We departed McCloud, California and headed towards Reno, Nevada through Lassen National Forest, along Highway 89 past Lake Britton. It was a beautiful drive through the forest with the autumn leaves starting to peak. We continued on to Highway 44 east to Susanville past areas where several bad wildfires were burning not too long ago. We had to be led through areas by a pilot vehicle due to the clean up work that was ongoing. The devastation was sad to see but we are glad the fires were out by that time and rain was on the way. Eventually we got to the outskirts of Reno and started seeing a bit of snow on the hills and a few snow flakes were hitting down on us. Uh oh…time to get home soon!!
The forecast showed high winds and danger to high profile vehicles through most of Nevada so we decided we should hunker down in Reno for awhile until the bad weather passed. We didn’t have much choice of where to stay so we tried the Shamrock RV Park on the north side of town. The staff was very helpful in trying to secure us a site but had difficulty as the park was basically full. Somehow she managed to find one site we could use but it was only available for 2 nights. That was fine by us.
RV Park: Shamrock RV Park
Location: Reno, Nevada
Site: C7 (pull thru)
Cost: $58.62
Services: FHU (50 AMP)
Comments: A very tight RV park with easy access off Highway 395 in northwest Reno. The staff was very helpful and courteous. The pull thru site was short (advertised as 50′) but we still had to unhook our tow vehicle to fit (and that’s with a 31′ RV). The advertisement online sounds quite a bit better than reality but it still worked for us.
The RV park was quite tight and crowded but was located in the city and close to everything. It was fine for an emergency but we don’t think we would use this park as a destination park. AND Archie’s Restaurant (hamburgers and such) is supposed to be the best hamburger restaurant in Nevada and is only about a 5 minute drive from the RV Park. We thought it was absolutely delicious and highly recommend it!! That fact alone brought the rating for the RV Park way up!!
At least we had a place to hunker down, we met some nice neighbors, and had some great burgers!! YAY!
So how are you liking the new RV? How is the ride quality? MPG at 65 MPH?
Hi John,
Toby is our fourth RV so we have learned that there is no such thing as the “Perfect RV”. Each has its own compromises but this one ticks a lot of boxes for us. We selected the Kelderman Front Air Suspension option which improves the ride and have adjusted (lowered) the tire pressures, after weighing the RV, which also helps smooth out the ride. Overall I would rate the front end ride as very good and the rear as just good. It is noticeably better than the Mercedes chassis on our last RV. The cab is also a lot quieter, it has way more power and more, and more convenient, exterior storage. We get in the mid to high 11’s MPG towing our Subaru Crosstrek but ours is the 4X2 version (substantially lighter and less gear friction), we normally only cruise at about 63 MPH and I probably have a lighter foot than most. Other people with the 4X4 version who tow heavier vehicles and cruise at 65 seem to get around 10 MPG. We also appreciate the extra insulation, double pane windows, more solar panels, and lithium batteries.
Hope this helps but let me know if you any more specific questions.
Cheers,
Norm
Norm,
I’ve been on a search for information on the issues related to ‘downsizing’ (or ‘rightsizing’?) from a short Class A DP to a Class C and found your blog when considering the 24D View/Navion on the new Mercedes Sprinter chassis. Your observations on the limitations of the Sprinter chassis for OCCC, storage space and suspension mods needed have challenged my DP weakness of taking too much gear and appreciation for airbag suspension. Our closest Winnebago dealer is also a Forest River dealer, so the Isata 3 came up as an option to the View/Navion. I’m now trying to get some feedback from them on pricing and delivery for the 28SS w/Explorer pkg. Can you share your thought process on choosing the rear wheel drive Ram chassis vs the 4×4 option? I see you chose the air bag front suspension – do you think a rear suspension change will be needed? Does your wife share driving duty on the 28SS?
Cheers!
Hi Mike,
Great questions.
As you might have noticed, we downsized from a 40′ DP to the View before going back up a bit to the 28SS.
We opted for the 4X2 (which BTW is no longer an option for the 28SS Xplorer) because we do a lot less boondocking than we used to. The 4X4 is close to 400 lbs heavier, has more unsprung weight on the front axle, more devices to service (differential, Xfer case and clutch) AND costs more. However, if you really like to get off the beaten track and boondock the 4X4 would be a great asset.
The front end ride is felt, and heard, more directly than the rear and we find the ride with the air bags on the front to be quite good and worth the $8K. However at this point I don’t feel that I could justify the significant additional expense of going for air bags or liquid springs for the rear.
It took eight months from order to delivery of our 28SS but I have heard it is now close to a year.
We put about 18K miles on our View. It served us well and met our requirements at that time but our requirements have changed a bit and now the 28SS suits us better. We really appreciate the design, functionality, and build quality of the Dynamax and especially like the features of the Xplorer package option.
My wife did not want to drive the DP but she is OK with driving the Class C’s. However, as the old saying goes, she does all the driving while I get to sit behind the wheel. 🙂
Good luck with whichever you choose,
Norm
Norm,
Our salesman is strongly recommending the 30FW for us coming from our 3-slide Winnebago Journey, and the living area space w/both dinette and theater seats is tempting along with the larger shower in a foot longer overall length. Did you consider the 30FW? The local dealer appears to regularly order the two longer models but not the 28SS and may have a 30FW in the production schedule that would offer an earlier delivery.
I like the always available bed in the 28SS and the pass-through storage underneath it. Do you know the door and compartment dimensions for the pass-thru? Could a 60×80 Queen mattress fit on the bed platform with egress space at the foot? Are the theater seats fully reclinable with the slide in?
Cheers
Mike
Mike,
We did consider the 30FW and actually made an offer on one but that was before we had a look at the prototype 28SS. As you rightly state the 30 has the advantage of a dinette and theater seats and a larger shower, but we felt that the full-time bed and the massive pass through storage better suited us. Up until the ’22 model year the 30FW also had one very long slide which has been a problem for some. The new 30 has split the DS wall with two slides so I suspect that will work a lot better. A more extensive account of our considerations can be found here: http://www.thoseyoungguys.com/2021/07/31/we-purchased-a-new-class-c-motorhome-dynamax-isata-5-28ss
The access behind the door on the rear compartment is roughly 25W x 36H. The interior of the outer sections of the pass-through are 31W x 43H and the center section over the frame rails is 26H.
A full 80″ Queen mattress would hang over the end of the box and be too close to the end wall to easily walk around especially on the DS where the wall is closer to the bed than on the PS. EDIT: The theater seats do NOT fully recline with the slide in.
Cheers,
Norm