Living on the road
Posted 12-30-2010 at 09:41 AM by zthatzmanz28
Just returned from our first real trip with the Holiday Rambler. We had hauled it from Michigan to North Carolina the summer of 09, but it wasn't a leisure trip we were on.
The 30 foot HR was stuffed with another 2,000, maybe 3,000 pounds of our possessions. The 1995 Silverado with 5.7 liter with 187K miles and a limping 4L60e automatic transmission struggled through Ohio so badly I was sure it was going to puke its guts out all over I 77 once we were in the mountails of West Virginia.
That July was hot. We stopped for several hours every 150 miles--raised the hood to let the engine and trans cool as we read books and watered our two hound dogs. Along the way we passed newer cars and trucks with smaller trailers on the side of the road blowing what was left of their anti-freeze up in the air. We had the 6,000 pound HR and an additional 3,000 pounds of gear in it. Hauling 9,000 pounds with a K1500 that is past its prime is somewhat of a challenge.
We pulled into Ripley West Virginia and stayed the night at Rippling Waters campground. If we had known the lay of the road getting there, we would have parked at the Wendy's nearer the exit. The temperatures had been around 95* that day and we had left Michigan around 4:00 A.M. We pulled into Rippling Waters around 6:00 P.M. Almost 400 miles from Detroit and 13 hours on the road.
The following day had forecast high 90's, probably closer to 99*. We were half way to NC and still had the steepest mountains to climb in front of us. We broke camp at 2:00 A.M. and started for Charleston West Virginia. Temperatures were in the 50's, and the fog was starting to roll through the mountains. We coaxed the Silverado and its 9,00 pounds of cargo towards the NC border.
With the cooler temperatures we felt the need to stop wasn't as great. We breathed a great sigh of relief when he crested Flat Top in West Virginia (the highest peak on I 77) and rolled towards Beckley, our first stop and on into Virginia. All we had to get over was a few "smaller" humps.
We pushed through Wytheville Virginia around 9:00 A.M. and UP over our last mountain. Approaching the North CArolina border, we could see Pilot Mountain on the horizin to our left. It is all down hill (a very big hill) from Fancy Gap Virginia to the North Carolina state line.
10:00 A.M. we started our descent from Fancy Gap as the radio announces the temperature will be a "humid 99 degrees."
The 30 foot HR was stuffed with another 2,000, maybe 3,000 pounds of our possessions. The 1995 Silverado with 5.7 liter with 187K miles and a limping 4L60e automatic transmission struggled through Ohio so badly I was sure it was going to puke its guts out all over I 77 once we were in the mountails of West Virginia.
That July was hot. We stopped for several hours every 150 miles--raised the hood to let the engine and trans cool as we read books and watered our two hound dogs. Along the way we passed newer cars and trucks with smaller trailers on the side of the road blowing what was left of their anti-freeze up in the air. We had the 6,000 pound HR and an additional 3,000 pounds of gear in it. Hauling 9,000 pounds with a K1500 that is past its prime is somewhat of a challenge.
We pulled into Ripley West Virginia and stayed the night at Rippling Waters campground. If we had known the lay of the road getting there, we would have parked at the Wendy's nearer the exit. The temperatures had been around 95* that day and we had left Michigan around 4:00 A.M. We pulled into Rippling Waters around 6:00 P.M. Almost 400 miles from Detroit and 13 hours on the road.
The following day had forecast high 90's, probably closer to 99*. We were half way to NC and still had the steepest mountains to climb in front of us. We broke camp at 2:00 A.M. and started for Charleston West Virginia. Temperatures were in the 50's, and the fog was starting to roll through the mountains. We coaxed the Silverado and its 9,00 pounds of cargo towards the NC border.
With the cooler temperatures we felt the need to stop wasn't as great. We breathed a great sigh of relief when he crested Flat Top in West Virginia (the highest peak on I 77) and rolled towards Beckley, our first stop and on into Virginia. All we had to get over was a few "smaller" humps.
We pushed through Wytheville Virginia around 9:00 A.M. and UP over our last mountain. Approaching the North CArolina border, we could see Pilot Mountain on the horizin to our left. It is all down hill (a very big hill) from Fancy Gap Virginia to the North Carolina state line.
10:00 A.M. we started our descent from Fancy Gap as the radio announces the temperature will be a "humid 99 degrees."
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