Cruisers Forum
Main Forum => General Discussion => Topic started by: swiftboot on April 11, 2017, 10:06:30 am
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Planning to depart central Florida about 28 April for Moab. We will be towing two motorcycles on tandem axle 12' trailer. There will myself and the two bikers who will be sharing the driving duties. Intentions are to drive straight through with a cat nap occasionally. Current plan is to stay Rv park in Cortez, CO on 30 April to see the Four Corners and make short trip into Moab. Upon arrival, (Monday, 1 May) the bikers are on their own, my SO will fly into SLC, rent a car and drive down for the week. We will be staying Canyonlands RV park. Our plans include Arches and Canyonland national parks. I have a jeep rental for two days to drive on some of the off-road trails including Shafer Trail and Long Canyon trail. (Thank you to Ron D for the touring Tips). We plan to depart Moab on that Saturday to return to Florida. This will my first big trip and I may be leaning on this forum for advice. Our intentions are to angle up from Mobile to Little rock, pickup I 40 to Gallop, NM, then north to Cortez and finally Moab.
Larry
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Have a safe and enjoyable trip. As for the journey to get to Moab, we are exhausted just reading about it; but then we are retired and aren't bound by job schedules. Note the avoidance of the word "w__k which to many retirees is just another four letter word. (exactly) We usually use the 2-2-2 travel plan which is travel around 200 miles or so; arrive no later than 2pm; and stay a minimum of 2 days to see what's there. So, rest when you can. Enjoy! :)(:
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Check out conditions on I-40. We took it through Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico and Arizona. And it was possibly the worst road I have been on in my life. Except possibly some old, washed out, dirt farm roads. No, on second thought the farm roads were better but dusty.
Some parts were OK, but others just horrible. Lost our TV antenna in Oklahoma I think from hitting one too many potholes.
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Current plan is to stay Rv park in Cortez, CO on 30 April to see the Four Corners and make short trip into Moab. Upon arrival, (Monday, 1 May) the bikers are on their own, my SO will fly into SLC, rent a car and drive down for the week. We will be staying Canyonlands RV park. Our plans include Arches and Canyonland national parks. I have a jeep rental for two days to drive on some of the off-road trails including Shafer Trail and Long Canyon trail. (Thank you to Ron D for the touring Tips). We plan to depart Moab on that Saturday to return to Florida. Larry
You are very welcome!
Great trip planned. 2o2 I could go on and on about other places you are close by to see, but I will hold back given your limited time. Have a great trip.
We had planned on getting to the Moab area right about now and stay a month, but unexpected contract work got in the way. :'(
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Larry,
According to recreation.gov they are dong extensive road work in Arches NP. They are still doing some ranger led tours but are not taking advanced reservations. It is first-come first-serve. If you are there and the Fiery Furnace tour is available, it is one of the best tours we have ever taken.
When at the four corners you are also close to Mesa Verdi NP. Another great park.
Barry and Sue
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Speaking of which is I-10 is backed up thanks to the tunnel or drivers trying to challenge the laws of physics concerning two objects trying to occupy the same place at the same time. You can get on the causeway (US 98) and follow it over the Africatown Bridge to I-165, then take I-65 South to 98 and follow it to Hattiesburg, MS to I-59, then take 49 up to I-20 and across to Vicksburg. If you want a to get a full night's rest, the Ameristar Casino campground in Vicksburg is a nice place to stop and only about $25 per night.
To continue the trip north toward Oklahoma City, follow I-20 to Shreveport, take the I-220 north and follow US 71 to Texarkana, (another nice campground is Texarkana RV Park of US 59 South (toward Houston)). We did this trip a couple weeks ago heading to Shawnee, OK. You can take back roads through OK and avoid the toll road.
Have a safe trip and great fun.
Marilyn, Tom and the 3 cats
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Thanks for heads up on Arches, I was aware of construction underway, but this is the only window I had for the trip. The other thing that concerns me is a possible govt shutdown on 25 April. The last time this occurred, the first thing was closure of national parks. While Moab and the parks is the destination, the journey will be enjoyable as well. Thanks for suggestions on the various routes of travel and highway conditions. We have a plan but it is always flexible.
Larry
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Take a day for Dead Horse Point State Park. Spectacular scenery and unbelievable views.
If your into wine, combine a drive on Hwy 182 which winds next to the Colorado River with a visit to Castle Creek Winery. Just a tasting room but we like their wines and there's a hotel on grounds that has a very good restaurant. Many beautiful hikes along that route as well.
So little time. So much to see.
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Thanks Rhea, I suspect you meant Hwy 128 along the river to the winery. Hopefully can get that drive on the Monday that we arrive. Current plan is to tour Arches on Tuesday, how much depends on the road construction. Have to be out of park by 7PM. Wednesday calls for auto touring of Canyonlands and Dead Horse. On Thursday and Friday, we will return in jeep to drive either to bottom of canyon on Shafer Trail to Potash or drive up from the canyon. Permits are required for White Canyon trail, hopefully I can luck out and get one to drive part. The other jeep trail is Long Canyon. Videos of the jeep trails look like very white knuckle type driving.
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jatrax - on the antenna - I was talking with Phoenix yesterday because the "button' to turn the antenna will not depress so i can rotate the antenna. Since we couldn't come up with a solution, eventually Kermit got involved. He had what I thought was an odd question to ask - was I sure the antenna was still up there. I thought he was fishing for did I hit a tree or something. He said that a few of the new antenna have come off - considered it a bad batch. Mine is still there - just can't be turned. I will have to take a day trip sometime to a place that can take a look at it. I guess i need to add that to my checklist - is the antenna still attached. :-D
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catsaplenty,
Can someone get on the roof while another is inside? Have the roof person gently rattle/shake or lightly rotate the antenna too & fro while the other person inside pushes the button. Maybe something got jammed and you can get it free. It could be dirt or other debris that has caused the button to get stuck. If it reoccurs quickly, then you might have a problem. But if not, then you fixed it.
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Thanks Ron - but there is just me. And the animals. But I wouldn't trust them on the roof - they would get distracted and be no help at all!
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I am guessing they changed the antenna in the 2017, because on my 2015 there is no button. You crank up the antenna and then pull down on the white ring and twist that to rotate the antenna.
What antenna brand and model is yours?
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Sorry I had just meant to tell jatrax that others had lost an antenna too - nothing he did. I did not expect this to become a side track. Not sure how to split off to avoid being out of line on the real subject here but also feeling like it is rude not to respond. My apologies to the OP about the branch off.
Yes donc13 one of the many changes in 2107 was a different antenna - Winegard Rayzar antenna. The "class of 17' will be the test crowd for these new things.
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Just to add to the antenna issue, and hopefully not stray further: The new antenna is the Winegard Razar. Kermit sent me a replacement for the missing one. When I installed it I discovered that it is held on with a piece of threaded ABS plastic pipe of maybe 1" diameter. It is secured by a nut attached from inside after you remove three screws on the knob inside. On mine the plastic pipe was sheared off flush with the top of the plastic nut. And everything above that long gone. I suspect that either there was a bad batch with a crack or weak point in the pipe, or that piece of plastic is just not strong enough to stand up to on the road conditions.
They told me mine was not the first one that gone missing.
Catsaplenty just to be sure we have the same model, to turn mine you have to push up on the white knob inside and after it moves up maybe a half inch you can turn the whole knob. Maybe that is what you call a button, not sure.
Now back to more exciting things like Utah.
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Left central florida 715 am Apr 28, snooze in Shreveport, arrive in Amarillo evening of 29 April,, snowed in at walmart Amarillo til morning. Only problem was step was going in and out after entering snowstorm. Walmart now, gen on with electric heater going. Step seems to be okay. Will evaluate conditions in the mornin
Larry
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Larry--
Snow! Wow!
As for your step, there is a bolt at the bottom of the door that you can adjust outward so that it makes more firm contact with the button thingy at the bottom of wall there. A faster fix is to put a layer or two or so of paper towel between the two when you close the door so that the button is more firmly pressed. A longer term fix is to have a switch installed that can totally disable that step, so that you can disable it when driving. I'm not sure, but I think the switch simply disconnects battery power to the step (the factory installed it for me after my third visit there and constant problems with the step).
Continue to enjoy a safe journey!
Carol
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Thanks Carol. We are still in walmart parking lot, most of snow is gone but cold with winds 35 to 40 sustained with gusts to 50. We are hanging here til 6PM or so as winds are forecast to reduce. It looks like a 10 to 12 hours to Moab. Reservations there beginning tomorrow noon. BTW we spent plenty inside in addition to the wind blowing a shopping cart across the lot at high speed slamming into coach breaking a 4" piece of fiberglass out. There really isn't "free" parking.
Larry
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We departed Moab May 6, one night Amarillo, second night Memphis arriving home in Florida 8:30 PM, May 8. Two drivers managed three 700 plus miles daily. (not recommended) While in Moab we enjoyed Arches and Canyonland NPs as well as Dead Horse Canyon state park and other scenic drives in the area. In addition to a car, I had a jeep rented and drove Potash, and Shafer trails and part of White Rim Trail to Mussleman Arch. The motorhome performed well with no problems pulling tandem axle trailer with two motorcycles. The winds were brutal in Utah, New Mexico, Texas and parts of Oklahoma. I do believe a safe t plus stabilizer is in my future though, hopefully that would help in crosswinds. I won't bore everyone with additional details, but if there are any questions I would be happy to answer.
Larry
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Larry,
You did the trip we had planned for this spring but were unable to due to a temp contract job assignment.
If you dealt with strong cross winds for days and are now considering a Safe-T-Plus, I am curious if your front tire thread is now worn unevenly from counter-steering the cross wind for so many miles.
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Ron i will look at tires tomorrow and let you know about the tire wear. I don't have anything to compare Re: safe t steer as local driving seemed docile before the trip with stock equipment. Admittedly I have to continually make corrections in steering but assumed this normal. From what I have read here and elsewhere, the vehicle should track better without the almost constant moving of the steering wheel after stabilizer is installed.
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I still got the uneven front tire wear after crossing the great plains from a strong & consistent cross wind for days at a time, for I still had to hold the steering wheel at an angle to compensate for the blast. I just can hold it much more steady than without the Safe-T-Plus.