Anatomy Of Our First Cross Country Road Trip!

[Mark7]

To start following up with my observations about big long trips, at least for a part time traveller who has never done it before!

First off, my posts may be a little more sporadic now as this retired guy is back at work in one facet of my life that has never really left me. I work for a pretty big farming operation, over 6K acres and they need me. It is a 3rd generation family farm and I have been involved there for over 30 years. This job is a labor of love and getting equipment ready for spring work is demanding of my time.

Now, the trip observations!

Life on the road is nothing (for us) like any of the popular YouTube influencers I have watched for many years! I am not really sure what I expected but we could not align with any of them. I guess that should not be any real surprise. Everyone has different interests, skill sets, bucket lists and what they want out of life or the lifestyle.

The only reason I point this out is to let others know not to expect your travels to be like “X”. It will no doubt be quite different for you living on the road than it is for anyone you have ever lived vicariously through. One thing I learned… I used to talk about going south for 3 months in the winter. In reality that is never going to happen. Our 5 week trip was about the limit for me. I missed home too much. Missed my shop where I always have a project of some sort going on. Missed the farm! The only thing I didn’t miss was the driving (my career) and the way we did this trip, 4800 miles in 5 weeks was way too much driving for a “retired” truck driver!

Please feel free to add your thoughts as you see fit!

To be continued later!

[Mark7]

Another observation

Everyone has different ideas how much to drive, and how long to stay at any given spot. The rule of 3’s seems pretty popular on various social media sites, where you drive 300 miles a day, off the road by 3PM and stay for 3 days.

That would never work for me. I did however take it to the opposite extreme where we have anywhere from 400 to 700 mile days most of the trip. We did have a couple of 270ish mile days and that seemed like a cake walk compared to the long ones. The end of those shorter days we landed in a spot where we had planned on staying for a few days, though really not long enough. See, I don’t want to stop driving until I am either tired or we get to our destination. That’s just how I am wired.

Looking back I think what I would like to do next long trip is shoot for 400 mile days and to be off of the road by dark. I drove many miles at night, in all kinds of weather throughout my driving career, but I knew the roads. I don’t like driving in the dark on unfamiliar roads for a lot of reasons, probably most importantly because of all the scenery you miss. For example we drove south from Payson to Mesa at night and it really “stunk” because I did not know the road and the grades were one right after the other. At times oncoming traffic was on my right and even though it was a divided highway it was confusing! On the way back north in the daylight it was a completely different experience. What a beautiful drive and I could see what was coming next!

Again, you’re driving style and how much driving you can take at one stretch will vary. I just want to get there and I can't see stopping in the daylight and sitting around when I still have a lot of miles to travel. Maybe I need to work on that. I am sure there are a lot of cool things to see in spots we may land and I could spend a day seeing sights.

Curious as to what works for you folks...?

[scottz]

I used to be like that; 400, 500 even 700 mile days were not unusual. In the last couple years, I might leave a day or two earlier so I don't have to do that. As you get used to retirement, you might slow down a little. When we travel, we usually dry camp on overnights; no shore power until we reach our destination. In the summer, driving distances are governed by how hot it is; I'll drive longer to reach a cool place to pull over and sleep. This is easier in the west where I've been running around for fifty years and know lots of good places to camp; not so easy east of the Rockies.

[Mark7]

Originally Posted by scottz

This is easier in the west where I've been running around for fifty years and know lots of good places to camp; not so easy east of the Rockies.

I have seen that on various platforms I follow. I think I might be OK west of a line from the east side of ND, SD, NE, and KS. We spotted a lot of places to pull off on our way back that we missed (again dark) on the way down. As I get better at using resources like RV Life Trip Planner, et.al. there may be more than I can't see from the road.

Also thinking Harvest Hosts might be a good fit because if we pick the correct places it could be a good way to stay a night and maybe take in a tour. If I have to buy a 12 pack, a bottle of something or whatever the specialty of that particular host is, at least that is tangible vs paying for real estate for one night.

[Mark7]

Happy Pie Day everyone!

Another observation from our trip. This one might be a little controversial, sure to incite disagreement, but it has to do with tow vehicle capacity.

From time to time I have to admit that I have wondered if I am OK. I tow overweight and I know that, but I am not about to spend the kind of money it would take to go to a 3500 when I have towed my same Montana with 3 different 2500’s without any concern. My ’98 and my ’14 both handled the rig well, but my ’19 has something like a 500# less payload rating. Research has proven that is because of the coil spring suspension the ’19 has that I have not had on a truck since my high school 1/2 ton days. When I first hooked the Montana to this truck the mud flaps (also used on my previous 2 trucks) were dragging on the ground. Air bags fixed that.

They use coils to soften up the ride on these newer trucks (Ram) and you need to go to a 3500 to get back to leaf springs. The other key components… the rear axle, brakes and frame structure are shared between the Ram 2500 and SRW 3500 unless you get to the high output 6.7 where they use as heavier rear axle but still the same brakes. The 3500 also has the 8 speed Asain transmission, but many still prefer the proven 68RFE that I have in my ’19.

In any case, my ’19 sports a whopping 2000# payload capacity! The dry pin weight of my Monte is 2600#! Now add fuel, full propane tanks and whatever we have packed in the Monte that lands adding pin weight and I know I am in excess of 2000# heavy on the payload numbers.

This was confirmed on the way home when I pulled across a closed scale in ND that has a digital readout in the window and I had 11,720# on my 7200# truck. Do the math and that means I had 4520# payload, or 2520# over the payload rating.

Now, my Ram was available with optional air bags but I could not find information as to how that affects payload. In any case I was right at my rear axle capacity, 1000# under my front axle capacity and a couple of hundred pounds under my rear tire capacity.

I monitor my gearbox temperatures and all were normal no matter the weather or the grades. I could not warm up the transmission no matter what I did and it preformed flawlessly in all conditions, both pulling and braking behind the Cummins exhaust brake which reached 190 brake HP on some grades. No comparison to the old 727 torque flight I had in my first 1993 Ram / Cummins truck! I was really impressed with the transmission.

I drove 4700 miles on this trip, and had absolutely no concerns about stability of the truck or my safety with the “overloaded” truck. Some of that could be attributed to my driving experience given my 43 year career, but I could cruise right along with one had on the wheel and was in complete control… it even handled my little detour off the road thanks got the Amazon driver mentioned earlier.

Many people on social media pages like this and others, and especially the youtube channels I watch absolutely flip out when they scale their truck and find out they are over their payload capacity and rush out and but a DRW 3500 to pull a 31’ 5th wheel! I cannot figure that out, either their rational OR the manufacturers reasons for being so crazy conservative on their tow ratings, the latter perhaps being a CYA thing in the event of an accident.

By the way… with the double tow latch up I had for the entire trip my GCWR was 25,680#. The utility trailer with the UTV on board axle at 3540#, right at the 3500# axle (with brakes) I built it with.

So… This should stir up some opinions! I am especially interested if anyone else is guilty of this controversial behavior I plead guilty to, without apologies. Been doing the same for 25 years and no bad things have happened and I have never felt nervous about my load.

[scottz]

Not controversial at all; just like gas vs diesel.

If you are happy, I'm happy.