Tomorrow we start our 4000 mile adventure (I Hope)

SaskCampers · 08-12-2010, 08:02 AM

The sites are are booked and confirmed, credit card company knows our itenary so they won't lock our card the trailer is packed, everyone knows their jobs and everying is arranged with our son to stay at the farm.. But wait I didn't mention the lovely Dodge truck. It was in the shop for a week starting before the long weekend to get some body work done from parking lot dings and a new grille, then off to the main shop for a tranny flush, replace the front pinion seal, try to figure out why the caster bolts are not set the same to get it aligned and do a tear down and rebuild of the front end again to try and determine why it drives like an old worn out car from the 60's. Got it back last friday and all they had done was the body work, the manager booked me back in for yesterday and assured me everything would be taken care of then oh and they got dirt in the paint on the door and have to fix that up as well. Got a call at 2 yesterday afternoon and he told me they wouldn't get it finished because they we short staffed and sent a BUdget rental out to work for us to use. I drive to the dealer at abt 4:30 yeaterday afternoon as I need some of my keys and lo and behold the truck was sitting exactly where I parked it at 7:30. Humm so they have to get all that work done today as we planned on leaving at 11 am tomorrow... Ya right I am thinking it's not gonna happen I just don't know what they will choose not to do or if it will end up in the shop torn apart over night again. If the latter happens I hope they have a nice Megacab rental (at their expense) all ready to go as there will be some fireworks happening in Moose Jaw if not.

tmmar · 08-12-2010, 09:40 AM

Good luck. Hope everything works out well for you and you have a great trip. Don't forget to posts some pics when you get back.

NWJeeper · 08-12-2010, 10:31 AM

John, I would insist they get the mechanical stuff fixed and forget the cosmetic stuff until you get back. Hope you have a great trip, wished we were going...sigh...

If you have internet on the road, post some pics along the way and have a great trip.

**Bob Fields** · 08-12-2010, 11:32 AM

Yikees - I'd be nervous either way! Seems like there is a trust issue here and on such short notice for such a major trip...

Good luck and I hope you have a great, problem free trip!

SaskCampers · 08-13-2010, 07:58 AM

Well, we got the truck back at 3pm yesterday with everything done except fixing the paint on the door. They never charged me for the alignment or oil change so I guess thats ok. Not sure what all the did to the front end but it now steers better than the Toyota Corolla rental car so thats good. The service manager and I have got to kind of be friends what with all the trips I make there and the warranty will be gone while we are on the road, so he told me if we have any issues because of this trucks record to give him a call and he will contact the dealer where we would have to take it to make sure they fixed it under an agreement I have had with Chrysler Canada. Now to see how it works with the trailer today. We are off in 4 1/2 hours with one stop at a truck wash to clean the mud off the truck as it rained yesterday. We are supposed to WIFi at all our sites along the way so hopefully I'll post some pics every night..

Have a great weekend all.

The_Stuff · 08-13-2010, 09:38 AM

good luck on the trip!

SaskCampers · 08-13-2010, 09:56 PM

Well we made it to Brandon, Manitoba and on time. It rained for about half the trip but nothing serious. The truck drove the best it ever has so I am happy so far, even got abt 12mpg running at 105kph. Will post some pics on Monday night as I forgot the USB cable. Have a great night everyone.

milzat · 08-13-2010, 09:59 PM

Glad to hear all is going good so far.

Stay safe..........

SaskCampers · 08-14-2010, 09:06 PM

Day 2 complete, 1000km and only saw one accident. No one was hurt so all was good as it could be. Another beautiful day scenery wise.

revrnd · 08-14-2010, 09:19 PM

How was Hwy 17 between Kenora & Thunder Bay?

It was in terrible shape in '95 when I was driving back from Edmonton. Hopefully the clowns in T.O. have sent some money to that part of the province to resurface it.

SaskCampers · 08-15-2010, 07:04 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by revrnd

How was Hwy 17 between Kenora & Thunder Bay?

It was in terrible shape in '95 when I was driving back from Edmonton. Hopefully the clowns in T.O. have sent some money to that part of the province to resurface it.

some of it was in excellent shape, but it got so bad at one point it got so bad my wife crying as she has a bad back. Some good drugs made it liveable.

revrnd · 08-15-2010, 11:16 AM

Hopefully she won't have to endure that anywhere else on your trip. Hwy 60 between Mackey & Pembroke is great (thru there last Nov').

SaskCampers · 08-17-2010, 08:57 AM

well made it to Barrie at 7:30pm local last night. Was a decent days traveling except for abt the 1st 2 hrs near Hearst, the road was really rough again. There was some delays north of Huntsvilles as there is major highway reconstruction going on but all in all a good day. The KOA here in Barrie is beautiful although expensive as we have a nice end pull through full service site. Fuel costs went from $1.04/litre in Moose Jaw to as high as $1.25/litre up around the Thunder Bay area and that is for mid grade or premimum. It is interesting that in Moose Jaw there is a 5 cent per litre difference between regular and mid but in Manitoba there was 10 or 15 cents difference. The 2835km cost us $875.00 for fuel. But it was a nice trip as the truck seems to have worked better the further we drove. Even handled big cross winds with minimal sway thanks to the Blue Ox hitch that had had set the torque on the bars to 70ft/lbs.

revrnd · 08-17-2010, 09:21 AM

John: about your gas prices. I found out in '95 that the prices in Kenora were terrible. I had filled up in Portage La Prairie, heading for TB. I wasn't really sure if I'd make it to TB w/ a the gas I had, so I filled up in Kenora. Rolled into TB & filled up that night. Turns out I had lots of gas left & the price was about 5 cents a liter cheaper.

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