Will do. We should arrive Thursday the 3rd and be there through the weekend. Would love to see you guys one way or another.
This trip is now in the books.
We traveled just over 5000 miles in 35 days. We burned 531 gallons of gasoline at an average of $3.15/gallon. We climbed to 10,000ASL crossing the Continental Divide for a weekend in the mountains at Granby, Coloroado. The toughest climbs, however, where in the East crossing several ridges of the Alleghenies in PA.
With the exception of a few longer stops, most were quick overnights, then pack up and leave in the morning. Many of our overnights and extended stays were in Corps of Engineers campgrounds. They are very nice and very cheap with a Senior pass.
Because of time constraints, we didn’t do any sightseeing along the way. We did stop several times to visit with friends and family. We learned that it is possible to spend 35 nights in a 24’ camper and not have any arguments!
A bunch of highlight pics…
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Jon, what is the deal with the boards on the side of one hopper? i saw those on one of the videos as well.
at least you got to see and ride behind 16. we got let down at the NG convention tour as it was hot and was moving inside the restricted area only, and even on the shop tour were told to take pictures and keep moving. nothing has come out as to how they fixed the hot bearing.
Al P.
That is the side dump hopper used in ballast service. The boards are used as wings. I think they are in the storage location in the pictures. In practice, I think they mount behind the chutes. They also have a tie that is dragged in front of the rear truck. I’ll look for a video the RR posted a few years ago when rebuilding north.
UPDATE EDIT: I can find no video evidence of the side dump being used for ballasting. There are several videos of ballasting operations on YouTube that show only three bay hoppers in the ballast train.
Jon, Herself wants to see the USA in an RV. So there’s a few questions.
- what are campsite costs these days?
- did you o/n in a Walmart or Cracker Barrel ?
- how many days did you not o/n in the RV?
- these days, can you just rock up to a camp? If not, how far ahead do you have to reserve a spot?
Bill. Good questions. I can answer a few.
Campsite costs for us were anywhere from US $0 to $150/night. $0 was at an RV Overnight App spot that wouldn’t take any money and $150 was a resort campground in the Rockies. Most nights we were in US Army Corps of Engineers campgrounds on a Sr. lifetime pass - gives 50% off. Sites ranged from $10/night to $23/night. We also spent close to 2 weeks moochdocking. Parked in the driveway at my brothers (pic #2) or my son’s (pic #12). These were free too with water & electric! Other than the resort and COE campgrounds, the places we paid to stay were around $50/night.
We have stayed overnight at both Walmart & Cracker Barrel, but not on this trip. Many Walmart stores are in sketchy parts of town. Cracker Barrel is usually near the interstate.
All 35 nights were in the camper. We bought a really nice mattress. Expect the bed in a rental camper to be uncomfortable.
Campsites in some areas are tough to find. There are several apps for overnights live RV Overnights and Harvest Hosts that list places you can park free. They request you spend cash at the establishment where you stay. Those can usually be had with minimal notice. In the west we found lots of “RV Parks” right on the interstate. They are parking lots with hookups. They weren’t all paved, a few trees and grass, but not a park. You can usually reserve these for the same night. During the summer months the COE campgrounds book months in advance. We booked 2 weeks out for off season.
For parks along the coast in Oregon, California, and probably Washington, think at least 6 months in advance. Most other campgrounds/parks in these states should be booked at least weeks in advance during season.
These reasons and the Covid overcrowding are why we sold our last trailer, but here we are fighting the booking bugger again trying to arrange spots months in advance then hoping we can make it.
Impromptu camping sounds very much a thing of the past. We loved the last minute camping we could do on our last trip. It sounds quite a different experience since Covid.
In our trip research, we have also been reading about “Tourons” (attendees doing stupid things) ruining the park experience for others.
My experience at the Corps campgrounds was quiet and relaxing. It was after our summer high season had ended.
One of our less park-like stops in PA had sites right on top of one another and party groups all around us late into the night. No respect for posted quiet hours. But that was only 4 nights out of them all. Every place else was quiet - well except for the interstate whine at a few.
Good stuff Jon!
Also note the trucks on #802
Way back in the day, in my original hood, I ran a pro audio business. I hired a young kid named Tony who was also a good customer. In '82 I left the business behind for new ideas. Tony stayed in the business and spent years traveling the world doing sound for all kinds of gigs for a large AV company in Buffalo. A few years ago he got tired of traveling and was offered the job as full time sound man at the Sportsmens. The tavern is one of three connected venues that Tony oversees sound for. The owner of the clubs was the leader of the band Tony was doing sound for when he worked for me. We got a chance to connect at the club while visiting my brother. Good New Orleans Zydeco jazz that night.
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