Our first big road trip

[Rrizz]

Counting the days.. Myself, Fiance, My Mother, and older sister will be leaving May 24th from Northeastern Pa for Helen, Ga (a quaint bavarian style village) My Mother loved the time we spent in Germany 30+ years ago, but will not get on a plane, so this is the best I could come up with.
After 2 nights and one day there, we leave for The Florida keys. Big Pine Key to be exact. 7 days with a waterfront site. On our return trip, we will be stopping off in Savannah, Ga for 3 nights and 2 days.
I will be taking the drone along, and hope to get some quality footage of our trip. (first time with the drone, as well. I hope it comes home alive)
Ive got a little over 2 months to practice flying that thing, so it should be ok!

[stormseeker]

Sounds great!

[Papa-T]

Sounds like a fun trip. Be safe.

[Zinger 280RK]

Hope you have fun! I live in Ga and have spent a lot of time in Helen. Very cool villiage. What camp ground are you staying in? If you have some extra time check out Tulula Gourge, about 30min a way. That’s where Deleverence was filmed... also that’s the deepest gourge this side of the Mississippi. IIRC.

[Rrizz]

Place called Yonah Mountain Campground. I will definitely look into the gorge. Thanks for the info.

[Timberwolf76]

Sounds like an awesome trip. Have safe and fun trip! I would love to see some of your drone footage.

[Rrizz]

I will try to get some on here after. TT has been in storage, getting inspected this week, and picking her up on Saturday. I'm gonna make some last minute additions to her before the trip. I picked up an extra 10' of sewer hose, and fabricated a housing for it using 4" Conduit, and a few brackets to mount it under the rear bumper where the other hose is stored. I also want to add some small led lights at each set of steps.

[Rrizz]

We've decided to pull out a day earlier than expected, and spend a night in VA on the way down. Its been hectic getting everything in order, But I'm ready and excited to go. Finally got my rear view camera working properly, conditioned the slide out seals, greased the scissor jacks, and the slide out gears, checked the roof over for anything out of the ordinary, and spit shined her inside and out. Tow rig had the trans flushed, coolant flushed, severe duty brake pads, and got a 100% score from the Doctor
Gonna pack her up Wed. and hit the road early Thurs. am with fingers crossed.

[Rrizz]

First leg of journey completed, overnight in Wytheville, Va KOA. nice spot. very clean, pull through site in the woods. A little uneasy yesterday, we stopped in Bedford at the D Day memorial, and I noticed oil splatter on my trailer tongue. Turns out it came from my Rear Diff. No driving issues, shifting smoothly, even up and down the VA mountains. After we set up camp, I drove into town and picked up some 140 synth gear oil, and topped off the fluid, which only took less than a pint. I'm hoping it was something simple, perhaps it was previously overfilled, and blew off when hot, or the vent was plugged, and pressure built up. Fingers crossed for todays leg, and we'll be keeping a close eye and ear on her. Too breezy this morning to do any drone pics, hopefully we'll get some at our next stop in GA.

[Rrizz]

Second leg completed today... Same issue with the rear diff today. Crawled under when we arrived, and pulled the vent tube...Blocked solid. cleaned her up and replaced it, hopefully were good to go, with the 15 hour drive in store for us on sunday. In any event, I got in touch with a shop near our site on Big Pine Key that will give it a look on tuesday for us.
Our original plan for Jonah Mnt campground fell through, so we ended up at Mountain view in Hiawassee, Ga.
Nice area, Campground is as basic as you get... 30 or so sites in the woods, all pretty small. Amenities are few and far between. No pool, no general store, nothing for youngin's to do. But hey, free firewood!! Owners seem very nice.

[jmnsn57]

Is it possible that you are boiling over the differential? Finned differential covers back in the day for HI Perf cars with tall gear sets was the answer. Posi and locking rears also create much more heat than conventional's. Perhaps this truck has one of these?

[Lloyd]

Hope all works out well for you. Enjoy your trip.

[Rrizz]

I've got the finned cover. Today it was less than an hour in to our first stop, mostly flatland, and it was leaking. We pulled some horrific climbs through NC and Tenn with no shift issues, or noise after first stop.... I'm guessing once the fluid was below the pinion seal all was good, but less fluid means less cooling, and obviously lubricant. One particular climb was over 12 miles. She handled it like a champ, though.
Sunday will tell the tale if the pinion seal is irreparable, though. Either way, I'll have it changed once we hit our final destination. Many hours to go, but much flatter ground for her to sing along.

[Rrizz]

Forgot to mention, when I pulled the vent off the axle, it blew off pressure, so I'm confident that was the issue.

[Rrizz]

We made it here as planned on Sunday, no more issues with tow rig, thankfully.
What a great place, and thus far gorgeous weather.

[Rrizz]

a couple quick pics. We are center frame on first pic (black nissan out front)

[Steve7]

Originally Posted by Rrizz

a couple quick pics. We are center frame on first pic (black nissan out front)

Nice pics. Looks like a Grand Design ralley with all those Reflections behind you.

[Rrizz]

The resort has quite a few TT's that are rented out nightly. we have had a few neighbor changes in the past days. Apparently the reflections is their model of choice.

[Lloyd]

I take it you are down in the Keys?
How is the heat and humidity down there?

[Rrizz]

Humidity not too bad, except after the 10 minute rain today. Temps are steady at 87-90 every day so far. Consistently breezy, though, which helps ALOT....