longest trip taken ?? - Page 2

SCBillandJane · 07-23-2010, 04:23 PM

We have been to Alaska which is about 20,000 miles round trip, to Key West, FL about 2000 miles , and to San Diego, CA about 10,000 miles most recently. We have had no tire failures or anything that stopped us from traveling the next day. Yes, we have had to fix some things, but nothing we felt was different than could be expected with any RV.

**ShrimpBurrito** · 07-23-2010, 06:34 PM

Wow, Bill & Jane, those are some serious trips, especially to Alaska. Please, share your tire secrets!

Dave

07-23-2010, 06:48 PM

3900 miles Peoria, IL to Tampa, FL to Miami to Key West, back to Tampa to drop off our daughter and on to Quantico, VA down to Gettysburg battlefields, back to Quantico to drop off our Marine then home with a stop at the TM factory on the way. One blowout, no problems with the TM. I failed to latch the bar on the hitch properly and drug the bar almost to wearing through!

07-23-2010, 07:23 PM

You guys are gods. I won't even leave the state in my TM until next summer. I am not worthy. (The plan is to leave the country on that trip though so maybe that will help make up for it)

07-23-2010, 08:20 PM

We are in the middle of our trip. San Diego to Olympia to Elgin ILL (we are here right now) leaving for Western New York tomorrow. So far a little over 5250 miles. Nothing bad has happened. Except snagged the electric wires that went to the left rear jacks. But I was able to fix them. (Well sort of-at least the work)

Now that is someting different about my Outlook. Had the car services in Cheyenne and they had a service bullitan on the outside Temp thing. So I had it repaired here in Elgin. And no sooner had I picked up the car than the AC quit. So back I went to the dealer for that. Everything still under warrenty. So nothing out of my pocket except time.

TexasCamper · 07-23-2010, 09:13 PM

My longest haul was last year's trip from Houston to AZ & UT (~3500 miles round trip). This year's trip to Rocky Mountain NP was ~2400 miles. No problems experienced. I split traveling days to ~7 hrs driving per day. This allows plenty of time to break down camp in the AM and plenty of time in the evening to let the kids play at the pool or the playground.

My question to the crowd: To push over 9+ hrs driving time per day, do you still "camp" in the TM or do you stay in a hotel? I'm thinking about using hotels while en-route for a future trip to WY.

My thoughts for a long haul:
(1) Service your TV one week ahead of your trip. The extra time is for the unexpected discovery or the need to switch to a 2nd service/repair shop. Do you need to buy tires?
(2) During your trip, check the pressure of all TV & TM tires regularly (every 1-2 days). Low tire pressure is one cause for tire blowouts.
(3) Think about buying gas when you hit 1/4 tank. I'm the kind of person who refills on "E". That's a bad habit when you're driving through a remote country.
(4) When you re-hitch, you'll need to regularly regrease your hitch ball and metal-to-metal points on weight distribution bars (for my WDH at least).
(5) Don't forget to double-check your TM lights when you rehook to your TV.
(6) Don't forget to switch your TM refrigerator back to battery mode if you camped and switched to shore-power mode.
(7) Driving through cities is my least favorite part. Know your route, stay in your lane, give yourself plenty of space, and swich lanes early when needing to exit.
(8) Travel light. We like to pick up most of our groceries at our final destination.
(9) We like to plan longer driving days when road terrain is easy/flat, and shorter driving days when road terrain is more difficult.
(10) Make sure you have all tools needed to actually change a tire!

**ShrimpBurrito** · 07-23-2010, 10:36 PM

11) Carry plenty of beer. In some parts of the country, beer is not sold on Sundays, and in some cases, not during the other 6 days of the week either.

07-23-2010, 10:40 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ShrimpBurrito

11) Carry plenty of beer. In some parts of the country, beer is not sold on Sundays, and in some cases, not during the other 6 days of the week either.

Reminds me of an awkward trip to grocery store in Indiana once on a Sunday. I told the clerk I wanted to buy a case of beer. She told me they don't sell liquor on Sundays. I told her that I wasn't looking to buy liquor, just beer. I left thirsty.

**wbmiller3** · 07-24-2010, 01:51 PM

TexasCamper - for overnight stops we don't unhitch the TM, just set it up still attached. It only takes a few minutes both going up and then folding back down in the morning since we only transfer the minimum stuff from truck->TM for the overnight stop.

TexasCamper · 07-24-2010, 02:36 PM

Hey Bill,

You're right, I could leave the TM hitched up to my TV no problem. The TV doesn't get in the way too badly when moving the TM's front shell. And if I wanted to relieve the weight on my TV suspension, I could just lower the jack to take some of the tongue weight off.

But invariably, my family needs to get to the back of the TV for something, and I don't want them to scratch the back door or hit the TM jack too hard.

Leaving it hitched will save me time. Just need to keep the family out of the TV back!