Anyone able to haul a camping trailer from PA to CA in the next couple of weeks?

[drodio]

I'm buying an Adrenalin Blast camping trailer from a gentleman in PA and hoping that by some miracle, there's a trustworthy soul in our community that's looking to do a road trip from the east coast out to CA (I'm in San Francisco but I could meet you elsewhere in CA if necessary) and would be willing to haul it out with them sometime in the next few weeks (ideally early October but could be as late as end of October).

Trailer is 14' long, 6' wide, about 3' tall and 1,500 lbs. (Your vehicle would need to have a Class III hitch on it, and to be safe, I'd recommend you have a 7 pin trailer connector (not 4 pin) and ideally have a brake controller).

Here's my offer:

1) I'll pay your gas money to drive cross country (I'm hoping in $500ish range)
2) You can use the trailer as you go cross country (so long as you take super good care of it!)

Please PM me if you're interested & able to help!

Here's a pic of a trailer just like it, so you can get an idea of what it would be like to haul:

 

[PGGRS]

Haul

I'm in So Utah & going to Expo East, then to the Vermont rally. Visit friends & family in New England. Wedding in upstate NY Oct 24. Heading west 10-25, so it might work. I'm hauling a Toyota on a trailer to Atlanta on way to Expo. '98 Ford E450 Quigley diesel W/ brake controller. PM me with your # & we can talk about it. Pete

 

[drodio]

PM sent, thanks PGGRS!

 

[drodio]

Ping... I've had some awesome ExPo members PM me but haven't been able to find someone whose schedule matches up yet. Please PM me if you'll be going from Philly area out to CA anytime in Oct!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Russ Chung]

Originally, I planned to drive from Southern California to attend the Overland Expo East in Asheville, NC, visit my daughter in Charlotte, NC, view the fall colors in the Great Smoky Mountains, attend an Army reunion in Columbus, GA the following weekend, and then head of Moab, UT to wheel with some friends the weekend after that before heading back to SoCal. After a few PMs and emails with Daniel, I decided that I could fit a slight detour to PA into my itinerary to bring his trailer to the west coast. But first, I had to prepare my Jeep Wrangler to tow the trailer. Although my Jeep has a receiver, it is not rated for towing a trailer. So I ordered a Class III tow hitch and wiring harness and Daniel lent me his brake controller. I spent the past few days installing the tow hitch, wiring harness and brake controller.





I had thought about using velcro to attach the borrowed brake controller to my dashboard so that I could detach it and give it to Daniel when I'm done with it, but I ended up using zip ties to attach the controller to the overhead mounting bar for my ham and CB radios. The instructions say that the controller should be at least 12" from any RF source, so I mounted it in the corner away from my radios.



On Sunday, I'll leave Columbus, GA and head to PA. I expect to pick up the trailer on Monday afternoon and then head to Moab via I-80 and I-70. I'll try to report on the trip, but I will be traveling about 2900 miles to get to Moab and then another 900 miles to the San Francisco Bay Area, so I may not have much time to take pictures.

 

[drodio]

Woohoo can't wait to hear how the trip goes, Russ!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Russ Chung]

Day 1 - Sunday, October 11. I left Columbus, GA and drove slightly more than 500 miles to Radford, VA.



The sky in GA was overcast, the sky in SC was partly cloudy, and the skies in NC and VA were clear. The temperature was in the 70s. A few leaves were beginning to turn color, but there were more green leaves than red, gold or brown leaves.



Tomorrow's forecast is for good weather when I pick up the trailer in PA.

 

[Russ Chung]

Day 2 - Monday, October 12. When I left Radford, VA, the visibility was poor due to fog but the fog burned off my mid-morning and the weather was clear and sunny the rest of the day. As I traveled further north, the fall colors became more prominent. Here is a picture of the foliage at a rest stop in Pennsylvania:



Just before I left Radford, VA, I discovered that I had loaded the wrong maps on my GPS, so my departure was delayed while I re-loaded my GPS maps. As a result, I did not arrive in Quakertown, PA until just before sunset. It took about an hour to connect the trailer and the wiring and to check everything out. I configured the brake controller, drove a few miles on surface streets to meet a friend for dinner, then I drove about 100 miles on the PA turnpike to Harrisburg, PA for the night. The weight of the trailer made a noticeable difference in acceleration and deceleration, but otherwise there was no difference in the way my Jeep handled.

 

[Russ Chung]

Day 3 - Tuesday, October 13. Harrisburg, PA to Cloverdale, IN. On Tuesday morning, I got to look at the trailer in daylight. Even without the trailer my Jeep was weighted down on the rear axle because of all the camping equipment I brought for this trip. I don't know what the trailer weight or the tongue weight are but it is apparent that the trailer is nose heavy. Despite the poor weight distribution, I had no problem towing the trailer. I checked the tires after driving 25 miles at highway speed. The trailer tires and the front tires on the Jeep were cool to the touch, and the rear tires on the Jeep were warm to the touch. To reduce the possibility of tire failure and the tendency to sway and fishtail, I reduced the tire pressure on the front tires to 28 psi and increased the tire pressure on the rear tires to 40 psi. After adjusting the tire pressure, the Jeep and the trailer handled better at highway speeds.



The foliage along the Pennsylvania Turnpike had much more color than the foliage in GA and NC.



The Service Plazas along the Pennsylvania Turnpike have a contemporary look and feature a food court. This is quite a change from my first trip on the Turnpike in the 1960s, when the service plazas featured a Howard Johnsons Restaurant.



After a long day of driving (582 miles), I spent the night in Cloverdale, IN.

 

[Russ Chung]

Day 4 - Wednesday, October 14. Cloverdale, IN to Salina, KS. The sky was clear and the temperature was in the 40s when I left Cloverdale, IN but the temperature quickly warmed up and the high along the route was in the 80s. The fall foliage has begun to display red colors as well as golden colors. This picture was taken at a rest stop near Effingham, IL.



It was an easy drive on the interstate. I set the cruise control for the speed limit, usually 70 mph, and I'd take a break for gas and food every couple of hours. On the eastbound trip, my Jeep was averaging about 15 mpg. With the trailer, I've been getting between 12 -13 mpg. The trip from Cloverdale, IN to Salina, KS was 614 miles. Driving time was slightly over 10 hours. Total time including meal and gas stops was about 13 hours. Here is a picture of the Mississippi River:

 

[drodio]

Keep the updates coming, Russ!!!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Russ Chung]

Day 5 - Thursday, October 15. Salina, KS to Moab, UT. First, I should explain that prior to offering to tow the trailer from Pennsylvania to California my original plan was to leave Columbus, GA on Sunday, October 11 after attending the reunion of an Army unit I served in and then travel about 1900 miles in five easy days to Moab, UT to meet some friends for several days of wheeling beginning October 16 before continuing home to Los Angeles. The detour to Pennsylvania increased the total distance for the trip from Georgia to Utah by 1100 miles to 3000 miles total so I figured that it would take six days of travel and I would miss the first day of wheeling in Moab with my friends.

Thursday was clear and sunny with a stiff breeze from the northeast. Kansas doesn't have as many trees as the states further east, so there were few fall colors to view. The speed limit across Kansas was 75 mph and my Jeep struggled to keep up with the traffic. Despite the crosswind, the trailer was stable and did not sway at freeway speed:



I had planned to stop in Denver for the night, but the fast interstate freeway speed limit and the one hour time change from Central to Mountain time helped me arrive in Denver at 5 pm MDT. My GPS indicated that it would take about 5-1/2 hours to travel the remaining 350 miles to Moab, so I decided to continue westward instead of stopping in Denver. My Jeep struggled to pull the trailer up the Rocky Mountains; in some places, I could barely maintain 45 mph. I was glad to cross the Continental Divide at the Eisenhower Tunnel shortly before sunset:



My Jeep was better able to maintain the 75 mph speed limit after crossing the Continental Divide and heading downhill but there were a couple of occasions on curves when the trailer gave my Jeep an unexpected tug to the side. I stopped in Eagle, CO for dinner and to refuel and arrived in Moab, UT shortly before midnight. I disconnected the trailer and was ready to join my friends on the trail the next morning. Distance traveled 785 miles.

 

[mph]

Crazy cool...crazy nice of you! I like your report!

 

[Russ Chung]

In Moab, I stayed in a friend's RV, so I disconnected the trailer and removed the trailer hitch so I would have better departure angles for the Moab trails. On Friday, we ran Kane Creek. The few trees in Moab were beginning to turn golden color, but it was not quite as colorful as the trees back east:



On Saturday, we ran Golden Spike. There weren't many trees on that trail, but there were some nice views of the Moab Valley:







The Golden Crack is just one of the reasons why I had to remove the trailer hitch:



Ever wonder why they call this "Jeep Arch"?





On Sunday, we ran Flatiron Mesa:





On Monday, we ran Steelbender and I managed to pop the bead on one of my tires:





We re-seated the bead and continued on.

 

[Russ Chung]

Tuesday, October 20. Moab, UT to Ely, NV. I reinstalled the trailer hitch, loaded the Jeep, hooked up the trailer and bid farewell to Moab. There are hardly any trees or fall colors on US-50 along the Utah/Nevada border:





I forgot to start my APRS tracker until I got about a couple hours out of Moab:



It's only about 385 miles to Ely, NV from Moab, UT. I arrived in Ely, NV about 5 pm PDT and considered continuing on westward, but there isn't any other place to stop for the night until Fallon, NV about 250 miles further on. Because of the way the camper trailer was loaded, I couldn't use it during this trip. Otherwise, I could have pulled over somewhere along the "Loneliest road in America" and camped for the night.