I bought the Winnebago Journey RV on my birthday, February 5th, and picked it up on Monday Feb. 8th. On that day, I drove my old RV over to their lot and parked out in the back. The service tech gave me the tour on how to do things in my newer RV, most of which I soon forgot, but I had the foresight to make a video recording. After that tour was over, moved the newer RV over next to my old one and moved as much of my stuff as I could, but I had to get both rigs off their lot before 5 pm. The only really heavy thing, my tool box, I was able to get help from the tech lifting it out and over to the newer RV.
After I got as much moved as I could with the few hours I had, then drove over to the RV park I was staying at. Along the way stopping at the Fry’s grocery store to do my bi-weekly shopping. Because the road outside the RV park has no left turn into it, had to take the long route. Instead of just 100 feet from the dealer, had to drive 2 miles the roundabout way. Hah! Needed the experience anyway. Then had to go get the old RV and bring it over to the RV park too. Lucky for me, there was an empty RV site right next door. It was very nice of the RV park to let me do that without charge. However, if they did rent the space, I had to get out of there real quick and park over at the overflow space a long walk away.
There was something I needed to do, before I sold the Bounder. Had to drive down to Mexico from Mesa and turn in the RV TIP (Temporary Import Tag). Can’t do that anywhere nearby except at 21 kilometers south of the Nogales border crossing. The day after I picked up my newer RV, had to drive the old one on a round trip of 400 miles. Lucky the weather was fine. Not too hot until near the end of the return trip and no rain.
Figured it out and knew with 1/2 tank of diesel, I could make it down and back without needing to stop for fuel. Trip down was boring, crossed the border, headed down to KM21, had them scrape off the old sticker, got my receipt and headed back north. And of course, had to pay Mexican tolls. Far too many toll booths in Mexico. For tourists. The locals get very inexpensive passes.
Since the RV was virtually empty, (it didn’t take very long the day before to move nearly everything), breezed through customs and soon back on the great roads in the Tucson corridor.
Kind of has a stark beauty to it.
Here near Tucson, there’s more water in the ground then up in Phoenix, lots of low growing bushes.
And that was my last road trip in the Fleetwood Bounder. Thank goodness. Sooooo sick of driving that beast. Really needed a change.
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Anyway, almost of month passed with me slowly moving the rest of my junk into the newer RV and storing it. Mostly basement stuff by now. Piled quite a bit of junk I hadn’t used in 12 years on my picnic table with a ‘Yard Sale’ sign on it. Did sell some stuff but most of it went to the give away table. Then had to get the old Bounder ready to sell, start advertising on Craigslist, making a big For Sale sign, washed it inside and out (took 3-4 days all together…but I didn’t work fast at it either), etc. Also had to buy new equipment for the newer RV like sewer hose, water hose, 30A to 50A dog leg, pillows for the vents, etc…etc. Also met up with a guy 30 miles away in order to buy his 50 Amp Progressive Industries Surge Guard at a much reduced price, but I drove the old RV on that trip. No sense giving away diesel.
Now that I was fairly comfortable living with the newer RV, in early March it was time to take her out on a road trip of more than just a couple miles. So I checked the local map for something interesting to do and settled on a trip up AZ-60 into the hills to the east of Mesa. If you’ll check out this map, you can see where heading east seems kind of interesting since I’d be traveling into the Tonto National Forest. I settled on a short trip up to Globe and back. That would give me some hills to go over to exercise the engine and give me an idea of what to expect in mountainous country. The rig had nearly 3/4 tank of diesel so off I went…
After about 30 minutes of regular city driving, the traffic thins out and you soon find yourself on empty sections of highway. I like the blue tinting at the top of the large windshield. Helps keep the sun at bay. Also have pull down screens on the driver’s and passenger’s windows.
Coming up on the Queen Creek Tunnel. About 1/4 mile long. They’re busy doing some work on either end but it’s clear inside.
The roads are a little worse for wear, but the newer RV takes them in stride. Nice and quiet inside and the ride was very smooth.
Soon arrived at the junction of AZ-60 & 188. Had lunch at Judy’s CookHouse (highly recommend) just west of Globe. Spent an hour there and then headed back.
This hill on the side of the road in the picture below is entirely man made. Built of mine tailings mostly. Probably holding millions of gallons of water polluted with tons of heavy metals used in mining. Very dangerous for the people living below it.
Another mine off in the distance on the hill.
And another. 
Here’s Top-Of-The-World.
Old timey and nearly deserted.
Another open pit mine off in the distance. 
I tried to get a shot of that huge mine but couldn’t get a good one. It really covers a lot of ground. Copper mine I think.
Rather steep in this downhill section but the Jacobs Exhaust brake took it in stride. Helped keep my speed comfortably low on the downhill sections without having to pump my brakes hardly at all.
Back at the Queen Creek Tunnel.
Shortly after passing through the tunnel, I wanted to stop at the arboretum I’d noticed on the way up the hill. But when I got there, I found they’d put the sign on the wrong side of the entrance for westbound traffic and I missed the turn off. Sigh. Not going to slam on the brakes of a 28,000 pound vehicle trying to make a sharp turn.
Way off in the distance, Phoenix. Covered with a minor smog bank. Good view of the entire Phoenix valley.
Soon arrived back at the RV park. Near dusk, but the neighbor was out so he helped guide me back into my back in space. There’s a big electrical post in the back of my assigned site so I needed to be extra careful to not hit it, and not be too close when I extended my bedroom slide.
The trip went well, there were some things I didn’t understand about the operation of the rig, but that knowledge will come with practice and some reading of the operator’s manuals. I’ve never used an exhaust brake so I was learning that, kept a close eye on the gages so heading uphill the engine wouldn’t get too hot, kept an eye on the awning, all the basement doors, adjusting inside temps vs. outside, the acceleration on grades. All sorts of things to learn about this rig. In effect, learning situational awareness applying to this RV. It was pretty much the same size as my Bounder so that helped a lot, but there’s still stuff to learn about driving it safely.
Enjoyed reading about your first road trip in your new RV. How exciting! Is there a lot of rock and roll to it? Seems that when we test drove a Winnebago, same model, there seemed to be quite a bit of that. My DH said stabilizers would help that, but maybe yours have them.
It’s difficult to quantify ‘a lot’. What’s normal to me might be excessive to you. But, I’ve found it to have no more, and no less drift, wander, or rock and roll then my Bounder. I’ve put a mere 400 miles on it since I bought it on freeways, up/down hills, two lane roads with loads of semi traffic and just like with my Bounder, I have to stay sharp and concentrate on my driving.
I was thinking about that a couple days ago as I traveled 120 miles from Surprise at sundown to Brenda (the town), arriving well after dark. Most of the trip at 65 MPH on a two lane road. With a lot of semi traffic from the other direction. Could the rig use some stabilization? Hmm, yes, I suppose so. But it’s behavior is similar enough to the Bounder I’m not really convinced it’s a ‘problem’ as much as it’s the nature of driving a giant bus at 65 MPH on a road where other giant vehicles pass you going the other way. I do think if it was too easy for me to drive, perhaps I might lose my concentrative ‘edge’ while on the road. I already have a tendency for my mind to wander. Stop paying attention in a big rig like these Class A’s and it could lead to a major accident. And not paying attention at the wrong moment could be disastrous, instead of just an annoyance if it happen in a car. Far too dangerous for my tastes. I’d have to test drive one with all the ‘stabilization’ bells and whistles already installed to find out how I’d behave. And that’s not likely to happen.
There are plenty of tricks you could use to firm up whatever rig you guys decide on, some low cost, some costing thousands, but there’s one thing to consider about ‘rock and roll’ in a big rig. Next time you’re on the road, watch all those semi’s around you. Really pay attention to how they behave. See most of them wander back and forth in the roadway? And most of them rock side to side? Well, since it’s normal for a rig costing hundreds of thousands, and at 3-4 times the weight of an RV, why isn’t it normal for a RV of about the same size?
In other words: Why spend thousands trying to buck the natural tendency of a big box in the wind?
Thanks for reading, Renee.
Jim-
Just thought you’d be interested to be among the first to know Beaver Coaches will be built again within about 2 years. It was just announced today to the Beaver club members that our friend, Ty Kelly, owner of Beaver Coach Sales in Bend, has purchased the pertinent rights from REV Group (the former Allied Vehicle Corp.), the outfit that bought Monaco from Navistar. So now the name is back home where it began, right next door in fact, and owned not by a conglomerate.
Life is good.
So it came full circle. Now I’ll have a reason to visit Bend for a tour of the plant!