quote:

Originally posted by AKSuperDually:

quote:

Originally posted by Thayer:
Have you considered renting a travel trailer. They rent them by week/month around. Break downs should be less of a factor, plus some of them are damn nice.

The wife and I were talking about it. Haven't looked into prices yet. My grandparents have in in Idaho...and they might let us borrow it. I was going to bring it up over Thanksgiving when we are there.

It will effect the price of fuel, but not as much as even 2 nights in a hotel. Renting one however...might. I'm going to look into that more now.

I wish I had a bit more expendable cash. You can get some pretty good deals on travel trailers right now...people are dumping them wicked cheap.

How much cheaper is driving than flying? Or is it>

Last I checked the gas mileage will surprise you. Just fiberglass shells now.

quote:

Originally posted by KevinCW:

quote:

Originally posted by AKSuperDually:

quote:

Originally posted by Thayer:
Have you considered renting a travel trailer. They rent them by week/month around. Break downs should be less of a factor, plus some of them are damn nice.

The wife and I were talking about it. Haven't looked into prices yet. My grandparents have in in Idaho...and they might let us borrow it. I was going to bring it up over Thanksgiving when we are there.

It will effect the price of fuel, but not as much as even 2 nights in a hotel. Renting one however...might. I'm going to look into that more now.

I wish I had a bit more expendable cash. You can get some pretty good deals on travel trailers right now...people are dumping them wicked cheap.

How much cheaper is driving than flying? Or is it>

The cheapest we've seen so far is $1,600.00 for all of us...not including the freaking bag charges.... And that requires that we get there before the holiday blackout, and leave after. Anything during the holiday 2 week window is $1,800+...with 3 layovers and other travel nightmares.

Then...there's the dog issue. I came up with a plan at first to drive to Idaho, drop one dog with my mom, and the other with the breeder I got him from (the hard to place malinois). But that raised ticket prices by a couple hundred dollars. AND...still left me with a tank of diesel to get there and return.

A 3K mile flight on airlines...traveling coach at Christmas time...is enough to make me shudder. I can't barely even fathom the horror of it. I love my truck, and even if it cost more I'd rather drive for 5 days than fly commercial airlines for 1.

I need to take my stuff with me. The stuff I need to do business away from home.

I can't tell you guys how much I hate to fly on airlines right now. It isn't the flying...believe me, I'm a pilot & a mechanic. It's the people, its the cramped seating, the rip off prices and surcharges, the 110% stuffed cabins...and rude flight attendants/passengers.

I generally wait until I have enough money or rewards to fly first class. But, I don't have that option. So I'll drive my first class truck instead. I'm feeling so strongly about this...that if I don't drive, I think I'm not going to go at all. If the wife and kid fly, I'll stay home.

quote:

Originally posted by Thayer:
Last I checked the gas mileage will surprise you. Just fiberglass shells now.

The gas mileage difference in my truck will likely be about 1-2mpg at most. If anything....that will depend on size.

quote:

Originally posted by Thayer:
Last I checked the gas mileage will surprise you. Just fiberglass shells now.

Cheapest prices I've found so far are $375 per week. That's for a 16' Takena.

For that price I can stay in a pretty nice hotel each night.

If I can borrow one from family, or buy one by winning the lottery or something....then we'll take one. Otherwise I think we're going to end up in hotels or with friends.

If everyone in sigforum bought a pelican case from me.....lol. MAP kills honest retailers. It really does.

quote:

Originally posted by AKSuperDually:

quote:

Originally posted by KevinCW:

quote:

Originally posted by AKSuperDually:

quote:

Originally posted by Thayer:
Have you considered renting a travel trailer. They rent them by week/month around. Break downs should be less of a factor, plus some of them are damn nice.

The wife and I were talking about it. Haven't looked into prices yet. My grandparents have in in Idaho...and they might let us borrow it. I was going to bring it up over Thanksgiving when we are there.

It will effect the price of fuel, but not as much as even 2 nights in a hotel. Renting one however...might. I'm going to look into that more now.

I wish I had a bit more expendable cash. You can get some pretty good deals on travel trailers right now...people are dumping them wicked cheap.

How much cheaper is driving than flying? Or is it>

The cheapest we've seen so far is $1,600.00 for all of us...not including the freaking bag charges.... And that requires that we get there before the holiday blackout, and leave after. Anything during the holiday 2 week window is $1,800+...with 3 layovers and other travel nightmares.

Then...there's the dog issue. I came up with a plan at first to drive to Idaho, drop one dog with my mom, and the other with the breeder I got him from (the hard to place malinois). But that raised ticket prices by a couple hundred dollars. AND...still left me with a tank of diesel to get there and return.

A 3K mile flight on airlines...traveling coach at Christmas time...is enough to make me shudder. I can't barely even fathom the horror of it. I love my truck, and even if it cost more I'd rather drive for 5 days than fly commercial airlines for 1.

I need to take my stuff with me. The stuff I need to do business away from home.

I can't tell you guys how much I hate to fly on airlines right now. It isn't the flying...believe me, I'm a pilot & a mechanic. It's the people, its the cramped seating, the rip off prices and surcharges, the 110% stuffed cabins...and rude flight attendants/passengers.

I generally wait until I have enough money or rewards to fly first class. But, I don't have that option. So I'll drive my first class truck instead. I'm feeling so strongly about this...that if I don't drive, I think I'm not going to go at all. If the wife and kid fly, I'll stay home.

Yep, that makes sense. Just to play Devil's advocate here, what is your time worth. It sounds like financially, it is of no advantage to fly. Driving, you will drive each way for 4 days. That's 8 days of driving.

I agree with your logistical difficulties of the dogs and the layovers.

Just food for thought. 8 days in a car with wife and kid can be a LONG time.

And again, if you change the route and go through the St Louis area, atropos9 and I would be down to meet you and the family for dinner or lunch.

Kevin

quote:

And again, if you change the route and go through the St Louis area, atropos9 and I would be down to meet you and the family for dinner or lunch.

I might just change my return trip...to swing that way. Can't commit right now, but I'd drive a little out of the way to meet with a regular forum member.

Right now...my time isn't worth a whole lot. I schedule my work generally a couple weeks in advance...and our primary employment, the appraisal business....is a very slow business in December. We expect to do 1 job if we are lucky. The only thing that requires us to be in Oregon is the inspection. Which can be done before we leave. All of the rest of the work can be done from anywhere.

Even if we do end up getting a bunch of work in December...we just insist on doing the inspections before we leave town, then finish the reports on the road or when we get to SC.

quote:

Originally posted by AKSuperDually:

quote:

And again, if you change the route and go through the St Louis area, atropos9 and I would be down to meet you and the family for dinner or lunch.

I might just change my return trip...to swing that way. Can't commit right now, but I'd drive a little out of the way to meet with a regular forum member.

Right now...my time isn't worth a whole lot. I schedule my work generally a couple weeks in advance...and our primary employment, the appraisal business....is a very slow business in December. We expect to do 1 job if we are lucky. The only thing that requires us to be in Oregon is the inspection. Which can be done before we leave. All of the rest of the work can be done from anywhere.

Even if we do end up getting a bunch of work in December...we just insist on doing the inspections before we leave town, then finish the reports on the road or when we get to SC.

Got ya. Sounds like a fun trip (although long)

Again, if you come through the area and give me some notice, it would be atropos9 and my pleasure to take you guys out to dinner or lunch. I would offer to put you up here, but my place is MUCH to small for even the two of us, much less you and your family. (although, if all goes well and i get the job i'll have moved to the MO side by then to a bigger place.)

Either way, have a great trip. It will be an adventure for sure.

Kevin

Thayer had a good idea. Instead of renting one though....I bought one.

http://portland.craigslist.org.../rvs/1446912158.html

Paid $2300. So far I haven't figured out the refrigerator yet, but everything else works. 6 brand new tires also. It seems to have some sort of all weather package on it, it has inner storm windows and the under floor is insulated. All of the piping seems to be covered.

I'll post better pics tomorrow....

for 2300 it sounds like a steal.

If you end up around Atlanta, let me know!

quote:

Originally posted by AKSuperDually:

quote:

Originally posted by derekc23:
Man, you're in for a fun trip across country with lots to see along the way!

Based on your assessment, I'd recommend taking the 1 ton dually since you're not likely to have any engine issues vs. the tired 5.0/5.8 in the FSB.

That's where I was leaning after typing it all out. My 7.3L is just bullet proof. But the tanny is not....though I won't be towing anything, so even a tranny that's a little tired should be fine. It only occasionally slips when I turn all the power up and romp it to cloud people in smoke. Which is another benefit of taking the 1 ton. It's a ton of fun (pun intended) covering asshole road ragers and other idiots in black smoke....ahhhh...another thread for that one.

So...the concerns with the 1 ton...highway tires. I have chains, but that really slows you down. Can anyone comment about taking hwy 70 from Denver to Topeka vs hwy 80 across Nebraska in December? I've done 80 several times, a couple of times in winter...but never 70.

I've got to start looking at carry laws also. Currently I've only got an Oregon permit, and I doubt I could get my FL one in time for this trip. I've got the packet, but haven't filled it out yet.

I've done I70 (solo!) almost all the way across Kansas to Denver. Did I80 clear across Wyoming and Nebraska. But I did them both during the summer.

70 across Kansas will drive you nuts. 'Flat' is a noun there, and it is everywhere. But since you're going during the winter, it would also seem to be safer/more passable. I80 wasn't much better, but there was a little more variation in the road & scenery.

I love road trips. Other than the cost of fuel, I love wandering around our beautiful country.

AK, nice move on the camper. Before our pup had to be put down that was how we traveled.

If you come the southern route make sure to say hi when coming through Nashville.

We moved from Atlanta about 10 years ago. Like the city but I don't ever plan on going back if I can help it. The thing about getting to SC via Atlanta is that unless you go through town in the middle of the night (on a dry night as well) you can easily burn 3-4 hours trying to get through town.

When we are power driving with our camper we usually just hit Walmart parking lots for the night although some of the small towns are starting to pass restrictions about doing that. If you buy one of the $5 Atlas maps at Walmart you get a listing of all their locations to help find them while traveling the interstates

There are a couple of interesting routes through the mountains to get around where 40 is closed. They aren't the fastest but there is some beautiful country through there in case you haven't seen it.

Lastly, if you decide to got the I-40 route let me know. I'm sure we can fire up the grill and come up with some nice hot non-restaurant food as you pass through.

My e-mail is in my profile. Shoot me one and I will send you my number. I've camped in just about every campground in TN, Alabama, Northern Ga and NC that would be along your route. If nothing else you can call & I can look up a place if you get near the end of a day and need somewhere to stop.

Mark

I once drove completely coast to coast (Mt. Hebo, OR to Kingston, NY) in February in 4 1/2 days. It was in 1962, before most of the Interstate highways were built. I was alone and won't say it was a lot of fun. I did luck out with the weather, though. I drove across the north route and dodged the Great Lakes.

In 2005 I drove an 85-day, 11750-mile trip from Dallas, TX to Cartwright, Labrador and back, with lots of deviations.

That being said, I don't necessarily envy you your planned trip, but it sounds to me as if you are planning it well. With 2 females on board, I think you will have to plan on making pit stops every couple of hours--when I had my mom with me I did. Your route map looks like one from MapPoint--I use that tool a lot and do like it. I have the 2004 version (too cheap to buy the latest version) and use a shareware tool called AGPS to mate with it on my laptop--it tracks the vehicle and compares with the planned route, giving visual and spoken guidance. You are going to use a Garmin device and that should be fine. If you are using MapPoint to prepare your route, you might take advantage of its ability to advise you of things to see along the way. Do some web surfing, too. If you don't mind adding some travel time, an occasional stop to see some point of interest can make the trip more interesting and less tedious.

You're driving through Colorado and say you'd stop to take pictures if you saw anything worth it? How could you not? Colorado is one of the most scenic states in the Union.

For what it's worth--you are not crazy to be planning such a trip. Can your wife share the driving chores, or will you have to do it all? I think you will all enjoy the trip and it's for a good cause, too. If you were coming through Dallas I'd offer to treat you to lunch or supper, but it appears that you will be going north of me. Press on--you'll be blaming yourself for years if you don't do it (and it doesn't get any easier as you age). I planned my expedition for about 4 months, adding stops as I found them, and really began wondering if I'd slipped my cogs to contemplate doing all that driving by myself. However, keeping the miles driven each day to a fairly short trek and putting in a lot of stops did make the travel quite enjoyable. I look back on it and am glad I persevered, even though I doubt I will attempt such a monumental odyssey again.

Godspeed and Bon Voyage!
flashguy

enjoy the trip. i would not fly either....

AK, let me know if your travels bring you through Western NC or the Charlotte area.

Jeff

I received my PA License to Carry Firearms in the mail today!

That really is a fast turnaround.

Very easy, and quite painless. Go through Centre County.

I've completed my fingerprint card and application for my FL permit...still looking for my old NC CHL Class certificate to count as firearms training. I may use my NRA RSO card, though it is expired...and may not count. I then need to get some pictures to send with.

I'm looking at the maps on www.usacarry.com, and I'm going to need a WA permit at some point also.

Does anyone have any advise about a non-resident permit in WA? I know I can apply at any department in person....but it is sometimes good to know which departments are better than others...

I can't drive forever, but a reasonable distance from the Portland area would be ok.

If I don't get a response in here...I might try this particular question in the CCW area.

I just wanted to follow up on the PA permit. I highly recommend adding this one to your short list.