♫ I Would Tow 5000 Miles ♫

Yes, it's been 5000 miles since I set out on June 4th!

There are a couple of detours that aren't on the map, and I'm currently at Mystic Springs Cove Airstream park north of Pensacola, FL for the week. If it's not 5000 miles, it's reeeeal close!

On to your burning questions:

Q. How did the tile hold up in the shower?

A. Perfectly. No cracks, loose tiles, or weird spots. I think a lot of it had to do with the fact the shower sits right over the top of the axles, which minimizes the movement vs being at the far end of the trailer where things will bounce quite a bit.

Q. How does it tow with it being so heavy?

A. It's not heavy. It's still within the GVWR of the original axles. It pulls like a dream. The Hensley Cub hitch is a little on the light side for this trailer (600lb tongue, 6000lb trailer weight rating), so I just purchased and installed a Blue Ox Sway Pro 1000lb tongue rated hitch. I actually towed with two trucks. My truck is a 2020 F150 4x2 with the 5.0 V8 and 10 speed automatic. In the mountains it was fine. The V8 roared pulling it up the grades and the engine braking going down was fantastic. The other half of the time I was out I was pulling with my travel partner's 2020 F150 4x4 with the 3.5 Ecoboost and 10 speed automatic. In the mountains, the Ecoboost was a monster going up the grades and never broke a sweat. However, the engine braking going down the grades was really weak. I was on the brakes way more with the Ecoboost than the 5.0.

Q. What has broken or surprised you on the trip?

A. First thing I noticed is hangars do not want to stay hanging in the closet. I need to find a solution to stop them from jumping the rod during travel. It's only happened once, but the kitchen sink sump will sometimes become air locked and not pump out the water in the sump and overflow. I need to drill a hole through the floor and route a drain line outside in case that happens again. I tried an electronic sump switch to drain out more of the standing water when I first installed the sump, but it kept creating an air lock so I went back to the float switch it came with. White roof vents are like heaters in the summer! I should have bought smoked covers instead of white. I bought some insulating pillows for them and it's much more tolerable. The duct fan install is flawed. I chose to put the intake up high at the end of the closet. As we all know (well, I do now) the inside skin gets quite hot in direct sunlight. The duct fan is just pulling this hot air and sending it to the other end of the camper. I'm going to relocate the intake further down to be closer to the center of the living area.

Q. Has the mini split fallen off yet?

A. No! The mini split has been working great! It's currently 92* outside with the Airstream in direct sun, and the inside is 73*. It's also nearly silent. I stepped out to do laundry earlier and couldn't hear my AC, but could hear the AC on a Bambi (I think) clear across this park. Time will tell how the heater side will work, but I think it's going to cook me out of here if I let it. One thing about Mini Splits - they don't operate like a typical HVAC with ON or OFF cycles. They pump more or less depending on the thermostat, but never actually turn off. This is a problem when the mini split is too big for the space (like an Airstream), is even at it's lowest setting it will still get the bedroom down into the 60s when it's in the 90s outside. I bought a Sensibo smart thermostat that mimics the physical remote and set upper and lower temperature limits so it actually turns off and on like a regular AC. The temps are much more manageable this way.

My travels have taken me all the way to West Virginia, Atlanta, Memphis, Chicago, Wisconsin, and all the way back to Daytona. Currently in a "reboot" outside Pensacola. I'm headed to a Thousand Trails campground about an hour north of Birmingham on Saturday.

While I was in Memphis, I took advantage of moochdocking with Family to install some solar panels. I managed to fit 10 100W solar panels on the roof and got them tied into my inverter/charger. They have been working great. If it's really hot out, the solar is just shy of being able to keep up, but if it's pleasant in the low 80s or 70s, I can be completely off grid and have all the power I need.

Also, I took this screenshot while on the road. I still think it's silly that the sun is pumping nearly 900W of power into my batteries as I'm running down the road!

As we were going though Nashville, one of us didn't lock the door properly and it flung open at speed. I say one of us because she closed and locked it, and I verified it was locked. Apparently it was not. It sheared off most of the rivets on the inner skin of the door. You can see the bow in this pic vs the screen door bow. I was able to get it 90% of the way by hand. I need some clamping devices to get the last bit of kink out of it.

What's next? I took the plunge and joined Thousand Trails so I'll be using them primarily, but next weekend is Alabama, Then on to Natchez Trace in TN, then to Memphis for a few days, then it's off to Sedalia, MO for the International Rally! After that, all bets are off, but I'll be making my way west!