The Never Ending Journey.... Just the Facts Maam!

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SargeW

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Well, here we go again! Diane and I are about to embark on our next adventure. Starting Monday we pull out of the stick house for the last time (I think) and head to Mississippi in the Jeep with my cargo trailer in tow. We are heading back to pick up the new Bus on June 28 and get this adventure started.  We will take a couple of weeks getting there, stopping at KOA's when possible and staying in their Kamping Kabins (to accommodate Heidi the pup).

Diane has started her new travel blog and is listed on the below link. We prep for the next few crazy days, then we are off. I invite you to come along, as I am sure that there will be adventures ahead! 
 
Happy Trails, Marty and Diane.  Just read Diane's blog and am looking forward to reading more as you take us along on your latest adventure!
 
I enjoy your posts here and your journal entries.  Looking forward to reading about your new adventures!
 
Well the first leg of the journey went pretty well. We finally got the house squared away about 0930 and headed for the freeway.  This was the first real test of the new trailer and pulling it behind the Jeep. I did a test weight on the rig a few days ago. I used it to take some stuff to the storage unit, and on the way back I rolled across the scale at the transfer station in town. 

I have a max axle weight on the rig of #2200 so I was hoping to be somewhere south of that number.  The trailer was about 3/4 loaded, so it would give me a starting point.  I was happy to see that just the trailer on the scale was showing 1400#. 

So over the next few days I finished packing, and I mean packing the trailer with everything that would fit. Then I packed the back of the Jeep.  When we rolled out there wasn't much room left anywhere.  I hooked up and rolled out, still adjusting to the added weight of the trailer.  I had inflated the trailer tires to their max of 90 psi, and the rear Jeep tires to their max of 50 psi. 

I hit I/S 15 and headed north towards Cajon Pass, the first real test of the new hook up.  In route the Jeep pulled pretty well, and I settled in to cruise at 60 mph, traffic allowing. When I got to the Pass, 18 long miles of of twisty up hill grades, I went up the hill between 55 and 45 mph, in 5th or sometimes dropping to 4th on the steeper parts. I crested the top at 55 mph, with no significant difference in the temp gauge.  Fortunately for me the outside temps were in the mid 70's. 

We rolled the rest of the way into Barstow where we pulled off for gas and grab some stuff out of the cooler for lunch. I was amazed that I only took 6.7 gallons of gas.  Calculated out that came out to 20.8 mpg.  We used the Flying J in Barstow and paid $2.75 a gallon for gas. That was with Good Sam discount card. We pulled out and headed the rest of the way to Kingman to the KOA.  I noted that the gas gauge dropped faster on this leg, as we hit altitudes of 3000' + several times.  If I can settle in at 15 mpg avg I will be pretty happy with that considering the way I am loaded. 

The KOA Kabin is pretty small, and bare bones. Even though there is a small refer and microwave, there in not much room to move around.  And I will be hitting the store for a power strip tomorrow, as the whole cabin has one outlet, which is taken up by the appliances. Not much room for phones, laptops and ect.  Even with the minimal ammenities, we are still paying just over $50 a night for the Kabin.  We are here for 2 days, and then hit the next KOA in Holbrook.
 
A follow up to the Kingman KOA stay.  Different perspective for us on this stay, since we were in a Kabin instead of a RV spot. The "dog friendly" cabin was pretty rough. It had double bed and a set of bunk beds against the opposite wall. The whole place was probably 10' X !5', and there wasn't much room to maneuver. The floor was pretty worn, and the dust had settled pretty well into the boards. The unique door latch/handle novelty wore off pretty quick, as you couldn't get in without using two hands, and it was loud and clumsy to operate. Especially if you had to slip out at O dark thirty. There are also no restrooms in the dog friendly kabins, hence the O dark thirty trips out the door.  We paid $55 a night for this mini cabin. It's also in a residential neighborhood on a fairly well traveled street. So the road noise from cars is ever present.

The grounds were well maintained, but the roads and RV spaces were just fine dirt. They even raked the sites after a RV'er pulled out, bet that too left a ton of dust in the air.  A layer of gravel would go a long way towards making it a more pleasant place to stay. The restrooms were clean and in good repair, but a little dated. They are handicapped accessible, and the have a large handicapped stall with a shower and toilet in one room.

There is a pool and hot tub, but the sign on the gate indicated that they closed at 7 PM. It wasn't until I went to the office for something the next day that I learned that the hours were until 8:30 PM. All in all this was not a bad KOA, just not a great one.

The gas mileage on the Jeep dropped as expected. With the grades headed east bound we averaged 15.9 MPG. Still not too disappointed with that. One issue that has popped up is that a "off center" steering wheel has turned out to be worn ball joints. I am going to try to hold off on the replacement until I get back to Mississippi where I will have more time to handle  it.  I guess I can complain too much, I figure the ball joint have about 170,000+ miles on them.  77,000 on the clock, and the rest being pulled behind 3 different motor homes.

#1 photo is what the back of the Jeep looked like the day of departure. The trailer itself was also pack to the door.

#2 is the inside of our tiny cabin.

 

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Marty,

I wish I had spoke up sooner and invited you to spend a couple of days in Lake Havasu City,

It is only 17 miles south of I-40.

We are still settling in but we do have a pool and hot tub as well as two guest bedrooms.

If you want to back track, we are close to Kingman and have plenty of parking for your jeep and trailer.

I will even throw you a BBQ
 
Wow thanks Bill! But we are on a mission now, with Mississippi in the cross hairs! Just pulled into Holbrook, and are setting up in another Kabin. Man, I couldn't travel like this all the time. All the schlepping of stuff back and forth to the car gets old fast. 
 
Good thing you're in a cabin tonight. I stayed at that KOA last year in Holbrook so we could get an early start on the Petrified Forest and the Painted Desert. It wasn't much to brag about. It seems like a lot of KOA's are now overpriced and not cared for as much as they should be.
 
Marty and Diane, I wish you both a wonderful and exciting time, I am right behind you in 3 months and it can't get here fast enough I am envious of both of you, safe and fun travels!!
 
                                                                    Holbrook/Petrified Forest KOA
                                                                    102 Hermosa Drive, Holbrook AZ

The second KOA stop in Holbrook was in an identical cabin to the first. However, this one seemed to be a lot better cared for. The wood inside had been freshly lacquered, the windows were new, and supplied appliances were bigger and in better condition. The campground itself was also in better shape. There was some gravel on the roads, and the grassy areas were green and freshly cut. They had a nice grassy dog yard with shade and seating, and Heidi liked a lot.  One surprising thing though was that I saw no handicapped restroom facilities. All had narrow doors and stalls.

The price was about the same, $53 a night for a cabin with no water or restroom facilities. There was WiFi offered, but it seemed to throw us off regularly for no reason. I did use our Verizon air card, but it too could be slow due to distance from any cell tower. We checked out the RV sites, and they were gravel and dirt as well. Some of the comments from past RV'ers were that the RV sites were pretty close together.  They were close, but RV's were able to extend their patio awning for shade.  And with near 100 degree days, that would be beneficial. One really surprising find was that we ate out the second night at a highly recommended Italian restaurant down the street from the park.  It was named the Mesa Italian Restaurant, and was connected to a Mesa Grill next door.  Much to our surprise the food was great! The service was a little slow, but it turned out to be worth waiting for.  Dinner, drinks, appetizer, and desert was under $100 including tax and tip. 

                                                                          Albuquerque KOA
                                                                          12400 Skyline RD NE
                                                                            Albuquerque, NM

The third KOA campsite (see a pattern here?) was in Albuquerque, NM. This was a "deluxe" cabin with a price to match, $150 a night.  But after the last two cabins, an upgrade was needed. This cabin had a kitchen/living area when you walked in, a main bedroom to the right, and smaller bedroom with bunkbeds in it to the left. The beds were made with linens, and the kitchen had dishes.  It made it way easier for Diane to cook meals for us. Diane is preparing most of the meals on this trip, as her cooking is way better than most places available to eat. This was more like a mini condo, and most everything looked new and fresh. The only real complaint was that the bed was WAY too soft for our liking, and we both got up with sore backs the next morning.  Diane also did laundry here, a experience she has not had in awhile as our last several rigs have had self contained W/D. The WiFi offered here was better as well, as there are several access points to choose from. Time of day does play a part in how fast it is though. When I did use our Verizon air card, the speeds were really fast.  All the roads here were paved, as were the RV pads. the rest of the sites were usually gravel, unless you opted for a deluxe patio site. There did appear to be Handicapped accessible restrooms, as there were signs posted outside of the entrances.

One downside, the park is not in the best area. When we checked in the woman told us that the gates close at 7 PM, and a guard is posted all night long. When I went out for gas to a nearby gas station, I found out why. The locals are on the "shady" side, and the prostitute that approached me while pumping gas was a dead give away. The park is still nice though, and you made need  to drive a few miles to get to a nicer part of town to shop or dine.
 
Your right Indiana! We took delivery a week ago, and we have been crazy busy getting everything put together. And the weather has not been cooperative, raining almost every day.  We are moving north towards SD, so the weather is improving some. I will have some pics soon, once I have sufficiently reduced the misc "piles" of stuff to be put away, installed, throw out.....
 

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