travel

Freeways, highways, and other roads as we move the coach from one site to another. Plus cat pics.

Simplifying posts

I’ve decided to simplify my blog posts a bit. You may have noticed that I’m not following the schedule I used to use (Modification Mondays, Travel Tuesdays, etc); I’m now just posting each weekday.

Since the most useful and interesting posts (to certain audiences) are RV modifications and things we do, I will continue those posts much as I have been. The modifcation posts are useful for other Tiffin motorhome owners; I regularly link to them in Facebook groups to help others with similar issues. For other people, those posts are easy to skip. The exploring posts are more interesting to family and friends (and future us!), to see the interesting attractions we’ve experienced.

But travel and campground posts aren’t all that useful, and all the data recorded for campgrounds was a lot of work, so I’m going to merge those two, much as I did for the New Zealand series. The new format will be like the travel posts, with photos from the journey, but end with a few campground pictures, and omit all the data. So each post will document some interesting sights during our travel from one campground to the next, for anyone interested in that. They will continue to include maps with potential stops marked, which are useful for others traveling this route (including our future selves).

I will continue the travel timelapse videos, at least until after Alaska, since that will no doubt be very scenic. Those are a lot of work too, so I may discontinue them in the future, but we’ll see.

I know that the audience for this blog is very small; mostly just family and friends, and a few others who have seen the blog on Facebook on seen our motorhome on the road (via the QR code). In large part, it’s just a hobby travel diary for my own satisfaction. And that’s enough.

Velocity Truck Centers for engine air heater repair

As we were arriving in Phoenix, we got a Check Engine light on our dash. Never a welcome occurrence!

Error codes on dash

Looking in the BlueFire app, it showed more details of the codes; clearly a short of the engine intake air heater:

BlueFire faults page

Later in our stay, we started the engine again to see if the codes were still there. They were, so I contacted NIRVC to see if they could fix it. They referred me to Velocity Truck Centers, which is a Cummins dealer, and has an RV department.

Travel route, heading south then back north afterwards:

Travel route

Our appointment was for 7 AM; we considered arriving the day before, since they had a few full-hookup spots, but decided to just go very early in the morning. Probably a good thing, as their RV department was very busy that day; there may not have been a spot for us.

We toaded up just before sunrise:

Toading up early in the morning

Toading up early in the morning

Sunrise:

Sunrise

Exit to the truck place:

Exit

A hot air balloon in the distance:

Hot air balloon in the distance

Arriving at the truck service center:

Truck service center

Velocity Truck Centers:

Velocity Truck Centers

The RV waiting room was so crowded that one couple brought in camp chairs:

Crowded waiting room

We decided we didn’t want to hang out there, so went to Chick-fil-A for second breakfast:

Chick-fil-A for second breakfast

Then some chores, and to Starbucks to spend the next five hours:

Starbucks

They completed the work in the afternoon; the issue was a metal-wrapped line intermittently touching the heater relay, causing a short. They secured the line, and replaced the relay, since it had been damaged by the arcing. Just over one RV Buck (about $1,300) to fix.

Heading back to the RV park after the work was complete:

Heading back to the RV park

Arriving back at Paradise:

Arriving back at Paradise

Back to our site, which looks a bit weird without the RV there:

Back to our site

Back to our site

A hassle, but I’m glad it was a relatively easy fix.

Travel from Palm Desert, California to Sun City, Arizona

We drove our coach 252 miles, about four hours of driving, from Palm Desert, California to Sun City, Arizona.

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

Route map

An interactive map, with potential stops pinned:

Entering I-10 East:

Entering I-10 East

We got a little bit of fuel at California prices:

Fuel stop

Back onto I-10 East:

Back onto I-10 East

Foggy:

Foggy

Rest area closed:

Rest area closed

Another rest area:

Another rest area

Rest area

Interesting homebrew van:

Interesting homebrew van

Paladin in a box:

Paladin in a box

Arizona state line, and also Mountain time zone:

Arizona state line, and also Mountain time zone

Welcome to Arizona:

Welcome to Arizona

Arizona Centenial:

Arizona Centenial

Airstream trailer:

Airstream trailer

Interesting mountains:

Interesting mountains

Westbound freeway closed for hours due to accident:

Westbound freeway closed for hours due to accident

Westbound freeway closed for hours due to accident

Another fuel stop to top up, since we’ll be in one place for three months:

T/A fuel stop

T/A fuel stop

Filling diesel:

T/A fuel stop

Filling DEF:

T/A fuel stop

Exit to AZ-303 North:

Exit to AZ-303 North

Overpass:

Overpass

Exit to Bell Road:

Exit to Bell Road

Arriving at Paradise RV Resort:

Arriving at Paradise RV Resort

Registration parking, where we filled in the paperwork and untoaded:

Registration parking, where we filled in the paperwork and untoaded

Guided to our site:

Guided to our site

Travel from Orange to Palm Desert, California

We drove our coach 103 miles, about two hours of driving, from Orange to Palm Desert, California.

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

Route map

An interactive map, with potential stops pinned:

Leaving our site; it was a bit tight, so we backed out, which meant we were facing the wrong way:

Leaving our site

Toading facing the wrong way; I walked around the corner to make sure the coast was clear before we headed out:

Toading facing the wrong way

CA-57:

CA-57

Entering CA-55 North:

Entering CA-55 North

CA-91:

CA-91

“100 Years of Freedom”:

100 Years of Freedom

Interesting hills:

Interesting hills

Overpasses:

Overpasses

Exit to Indio:

Exit to Indio

Snowcapped mountains:

Snowcapped mountains

Uphill:

Uphill

Rest area:

Rest area

Wind turbines:

Wind turbines

Exit to Washington Street:

Exit to Washington Street

Hills:

Hills

Arriving at TTPS:

Arriving at TTPS

Entrance

We were assigned a site that didn’t have 50 amp power, despite the gate agent assuring us that it did:

Our first assigned site

Then we got a new site assignment, and moved to a site that actually has usable power:

Moving to a site that actually has power

Actually getting into our site was a bit of a challenge, as it always is at TTPS (due to all the palm trees and other obstacles), but we managed it without too much difficulty.

Travel from Northridge to Orange, California

We drove our coach just 59 miles, about an hour of driving, from Northridge to Orange, California. Picking our coach up from storage.

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

Route map

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

Leaving Walnut RV Park, where we stored our coach during our NZ trip:

Leaving Walnut RV Park

Entering I-5 South:

Entering I-5 South

LA traffic:

LA traffic

A pickup carrying half a car:

A pickup carrying half a car

Sunset:

Sunset

Katella Ave exit:

Katella Ave exit

Arriving at Orangeland RV Park after sunset; later than we usually like to arrive, but we’ve been here several times before:

Arriving at Orangeland RV Park

Arriving at Orangeland RV Park

NZ: flights from Christchurch to Auckland then LAX

All good things must end, and so it was with our New Zealand trip.

Checking in to Air New Zealand in Christchurch:

Checking in to Air New Zealand

Our plane from Christchurch to Auckland:

Our plane from Christchurch to Auckland

Our first flight

In Auckland International Airport, love NZ with Buzzy Bees:

Love NZ with Buzzy Bees

Last meat pie, caramel slice, and L&P soda:

Last pie, slice, and L&P

Our international flight:

Our second flight

Menu:

Menu

Seat selfie:

Seat selfie

The flight was delayed over an hour:

Our international flight was delayed over an hour

Dinner:

Dinner

Breakfast:

Breakfast

Arriving over Los Angeles:

Arriving at LA

LA freeway:

LA freeway

Looking back at our plane:

Our plane

Welcome to the United States:

Welcome to the United States

Welcome to Los Angeles:

Welcome to Los Angeles

Shuttle back to the parking garage:

Shuttle back to parking

Our truck was still there!

Our truck was still there!

We then drove to pick up our coach from storage, which will be in tomorrow’s post. But this concludes the posts about our New Zealand trip. It was great to visit my family, see old and new places, eat favorite foods, and try van life.

As discussed in the 2026 travel plans post, this year will be a bit different than previous ones, including another big trip, this time through Canada to Alaska (twice!). Stay tuned for our continuing adventures!