On The Move

Now that I have a proper tow vehicle (GMC Yukon XL 2500), it’s finally time to hit the road. First, of course, was a stop by the nearest RV center to get the new SUV setup to the trailer so that both are running parallel to the ground and the new brake controller needed to be setup. You cannot skip this step for safety when changing tow vehicles. It didn’t take very long. They disassembled the hitch and flipped it over to ride higher after measuring from the trailer to the ground in two places.

With everything set, the dang cat and I hit the nearest freeway for Idaho. The new vehicle did extremely well and was very comfortable to ride in. The equalizer bars were set close to correct but I think pulling them up one more chain link will smooth the ride out better.

We reached Post Falls, ID and decided we were too tired to keep going so we pulled into the Suntree RV Park there for the night. Since we had to leave by 11am the next morning, we left the trailer hitched up with travel lights disconnected, slideout left in, and only electric hooked up. This setup was still very nice with plenty of room since the slideout in does not block the inside hallway or anything else. The cat was quite upset about not having a living room this way and spent all night dropping down behind the couch to find it. Once behind the couch, she was stuck each time until I pulled the front off the couch to let her out. Yet, she kept doing it all night. Dang cat!!!!!!!

I setup the satellite dish for TV and got to veg out on the couch all evening and cook dinner in my kitchen. Sodas in the fridge were still ice cold. That was very nice. It is wonderful having your home with you wherever you go.

The Suntree RV Park is handy right off exit 3 but it is nothing special. The pull-throughs are actually pull-besides and not marked at all so you have to guess on where to park by the water and electric posts. The office seems to be always closed with no hours specified which is not terribly friendly. You also have to park rather far away from the office to self check-in. A block wall would be a nice thing they should add between them and the freeway.

On the plus side, it does have an outdoor pool and a laundry room with newer front loading washers and decent restrooms with showers. They have a huge map of the freeway, Idaho towns, and local attractions on the restroom wall outside which is helpful. It is also very near the outlets mall for some fun shopping. Wireless Internet is available for free but I had some trouble getting on it.

We were able to leave very quickly the next morning and head for Osburn, ID in the Silver Valley. With freeway construction going on that narrowed the road down, I was glad we waited to go over 4th of July mountain pass. As it was, the Yukon did very well in towing my 7,000 pound trailer over the pass at reasonable speed. I feel a lot better now that I have tackled my first mountain with the trailer. We should be good to go for the rest of our trip around the USA.