Hit and Miss - Route Planning Ontario to Arizona

[bbandeddie]

Hey all,
I've been mostly lurking here since we acquired BB, a 2014 27FB Eddie Bauer, this summer and I've been really impressed with all the great touring advice that's been shared. Particularly on Travelin Man's 'Tell me where to go' thread.
We are now t-minus 3 weeks for our first major adventure in BB. We are leaving the onset of winter in the Barrie Ontario area and heading for southern Arizona for about 5 months. So far we have only two commitments. First stop and camping in London at Can-am for some maintenance and a bike rack setup and then a week booked at Lost Dutchmen at the end of January.
Our preference is to take the scenic routes, not rush, enjoy the journey as much or more than the destination, boondocking when appropriate, campground/parks when necessary and see and do wonderful things. There, that's pretty wide open, eh?
Of course, and not to high jack the discussion away from travel suggestions, our boondocking plans have been frustrated by the discovery that our batteries are totally wrecked (one cell took near 250ml of water, grrr, several don't even lift the hydrometer bulb) necessitating that I execute a power upgrade immediately. Arg. My head is exploding trying to work out all the ins and outs of installing lithium batteries in the wardrobe!
So. We would love your suggestions please. Routes. Stops. Great attractions. And importantly, areas/routes/roads we should avoid.
Thanks!

[KSA63]

Good Morning from beautiful Killbear PP. We are from Ramara (Orillia area) and hope to make a similar trip once retired. A few years away yet. We will be watching this thread.

[bbandeddie]

Originally Posted by KSA63

Good Morning from beautiful Killbear PP. We are from Ramara (Orillia area) and hope to make a similar trip once retired. A few years away yet. We will be watching this thread.

Whew. Brr chilly this morning. We’re actually just by Horseshoe Valley. We wanted to go to Killbear before it closes for the season but things are getting too busy prepping for the big day.

[eubank]

Won't say much about route, but, well, first join the WBCCI. Maybe even our wonderful Four Corners Unit!

SO, once you're down in Arizona, plan to attend the New Years Rally at Picacho Peak, located off the Interstate about halfway between Tucson and Phoenix. (After the rally, we plan to drive up to see Quartzsite, something we've never done.)

Oh, and if you are already down this way, we're having our Thanksgiving Rally at Caballlo Lake State Park here in New Mexico.

Come on down and join us!!


Lynn

[bbandeddie]

Thanks Lynn! I was wondering about rallies. I think TheMoreWeExplore mentioned the New Years rally in one of their videos. Not sure if we’ll be in time for Thanksgiving - probably still on the road but temperatures will dictate would transit distance/day ie if we are racing the frost line.

[Walts0731]

Hello there.... we're almost neighbors !! We have been travelling South for the past 5 years and will be leaving once again on Monday Nov 9 for the Gulf Coast of Texas. We like to take our time and always include a trip to the Airstream Factory (only a few miles south of I75) and stay overnight in their campground called the Terraport. It's $10 a night with 3 way hook up and wifi and it's free if you have any service work done there. You can also go on the factory tour any day through the week. About 2 hours and very interesting. They also have a store with all the parts and trinkets you can imagine. You will find something Airstream related there to spend $$$ on.
We also always travel from Tennessee via the Natchez Trace Parkway. It is 440 miles of 50 MPH highway that is scenic, historic and does not allow commercial traffic so no transport trucks allowed. If you like to boondock there are 3 Campgrounds that are FREE and spaced a liesurely days drive apart and very nice. Paved and has flush toilets available. Water is available but no electricity. Very clean and the park rangers that look after these sites are great !! Beautiful hardwood forested sites and no light pollution at night,, great evenings around a campfire ! This ends at Natchez MS and then you cross the Mississippi River into Louisiana. The only thing I could suggest is that you avoid Interstate 10 crossing the bottom of Louisiana and across Texas. Speed limit is 80 MPH in some parts and trucks travelling above the limit is the norm. US 90 across Texas is much nicer but it is still a desolate stretch of road. Big Bend National park is spectacular and should not be missed on the way to Arizona IMHO. As always the internet is your friend, look up the above mentioned attractions and you'll find all the information you need. Hope to see you out there on the road !!!


Walter, Pam, and Joey the Beagle !

[bbandeddie]

Thanks Walts et al! I was just reading the posts about Us90 vs IS10. I think the terraport will definitely be on the list of stops. I hadn’t considered Natchez Trace so I’ll have a look at where that runs and yours is not the first recommendation for Big Bend so will plot that in too.
How do find the race against frost in November? Will we be early enough to travel un-winterized or should we stay winterized until we get to....where-ish?
I’m actually winterising today as we’ve had some frost these last couple days and there’s some sub-zero coming this week. So many things to figure out! Enjoying the learning curve, mostly. LOL
Michael

[amaier7771]

Great to hear about your plans... Just a few comments:

We also planned to upgrade the stock batteries on our 2013 25FB to Lithium, but , decided on the less expensive/quicker/easier upgrade to Lifeline 12V batteries and a ZAMP Solar system(installed by Colonial Airstream), and we added a ZAMP 200 suitcase solar panel. After 4+ years of many days boon docking this has served us very well!!

As you head down to AZ, consider stoping at some of the outstanding New Mexico State Parks. Bottomless Lakes State park is great. Stay at Brantly Lake State park and spend a day visiting Carlsbad Caverns just down the road, then head over to Oliver Lee State Park. Where you can visit some great museums of science and space, as well as White Sands National Monument. Then on the way over to Arizona, stay a night at City of Rocks State park with a side trip up to Silver City.

We are also spending Jan, Feb and March in Arizona State parks, including Lost Dutchman, Catalina, Picacho, Buckskin Man, and Lake Havasu State Parks. We have also spent a few weeks at Quartzite in the past, which is a lot of fun. The AZ state parks are filling up fast as snowbirds that normally head to Texas and Florida are heading to AZ instead due to the hurricanes that impacts those areas. I have found that if you call, rather than use the AZ state parks web site for reservations, you can snag recent cancelations of more than just a night or two. But it takes persistence.

Have a great trip.

Al

[ktmkirby]

I have a similar plan as well, when my Airstream reno is complete. This winter, however I plan on enjoying as much snow as possible, in and around Horseshoe Valley, Temagami and Sault St. Marie. I still like the good part of winter to much to head down for 5 months, but November/December and end of March into April for sure in Arizona or California!

[delrossa]

I recommend the Allstays app if you don’t have it. Sounds like a good trip.

[TBRich]

Originally Posted by eubank

Won't say much about route, but, well, first join the WBCCI. Maybe even our wonderful Four Corners Unit!

SO, once you're down in Arizona, plan to attend the New Years Rally at Picacho Peak, located off the Interstate about halfway between Tucson and Phoenix. (After the rally, we plan to drive up to see Quartzsite, something we've never done.)

Oh, and if you are already down this way, we're having our Thanksgiving Rally at Caballlo Lake State Park here in New Mexico.

Come on down and join us!!


Lynn

Ditto to what Lynn said...the 4CU NY's Rally is legendary ... so make it if you can. There's SO much to do in SoAZ... it's hard to know where to start...the advice about reservations is good, as I expect winter visitors to be especially abundant this year.

[white laker]

We did a similar trip last winter but went on to San Diego and then down to the tip of Baja. We took three weeks to get to San Diego which means we stopped when we wanted to look around and never pushed it. The Trace is awesome and is a great break from the interstates. We exited the trace at Jackson Miss but I20 is a mess in La. (most roads are!). I 20 across Texas was pretty devoid of anything 'nice' to look at. Lots of oil wells and oil support stuff. Stayed at Monahan Sand Dunes just before the junction of I10 and I20. Neat park. As other have posted have a good look around southern New Mexico. The state parks are pretty awesome too!
You're in for a wonderful trip and your attitude is dead on from the onset. No rush, lot to see. Getting there is not a reason to leave home. Its the trip that counts.
enjoy
Pete

[bbandeddie]

Originally Posted by amaier7771

We also planned to upgrade the stock batteries on our 2013 25FB to Lithium, but , decided on the less expensive/quicker/easier upgrade to Lifeline 12V batteries and a ZAMP Solar system(installed by Colonial Airstream), and we added a ZAMP 200 suitcase solar panel. After 4+ years of many days boon docking this has served us very well!!
Al

Thanks Al. A great list of stops, I'll pass them on to my planner-in-chief with the comment to call for reservations if it's getting sticky. Perhaps we'll have a chance to cross paths this winter.
Did you have Colonial install panels on the roof, too, or do you swing it on just the portable panels?
ktmkirby: while I love the snow, we live on the Oro Moraine by Horseshoe, so the flip side to recieving an average 3.5metres of snow each winter is that it is persistently cloudy and the lack of sun is driving my wife bananas. So. Away we go. I'll miss the skiing for sure,mbut i, excited about the new possibilities.
I can't wait to see what the mountain biking is like down there! Any recommendations on that - besides the obvious Moab?
Lynn & TBRich: Regarding the NY rally, is there a link to register for that?

[Walts0731]

Micheal, we haven't winterized our trailer for the past 5 seasons. We always leave either the first or second week in November and don't return until early to mid April depending on weather. Our trailer sits in our yard and if it gives overnights below -3 or so we simply turn the furnace on with thermostat set to 50 f and it keeps everything safe from freeze up. Doesn't use much propane and I've only had to do this for a couple of cold snaps in the last 5 seasons. We usually run to the Terraport at Airstream the first day out (about 7 hours give or take). And then on the next leg of the Journey we stay near Bowling Green Kentucky overnight and then on down to the Natchez trace and stay at Meriwether Lewis campground for several days up to a week. Last year the weather was absolutely great, days in the 70's F and nights in the high 40's. We always keep a full bottle of propane and replentish the other one as soon as its empty. The furnace has kept us warm and prevented freeze ups all the way down to 10 f once at Carlsbad Caverns in January of 2013. An Airstream is not the greatest in exteme cold but that's why they have wheels. If it gets too cold go further South and or to lower elevation has worked for us. If you plan on boondocking a generator is great for daily top up of batteries especially if you use the furnace a lot. Personally carry a Honda 3000 inverter generator but any of the quality 2000 watt ones easily does the job and are easy to handle and burn small amounts of fuel. Good luck and safe travels !


Walter, Pam. and Joey the Beagle !

[amaier7771]

Colonial installed the panels on the roof with the ZAMP controller/monitor inside. Later, I special ordered the portable ZAMP panels without a solar controller through Colonial, with a plug that routs the portable panels to the single solar controller. Works great.....

[bbandeddie]

Walter, yeah, we have a Honda 2000 that we are taking from our offgrid place but our first weekend of camping with it at Bruce Pennisula convinced us we do not want to listen to that everyday!

[bbandeddie]

I thought about the furnace method of avoiding winterising. And will probably do just that in the future. Being newbies, I wanted to make sure I knew how everything worked and how to get it winterized if I needed to at some point.

[Offack]

Like your attitude. It IS the journey. My significant other and I have an agreement. As I drove professionally OTR for many years, interstates, except for emergencies, are taboo. Over the last few years we have traversed the country east and west, north and south numerous times on "back roads" . It takes much more time, but I believe we have seen the "real" America. Not always beautiful but fascinating!
My suggestion, go the back way if you have time, you won't be disappointed .

Enjoy....its short!
Rick

[bbandeddie]

Thanks Rick!
Indeed. We also have seen a great strategy 4-3-2. Drive four hours, stop by 3:00 and stay two weeks. Though, that may need to be modified a bit for major relocations and racing the frostline, but that is our general minds for this trip.

[eubank]

Yes, indeed! The unit's website has that and more! I think registration for the NY rally isn't open quite yet. Probably right after the Thanksgiving rally!

http://fourcornersunit.com/


Lynn

Originally Posted by bbandeddie

... Lynn & TBRich: Regarding the NY rally, is there a link to register for that?