A timelapse of driving our RV, a Tiffin Allegro Bus motorhome, 114 miles from Kingman, Arizona to Las Vegas, Nevada.
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Travel from Kingman, Arizona to Las Vegas, Nevada
We drove our coach 114 miles, about two hours of driving, from Kingman, Arizona to Las Vegas, Nevada.
Here’s the map route, heading northwest:
An interactive map, with our stops marked:
I-40:
Interesting rocks:
Rough road:
Interesting rocks:
Lake Mead National Recreation Area:
6% downgrade:
Bridge:
Hoover Dam and Lake Mead:
Entering Nevada:
Lake Mead:
Artwork:
Las Vegas:
Our destination:
Kingman KOA Journey
We stayed at Kingman KOA Journey in Kingman, Arizona. (Campground Reviews listing.)
We were going to stay somewhere else, but changed our plans due to our NIRVC stay, so this was a last-minute reservation.
Dates:
- Check in: 2023-03-10
- Check out: 2023-03-13
- 3 nights
Weather:
- Mostly sunny
- High temps ranging between 64-66°F, lows around 41-49°F
- Wind gusts to 28 MPH
Noise:
- A little distant road noise, no train noise
Site:
- #96, pull-through, gravel
- Needed to disconnect toad; parked in front of coach
- A little unlevel
- Medium site: about 50 feet long by about 40 feet wide
- Concrete patio site with patio table & chairs, fire pit, grill
Utilities:
- 50 amp power, conveniently located
- 45 PSI water, conveniently located
- A little loose sewer connection, conveniently located (1 10-foot pipe needed); it had an underground leak that spilled onto the ground
Internet (in usage priority order):
- T-Mobile: 12-16 Mbps down, 14-19 Mbps up, 40 ms ping
- AT&T: 17-41 Mbps down, 12-23 Mbps up, 146 ms ping
- Verizon: 5 Mbps down, 4 Mbps up, 50 ms ping
- Starlink: not used
- Campground Wi-Fi: not used
Amenities:
- Garbage dumpsters
- Closed pool
- Mini-golf
Our review on Campground Reviews:
A good place to stop between Phoenix & Vegas
This was a last-minute reservation as we had to change our plans between Phoenix & Vegas. The KOA website is always straightforward and convenient. The staff were nice and helpful, including guiding us to our spot. We had a nice end patio spot with a view of the mountains. There’s a small bit of noise from the interstate, but not too bad. Roads inside the park were a little tight on some of the corners. We camped at Kingman KOA Journey in a Motorhome.
Tip for Other Campers: Convenient day trip to Grand Canyon West and the Sky Walk.
Interactive map:
RV park map:
Our site:
Patio:
The electrical pedestal was a bit strange, with the outlets on the side:
And the two 50 amp switches were not connected:
Sign:
Entrance:
Office:
Closed swimming pool:
Mini golf:
Playground:
When we arrived we had to wait for this RV and Jeep to untoad, as they didn’t make the turn after the entrance:
Other sites:
Mobile homes for 55+ long-term residents:
Mountain views:
Adding a bedside Spyder touch panel
Our 2017 Tiffin Allegro Bus 40SP was the first year where Tiffin was easing into touch panels in their coaches, using the Spyder multiplex wiring system. It came with a rather bad black-and-white panel, which I replaced with a much better color one; a huge improvement.
But when in bed, there are only buttons on Jenn’s side of the bed for some functions like lights. One of the things I’m jealous of newer years of our coach is they have more touch panels, including panels on both sides of the bed.
I had previously noticed that there is a Spyder connector below the bed, so I figured I could hook into that.
I resolved to add a panel on my side of the bed, using the same model of touch panel I used to upgrade our main one.
Here’s a look at the small window on my side of the bed (on which we always keep the shades closed), and the small bit of wall next to it:
The bed base, after removing the mattress (you can see the head tilted):
By positioning the bed appropriately, the wires under the bed can be accessed; the orange cable is a Spyder network cable, and the connector is visible right of center:
I ordered components from Spyder Controls Corp:
- The panel: KITTW1412 – 2017 5IN LCD UPGRADE KIT BUS PHTN (1 at $349.95)
- The G4 tap: 5015508 | 5016592 BBCKZK200 – BACKPLANE ASSY, DROP TAP, G4 COMMON, 4X4 POS 2MM MINI-CLAMP, , Z (1 at $37.44)
- A bunch of cable (more than needed; always good to have spare): 14618 BSPL74600 HARNESS ASSY, CUSTOM CABLE , 2 TWISTED PAIR, 24GA, RV-C DROP CABLE ($0.50 per foot)
- Some plug connectors: 5066157 CON824204 9787 – CONNECTOR, 4 POS 2MM, MINI CLAMP, BLUE, PLUG, 20-24AWG, C/E, IDC (4 needed at $5.32 each, but I got a spare just in case)
- A couple of socket connectors, though not needed for this project: 5066158 CON864204 9788 – CONNECTOR, 4 POS 2MM, MINI CLAMP, BLUE, SOCKET, 20-24AWG, C/E, IDC (none needed, $5.32 each)
Here are the components:
The G4 tap, connectors, and a stripped end of the cable:
Adding the plug connector is easy; you just insert the four wires into the holes on the connector (in the correct order; black, blue, white, red), then squeeze closed with pliers:
I made a short cable with plugs on either end to go from the existing socket under the bed to the G4 tap, so I didn’t need to replace the socket with a plug, and could restore the original connection later if desired:
Here’s the G4 tap in place under the bed, with the original plug and my patch plug inserted; later a third plug from the new panel was inserted:
My original concept was to pull the power outlet off the wall to access inside the wall, and run the Spyder cable down there, but that proved too difficult, so my backup plan was to go through the side of the window valance. So I drilled a hole in the side of the surface mount for the panel:
To get better access close to the wall, I used an angled drill adapter:
The hole in the window valance:
To hide the bright orange cable, I used a couple of cable covers that I had on hand:
The cable through the hole:
Paladin was surprised to discover a window here; he has never seen it before, since as I mentioned we keep those shades down:
The cable hidden inside the cable cover under the window and on the back wall (with the bed in its normal position, the cable on the wall is hidden):
A closer look at the cable cover below the window, secured by a loop of velcro attached to a self-adhesive velcro patch:
The cable cover on the wall:
Velcro loop and self-adhesive patch:
A plug on the cable:
The new panel mounted on the wall and operational:
This is a huge improvement; I can turn on and off all the lights, toggle the heated floors, see tank levels, and more, all from the comfort of bed. I mostly use it to turn off the lights at night, and turn on the heated floors when I wake up, so they are toasty when getting up. Such decadence!
Video: Surprise to Kingman, Arizona motorhome travel timelapse
A timelapse of driving our RV, a Tiffin Allegro Bus motorhome, 219 miles from Surprise, Arizona to Kingman, Arizona.
Travel from Surprise to Kingman, Arizona
We drove our coach 165 miles, about three hours of driving, from Surprise, Arizona to Kingman, Arizona.
Here’s the map route, heading northwest:
An interactive map, with our stops marked:
This route was rather bad in terms of potholes on the road; these were relatively minor examples:
So much so that some of our internet stuff fell down:
We had planned to stay at Horspitality RV Resort, but changed it due to our NIRVC visit:
A nearby horse event:
Back to saguaros:
Interesting rocks:
A roadside stop, basically a wide dirt area, where we made lunch in our coach:
More interesting rocks:
A river:
A truck had a tire blowout on their trailer, with bits of the tire on the road:
An interesting old Silver Streak trailer:
The rough road seemed to have shook our front driver-side slide slightly out; there was a little light coming in underneath. That’s not great:
Snowy mountains:
We filled up at a Petro truck stop:
Paladin stretching at the truck stop:
We filled about 76 gallons of diesel (half our tank capacity; we usually fill when it gets about halfway). The pump price was $376.66:
But that’s not what we actually paid, thanks to the Open Roads fuel discount program; we saved $92.82 on that fuel up, so “only” paid $293.77:
Our destination:
NIRVC Phoenix service to fix DEF head failure and more
When we arrived at the Las Cruces KOA, we got the Check Engine and Malfunction Indicator Lights on our dash, and the three error codes that indicated the dreaded DEF head failure issue — SPN 3364 FMI 9, SPN 1761 FMI 9, and SPN 3031 FMI 9:
We tried to reset the errors with the BlueFire adapter, which worked… but at the end of the next drive, the errors came back. So we knew we had to get the DEF head replaced. The DEF head is a component of the Diesel Exhaust Fluid system, that measures the level and temperature of the DEF tank. But coaches built around 2017, as ours was, had a part with a design flaw, causing it to fail for many coaches. It was pretty much a matter of time before ours failed, so I got a DEF head simulator as insurance, and we never let the DEF get below halfway, to help reduce the chance of the issue occurring. But our time came regardless.
We could have taken our coach to a Cummins service shop, but they operate on a first-come-first-served basis, so we’d likely have to wait a few days. Not convenient when we live full-time in our coach. But fortunately we were a few hours south of Phoenix, Arizona, where National Indoor RV Centers (NIRVC) has a facility. A place we were familiar with, having had our coach serviced there before.
So I contacted that NIRVC, and asked if they could get the replacement DEF head from Tiffin, and fit us in to replace it. They were able to do so. We were super-impressed with their service. They worked with Tiffin to get the part overnighted, and Tiffin covered the cost of the part and labor. When we arrived, the Service Manager (Andrew Pringle) greeted me and came out to help us get parked in a campsite.
We also got them to do a few other tweaks while we were there. One was I noticed this pump/compressor/thingy that’s part of the air leveling system had come off its brackets, and was vibrating significantly when used (we pretty much never use air leveling, but tried it when arriving at NIRVC; great time to find that!):
The brackets were broken, so the tech drilled out and replaced the brackets to get it re-mounted.
We also got them to look for a rattling noise elsewhere in the generator compartment, which they partially fixed with some foam padding. And we got them to add a cover over the ceiling vent in our rear bathroom; something we wanted to do at the recent NIRVC service in Dallas, but the part was out-of-stock there.
Not bad for a day’s work at short notice!
We had been scheduled to stay in Tombstone for seven days, but we left early to go to NIRVC, arriving in the afternoon, and staying overnight at NIRVC, so they could have the full next day to do their work. We chose to stay there that night too, before moving on.
Here are my usual campsite stats; not a typical campsite, but great that NIRVC offers the ability to stay overnight, even with an electrical hookup:
Dates:
- Check in: 2023-03-08
- Check out: 2023-03-10
- 2 nights
Weather:
- Mostly sunny
- High temps ranging between 75°F, lows around 42-44°F
- Negligible wind
Noise:
- Some road noise, no train noise
- Jets flying over from Luke Air Force Base
Site:
- #4, back in, gravel
- Needed to disconnect toad; parked beside coach
- Fairly level
- Medium site: about 70 feet long by about 25 feet wide
Utilities:
- 50 amp power, conveniently located
- No water
- No sewer (dump station available)
Internet (in usage priority order):
- T-Mobile: 62-75 Mbps down, 30 Mbps up, 80 ms ping
- AT&T: 33-49 Mbps down, 12 Mbps up, 70 ms ping
- Verizon: 47-70 Mbps down, 20-41 Mbps up, 60 ms ping
- Starlink: not used
- Campground Wi-Fi: none
Amenities:
- RV repair
Interactive map; the campsites are in the northeast corner of the grounds:
Our site (with the generator compartment open):
Electrical hookup:
Looking past our site to the front of the NIRVC building:
We sat in the waiting room for a few hours:
Kitchen:
The waiting room has windows overlooking the massive indoor RV storage facility:
Looking across the storage area, you can see the roof of our coach by the leftmost door:
We were very happy with their service, glad that they could fit us in, and solve our DEF head issue plus the other improvements. We highly recommend NIRVC for RV service.
Video: Tombstone to Surprise, Arizona motorhome travel timelapse
A timelapse of driving our RV, a Tiffin Allegro Bus motorhome, 219 miles from Tombstone, Arizona to Surprise, Arizona, to visit NIRVC.
Travel from Tombstone to Surprise, Arizona
We drove our coach 219 miles, about four hours of driving, from Tombstone, Arizona to Surprise, Arizona, to visit NIRVC there.
Here’s the map route, heading northwest:
An interactive map, with our stops marked:
There wasn’t room to “toad up” (connect our truck to our coach) at our site, so we drove separately to an open area by the entrance of the RV park:
Toading up:
An animated GIF of the brake controller operating; an air hose connected to the air brakes of our coach pushes the brake pedal in our truck for proportional braking:
On our way, with distant mountains:
A multi-vehicle accident at an immigration inspection station, caused by a car-jacking a few hours earlier:
Four visible crunched vehicles (apparently there was a fifth):
Hey, fellow Tiffin motorhome:
Overpass art:
We parked at a truck stop for lunch:
Jenn’s French dip lunch:
My BLT lunch:
Passing through Tucson:
Picacho Peak:
Rooster Cogburn Ostrich Ranch below Picacho Peak:
A rest area stop:
Phoenix Sky Harbor airport:
Tunnel:
Arriving at NIRVC:
Heading to a campsite:
Water filter bag
We have a three-stage external water filter to ensure clean water for our coach, but it was getting a little scuffed up. So I decided to get a custom-fit bag to protect it:
The bag includes a convenient handle, making it easier to move, and ports for the connections:
Much nicer:
