I have enjoyed the barthmobile.com site for some time and today am pleased to report I am now an owner of a 91 Breakaway. Hope to make a trip to Florida soon (visit my daughter) and many many more road trips. Hope to see some you you on the road

Welcome aboard Mac. Looks like a nice unit.

There are a bunch of us in Fl, what part are you heading to?

Hey Mac,

Welcome to the forum. I'm just south of Roanoke, VA.

Wm.

Corey:
Thanks for the response. My daughter lives in Fort Lauderdale so I will end up in the general area when I go down. Since I am new to all of this, I will be looking for and welcome all info I can get regarding this great lifestyle. I am especially interested in "good" places to stay, both long and short term.

Mac,

We do the Fl to NH, NH to Fl run annually and always go up I-81. From the map, it appears we go right by Seebert.

Our normal M.O. is to go night 1 to a Walmart or Cracker Barrel (most allow overnight RVs - we like Cracker Barrels the best). Night 2 a campground and so on until we arrive. We tend to decide along the route and let traffic/weather/mechanical issues dictate the pace. As we also try to travel in off-times (weekends, non holidays), we tend to have no trouble finding pull-throughs for our coach and trailer. Of course I could unload, but at that point Walmart will win!

We make sure our water is topped off and sewers emptied at each CG stop, that we we can last a few nights with full showers if we choose.

A word about free stays, Walmarts and CBs don't allow levelers or slides out (slides aren't an issue and the lots are usually level) Use generators very sparingly and think of any neighbors. Cheri and I usually use the genny just to make coffee. Try not to block travel lanes and park at the far extremes and leave yourself an out forward as people may park in front of you in the morning. Expect noise until things get late, for whatever reason idiot kids like to cruise through Walmarts with stereos blaring

Cracker Barrels are a lot quieter and often in very scenic settings. I ALWAYS patronize the establishment, ask if it's OK to park and thank the manager for letting us stay. I even thank them for letting RVs stay when we're not staying, just to keep the door open. I've often thought car dealers should catch on to this, what a demographic for spenders!!!

Other than that, the route is awesome and the big decision is when to turn east. Honestly, I would wait as long as possible as the east coast is way less RV friendly in my experience. If you find yourself around Spring Hill in the later fall to later spring, give a call and stay at Casa Nobles with a free glass of wine to boot

One more travel tip: I always try to stop on "the other side" of big cities when traveling, that way you are not fighting traffic into the city in the morning. Similar at night on weekdays, I'll try to time things to avoid the 4 to 6 PM exodus.

Welcome to the site Mac!!!

Mac, are you a ham radio operator?

Doug
W4JDZ

That photo made me nostalgic. In the Cold War years of the middle 1960s I was working in Washington, D.C., & we nearly bought a farm at Elkins, WV, about 75 miles north of Mac's place, looking for a family refuge in case the bombs started dropping.

The house behind Mac's coach looks a lot like some places we considered. Fate, or Divine Providence, however, took us back West shortly after that time. But that sure is pretty country.

quote:

Originally posted by DougZ:
Mac, are you a ham radio operator?

Doug
W4JDZ

Yes Doug, I am W8LMG. In fact, one of my many challenges is to get "her" set up for HF mobile. I think I am going to move my Hamstick and FT-857 from the truck to the MH.
Thanks for noticing the tower...
Mac-W8LMG

Hi Mac--Ed K9DVC here, and welcome!

I have an IC 706 MKIIIG with a 33 ft vertical that I put up when stationary. While driving it is horizontal along the length of the coach but the top section is removed, I load it with an AH4 tuner and it works extremely well even when horizontal.

I also have 2 VHF/UHF rigs with a variety of antennas that we use for race communications during open road races.
At the beach

On the road race course, Nevada

Antenna horizontal supported 16 inch off the roof, even loads on 6M

My normal speed, no wonder I can't get better then 11 MPG


73s

Ed:
The vert looks and sounds interesting. What mfg is it? I take it by your comments it loads 75 thru 6?
I have hamsticks for 75,40,20 and 17. Plan to also
install 2m on the passenger side, the hamsticks on the driver mirror. I use the LDG YT-100 tuner with the FT-897.
Thanks for responding to my post.
Mac-W8LMG

Yes, it does load all bands 75m-6m. It is a home-brew antenna. The support legs are long adjustable fiber glass paint poles so they don't effect loading or radiation pattern.

On the front passenger's side, I used the old cell phone antenna Motorola mount and cable for one UHF/VHF rig and then on the rear I have a 1/4 inch aluminum plate from the ladder where to the driver's side where I have a series of antennas used for UHF/VHF (16 ft Comet for fixed use and 6M/VHF/UHF tri-band for use while running) and the mounting base of the 33 ft vertical.

I'll take some pictures of the roof area for better idea of what I have.

Ed:
Thanks I would like to see pics of the ant and mount. My email is good on qrz if you would prefer to send them in lieu of posting on here.
Thanks again.

Mac-W8LMG

Thanks Bill:
Here are the tags for the project.
Mac
91 30' Breakaway

The GVW is odd - it's the same as my 28', and 2K less than the 30' Breakaways I'm familiar with...