Loving the lifestyle in a truck camper

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2Z Bundok

Member
Joined
Aug 29, 2022
Messages
6
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Location
Maryland
2Z Bundok - Thrifty remodeling contractors, aging out, found a 97 Shadow Cruiser truck camper (in the East) to fit our 94 GMC K2500 6.5TD well maintained, low mileage pickup truck. His long DIY list (to do and all done) of repairs / modifications and Her software support reduces stress, allowing comfort and integration of this new hobby to travel and photography. We love shun-piking, boondocking, solitude and nature experience. Long term travel it is!
 
I hope your 6.5 holds up. I had a 6.2 and the heads would crack.
 
I had to lookup what shun-piking is. I guess it was unknown to me as I have never spent time on the east coast when the toll roads were from horse travel days were called "turn pikes"

If you come west a shun-pike traveler will be taking the "blue highways" a name which refers to color those two lane roads were on a road map. Otherwise you would say when traveling you like taking the "back roads".

But whatever you call it may you happily in years to come go down many of them.
 
Interesting! I got it from the Frugral Shunpikers Guide a series of books about camping in the west!
Blue = Interstate Highway to be avoided.

“Thanks to the Interstate Highway System, it is now possible to travel across the country from coast to coast without seeing anything.”

― Charles Kuralt

Our hierarchy of road types (on maps) preference: Blue for distance, Grey for exploring, black dotted for over-landing and over-nights / extended stay.

'94 6.5TD in excellent condition with only 100k miles, currently wrestling with the injection pump replacement.
 
shun pikers got it wrong. Blue highways is a reference to the old days and older the style of maps, not the modern ones. Old as in Steinbeck's time period of writing. That is the era when the main highways were shown in red and the other roads were in blue. So when you go to the Western states and say you are going to take the blue highways it means the same thing in the east as shun-pike.

Of course now it is easy, you just tell the road map app you use for directions to avoid toll roads and highways. That way it does not matter what you call something. The times they are a changen. They always do. Or you could read a more recent book, Blue Highways by William Least Heat Moon.✌️
 
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