Just returned from a 2,000+ mile trip from Tucson up to northern California (Grass Valley/Nevada City). We had a blast panning for gold, playing golf, motorcycle rides through the twisties of northern California with a lot of quality time with friends and family. This trip highlighted a number of things that work so well I cannot imagine anyone running without them so here are a few of my favorites:.
The new set of Bilsteins were awesome! It seems you never really realize how bad your shocks have gotten until you replace them. A week before leaving I went with one level up/stiffer per the Biletein/Shock Warehouse recommendations as we run near our GVWR of 11,500 and usually tow a smaller trailer/motorcycle (960#).
The improvement in ride and handling was dramatic. The original shocks lasted 32,000 miles so no complaints with Ford but our E-350 rides so much smoother now. Worth every penny ($396 delivered to my door, no tax or freight and $267 to have them installed by a local truck service shop).
Once again our Scan Gauge was priceless. We did lots of serious climbing up and over the Sierra Nevada's and even did a run through Death Valley off of 395 (west to east). :E The forecast said a high of 82 but by 1015 it was well north of 100. The ability to monitor trans fluid and coolant temps was priceless.
Once again our Rand McNally LM 7720 GPS kept us informed on just about anything we needed to know (mileage, CG's, altitude, gas stations etc..). Find a full featured GPS , the brand really doesn't matter, just one you are comfortable working with and take full advantage of the multitude of features they offer.
The Max Air power vent located over the rear queen where our princess, (10 year old retired Greyhound), resides throughout every trip, kept her cool and comfortable. We just set the vent to "out", turn the fan to 2 (out of 3), and the cool air from the dash is pulled back through the coach.
We spent a couple of days at Buckskin Mountain SP just south of the Parker dam on the Colorado River and saw day time temps of 96 - 98 (the river was a very pleaseant 81 degrees). My $10.97 (Walmart, where else?), DC, oscillating fan enhanced the the AC which easily kept us 18 - 20 degrees cooler than the outside ambient temperature.
The Campfire in a Can gave us a nice fire at my friends house as burning wood was strictly forbidden and other than a few pieces of construction scrap we don't carry fire wood on long (multi state), trips.
Every drop of water going into the tank ran through the external filter keeping the coffee tasting better than Starbucks and we used the outside shower repeatedly in the warmer weather for a quick cool off that added nothing to the grey tank.
The Blue Tooth speaker gave us great sound without disturbing any neighbors.
Campbell Cove RV Park in Lake Havesu (Passport America - $20), Brown's Town in Bishop - 2 nights at $30, Lakeside Casino in Pahrump (New owners but again PA got us a $16 FHU rate), and two more nights at Buckskin Mountain SP at $30 a night. All were very nice with every amenity we needed and convenient to our travels.
We spent 6 nights in CG's/RV Parks averaging $26 a night but the remaining 14 nights were spent at the friends and Family RV Parks for free making for a very economical trip.
We averaged our usual 9.5 mpg and spent $600 on fuel as prices varied quite a bit. We avoided buying fuel in California every chance we got as Nevada and Arizona were much more reasonable (ya gotta love having a 55 gallon tank on a 24' C).
Here is a shot of our Friends and Family (free) FHU RV site at my friends house, which sits on 6 (obviously gorgeous) acres and yes, we did pull some gold from the creek that runs through his property a couple of hundred feet below our rig:
This was our third consecutive year for this trip and we look forward to returning next year.
:B
The new set of Bilsteins were awesome! It seems you never really realize how bad your shocks have gotten until you replace them. A week before leaving I went with one level up/stiffer per the Biletein/Shock Warehouse recommendations as we run near our GVWR of 11,500 and usually tow a smaller trailer/motorcycle (960#).
The improvement in ride and handling was dramatic. The original shocks lasted 32,000 miles so no complaints with Ford but our E-350 rides so much smoother now. Worth every penny ($396 delivered to my door, no tax or freight and $267 to have them installed by a local truck service shop).
Once again our Scan Gauge was priceless. We did lots of serious climbing up and over the Sierra Nevada's and even did a run through Death Valley off of 395 (west to east). :E The forecast said a high of 82 but by 1015 it was well north of 100. The ability to monitor trans fluid and coolant temps was priceless.
Once again our Rand McNally LM 7720 GPS kept us informed on just about anything we needed to know (mileage, CG's, altitude, gas stations etc..). Find a full featured GPS , the brand really doesn't matter, just one you are comfortable working with and take full advantage of the multitude of features they offer.
The Max Air power vent located over the rear queen where our princess, (10 year old retired Greyhound), resides throughout every trip, kept her cool and comfortable. We just set the vent to "out", turn the fan to 2 (out of 3), and the cool air from the dash is pulled back through the coach.
We spent a couple of days at Buckskin Mountain SP just south of the Parker dam on the Colorado River and saw day time temps of 96 - 98 (the river was a very pleaseant 81 degrees). My $10.97 (Walmart, where else?), DC, oscillating fan enhanced the the AC which easily kept us 18 - 20 degrees cooler than the outside ambient temperature.
The Campfire in a Can gave us a nice fire at my friends house as burning wood was strictly forbidden and other than a few pieces of construction scrap we don't carry fire wood on long (multi state), trips.
Every drop of water going into the tank ran through the external filter keeping the coffee tasting better than Starbucks and we used the outside shower repeatedly in the warmer weather for a quick cool off that added nothing to the grey tank.
The Blue Tooth speaker gave us great sound without disturbing any neighbors.
Campbell Cove RV Park in Lake Havesu (Passport America - $20), Brown's Town in Bishop - 2 nights at $30, Lakeside Casino in Pahrump (New owners but again PA got us a $16 FHU rate), and two more nights at Buckskin Mountain SP at $30 a night. All were very nice with every amenity we needed and convenient to our travels.
We spent 6 nights in CG's/RV Parks averaging $26 a night but the remaining 14 nights were spent at the friends and Family RV Parks for free making for a very economical trip.
We averaged our usual 9.5 mpg and spent $600 on fuel as prices varied quite a bit. We avoided buying fuel in California every chance we got as Nevada and Arizona were much more reasonable (ya gotta love having a 55 gallon tank on a 24' C).
Here is a shot of our Friends and Family (free) FHU RV site at my friends house, which sits on 6 (obviously gorgeous) acres and yes, we did pull some gold from the creek that runs through his property a couple of hundred feet below our rig:
This was our third consecutive year for this trip and we look forward to returning next year.
:B
