RV

Posts featuring the coach.

RV improvements

I’ve previously posted about the modifications we’ve done to our 2017 Tiffin Allegro Bus 40SP motorhome (including annual summaries), but I thought it’d be interesting to list all of the improvements (as opposed to repairs) in one place, with links to the corresponding blog posts (where available):

That’s a lot of improvements!

Tiffin motorhome

Travel from Long Beach to Northridge, California

We drove our coach just 46 miles, about an hour of driving across LA, from Long Beach to Northridge, California, to store it for our NZ trip.

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

Route map

An interactive map, with the drive to airport parking included:

Heading out of the RV park:

Heading out of the RV park

Heading to I-710:

Heading to I-710

The Los Angeles River, full of water this close to the coast (it’s usually mostly dry farther up):

Los Angeles River

Joining I-405 North:

Joining I-405 North

The Goodyear blimp coming in for a landing:

The Goodyear blimp coming in for a landing

The Goodyear blimp coming in for a landing

Downhill:

Downhill

Exit to Tampa Ave:

Exit to Tampa Ave

Arriving at Walnut RV Park:

Arriving at Walnut RV Park

Where we stored our coach for our NZ trip:

Our coach stored for our NZ trip

Our coach stored for our NZ trip

Magne Shades on windows, shades down, tire covers on, slides in, steps in, jacks up; fridge empty, off, and open; washer, dryer, and dishwasher open; inverter off, chassis and house batteries disengaged. All asleep for a month.

Stay tuned for posts about our New Zealand trip, starting next week!

RV maintenance

I thought it might be helpful for other RV owners to write up a list of RV maintenance tasks, grouped by frequency. Of course, these are for our 2017 Tiffin Allegro Bus 40SP motorhome; other RVs may have different requirements, and may not have some features like water softener, dishwasher, etc. But most items would apply to any RV. If I missed anything, or you have any corrections or other comments, please let me know!

  • Weekly:
  • Monthly:
    • Run the generator under load (e.g. with ACs running) for an hour; good for a travel day.
    • Empty air tank drain valves.
    • Clean dishwasher rim and filter.
    • Spray electrical cord contacts with DeoxIT.
    • Wash coach exterior with Wash Wax All or similar.
  • 3-Monthly:
    • Backflush water softener.
    • Replace house and fridge water filters; I have 3-stage filters plus the built-in one and fridge filter.
    • Lubricate window slides with Plexus.
    • Lubricate entry door hinges with silicone lube.
    • Invert fire extinguisher and shake to loosen dry chemicals.
    • Remove shower drain cover and in sink to remove hair.
    • Check Aqua-Hot antifreeze level; should be at HOT level just after shutting off; top up if needed.
  • 6-Monthly:
    • Replace ceiling AC filters (two different types).
    • Sanitize fresh water tank.
    • Vacuum dust under fridge; a couple of screws and clips to remove panel under front of fridge.
    • Clean dryer vent from outside.
    • Polish wheel rims with Purple Polish.
    • Apply 303 Protectant to tires.
  • Yearly:
    • Replace dash AC filter. Accessed via generator compartment on rear wall.
    • Make sure emergency exit in bedroom opens easily.
    • Get waste tanks professionally cleaned.
    • Get roof seams and joints inspected at service center.
    • Get engine, generator, chassis lube, slide-outs, and Aqua-Hot serviced.

I hope this is helpful, Let me know of any updates!

303

Golden Shore RV Resort

We stayed at Golden Shore RV Resort in Long Beach, California. (Campground Reviews listing.)

A fairly convenient location in the greater Los Angeles metro area.

Dates:

  • Check in: 2025-11-01
  • Check out: 2025-11-06
  • 5 nights

Weather:

  • Mostly sunny
  • High temps 70-73°F, lows 55-57°F
  • Little wind, gusts to 13 MPH

Noise:

  • Nearby road noise
  • No train horn noise
  • Some neighbor noise
  • Nearish container terminal noise

Site:

  • #68, back-in, sand
  • Needed to disconnect toad, parked beside coach
  • Level site; used hydraulic leveling
  • Sand driveway about 42 feet long by 22 feet wide
  • 9 feet to neighbors on both sides
  • Trees between sites
  • Picnic table
  • A few tall trees
  • Clean site
  • Elevation 10 feet, front facing SW

Utilities:

  • 50 amp power, very conveniently located
  • 60 PSI water, very conveniently located
  • Loose sewer connection, very conveniently located (1 10-foot pipes needed)

Internet (in usage priority order):

  • Starlink: 65-110 Mbps down, 15-25 Mbps up, 25-45 ms ping
  • RoamLink: 30-40 Mbps down, 20-25 Mbps up, 100 ms ping (RoamLink uses whichever is best of AT&T, Verizon, and T-Mobile)
  • AT&T: 350-315 Mbps down, 26 Mbps up, 22 ms ping (I have AT&T on my iPhone)
  • Campground Wi-Fi: not used

Amenities:

  • Garbage dumpsters
  • Pool
  • Package delivery to a table outside the office

Campground map:

Map

An interactive map:

Our site:

Our site

Our site

Our site

Our site

Green space behind our site:

Our site

Our site

We had originally booked this site, near the pool, but they moved us to a different site (as above) due to a fire around the bathrooms. We wouldn’t have enjoyed this site anyway, being closer to the road, and less private:

Other sites

Other sites:

Other sites

Other sites

Other sites

Other sites

Other sites

Other sites

Pool:

Pool

Office:

Office

Entrance gate:

Entrance gate

Nearby water:

Nearby water

The nearby Long Beach container terminal had a lot of noise and light:

Long Beach container terminal

Not the quietest park, but not bad for in the LA / Long Beach area. We’d stay here again.

Travel from Bakersfield to Long Beach, California

We drove our coach 129 miles, about three hours of driving, from Bakersfield to Long Beach, California.

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

Route map

An interactive map, with potential stops pinned:

Leaving the KOA:

Leaving the KOA

Leaving the KOA

Always nice to see a Dutch Bros:

Dutch Bros

CA-99 freeway entrance:

CA-99 freeway entrance

Very California: bare hills, big pipes, grapes, and a pump jack:

Very California: hills, pipes, grapes, pump jack

Truck bypass:

Truck bypass

The Petro was a fuel stop option, but we didn’t need it:

The Petro was a fuel stop option, but we didn't need it

I’m sure there are hills up there somewhere:

I'm sure there's hills up there somewhere

Ah, there they are:

Ah, there they are

Rest area:

Rest area

Watch out birbs!

Watch out burbs!

A dump station at the rest area:

A dump station at the rest area

Tejon Pass, elevation 4144 feet:

Tejon Pass, elevation 4144 feet

Lake Hughes:

Lake Hughes

Downhill:

Downhill

Truck bypass:

Truck bypass

Exit to Santa Monica:

Exit to Santa Monica

Playing Weezer’s Beverly Hills when approaching Beverly Hills:

Playing Weezer's Beverly Hills when approaching Beverly Hills

Playing Everclear’s Santa Monica in Santa Monica’s unclear traffic:

Playing Everclear's Santa Monica in Santa Monica

Exit to Long Beach:

Exit to Long Beach

Los Angeles River, actually with water in it near the coast:

Los Angeles River, actually with water in near the coast

Long Beach:

Long Beach

Arriving at Golden Shore RV Resort:

Arriving at Golden Shore RV Resort

Driving to our site:

Driving to our site

Our site:

Our site

Magnum inverter reset

Our coach has an inverter, which is a device to convert battery power into 110 volt electricity. It also manages charging the battery from the campground pedestal power.

One day the Magnum inverter panel in our coach reported an “Unknown Fault”:

Unknown Fault on the Magnum inverter panel

The fault and voltage display kept changing, with garbage values:

Unknown Fault on the Magnum inverter panel

Time to apply an old computer maxim: “when in doubt, reboot.” I looked up the instructions on how to reboot the inverter, in its manual under “Performing an Inverter Reset”:

Performing an Inverter Reset

Here’s the Magnum inverter unit in the basement; in our 2017 Tiffin Allegro Bus 40SP motorhome it is mounted on the ceiling of the frontmost main storage compartment, on the driver side:

Magnum inverter unit

So I just needed to turn off the power at the pedestal, then hold down the button (below the green light in that photo) for 15 seconds. That did the trick.

Bakersfield KOA Journey

We stayed at Bakersfield KOA Journey in Bakersfield, California. (Campground Reviews listing.)

We do like the convenience of KOAs for one-night stops. This was another fairly fancy one, and we appreciated the on-site restaurant.

Dates:

  • Check in: 2025-10-31
  • Check out: 2025-11-01
  • 1 night

Weather:

  • Sunny
  • High temp 78°F, low 52°F
  • Negligible wind, gusts to 6 MPH

Noise:

  • Nearby road noise and sirens
  • Distant train horn noise
  • Some neighbor noise

Site:

  • #136, pull-through, gravel
  • Didn’t need to disconnect toad, and didn’t, since only one night
  • Used air leveling, since only one night
  • Gravel driveway about 105 feet long by 16 feet wide
  • 12 feet to neighbors on both sides
  • Picnic table
  • Tall trees, too close to the couch
  • Clean site
  • Elevation 360 feet, front facing NE

Utilities:

  • 50 amp power, a little inconveniently located near the front of the site
  • Didn’t hook up water or sewer

Internet (in usage priority order):

  • Starlink: 40-60 Mbps down, 15 Mbps up, 25 ms ping
  • RoamLink: 7 Mbps down, 7 Mbps up, 120 ms ping (RoamLink uses whichever is best of AT&T, Verizon, and T-Mobile)
  • AT&T: 270-330 Mbps down, 8-16 Mbps up, 70-130 ms ping (I have AT&T on my iPhone)
  • Campground Wi-Fi: not used

Amenities:

  • Garbage dumpsters
  • Pool
  • Onsite restaurant

Campground map:

Map

An interactive map:

Our site:

Our site

Our site

Our site

Our site

A tree is a little too friendly; really should be trimmed more:

Tree

Tree

We always enjoy when a RV park has an onsite restaurant; this one has the Crest Bar & Grill:

Crest Bar & Grill

Menu:

Menu

Menu

Dinner

Sites are a bit tight, and very few long enough for us to not have to untoad, but we’d be happy to stay here again.