1st Long Trip

[Redterpos3]

DW and I are getting ready to head out on our 1st long trip with our trailer. We've done three 2 nights away, now a trip for 17 days to Chicago area (DW has a conference there); Madison, WI (visit with family); the UP of Michigan; and Mackinaw, MI. All in all we will put in over 2000 miles:D
Couple of questions as we get ready:

1) I'd like to hook my van (E-350) up to the trailer the day before so we can get an early start, and I want to keep it hooked at our first stop. Is it a problem to leave a trailer hooked to my van for 48+ hrs? Do I leave the WDH bars in place or take them off?

2) Our first stretch is 350 miles. I'm figuring on a 8-9 hr day, with plenty of stops along the way. Sound about right? It will almost completely on I-80 from PA to Huron River Valley, OH.

[2gypsies1]

Thanks for the update. Sounds like you're doing very well!

[Redterpos3]

**double post**:h

[Redterpos3]

We are continuing our trip, and it is wonderful!! After our 6 days near Chicago we visited with family in Madison, WI, what a beautiful city, and we had a dip in their lake on a very, very hot day, the lake helped to cool us off!!

Next, we camped at the city park in Houghton, Michigan. Wonderful small campground (22 spots) right on portage lake. Our view was very nice off the back of our trailer. We went from the extreme heat into cold temps as the first night dipped into the 40's. The cold front came through!! But gorgeous days/nights in Michigan. Currently we are camped at Mill Creek Campground in Mackinaw City. Took the ferry across to Mackinac Island, and hiked a good part of the island, had lunch at the Grand Hotel, and saw all the sail boats that has just finished the race from Chicago to Mackinac Island. The weather yesterday was wonderful and we dipped our feet into the Lake, and it was wonderful. Today was cooler, but nice for hiking!

Mill Creek is a large campground, is very nice. Seems like a nice assortment of tenters, trailers, fifth wheels, and big rigs all having a grand time. Our site has water and 30 amp (no sewer), but we have a wonderful view of the lack from our site with no obstructions!! And here the wifi is great!! They made a $50,000 upgrade recently to get it this good. You get 1 code per day, which is good for one device at a time, and they ask you not to download video as that uses too much of the bandwidth.

We are learning our trailer, and its capacities (ie. how much the tanks hold, and how long we can go without dumping). So far it seems 3 days may be what we are looking at, but that is without much conservation.

[AJR]

Thanks much for the report on the campground. I will have to give that place a try this year. You sure had one heck of a first day on the road.

I hate to say this, but all the rain had been happening in northern Wisconsin so far this week.

Have a safe trip and again thinks for the info.

Al

[Redterpos3]

AJR wrote:
OP, I would appreciate your evaluation of “Leisure Lakes Resort”. I have never been there but have been considering going there.. When I go too the Chicago area I have been staying at Paul Wolff Campground in Elgin.

http://kaneforest.com/ForestPreserveView.aspx?ID=11

This is our 5th night at Leisure Lakes now. My DW is in Chicago at a conference, I will be picking her up tomorrow for our last night here. Leisure Lakes is a very nice spot. Perfect for what we are doing! It is an hour away from Chicago.

Positives: There is a nice small lake, of which we had a view from our site. It is a well-tended campground. The Bathrooms are clean, and the shower was mediocre, not simple to regulate temp (but that didn't really matter to me). We had a nice roomy site, because we were asked if we had the capability to be far from water. I had 60' of fresh water hose, so they gave us this site, which is very nice!! So far I have had everything I have needed!! They have a pool, which helped me to survive the high temps today!! They have a Lake! And they have, what I would call a small pond, which they use as their beach area (haven't tried that out yet, but I don't care for sand so much).

Found a wonderful restaurant nearby - Skooters Road House, Great food and atmosphere, huge inside!

Negatives: Their store is minimal, but did have the firewood we needed, and ice. The Wireless service is the only real negative that I would give. Today is the first day that the service is really usable. My guess is that there are less people today than before. We have needed to use our 3/4g devices instead of wireless. DW noticed traffic noise outside, however, on the other side of the lake there is probably less highway noise.

I would definitely stay here again! The only thing I missed was the wireless service. Everything else was great! Would definitely recommend.

[Redterpos3]

Day Two: Since we went an additional 125 miles on Day One we had a much lighter day 2. In our travels we stopped in Elkhart, IN for Brunch, and parked in a RV store parking lot. After brunch we stepped into the store to see what they had, and found 2 reclining chairs to replace the swivel rockers that came with the trailer, and they paid us $50 each for the swivel rockers. Made the switch and now I can relax in a nice recliner!! Also, we asked about the RV Hall of Fame, and decided to check it out since we had extra time this day, and it was very interesting. They had a very nice walk thru time of RV's. Took about an hour to go through, and we were glad we stopped! We really felt like RV'ers traveling and trying out new things along the way...

[Redterpos3]

We are now on our "long trip!" We've had an adventure so far, and it started Day 1! About halfway along our 1st day we receive a call from our first campground stop. They are about to be flooded, the river they are on is within an inch of being flooded, and are suggesting we may want to make other plans. We say, that's too bad, so we will check on other possiblities.
Our CB/Weather radio (a definite must have now) begins to go off, talking about severe flooding, etc. As we travel my DW on her Ipad (another definite must have now) begin to research both the weather, and our possibilities away from rivers in the area. Because of the NOAA weather reports we decide to move along down the road, and find a KOA (glad I signed up for membership on my first outing back in the spring) Toledo East/Stony Ridge for our first night.
On our way there, which will be 400 miles in day one, which worked just fine, our CB/Weather radio begins to go off again. SEVERE STORMS in OUR AREA. The first storm we drive through is with heavy rain, and HAIL. Too dangerous to pull off road, instead drive, slowly through storm. Made it OK, glad to have a well made Trailer and TV!! On our Ipad we do see another storm approaching, but figure we have time to gas up at the rest area, and will try to move on (mistake!). Upon seeing the storm on the ipad we should have stayed at the rest area for and hour for it to pass by. Instead we decided to continue on. The storm hits us, with SEVERE winds, the CB/Weather raido says tornado warning, as it hit I noticed the winds and found a nice emergency pull off and did!! Excellant choice! I've not experienced wind like this. It rocked the van and trailer as a ride in an amusement park. Tractor trailers were pulling off, and on the news later we saw several that were tipped over. A couple pulled up next to us, and I hoped they would just stay there to block the wind, but they moved forward each time. Finally, the storm passed and we made it to our first stop and were glad to have a place, and enjoyed a dip in their pool for a relaxing first night!

[campigloo]

We leave our TT hooked up overnight a lot when we are trying to make miles. One little trick. Sometimes the way the pad is sloped, it is hard to get the front low enough to get close to level. I just release the tension on the torsion bars but leave them connected. This allows you to "squat the truck" resulting in a lower tongue.

[Holly-n-Matt]

We stayed at Huron Valley a couple weeks ago. There's a big hill you have to go up to leave....that's about all I remember from it because our wheels started spinning. Scary! 🙂 And check to see where your fire pit is before buying fire wood...in the pull thrus most of them were in bad spots.

Have a great trip!

[Halmfamily]

We always disconnected our fiver, only takes a minute or two. This allows me to level front to back and keeps it more stable when the kids are running around. We are never in a hurry when we travel and will usually travel 400 miles. Good luck. Travel on.

[dverstra]

Have a Great trip. While in th UP, stay at Fayette State Park . Stop to dig your toes in the sand and water of Lake Michigan before you get to St. Ignace.

[AJR]

Have a fun safe trip.

[WoodGlue]

Dick_B wrote:
We carry Old Time Radio CD's for entertainment for those long days in the car.

Only the 'Shadow Knows' which shows you like!

For the Good Sam Trip Planner, log into your Good Sam account:

Trip Routing

WoodGlue

[Redterpos3]

Thumperpull wrote:
We have found the trip routing here at Good Sam to be very accurate as to the driving time. You might just see what it says. Be safe.

How do I do this?