RV

Posts featuring the coach.

NIRVC DC

We stayed at the DC branch of National Indoor RV Centers in Manassas, Virginia.

Not a campground, but an RV service center. We arrived on a Sunday, and left on Friday, sleeping in our coach each night, and going out exploring or waiting in their customer lounge during each day.

Dates:

  • Check in: 2024-06-02
  • Check out: 2024-06-07
  • 5 nights

Weather:

  • Partly cloudy
  • High temps 82-86°F, lows 58-64°F
  • Little wind, gusts to 22 MPH

Noise:

  • No road noise
  • Distant train horn noise
  • No neighbor noise
  • Some nearby industrial noise

Site:

  • First night a very unlevel pull-through site on gravel
  • Subsequent nights a somewhat unlevel back-in on concrete next to the shop
  • Needed to disconnect toad, parked in front of coach
  • We used air leveling all week

Utilities:

  • 50 amp power, conveniently located
  • No water
  • No sewer

Internet (in usage priority order):

  • Campground Wi-Fi: 200-220 Mbps down, 195 Mbps up, 8 ms ping
  • T-Mobile: 60-70 Mbps down, 20 Mbps up, 32 ms ping
  • AT&T: 30-70 Mbps down, 0.5 Mbps up, 83-126 ms ping
  • Verizon: 12 Mbps down, 2 Mbps up, 35 ms ping
  • Starlink: not used

Amenities:

  • Garbage dumpster
  • RV servicing

An interactive map:

Our first site, rather sloped:

Our site

Our site

Our site

Nice that they provide electrical hookups:

Our site

Closed entrance gate; they provided a link for us to open it so we could arrive on Sunday, and go out in the evenings:

Entrance gate

The NIRVC building; this is I think the smallest NIRVC facility:

NIRVC building

Others have vast indoor storage, but this one just has some outdoor storage and RVs for sale:

RVs

RVs

Side of the building:

RVs

Around the back, where the service bays are:

NIRVC building

NIRVC building

NIRVC building

On the second and subsequent days, we were parked outside one of the service bays:

Our site

Our site

Synchronized lift devices:

Our site

Our site

Our site

Where’ve you been? Locations of other NIRVC branches:

Where've you been?

The foyer:

Foyer

The customer lounge, where we waited most days:

Customer lounge

Customer lounge

As I said, perhaps the smallest NIRVC branch, but also the newest, I think. Waiting in the customer lounge wasn’t super fun, but we just worked on our laptops as usual. And sleeping in our coach each night was easier than moving into a hotel or Airbnb for the week, as we’ve done on some previous occasions.

We’ll probably be back again next year for the annual services.

Travel from Georgetown, Delaware to Manassas, Virginia

We drove our coach 151 miles, about three hours of driving, from Georgetown, Delaware to Manassas, Virginia, to do annual servicing and repairs at NIRVC DC.

Here’s a map showing our route, heading west:

Map

An interactive map:

Exit road from the campground:

Exit road from campground

Route 16 West:

Route 16 West

Farmland

Route 16 and 36 West

Rail crossing:

Rail crossing

Maryland Welcomes You:

Maryland Welcomes You

Route 404, oh no, route not found! (Geek joke.) Also, “snow emergency route” was a new one to us:

Route 404

Nice church:

Nice church

Kent Island Narrows:

Kent Island Narrows

Bridge over Chesapeake Bay; not a lot of shoulder:

Bridge over Chesapeake Bay

Bridge over Chesapeake Bay

Bridge over Chesapeake Bay

Bridge over Chesapeake Bay

Severn River:

Severn River

Exit towards Baltimore:

Exit towards Baltimore

Beltway:

Beltway

Beltway

Beltway

Mormon church

Beltway

Potomac River:

Potomac River

Welcome to Virginia (a rather hidden sign):

Welcome to Virginia

I-66 West:

I-66 West

A climbing wall:

Climbing wall

Exit to Manassas:

Exit to Manassas

Turn onto Industrial Road:

Turn onto Industrial Road

Turn onto Contractors Court:

Turn onto Contractors Court

Arriving at NIRVC DC:

NIRVC DC

We arrived on a Sunday when they were closed, so they had provided us with a link to open the gate, so we could get in and camp for the night:

Opening the gate

Our coach, with the workshops behind:

Our coach

I looked for a spot to park for the night; this was easy, though not very flat:

Surveying a spot to park

Driving to park

Parked for the night

In the future, we’d just park on the concrete next to the building; there are electrical outlets there too. Now we know. We plan to be back again next year for our annual servicing.

Replacing controller for Tecma macerating toilet

Our motorhome has two toilets; an electric gravity toilet in the half bath, and an electric macerating toilet in the rear bathroom. Both have had their issues; in 2021 I needed to replace the flush switch on the half bath toilet, and in 2022 I needed to dismantle the rear toilet to clear out a blockage.

Recently, the rear toilet stopped working again, in much the same way as before, so I figured that I needed to clear a blockage again. Though it was a bit different this time; it would flush first thing in the morning, then stop working again. Which made me think something else was going on. Upon dismantling it, I confirmed that there wasn’t any blockage. Research indicated that the issue was likely the controller unit; apparently our vintage had a known issue where it could overheat and stop working.

So, I ordered a replacement controller. It’s the “Thetford 36398 Toilet Controller for Tecma Silence Plus RV Toilet”. I purchased it from Boat & RV Accessories, as they had it for a good price and could ship it overnight. But it is also available on Amazon from a couple of sellers.

But unfortunately this did not solve the issue. I thought it did, as the toilet worked properly for a few days, but yesterday as we prepared to leave our campsite, it failed again. It’s possible that the new controller went bad, but it seems much more likely to me that the macerator pump is actually the cause. So I guess I need to try replacing that.

On to the pictures. Here’s the toilet in the shower, prior to looking for clogs:

Toilet in shower

Paladin sniffing the sewer pipe:

Paladin sniffing sewer pipe

I looked where the blockage was before, after the macerator, but it was clear:

Removing macerator

So I fully removed the macerator; no blockage anywhere:

Removing macerator

The suspect controller:

The controller

Work in progress:

Work in progress

The new controller arrived, and even included a copy of the manual:

New controller

I put the toilet back in the shower (it had been back in place, though disconnected, while I waited for the part), and removed the old controller:

Toilet in shower

I added the new controller, and re-installed the macerator:

Re-installed macerator

Re-installed macerator

Then re-installed the toilet, and checked it:

Re-installed toilet

It worked for a few days, but as mentioned above, replacing the controller didn’t solve the issue. Stay tuned for a future post on my next attempt at repairing this toilet! We’re very glad that we have two toilets in our coach, so can make do with using the other one in the meantime.

Just another super glamorous aspect of RV life.

Slide glide replacement

I noticed one of the slide glides was broken on the front passenger slide-out. So we also got Coach Connection in Red Bay to fix that. The glide blocks help support the slide-out, but can break in time; this is the second time we’ve had to replace one (though a different one).

It involves slightly jacking up the slide to take the pressure off:

Jack under slide

The the glide blocks can be easily removed and replaced, mounted onto a metal plate:

Slide glide blocks

Homestead Campground

We stayed at Homestead Campground in Georgetown, Delaware. (Campground Reviews listing.)

Another last-minute change, to avoid going through narrow tunnels and roadworks. A very nice, quiet campground, mostly permanent sites.

Dates:

  • Check in: 2024-05-28
  • Check out: 2024-06-02
  • 5 nights

Weather:

  • Mostly sunny
  • High temps 74-82°F, lows 52-65°F
  • Little wind, gusts to 20 MPH

Noise:

  • No road noise
  • No train horn noise
  • Negligible neighbor noise

Site:

  • #E44, pull-through, grass
  • Didn’t need to disconnect toad, parked behind coach
  • A little unlevel site, high on front and right; used hydraulic leveling
  • Grass site about 80 feet long by 30 feet wide
  • Picnic table
  • Fire pit
  • No trees
  • Mostly clean site

Utilities:

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

Internet (in usage priority order):

  • T-Mobile: 10 Mbps down, 1 Mbps up, 40 ms ping
  • AT&T: 105 Mbps down, 20 Mbps up, 70 ms ping
  • Verizon: 25 Mbps down, 5 Mbps up, 42 ms ping
  • Campground Wi-Fi: 8 Mbps down, 2 Mbps up, 20 ms ping
  • Starlink: not used

Amenities:

  • Garbage pickup from site
  • Pools
  • Weekend food trucks and live entertainment

Our review on Campground Reviews:

Nice park, loaded with weekenders

This campground mainly has permanent seasonal sites where residents come down for the weekends during the summer. There were very few folks around during the week, but everyone came “home” from Thursday to Sunday. The campground has lots of activities every weekend. The “transient” sites were all nice long pull-throughs. We camped at Homestead Campground in a Motorhome.

Campground map:

Map

A gift when checking in; water and kettle corn:

Gift

An interactive map:

Our site; since we booked the day before we arrived, we could see that the row was mostly empty, and booked a site with empty sites on both sides; it’s nice to have space:

Our site

Our site

Our site

Our site

Utilities:

Utilities

Utilities

A bunny on our site:

Bunny

Paladin was most fascinated:

Bunny

Other sites:

Other sites

Mostly park models:

Other sites

Other sites

Other sites

Other sites

Other sites

Other sites

Other sites

Other sites

Pond:

Pond

Splash pad:

Splash pad

Adult pool (they also have a larger family pool):

Adult pool

Events:

Events

Games:

Games

Ball field:

Ball field

Idle unpopulated koi pond:

Koi pond

A nice campground.

Travel from Cape Charles, Virginia to Georgetown, Delaware

We drove our coach 132 miles, about three hours of driving, from Cape Charles, Virginia to Georgetown, Delaware. Yet another new state.

Here’s a map showing our route, heading north:

Route map

An interactive map:

Preparing to toad up:

Preparing to toad up

The campground emptied out after the weekend:

Campground emptied out

Route 13 North:

Route 13 North

Royal Farms fuel stop:

Royal Farms fuel stop

Royal Farms fuel stop

They limited the pump to $125, so we had to do two transactions to fill up, as our 150 gallon tank was about half full:

Royal Farms fuel stop

Paladin on the passenger chair:

Paladin

Maryland Welcomes You:

Maryland Welcomes You

A rest area stop:

Rest area

Rest area

“Urban area, stay alert”:

Urban area, stay alert

Welcome to Delaware:

Welcome to Delaware

An accident:

Accident

Millsboro, Delaware:

Millsboro, Delaware

Our destination:

Our destination

Our destination

Our destination

Our destination

Entry door repairs

The entry door on our coach was not closing or opening very well, especially when in the sun. Apparently the door latch wasn’t the correct model. So we got that replaced by Coach Connection in Red Bay:

Replacing latch

Replacing latch

The door arm (that holds it open) was also sagging and catching on the door, so we got him to replace that too:

Door arm

Door arm

Both so much better now.

Cape Charles / Chesapeake Bay KOA Resort

We stayed at Cape Charles / Chesapeake Bay KOA Resort in Cape Charles, Virginia. (Campground Reviews listing.)

A decent RV park with a private beach and restaurant. This was a last-minute change to avoid traveling on the Memorial Day weekend; amazingly, we were able to get a reservation just a few days before the holiday, despite it being packed with holiday campers.

Dates:

  • Check in: 2024-05-24
  • Check out: 2024-05-28
  • 4 nights

Weather:

  • Partly cloudy on first days; thunderstorms and rain on last day
  • High temps 69-73°F, lows 65-69°F
  • Little wind, gusts to 24 MPH

Noise:

  • No road noise
  • No train horn noise
  • Lots of neighbor noise during Memorial Day weekend; quiet after everyone left

Site:

  • #513, back-in, grass
  • Needed to disconnect toad, parked beside coach
  • Mostly level site, slightly high in the back; used hydraulic leveling
  • Grass site about 45 feet long by 30 feet wide
  • Picnic table
  • Fire pit
  • A few trees
  • Clean site

Utilities:

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

Internet (in usage priority order):

  • T-Mobile: 20 Mbps down, 5 Mbps up, 50 ms ping
  • AT&T: 250-285 Mbps down, 40 Mbps up, 50 ms ping
  • Verizon: 15-25 Mbps down, 10 Mbps up, 70 ms ping
  • Starlink: not used
  • Campground Wi-Fi: not used

Amenities:

  • Garbage dumpsters by exit
  • Pools
  • Onsite restaurant
  • Beach

Our review on Campground Reviews:

Like being in the Keys on the Chesapeake

This was a last-minute change for Memorial Day weekend. We were surprised there was availability the week before the holiday, and there were even a few empty sites all weekend. The campsites themselves were pretty basic (bare grass with a fire ring and picnic table), but the amenities were top-notch. We had dinner a couple of times at the beachside restaurant and enjoyed it both times. With a rum drink in hand and a salt breeze off the water, it was very relaxing after a long day of driving and the stress of getting over/through the bridge tunnel. Being a holiday weekend, it was pretty rambunctious in the campground, but it really cleared out on Monday, and it was pretty much just us and the long-term residents. We camped at Cape Charles / Chesapeake Bay KOA Resort in a Motorhome.

Campground map:

Map

An interactive map:

Our site:

Our site

Our site

The sites were fairly tight back-to-back:

Our site

Neighbor site

A large gathering on our driver side:

Neighbor site

Other sites:

Neighbor site

Other sites

Other sites

Other sites

Other sites

Tight roads, with everyone parked on the edge of the road:

Other sites

Pool area:

Pool area

We appreciate it when there’s an onsite restaurant, especially on travel days, so we don’t have to cook. This park has the Sunset Beach Bar & Grille:

Sunset Beach Bar & Grille

Sunset Beach Bar & Grille

Sunset Beach Bar & Grille

Sunset Beach Bar & Grille

Private beach:

Beach

Beach

Beach

A nice KOA. We’d be happy to stay here again, but probably won’t, since access via tunnels under the bay is a bit harrowing in our big rig.