:

Tombstone newspaper and RV park map:

Guided to our site:

Our site; it was rather short, so we put out mini cones to help prevent people hitting our coach:

The tombstone theme: “here lies [site] 45”:

The cellular services weren’t great, so we used Starlink:

The entrance at sunset:

Office:

Activity center:

Swimming pool:

Cart:

Other sites:

It was fine, though the site was too short for comfort, and the roads a bit tight in places.

We stayed at Abilene KOA Journey in Abilene, Texas. (Campground Reviews listing.)

A very basic KOA, with loud freeway traffic.

Dates:

• Check in: 2023-02-23
• Check out: 2023-02-25
• 2 nights

Weather:

• Cloudy
• High temps ranging between 48-57°F, lows around 35-41°F
• Negligible wind

Noise:

• Loud road noise from the freeway; distant train noise
• No neighbor noise

Site:

• #58, pull-through, gravel
• All the pull-throughs are buddy sites, except this one and the one next to it, where they converted the next-door site to a patio
• Didn’t need to disconnect toad; parked behind coach
• Level site
• Medium site: about 60 feet long by about 30 feet wide
• Concrete patio
• Patio table & chairs
• Fire pit
• Propane & charcoal grills
• A few trees

Utilities:

• 50 amp power, fairly conveniently located
• 60 PSI water, conveniently located
• Good sewer connection, somewhat conveniently located (2 10-foot pipes needed)

Internet (in usage priority order):

• T-Mobile: 46-62 Mbps down, 8 Mbps up, 50 ms ping
• AT&T: 5 Mbps down, 9 Mbps up, 78 ms ping
• Verizon: 1 Mbps down, 0.5 Mbps up, 200 ms ping
• Starlink: not used
• Campground Wi-Fi: not used

Amenities:

• Garbage pickup from site

Our review on Campground Reviews:

Buddy sites and road noise

We stayed here for two nights which was about one night more than necessary. The pull-throughs were pretty much all buddy sites (which I hate), but we splurged on the patio site which meant that we had a little buffer between us and our neighbor on the living side (nevermind that our neighbor the first night seemed to think it was a communal area, but I digress). The real downside of this park is the constant noise from I-20 with trucks using their jake brakes at all hours. We camped at Abilene KOA Journey in a Motorhome.

Tip for Other Campers: Frontier Texas! (the exclamation point is part of the name) was pretty cool and worth a stop.

An interactive map of the park:

The map:

Our site:

A nice patio, that we didn’t use, since the weather wasn’t great; but still worth it to avoid being in a buddy site:

A nice fire pit area on the patio:

A GIF of the freeway from our site, showing how close it was:

Bathrooms:

Cabins:

Other sites:

This RV park was a convenient stop for a couple of nights, but we wouldn’t choose to stay here other than for that purpose, what with the loud freeway noise and buddy sites.