Travel Heber City, UT to Declo, ID

We drove our coach 219 miles, about 4 hours, from Heber City, Utah to Declo, Idaho.

The map route, heading northwest:

Map route

Leaving Heber City:

Heber City

Heber City

Heber City

We planned to stop for fuel in Salt Lake City, so I left the step cover open. Paladin took advantage of that to look out the lower window:

Paladin

Roadworks:

Roadworks

US-40 freeway:

US-40 freeway

Paladin in his safe space:

Paladin

I-80:

i-80

i-80

Paladin on the steps again:

Paladin

Exit to Love’s for fuel:

Exit to Love's

Love's

Love's

Onto I-215:

i-215

And I-15 (with a triple trailer truck merging):

i-15

Paladin again:

Paladin

Paladin

One nice thing about interstate freeway travel is rest areas. We stopped at one for lunch:

Rest area

Lunch

Rest area

Paladin on the back of my chair:

Paladin and David

Scenic hills by I-84:

i-84

I-84

Goodbye Utah, welcome to Idaho:

Welcome to Idaho

Another rest area stop:

Rest area

Rest area

Continuing on I-84:

I-84

Sleepy Paladin; he’s definitely getting more comfortable with travel days:

Paladin

Exit to Declo:

Exit to Declo

Our destination RV park was right off the freeway:

C Store

RV park

Ceiling fan motor replacement

Our coach has a ceiling fan in the bedroom, which is nice when it’s warm:

Ceiling fan

But it has been squeaking when turning in the blowing down direction (but not when in reverse). I asked the Tiffin techs about it at the rally, and they said it’s a common issue, and the solution was to replace the motor. So I ordered a replacement:

Motor

Motor

I started the repair by removing the nut and washers holding the blades:

Removed nut and washers holding blades

Then removed the motor cover:

Motor

And dismounted the motor:

Dismounted motor

I then cut the wires to remove the old motor, dismounted the retaining cord, and attached the new motor:

David

Then I connected the wires, and mounted the new motor to the ceiling. But when I went to attach the cover, it turned out that the cover holes didn’t quite line up with those in the new motor:

Holes

So I used a couple of washers to adjust the position:

Washers

Washers between the ceiling and motor, to make the cover holes line up:

Mounted

Covered:

Covered

The blades reattached:

Blades reattached

All better!

Here’s a GIF of it working:

GIF

Mountain Valley RV Resort

We stayed at Mountain Valley RV Resort in Heber City, Utah. (Campground Reviews listing.)

Dates:

  • Check in: 2022-06-18
  • Check out: 2022-06-23
  • 5 nights

Weather:

  • Mosty sunny
  • High temps ranging between 65-82°F, lows around 28-50°F
  • Some afternoon wind

Noise:

  • No real road noise, slight train noise
  • Some neighbor noise

Site:

  • #U10, pull-through, cement
  • Didn’t need to disconnect toad; parked behind coach
  • Nicely level
  • Large site: about 75 feet long by about 30 feet wide
  • Full hookups:
    • 50 amp power conveniently located
    • I didn’t note the water pressure; conveniently located
    • Acceptable sewer connection, conveniently located (1 10 foot hoses used)
  • Picnic table

Internet (in usage priority order):

  • Starlink: 1-2 Mbps down, 1-16 Mbps up, 90 ms ping
  • AT&T: 8 Mbps down, 6 Mbps up, 100 ms ping
  • T-Mobile: 2-28 Mbps down, 17-21 Mbps up, 45-87 ms ping, unreliable
  • Verizon: 18 Mbps down, 13 Mbps up, 60 ms ping
  • Campground Wi-Fi: not used

Amenities:

  • Garbage collection from site
  • Multiple pools
  • Package pick up in office

Here’s the review Jenn wrote on Campground Reviews:

Check-in’s at two! Check-in’s at two!

This was a fantastic resort, but check-in is at two. We’d never stayed at a place with such a late check-in time, so when we pulled in just before 1 pm and the guy behind the counter asked if we’d called beforehand to see if we could “come in early” I was a little confused. There were at least three other RVs checking in at that time because the lanes for registration were all full, so I didn’t realize our faux pas. I’m guessing we were the last in a long line of RVs who were coming in early from the Tiffin Rally so he was a bit frazzled because he mentioned in every single sentence that check-in is at two. I think his co-workers were getting used to his mood because when he asked one to go see if our site was ready because we were early and check-in’s at two, the other guy finished his sentence before smiling at me with a wink. Anyway, our site was ready and we were efficiently guided to it and parked on a nice, level concrete slab.

This resort has three pools, one of which is in the 21 section of the park, where we’d choose to stay next time. Everything is beautifully maintained and the staff (other than Mr. Check-in’s At Two) were super friendly and helpful. Here’s the punchline. Check-out is at noon. We were out by 11 am and an hour up the road when I got a voicemail from someone in the office to ask if we were heading out soon because check-out is at noon. There was then a second voicemail a few minutes later to apologize and that she’d been looking at the wrong site. We camped at Mountain Valley RV Resort in a Motorhome.

The RV park map:

Map

Our site:

Our site

Our site

Our site

Our site

Entrance:

Entrance

Office:

Office

One of three swimming pools:

Pool

Games:

Games

Other RVs:

Other RVs

Other RVs

Other RVs

Our coach and others:

Other RVs

Our site

Mountains in the background, and a wall dividing the park:

Mountains and wall

About half of the park is 21 and over only… unfortunately we weren’t in that part:

21 and over only

Adults only clubhouse:

Adults only clubhouse

Pools:

Pools

Pool

Games

Travel from Rock Springs, WY to Heber City, UT

We drove our coach 176 miles, about 3 hours, from Rock Springs, Wyoming to Heber City, Utah.

The map route, heading southwest:

Map route

Our coach at the Tiffin rally, after neighboring coaches had departed:

Tiffin rally site

Leaving the rally grounds:

Leaving rally grounds

Tiffins:

Tiffins

I-80:

i-80

Tunnels:

Tunnels

Tunnel

Tunnel

Rocks

Paladin in his safe space next to my chair:

Paladin

Paladin

Passing another Tiffin:

Tiffin

Billboards for Little America, a place Jenn said she wanted to visit as a kid:

Little America

I have a number of devices: my iPad showing diagnostic gauges (more on this in the future), my Mac showing the map of our route so I can provide info about stopping places, and the tire pressure monitor; not pictured, my iPhone with the navigation directions:

Devices

A lake:

Lake

The exit to Heber City:

Heber City exit

Road works:

Road works

Interesting buildings in Heber City:

Heber City

Heber City

Heber City

Heber City

Our destination:

Destination

Arrival area (with another Tiffin):

Arrival area

Arrival area

Tiffin rally: Tiffin models

At the Tiffin rally they had a bunch of new and used Tiffin models to tour and buy (of course). We enjoyed exploring them, though as usual came to the conclusion that other than newer years of our current model, there is no other RV we’d rather have.

But if we were to eventually go back to a sticks-and-bricks (i.e. a house), we might be interested in a class C like the Wayfarer for a vacation RV. Or maybe even a class B van for weekend trips.

Wayfarer class C:

Wayfairer

Wayfairer

Wayfairer

Cahaba class B:

Van

Van

Midas class B+:

Midas

Midas

Midas

Midas

Wayfarer class C:

Wayfairer

Wayfairer

Wayfairer

Midas

Ambition toy hauler fifth wheel:

Ambition

Ambition

Ambition

Ambition

Ambition

Beacon fifth wheel:

Beacon

Beacon

Beacon

Beacon

Vilano fifth wheel:

Vilano

Vilano

Vilano

Vilano

Vilano

Allegro Bay super C:

Allegro Bay

Allegro Bay

Allegro Bay

Allegro Bay

Allegro Bus class A:

Allegro Bus

Allegro Bus

Allegro Bus

Tiffin rally: campground

We attended the 50th anniversary Tiffin rally at the Sweetwater Events Center in Rock Springs, Wyoming. This post is about the campground part of the rally.

Dates:

  • Check in: 2022-06-13
  • Check out: 2022-06-18
  • 5 nights

Weather:

  • Mixed sunny and rainy
  • High temps ranging between 70-90°F, lows around 38-60°F
  • Some afternoon wind

Noise:

  • No road noise or train noise
  • Negligible neighbor noise

Site:

  • Back in, gravel
  • Needed to disconnect toad; parked in front of coach
  • Not very level
  • Small site: about 45 feet long by about 18 feet wide
  • Full hookups (unusual for a rally):
    • 50 amp power behind the site
    • 50 PSI water; behind the site
    • Acceptable sewer connection, in the corner of the site (2 10 foot hoses used)
  • No picnic table etc

Internet:

  • Not noted

Amenities:

  • Garbage pickup every other day

Here’s the review Jenn wrote on Campground Reviews:

Great place for attending a rally

We’ve been to several rallies this year, and this was by far the best location. Full hookups with 50A electrical at every site?! Insanely wonderful. The sites (or stalls, really) are a bit close together but no more than any other rally-style parking we’ve seen. The whole place is graveled, which is nice, but they really need to grade it. Parts of the road were so thick that rigs were scraping their mudflaps on the way out, and other parts were so thin it went down to the dirt. But still. Full hookups at a rally! Amazing! There was a nice big area for unhooking the tow vehicle when we arrived. All the event center buildings and common areas were nicely maintained and convenient to get to. The dog park looked pretty awesome, too. We camped at Sweetwater Events Complex – RV Park in a Motorhome.

 Our site:

Our site

Our site

Our site

Our site

Power hookup:

Power

Power

Water hookup:

Water

Sewer hookup:

Sewer

Our truck and coach:

Truck and coach

One of the benefits of attending the rally was Tiffin techs stopping by to fix some minor issues. In our case, they helped with a drifting mirror, and gave advice on a window latch and ceiling fan:

Tiffin techs

We also got our coach cleaned; here’s the dirty mirror beforehand:

Dirty mirror

Dirty coach:

Dirty coach

Cleaners:

Cleaners

Cleaners

Cleaners

Clean mirror:

Clean mirror

Clean coach:

Clean coach

Of course, it rained a few days later, and it was no longer clean. Money well spent!

A couple more pics of our coach:

Our coach

Our coach

Other Tiffins:

Other Tiffins

Other Tiffins

Other Tiffins

Other Tiffins

Other Tiffins

Other Tiffins

A nice pond behind the campground:

Pond

Pond

Aerial views (not taken by me):

Aerial view

Aerial view

Aerial view

Aerial view

Aerial view

Aerial view

Aerial view

An arrow pointing to our coach:

Our site

Aerial view

Aerial view

Our coach was the one with the open door in the foreground, near the left (to the right of the white one):

Our coach

Travel from Vernal, UT to Rock Springs, WY

We drove our coach 111 miles, about 2 hours, from Vernal, Utah to Rock Springs, Wyoming for the 50th anniversary Tiffin rally in June.

The map route, heading north:

Map route to rally

A view while heading downhill:

View

And uphill:

Highway

Big downhill:

8% downgrade

Lake

A bridge:

Bridge

Bridge

After the bridge we drove over the top of a dam:

Dam

Dam

Dam

Dam

Dam

Dam

Dam

A satellite view of the entire route: 

Route

The early portion had some switchbacks, which aren’t the most fun in a 40-foot coach (or 60 feet with the truck):

Route portion 1

The bridge and dam portion:

Route portion 2

A closer view of the Flaming Gorge dam:

Route portion 3

Onward:

Highway

An interesting ridge:

Hill

Highway

Paladin sitting on the back of my chair:

Paladin and David

We really liked the look of this area:

Highway

Snow barriers:

Snow barriers

Highway

Highway

Arriving at the Tiffin rally:

Tiffin rally

Tiffin rally

We unhooked the truck, and I drove it following our coach to the campground:

Tiffin rally

Tiffin rally

Dusty:

Tiffin rally

Tiffin rally

Getting parked in our site:

Tiffin rally

Tiffin rally

More from the rally tomorrow.

Window latch repair

The window next to the passenger seat in our coach got stuck, as the left-side latch pin stopped working. So I ordered a replacement latch for it. Here’s the window:

Window

The first step in replacing it was to remove the handle, attached by a couple of screws underneath:

Handle

This is the latch knob exposed underneath:

Latch

Removing the plastic cover (that just snaps off), you can see latch pins that hold the window closed and in various open positions on either side of the window; they are connected to the knob by a lightweight bit of plastic:

Latches

A closer look at the left latch pin:

Latch

Closer still, you can see the broken connection; that tiny bit of plastic coming out of the latch should be connected to the slightly wider bit of plastic leading to the knob:

Broken connection

I bought a couple of replacement latch pins from Tiffin (so I’d have a spare in case another window latch breaks in the future):

Replacement latches

I removed the broken latch:

Removed latch

A new one on top, compared to the broken one on bottom:

Latches

The replaced latch:

Replaced latch

Both latch pins and the knob:

Latches

I then replaced the cover and handle, and all finished:

Finished