You say that to all the guys!
A neat word I’ve never heard. And will possibly need in the future.
Last night and tonight we are in the Hoosier National Forrest at Indian Celina Lakes campground. Night before last was in a cornfield in NW Ohio. Tomorrow night in Carlyle, IN.
Monday night…
.
Yesterday…
Since this post was last updated, we have crossed Missouri and Kansas landing outside Denver, CO "moochdocking " in my son’s driveway…
Last weekend we pulled the trailer over the Continental Divide at 10,000ft asl to spend 2 nights in Granby, CO at a resort campground with my son and his family…
It snowed above 6K ft the night before we left. That, the colorful Aspens and some remaing clouds made for some amazing scenery on the trip home through the pass. I was driving so didn’t get pictures, but Marilyn took a bunch through the windshield. I’ll see if she can send a good one to me to post.
This is our second to last night here. On Saturday we begin a leisurely ride to PA for a long weekend This was the view down the street next to the camper tonight.
4 Likes
This looks fun. Anyone been?
On the subject of camping, we sold Eloise, our Class C, a few weeks ago (to someone from Illinois, sight-unseen, just through the ad) and this weekend we put a deposit down on a new rig. A ‘short’ 5th wheel, lightly used 2023.
1 Like
Very nice Bob. What are you going to pull it with?
We got home Wednesday. Biggest thing we learned was that we can get along for over a month inside a car and 24 foot camper!
We’re looking at Ram 3500s with the Cummins engine, 2 to 4 years old. Just need to find one with all the stuff we want. Something like this.
Yea, our trip in May/June we really didnt want to come home, it was comfortable for 4 weeks.
Better get the 4wd version that way when your hanging with Jon at the EBT campground you can unhook and take everyone up in them hills.
Did you go for the optional pull out kitchen with spray hose? Oh and how much are they bangin ya’ for the spice rack and pull out pet dish or is that part of the standard package?
Yes to the 4WD, no to the outdoor kitchen. It takes up about 80% of the storage bay.
I thought you guys would be embracing the new tech. 
Today’s entry in the “not a censored chance” category…
So let’s say we did embrace electric truck technology for towing. Having just completed a 5000 mile trip, how would it have gone…
As a baseline, my SUV gets 24MPG highway by itself. When towing it ranges from 8-13MPG, but averages 11. 24/11=2.18 - Towing is more than twice less fuel efficient.
Electric vehicles boast up to 350 miles of range. Assuming the range when towing would fall off similar to a gas powered vehicle, I’ll use the same formula 350/2.18=160.5. So I’m estimating 160 miles between charges while towing. Also assuming the best charging station you can find is a 22KW charge point, it would take around 3 hours to charge from nearly empty to full.
Our average towing days were 5.5 hours including stops. We averaged about 225 miles per day. In that 5.5 hour day we made at least three 10 minute stops for gas, one would have included at least 30 minutes for lunch. So let’s say we lost one hour to stops.
Traveling that same leg in an EV, leaving with a full charge and arriving almost empty, would require one 3 hour fuel stop. That stop could also include a meal. Thus, the EV would add a net of two hours to the trip making it 7.5 hours with a three hour break. These numbers aren’t as bad as I imagined they would be, but bad enough!
I don’t think camper towing with an EV for anything other than very short trips makes any sense at all. At 6 hours I was tired of driving. 7.5-8 would have not been fun.
EDIT TO FIX MATH
1 Like
Yep, exactly. Until electric can replace the fossil fuel driving experience 1 to 1, it has a limited audience, as far as Im concerned.
1 Like
And I believe that your comparisons could be farther distorted by time of year and ambient temps, both while on the road and when being recharged
Exactly. My range and recharge numbers are under ideal temperature and humidity conditions. Forget towing any distance in deep winter!
Or long times sitting in traffic jams 
I forgot about them. We really lucked out our entire trip. Many miles of 1 lane on the interstates were all 55+ MPH. We ran into a bit of volume near several of the large cities we skirted, but no real slow downs at all.
Once we got to Denver and were on our way to Granby, we crawled up the front range on I-70 for miles.
I didn’t realise that I was poking the bear. 
I agree with Bob; being an early adopter of technology requires a lot more planning when the infrastructure is just not there. You don’t want to have range anxiety on your holiday. You want the confidence to drive past a charging station, as you would a petrol station.. It is really cool that Jon has done the math.
I think it’s pretty neat that the industry is thinking about these problems now. Thor industries (Airstream) has a dedicated page.
Another thing to consider is after that long drive you arrive at the RV park and set up, it is 105 degrees in the shade. Question, do you charge your Tow Vehicle so you can leave the next morning or run the air conditioning in the RV, probably can’t do both.
As for charging on the road you probably wont find a charging station set up to handle the length of your truck and RV.
1 Like