What's your longest TC trip?

[gorohoff]

I'm curious to hear about peoples longest trip they've taken in their truck camper? You don't hear about full timers in tuck campers a lot, but I know they're out there. Other than the obvious problems with small living space and limited holding tanks, I'm curious what were some of the other challenges that were faced when living for a long time in a truck camper.

[travelnutz]

13,137 miles over 9-1/2 weeks was the longest single distance trip with one of our TC's.

From West Michigan north to US-2 in the U.P. going west, then up to the Canadian Rockies, on to Alaska by way of "The top of the world highway" and traveled all 7 highways in Alaska, including Fairbanks and north/Denali NP area and highway/Homer Spit/Seward/Anchorage/Valdez/Atlin. Then down to Olympic NP (WA) and California and then on to 8 National Parks on the way back to West Michigan going back to US-2 to avoid the insane Chicago area. 3 other slightly shorter trips in the same basic directions also but this was the longest single trip with a TC.

5th longest was West Michigan to Bar Harbor ME/Cape Breton Island Nova Scotia Canada/Washington DC/Blue Ridge PKWY/Myrtle Beach SC/Smoky Mtns NP and Cades Cove/Branson MO/and back to West Michigan, 9,874 miles. Lots of side roads traveled.

[bka0721]

gorohoff wrote:
Thank you for all the replies. I probably should have asked more specifically, what is the longest amount of time you've spent in your TC, but distance question is also interesting question that brings up other questions about truck maintenance with the wear and tear of a very long trip.

The reason I asked the question is that I'm planning on taking a year off with my family and traveling the US and Canada in our TC. My two young daughters would be home schooled (or camper schooled) during that year. I'm probably completely crazy to try and get a family of 4 to live together in a TC for that long, but my family is on board with the plan and I wanted to give it a go while my daughters are still young.

With further comments, from the OP, the old phrase; “Well, that is a horse of a different color . . . “

I traveled around the country, vintage car racing, for 18 years on weekends and time off. Often the kids and wife were with me, so I have some traveling experience with family. But, I have never traveled with my family in my Truck Camper. But, I do feel comfortable in sharing that I would be very concerned with subjecting my kids for long periods of time, in a small truck camper. Short trips or long vacations, I would feel perfect with a family along.

Here is the rub; essentially when someone is standing up in a truck camper, the other person needs to be seated or out of the way, when you compound this with additional people, well, you get the idea. The other rub would be; where would you store everything for a family of four for a yearlong trip? I don’t doubt it can be done, but what will your kids be left with, after an adventure such as you are planning? The therapy world is littered with children from parents that thought that they had the best intentions for their children. There are many examples of a families traveling together on you tube and blogs, so it has been done. But your plan is in a truck camper, that leaves me with pause.

None the less, I would enjoy following your travels, on your blog or here in this forum. It would be fun to see you succeed and your children prosper!

b

[Ramblin__Ralph]

I'm just wrapping up my 8th year of traveling solo in my TC for 6 months. Typically that involves about 9K miles and a 3 month trip to Montana. However, in 2012 I went to Alaska and that year was 12K miles total, with 9K on the AK trip.

I usually camp 90 to 120 nights a year. This excludes "driveway camping" at friends and family locations.

I'm not tired of my TC life after 6 months, but it is nice to get back to the comforts of a house. 🙂

Good luck on your trip!! I'm sure your kids will talk about it when they get old. 🙂

[bighonkinf350]

Sept/Oct 2012 we were on the road for 44 days. From Vancouver,Wa to St. Augustine,FL to Los Angles,CA & back home. Approx 8500 miles.
Main purpose of trip was because it was something we wanted to do.
Yes it was a lot of driving but we got to visit our grandson stationed at McConnell AFB in Wichita, KS,spent a week in east Tennessee and another week in Florida visiting lots of relatives we don't see very often.Then across the southern route to visit a granddaughter & family in LA. We took our two little ones on the trip too,which consists of a 13 lb cat & a 90lb Chocolate Lab.
We had a great trip and were still speaking to each other when we got home!

[gorohoff]

bka0721 wrote:
I full time in a TC and average 10 to 12 nights backpacking each year, otherwise every night has been in my TC for the last 4 1/2 years. Recently I was in an motorcycle accident, not my choice, but spent 12 nights away from my TC. So it is important to plan for contingencies that may occur, far from your land of comfort zone.

Hardest things about being in a truck camper? Easy, not putting a priority on a solar program and a larger battery bank, when I put my project together. The first two years I spent running a generator every day to meet my electrical demands. The last two years, with my solar, has been a game changer. The other, the lack of familiar faces. By that I mean, when you live someplace, you see the same people, whether it is at the grocery store, bank or café. Not seeing family members, but the up side, they like to meet me out on the road.

The upside? The ultimate solitude. Not seeing or talking to another human being for weeks and the luxury of traveling the Eastern Sierras (US 395) and taking 4 weeks to travel from California City, to Carson City, exploring every day.

What would I change? Not a thing, as I enjoy every day and can't wait to see what I am going to discover next, or who is going to show up and claim one of the beers I keep in the fridge, just for those occasions.

I'm good and learning a lot everyday.

b

Thanks for the information bka0721. We haven't yet wandered very far from the NW in our TC, and around you don't get as much advantage from solar as you do further South. However, it is an upgrade I am definitely considering for the long trip along with upgrading the batteries and switching the lighting to all LEDs.

[gorohoff]

Thank you for all the replies. I probably should have asked more specifically, what is the longest amount of time you've spent in your TC, but distance question is also interesting question that brings up other questions about truck maintenance with the wear and tear of a very long trip.

The reason I asked the question is that I'm planning on taking a year off with my family and traveling the US and Canada in our TC. My two young daughters would be home schooled (or camper schooled) during that year. I'm probably completely crazy to try and get a family of 4 to live together in a TC for that long, but my family is on board with the plan and I wanted to give it a go while my daughters are still young.

[Sparky87k5]

Last April we left on a 6 week 7000 mile trip around the country to visit all our kids and grandkids. After visiting them all at their homes, we stopped in Galveston, TX to meet them all again as we boarded a cruise ship to spend the week together cruising the Caribbean and visiting some great ports. Between the kids and grandkids we had a party of 24 including the wife and I. Favorite camping spot was the beaches of Galveston, especially the ones near Port Bolivar.

[Super_Dave]

Spent 2 weeks with a friend on a fishing trip. Other than the fact that he peed on the bathroom floor on a regular basis, we got along in the small space just fine.

[delosholly]

Alabama to Alaska, then down the Pacific coast and back. 13,000+ miles in 58 days back in 2005. Two adults and two cats in an old 1972 Sells TC pulling a small flatbed trailer with a 150cc scooter on it.
The TC started out with an open floor area, but as we bought souvenirs, it filled up as well did our cab and flatbed.
We vowed never to calculate the overall cost of that trip. I would probably have to be hospitalized if I knew.
Del

[jefe_4x4]

Los Angeles, CA to the Brooks Range (Cold Foot) in AK and back taking about 2500 miles of dirt and gravel roads via Vancouver Is., British Columbia, The Cassiar Hwy., and AK Hwy. and return thru the Rockies.
2003
31 days
9000 miles.
Still ranks as the best road trip we have ever made.
Next year looks like the bucket trip around the outer U.S.
jefe

[Fish__n___Grits]

Our trip from Charleston, SC to Alaska, Yellowstone, Mt Rushmore and back home put 13005 miles on the truck. Another trip to California, Oregon, and Washington added another 7800. My wife has now retired, so there will be more soon!

[billtex]

28 days...7,000 miles. 3 of us in a non-slide hard side (our 1st TC).Loved every minute of it.
Can't wait to do it again.
B

[joe_b_]

Our last 4 TC round trips to Alaska from south Florida have run in the 12,000+ mile range. The longest of the 4 trips was in 2006, when we went by way of Boston, across the US and north to Alaska and return. This trip was 16,369 miles which was our longest TC trip to date.

Most of these trips we spend about 90 to 100 nights on the road. The TC works the best for us now that it is just my wife and I traveling together as our daughters are grown. On the alternated summers our two young grandsons often go with us so the TC, a Lance 845, can get a bit small, but works for towing our Jeep Wrangler out to run the Jeep trails in Colorado. Some summers we will take our 5th wheel out to Colorado and rent a Jeep in Ouray, to use for a week or two. Many of the back roads, we just take our 4X4 Chevy pickup as it is fine on many of the back scenic roads of the state.

Most years we will spend close to 150 nights out on the road in one of the two RVs we own. We are currently on our 5th truck camper.

The plan for this coming summer is to take the TC back to Alaska, perhaps up through the Boston area again as that is where our youngest daughter lives. This would be the 14th round trip to/from Alaska by RV for us, plus several more by car/truck and a few more by small aircraft following the Alaska highway.
It would take some really unusual circumstances for me to even consider trying to live full time in our TC, the 5th wheel, maybe. We tried full timing for 2 1/2 years in a Class A and didn't care for it at all, as it got in the way of our traveling. LOL

[AidenJ]

Eighty days. Northern NY to Alaska with stops in Yellowstone and Glacier. 11,000 plus mi.

[Raften]

Only one long trip in the last 15 years, CA to MI for the last family Thanksgiving reunion on the farm. It was kind of a forced march on I80 to MI and sleeping in truck stops and a lot of hamburgers. The trip back was more relaxed and warm once we got down around the border.