Another great run is history

[TomC]

I just got back from Mammoth Lakes, Ca which is at 8300ft elevation.  It was between 100 and 107 running through the Mojave desert.  Had to use the misters and take it easy on some of the longer grades-other than that the bus ran great!  First run with the new tachometer.  On easy acceleration, would shift from 1st to 2nd at 1500rpm and lockup bringing it down to 1100rpm.  Upshift from 2nd to 3rd was at 1950rpm and 3rd to 2nd at 1350rpm.  I cruised most of the time at 1850rpm which was 58 and the King cruise was delightful.  I am surprised at the low rpms the engine is turning, but with the turbo and air to air intercooler, seems to work just fine.  At my governor setting of 2400rpm, my GPS put me at 76mph-works for me.  I also thought I had 4.625 rear end ratio, but works out to be more like 4.55.  But no problems.  These are commercial vehicles, and with proper maintenance and driving techniques, should go many miles between any required maintenance.  Good Luck, TomC

[rv_safetyman]

Like those before me, I hesitate to post as I don't want to jinx myself. 

Our Eagle hit the road a year ago March.  In the last 1.5 years, we have traveled about 31K miles and have stayed in the bus over 250 nights!  Like Tom, we have been able to make several trade shows.  We have tried to do some fun things on these trips.  Still have a long way to go to get a good mix of business and pleasure .

Given the extensive drive train work that I did, we have been very fortunate and have almost no problems.  Same is true with the house systems.

We would love for the bus to be a bit more fancy, but it is 100% functional and very comfortable for our use.

Jim

[Busted Knuckle]

Good post Cody,
These posts do balance out the impression that all buses do is break down & we spend all our time & $$$ fixing them.. 

Great point, Phil or is it Phil I never can tell which of you I am talking to these days! LOL!
OK now here is another interesting point that I cherish and remind folks of this one all the time when people ask the age of our coaches when looking to charter one! My dad was at Nashville Airport for a pick up one day and a driver  pulled up in a super sharp "Executive Coach" to pick up some cooperate clients. Well he and dad got to talking and come to find out it was the owner of Anchor Trailways (John). He made a comment to dad about how well our coach appeared to be maintained, when dad told him we do the best we can with what we have and that some day he hoped to have nicer, newer coaches such as his company (40+ coaches some brand new). He told dad to "be thankful we were able to keep the ones we have as nice and reliable as they are, because the only ones that don't break down or have problems are the ones that sit around in parking lots and never go anywhere!"
Well first off I take it as quite a compliment coming from a man who owns that many nice coaches, to tell us how nice it appeared that we maintained ours!
Second I always remind people mechanical items do break sooner or later! And like John said! It's not the age but rather how well it's maintained!  JMHO FWIW!
  BK