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Old 06-29-2009, 09:17 AM   #17
SCBillandJane
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Join Date: Oct 2007
Posts: 146
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I had an Astro and took it on a trip from SC to Yellowstone tent camping/ moteling with a schedule. It was a comfortable vehicle for hours at a time. I wouldn't even try it pulling a Trailmanor in my opinion while trying to do long distances. You can see what I have now. We did take a trip to Alaska last summer, and there are things you can do to make more miles in a day if that is your goal. Your idea to make local trips first is good to see if you still want to try a distant trip. There are some things we discovered.
1. Trailmanors pull so well that neither my wife nor I were nervous or tense pulling the trailer for long hours.
2. Traveling at 65 instead of 75 only cost us 100 miles in 10 hours and was more relaxing, so we could drive longer.
3. Having cereal for breakfast, a picnic lunch at a rest stop, and a quick preplanned supper in the Trailmanor gave us back time that we would have spent in restaurants.
4. You have to check in at a motel and bring stuff in to your room. Not much different at a campground except your stuff is already there.
5. If your TV and TM are set up level while traveling, then a few leveling blocks under the TV or TM tires will let you stay hooked up over night, or if you are lucky you may be already level.
6. You don't have to put down the stabilizers, but we always did. A battery drill makes this much quicker.
7. Although it isn't fun, we have had days that we were up at 6 AM and on the road at 7 AM and traveled to 8:30 pm. We showered at the camp ground, and were in bed by 10 PM. About 700 miles was our longest day, but we could have left earlier in the day.
8. At Yellowstone ( for example ) if you go with the Trailmanor, you are already in the park when you start your touring which saves time. You can move from one camp area to another within the park to save time. It is about 80 miles from north to south and many miles to go outside the park to a motel. You can compare costs of lodges within the park, outside the park, to campsites within the park. Money in your case might not be as important as time.
9. Something that we have never done but others do to save time, money, and allow long hours on the road is to pull into Walmart parking lots, where allowed, for a few hours of sleep.
10. Flying may be best for you. Be sure to factor in the time waiting at airports and finding places to eat once you get to Yellowstone.
I bet you can't guess how we would go. We are prejudiced, but we understand that all situations are different. We hope the above might be helpful.
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Bill and Jane
2003 3124 KS, 2007 Tundra 4X4 TRD
Reese WDH, Prodigy
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