[yeayeaatou]

@"arcticdude" would you have changed the way your approached those parks after taking the TAOD in?

At yellowstone fishing bridge allows 95' of bus+toad, madison and bay bridge take 60'. What sucks is i have to be at yellowstone 5/20/23 but sites dont book till june.

Thanks for the idea to check over what places i can get into, didnt think of that.

[arcticdude]

In hindsight, no I don’t think we would change what we do. Coincidentally, we stayed in Yellowstone when we rode our motorcycles there years ago. It was interesting and enjoyable. But using the toad can somewhat force you to see other things that are local. The NP’s are always enjoyable, but there can be as much in the local region to see and do that can make a trip really memorable. And that can get you away from some of the crowds.

[Richard]

FWIW,

Rhonda and I are National Park Junkies, and we have been touring the country for the last 8 years in a 45 footer. Yes, Yellowstone was reworking Fishing Bridge last year.

But our experience is that almost all the campgrounds in the NPs with hookups are really really really tight. Colter Bay in Tetons, Zion, and Glacier come to mind. Trailer Village in the Grand Canyon is the exception.

You will find almost all the parks have much nicer facilities on the edge of the parks or within reasonable driving distances. There are a number of campgrounds in West Yellowstone, and a really nice one Yellowstone Edge on the North side towards Livingston Montana. There is no way I want to try to navigate The traffic and the roads in YNP with an RV.

We quickly realized that if we tethered ourselves to the coach we would miss tons of things we wanted to do. In each of our tours of the country, we put almost as many miles on the toad as we do the coach. Your needs and desires may be very different than ours.

I don’t envy your dilemma. Trying to balance the space you desire for kids and working from the road with the ability to get into tight spaces and boondock is a tough calculation.

[yeayeaatou]

I think I will be ok not staying in the park and driving in to see things. When I bought my Wanderlodge I thought I would just drive that everywhere and then figured out that a toad was needed. Once I bought the toad I understood how much easier it is. My aunt and uncle who I traveled with new have done a toad, they just camp and ride ATV around. Last trip they saw how much more stuff we could see with the toad and they said they need to get one. They have been camping for 15 years with just ATVs.

I have my truck sold and I have listed my wanderlodge. Wife and I determined we are 100% buying a larger motorhome.

[yeayeaatou]

I have searched every method possible. I think I found this because the owners wife listed it only on one site and all the photos were blurry. The ad only stated 97 prevost liberty and had no other description, the photo was in front of a grocery store. I saved the listing a month ago but it looked like a scam 29 people have saved the listing, 150 have saved a similar listing for a less expensive prevost. There were only a total of 4 photos posted.

I finally said I need to go look at this newell 3 hours away and they are in the same town so I might as well look at two. I spoke to the owner on thursday and found out it might work. I looked at it friday.

I showed up at the owners farm and he a few vintage cars in great condition. The bus was kept in a heated barn with the other cars and 2 older Harleys. I had spoken to the owner about issues with the bus and he was up front about the clear coat failure. The bus has no rust on any bays and all the doors open and work as they should. He seemed very specific about his bus and talked about the repairs he had done. He talked about having to remove the fridge to service the a/c filters and had built something to pull the fridge.

Engine ran as it should and so did the 20kw genny, new chassis batteries and so on. It does have an interior blemish, a ceiling panel had the glue come loose, it could be a sign of water damage, but there is no water line around the area, if the closet door opens all the way it would have hit that spot and appears it came loose.

I searched for issues all over the place, but wasn't able to find many. All the items on the bus worked as they should. He said someone offered him 69k, and that he found that to be insulting. He said 2 people have looked at it. I think the ****** ad pretty much doomed his ability to sell it. Only 29 people have even looked at the ad.

[Guy]

I guess the value can be easier to understand with how it drove.  Was it solid and responsive on the highway? Good oil pressure ? Shift properly? Tight steering? Maintain proper temperature? All instrumentation functional ? Any obvious  trans, engine or radiator leaks after the test drive ?

[yeayeaatou]

No issues

I am going to drive it one more time prior to purchase.

Also no stains on the floor

[Richard]

Have oil and transmission fluid samples analyzed by Blackstone or another lab.

Does your support group have the capability to read the codes on the DDEC?

[yeayeaatou]

I have a DDEC computer to read codes, i will make sure to take it on saturday.

I have not had the oil analyzed, maybe I should pull a sample and ship it off and put off buying the coach for another week?

[Richard]

Isaiah,

Please correct me if I am wrong, but if I interpret your post on the WOG forum correctly, the coach you are contemplating is a Prevost, not a Newell. Is that correct?