Upgraded TST TPMS display

One of the first accessories I purchased for our coach was a tire pressure monitoring system (TPMS).

Recently an RV technology site called TechnoRV announced an upgraded display unit, that is compatible with the older system. The new one has a larger display, and uses a touchscreen instead of buttons next to the display.

Here’s the old unit:

Old unit

And the new unit:

New unit

I also got a weighted base, that attaches magnetically to the unit:

Base and unit

The unit on the base:

Unit on base

The new unit’s menu:

New unit

The old and new units next to each over; you can see how much larger and more clear the new unit is:

Old and new units

Wash Wax All waterless cleaner

Like any vehicle, a motorhome can get dirty over time from road grime, dust, rain, etc. In the past year or so of owning our coach, we have paid to get it professionally cleaned by a team of people three times — at the Xscapers Bash in January 2022, at NIRVC in March, and at the Tiffin Rally in July. In between those times (and often within days of paying hundreds for a wash & wax), it has been somewhat dirty, which didn’t make us entirely happy.

It’s tricky to get a large RV cleaned — one can pay a lot of money to get a team to come to it and clean it onsite, or one can take it to a truck wash (and worry that they might ruin the paint and/or protective coat), or wash by hand in a campground. But most campgrounds don’t allow washing of RVs, due to the massive amount of water needed.

Also, while carwashes for our truck are easier to find, they can sometimes be tricky, too, when in out-of-the-way places. With our fondness of exploring dirt roads, it can be a mud-ball for a while, too.

I’ve heard for a while of another option, that doesn’t use water, so can be done in any campsite. That system is called Wash Wax All from Aero Cosmetics, and I finally purchased their kit.

It really does work very well; it’s amazing how much better it looks with relatively little effort — a few hours to clean the coach and truck. So from now on, we’ll keep our coach and truck much more clean.

The kit comes in a couple of boxes, including a long box for the mop handle:

Wash Wax Mop Kit

The Wash Wax All kit comes with a bag of goodies, including the wash liquid, spray bottle, heavy-duty cleaner, mop pole and double-sided head, scrub brush, and multiple microfiber mop pads and microfiber towels:

Wash Wax All kit

The mop is a clever design, with a heavy-duty extendable pole and a double-sided head that angles flexibly. The system works by spraying the liquid onto one side of the mop, wiping it onto a small section of the coach (a few feet at a time), then flipping the mop over and wiping it off before it dries — no water needed:

Mop

For lower areas like below the slides, and fiddly areas, I spray directly on, and use two microfiber towels to wipe on and off:

Spray

The wet towel gets pretty dirty, but they can be easily tossed in the washing machine and dryer (without fabric softener) to restore them to like new:

Microfiber towels

The mop pole is long enough to reach all the way to the top of our coach, but collapses to a compact length:

Clean RV

We also used Wash Wax All on our truck:

Truck

Midway cleaning the hood:

Truck

The mop is useful for cleaning the roof, and larger areas:

Truck

Both the coach and truck look so much nicer when clean! I just wish I had purchased the kit sooner. Highly recommended!

(And no, they didn’t sponsor me; I don’t have any sponsorships for this blog. Maybe one day…?)

Power Watchdog dimmer shade

I mentioned in my review of the Marathon Motel & RV Park that the Power Watchdog was too bright for a dark sky park:

Power Watchdog

Here’s a nighttime pic from an earlier campground:

At night

As a temporary measure, I covered it with a bit of cardboard:

Power Watchdog

But I also ordered a better solution — a self-adhesive dimmer shade from the manufacturer:

Dimmer shade

Here it is with the shade added:

Power Watchdog with shade

At night, the light is still visible, but much less bright (this is a night mode pic, so looks brighter than in person):

Power Watchdog at night

A non-night-mode pic:

Power Watchdog at night

Marathon, Texas

We really liked the small town of Marathon in Texas (Wikipedia page). It has a population of just about 400, and was established in 1882.

We had lunch at the V6 Coffee Bar:

V6 Coffee Bar

Lunch

The one grocery store in town, The French Grocer, is pretty tiny and expensive, but had the essentials:

The French Grocer

With cute little grocery carts, too:

The French Grocer

They also had a wide selection of ciders; we bought four Texas Keeper bottles:

Ciders

More buildings around town:

Buildings

A train track goes through the town:

Train

The post office:

Post office

A painted sign next to the post office:

Sign

Foot bridge:

Foot bridge

Rail tracks:

Rail tracks

Another foot bridge:

Foot bridge

More buildings:

Building

Shops

Building

Texas etched in footpath:

Texas etched in footpath

Texas flag etched in footpath

Another day, we had dinner at Brick Vault Brewery & Barbecue:

Brick Vault Brewery & Barbecue

Outside seating:

Outside seating

Inside:

Inside

Menu:

Bar:

Bar

The building used to be a Gulf gas station, established in 1939:

Gulf station established 1939

A view outside:

Door

Our dinners, all very tasty:

Dinner

And desserts, also tasty:

Dessert

Outside:

Outside

Fire station:

Fire station

Windmill:

Windmill

Church:

Church

Historic house:

Historic house

Shops:

Shops

The Gage Hotel is the main feature of the town, in fact they own several other businesses around town:

Gage Hotel

On the road next to the RV park, an amusing UFO sign:

UFO sign

On our last day, we stopped by Big Bend Pizza:

Big Bend Pizza

A cute town. We’d be happy to visit again.

Santa Fe

We had some chores to do, so went to Santa Fe, New Mexico, and explored a little of the area.

The route from Taos took us along the Rio Grande River gorge:

Rio Grande River

Rio Grande gorge

A hot air balloonist, no doubt on their way to Albuquerque:

Balloonist

We really enjoyed how the adobe buildings blend into the landscaping:

Adobe buildings

Santa Fe sign:

Santa Fe sign

After our chores, we went to a Mexican restaurant for lunch (with a red hue due to an outdoor canopy):

Mexican food

Jenn

Cute bill folio:

Cute bill folio

We went to the Georgia O’Keeffe Museum, though had neglected to make a reservation, so couldn’t get in:

Georgia O'Keeffe Museum

We then headed to the Chuck Jones gallery:

Chuck Jones

But they were closed, probably because they were at the Albuquerque balloon fiesta:

Chuck Jones gallery

Some interesting buildings:

Building

Santa Fe Plaza:

Plaza

An interesting overpass:

Interesting overpass

We took a scenic drive back to Taos:

Scenic drive

Travel from Wheatland, Wyoming to Longmont, Colorado

We drove our coach 155 miles, about 2 hour of driving, from Wheatland, Wyoming to Longmont, Colorado, with a stop to repair a leaking tire.

The map route, heading south:

Map route

Heading south on I-25:

I-25

Green hills and cell towers (I appreciate the good cell reception down the freeway):

Green hills

Domes:

Domes

Interesting rocks:

Interesting rocks

Man, horse, dog artwork on a hill:

Man, horse, dog artwork

Mowing ahead:

Mowing ahead

Rain:

Rain

Expect fog… yep indeed:

Expect fog

We stopped at Little America of Cheyenne:

Little America

To visit Rocky Mountain Truck Center, to diagnose and repair a slowly leaking tire on our coach:

Rocky Mountain Truck Center

While they looked at it, we headed up to the Little America resort for lunch, passing a Sinclair Oil dinosaur dressed as a cowboy:

Sinclair cowboy dinosaur

Little America buffet restaurant:

Little America restaurant

We cut lunch a bit short, as they needed us to jack up our coach, using the leveling jacks. We raised only the driver side, to keep the passenger side wheels on the ground — raising all of the rear wheels off the ground is dangerous, as that’s the parking brake:

Jacked up coach

They found and marked the location of a nail in the tire, and worked on removing the tire:

Removing tire

I didn’t get a close-up picture of the nail in the tire, but here’s a zoomed crop:

Nail in tire

The inner tire of the dual pair, and the rear jack:

Inner tire

Paladin sitting on the driver seat:

Paladin

The repaired tire re-installed:

Repaired tire

After getting that repaired ($70 total), we fueled up at the slowest truck stop ever. Usually truck stops have high-speed pumps, but this one was not. It was taking so long, we decided to fuel from both sides for the first time ever:

Fueling both sides

The main pump, as usual:

Fueling both sides

The secondary pump, on the passenger side; it is activated by the main pump:

Fueling both sides

Continuing south, some hilltop buffalo artwork:

Buffalo artwork

Budweiser factory:

Budweiser factory

Paladin in the steps:

Paladin

Roadworks:

Roadworks

A fascinating concrete-laying machine (concrete freeways are the worst):

Roadworks

Our destination, St Vrain State Park:

St Vrain State Park

Entrance station:

St Vrain State Park

Due to the tire excursion, we arrived later than usual, so the entrance station was closed. We used the “iron ranger” (as the rangers call it) to purchase a couple of Colorado state park annual passes (one for the coach, one for the truck):

Iron ranger

Though when we talked with the ranger the next day to exchange the temporary ones, it turned out that we should have bought one, with a half-price add-on for the second vehicle. So we did that, and submitted a form for a refund for the second one. Oops. (We decided to get annual passes as we’re staying just enough days at Colorado state parks to offset the cost. Ironically, next year we don’t expect to visit Colorado at all. Still worthwhile, though.)

This is a rather nice park; stay tuned for more pics from our stay:

Entrance road and pond

Theater seating and cabinets

While at the FMCA rally in Tucson back in March, we placed an order with Dave & LJ’s RV Furniture (based in Woodland, Washington) for theater seating and a couple of cabinets, to replace the recliners we were using since we removed the original L-shaped and jackknife couches. We liked the recliners, but they were a bit more hassle on travel days, and when we eventually sell our coach, we wouldn’t want to include them, hence deciding to get more conventional seating.

Here’s the model couch they had on show:

Demo couch

Our recliners:

Recliners

To get them out the door, I needed to remove the bases (same as when I brought them into the coach):

Removed base

We kept them — we took them to our storage unit just before getting the new seating installed. One day we’ll use them again.

Paladin suspects something may be missing:

Paladin

Five months after ordering, we stopped by Dave & LJ’s in Woodland to get the new items installed:

Dave & LJ's

We had ordered two of the wide cabinets, but due to a mixup they only had one:

Wide cabinet

We could have had the other shipped, but decided to go with narrower ones, that were in stock; we figure that the extra gap on either side is handy for storing lap trays, shoes, and such.

They brought in the theater seating in mulitple pieces:

Couch components

Drilling a mounting hole:

Drilling mounting hole

One of two bolts through the underside of the slide-out:

Bolt through underside of slide-out

Paladin supervising:

Paladin supervising

The installed couch:

Installed couch and cabinets

Installing a cabinet:

Installing cabinet

Installing cabinets

With the slides in, still plenty of room to get past:

With slides in

The front feet lift off the floor, along with the slide floor:

Front feet off floor

Paladin approves:

Paladin approves

With slides in:

With slides in

And out:

Theater seating

The center of the couch can fold up, and includes a pop-up power center, with two USB-A and one USB-C power outlets, and a Qi wireless charger:

Power outlets

Plus there’s another USB outlet along with the controls; a button to bring everything down, a button to extend or retract the footrest, and another button to move the headrest forward and back:

Controls

The new seating is comfy.

Map and sticker art

To personalize our coach a bit more, we decided to replace a generic artwork in the kitchen with something a bit more meaningful to us.

Here’s the old artwork, after removing it from the wall:

Old artwork

The empty wall:

Empty wall

We got a wooden US map to feature in its place:

Wooden US map

The map comes in several pieces:

Map pieces

We also got a 24×36” wooden frame, an opaque white plexiglass sheet of the same size, and some foam boards to fill out the space behind it:

Frame with foam boards

I used Command-brand double-sided strips to help adhere it to the wall:

Frame with Command strips

I also used screws through the plexiglass to secure it to the wall; the screws were later hidden behind stickers (the PostIt notes mark the map placement):

Frame mounted

The wooden map is attached with double-sided adhesive strips:

Double-sided adhesive strips

And mounted to the plexiglass:

Map mounted

It has a nice 3D relief:

Wooden map

Hawaii:

Hawaii

Alaska:

Alaska

Some hummingbird decorations:

Hummingbirds

We added pins (that came with the map) on states we’ve visited:

Pins

Plus stickers around the map for some places we’ve been:

Stickers

The current state:

Over time, we will add more pins and stickers, to help commemorate our travels.

Hammock

Jenn won a prize to choose an item from Amazon, and opted for another useful addition for our travels, a foldable hammock.

It folds up fairly compactly in a carry bag:

Hammock bag

The hammock frame easily unfolds:

Hammock frame

The fabric is attached:

Hammock

Hammock frame

Pillow:

Pillow

Extendable poles:

Extendable poles

Support an optional shade:

Cover

The assembled hammock:

Assembled hammock

We probably won’t use it often, but it’ll be nice to have when wanted.

Anniversary of buying our motorhome

Today marks the one year anniversary of us purchasing our 2017 Tiffin Allegro Bus 40SP motorhome!

(The Allegro Bus brochure, if you’re interested in the stats and options.)

One year ago today, we drove four hours to Kennewick, Washington and met the private seller at a KOA campground, where we handed over the cashier check payment, signed the title transfer, and got the keys. We then stayed in the coach that night, marking the first night of our full-time RVing adventure.

To celebrate the occasion, I thought I’d re-publish the first pictures of the coach from a year ago. Many aspects have changed over the past 12 months, so it’s good to look back on where things started.

A couple of pictures of the coach exterior at the Kennewick KOA (the slide-out looks so naked without our stickers!):

2017 Tiffin Allegro Bus 40SP

My tour of the interior of the coach:

Here’s a floor plan (note that the living room layout is a bit different):

40SP floorplan

The entry door and steps (the exterior steps automatically slide out when the door is opened); welcome aboard:

Entry door and steps

In front of the passenger chair is a pull-out workstation surface:

Passenger workstation

Thusly:

Passenger workstation

The driver cockpit:

Driver cockpit

The living area:

Living area

The L-shaped couch and ottoman that came with the couch; we removed and stored it, and recently sold it:

Couch

Dining table (it can be pulled out to extend it a bit):

Dining table

On the right of the dining sideboard was a keyboard tray drawer, for a computer workstation; I thought I might work there, though I didn’t; I use a lap tray instead, and we actually removed this, to make room for bottles in the cupboard below:

Keyboard tray

Residential refrigerator and freezer:

Residential refrigerator

Pull-out pantry shelves:

Pull-out pantry shelves

The kitchen:

Kitchen

Pull-out counter:

Pull-out counter

Drawer dishwasher (made by NZ company Fisher & Paykel):

Drawer dishwasher

Dual sinks, with covers when more counter space is desired; we typically only use the left sink, with a draining rack over the right side:

Sinks

Induction cooktop:

Induction cooktop

Convection microwave, that can be used as a normal microwave or as a convection oven:

Convection microwave

Half bath; yes, this coach has two porcelain toilets:

Half bath

Bedroom:

Bedroom

Tiltable king bed (with way too many cushions; we’ve stored all of these):

Tiltable king bed

Bedroom TV and cabinets:

Bedroom TV and cabinets

Moving into the bathroom, the sink:

Bathroom sink

Washer and dryer:

Washer and dryer

Shower:

Shower

The above pictures were with the four slides out; when traveling down the road, the slides are retracted, which makes things much more cramped.

Here’s the living room with slides in; it was difficult to get past the couches, another reason why we removed them:

Living room with slides in

Dining and kitchen with slides in; not so bad. We were able to get to the fridge and half-bath pretty easily, once past the couches — great for rest stops:

Dining and kitchen with slides in

Bedroom with slides in; not very easy to get past the bed without climbing over it, but that’s fine:

Bedroom with slides in

I hope you enjoyed this flashback! Sometime I plan to do a similar tour with the current state. Stay tuned for that.

On to the next year of our full-time RVing adventure!

Sinclair Trails

The travels of David and Jennifer Sinclair, full-timing in their Tiffin Allegro Bus 40SP motorhome.

shopping

Upgraded TST TPMS display

Wash Wax All waterless cleaner

Power Watchdog dimmer shade

Marathon, Texas

Santa Fe

Travel from Wheatland, Wyoming to Longmont, Colorado

Theater seating and cabinets

Map and sticker art

Hammock

Anniversary of buying our motorhome