O'Connor RV & Finning Truck:

We would like to refer to our experience with a recent purchase of a 2000 Empress diesel pusher built by Triple E.

On our way back from Terrace BC we purchased the unit from O'Connor RV in Chilliwack. We were actually returning from celebrating our 50th wedding anniversary and we stopped at O'Connor's just to see what they might have. We were shown a beautiful motorhome and were stricken, and we decided it would be a wonderful 50th year anniversary gift to ourselves. It is a gorgeous motorhome and a beauty to drive. We love it. However, to our consternation, on our first trip when we attempted to climb the Coquihalla on a record-breaking hot day, the temperature needle quickly climbed to the hot area, the buzzer went off and I had to stop and let the motor cool down. It was disappointing but since we were towing a Bronco 2, loaded heavily and with temperatures hovering around 35 degrees Fahrenheit, I simply let the motorhome cool and tried again. However, we had to stop again and again until we finally reached the top. This happened again near Jasper and even near Hinton. So when we reached our objective in Saskatoon I took the unit to a Freightliner dealer to see if something could be done with the overheating problem. They checked it with their computers and informed me there was no indication that the motor had ever overheated and that I probably had a gauge problem. When I asked what they would suggest, I was told the motor had an automatic shut down if it really got hot and not to be concerned. I told them I could not live with the constant sound of the buzzer. I phoned Caterpillar and asked for their advice and, of course, they said not to drive it when the gauge was in the extreme red area and/or the buzzer sounding. They asked me to go to their dealer in Saskatoon, which I did. They worked on it for some hours but basically told me the same thing the Freightliner people had told me - only charged me a lot more. Our way home took us to Highway 3, which admittedly has a very long steep climb west of Creston. It took us what seemed forever getting over that mountain road. Constant stops - sometimes driving for many minutes with the buzzer on, contrary to all my instincts. We stopped at O'Connor's in Chilliwack and I explained to Dale Sjogen, the General Manager, what our problem was. He was most helpful, as they have been from the start, and he picked up the phone and started dialing. He was informed by associates that the very best place to take the motorhome with our problem was to Finning Truck in Surrey, BC. He immediately called them and arranged an appointment for me to take the motorhome over there.

I have seldom had such good service as I did with Finning Truck. I have found that sometimes truck shops are hesitant to work on motorhomes. That was certainly not the case at Finning Truck. They were willing to take it on immediately but it was more than that, it was a positive, respectful, warm approach that one does not always find. At first they too thought it was the 'sender' or the heat gauge that was at fault. So with my OK they installed a new gauge. Shortly after, we went with our family to Monck Park near Merritt. That necessitated a trip up the Coquihalla again, and guess what: the gauge went to the extreme right, the red area and the warning buzzer sounded. It was pretty discouraging. I went back to Finning and this time they suggested cleaning the radiator; they were obviously by now coming to the conclusion that the motor was indeed heating up in spite of the fact that the computer had not recorded any extensive over-heating. I agreed, but recall wondering why some professional had not thought of that before. For that matter I too should have thought of that. Perhaps because it is such a messy job? I was told the workman who did it at Finning Truck was covered from head to toe in mud. They called me early in the afternoon that the job was done. I told them I would test it immediately by taking it up the Coquihalla with the Bronco in tow. I did and this time the heat gauge didn't even get to warm. Since then we have driven over many hills and mountains including a recent trip to Lake Louise with four adults on board, lots of baggage and towing our Bronco and never once did the gauge show anything close to overheating.What a relief. We are most thankful to Finning Truck in Surrey for solving our problem and for the support we received from O'Connor RV in Chilliwack in getting this matter resolved.

The icing on the cake for us was when I asked O'Connor if they would help with the bills that by now totalled over $1,700. They agreed and sent us a cheque to cover all the costs. This is the second motorhome we have purchased from O'Connor and we have been so pleased with the service from that company.

It is indeed a pleasure to deal with companies that treat you with such courtesy and are prepared to go the extra mile to help their customers. We would like to recommend both Finning Truck in Surrey and O'Connor in Chilliwack to anyone who seeks to purchase an RV or needs to have some work done on a motorhome or truck. - Bob & Bev Wahl, Surrey, BC

Insurance Claims:

I would like to hear from RVers who have had to make insurance claims from accidents that happened while they were RVing in Mexico, including the Baja. - Bob Hughes, 250-715-7062, ruxton49@hotmail.com

Zip Codes at Gas Pumps:

This is a reply to the letter Travel in the USA found on page 10 in your Jan/Feb 2008 Issue #121. Yes this is very frustrating, when you have to go into the office with your credit card. But maybe you don't have to. One gas attendant told me to just hit the ienter' button anyway, and it worked. If it works everywhere in the States, time will tell. - Kris & Birte Sorensen, Parksville, BC

Thanks for the Article:

We have read your RV Times magazine for a couple of years now and are very pleased with the articles you provide. I would especially like to thank Peter Vander Sar for the article on Texas and the Gulf of Mexico in the Mar./Apr. '07 #116, pg. 26. We are new fulltime RVers. Our first big trip was to go from North Dakota in a southeast direction to Florida and then west to Arizona. Well, we have been on the road for two and a half months now, and with using the information in Peter's article we may never leave the Gulf of Mexico or Texas. Boondocking near Port Lavaca at Indianola Park is unbelievable. Free for starters, with a beach made of shells; good fishing, sunny weather although windy; enjoying turkey for Christmas dinner. Life is good. We have visited every place that they have mentioned and are looking forward to the rest of the journey. We will return to Canada in April much more educated about the USA. Thanks again. - Hazel & Lloyd Peters, hazel-peters@iglide.net

Towing Guide:

Can you tell me where to go to find a tow guide for all trucks and years? For the older trucks it is hard to find information regarding what they can tow. Do you have a link or site that can take me there?
Love your magazine Sheila!! - Wynona, adraste@telus.net

Wynona, There are some guides available for towing rates of vehicles at www.trailerlife.com/output.cfm?id=42175. Guides are available back to 1999 on-line. Similar looking vehicles can have very different ratings depending on the options. In most cases you will need quite detailed information about the truck to be able to determine the tow rating. With the VIN number of a truck you should be able to find out from a dealer what the truck is rated to tow. With older trucks previous owners may have done modifications to the vehicle that could change the towing. - Tom Brackett, Triangle RV Parts Manager Sidney, BC

Paying For Fuel in USA:

Re the letter called Travel in the USA, in RVT 121, pg 10: The situation in the USA with respect to the use of credit cards at gasoline pumps reported by Norm Miller has been going on for three or four years now. At first we noticed it only in southern California, but it has recently spread as far north as the border. A Canadian credit card will not be accepted because the zip code you are required to enter is that of your billing address for your credit card. If you live in Canada, you have no five-digit zip code to enter. For several years it could be fooled most places by entering five zeros - 00000 - but when that stopped working, we were reduced to having the cashier run an amount in excess of the expected cost of the gasoline through our account, pumping the gas, and then going back for a correction to be put through the account. It is inconvenient and slow. At no time have we ever been ripped off, but at no time have we ever let anyone hold our credit card while we pumped, either. We use a credit card issued by a US bank when in the USA, with the amounts we charge debited from a US dollar account we keep in that bank. They call it a bank card and it acts as both a credit card and a debit card. We recently tried to get the bank to fix the problem. They tried, but decided that the only way they could fix it was to give us a US address to which our account statements would be mailed. We declined. But we have found a solution. Most pumps will accept a debit card, requiring you to enter your pin. Since our US credit card acts like a debit card when required, that has worked well except at those few pumps we have encountered that don't accept debit cards. I would expect that a bank card that you would use to withdraw cash from an ATM would work just as well. Another thing we have discovered. When you buy groceries with a debit card, if you ask them they will add a cash withdrawal of the amount you want from your account to the bill and hand you the cash. It saves the annoying service charges incurred when you use an ATM to withdraw cash. We gave up carrying travelers' checks years ago. We hear frequent complaints from folks having ever increasing troubles finding anyone willing to cash them, especially overseas. Isn't technology wonderful? - Ron & Marion MacQueen, North Vancouver, BC

Internet Access on the Road:

Since I work in the industry, I get asked on a regular basis, how people can connect to the internet while on the road. Most people know about WIFI hot spots and satellite internet by now, but very few know about another option that is out there. This is using 1X or EVDO. When you buy a new Telus cell phone nowadays, you will see that it will say either 1X or EVDO, usually on the screen. 1X is good for data speeds up to about five or six times as fast as dialup. And EVDO approaches ADSL speeds. Almost all the Telus phones sold today are EVDO. All that is required is the interconnecting cable from the phone to the computer, and a change to your account with Telus. Data is not billed on a per minute basis, but you pay a flat fee for usage. The rate is about $100 per month for what is basically unlimited usage. It is actually capped at about 200 Megabytes per month, but as long as you don't start downloading movies, this is plenty for most people. I have heard that the 200-megabyte cap has not been enforced up to this time. There is also a cheaper plan at about $50 per month, but this gives a very limited number of Megabytes, and anything over that amount is billed on a per Megabyte basis, and can get very expensive. This plan is usually good for email only. Otherwise there are no airtime fees for the data use, you can leave your cell phone connected online for days, and as long as you do not exceed the megabyte usage for your plan, you will still pay the same flat fee. Since Bell runs mostly on the Telus system, you will find that similar service is also available on Bell, and will cover the same area as Telus. Rogers also has a similar system, but until they get their entire system fully modified, data speeds are many times slower on Rogers. I understand it is about one sixth the speed. The other cell companies such as Virgin etc, run almost completely on either TELUS' or Rogers' system. You will have to approach your cell company for information. Most better Telus stores sell the cables and software that you will need to set this up. If not they can order them in for you. There is also a unit available called an Aircard that plugs directly into your computer. But these cards are basically just a cell phone that runs EVDO. The disadvantage to these units is that you end up paying for a second cell phone plan as well as your data charges. About the only time these units will do you any good is if you do not want to tie up your cell phone on the internet. The data service will work anywhere that there is cell service. And will sometimes even work in areas where the reception is too weak to make a voice call. I do not know what the charges are for roaming into the United States or Mexico, but the Telus store retailer can probably get that information for you. A note on Telus stores: I have found that not all of them know much about anything but selling phones. I have gone in to buy cables etc., and have run into clerks that did not even know this service was available, or they tried to sell me an Aircard. The Telus stores that I have found to be consistently good are the Apex chain of stores.

This is not a sales pitch, just personal observation. Aside from the above, another cell phone tidbit that might interest people is the fact that you can text from your email program to a Telus text enabled cell phone. All you have to do is put the full 10 digit phone number in the To line along with @msg.telus.com as an example an address would look like this: 6045551234@msg.telus.com. You have to keep your entire message including the subject line to about 50 characters or less, or the system will split it into multiple messages. Another thing you can do is to set the format to send the message as plain text instead of HTML. This saves on characters that the phone cannot use anyway. It can take a few minutes for the message to get to the phone, so be patient. Also unfortunately you cannot reply from a cell phone back to an email address. Texting this way is great for people who have a hard time sending text from a cell phone keyboard. I do not know the format for Bell or Rogers, and do not even know if this type of texting is available on their systems. But again your retailer or choice ishould' be able to get you this information. While we are on the subject of cell phones, let me add that if you look on the back of most cell phones, usually near the antenna if it has one, you will usually see a small rubber plug. If you remove this plug, you will see a connection for an external antenna. To use this feature you will have to buy a mobile cell antenna and an adaptor to connect the antenna to your phone. You can get magnetic cell antennas, so you do not have to drill holes in your car. The rig might be a bit more of the problem, as very few have steel parts, where a magnetic antenna can be mounted. An external antenna like this will give you from 10 to 15 db of gain, which in radio terms is a lot. An external antenna will give you the best results if it is mounted on the roof, and not on the side of the rig, or the fender of a car. You can also get an amplifier that goes between the phone and antenna, but you will find that in most cases the addition of the antenna alone is more than enough. The antenna and an adaptor to fit your phone, can usually be had for about $50. To find a listing of adaptors to fit almost every phone, go to http://cellantenna.com/Adapters/cellular_phone_cable_adapters.htm. You can get the part number at this site to take to your retailer. It is easy to get on the internet from almost anywhere. If you have any questions, I will try and answer them. Email me at will@imanse.ca or via the info link on our webpage at www.imanse.ca. - Will Imanse

Deluxe RV Service:

We would like to acknowledge fast and efficient service we received. We arrived in Yuma on December 13th. On our trip from Surrey, we lost the use of our 12V lights in the hall/bedroom/bathroom, LP gas indicator and propane heater. When we arrived in Yuma, we wanted to have a mobile unit come to do the repairs and our insurance carrier gave us some recommendations. We chose to use Larry at Deluxe RV Service, professional mobile repairs at 928-342-1230. Larry attended our trailer the same day, quickly and efficiently determined and repaired the problems, contacted the insurance company and dealt directly with them and returned with new parts at which time he collected the deductible. We are very pleased with the service we received from Larry and recommend his service to any RV owner who requires repairs. He is very qualified and knowledgeable about RVs. - Mike & Carol McCartney, Surrey, BC

Putting your RV on a Diet:

Full tanks can increase your RV's weight by 1,000 to 2,000 pounds or more. Recent statistics show nearly two-thirds of RVs exceed one or more of their load ratings and excess weight is one of the leading causes of RV accidents. This can affect licensing, insurance, and make RVers more likely to be stopped by police. Even a slight overload or unequal weight distribution can seriously restrict braking and steering, dramatically increase fuel consumption, and cause sudden blowouts or breakdowns. An overweight RV is also in danger of creating early failure of the rig's tires, brakes, wheels, drive train and other components.

Dumping the waste tanks is one way to reduce weight and increase fuel efficiency. Less than 30% of the BC Provincial and Regional Parks have dumping facilities nowadays. The challenge has always been finding the closest place to empty the tanks before embarking on the long road home. My partner, KC Chavda, and I decided to address this problem. We created a free website for RVers to locate the nearest RV dumping station. We have over 11,000 sites in Canada and the USA and the list is growing at 37% per year, making it the largest known database of dumping stations. Every month over 10,000 visitors come to www.sanidumps.com and use our database of RV dump stations. The entire site is designed to make it simple to use. Just select the country, state or province and scroll down to the nearest city/town and you will get a list of dump stations, driving directions, a map, GPS coordinates (when available), and other details like fees and dates open. You can then print your customized listing and take it with you. The site depends on fellow RVers to provide updates, and to add new sites by simply filling out an online form. We do the rest. We add and/or update several thousand sites every quarter. - John Clarke, john@sanidumps.com

Woodall's Announces Top-Rated Campgrounds for 2008:

Sheila, your readers might like to know that Woodall Publications Corporation, producer of the most comprehensive and reliable campground directories available, has announced that 251 parks out of 8,000 campgrounds listed in its 2008 North American Campground Directory have earned the highest and most coveted designation of 5W/5W. The two possible Woodall's ratings at an RV park and/or campground are 1W through 5W for facilities and 1W through 5W for recreation. The backbone of Woodall's Campground Directory is its state-of-the-art rating system known for being easy to use and understand. Top-ranked States this year were Arizona, followed by Florida, Texas, California and Ontario, Canada.

iRVers and campers rely on Woodall's to do the legwork for them when it comes to researching the best places to stay overnight,' said Joe Daquino, vice president and publisher, Affinity Media, the parent company for Woodall's Publications. iWhile most of the other 8,000 campgrounds in the directory are well worth the visit, Woodall's rating system provides a highly valued independent means to gauge their expectations when they choose a campsite.' The 5W/5W rating reflects an investment in the physical development of the park and its personnel, recreation programs and superior maintenance of a park's facilities. Each campground in the directory receives an on-site inspection by Woodall's field representative team. Woodall's has evolved its evaluation criteria as RV manufacturers and owners continue to change RV sizes and standards to meet consumer demand. As RVs continue to become larger and longer with more slide-outs for further expansion, they have different infrastructure needs. Campers are also evaluating campgrounds on the conveniences they offer, including Wi-Fi for Internet access. Circulation figures indicate that the extra investment to accommodate campers' convenience needs pays off for park owners. More than 300,000 RVers and campers purchase a hard copy version of the Woodall's Campground Directory annually. Buyers on average keep their directories 2.4 years and loan their directory out 1.7 times each year. Users reference their directories 18 times per year to make travel choices. Many RVers are also accessing Woodall's via the Internet.

Fiddle Music Weekend in Kamloops:

Sheila, I want to invite all your readers to our May event. The Kamloops Branch of the B.C. Old Time Fiddlers' Association will host their 24th Annual Fiddle Contest in Kamloops, BC on Saturday May 3rd. The weekend will begin at 7:30 p.m. Friday evening May 2nd with a show by three-time Canadian Grand Masters Champion Patti Lamoureux (formerly Kusturok), and will continue Saturday with the Old Time Fiddle Contest competition starting at 11:00 a.m. There will be an Old Time dance Saturday evening following the finals and trophy presentations. For further information call 250-374-1838 or 250-372-2809 or you can e-mailtellier@shaw.ca. - Florence Tellier, Vice President Kamloops Branch, B.C. Old Time Fiddlers' Association

Hensley Arrow Hitches:

We have a 23-ft Fun Finder trailer (light-weight) being pulled by our 2002 Grand Jeep Cherokee. We have Husky sway control and an Eaz-lift equalizer hitch and still we experience sway on the highway. We are seriously looking at the Hensley Arrow Hitch, which costs $3,000 with wonderful tributes and accolades but would like to know what informed travelers think of this hitch. - Ian Ferguson, meferg05@shaw.ca

BC150:

Many communities are linking their events into the BC150 celebrations and there is a webpage www.BC150.gov.bc.ca that lists many of the events. It may be nice to include this for your readers to check out Sheila. I know most Tourism BC and government advertising is promoting the 2010 events but BC150 will move more people around our beautiful province for a whole year. Keep up the great work Sheila. - Robin Sharpe, Manager, Visitor Programs, Barkerville Historic Town, 1-250-994-3302 ext. 28, www.barkerville.ca

ZIP Code for USA Card Use:

Re Norm Miller's Letter (RVT 121 Jan/Feb 08 pg. 10) called Travel in the USA, regarding the need to enter a ZIP code to use a credit card at the gas pumps in the US. I have found that some retail stores also require this entry to use a credit card. I found a way around this problem - when asked to enter a ZIP code, merely enter 12345. So far it has worked for me 100% of the time at both gas pumps and retail stores. Might not want to let the outlets know though - they might input means to negate this iwork around' solution. Just thought I'd let you know of my experiences. - Earle Robertson, Ber5940@shaw.ca

New Website for Calgary:

I've recently completed a website www.campingcalgary.com. The intent is to make it a one-stop-shop for all sorts of information such as links to where the RV dump stations are, where to get the best fuel prices, campground and RV resorts reviews, entertainment and sports events within the Calgary area, and much more. - Larry Gorluik, Calgary, AB, Larry. gorluik@shaw.ca