A timelapse of driving our RV, a Tiffin Allegro Bus motorhome, 102 miles from Manassas, Virginia to Hanover, Pennsylvania. Including an instant replay of when a bunch of kids request Jenn sound the coach air horn, which she obliged.
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Posts featuring the coach.
Travel from Manassas, Virginia to Hanover, Pennsylvania
We drove our coach 102 miles, about two hours of driving, from Manassas, Virginia to Hanover, Pennsylvania. This was a last-minute change to our route, to avoid spending the weekend at NIRVC, and so we could pick up another state.
Here’s a map showing our route, heading north:
An interactive map:
I-495:
Narrow lanes:
Fun with zoom:
Maryland Welcomes You:
Exit to Damascus:
Water tower:
Interesting tower:
Westminster, Maryland:
Some kids on the side of the road waved and signaled to blow our air horn; Jenn obliged them, and they jumped with joy (see it in the video from today):
Welcome to Pennsylvania:
Fun with zoom:
A little narrow:
“Sorry your GPS is wrong”; one of our GPSes did say to go through this driveway as if it were a road, but fortunately I check our route quite carefully, so I knew about it ahead of time:
Lots of distinctive Pennsylvania barns like this in the area:
Entering the state park, “campers next left”:
Camper check-in:
We untoaded in the dump station:
Following the coach to our site:
Our site, rather unlevel:
Kenwood DNR1008RVS GPS receiver
The stereo/GPS that came with our coach had a small screen, and was no longer receiving map updates, which makes it hard to rely on it for navigation. So we purchased a replacement, the Kenwood DNR1008RVS; a newer model with a 10.1” display, wireless CarPlay to connect to our iPhones, and map updates.
Here’s the old unit, to the right of the camera display:
The old unit removed, and wires for new unit:
The new unit in the dash, without its screen:
The screen added:
It still mirrors to the TV above the windshield:
Though the screen on the unit is big and clear enough that there’s no need to mirror it; I can easily see it from the passenger seat:
Using the unit with CarPlay:
Much better!
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:
Nice that they provide electrical hookups:
Closed entrance gate; they provided a link for us to open it so we could arrive on Sunday, and go out in the evenings:
The NIRVC building; this is I think the smallest NIRVC facility:
Others have vast indoor storage, but this one just has some outdoor storage and RVs for sale:
Side of the building:
Around the back, where the service bays are:
On the second and subsequent days, we were parked outside one of the service bays:
Synchronized lift devices:
Where’ve you been? Locations of other NIRVC branches:
The foyer:
The customer lounge, where we waited most days:
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.
Video: Georgetown, Delaware to Manassas, Virginia motorhome travel timelapse
A timelapse of driving our RV, a Tiffin Allegro Bus motorhome, 151 miles from Georgetown, Delaware to Manassas, Virginia.
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:
An interactive map:
Exit road from the campground:
Route 16 West:
Rail crossing:
Maryland Welcomes You:
Route 404, oh no, route not found! (Geek joke.) Also, “snow emergency route” was a new one to us:
Nice church:
Kent Island Narrows:
Bridge over Chesapeake Bay; not a lot of shoulder:
Severn River:
Exit towards Baltimore:
Beltway:
Potomac River:
Welcome to Virginia (a rather hidden sign):
I-66 West:
A climbing wall:
Exit to Manassas:
Turn onto Industrial Road:
Turn onto Contractors Court:
Arriving at 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:
Our coach, with the workshops behind:
I looked for a spot to park for the night; this was easy, though not very flat:
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:
Paladin sniffing the sewer pipe:
I looked where the blockage was before, after the macerator, but it was clear:
So I fully removed the macerator; no blockage anywhere:
The suspect controller:
Work in progress:
The new controller arrived, and even included a copy of the manual:
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:
I added the new controller, and re-installed the macerator:
Then re-installed the toilet, and checked it:
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:
The the glide blocks can be easily removed and replaced, mounted onto a metal plate:
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:
A gift when checking in; water and kettle corn:
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:
Utilities:
A bunny on our site:
Paladin was most fascinated:
Other sites:
Mostly park models:
Pond:
Splash pad:
Adult pool (they also have a larger family pool):
Events:
Games:
Ball field:
Idle unpopulated 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:
An interactive map:
Preparing to toad up:
The campground emptied out after the weekend:
Route 13 North:
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:
Paladin on the passenger chair:
Maryland Welcomes You:
A rest area stop:
“Urban area, stay alert”:
Welcome to Delaware:
An accident:
Millsboro, Delaware:
Our destination:
