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!

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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.

Travel from Paicines to Bakersfield, California

Back to our regular posts….

We drove our coach 225 miles, about five hours of driving, from Paicines to Bakersfield, California.

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

Route

An interactive map, with potential stops pinned:

Didn’t see any of the wild pigs:

Didn't see any of the wild pigs

Narrow bridge in the campground:

Narrow bridge

Tres Pinos:

Tres Pinos

San Luis Reservoir:

San Luis Reservoir

San Luis Reservoir

Petro lunch stop:

Lunch stop

BK for lunch:

BK for lunch

Joining I-5 South:

Joining I-5 South

Closed rest area:

Closed rest area

Next one was open, though:

Next one was open, though

Classic BMWs:

Classic BMWs

Exit to Bakersfield:

Exit to Bakersfield

Bakersfield Auto Mall:

Bakersfield Auto Mall

Arriving at the KOA:

Arriving at KOA

KOA check in:

KOA check in

Guided to our site:

Guided to our site

2025 stickers

On the passenger-side slide-out, we have a large sticker with the Sinclair Trails logo, a map of the US showing the states we’re visited, a QR code for the website, and stickers with the SinclairTrails.com domain name and @SinclairTrails social handle:

Stickers on side of RV

The states sticker consists of separate stickers for each state, applied to a base sticker. Our rule is that we have to have done something in a state for it to count (e.g. camp, eat in a restaurant, or explore something, not just driving through). Once we have done something in a new state, we add its sticker. We’ve now visited all of the contiguous states, 48 out of 50; just Alaska and Hawaii to go:

State stickers

These stickers tend to fade fairly quickly; here’s what they looked like a year ago, for comparison:

States map

We may get new stickers that include Canada when we visit Alaska, since we’ll drive through part of Canada to get there.

On the driver-side slide-out of the coach, we have stickers for each of the National Parks we have visited, that being another of the goals in our travels. We visited 5 more parks in 2025 (plus revisited several), so have visited 52 of the 63 parks; just 11 left:

National Park stickers

Of course, we’ve also visited numerous National Monuments, National Historic Sites, and other classifications. With 433 units of various types in the National Park System, not to mention parks administered by states, forest services, etc, we had to cap the memorializing of them somewhere! National Parks are the goal; others are gravy.

However, inside our coach we have a framed board with a wooden map of the US, around which we add stickers and pins for any kind of attraction we visit (we get stickers if available small enough, but tend to get pins instead). It’s populated a bit more since 2024, 2023, and 2022, though still some space for future attractions:

Sticker and pin board

The wooden map has pins for states we’ve visited; the pins feature the state flags:

Sticker and pin board

Fun memorabilia.

2025 special posts

While most of the posts on this blog are about modifications, travel, campgrounds, and attractions, I sometimes post about other topics. This is a summary of those posts from 2025. (See also those from 2024, 2023, and 2022.) These posts have the special category (with earliest or latest posts at the top).

You can also see all of these summary posts together via the Special Summary tag, with the earliest posts at the top, or the latest posts at the top.

As with previous summaries, for each I include a link to the corresponding blog post, and a sample picture; see the post for details.

Completed visiting all contiguous states:

Jenn adding last state pin

Completed visiting all contiguous National Parks:

National Park stickers on slide of motorhome

Spending a month exploring New Zealand:

New Zealand route

After visiting all National Parks in the 48 contiguious states, which are our most and least favorites?

NPS tier list

Back from New Zealand:

Van on beachfront with lighthouse in background