Newbie Cross Country Adventure

Please understand the dry tongue weight of that TT exceeds the receiver limit of your Expedition. I have never read anyone say their TT tongue weight decreased after loading it up. Be careful.

We have the extra tow package on our Expedition. The dealer thought it was unusual too. We cross referenced everything in our manual. Total weight 15000.

Able to tow 8900 and our TT is 6366 lbs.

I have no knowledge of your vehicle or trailer but if your trailer actual weight is 6366 the loaded tongue weight would be as much as 955 lb. Your receiver should have it's maximum weight limit stamped on the bottom side of it. Good luck and have a great trip / Skip

If you have not already done this, I would recommend that you get a good Emergency Roadside service policy such as Good Sam. Also look at the Good Sam Mechanical Insurance Policy.

Nothing puts a crimp in your trip plans as paying for a long distance tow or having to have something repaired on the tow vehicle.

Then keep tally on how many times you hear from the back Seat, Are we there yet? :B

Bob

Planning. I'm big on planning.

My advice is to go through the tour books to find the things you would like to see and do (what interests you, not what interests me) that could be somewhere along the way, with moderate detours and side trips. Once you have those places as ideas, connect them, figure out travel times, and the amount of time at each place. Then figure out about where you need to stay overnight, find places for that.

Then you need to see how much of it fits your schedule of where you must be when, so you can make the hard choices about what to leave out of this trip, maybe save for another trip. Of course, if it is a round trip, some can be caught on the way out, some on the way back, which can be a somewhat different route (circle trip).

The tool I used for planning travel the past ten years has been Streets and Trips, which Microsoft has just announced it will discontinue (along with all of their GIS tools). What I liked about S&T was that I could manage travel rates, put all my stops with durations for the stops, and it would calculate trip times for each segment and the whole trip. When I re-routed to add or delete places I wanted to visit, I had new routes and times almost instantly, so I could do a lot of "what if" trips (and save each variation).

DeLorme Street Atlas (which is also included in DeLorme Topo) is supposed to do the same thing, using different maps and different point-of-interest databases, but I've not yet fiddled with it enough to know how easy it is to work for trip planning.

You can do somewhat the same with online tools, but I find they are less responsive and it is more work, more time, building a set of trip plan variations. On the other hand, point-of-interest data, particularly for commercial properties that buy listings, will usually be more up to date.

Don't wait until next June.

Camp in your driveway ASAP if you can, and keep a note pad handy to track everything you need to run into the house for.

Splurge on a visit with the TT to the Newport Dunes.

Plan way ahead and book a weekend at Crystal Cove.

When you have time to process it, read up on the difference between your truck's rated Payload (the yellow sticker in the frame between the driver's door and that passenger door) and what the max tow rating is. That's a big part of what people here will be worried about when they look at your combo.

"Has anyone had experience towing a large travel trailer across the country?"

You might want to start following the Fulltimer's Forum, although they tend more towards motor homes and 5th wheels I think. Fulltimers wander everywhere. I've traveled about 6-7,000 miles so far this year.

Tim

Yes, we've towed a large TT across the country, several times. Good advice to plan ahead for spots you want to visit and to buy good RV-oriented roadside assistance (GS has worked well for us, but there are some competitors out there; bear in mind one may work well in most areas but in a few areas, not so much, since they do depend on local resources).
I would add, travel LIGHT. That's especially important since you may be at or near your weight limit. (Is that 6366 figure the trailer's unloaded weight, or is it the GVWR of the trailer? Remember that onboard water & propane count toward the total weight too. You don't want to overload the trailer, so take less than you think you need. You may have to do laundry more often, but that's ok. (Save your quarters ahead of time, if you can.)
More advice: when laundry time is due, stay at a private campground whose ratings mention clean laundry room. Worth it, trust me. A lot of state parks will say they have laundry facilities, but most of those will be a communal utility sink. :)

and get a good GPS to help you find those beautiful out-of-the-way places you dream about.