70+ day road trip.

[firesq5]

I will be going on a 70 day road trip statrting approx. Aug. 12 God willing.  The wife and I will be going from Florida out west and some of Canada. I'm guessing it will be about 12,000 miles give or take a few.  How do you handle trailer and vehicle maintenance while on the road. How do you wash your trailer and truck. If you can offer any other info. please write or call. Thanks Hugo 561-317-5230

 

[Seilerbird]

Good heavens, you are going 12000 miles in 70 days? That is 171 miles per day average. If you want to see anything you might think about scaling back the miles.

 

[Trailer traveler]

We travel about 6 months a year. In my experience, the Ford/Chevy/Dodge dealerships have fairly reasonable rates for routine oil/filter and general preventive maintenance checks. They are more expensive than Walmart or Jiffy Lube, but in my opinion more reliable and accountable for the services.

I always do routine maintenance on the trailer: repack bearings, clean the appliance burners, lube the slide out cables, etc. before leaving on the first trip of the year. In 70 days, no additional maintenance should be required. On the few occasions service on the trailer has been required while on the road, we used a mobile service recommended by the RV park where we were staying. Many Mobile services can do just about anything short of replacing structural components on-site without your leaving the RV at a service center.

Some RV parks allow vehicle washing some do not. Some charge a fee to wash an RV on site. Truck stops have wash facilities. Some coin operated self-service car washes are high enough to handle RVs.

 

[ArdraF]

You mention Canada as being part of your western trip.  You also say you want to start about Aug. 12th.  That's really late to be starting a three-month plus trip if you want to include part of (western?) Canada.  I should think you'd want to go there first and then go south, otherwise you could be encountering dicey weather in November.  You probably have your reasons, but most people go south in the winter and north in the summer with spring and fall as their transition travel times.  Fall can be nice in the southwest but, depending on the weather, it can still be very hot.  I'm thinking it might be a good idea to check on some average temperatures for the areas you want to travel and plan your route accordingly.

ArdraF

 

[Wendy]

Reverse the trip, start going north from Florida, across northern US late summer. Take the southern route back to Florida in the fall. And add another 30 days to the trip.

 

[thomasamski]

We travel from Tampa Bay, Florida out west every fall. Your plan to drive 12,000 miles in just over two months may be a bit much. If time allows set a location, such as southern California or Arizona, park your RV, and use a car to explore the region. As for oil changes; I run my rig 5,000 between oil changes. I carry extra oil and a filter and change my own if a garage isn't handy. Keeping a rig and toad clean on a trip isn't difficult. I have a California brush, available from Walmart, that takes off top dirt. I clean the windows and front end (of dirt and bugs) daily. Some  RV parks offer a place to wash your rig and toad.