Maiden Voyage
Prep: I added a full rubber mat between the camper and flatbed (1/2" of cushioning and extra friction to hold camper in place). The mat was 8 3'x3' squares purchased at Home Depot...the kind of mat used for people to stand on and reduce fatigue. Flushed and then filled the fresh water system. We loaded the camper with the essentials for survival (beer and wine) and set out on our annual Thanksgiving trip to Paradise Valley, Montana.
We left Denver late Friday evening and stopped alongside the freeway just South of Casper WY for the night. The temp had dipped into the high 30's by the time we stopped and crew piled into the camper. The crew is my wife, daughter and two muts. Unlike prior truckbed campers, we found the Northstar American Hero to have plenty of room for 3 adults. Four adults would be tight, but doable and two adults plus 2 kids would be a breeze...this is a roomy camper. Not quite Earthroamer roomy, but better than any camper I have been in.
We set heater low...it is very quiet and only came on a couple of times during the night. This is a testament to the insulation on this camper. We awoke to 5 degree weather with wind blowing hard and 4" of snow covering the landscape and the truck. I am truly amazed at the thermal efficiency of the camper. We had no idea that a storm had blown in
The next 10 hours was spent driving on hard packed snow. Although the transportation departments sand in these areas, there are long stretches of road that go without any treatment. We counted 6 rollovers, mostly before the MT border. I wanted to see how this combination would handle in snow, just had not planned on it for this trip.
The combination of the flatbed camper and the Dodge 5500 seemed to be perfect. No sway, no slip and it cruised nicely at 55-60 mph in 4x4. Because of the conditions, I wanted the transmission to help slow the rig, so I left it in tow/haul mode. This eliminates 6th gear and that combined with 4x4 delivered me a whopping 8.9 mpg! Thankfully it has a 50 gal tank. There are only 4k miles on this, so I am not even close to break in.
The truck has Continental HDR 225/70 19.5's and they gripped extremely well in hard packed snow. I was simply amazed at the stability of the entire rig. I pulled up the driveway in 6" of dry powder and didn't spin a tire. So far so good.
We will spend 3 days touring the North end of Yellowstone (it is the only road open in winter) and then Thanksgiving at our MT cabin in Paradise Valley. We are home now and the journey is just beginning.
