Stardate 4-13-12. Just returned from the Orion cluster.... Ok, just kidding, I'm an old time Trekkie . I did just get home from a week on the road though. I have pics, I can prove it!
The journey from Alabama to Pa began at 2:30 am on Friday the 6 th.. I am driving my 01 blazer pulling our 69 Shasta 1400 Tt. Our kids were flying out of Chattanooga at 5 :30 am. The gates in the parking area are NOT designed for half asleep trailer towers, and thus, I left behind my grey tank discharge valve handle.<img src="/images/boards/smilies/rolleyes.gif" border="0" align="absmiddle">The scraping sound alerted me before more damage could be done., and I gingerly backed the rig off the parking kiosk , found a double spot in short term parking and watched the kids board the plane. It was slow and uneventful from there to northern Virginia.
So, Last Christmas, I drove to mid Fla to my inlaws, and the blazer averaged 20,5 mpg doing 70+ on reg gas, loaded with 4 people, luggage ,and Christmas presents. I was very dissapointrd to get only 11.5 towing the trailer.<img src="/images/boards/smilies/bawl.gif" border="0" align="absmiddle"> I promised myself that I would do something about that, as my van gets around 13! Ok, onward.
Somewhere on 81 in north Virginia, I was running low ion gas, and signaled that I wanted the next exit, which was promptly ignored by 5 cars in a row , all going 85 in the right lane. Damn! I got off at the next exit, which happened to be I-77. At this point, it was just as far to go to the next exit as it was to turn around and go back, so we pressed on. Recalculating......
After fueling up, we decided to just go with it, and headed up 77, as it went roughly where we wanted to go and the gps said it only added about an hour to the drive. ?$#%€ng gps!, and it was not the last time we would curse the machine. If God Himself had ever designed a roller coaster, it would be I-77 from the Va/WV line through WV, Maryland to the Pa line. It's 275 miles of up and down 3000' peaks every 5 miles. Crawl up one in the slow lane doing 35,
crest the top and then drop to second gear going down so you don't burn out the brakes on a 6 mile long 9% downgrade. Lather, rinse, repeat. For 6 hours...
We got to my parents house near Altoona , Pa 3 hours behind schedule. I love my parents, and I'm grateful that they and my wife get along. But her retired parents do the same thing. A typical day consists of waking up,coffee and breakfast.then sitting, perhaps with the paper, mabye in the study but always in a chair. Then it's lunchtime, and more sitting, contemplating navel fuzz and dinner. Then dinner, desert, tv, bed. Lather, rinse, repeat. 3 or 4 days of this and I'm ready to lose my mind. A huge hilight was that my 20 yo son drove down from upstate Ny to join us for easter, his first road trip on his own. <img src="/images/boards/smilies/thumb.gif" border="0" align="absmiddle">
Monday after Easter, we are off again, this time armed with a home made air foil to break the wind resistance up and over the camper, instead of slamming into it. It Works! Our mpg average went from 11.5 to about 13, important when you have 800 miles to go. We had roughly planned to camp somewhere in the Jefferson or Washington Natl forest , and we headed for " The Pines". The gps said it was an easy 6 hour drive. No problem, we' d be there at 4:30 or so, set up, have dinner, relax... What could go wrong? The cursed gps was apparently wounded by the last scolding and decided to drop us off on a one lane gravel road deep in the Natl forest with not a thing in sight except a small, old wooden church ( the 174th we had passed...) Dammitall!!! 1/4 of a speck of cell service eventually led to the discovery that we were 2 hours from where we wanted to be. Aaarrrgggghhhh!!!
Back to driving. When we get close, there is a smell of smoke in the air. Campfires? Blazing marshmallows? A smores experiment gone horribly wrong? Our brakes giving up? Nope. A wildfire, complete with helicopters with hanging buckets, fire fighters with bulldozers, and a small army of Forrest service personell. Though the fire was several miles away, our campsite had a steel barrier gate across the entrance. Closed. Just down the road was a horse campsite ( whodathunkit?) and we backed in there in the pitch smoky dark. Inside of 3 minutes, a Ranger pulled up, and politely told us to beat it. ( no really, this guy was nice, radioed hq to see if we were in the safe zone , apploogised, and told of another campsite about 45 min away .) Our "easy" little 4 1/4 hour drive had become 11, and we rolled in the first open campsite at steel bridge we could find. Folks, I wish I were making this up....
In the morning, a spot in " Steel Bridge" ( no steel bridge there for at least 20 years) next to the creek became available, so we quick move to it, and actually enjoyed an uneventful 18 hrs. My wife can be cold when it's 65 out ( low iron vs alien DNA , I dunno) and when we woke up after running the furnace all night, it was SNOWING!
Steel bridge creek campsite-
One thing WV has RIGHT is-
Yes boys and girls, that's 25 GRAND! and it was CLEAN!
Back to my tale- ok, snowing. It's been 80 at home for 3 weeks, we ain doin no snow. Hitch er up again, and head south, middle aged man I seyz. We decide to try to catch up with Cuzzin Dick ( yahoo vandwellers construction) at Tumbling creek, in Tn in the Cherokee Natl forest. Somewhere along the way, 2 of the 4 bolts that hold my receiver hitch on snapped.ON THE SAME SIDE! we towed the camper into the Natl forest, including the last two miles of NF dirt road WITH ONLY ONE SIDE OF THE HITCH BOLTED TO THE FRAME!!!<img src="/images/boards/smilies/mad.gif" border="0" align="absmiddle"><img src="/images/boards/smilies/eek.gif" border="0" align="absmiddle"><img src="/images/boards/smilies/eek.gif" border="0" align="absmiddle"><img src="/images/boards/smilies/eek.gif" border="0" align="absmiddle">
Tumbling creek pics-
Sumpin sumpin gap/wilderness on 64 on the way home-
So, I had cleaned out the blazer for the trip, BUT still had my cordless drill ( recharged 5 times by a wonderful gent in a class A with a gererator) and the original bolts that I had planned to use in my glove box. 2 hours of drilling with a dull bit revealed a hole large enough to shove the bolt in and patch it up so I could tow home. I have a genny, but didn't bring it, though the yahoos next to us did, a 8500w 12 hp monster they ran till 11:30 pm so they could run 110v heaters in thier popup camper ( need a "smacking palm against the forehead" smiley face, bob). Then up at daybreak cause the wife is cold... Still? Again? Ah , who cares. An uneventful 2 hours home, sleep on a bed, not an air mattress, and work today. Yes, I came home on Friday, and went to work today.
My glasses broke. The wife's car broke down and she waited 3 hrs for AAA ( well worth every penny we have spent on it!) to tow it home. The steering linkage broke on the front loader and needs to be welded. Yikes, I'll take my chances in the woods! And yet, we are already planning the next great adventure....august to go back to Ny to visit f and f for 2 weeks or so... The saga continues. That's my story, and I'm sticking to it. That is all...
Kirk out.<img src="/images/boards/smilies/biggrin.gif" border="0" align="absmiddle">
I
The journey from Alabama to Pa began at 2:30 am on Friday the 6 th.. I am driving my 01 blazer pulling our 69 Shasta 1400 Tt. Our kids were flying out of Chattanooga at 5 :30 am. The gates in the parking area are NOT designed for half asleep trailer towers, and thus, I left behind my grey tank discharge valve handle.<img src="/images/boards/smilies/rolleyes.gif" border="0" align="absmiddle">The scraping sound alerted me before more damage could be done., and I gingerly backed the rig off the parking kiosk , found a double spot in short term parking and watched the kids board the plane. It was slow and uneventful from there to northern Virginia.
So, Last Christmas, I drove to mid Fla to my inlaws, and the blazer averaged 20,5 mpg doing 70+ on reg gas, loaded with 4 people, luggage ,and Christmas presents. I was very dissapointrd to get only 11.5 towing the trailer.<img src="/images/boards/smilies/bawl.gif" border="0" align="absmiddle"> I promised myself that I would do something about that, as my van gets around 13! Ok, onward.
Somewhere on 81 in north Virginia, I was running low ion gas, and signaled that I wanted the next exit, which was promptly ignored by 5 cars in a row , all going 85 in the right lane. Damn! I got off at the next exit, which happened to be I-77. At this point, it was just as far to go to the next exit as it was to turn around and go back, so we pressed on. Recalculating......
After fueling up, we decided to just go with it, and headed up 77, as it went roughly where we wanted to go and the gps said it only added about an hour to the drive. ?$#%€ng gps!, and it was not the last time we would curse the machine. If God Himself had ever designed a roller coaster, it would be I-77 from the Va/WV line through WV, Maryland to the Pa line. It's 275 miles of up and down 3000' peaks every 5 miles. Crawl up one in the slow lane doing 35,
crest the top and then drop to second gear going down so you don't burn out the brakes on a 6 mile long 9% downgrade. Lather, rinse, repeat. For 6 hours...
We got to my parents house near Altoona , Pa 3 hours behind schedule. I love my parents, and I'm grateful that they and my wife get along. But her retired parents do the same thing. A typical day consists of waking up,coffee and breakfast.then sitting, perhaps with the paper, mabye in the study but always in a chair. Then it's lunchtime, and more sitting, contemplating navel fuzz and dinner. Then dinner, desert, tv, bed. Lather, rinse, repeat. 3 or 4 days of this and I'm ready to lose my mind. A huge hilight was that my 20 yo son drove down from upstate Ny to join us for easter, his first road trip on his own. <img src="/images/boards/smilies/thumb.gif" border="0" align="absmiddle">
Monday after Easter, we are off again, this time armed with a home made air foil to break the wind resistance up and over the camper, instead of slamming into it. It Works! Our mpg average went from 11.5 to about 13, important when you have 800 miles to go. We had roughly planned to camp somewhere in the Jefferson or Washington Natl forest , and we headed for " The Pines". The gps said it was an easy 6 hour drive. No problem, we' d be there at 4:30 or so, set up, have dinner, relax... What could go wrong? The cursed gps was apparently wounded by the last scolding and decided to drop us off on a one lane gravel road deep in the Natl forest with not a thing in sight except a small, old wooden church ( the 174th we had passed...) Dammitall!!! 1/4 of a speck of cell service eventually led to the discovery that we were 2 hours from where we wanted to be. Aaarrrgggghhhh!!!
Back to driving. When we get close, there is a smell of smoke in the air. Campfires? Blazing marshmallows? A smores experiment gone horribly wrong? Our brakes giving up? Nope. A wildfire, complete with helicopters with hanging buckets, fire fighters with bulldozers, and a small army of Forrest service personell. Though the fire was several miles away, our campsite had a steel barrier gate across the entrance. Closed. Just down the road was a horse campsite ( whodathunkit?) and we backed in there in the pitch smoky dark. Inside of 3 minutes, a Ranger pulled up, and politely told us to beat it. ( no really, this guy was nice, radioed hq to see if we were in the safe zone , apploogised, and told of another campsite about 45 min away .) Our "easy" little 4 1/4 hour drive had become 11, and we rolled in the first open campsite at steel bridge we could find. Folks, I wish I were making this up....
In the morning, a spot in " Steel Bridge" ( no steel bridge there for at least 20 years) next to the creek became available, so we quick move to it, and actually enjoyed an uneventful 18 hrs. My wife can be cold when it's 65 out ( low iron vs alien DNA , I dunno) and when we woke up after running the furnace all night, it was SNOWING!
Steel bridge creek campsite-
One thing WV has RIGHT is-
Yes boys and girls, that's 25 GRAND! and it was CLEAN!
Back to my tale- ok, snowing. It's been 80 at home for 3 weeks, we ain doin no snow. Hitch er up again, and head south, middle aged man I seyz. We decide to try to catch up with Cuzzin Dick ( yahoo vandwellers construction) at Tumbling creek, in Tn in the Cherokee Natl forest. Somewhere along the way, 2 of the 4 bolts that hold my receiver hitch on snapped.ON THE SAME SIDE! we towed the camper into the Natl forest, including the last two miles of NF dirt road WITH ONLY ONE SIDE OF THE HITCH BOLTED TO THE FRAME!!!<img src="/images/boards/smilies/mad.gif" border="0" align="absmiddle"><img src="/images/boards/smilies/eek.gif" border="0" align="absmiddle"><img src="/images/boards/smilies/eek.gif" border="0" align="absmiddle"><img src="/images/boards/smilies/eek.gif" border="0" align="absmiddle">
Tumbling creek pics-
Sumpin sumpin gap/wilderness on 64 on the way home-
So, I had cleaned out the blazer for the trip, BUT still had my cordless drill ( recharged 5 times by a wonderful gent in a class A with a gererator) and the original bolts that I had planned to use in my glove box. 2 hours of drilling with a dull bit revealed a hole large enough to shove the bolt in and patch it up so I could tow home. I have a genny, but didn't bring it, though the yahoos next to us did, a 8500w 12 hp monster they ran till 11:30 pm so they could run 110v heaters in thier popup camper ( need a "smacking palm against the forehead" smiley face, bob). Then up at daybreak cause the wife is cold... Still? Again? Ah , who cares. An uneventful 2 hours home, sleep on a bed, not an air mattress, and work today. Yes, I came home on Friday, and went to work today.
My glasses broke. The wife's car broke down and she waited 3 hrs for AAA ( well worth every penny we have spent on it!) to tow it home. The steering linkage broke on the front loader and needs to be welded. Yikes, I'll take my chances in the woods! And yet, we are already planning the next great adventure....august to go back to Ny to visit f and f for 2 weeks or so... The saga continues. That's my story, and I'm sticking to it. That is all...
Kirk out.<img src="/images/boards/smilies/biggrin.gif" border="0" align="absmiddle">
I
