And we're back after a 3 week vacation towing our camper 3300 miles with our 22 gasser to Maine from Alabama!

Jettech1 · August 27, 2023

Let me start this off by saying this was a one and done trip. We are total newbies and it was too much of too much for us. It wasn't the truck, it wasn't the camper, it was the roads. I59 north from Birmingham to Chattanooga beat us to death, a little section of I24 to I75, horrible, I75 to I40 to I81, horrible. Once we hit Virginia on I81 things got much better. Virginia has some darn good mostly smooth roads. Kudos to VA. So we are still headed north, hit a section of West Virginia, Maryland....still smooth. Then we entered into hell, it's called PA. I81 all the way to Scranton then I84 east towards NY will make you throw up and wonder how the wheels are still round and the camper hasn't broken off and said screw it, I'm outta here. So we hit a small section of NY on I84, I'm still popping tums, get into NY, no better, still getting the hell beat out of us. We enter into Connecticut, still getting the hell beat out of us until we got to Hartford. North of Hartford smooths out nicely until you get into Mass. The mass pike I90 is cratered beyond belief, I'm still popping tums to keep me from throwing up. We hit I190 and 495, still getting beat, then we get on I93 heading to our friends who live in Derry, NH. Everything smooths out once again. Several days later we all head to Naples Maine to the campground and the roads on Maine, I95 is actually very nice. Kudos to NH and Maine. Mostly smooth roads, the secondary roads will make you want to kill yourself but the interstates were well taken care of. Anyhow we get to the campground and it basically rains all week. It had been raining prior to us getting there, the locals said they had never seen so much rain. It was a total mud pit. So we had a group of 26 of us at this campsite, it was great to socialize with everyone while wearing hoodies and hanging out under awnings trying to stay somewhat dry while freezing our asses off. It was cold and rainy.....yeah, awesome.....NOT....anyhow we finally made it back home today. Mud everywhere, I'm still wondering how my truck still drives straight and our 8k lb camper didn't just say to hell with this and break off into the ditch.

So back to the truck, it did amazing. Took a friggen beating. I had the cruise set on 65 and 70 most of time. After 3300 miles we had an overall mpg of 9 using 87 octane only, oh and you're welcome PA for having the highest gas prices, I hope you use my money well. The only thing that broke was our windshield when we hit one of those craters in PA, it cracked it about 4" long right off center from the top. I heard it crack so I know it was because of the flex and those harsh roads. No oil usage, had one ounce of oil in oil separator getting up there, have one ounce again right now. The 6 speed impressed me from 0 to 60 going uphill on onramps. It will get you to 60 in no time, when it hits 3rd....things slow down a bit. But at least it will get you to 60 pretty quickly. Top trans temps I saw was 207 while going up long grades, it would drop back into the 180's afterwards so no big deal. Most of the time 5th gear would keep us at speed, sometimes it would downshift into 4th and that would always get us back up to my set cruise speed. Very very impressed with the truck, it did amazing, very comfortable too. I love the room and the quietness of it.

Will I ever do that trip again, well......if I can find a job that I can do online and stay up there for 6 months during the summer months, yes. If I can't, nope, not ever again.

Be well all, I hope I didn't bore you all to death and you enjoyed a peek into our latest adventures.

Dale

Edited August 27, 2023 by Jettech1

HDroofer · August 27, 2023

Could not agree with you more on the PA roads…I live here and they are the absolute worst

Jettech1 · August 27, 2023

6 minutes ago, HDroofer said:

Could not agree with you more on the PA roads…I live here and they are the absolute worst

I hate that for you. My son used to live out in Oklahoma City. Those roads out there around Oklahoma City made me sick as hell riding in our SUV. He actually had to replace a wheel on his car because one of those craters bent it.

HDroofer · August 27, 2023

Yea it’s terrible man, I live in a pretty rural area and our dirt roads are smoother than our highways it’s ridiculous …especially when you consider the gas taxes and the endless amount of tolls they’d do a little bit better job of maintaining them

Jettech1 · August 27, 2023

31 minutes ago, HDroofer said:

Yea it’s terrible man, I live in a pretty rural area and our dirt roads are smoother than our highways it’s ridiculous …especially when you consider the gas taxes and the endless amount of tolls they’d do a little bit better job of maintaining them

I know right!! Where does all that money go? Obviously not into the roads.

Grumpy Bear · August 28, 2023

3 hours ago, Jettech1 said:

I know right!! Where does all that money go? Obviously not into the roads.

Everything but roads. Missouri passed a law some years ago that said ALL taxes collected for road must be used for road. Boy did theirs improve.

diyer2 · August 28, 2023

Roads were the reason we never went east when we had our RV. Stayed out west. A trip to Michigan for a family event confirmed it. Nothing new, I lived in Mi.

Edited August 28, 2023 by diyer2

64BAwagon · August 28, 2023

12 hours ago, Jettech1 said:

I know right!! Where does all that money go? Obviously not into the roads.

I wondered that also until the last time we went to PA in 2007 (I think) until we saw this huge new building towering over the river in Harrisburg and noticed that it was the Turnpike commissions new state of the art building that overlooks the turnpike that is a relic of the 1940's

64BAwagon · August 28, 2023

7 hours ago, diyer2 said:

Roads were the reason we never went east when we had our RV. Stayed out west. A trip to Michigan for a family event confirmed it. Nothing new, I lived in Mi.

They havent gotten any better, I-69 is still a nightmare. Apparently long lasting concrete road construction still is in its development phase since no one can seem to build one that lasts more than 8 yrs.

Tater86 · August 28, 2023

Fellow PA guy here too, I agree our roads are bad, but I can tell you one thing. I have never seen as bad as roads as those around Detroit, MI. They have pot holes that span the entire 3 lane highways.

Pryme · August 28, 2023

13 hours ago, HDroofer said:

Yea it’s terrible man, I live in a pretty rural area and our dirt roads are smoother than our highways it’s ridiculous …especially when you consider the gas taxes and the endless amount of tolls they’d do a little bit better job of maintaining them

Don’t worry, you can count on that fetterman dolt to do everything in his power to get them fixed. Problem is, I don’t think he himself can count to 10 so it might take awhile.

KARNUT · August 28, 2023

7 minutes ago, Tater86 said:

Fellow PA guy here too, I agree our roads are bad, but I can tell you one thing. I have never seen as bad as roads as those around Detroit, MI. They have pot holes that span the entire 3 lane highways.

Some of the issues are the cold weather. Not to give our efficient government a pass.

Pryme · August 28, 2023

37 minutes ago, KARNUT said:

Some of the issues are the cold weather. Not to give our efficient government a pass.

Nah, it’s colder here in Northern WI and while not perfect, I have no issues with our roads. Very rarely have I seen any open pothole on a freeway and if one does appear, it’s filled in a timely manner.

it’s government, allocations and incompetence.

Jettech1 · August 28, 2023

5 hours ago, 64BAwagon said:

I wondered that also until the last time we went to PA in 2007 (I think) until we saw this huge new building towering over the river in Harrisburg and noticed that it was the Turnpike commissions new state of the art building that overlooks the turnpike that is a relic of the 1940's

Doesn't surprise me a bit...

Jettech1 · August 28, 2023

5 hours ago, 64BAwagon said:

They havent gotten any better, I-69 is still a nightmare. Apparently long lasting concrete road construction still is in its development phase since no one can seem to build one that lasts more than 8 yrs.

I totally agree.