The one good thing also about moving to a new and strange area NO ONE TO BOTHER OR NAG YA !!! Enjoy the solitude !!

Smokie

 

Congrats on a safe trip. Congrats to the old gal for pulling you from coast to coast with no major issues. How many folks would take that trip with a truck over 300k? I love these trucks.....Love the new sig pic by the way. Where was that at? Beautiful... Dont see that in florida.....lmao

 

I do enjoy solitude. It's very peaceful and quiet here.

I just rolled over 310k when I got here. It's funny you say that, cause I remember my dad would never keep a truck past 70k miles. He would think I'm nuts
Every time I was pulling a 5-6% grade in second gear, foot on the floor I was a little concerned, but damn If she didn't prove me wrong!
That BTS trans gave me a lot of confidence.
That pic was taken at an exit ramp in Utah somewhere. It just looked like a nice place to rest and take a scenic pic. I took almost 200 pics & I wish I could have paid more attention to where I took em LOL

 

Hey Frank glad to hear that you made it without any major problems. Good luck to you, and stay in touch.

Richard

 

Thanks Rich, I'll still be around the forum.

 

A trip like that with only a flat tire earns bragging rights.

 

I was definitely blessed! I changed out one wheel bearing on the camper before the trip & I did quite a bit of prep on my truck beforehand. Lots of new parts & fluids.
I consider myself lucky with owning a 7.3. A neighbor of mine in Florida set off to Texas pulling his 38' fiver with a beat up chevy gasser 2500.
I hope he made it safely. Even I'm not that brave....

 

I just read through this entire thread! I love road trips. These trucks are so darn tough. My wife I just got back from a round trip to the Texas Hill Country from Southern CA. It was 3475 miles when it was all said and done, pulling our 11,000 pound RV. The only issue we had was a blown trailer tire and an alternator that was on its way out anyways...but that's almost to be expected in the desert heat in the middle of summer, and my truck is a little older than yours! Thanks for sharing. I did have one question. Why not just pull into an RV park and get good sleep? I noticed you kept saying you had to book one, but we have never booked a spot. We just find one or two close to where we want to stop for the night, pull in and register at the night box. Wish I would have seen this thread sooner. I would have suggested it! Sounds like you made good time though! And these guys are right. The West Coast is millions of miles above Florida. I agree...place is a dump, especially the Orlando area. Enjoy your new home!!

 

I forgot to mention... I love the new Toy hauler Rich! Looking good behind that dually.

Glad you had a safe trip. I had a spare alternator in my toolbox just in case. I worry about trailer tires blowing and taking out part of the camper.
(hope you didn't suffer and damage)
I got lucky and had BFG recall my 10k mile camper tires, so I had a brand new FREE set on for the trip out.
My original plan was to sleep & shower in the camper at truck stops, or find an rv site for the night, but the first night I drove late into the night & just wanted a short nap. So I slept in the truck with the ac on.
The next night I was far enough out west that the nights were cool enough to crash in the camper, but my on board battery was dead & (wasn't getting juice from my 7 way plug) so I couldn't run my 12v water pump to shower...I ended up dumping the 50+ gals of fresh water I had on board in a parking lot, showered at a truck stop, and gave the back seat a try.
The rest of the nights It was down in the low 50's and I was concerned about getting my truck started in the morning. ( I have many dead glow plugs, & under 50° my truck will not start without a plug in) I was afraid I would get too comfortable in the camper and be stuck in the am with a truck puffing white smoke
Living in Florida I was able to get away with bad glow plugs, but I should have installed new ones before the trip...
I have a "bad" habit of just wanting to get to where I'm going instead of enjoying the trip.

If I was to do this trip over I would have put a new battery in my camper, fixed my 7way plug, and NOT slept in my back seat...

 

I though I would share a funny moment of my trip.
I posted that I picked up a chunk of steel in my right inside rear tire somewhere in Nebraska & I had it patched from the inside. Well the hole was pretty large and the tire shop didn't know If the patch would last, but they gave it a try & it was holding air so I said put it back on the truck & I'll see how far it gets me.

Well I got to Cheyenne Wy that night and the tire was still holding air, so I showered and climbed into the back seat for a nap. I had a unopened bag of Lays chips & other assorted snacks on my back seat & I noticed that the bag of chips was blown up like a balloon I though nothing of it & went to sleep.

The next morning I check the patched tire (still good) & I headed west. Now I'm about 5 miles from the highest summit on I80 (Laramie Wy 8600ft) and BOOM!!! My dog jumps up and into my lap...I'm thinking CRAP the plug blew out and now I have to change that darn tire again....
I creep 5 miles to the rest area (at the Lincoln Memorial), get out & find all of my tires are fine HMMM, not sure what I heard, but the dog heard it too.
I check everything, even doubled checked my IC boots. Everything looks fine, so I hit the highway scratching my head.
Some miles down the road I go to reach in that back seat for a snack only to find the back seat completely covered in potato chips ......
The BOOM I heard was the chip bag exploding.
I couldn't help but laugh....

Who would have thought a bag of chips taken from sea level to 8600 ft would explode???

$3 bag of chips gone, $320 tire still good

 

Now that's funny. Surprised the dog didn't eat them later.

 

You've heard of a guard dog. That would be a lard dog.

 

We (wife and I) use to run a fire lookout at 7,000' in NorCal. When I would go to Redding, CA (600' elevation) to shop I would pick up some tonic water. The plastic bottles would be so rock hard when I got them to the lookout, they were like bombs. It would take a few minutes to open them OUTSIDE because the tonic water wanted to gush out. Don't ask why I knew to open them outside .

 

Glad you had a good trip Frank. I have seen those pointy things that got stuck in your tire. I think they drive them in between steel curb forms and the pins to keep everything tight and aligned while the concrete is poured.

Back in the late 90's I did a 72 hour round trip from my home outside Philly to Oklahoma City and back. I left after dinner on a Tuesday evening in my 7.3 powered 97 E350, rented a car trailer in Oklahoma, towed home a 1964 Oldsmobile, and got back around dinner on Friday. Spent the first night in the back of my van at a rest stop in Pittsburgh, the second in a motel in Tulsa, and the third in a motel somewhere near the Illinois-Indiana border. There were no problems at all and that trip really cemented my love for the 7.3.

This is sort of off topic, but I noticed in your sig that you have Rosewood Stage 1 injectors. I have the same in my current truck which is a late 99 F350 4X4 dually with a utility body. My PCM was reprogrammed for the single shots when I installed them but I have never been happy with my tuning. The engine seems to make more noise than power, and the low-mid throttle response is not very good. How do you like your BTS tuning? Is it a PCM reprogram or do you have a selector switch for multiple tunes?

I don't want to derail this thread topic, so shoot me a PM if you prefer.

Thanks, Chris

Oh yeah, how was the scotch? I probably would have been into that right after the flat tire or the exploding potato chips!

 

I had the potato chip bag exploding thingy on a Russian Aeroflot flight out of the Ukraine to Frankfort. I found out later they only pressurize the cabins on their ancient Russian airliners to about a 15000' elevation because they are concerned about the airframes exploding much like our bags of chips. I have heard passengers routinely go hypoxic