Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[FLYNDYNA]

Charlie,

 Is that a custom job on the trailer, or did it come with the garage? That is the most awesome transport unit I've ever seen! Excellent choice in trucks to haul it with too...you can't beat a Cummins for hauling. Not too far away from you, we live in the Gainesville/Manassas area. Ride safe! Oh, and thanks for all the excellent work at FEMA, I work for a civil engineering/land surveying company and utilize the website all the time!

Flyndyna

[RedDevil]

You might be limited to when you can take your vacation, but it sure looks like you're enjoying every minute of it Charlie! Love your travelling hotel! Enjoy the rest of your trip and riding in that beautiful area of this great country!

Hoist!

Someday work won't interfere with our fun...can't wait for that day.  Debbie's not into riding real long days on the bike, so the toy hauler is the way to go for us...she gets to enjoy the trip and shorter MC runs and I get to bring the SEUC along and have fun also.     Don't know how many vacations we have left in us, so we're enjoying each to the max.

   

[RedDevil]

Charlie,

 Is that a custom job on the trailer, or did it come with the garage? That is the most awesome transport unit I've ever seen! Excellent choice in trucks to haul it with too...you can't beat a Cummins for hauling. Not too far away from you, we live in the Gainesville/Manassas area. Ride safe! Oh, and thanks for all the excellent work at FEMA, I work for a civil engineering/land surveying company and utilize the website all the time!

Flyndyna

It's not a custom job...it's just one of the models that Keystone offers in their Raptor series.  This one is the 3600RL.   It's fully loaded though and makes for a great house on the road.  And you're right, the Cummins is the way to go.     Just wish I could have gotten the Allison tranny with it, then the whole setup would have been bullet-proof.

   

[porthole]

Just wish I could have gotten the Allison tranny with it,

Thats easy enough 

[porthole]

We're planning on running up to Gatlinburg and checking that out...really liked what we saw when we drove through there yesterday.  

When going south over the mountain out of Gatlinburg make sure you stop at Clingman's Dome. The ride up and back to the parking lot is great, and the view from the "top" is awesome.

Also when leaving Gburg, the road off to the right once you get in the park is also a great road.

[porthole]

Keithincda,
The hardest part of the Dragon was convincing the BSR to go along.     Actually the road leading up to it (NC 38, I believe) was more demanding. (didn't help that they had just mowed the grass and there was fresh clumps all over the road  ).  But it's probably one of the best maintained roads I've been on.  It was fun.

Yep same problem, best thing to do is not mention it until "After". Also had the same problem with "Hells Gate" with the boat. Solved the same way.

NC 28 has something like 380 curves in 22 miles, great scenery too.

[07 CVO]

RD,

That is a great set-up you have with the truck and 5th wheel toy hauler. My wife was wanting to get a motorhome and I think I have her convinced into a similar set-up as you have when the time comes along after we retire.

Mark

[RedDevil]

Thats easy enough 

I know an Allison does mate up well with the Cummins, but I'm not a "wrench" and would probably screw up the whole truck.   Plus, it's one of those things, if it ain't broke, I'm not going to fix it.  Now, if the 48RE tranny goes out, then all's fair in love and war.   

When going south over the mountain out of Gatlinburg make sure you stop at Clingman's Dome. The ride up and back to the parking lot is great, and the view from the "top" is awesome.

Also when leaving Gburg, the road off to the right once you get in the park is also a great road.

Thanks Duane, we saw that road going past G'burg on our "round trip" of the smokies, was going to stop, but figured we'd go back to areas that we saw were interesting on another day.  We'll try that Saturday when the weather will be good again.  Thanks for the info on that. 

Yep same problem, best thing to do is not mention it until "After". Also had the same problem with "Hells Gate" with the boat. Solved the same way.

NC 28 has something like 380 curves in 22 miles, great scenery too.

The wife got more nervous going up to the Dragon...she accused me of planning to take the Dragon, but not telling her...I told her why would I have planned two trips then, one on the southern side and one on the northern side if I were planning on going through Deals Gap...just so happened that the northern side took us up to Deals Gap, but that was coincidental.      I don't think I would have wanted to take the "beast" on any of those roads though.   

   

[RedDevil]

RD,

That is a great set-up you have with the truck and 5th wheel toy hauler. My wife was wanting to get a motorhome and I think I have her convinced into a similar set-up as you have when the time comes along after we retire.

Mark

Thanks Mark.  Unfortunately, we don't get out as much as we'd like to, so it seems kind of a waste to have the trailer sitting in storage for most of the year (at least we didn't get a "bus", because we can use the truck year-round), but one of the bennies is we get the tax break on the trailer, so that helps.  I don't want to influence you in anyway, but we thought about waiting until we were retired, and then I said, you know while we're both healthy and mobile, why wait until we retire, we don't know how many more traveling years we have left, so why waste them thinking we can do all this when we retire.  I hope to be able to enjoy doing a whole lot more of this when we retire, but at least now, we are enjoying what times we get.  That's just our way of looking at it.   There are many manufacturers out there offering toy haulers now.  Seems like they have become the most popular travel trailers now.  The Keystone Raptor is the only series that offers the single garage on it though.  The rest of all the toy haulers currently only offer full garages on the back, which is great if you are definitely going to be taking more than one vehicle, or a bike and an ATV or golf cart....we definitely love ours.

   

[harleydawg57]

One of our most enjoyable rides was in the Smokies--The dragon was fun but the Blueridge Parkway was un real.

[07 CVO]

Thanks Mark.  Unfortunately, we don't get out as much as we'd like to, so it seems kind of a waste to have the trailer sitting in storage for most of the year (at least we didn't get a "bus", because we can use the truck year-round), but one of the bennies is we get the tax break on the trailer, so that helps.  I don't want to influence you in anyway, but we thought about waiting until we were retired, and then I said, you know while we're both healthy and mobile, why wait until we retire, we don't know how many more traveling years we have left, so why waste them thinking we can do all this when we retire.  I hope to be able to enjoy doing a whole lot more of this when we retire, but at least now, we are enjoying what times we get.  That's just our way of looking at it.   There are many manufacturers out there offering toy haulers now.  Seems like they have become the most popular travel trailers now.  The Keystone Raptor is the only series that offers the single garage on it though.  The rest of all the toy haulers currently only offer full garages on the back, which is great if you are definitely going to be taking more than one vehicle, or a bike and an ATV or golf cart....we definitely love ours.

   

RD,

WHen I said retire, I ment from the USAF which is in the next few years. I currently have 20 in so that could be anytime depending on future assignments.  I completely agree not waiting until I am too old to enjoy it. My wife has 12 more years until she can retire from the USAF so sometime between the two depending on where we end up most likely.

Mark

[RedDevil]

One of our most enjoyable rides was in the Smokies--The dragon was fun but the Blueridge Parkway was un real.

My wife and I both love Skyline Drive and the Blue Ridge Parkway.  There are a lot of twisties and sweeping curves to satisfy me, and not too many so that my wife can enjoy the scenery.  (Her knuckles got a little white holding on to the grab rails while we were on the Dragon.   )  We try to make our annual "leaf chasing" pilgrimage to Skylne Drive in the fall and spend the day doing that.  Great fun.

  

[RedDevil]

RD,

WHen I said retire, I ment from the USAF which is in the next few years. I currently have 20 in so that could be anytime depending on future assignments.  I completely agree not waiting until I am too old to enjoy it. My wife has 12 more years until she can retire from the USAF so sometime between the two depending on where we end up most likely.

Mark

Cool, so we're thinking the same thing.     After 26 years in the Navy, I felt we owed it to ourselves.  My wife has about 4 years left before she can retire from civil service and I have about 8 left before I retire from my second, and last, career.  Are you coming back stateside when you retire?

   

[07 CVO]

Cool, so we're thinking the same thing.     After 26 years in the Navy, I felt we owed it to ourselves.  My wife has about 4 years left before she can retire from civil service and I have about 8 left before I retire from my second, and last, career.  Are you coming back stateside when you retire?

   

I may be comming back to the mainland in January, or if I get the assignment I want I will go to Europe one last time before I retire. But yes I will retire for good stateside.

[RedDevil]

I may be comming back to the mainland in January, or if I get the assignment I want I will go to Europe one last time before I retire. But yes I will retire for good stateside.

Overseas assignments are great, but I was glad my last assignment before I retired was stateside.  It was easier to line up a job having months to do it instead of the wonderful 20 days job/house hunting the military gives you...