Ok got a few things narrowed down.
1. seems they all do it
2. there is a headphone jack connection at the bottom of the steering wheel column and it came loose, reconnected and works fine. the steering wheel controls are IR, so when they sometimes work its because it is getting its signal to the front of the radio IR sensor. You probably are not sitting in the seat or have the wheel cocked to the left to get it to line up just right. Winnie put a IR sensor at the base of the steering column and that is the sensor that picks up the controls when driving.
3. Winnie gave me the 800 number for the people that support the radio. What an awesome company, they guy worked with me and also determined that my thoughts were correct.
4. Same guy/company also helped me troubleshoot the Rand McNally. There is a website to visit that you can get lifetime updates to the GPS and troubleshoot bad files on the SD card, the site found problems but SD card still does not work. The company is going to send me a new SD card and the module for me to swap out and should get in a few days, all under warranty. This will save me a day (or weeks) of visiting the RV dealer and from $60-$120 in fuel as there is no dealer nearby and it may require 2 trips.
5. Powerline - talked to them and I had a breaker off. Even though nothing was connected to it it had to be on for the powerline to work properly.