Traveling from Utah to N. Florida

[pappy19]

We spent the first night in St. George at the Temple View RV Park. Easy access and OK gravel lot for us to park without unhooking. Older park with tiny bathrooms. Next night was in Mesa, Arizona at the Val Vista Fiesta RV Park. Super nice park with lots of activities and very nice folks. We plan to stay here for 2 weeks and then on to Florida via NM,TX,LA,MS,AL. Here's a couple of pictures of our St.George and Mesa parking spots.

Pap

[mojo]

Just did that trip from Durango to Ft. Lauderdale to pick up a 25 FB. Hope your V10 has the seat massage feature, it's a long haul. Enjoy the trip.

[4RXLA]

Pappy19,

Out of curiosity, do you utilize a sway control weight distributing hitch? I have the same model truck and similar length trailer and so far have not encountered any situation that requires sway control. Probably because the truck weighs as much as the trailer..

[pappy19]

My AS came with a Propride Equilizer hitch. Except for the "creaking" noise making turns (I bought some grease when we got to Mesa), I like it fine. I also have installed a set of Firestone air bags with compressor which is very helpful on the hitch load and also I use it to get the out-riggers settled. When we were staying in St. George we left the AS hooked up and it hardly wiggled during our stay. I keep the airbags set at 60-70 lbs with the trailer hooked up and drop it to 10 when solo. Truck rides great. My truck with a full tank and my normal crap weighs 8100.

[LawChick]

Hope you have a great trip. We just returned from south Florida, where we stayed mostly in state parks.

Looks like you found some good places to stop & rest.

[Sean Woodruff]

Originally Posted by pappy19

My AS came with a Propride Equilizer hitch. Except for the "creaking" noise making turns (I bought some grease when we got to Mesa), I like it fine. I also have installed a set of Firestone air bags with compressor which is very helpful on the hitch load and also I use it to get the out-riggers settled. When we were staying in St. George we left the AS hooked up and it hardly wiggled during our stay. I keep the airbags set at 60-70 lbs with the trailer hooked up and drop it to 10 when solo. Truck rides great. My truck with a full tank and my normal crap weighs 8100.

Hi Pappy,

I don't see a ProPride hitch in the pictures above. I see the Equal-i-zer. Two very different hitches. The ProPride would not creak. The Equal-i-zer will because of the friction.

Just wanted to clarify.

[Splitrock]

Whoa! Nice rig! Big trailer, nice truck! Be safe, have fun.

[pappy19]

Originally Posted by Sean Woodruff

Hi Pappy,

I don't see a ProPride hitch in the pictures above. I see the Equal-i-zer. Two very different hitches. The ProPride would not creak. The Equal-i-zer will because of the friction.

Just wanted to clarify.

I thought Propride made the Equilizer hitch. I guess I need to look at it more closely. It came with the AS when I bought it. I'll take some close-ups of the hitch tomorrow. It was made in Provo, Utah.

Pap

[Sean Woodruff]

Originally Posted by pappy19

I thought Propride made the Equilizer hitch. I guess I need to look at it more closely. It came with the AS when I bought it. I'll take some close-ups of the hitch tomorrow. It was made in Provo, Utah.

Pap

No problem, Pap... Progress Mfg makes the Equalizer.

The ProPride 3P hitch is progress so it would probably be easy to confuse.

[pappy19]

Made it to Tallahassee, Florida last night on the last leg east. Will stay here for a few days and then turn west again. This last leg from Arcadia, LA to Tallahassee was 800 miles and took 93.6 gallons = 8.6 mpg. I'm a little surprised that it went up some as the winds were terrible yesterday and alot of up and down "hills" in North Florida along I-10, but still not bad with the cruise control on 70.

By the way, we stopped over at Gulf Shores, AL for 2 days to do the beach thingy and ate at the Oyster House (fantastic) and at Lamberts (unbelievable). I'd go back there just for the food. Nice beaches and a fun town.

Pap

[kposey]

Welcome to the south! Sounds like you have had a good trip so far. If you have time, you might want to head home through Georgia and Tennessee. It's beautiful up here.

[pappy19]

On our way back now from Tallahassee along I-10 to Houston and then north to Weatherford, TX where we spent 2 days with friends. Then, the worst one day of driving that I can ever remember, we went from Weatherford to Las Cruces, NM. I had 40-50 mph head winds the entire 611 miles. Not only was it my longest leg, but the total "white-knuckle" day ever. My gas mileage went fro an acceptable 8.5 to 5.4 for the entire day. Did I mention dust? When I went through Midland, you couldn't see the town. When I got gas there, the wind almost ripped my credit card from my hand. It's a good thing we were towing an AS instead of a plastic box (which we only saw 1 going our way all day), or big trouble. Saw 3 semi rigs get blown completely off the road but they didn't turn over.

I have to say that our AS has performed without a hitch. We are in Mesa, AZ for 2 nights and then off to St. George, UT and then on to Bountiful, UT, where we will park for a while.

I have kept really good records of my trip cost and will summerize it when we get to Utah.

Pap

[pappy19]

Total miles from Bountiful, Utah to Tallahassee, Florida and back with a few side trips to California, Weatherford, TX, Las Cruces, Mesa, Az, etc, totaled 7996 miles and 936.3 gallons of mostly 89 octane, average of 8.2 mpg including about 1200 miles solo and about the same towing with horrendous headwinds, so the average ain't bad. Gasloine for mid-priced 89 was $3.96 average so $3700 for fuel. Still, we had a great trip and no problems at all with the Ford V-10 or our great 30' Classic/SO. The Equili-Zer hitch performed great along with the Firestone rear air bags to make for a comfortable ride. We saw 3 Bambi's, 2 Excella's, 2 Classic's, and one Coach on our trip going the opposite direction. Most blinked their lights to say Howdy. We are parked in North Salt Lake at the Pony Express RV Resort for the summer as I am still doing some consulting work in the area, but will take a few weekends to go into Idaho. Hope to see some of you on the road.

Pap