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FCCC_RV Personal_Ad_Generic_122211.indd 1 2/3/12 3:47 PMMichelin RV ad.indd 1 1/13/12 11:54 AM Roughing it FALL 2012 VOLUME 9 NUMBER 4 Smoothly October 2012 Volume 9, Number 4 Roughing It Smoothly® magazine is published four times a year by Book Production Resources for Tiffin Motorhomes, Inc., 105 2nd Street NW, Red Bay, Alabama 35582. BPR offices are located at 1403 Cedar Point Way, Monroe, GA 30656. Printed in the United States of America. Postage paid at Bolingbrook, Illinois 60440. Postmaster: Send all changes of address to Book Production Resources 1403 Cedar Point Way Monroe, GA 30656. 20 35 24 This issue of Roughing It Smoothly® has a postal distribution of approximately 45,500 copies and a dealer distribution of 12,000 copies. Departments Features It was printed by Quad Graphics, Inc., N63 W23075 State Hwy. 74, Sussex, WI 53089. Copyright © 2012 by Book Production President’s Corner 4 Owner Profile 48 The Perfect Condo Resources. All rights reserved. Roughing It Facts Are Facts “Please Call Me C.H.!” • ® Wherever You Travel in the 2013 Phaeton 36 GH See page 6 Smoothly is a registered trademark of Tiffin Motorhomes, Inc. No part of this magazine News You Can Use 14 Tiffin Management Team 53 may be reproduced in any form without the Mike Pounders: From Visual Basic The Oregon Trail written permission of the publisher. From the Road 18 • Publisher, Book Production Resources; to SAP in Four Years Part 1: Independence, Missouri to Scotts Bluff, Nebraska See page 24 Editor, Fred Thompson; Typesetting and Page On the Road with Elaine 34 Makeup, Andy Cargile; Copy Editor, Carolyn Serious Tech Talk 60 New for 2013 Thompson. Contributing Writers: Bob Traveling With Your Pets 41 Tiffin, Fred Thompson, Norman Spray, Danny • See page 35 Inman, Elaine Austin, and Dr. John P. Pilarczyk. Dealer Profile 42 Contributing Photographers: Fred Thompson, Elaine Austin, Justin Benttinen , Jan and Bill Dixie RV Riding the Rails Moeller, National Park Service, and Constellation • The Day They Drove the Golden Spike See page 56 Imageworks. If you have a subscription card on your back cover, this will be your last issue . unless you return the card and it is postmarked obvious that many of our addresses may no Procedure for Changes of Address vehicle identification number (VIN), and same spike that stopped the wagons on the adults and one in five children died along the on or before December 1. Please remove longer be correct. As I’m sure you know, it is Please do not call to make a change of ad- the year and model of your coach. If you Oregon Trail. By some estimates, nearly a trail. Cholera was the main killer, accidents the whole card on the perforation, an- not inexpensive to write, produce, print, and dress. We are often traveling when your sell your coach, email stephanie.mccarley@ half million emigrants sought a better life second, and Indian attacks a distant third. swer the questions, fold it once where mail Roughing It Smoothly. We need to remove calls come in and it is very difficult to tiffinmotorhomes.com with your VIN, year, in the American West by making the ardu- You can follow the trail today, just as we marked, tape it where marked, and mail from our list those who no longer need or handle the call on a cell phone. Please use model, and the new owner’s name/address. ous journey on the Oregon, California, and did. Part I of our story will take you from it with a 45-cent stamp. If you do not want the magazine. Therefore, we need to a standard change of address card from Mormon Trails. Independence, Missouri, to Scotts Bluff, receive the Winter 2013 (10:1) issue by burden you one time and ask that you re- USPS and send it to Roughing It Smooth- Riding the Rails and the Oregon Trail Trains were economical and fast. Emi- Nebraska. Part II, which I hope to complete January 30, 2013, you can assume your turn the card on the back cover by December ly, PO Box 1738, Monroe, GA 30655-1738. In April we introduced a new column about grants lined up to buy one-way, cross-coun- in time for the January 2013 edition (10:1), name was removed. If you are using a 1, 2012. If you do not return the card, we will You can also change your address by email. steam locomotives still operating in North try tickets that cost $50. They boarded rail will complete the story and take you to Mail Forwarding Service and you do not assume you do not want RIS and will drop you Send your old address as it appears on your America. The amazing steam locomotives cars in Omaha, Nebraska and arrived in Oregon City, Oregon. Tracing the Oregon see your name on the back cover, that from the mailing list. label along with your new address. The were instrumental in expanding and build- Sacramento, California almost a week later. Trail today is a great teaching tool for your means the mail forwarder has removed email address is [email protected]. ing this country. In this issue Norm Spray By the 1880s, the Union Pacific was car- children and grandchildren. In talking with the cover wrap before sending you the Serious Tech Talk tells us the story about the day the transcon- rying nearly one million people west each high school students today, I am stunned by magazine. There will be a reinstatement To address your technical questions to Danny First Time Subscribers tinental railroad was completed at Promon- year—over twice as many as those who had their lack of knowledge of American history. fee if you decide later that you want to re- Inman, you may use the postcard bound in Tiffin coach owners may receive a free tory Summit, Utah on May 10, 1869. come across the continent in 30 years of We worry about our students ranking very ceive Roughing It Smoothly. this issue, send a longer letter to the address subscription by writing to Roughing It Five days later, the Union Pacific Rail- covered wagon travel. low in math and science when compared to on the postcard, or send an email to RIStech- Smoothly®, 1403 Cedar Point Way, Monroe, road began regular train service to the West. The Oregon Trail story in this issue relates students in the developed nations, and we When we started the magazine nine years [email protected]. If you need an immediate GA 30656 or emailing fredthompson1941@ Almost immediately, the covered wagon a poignant chapter in our history. Although should. But we should also be concerned ago, we had a mailing list of only 29,000. answer to a service problem, you should call hotmail.com. Please include your phone migrations across the Great Platte River there are no records of those who began the about their knowledge of our country’s his- Our list has grown to over 45,000, but it is 256-356-0261. number, the last six characters of your Road slowed to a trickle. The “last spike” trek, and those who died trying, historians tory. Learning our history will foster an ap- that connected the rails coming from the who have studied the approximately 3,000 preciation of why we are a privileged people The following names are registered trademarks of Tiffin Motorhomes, Inc.: Open Road®, Phaeton®, Allegro®, Allegro west to those coming from the east was the emigrant diaries estimate that one in 17 to live in the United States of America. Bay®, Allegro Bus®, Allegro Breeze®, Zephyr®, Roughing It Smoothly®, Pusher®, and PowerGlide®. PRESIDENT’S CORNER Facts Are Facts by Bob Tiffin From the very beginning of Tiffin Motor has been my pleasure and it has made for Homes, I have encountered many critiques a tremendously gratifying career.