9800 mile trip across the US in three weeks!

[Artemus Gordon]

Just returned from long cross country trip. New G14 tires and glad I did it. Roads were under construction everywhere ! Interstate 40 going I 80 coming back. Went to upstate New York to visit our place near Saratoga. A few problems did surface, but I expect that and go with the flow ! New 2014 F 450 Ford was excellent, and the Montana is a trooper. Not one broken glass, few loose screws, including in my head! Lol. Met lots of Montana Owners and "The Montana Wave" is catching on! Every Park I got compliments on both truck and RV. I know it's just an RV, but nearly 20k miles in year and a half and it looks great and has performed beyond my expectations. I find the way you except the "RV" for what it is, a rolling condo, it's easier not sweating the little problems that can and do occur! Proud to own my rig!

[washley1]

Dang, you need to slow down! That's over 466 miles a day for each of the 21 days, at about 8 hours a day! We pulled over 8000 miles last summer, and put a total on the truck of 16000, but took 4 months to do it. Of course I dont have one of those 4 letter words that starts with w and ends with k, but just sayin'...

[WeBeFulltime]

Wheeeeeeew! Made me tired just reading. Glad you enjoyed.

[8.1al]

Too many miles in too few days for me. Glad to hear all went well.

[Captain Joe]

Ahhh, it is so nice to take a condo on the road. Glad you had a safe and wonderful trip.

[DQDick]

Glad you made it safe and had a good time. We also think that getting a Montana has proved to have been a good choice. Hope to see you down the road one of these days. We're working at the Imperial National Wildlife Refuge north of Yuma this winter and planning on doing part of California. Who knows maybe we will cross paths.

[K0LCB]

I don't think I could keep up that pace, usually takes a week to rest every 300 miles

[richfaa]

That is a lot of miles per day but am sure there was a reason for having to do that. With both Helen and I sharing the driving that would not be a big issue but being both retired we would not do it. Our first trip out in the winter of 06/07 was over 7K miles but took us 6 months to do it. Retired makes a difference.

Yes this 13 3402 Big Sky gets stares and a lot of traffic at Campgrounds. Now I do hold Keystones feet to the fire on Build quality issues but I do state that we are happy Montana owners proven by the fact this is our 2nd Montana.

[moutard2]

WOW! Almost 10 hrs. per day, every day. You must have been highly motivated.

[halfwright]

So, what did you see besides the road?
And what is a "Montana wave"?

It took us over six months to put on that many miles on the trailer. And that was when i was in the vacation mode, not the retired mode.

[Art-n-Marge]

Look at their avatar and there's the answer. They're Youngsters! Looking at my avatar and you'll know why that trip would kill me. With a very capable F450, it was probably no struggle with that trip. My TV wears me out.

Washley's math of 466 miles a day is spot on. I would love to know the itinerary on a daily basis for admiration's sake. This definitely sounds like a "see the country" but do-not-stay-anywhere-too-long kind of trip. I've been cross-country many times and it's about 6,000 miles round trip, so adding 3800 miles makes for many longer and scenic routes. If you really want to know how the TV, RV and YOU and YOUR SPOUSE are gonna hold up on a long trip, this is the way to do it! Congrats and I for one am very happy for you to accomplish your journey with such success and enough minor mishaps to keep it interesting.

And to find out they are from Redding, CA. The town is very nice. Big enough to provide everything needed for a sticks and bricks home but small enough to make the return home relatively easy (I return to Southern California, worse traffic on the planet).

[padredw]

Just another example of how different we can be from each other in the kind of traveling we enjoy. Full-timers [and some long-timers] have very different agendas from those of us who are "travelers."

For example, we just got back from a 5,500 mile trip, 28 days, from East Texas to Glacier National Park, Oregon coast, Crater Lake, and Colorado [going and coming.]--and everything in between. We usually drove about 300 miles a day when we were moving--once over 500, but that was when we had the home barn in sight! We stayed only once over three days in one place [four days there] and 10 times we stayed only overnight. Many of our friends find this to be too much moving and think we are crazy to do it, but it is our kind of trip.

But then, I am only in my eighty-first year and still have lots of energy-- [tongue stiffly in cheek

[Artemus Gordon]

Yes it was crazy'. We have very elderly family members that we needed to see. We also took my recently departed )ashes of) my Mother to be laid to rest with her sister in Greenfield Tenn! My wife weny back to work, she hated early retirement and only has a few vacation days, so travel time was limited. Air Travel made no sense. Lots of hours every day, but my family members that are left are all in their late 80s and spread from Tenn to FL and New York! Our 25 year old son flew in and helped with a few miles! With Auto level etc we set up camp in less than 15 minutes, and the new Ford was incredible! It was also great to see some people who just might not be with us much longer! We really enjoyed have our grown son to ourselves for a few days! All are welcome to let us know when they are near Redding Ca! Thanks for nice replies !

[washley1]

Hey, you guys went for all the right reasons, IMHO, and when you need to make those trips you do the best you can with the time you have. I wish more people would realize that before life takes another turn...There is always hope, however, that you may get the chance to take the trip we did last year, or one like it. We still didn't stay as long in some places as we would have liked, and we found a whole bunch of places we want to go back to! Enjoy what you can while you can!!

[bigred715]

When you retire you can cut those hours back and enjoy. You did find out if you have to push it that you can. Great choice on your truck and know that you can "pull anything". Better equipped than most people pulling large Montanas.

[sreigle]

quote:Originally posted by padredw

Just another example of how different we can be from each other in the kind of traveling we enjoy. Full-timers [and some long-timers] have very different agendas from those of us who are "travelers."

For example, we just got back from a 5,500 mile trip, 28 days, from East Texas to Glacier National Park, Oregon coast, Crater Lake, and Colorado [going and coming.]--and everything in between. We usually drove about 300 miles a day when we were moving--once over 500, but that was when we had the home barn in sight! We stayed only once over three days in one place [four days there] and 10 times we stayed only overnight. Many of our friends find this to be too much moving and think we are crazy to do it, but it is our kind of trip.

But then, I am only in my eighty-first year and still have lots of energy-- [tongue stiffly in cheek

Dave, you are absolutely correct. As fulltimers, we can plan not to rush. Awhile back we left son #2 and family in the San Diego area and headed for son #2 and family's for two granddaughter birthdays in the Kansas City area. We meandered a little through central Arizona and New Mexico mountains and had a nice dinner with LonnieB and his lovely bride, Vanessa, but it took us three weeks to make that 2,000 mile trip. But back in our working days, when the goal was to minimize travel time and maximize destination time, we put on far more towing miles per day than we do now.