Entry steps stuck

Our entry steps have been dodgy for a while, making horrible noises when extending and retracting, and sometimes not fully retracting until they are nudged. I tried cleaning the tracks and lubricating several times, and even got a couple of techs to look at it, without improvement.

Recently, it’s been getting worse, where it sometimes wouldn’t move at all until I tapped the motor with a hammer (a recommended workaround). So it was clearly on its last legs.

When departing our home base, it did this again. I had bought a replacement motor, but it was too awkward for me to get to it in order to replace it, due to a cover plate partly over the motor. We had a service appointment coming up, so I figured I’d get them to replace it for me. I managed to get the steps to retract by tapping the motor, and rather than risk them getting stuck out again, I disconnected the motor, and secured the steps in place with a ratchet strap (probably not necessary, since the motor was still engaged with the step gearbox, but better safe than sorry).

Here’s the step motor:

Step motor

I disconnected the motor, a simple plug:

Disconnected motor

And added a ratchet strap to hold the step in, just in case:

Ratchet strap holding the step in, just in case

In order to get in and out in the meantime, I had also ordered some metal and wooden steps, which we used at our next campsite:

Temporary wooden steps

The good news is that the aforementioned service place, the Oregon Motorcoach Center in Eugene, Oregon, was later able to replace the step motor, and it is now working like new again. It’s certainly nice to have this issue resolved.

Back from New Zealand

Speaking of home, a real-time update: we are back in the US from our trip to New Zealand. It was nice to see my family, and explore more of the country.

We took lots of photos during our trip, of course, so I plan to do blog posts about it. Probably one post for each day, since most days were traveling from one location to another, with lots of sightseeing along the way.

We still have a couple of months backlog of posts about our travels before the trip, plus the traditional yearly summary posts, so look for the NZ posts around the end of January.

Van on beachfront with lighthouse in background

Our Washington home

We stayed for a month at our official domicile, aka Mom’s house, in Shelton, Washington.

It was good to be home! An opportunity to catch up on dentists, doctors, optometrists, etc, and of course with family.

Dates:

Check in: 2025-09-04
Check out: 2025-10-04
30 nights

Weather:

Partly cloudy, rain
High temps ranging between 70-82°F, lows around 57-60°F
Wind gusts to 20 MPH in the area, though much less when sheltered amongst trees

Noise:

No road noise
No train noise
Occasional neighbor noise

Site:

Front in, concrete in front, gravel in back
Disconnected toad; parked next to coach
Fairly level; high in front; used hydraulic leveling

Utilities:

50 amp power, located on house in front of coach, used extension cord
40 PSI water from the house
No sewer hookup; used macerator and hose to dump into house septic system

Internet (in usage priority order):

Starlink: 80-230 Mbps down, 10-40 Mbps up, 30 ms ping
RoamLink: 13 Mbps down, 0.2 Mbps up, 160-215 ms ping (RoamLink uses whichever is best of AT&T, Verizon, and T-Mobile)
AT&T: 10 Mbps down, 0.5 Mbps up, 40 ms ping (I have AT&T on my iPhone)
House Wi-Fi: not used

Amenities:

House

Our coach parked in front of the house, with our Starlink dish on the flagpole, to peek over the trees:

Our coach at home

Using the macerator to dump our waste tanks (as previously documented):

Using the macerator to dump our waste tanks

The other end of that 200 feet of hose goes into septic tank:

Hose into septic tank

This time I kept the hose in place, with foam weather stripping sealing the gaps on either side of the hose; this let me just turn on the macerator and open the tank valves to dump, without having to go around to the septic tank to open it, insert the hose, then remove the hose and re-close it after each time:

Hose into septic tank

The RV electrical outlet box we added on the house last year had an issue, so we had it replaced with a better one, so were able to have 50 amp power:

Electrical box

Nice to have full hookups at home.

While there, we cooked some pizzas in my Ooni pizza oven, which had been stored in our shed:

Pizza oven

Pizza

I decided to take the pizza oven with us, as we’ll be staying in one place for even longer early next year.

It was good to be home!

Video

Video: Ephrata to Shelton, Washington motorhome travel timelapse

A timelapse of driving our RV, a Tiffin Allegro Bus motorhome, 250 miles from Ephrata to Shelton, Washington.

Travel from Ephrata to Shelton, Washington

We drove our coach about 250 miles, about four hours of driving, from Ephrata to Shelton, Washington.

Here’s a map showing our route, heading west (with the ultimate destination omitted for privacy):

Route

An interactive map, with potential stops pinned:

There was roadworks on the bridge over the Columbia River, with a 9-foot width restriction, so we considered avoiding that and taking a more scenic route, as follows, but it would have added 1.5 hours to the travel, and been more stressful with curvy highway roads, so we stuck with the above route instead of this alternative:

I-90 West and the aforementioned Vantage Bridge:

I-90 West Vantage Bridge

Narrow, but good enough for trucks, so good enough for us:

I-90 West Vantage Bridge

Thorp Fruit & Antique Mall:

Thorp Fruit & Antique Mall

Rest area:

Rest area

Wildlife bridge:

Wildlife bridge

Keechelus Lake:

Keechelus Lake

Snoqualmie Pass:

Snoqualmie Pass

Crossover intersection:

Crossover intersection

Joining I-5 South:

Joining I-5 South

Fuel stop:

Fuel stop

Tacoma Dome:

Tacoma Dome

Route 101 North:

Route 101 North

We previously took this exit, but it is more difficult getting through Shelton:

We previously took this exit, but it is more difficult

Instead we took this exit, which is much more straightforward:

Instead we took this exit, which is much more straightforward

Downtown Shelton:

Downtown Shelton

Starlink Mini mounted on our truck

We sometimes explore areas without cell service, as we travel around the US… plus we are exploring New Zealand in a van.

We really enjoy using Starlink with our coach, and wanted to bring a dish to NZ, but our gen 2 dish is rather bulky. We decided to get a Starlink Mini dish, which is much smaller, and has the router built in. It was small enough to fit in carry-on luggage for our NZ trip, and mounts on our truck and the NZ van via a magnetic mount, powered from a 12V outlet (aka cigarette lighter).

It isn’t needed all the time, so we can pause the dish when not needed. In fact, with Starlink’s current policies, they charge $5/month for Standby Mode, which has unlimited slow data (500 Kbps), so is still useful for occasional or minimal use.

Here’s the 12V power in our truck (the white USB dongle is a wireless CarPlay adapter):

12V power

The cable is routed out the rear window, which can still latch closed:

Cable out rear window

The cable is clipped to the roof, with a couple more clips on the edge to hold the cable when the dish is removed from the roof:

Cable and clips

The Starlink Mini dish is securely attached to the roof via a magnetic mount:

Starlink dish in magnetic mount

Handy!

Ephrata RV Park & Campground

We stayed at Ephrata RV Park & Campground in Ephrata, Washington. (Campground Reviews listing.)

Our last stop on our way home. Good to be back in Washington!

Dates:

Check in: 2025-09-03
Check out: 2025-09-04
1 night

Weather:

Sunny
High temp 100°F, low 68°F
Little wind, gusts to 10 MPH

Noise:

Some highway noise
Occasional train horn noise (including overnight)
Little neighbor noise

Site:

#P23, pull-through, gravel
Didn’t need to disconnect toad, and didn’t, since only one night
Somewhat level site; a little high in the front; used air leveling, since only one night
Gravel driveway about 60 feet long by 10 feet wide
10 feet to neighbors on both sides
Picnic table
Tall trees
Clean site
Elevation 1,240 feet, front facing SW

Utilities:

50 amp power, conveniently located
60 PSI water, conveniently located
Didn’t connect sewer until departure; good sewer connection, inconveniently located (2 10-foot pipes needed)

Internet (in usage priority order):

Starlink: 111-240 Mbps down, 9 Mbps up, 35 ms ping
RoamLink: 8-13 Mbps down, 1-3 Mbps up, 270 ms ping (RoamLink uses whichever is best of AT&T, Verizon, and T-Mobile)
AT&T: 3 Mbps down, 0.25 Mbps up, 85-235 ms ping (I have AT&T on my iPhone)
Campground Wi-Fi: not used

Amenities:

Garbage dumpsters
Pool

Our review on Campground Reviews:

Convenient stop off I-90

We stayed for one night on our way through Washington, and it was just fine for that. I don’t think I’d stay any longer, though, between the narrow site and the aroma of cow manure. The internal roads and sites are gravel, making it difficult to distinguish between the site and road edges, and if we were parked within the boundaries of our site. We camped at Ephrata RV Park & Campground in a Motorhome.

Campground map:

Map

An interactive map:

Our site:

Our site

Other sites:

Other sites

A tight site, but a fine place for a brief stay. We’d be happy to stay here again.

Video

Video: Missoula, Montana to Ephrata, Washington motorhome travel timelapse

A timelapse of driving our RV, a Tiffin Allegro Bus motorhome, 334 miles from Missoula, Montana to Ephrata, Washington.

Travel from Missoula, Montana to Ephrata, Washington

We drove our coach 334 miles, about six hours of driving, from Missoula, Montana to Ephrata, Washington.

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

Map

This map showing timezones, as we crossed from Mountain to Pacific time (west coast best coast), and the state borders between Montana (right), Idaho (middle), and Washington (left):

Timezones

An interactive map, with potential stops pinned:

Fuel stop:

Fuel stop

I-90 West:

I-90 West

Clark Fork River:

Clark Fork River

Curves ahead:

Curves ahead

Truck stop:

Truck stop

Roadworks:

Roadworks

Rest area closed due to roadworks:

Rest area closed due to roadworks

Trucker info:

Trucker info

Welcome to Idaho and Pacific Time Zone:

Welcome to Idaho and Pacific Time Zone

Roadworks:

Roadworks

Elevation 3,069 feet:

Elevation 3,069 feet

Rest area:

Rest area

Welcome to Washington:

Welcome to Washington

Spokane:

Spokane

Train:

Train

Rest area:

Rest area

Sprague Lake:

Sprague Lake

Train:

Train

Another closed rest area:

Another closed rest area

Exit to Quincy:

Exit to Quincy

Field planting sign:

Field planting sign

Arriving at our campground:

Arriving

And our site:

Our site

Jim & Mary’s RV Park

We stayed at Jim & Mary’s RV Park in Missoula, Montana. (Campground Reviews listing.)

This is our fourth stay here; our first time with a trailer on our Yellowstone trip, and in our coach the following year and the year after. It’s a convenient stop on our way home, and a very pretty park.

Dates:

Check in: 2025-09-01
Check out: 2025-09-02
2 nights

Weather:

Sunny
High temp 92°F, low 60-62°F
Little wind, gusts to 10 MPH

Noise:

Some road noise
Nearby train horn noise
No significant neighbor noise

Site:

#A2, pull-through, gravel
Didn’t need to disconnect toad, and didn’t, since only two nights
Somewhat unlevel site; high in the rear, though might have been more level if parked towards the back; used air leveling, since only two nights
Gravel driveway about 72 feet long by 15 feet wide
20 feet to neighbors on both sides
Picnic table
One big tree
Clean site

Utilities:

50 amp power, a little inconveniently located
60 PSI water, a little inconveniently located
Good sewer connection, a conveniently located (1.5 10-foot pipes needed)

Internet (in usage priority order):

Starlink: 56-118 Mbps down, , 50 ms ping
RoamLink: 6-7 Mbps down, 1 Mbps up, 200 ms ping (RoamLink uses whichever is best of AT&T, Verizon, and T-Mobile)
AT&T: 55-100 Mbps down, 1 Mbps up, 110 ms ping
Campground Wi-Fi: 10-14 Mbps down, 2-10 Mbps up, 13 ms ping

Amenities: