Greetings from sunny JT

[Lin]

It is one week since we left Santa Cruz and arrived in Joshua Tree the following day.  The coach behaved quite well.  Even the steering didn't cause much problems as long as people stayed out of both of my lanes.  It is true that on the some of the grades I felt that I was being passed by toddlers on tricycles pulling trailers, but so be it.  I even got a chance to pull onto a scale and found that, fully loaded, we came in at a svelte 27000 pounds (9820 + 17120).  This trip reminded me of an old issue I have and was wondering if anyone else experiences the same thing.  It seems that under certain conditions I really can not accurately tell whether I am on a incline or not (except by the apparent loss of power).  Sometimes it seems to me that I am going slightly downhill when I start losing power.  After the initial panic passes, I realize that I am actually on a slight incline.  When this happened to me this time, I put a small carpentry level on the shelf next to me to help keep me oriented.  Do any of you have the same problem, and if so, what do you do about it?

[jjrbus]

Going downhill, I go faster. Going uphill I go slower. In the grand scheme of things it really does not make any difference. I cannot change it, all I can do is wave and smile at the toddlers as they pass.

[Sojourner]

Likewise about the hard to tell if your going up or traveling level while engine power is on border to gain or same or lower rpm. I use RV level gauge and stick on left innerside of window above side control panel to watch where the bubble is while driving. If it shows leveled or down and knowingly a grade up ahead...start increasing speed via increase throttling so it can avoid unnecessary down shift to reach top of grade. Whatever you do, avoid too much over throttle to limit black exhaust smoke.....light gray via mirror while climbing with nonturbo is better.

It work for me.

Example:
http://www.americanrvsupplies.com/products/403204147743.html

FWIW

Sojourn for Christ, Jerry

[HighTechRedneck]

Cool, an IFR approach. 

There are a lot of those deceptive grades out in those parts Lin.  Somewhere's up there is a very dramatic one that is legendary for making it look like a basketball rolls uphill.  Has to do with perception of the suroundings and relative slope. 

[Lin]

Sojourner,
     I have seen those levels before.  Does the arc make it more sensitive?

HTR,
    The area we left has a place called the Santa Cruz Mystery Spot which shows off a bunch of such optical illusions and tries to pass them off as real having resulted from some spooky circumstances of other.

[Sojourner]

Lin....."arch" design give a us an ideas of how much grade.....it must user friendly & quick while driving.

FWIW

Sojourn for Christ, Jerry

[chazwood]

I always thought that's what passengers were for. "Hey, Momma, are we going up hill?" (At this point, she kinda stares at me for a second, to see if I'm yanking her chain.) ((I don't know why...I never do that.))
If I'm alone, I turn my head and take a quick look behind me....all this, when I'm in a car......but when I'm driving my buss, I have the pedal mashed through the floor at all times, so throttle adjustments are impossible.

Incidentally for those of you who think I'm wasting fuel.... I can let off the pedal, then floor it, all I want....I never see black smoke ...... (which probably means either I'm looking in the wrong mirror or my throttle cable is stretched and only opening the....the....whatever it is that opens, open partially)  I think I'll leave it that way. Kinda acts like a governor. Probably saves fuel. It' not inconvenient, you just hit the gas and then wait for something to happen.

In fact I know my throttle cable is stretched...because when I want to eek a little more speed outta her (when that smirking fifth wheel driver creeps past me pulling a 56 foot trailer with a Ford ranger) I stand up to get more leverage, (put one leg through the steering wheel,) smash directly down on the pedal to compress that last little bit of rubber that's holding up the pedal, and wipe the smirk off his face, as I now creep past him. If I could push down farther, I would go even faster......but the floor gets in the way.

[Brian Diehl]

Lin, I usually only have this problem at night.  For me it is the "tunnel" of the headlights making it hard to tell what the grade/slope is since I don't have a horizon to compare to.  Thought I was the only one with this .... nice to know others have this "condition" also!