A timelapse of driving our RV, a Tiffin Allegro Bus motorhome, 146 miles from Yermo to Palm Desert, California.
Travel from Yermo to Palm Desert, California
We drove our coach 146 miles, about three hours of driving, from Yermo, California to Palm Desert, California.
Here’s the map route, heading south:
Interactive map, showing our stops and other potential stops:
Truck lane:
Fuel stop:
Paladin in the steps:
Highway CA-247:
Cafe 247, an interesting lunch stop with parking big enough for us:
They were having a motorcycle gathering, which made it feel like a biker bar, but wasn’t:
We bought a loaf from Banana Bread Man out front:
8% grade:
Highway CA-62:
Wind turbines:
Mountains:
Palm Springs:
Our destination:
Phone holders
While driving our coach, we refer to maps on our iPhones, in addition to the built-in one.
To position the phones conveniently, we use phone holders from Amazon.
Jenn’s phone usually shows Apple Maps directions, in a holder suction-cupped onto the panel to the right of the AC controls:
My phone is usually showing either the RV Life GPS or Google Maps, while my Mac shows the Google Maps route. My phone holder is suctioned to a plate that is stuck on the edge of the pull-out passenger workstation:
It is easy to adjust them to the desired angle, or rotate them out of the way when not driving.
Peggy Sue’s Diner
While staying in Yermo, California, we had dinner at Peggy Sue’s 50’s Diner, a classic roadside diner built in 1954, and restored with lots of movie memorabilia. And a 5 & Dime store and dinosaur park.
Menu:
Malt shake:
Jenn’s French dip and curly fries:
My Hawaiian burger, curly fries, and potato salad:
5 and Dime store:
Diner-saur park:
Calico Ghost Town
While staying in Yermo, California, we visited the nearby Calico Ghost Town, an old West silver mining town that was founded in 1881 and became a ghost town just 15 years later:
Barstow / Calico KOA Holiday
We stayed at Barstow / Calico KOA Holiday in Yermo, California. (Campground Reviews listing.)
Rather short site, and too much freeway noise, but okay for a couple of days.
Dates:
- Check in: 2023-03-23
- Check out: 2023-03-25
- 2 nights
Weather:
- Partly sunny
- High temps ranging between 58-60°F, lows around 35-39°F
- Wind gusts to 37 MPH
Noise:
- Loud freeway noise; no train noise
Site:
- #39, pull-through, gravel
- Needed to disconnect toad; parked beside coach
- Level
- Small site: about 50 feet long by about 30 feet wide
- Picnic tables, charcoal grill, gravel, shrubs
Utilities:
- 50 amp power, conveniently located
- 40 PSI water, conveniently located
- Good sewer connection, inconveniently located (2 10-foot pipe needed)
Internet (in usage priority order):
- T-Mobile: 38 Mbps down, 42-69 Mbps up, 27 ms ping
- AT&T: 12-17 Mbps down, 4 Mbps up, 40 ms ping
- Verizon: 1 Mbps down, 1 Mbps up, 300 ms ping
- Starlink: not used
- Campground Wi-Fi: none
Amenities:
- Garbage bins
- Closed pool
Our review on Campground Reviews:
Convenient stop along I-15
We stayed for two nights, which was about the right length of time. It’s an older KOA in need of some TLC with convenient access to the interstate; which means you do get constant road noise. The sites are pretty short, and we definitely had to unhook the tow and park alongside the coach. The site also seemed a bit narrow, but that may have been because it had an excess of tables and chairs (2 picnic tables, a concrete table and benches, and a park bench). We camped at Barstow / Calico KOA Holiday in a Motorhome.
Tip for Other Campers: Check out the Calico Ghost Town and Peggy Sue’s Diner. Both were good, kitschy fun.
Interactive map:
Campground map:
Our site; we didn’t bother with the Magne Shade, since only a couple of nights:
Utilities:
So many tables and benches:
View of the freeway from our window:
Entrance:
Office:
Bike and archery rental (maybe in summer):
Mural:
Piano:
Artwork:
Playground:
Train car:
Deflated jump pad:
Pool:
Tent sites:
Cabins:
RV sites:
Video: Death Valley to Yermo, California motorhome travel timelapse
A timelapse of driving our RV, a Tiffin Allegro Bus motorhome, 169 miles from Death Valley, California to Yermo, California.
Travel from Death Valley to Yermo, California
We drove our coach 169 miles, about three hours of driving, from Death Valley, California to Yermo, California.
Here’s the map route, heading south:
Interactive map, showing our stops:
Leaving the campground:
Leaving Death Valley:
Paladin sleeping:
Paladin in an unapproved place; he was freaking out a bit; sometimes he forgets about travel days:
“Thanks for Experiencing Your National Park”:
Bumpy road:
Motorcycles:
The sign could use a refresh:
A roadside stop for a break:
Interesting hills:
A straight road; using a high zoom really emphasizes the bumps:
Lunch stop in Baker, with a nice big truck/RV parking area; always appreciated:
The World’s Tallest Thermometer:
We had lunch at the Mad Greek Cafe:
The Thermometer again:
EddieWorld, apparently California’s largest gas station (looks pretty small compared to Buc-ees in Texas, but we haven’t actually visited either):
Ghost Town Road:
Our destination:
Ceiling fan motor replacement again
Last year I replaced the motor in the bedroom ceiling fan. Well, it started squeaking again, so I replaced it a second time. I guess this will be a regular thing.
My previous post on this replacement missed a few steps, so I took more pictures this time, so others can use it as a step-by-step guide.
The first step, of course, is to order the replacement motor from the Tiffin Parts Store. It is part number 5011771, “CEILING FAN MOTOR ONLY”, currently about $89 plus shipping. You’ll also need some connectors; I previously used wire nuts, but have since discovered a better technology, Wago lever connectors, available from Amazon.
Here’s the ceiling fan:
To begin, unscrew this nut:
Then remove this retaining clip and washer (which was one of the most difficult parts of the process for me), allowing the fan blades to drop off:
The removed nut, retaining clip, and washer:
Next unscrew the three screws near the ceiling to remove the housing:
With the cover removed, you can cut the wires from the motor (leaving them as long as possible), you don’t need to cut the wires coming from the ceiling, as they go to the direction switch on the cover. In my case, I had orange wire nuts from the previous replacement, so I just undid those.
Then unscrew the motor from the ceiling; remove three screws, plus loosen the fourth for the retaining wire:
The motor removed:
The retaining wire from the motor can then be attached to the ceiling, holding it up there, and the electrical wires connected.
As mentioned, this time I used Wago lever connectors to hook up the motor; they are much easier and more reliable; you just lift the lever, poke in the wire, and close the lever to secure the wire. Here you can see the white wires connected, and one black wire connected, with the lever open for the second one:
Once the wires are connected, the motor can be mounted to the ceiling. Like last time, I used a couple of washers to space it away from the ceiling to line up the cover holes correctly:
Another angle showing the Wago connectors:
Then screw the cover back into place:
Add the blades, the washer, and the retaining clip:
And finally the nut:
Done! Pretty easy. I’ll look forward to doing this again in about a year!
Modification Mondays, Travel Tuesdays, Whereabouts Wednesdays, To and Fro Thursdays and Fridays
Looking at the blog posts I have scheduled for the coming weeks and months (!), I’ve decided to bring a little more uniformity to the posting schedule.
So starting next week, you can look forward to regular features on each day:
- Modification Mondays: where I post about some improvement I did to our coach, e.g. this coming Monday will be documenting replacing the bedroom ceiling fan motor (again). These will continue to be organized in the blog category
modifications. - Travel Tuesdays: a post with photos from our travel day, followed by the YouTube timelapse video. Blog category
travel. - Whereabouts Wednesdays: a post reviewing the RV park where we stayed. Blog category
campsite. - To and Fro Thursdays and Fridays: posts about things we did while staying there; parks, food, and other attractions. Blog category
exploring. - If I need more than two days of posts for our activities, they’ll continue into the weekend, but not beyond.
I’ve edited my upcoming posts to follow this schedule. We’ll see how this goes, but I like more predictability in my posts, and hopefully you’ll enjoy knowing what kinds of things to expect. If you only care about RV modifications, you can just read Monday’s posts and ignore the others, and conversely if you only care about things we do and see, Thursdays onwards are for you. You can even filter the blog via the modifications, travel, campsite, and exploring categories, amongst others. (If you’re reading this on the Sinclair Trails site, see the sidebar via the hamburger menu for a complete list.)
