RE: It s home, it s big, and I love it!!!

[Gone-Camping]

 
It s been a very long weekend for me, mostly time spent on the road, but my new Hybrid is now home and parked beside the garage! This thing is big, it really dwarf s my little Grand Cherokee! But the Jeep did a very good job of pulling it, except maybe the trip through the West Virginia mountain country! []
 
 On some of those major inclines, I lost a lot of speed, slowing to 50 mph or so. The speed limit through most of WV was 70 mph, but I rarely tried to exceed 65 as that is where I felt comfortable with it. What I did notice, was it ate up an awful lot of gas!!! It took me less than two full tanks of gas to drive from Chesapeake Va to Lakeview Ohio, but burned up 4.5 tanks coming back with that trailer, it sure does catch a lot of wind!!![: (]
 
 I left right after work Thursday evening, and drove knocked off the first five hours of the trip, pulling into a nice (but cheap) motel in Covington Va, only a few miles from Douthat SP. It was midnight, I was tired, and though I had camping stuff with me, I didn t bring a tent. I left around 8am the next morning, and pulled into Durnell s RV around 3pm. It took about 3 hours to do the paper work, the walk thru, and to wait on 2 teenagers to install the power tongue jack and assemble my WDH and sway bar, then I was on my way by 6pm.
 
 I decided to try and get as far as I could that night, and made it to south east Ohio, shortly after turning south on I-77 I ran across Wolf Run SP. I had a brochure that I got at the visitors center when I came into Ohio, and it showed this place had electric (but no water) hook-ups, so I stopped in for my first night in the new rig.
 
 I spent nearly a couple of hours just toying with all my new play things, and finding a home for the camping stuff that I had brought with me. The forecast on the radio as I was heading down the road called for Thunderstorms overnight, with strong winds in the morning, so I decided not deploy the tent ends, just folded down the sofa and slept there. In the morning I discovered the need for the first mod, something to block the light that shines through the translucent roof vent, much to bright for something right over the bed....[8D]
 
 Not deploying also made for a quick get-a-way the next morning, though I wasn t really moving very fast. I had all day Saturday and Sunday to complete the rest of the trip, which was now down to about 8 hours drive time.
 
 I headed down I-77 and the sunshine quickly turned to rain, lots of rain, and between the rain there were torrential down pours, then bits of sunshine before more rain and more down pours, all this while trying to traverse the mountains of WV. It was a wild ride, the cardboard temp tag on the trailer got soaked, disintegrated, and disapeared from the back of the trailer somewhere between the Ohio/WV state line and the first WV rest area. Oh well, not much I could do about that, I just kept on going! By the time I had reached the southern half of WV the rains finally stopped, but it got windy. Oh, did I mention this trailer catches wind really good???
 
 Between the wind, rain, and the mountains the trip into Virginia was just a bit nerve racking, and by 5 pm I was in the Staunton Va area. I could have made it home by 9pm, but wanted another night in my new trailer, so I headed for one of my favorite campgrounds, Sherando Lake USFS Campground. This time it was still light out, so I got to set it up properly, even deploying the front queen bed. Wasn t much need to deploy the rear bed since I was traveling alone.
 
 Another night, and more fiddling around with all the new gadgets. It was cold the next morning, and I got to try out the heater... boy was that thing handy! I also like having my own bathroom, even if it s a little tight in there for a big boy like me, it sure beats the late night walk to the rest rooms or the first thing in the morning stroll for the facilities.
 
 From there the trip home was pretty uneventful. Once I hit fairly flat ground, I was able to engage the overdrive, which helped my fuel consumption greatly. The trailer tows like a dream, I never once had one of those uneasy feelings that I used to get once in a while with the PU when I exceeded 70 mph and things would get a little squirrelly. I hit 75 on more than one occassion, and the the trailer just stayed nice & straight, though I felt a little nervous going that fast with a big trailer behind me.
 
 But it s home now, the kids want to know when we re going to go camping in the new trailer! I guess I ll have to schedule a trip in the next couple of weeks!

[Ab Diver]

 Gone-Camping
Way to go, Cliff! Big time congratulations. I hope it brings you and yours MANY happy memories for the future.
 
 So, since you have more than doubled your fuel consumption and turned your Jeep into a gas guzzler, when are you getting that new diesel crew-cab tow rig? []
 
 

[Y-Guy]

 Gone-Camping
Many congrats on the new Hybrid thanks for the update for all of us... reminds me of my first trip out (though not as long).
 
 Oh, they do sell foam pad things that fit in the vents to keep the heat/cool air in and the sun out.
 
 Happy Camping!

[Red neff Barchetta]

 Gone-Camping
Cliff -
 Congratulation s!!!  I don t think I would have slept at all either night on the trip back.  Messing with this and tweaking that, making a mod. list and a need/want list, etc...
 I d love to see some pic s. when you can.

[NCSunshine]

 Gone-Camping
Reading this made me day dream for myself.  Sounds like there is going to be a great time had by all when you go camping.
 
 Congratulations!!!  And don t forget to change your signature.

[tlhdoc]

 Gone-Camping
Congratulations on the new trailer.  Hope to see it soon.[]

[birol]

 Gone-Camping
Congratulations on the new trailer, hope to see it in 20 days !

[Dayton Dave]

 Gone-Camping
Boy, talk about getting baptised your first time out.  It sounds like you have a great new baby in the family.  Enjoy.

[MommaMia]

 Gone-Camping
Glad you are having fun with your new " toy" !!!
 
 
 What ever happened with the Rio?  You sell it yet?

[fivegonefishing]

 Gone-Camping
I knew you d love it!  Aren t hybrid s just the greatest!

[campingcop]

 Gone-Camping
Congrads on the new toy[]
 
 know how you feel about the hybrids,picked up my PU from the dealer
 (had to have new bed rails put in) and they had a Kiwi 18ft. loaded on the lot for sale for just under 12K the wife loved it and almost talked me into trading the in the PU but I didn t want another payment so we re staying with the PU.

[Gone-Camping]

 Gone-Camping
Thanks for the encouragement everyone! As for RJ Ranch, I d really like to show it off there, but pretty sure I m going to have to cancel. I ve already gone past the cancel date, so I ve kept the reservation just in case. Playing it by ear right now, but it s looking pretty unlikely I ll get the time off to go....
 
 I ve updated my sig line, and will post some pictures perhaps later tonight...
 

[iwantapopup]

 Gone-Camping
Cliff,
 
 Thanks for sharing your trip home with your new camper!  I can t wait to see the pics!  I m really excited for you!  Congrats!

[cpine]

 Gone-Camping
Congratulations on the new purchase. Glad you made it home, wondering what route you ended up taking?

[Gone-Camping]

 Gone-Camping
I decided to stick with the interstates, but not the ones recommended by Mapquest, Rand McNally, or Streets & Roads (all of them suggested going through Wash DC)...
 
 I ran I-64 into WV, then north on I-77 into Ohio, then west again on I-70...  If I had to do it again, I d probably try the primary hiways instead of the Interstates just to see if it s any different time wise, but since it s more direct that way, not to mention moving slower I d probably save on the gas consumption...