Almost there . . . .

[Ray and Susan Huff]

After driving 2,500+ miles from Oregon, we are in Linden tonight . . . . picking up #699 - "Pearl" in the morning.  Stay tuned for photos!

[rideandfly]

Looking forward to photos and hearing about Ollie!!!!!!!!!!

[connor77]

Looking forward to photos as well.  Hope the travel was smooth.  That's a lot of driving for sure!

[Patriot]

That indeed is a long trip, Congrats on the delivery!

Be safe in your travels!

[GraniteStaters]

Safe travels.

 

[Ray and Susan Huff]

Haven't had time to take many vanity shots of Pearl; 11 days on the road, preparing meals in hotel rooms, and transferring our gear from the back of the pickup to the trailer have been exhausting.  Here is one quick shot at our campsite in David Crockett SP.  I know, not too exciting.  The park is wonderful and we found Tennessee to be beautiful, despite the trees all being bare.

Trip report: I was apprehensive, driving cross country this time of year, but we've certainly been fortunate.  The journey from Oregon to Tennessee was amazing. There was barely any traffic on I-80 and, although it was cold and we experienced a few snow flurries in Missouri and some wind coming through Wyoming, the weather has been great.

We are now headed west, taking the I-40 route to Nevada then north to Oregon via Hwy 365 and I-5.  Current weather forecasts don't predict any snow; perhaps a shower around Susanville, CA.  Looks like clear sailing!  We will get some practice dealing with cold temperatures, but I believe we can manage without completely winterizing, just draining the hot water tank during travel time from Flagstaff through the Sierras.  While camped at David Crockett SP, nighttime temps were in the mid 20's, but were able to maintain 40 deg temps in the utility area with the furnace or an electric space heater.  Our plan is to pass through from Albuquerque to Kingman and not overnight in northern AZ where temps will drop to the teens at night.  Daytime temperatures are expected to be mid 30's to upper 40's.  The only other questionable area will be crossing the Sierras around Susanville.  Will be watching the weather forecasts daily.

 

Edited December 11, 2020 by Ray and Susan Huff

[thirddoor]

CONGRATS!! Pearl looks terrific.

[connor77]

Trailer looks great Susan.  Hope you continue to have good weather for traveling and light traffic too.

[rideandfly]

Ray and Susan,

Congrats on your beautiful new Ollie!!!!!!

 

[Mike and Carol]

Congrats!  Looks shiny and new in the photo, I’m sure it will look more “experienced” by the time you get home!  Mike

[SeaDawg]

Pearl looks great.

Safe travels home.

Sherry

PS, love the name. 

[gatorewc]

Have Fun!

[topgun2]

Thanks for the photo but I want more!  I just might be slightly biased in that I also have no graphic on the front and I have the silver pinstripes, but, that is one nice looking Ollie.  Just take it easy on that drive and enjoy all of the sites that you can see driving across this wonderful country of ours.

Bill

[Patriot]

Congratulations on your new Ollie & Safe Travels!

[Jim_Oker]

Good luck when you  hit the  mountains. Have fun.

[Ray and Susan Huff]

On 12/10/2020 at 8:05 PM, connor77 said:

Trailer looks great Susan.  Hope you continue to have good weather for traveling and light traffic too.

Traffic has been great, with the exception of Oklahoma City.  Weather, better than to be expected this time of year.  However, westbound on I-40 today, we were on the southern edge of a winter storm that brought snow across the Central Panhandle area as well as northern New Mexico and Arizona.  Fortunately we were a few hours ahead of the snow, but experienced ferocious wind (worse than coming across Wyoming and Nebraska at the front end of our trip).  Winds from Albuquerque all the way to Flagstaff were steady at 25-35 mph, gusting to over 50!  But, Pearl handled it like a pro - much better than some of the motorhomes we passed.  I was worried they were going to shut the Interstate down, the winds were that bad, but we made it safely to Kingman, AZ where we are spending the night.

In light of the prediction of continued wind and nighttime temps in the teens along our intended route through Western Nevada, we've decided to continue west on I-40 and make our way north to home (Oregon) via I-5.  Not the most scenic way to go, but the weather will allow us to complete our trip home without Winterizing!

I promise I'll post pictures once we get Pearl settled in her new home.

[connor77]

Get home safely.  I'm sure your pictures will be great and we can wait until you're home and recovered from your trip to see them.  🙂

[Jairon]

Looking great, Susan! Is that the new Girard awning? If so, did you opt for the "pro" version? If it isn't too much trouble, could you snap a picture of the mounting bracket? I'd love to see how it looks compared to the really solid looking mount on the Dometic. I'm trying to spoil any and all surprises for our march pick up 🤪

Nevermind on the mount pictures. The new tour video shows them perfectly.

Edited December 17, 2020 by Jairon

[2008RN]

congrats, and get back to good old Oregon

[Sempervee]

Welcome back home from North in Seattle!

[Ray and Susan Huff]

On 12/12/2020 at 8:43 PM, Jairon said:

Looking great, Susan! Is that the new Girard awning? If so, did you opt for the "pro" version? If it isn't too much trouble, could you snap a picture of the mounting bracket? I'd love to see how it looks compared to the really solid looking mount on the Dometic. I'm trying to spoil any and all surprises for our march pick up 🤪

Nevermind on the mount pictures. The new tour video shows them perfectly.

We opted for the standard awning.  I'm impressed with how robust it is, compared the the pathetic Carefree awning we had on our camper van.

[Ray and Susan Huff]

On 12/11/2020 at 2:03 PM, Jim_Oker said:

Good luck when you  hit the  mountains. Have fun.

We chose to cross over to the coast through Needles/Barstow; weather north from Las Vegas and across the mountains looked a little iffy.

 

[Ray and Susan Huff]

On 12/15/2020 at 9:57 AM, Sempervee said:

Welcome back home from North in Seattle!

Good to be back home . . . . 2+ weeks on the road, half of it in hotels and eating out of a cooler was exhausting.

 

[Ray and Susan Huff]

On 12/14/2020 at 3:09 PM, 2008RN said:

congrats, and get back to good old Oregon

Thanks . . . . . how about that Civil War game? . . . . Go, Beavers!  Sorry, I couldn't resist 😇

[2008RN]

I have a refrigerator smoker painted duck colors with a magnetic Duck emblem on the front.  I live in beaver territory, and a few of my friends gave me a hard time about it.   So, I put a beaver emblem on the back end of the smoker. I told my friends, if the ducks ever lost I would put the beaver emblem on the front. 

Well, The front now has the beaver emblem on the front until our next matchup. 

Hope your trip is going well,

Bob