Who is going to the June 2019 TDR rally?

[Jim W]

My wife and I had a great time at the rally with our old friend (Mike) and new friends from TDR. We did enjoy Sandy’s beans very very good thanks again for the recipe for the beans, Jill can’t wait to make them!

I guess Saturday nights weather was fairly intense with the amount of rain we had. Sunday’s travel to Middlebury IN was dry. We will be getting back to our normal routine on Thursday night. I will be on this site more next week as we have very limited internet here.

Good luck and safe travels for all of those still traveling.

 

[mwilson]

Moonlight reflecting off of the Walmart duck pond last night..

 

[mwilson]

Wife just caught a Heron using the pond...

 

[jgillott]

That Walmart looks like a luxury resort compared to a couple of the campgrounds I've visited.

 

[mwilson]

Made it into the State of Maine!! Will drive for another hour and then call it good for the day. Finish the trip in the morning..

 

[Dan_69GTX]

Made it home about an hour ago. 12 Hour drive., my butt is tired.

 

[mwilson]

20 years ago I would have pushed on and did the remaining 200 miles....now it’s just not worth it..

 

[TFucili]

20 years ago I would have pushed on and did the remaining 200 miles....now it’s just not worth it..

Yup, just crank up "Six Days On The Road"... Not

 

[mwilson]

Back home, 2,950 miles round trip.

 

[mwilson]

Before I forget it, a big fat thumbs up for the spot mirrors on the 4th Gen mirror kit for the 3rd Gen Trucks!!

Spot mirrors are incredible in the Tow position once you get them set right. You can see two full lanes on either side easily.

 

[mwilson]

Coming home I stuck with a straight up 1700 rpm which is about 63 mph.
At that speed I got a solid 11.5 mpg three tankfuls in a row.

Running out I went faster at times and got 10.5. Running down from Michigan with the Ontario guys I dropped to 9.5 running 70 to 75, a few times at 80.

 

[sag2]

For the trip out I ran 65 in CA and 70 in all the other states with higher speed limits. The EVIC showed 11.7 and hand calculated was 11.2. I'm still a little disappointed with such a light load, but it was an effortless 70 with speed control all the way. It only had to downshift to 4th a couple of times, so much different than the Hemi and 8 speed. I'm at 3k so far here in NC, I suspect the entire trip will be 6k+. Deciding if we want to do Savannah without the trailer. Might be easier and we can leave the dog at my son's place.

 

[Jim W]

OK, we came home a day early, arrived in our town of Oswego IL Wednesday. We left early due to the forecast of rain from 1:00PM Wednesday through the nigh and day of Thursday the 20 of June. There is a flash flood watch today for all of northwest IN. We had 3" of rain overnight here at my home so, it was a good decision.

My fuel mileage was fair for pulling my trailer down and back home to the event and on to Middlebury IN., I average for the entire trip 11.62 MPG, hand calculated. I tow mostly around 65 MPH on the interstate roadways and 60 other times on non-interstates when I can. Sometimes going to 70 if I need to pass on the interstates.

Can't wait for another get together this was fun and would like to meet more TDR members next time.

 

[JR]

We had a great time at the rally. Hats off to RP and everyone involved in the planning, that was no small feat to accomplish what they did! Everything was well organized and planned out. And Ceraland is an incredible campground to stay in. A beautiful place to say the least.

At least for me the best part was getting to meet all the wonderful people. It was a memorable first rally for me, and hopefully not the last.

 

[JR]

 

[JR]

Got a bunch from Indy but gotta run. I'll try and get em up later

 

[Wayne M.]

Thanks JR! I hope they leave the later 2 prototypes just as they are- unrestored, and in “survivor” shape.

 

[DavidC]

Yes the one that bolts to the shackle. Good Sam ERS had a trucking company come out, BIG MISTAKE. All started about 8:30am with make, model ,year. A guy finally shows up about 3:30, gets the vin, takes measurements say's he will be back when they find a spring. He measures the broken spring cntr to cntr (Duh). After he leaves I crawled under and measured an unbroken spring 25 1/4. His was 26 1/2. Called him and told him the measurement. Now it is 4:30pm so I do an internet search and locate a spring. Call their office and tell them where they can get one. They say that's who they are dealing with and said they do not have any. I told them they have two in stock. So they finally get the spring and one hour later it is installed. These are 3 leaf 25 1/4 springs at the RV place they cost $34.00. Wonder what this bill will be. Told the wife I could have driven there bought the spring and would have had it installed by noon. She tells me I can't do a lot of this stuff anymore. Now she will see what kind of dim wits we will have to deal with when I truly can't.

Just for anyone wondering, That $35.00 spring cost me $450.00,

 

[Jim W]

Owning any type of vehicle is just a money pit if you want said vehicle to look good and work.
So, far this year on my trailer has cost $6,737 in maintenance and repairs with more to come, my cost out of pock was $865. Insurance paid some of the cost and Forest River (Cedar Creek) paid the rest out of goodwill. They paid for the end caps to be repainted and decaled plus a new fireplace to replace the old one that failed.
This is the price we pay for owning toys.

 

[sag2]

We just got back home from the CMEP trip. We left Ceraland and headed to Asheville NC for a week with the newest grandson and deliver the old quad and a small block Chevy engine, then to Charleston SC to see the plantations, then to New Orleans (a filthy Las Vegas), on to Dallas to visit the wife's cousins and visit Magnolia in Waco (they have the tourist trap going there), Carlsbad Caverns (a must see), phoenix to spend a couple days with the other grandson, and back home. A great trip overall. We learned a lot about the Civil War and the history before and after it, had a couple great meals out in several cities (only ate out on the road a couple times).

Covered 7,640 miles, burned 658 gallons of fuel ($1899) for an average of 2.89/gal, got 11.61 MPG traveling most of the time at 70-72 with the cruise on, burned 12 gallons of DEF, had three flats on the trailer and one blow out (the original 2014 spare on the trailer), burned up one outer wheel bearing (had a spare drum loaded with bearings), and lost the Norcold vent cover somewhere in New Mexico. The dog spent 182 hours sleeping on the back seat, many hours idling with the air on to keep cool. The weather was wet and wild for the first three weeks, the final week was hot and drier. I think we got a total in feet of rain before things finally dried out in Texas. We also learned that if we do it again we need at least another month. We made no reservations, winged it all the way, and the highest night was $54, lowest was $5 other than the free night in Wyoming BLM land.

The new truck was awesome (well except for the fuel economy) and the Honda 2k spent many hours cooling things down during lunch stops. Roads were best in Kentucky, worst in Louisiana and California. So many really nice people in the Midwest and south, and the roads are really clean until you got back out west. There are so many cool places to see, it would take a lifetime to see them all. Looking forward to retiring for real someday so we can really take our time and wing it across the country.

The Cummins activities were great, looking forward to attending the next one. It was nice to put some faces to the names, sorry I could not spend time with more folks. It was also nice to see how many of the May Madness group made the trip, since the majority are from the west.