Leaving on first cross-country tomorrow!

[OTW]

Crazy-busy couple of weeks getting stuff on truck including a set of big honkin' "truckah momma" towing mirrors which (yay!) actually work with my new-to-me bezel that has the power mirror switch, which my stock bezel didn't have. They work on power for left/right and up -- just not down; but if it's not the power mirror switch that's in it, and instead in the mirrors, I can live with that. Mechanic said great quality mirrors otherwise, and I got them super cheap ($115 shipped for the pair). Thrilled to be able to move the mirrors on power!

I used Good Sam's trip planner to find my campgrounds along the way, made all those reservations and then just 2 days ago, discovered AAA has an Online TripTik! Yay! It prints out just like the old ones were, with partial maps as you go along for better detail plus written directions which puts me way more at ease. Please let me know if there's anything not trustable about those.

So this will be a first, for sure! Very much looking forward to it and am also just a tad nervous. That's probably a good thing, actually. I listened to the advice of the many who said to only plan 200-230 miles per day. Seems to me like very few miles in a day but I'm told it'll seem like way more towing. Worst case scenario, more time relaxing.

Has anyone gone to the Camping World store that's right off the I-90 in Syracuse, NY? It's right near some fairground and though it appears very close to the Thruway, I wonder if it's a traffic ratnest getting to/from. A closeup shows an awful lot of winding around U-turn-ish roads. Just thought I'd ask.

[havingfunnow]

Oh, you're going to have a great time! So much fun. Hurrah!

[IrishIroamed]

Good for you! Best of luck in your travels and keep us informed of where you are. You never know who could be close and stop by for a mini-GTG.

After just getting back from 2 1/2 weeks and 4 CGs, I totally agree with the 250 miles driving per day. Depending on your routes, traffic (ie semis, tour buses, etc), you'll be glad the next stop is closer than farther away.

[Bethers]

Have a wonderful time. I've had driving days of only 20 miles. Plan for time to stop and see things along the route.... 250 is high for me.

[Colliemom]

Sounds great. Have fun and enjoy yourself. If you get to MI, give me a holler. If you have an IPhone or IPad, the Allstays Camp and RV is good to have. Can find all kinds of campgrounds all over the U.S. and Canada.

Good Sam has a trip,lanner like AAA too and it's good causevit also alerts you to low clearances, tunnels etc. I use it all the time.

[snowball]

have fun on your trip even though I don't do much more than that in a day I forget to stop and smell
the roses miss out on a lot doing that
sheila

[Birdie]

Camping World is off the I90 tollway. If you have the AllStays App it gives the directions. If you don't have the app, call Camping World and get the directions. Too many turns to try to type. Definitely not a place you want to get turned around. Syracuse has some low bridges so pay attention. Sue, Colliemom, and I saw a trailer stuck under the town bridge in Mackinac City a couple weeks ago. I think Sue said the bridge was one JudyJB was familiar with. Not sure short ones are in that area but I changed my route because of the low bridges in Syracuse.

I hope you have no plans to be near I10 in TX, LA, MS, AL, FL anytime in the next week or so. Good luck and be safe on the road.

[JudyJB]

Yes, I am very familiar with that low bridge. Made a turn and saw bunch of flashing signs that said something like 10' 8". Had to back up through four way stop, but everyone wAited for me. Was told by visitor center that they get someone damaging Rv about once a week. That caused me to spend $300 on Rand McNally. Figured it was cheaper than new AC and roof!!

[OTW]

Departure day became insane -- didn't drive out until 2:15pm! (As the saying goes, "everything takes longer.") First day drive was hectic and a bit tense -- nothing was where I thought I'd put it in the truck, the Mass Pike in a truck is super bumpy and my truck's radio is sucky. Second day driving though? Totally different. Sooo much better. I refined how things are stowed in truck, could reach whatever I needed by feel and had dug out my ipod and ear buds and that made a huge difference. The 230 miles were easy.

Did mileage check now that I have 2 days of travel to work with and came out to 8.9mpg. I was expecting more like 8. Very happy with that.

Did not stop at Camping World even though I could see it from the highway. I'd called and they didn't have what I wanted in stock plus the loopy roads looked too easy to get a wrong turn on (okay, just too many turns and I have a bit of special challenges with maps -- common with slightly myopic personalities, so just passed. Now reading what Birdie wrote, I'm glad I did!!

Judy -- your experience confirms what my fear was. I detest driving through Lowell even in a car -- narrow roads, impatient Mass drivers, too many cars everywhere, traffic. I added 17 miles to avoid it just on that alone, so hearing what that bridge is like... gah!

I can tell I am definitely built for nomading. Love this little trailer. It's 28 ft. (but for some reason they call it 26) but it's just laid out soooo well. I'm definitely appreciating the pull-through sites while en route so I don't have to unhitch. That right there makes me appreciate why some buy motorhomes.

Just 200 miles today to next CG and then 170 on Tuesday to destination. At which point we will start taking my trailer apart to see how much water damage might be under those two spots where my water meter said wet. Hoping it won't be a lot of dry (or wet) rot, but I'll sure learn how this thing is built!

[JudyJB]

I even add a few inches to my GPS settings because you can't 100% trust those road signs. First, some are really tiny, and I cannot read them until it is too late. Second, you never know how many inches of asphalt that might have added since the sign was posted!

Sounds like you did very well. Where are you now? I hope you aren't going to travel every single day. I try to travel one or two days at most and then stop and sit for a day. Lets me catch up and rest, plus also gives me time for little maintenance tasks. Make sure you stop and sightsee if you see something interesting along the road.

Massachusetts is a lot like California--both would be wonderful states with half as many people living there!

[OTW]

Amen regarding Mass. and California -- overpopulated, both! I can feel the difference the minute I cross the border into NH. Literally, it's just instantly a completely different feeling.

I am now in Ohio at destination. Yes, I did travel every day--there's a time deadline involved because before taking the trailer apart there was no way of knowing how serious the 2 leaks I knew I had were. First day (Sat.) I did 220 miles, second day 230, third day 201 and last day 170 miles. The second day was completely easy and pleasant -- I-90 the whole way with no big cities and wonderful travel plazas to stop at. However one of the days my GPS said 6 times in a row going through some city "Be in either of the two left lanes" in what seemed like fast succession -- some interchange with lot of switches so that was high focus time. Only other thing of interest drivingwise was a stretch of road that's apparently under dispute between Native American and USA as to ownership, where the NA side doesn't want the USA side to fix the road (as though doing so would strengthen its claim or something along that line). Very bad stretch of road. Another stretch was wavy as though frost heaves every 6-8 ft. so once I satisfied myself it wasn't my tires, I just rode along glad I was wearing a fairly supportive bra. The 3 times I needed to back into or away from something went just fine (campsites were all pullthroughs because I didn't want to unhitch while en route) -- these were different - one at a gas station, one to get facing correctly at a dump station (total turnaround via backing then) and no problems. I'm actually finding that I'm taking to hauling the trailer quite comfortably -- it's feeling pretty natural at this point. No cockiness though, I know how quickly that gets people into trouble.

So that's where and how things are! Hopefully on the way home I can lay over on the 2nd of the 3 campgrounds and do what you suggested. It's the nicest one too fortunately.

Whole take on being on the road though??? LOVE IT!!!!!!!!!!!

[OTW]

Well, almost 3 weeks later and "Grandma's Roadhouse" has sure been through the mill and emerging as a rejuvinated, happier camper. Her entire back and part of the side siding was taken off and part of her roof peeled back to expose the leak damage which wasn't as bad as feared but bad enough to get some rebuilding, grey rubber roof is now white and getting a protective coating, rusted screws replaced with stainless, a holding tank internal rinse system installed, entire slider gear mechanism replaced, 4 new tires and I can't even remember what else, but watching the meticulousness that's gone into every step (and having scraped and washed off every inch of corner stripping of any traces of putty tape myself which has now been replaced with butyl tape -- INCLUDING 120 little rectangles of butyl that I cut out which John fits into the recesses of aluminum siding before replacing the corner moldings ("because why not take that extra step to fill in natural valleys where water could slip in")... I'm venturing to say that it's better than factory built because no freaking one could manufacture like that and sell for an affordable price. In short, this guy is thorough. He also replaced the entire hitch receiver on my truck because he said that year range of GMC used a receiver that has design weaknesses that he finds downright scary. What else? Can't even remember. Now for little stuff -- today he's building shelves into one of my bedroom closets and also into half the tall bathroom closet which, without, is just a lot of wasted space. Installing an at-source turnoff on the shower (bought an Oxygenics with turnoff at the head which doesn't quite, and the dripping water is ice cold). So it'll be 2 days short of 3 weeks I've been here in Ohio as trailer has gone from what I THOUGHT was pretty good used -- to pristine. Gaa! I hate that this is getting to the end of camping season in the northeast now that it's so well set up! This reminds me of when kids open Christmas presents that need a battery and parents say "You can play with it later."

Leaving Sunday morning - destination eastward back home. Great "first cross country" trip so far! I'm semi-following advice below to at least try for ONE bit of extra time at a campground -- one of my travel days only has 157 miles in it -- hoping that few extra hours will give me a taste of not "just passing through" but having a tad of time to sniff the roses. I'd hoped to do more than that on the way home but am getting crammed right against a work deadline so can't dally any more than that. But either way, this sure is fun and confirms that I could EASILY adapt to fulltiming.

[BirdbyBird]

Congratulations on all your adventures and all the neat stuff you have learned and experienced. Even the stuff that cost money and hard work. It is that personal learning and experience curve that is so hard to describe to people who have not been there but what makes the journey the wonderful that it is....

[OTW]

Thanks! You are absolutely right. Very hard to describe and "get it." Until you do it. Back home now.

The trailer fixes cost way more than I expected because we kept adding stuff. But John is beyond meticulous and no commercial outfit would EVER do as thorough of a job. In addition to the water penetration damage being totally fixed, her roof has been washed (he said probably its first time), treated with 303, all roof protrusion covers (vents and A/C) taken off, washed, treated, returned and caulked, all corner strips removed, scraped, cleaned, returned and recaulked, whole trailer washed and treated, new tires all around, water tank well-sanitized, misc. shelving added into 2 closets giving me tons better storage and convenience plus a whole extremely nifty washout/rinsing system that cleans out both black and greywater holding tanks after dumping, and then when you close the dump valves, it now washes out the dump hose elbows and the hose itself with a rush of water that backflushes. Plus a lot of little stuff and I'm sure I've also missed some big stuff. That trailer is now pristine! He also didn't like GMC's choice of hitch receivers in my truck's era, so took it out and installed a new one that's rock solid and he reset the hitch for its height which actually gives me more turn angle in backing. The whole thing took about 3 weeks and I stayed in their camper the whole time (spoiled me rotten, lol, it's bigger than mine and has lots of floor space and all the conveniences). So now both truck and trailer have brand new tires and I love them both.

Otherwise I learned a LOT! about towing--enough to get me in and out of a gas station that no trailer has any business being pulled into let alone getting back out of (shallow at both front and back areas) plus I took a wrong turn and had to turn the rig around in a filled parking lot meant for cars, with narrow aisles not meant for backing this length around in (it was an "S" curve operation with parked cars in the way) which really upped my confidence because it was freaking tricky! The whole trip was great. Including the days of driving. My longest day's drive was 237 miles going, and shortest was 160 miles returning. Most right around 225 miles.

Setting up and breaking camp got easier (very clutsy in the beginning, had systems developing in the end). I used Good Sam Trip Planner and my regular car GPS. I reserved the campgrounds in advance asking for shaded, level pull-throughs so I didn't have to waste time hitching/unhitching and found out that campground owners outright lie. What they call level damned well isn't, especially Thompson KOA in Ohio (which I hated generally and it was the most expensive) where my back steps were so high off the ground that the last step was dangerous even with a step stool until I pulled so far forward as to use every inch of my site's length (that says nothing about the side slope). Another campground which was very pretty otherwise... their campsites were so close together that my neighbor, writing an email at his picnic table actually had to move out of the way for me to hook up water and electric, as the utilities post was right next to their picnic table. I had to ask him to cover the water spigot with his hands while I turned on my water JUST in case it wasn't a good enough connection and sprayed out because had it, his legs if not his computer would have taken on water. I didn't connect to sewer until morning when we were breaking camp because my sewer connection was right in their face and didn't want to take up the teensy patch of grass he had by running a fat sewer hose across it. Fortunately they were very nice people because we were definitely kissin' cousins in terms of space. I don't think there was more than a supermarket parking space separating our two trailers because there was less than that separating our two sites. Had he been on the other side, my slider would have hit his picnic table. (Do campgrounds tend to give worst sites to "passing through, overnighter only" campers???) And at another one I was given a distinctly and very obviously un-level back-in with nary a tree around (that's after assurances I'd get a shaded pull-through that was level). So there are THREE campgrounds that said one thing on the phone but once there, was given another situation entirely. Is this something to expect to happen frequently?

Oh, the neighbor there bears mentioning. An older hippie with white hair in a ponytail, wife couldn't be more than 40 and happy about everything, and a 4th grader daughter homeschooled PLUS two (2) huge dogs (cross between Golden Retriever and Labrador) -- all in a single cab pickup truck (no back seat, not even a half-back seat) which did have a truck cap. Pulling a 22-ft. 1974 beige Airstream. They all live in it full time. God knows where the dogs and daughter ride when underway. But they were all very happy, intelligent and the dogs were "go along with the program" well-balanced. Excellent neighbors, actually. I mean when I pulled in, (obviously about to cut their otherwise miniscule outdoor living space down to nothing), they smiled and waved a welcome and acted like they were actually glad to see a neighbor arrive. (Talk about adjusting to whatever comes!)

One total coincidence that was just amazing. On my 1st night coming home, I had to borrow a power drill from my neighbor as mine wasn't working. We chatted briefly, exchanged first names, but otherwise that was it -- only that I was on my way home and they were from Seattle, headed to Maine. Next afternoon, I had arrived at my next campground, had partially set up then went into the trailer to do some things on the inside before continuing, came back out, didn't notice that someone had pulled in next door, and suddenly heard, "Hey Carol, do you want to borrow a power drill??" It was the same people!! Not only did they choose the same campground but were given the next site to mine! This campground has lots of spaces. What's the chance in hell of that? lol. They invited me in for a chat, and it turned out they had 5 days to kill before getting to Maine so I gave them a whole itinerary in NH to see stuff that appealed to them, including my favorite campground where they could spend a couple of days in beautiful surroundings and be near some of what they'd be seeing, then cut over to Maine from there pretty directly. I just thought that was 1/million chance of happening, ever!

So that was the trip. I was actually sad on my last leg home. Didn't want it to end. So yeah, that's confirmation, I could do this full time. Easily.

[JudyJB]

So nice to hear about your first major trip! And yes, campground owners lie. The biggest one is "Everybody gets satellite from this spot. There must be something wrong with your system." This is after I called and asked about sites with clear southern exposures so I could get satellite!!! And aren't fellow campers helpful? Plus, you meet up with some of the most interesting people. I think that is the biggest surprise I have had in my travels, although I do admit you meet up with some grumpy ones sometimes.

Anyway, you seem to have everything under control and are well on your way to becoming an expert!