Prepping for a serious trip...

[Desert_Captain]

I had several serious trips planned for late spring and summer but of course the shelter at home order killed all four of them off. I had been prepping the coach for these trips since we returned in late January from our annual Quartzsite {an Ehrenburg} adventure.

I took the coach in to Simonsen Generators here in Tucson {and they are awesome by the way} for a full generator service in February. It was running OK but was due for all new filters, oil change and a tune up and is now running better than ever. Next I hired a local guy to wash, wax and detail my 8 year old coach and for $250 they did a great job {that I was simply not up to attempting myself.

This morning I have an appointment to have a pair of Maxxis' 8008's installed on my cargo trailer. The original tires are 2 - 3 years old with 15K miles and look fine but original equipment ST's make me nervous... Maxxis' do not. I will keep both of the old tires and will carry one unmounted to backup my mounted spare. Three of my Class C tires are less than 18 months old and the other 3 less than a year.

Tomorrow will be a simple full synthetic oil change and a trip to Discount Tire to air up the rig for the trip {based upon the load I'll be hauling}. The 10' cargo trailer {14' overall with 7' of headroom} weighs in at 2,200# when I haul my Indian Springfield and allows me to move some misc gear out of the coach and into the trailer for better load balance. Some serious pretrip shopping and loading will take care of Friday and Saturday and Sunday morning early we will be on the road again!

This trip, Tucson to Angel Fire, then through southern Colorado and on north to Yellowstone will be around 3,600 miles and nearly 3 weeks and we can not wait to leave. Four fun days with our friends in Angel Fire followed by a few days on the road before hitting Yellowstone and Grand Teton. Trust me, if you want to see our national Parks from a truly unique perspective do it on a motorcycle.

Here is shot of our rig taken a couple of years ago at Buckskin SP north of Parker on the Colorado River:



:B

[bobndot]

Endurance, is a good choice, i put a set on my trailer too.
Have a save trip.

[fourthclassC]

Dude -- Thanks for sharing. Very nice to see and makes me want to go with you. I would be quiet and buy the coffee.....

[Desert_Captain]

Got a pair of nice fresh GoodYear Endurance tires for the trailer yesterday... long story but it worked out. This morning I took the coach in for an oil change as it was due having 5,040 miles since the last, I've run pure synthetic oil, trans fluid and in the differential for 6 years with very good results. I saw some corrosion had built up on the battery terminals so out came the baking soda and distilled water. Scrubbed them down and thoroughly rinsed and they are now looking good. The battery levels were fine.

Next stop was the Discount tire shop to top up the coach tires. For the load I will be hauling I had them putt 65 in the duallies and 60 in the fronts. Most don't but since duallies are a PITA to top up I always tip the guy a few bucks. I added 50 psi to my air bags which levels the loaded trailer perfectly.

Topped up the 55 gallon tank with 36 gallons at $1.95 a gallon so methinks I am just about ready to shop and load on Saturday and hit the dusty trail on Sunday morning. Triple digits are descending on Tucson and Sunday will be a good day to get gone for a few weeks.

:C

[bobndot]

DC, you are killing us with your pics :B Keep up the good work.

Seeing this stuff is keeping us afloat. Thank you.

Wish we could get out but mom is recovering from nursing home covid at 96. Even though things look much better, it's still too early for us to know yet.


We loved our two wheeler as well. On one bike, all original, 125,000 miles worth of love.
While owning an rv at the time , we chose to spend our honeymoon trip to the Florida keys in 75' on a new 900 full dress BMW with our backpacking equipment. We accumulated about 7500 on the odom.
Ended up selling that in 98' for new snow machines that we ride on interstate trips up in New England to this day. We are searching for DrewE in VT. 🙂
As long as our friends, family and neighbors think we are crazy, that tells us we must be doing something right. We have one of those Res-Q-Link personal locator beacons that use the NOAA military satellites, just in case. :C

[mleekamp]

Here, here !!!

We've had bookings auto cancel on us...and I just last week booked Rafter J in South Dakota...a state that is open. We lost out on a Florida trip and a Colorado trip....cancelled.

We spent years in a travel trailer..a lot of fun. Last year bought our first Class C...and have yet to use it on big trips! Talk about itching to get going...

I agree with the motorcycle...a great way to see the sites! We bought a soft top jeep to pull behind the motorhome since I've got kids that ride along these days.