Sully

Hi Rich, congratulations on retiring. We stopped in Vegas to get an Audi tech opinion on what was going on. We saw the smoke when I pressed the accelerator after the long downhill. Audi shuts off fuel and ignition when you take your foot off the accelerator. He believes that our rings are a little worn and with the engine at 4 to 5k rpm downhill for an extended time that some oil is building up in the cylinders, then pressing the accelerator ignites the oil causing the smoke. We are heading up to Cheyenne to visit family then will be heading for Texas. From there we are going to Florida and then back thru Arizona on the way home. Kris says hi to both of you. We will touch base when we get to Arizona to see if you are still around.

We have towed out Elite II now for about 30k with our Audi Q7, so I wanted to give an update. 98% of the time the Audi does a nice job, the issue I have had is on long steep, curvy down grades. Coming into Death Valley from the west there is a 6% 15 mile downhill, using 3rd gear and only applying the breaks for short intervals, I still over heated the car breaks to the point that we were seeing smoke. The breaks never faded but it was a very concerning situation. We have crossed the Rockies multiple times without incident but the steep down grades were limited to a max of 6 or 7 miles. The long 15 mile downgrade with lots of turns required keeping the speed under control using a lot of braking.

Thank you for the detailed response

What is the tank termination valve, they want it in the open position?

They airbags are original equipment they automatically inflate / deflate to keep the car level. They also allow you to change the height of the car, I use the higher off road setting to get the recommended ball height.

We are on our way home with about 9k miles so far pulling our Elite2 with a Q7. We get 14 to 15 mpg on highways and 11 to 12 in the mountains. The power is sufficient as is the braking. The Oliver tows really nicely but that is probably true for any vehicle. The biggest downside is a lack of storage for what doesn’t fit in the trailer. Feel free to reach out if you have specific questions. We do have air shocks so there is no sag, with normal shocks the sag may be a little more than you want. Audi/VW state in their manuals not to use a load balancer.

Grand Codroy RV camping - Very nice private park, would recommend staying 2 or 3 nights to see the area. Sandbanks Provincial Park - The road from Hwy 1 to Burgeo has a lot of pot holes and takes a long hour. This was our first real excursion off Hwy 1, it doesn’t seem so bad now that we have experienced a wide variety of the roads in Newfoundland, it’s not hard to find worse roads. The campground and surrounding area is very nice especially if you like sandy beaches. We stayed 3 nights which was the right amount of time for us. Blow Me Down Provincial Park - We stayed 4 nights at the park, for us it was the right amount of time we like to hike and there are several nice hikes in the area Gros Morne National Park, Berry Hill Campground - We stayed 7 nights here, there is a lot see in the Gros Morne area. Pistolet Bay Provincial Park - We booked 7 nights but departed after four. The park is very remote with no services, but nice enough campground. There is a nice little beach to swim at. We enjoyed L’Anse aux Meadows and the town of St Anthony. Mountain Waters Resort - We stayed one night here to recharge our batteries. We visited Port au Choix which is worth seeing, there is a private campground on the ocean I think I would stay at if I did this again, It’s much closer to Port au Choix and far fewer bugs. Sir Richards Squires Memorial Provincial Park - We stayed 2 nights which was plenty unless you are an avid fly fisherman. It is a nice campground like all the Provincial Parks we stayed at. There are two roads to the park, 422 west of Deer Lake is a partially paved long road with many pot holes. We didn’t enjoy that drive so tried the other “road” out that intersects with 420 just north of Hwy 1. I strongly recommend not using that “road” it’s more like an off road trail in many spots. Crescent Lake RV Park - We stayed 3 nights here at this top notch private park. Very nice trail around the lake it’s on. The owners are very friendly and helpful. ***** Run Provincial Park - This is a beautiful park, the only downside is it’s about a 15 minute drive to Twillingate which we really enjoyed. We stayed 7 nights here there is a lot to see in this area. We took a day trip to Fogo Island the main attraction are the historic buildings on the island. Tera Nova National Park - Newman Sound Campground - We ended up canceling this reservation due to electrical issues at the park and our batteries were low after a week in ***** Run without any hookups and not much sun. We stayed at Shriners RV park which had full hookups, good cell and WIFI service. We spent 4 nights at this campground which was adequate to see the area. Lockston Path Provincial Park - Long 5k gravel road to get to the park entrance. Once there the park is nice similar to a lot of other provincial parks. The Bonavista Peninsula covers a large area, the highlights were Trinity, Cape Bonavista and Tickle Cove. Four nights gave us enough time to see the sights but does require a fair amount of driving. Butter Pot Provincial Park - Decent campground very similar to other provincial parks, clean, well maintained, nice sites. We stayed 4 nights which was plenty for me. I am not a big fan of cities and crowds. Most of St. Johns is like any other large city, except for the downtown area. Heading Home from St John’s we stayed at: Notre Dame Provincial Park - Beautiful provincial park with sites backing up to a very nice lake, good cell service, sites have electrical hookups. Barachois Pond Provincial Park - Another beautiful park, one of my favorites There is a lot to see in Newfoundland, highlights I wouldn’t miss are the Gros Morne National Park, Twillingate area, Bonavista Peninsula and St. John’s downtown area and signal hill. There are many other very nice places to visit if you have the time, just not quite as spectacular as the above, depending on what you like to see and do. There is much of Newfoundland we didn’t see. There are many RV campgrounds not on any maps I had, plus boon docking opportunities. We did not have any issues making last minute modifications to our schedule and finding places to stay. I reserved all of our camping for the entire trip, if I had to do it over I would probably have a less rigid schedule of reservations. We never found any campgrounds to be completely full, but you will need reservations for the prime sites.

We bought them from the Audi dealership in St John’s, they had them on several cars in the showroom.

Barachois Pond Provincial Park, morning view 30 feet from our camp site, this was one of my favorite Provincial Parks in Newfoundland. This is a huge park with many beautiful sites with lake views or a secluded spot in the woods.

After 6k of towing, I am pleased with the Q7. Would definitely recommend getting air shocks and also like the rear wheel steering, keeps the trailer almost perfectly in the car’s tracks. I would also recommend getting mud flaps, we added them a week ago and they really reduce stuff hitting the trailer. The biggest downside is limited storage space.

Notre Dame Provincial Park

We are leaving Newfoundland in a couple days. We will have been here for 55 days. You could see two or three areas of Newfoundland in 2 weeks such as Gros Morne, Twillingate area and Bonavista peninsula. I would recommend more time if you can do it. Lots of different factors would determine how much time you need, like what you enjoy doing and seeing, how much driving you want to do each day and how much of Newfoundland you want to see.

The Cabot Tower's cornerstone was laid on 23 June 1897 to mark the 400th anniversary of John Cabot's North American Landfall and the 60th year of Queen Victoria's reign. The building was completed in 1900, financed in I part by private donations. Cannons protecting the entrance to St Paul’s harbor

Ferryland peninsula a drive down a single lane dirt road and a 25 minute walk gets you to the lighthouse, these pictures are from the field you park in.

After a short walk,Timber Cove Island provides a great opportunity for whale watching