Posts featuring the coach.
We drove our coach just 65 miles, about 1.5 hours of driving, from Hanover, Pennsylvania to College Park, Maryland.
Here’s a map showing our route, heading south:
An interactive map:
Leaving the campground:
Road outside the park:
Narrow curvy road:
Barn:
Maryland Welcomes You:
Fun with zoom:
Manchester:
Barn:
Roundabout:
Fun with zoom:
I-95:
Maryland 212 West:
Our destination, Cherry Hill Park:
Check-in lanes:
24-hours staffed entrance gate:
Our site:
Backing in:
As previously mentioned, we went to NIRVC in DC for our annual servicing of the engine, generator, Aqua-Hot, etc.
They used synchronized jacks to raise up our coach:
They pointed out that the oil pan has a bit of a leak, but we decided to not doing anything about that this time; we’ll keep an eye on it:
They also indicated a leak in the radiator fan, which we did address by replacing it (a rather expensive operation):
The bar between the front jacks was loose; the bolts on one side were broken, so they fixed that:
They also replaced the engine air filter, as we do every year:
And serviced the Aqua-Hot:
We usually get various branches of NIRVC to do the servicing, for consistency.
We stayed at Codorus State Park in Hanover, Pennsylvania. (Campground Reviews listing.)
A last-minute booking, but not a great state park.
Dates:
Weather:
Noise:
Site:
Utilities:
Internet (in usage priority order):
Amenities:
Our review on Campground Reviews:
Narrow, twisty roads and sloped sites
This park is not big rig-friendly. The roads are twisty and narrow, with many low trees. We were in site 102, which was incredibly sloped front-to-back, so we dealt with living on an angle for our two-night stay. You could place a marble at one end of the motorhome and it would have rolled to the front unaided, this is how bad it was. An interesting quirk of this park is that they have “pet-free” areas where you’re not allowed to camp with pets. I never did see any explanation of this policy and it didn’t make any sense to me since people were walking their dogs through the “pet-free” area anyway. So, if you’re camping with pets, be sure to double-check what the rule is for a site before you book it, because the ranger at check-in will call you out if they think they see a pet with you. We camped at Codorus State Park in a Motorhome.
Tip for Other Campers: Atomic Dog Cidery near Gettysburg has good food and cider. Just be careful if you want to purchase some cans to take home, as the park has a strict “no alcohol” policy and your nosy neighbors will comment on it even if you’re not drinking it….
Campground map:
An interactive map:
Our site:
The site was very unlevel; we couldn’t get level with hydraulic jacks, and this was the best that our air leveling could manage:
Water tank behind our site:
Other sites:
We won’t stay here again.
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.
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:
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!
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:
Weather:
Noise:
Site:
Utilities:
Internet (in usage priority order):
Amenities:
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.
A timelapse of driving our RV, a Tiffin Allegro Bus motorhome, 151 miles 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.
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.