Suggestions for cross country travel

[doublevan2]

Dear Ibp -- "just sayin" -- think about having an available SMB Forum member from Ca or WA State - Oregon - drive van to east coast for you ! I'm sure there are many competent and honorable and diligent driver members !? Think about it --

[BrianW]

If it were me I’d at least fly out and test-camp it for a few days, and then fly home and have it shipped. That way you can identify any issues and have it fixed at the factory right away. Going to be a lot harder to work small things out all the way across the country. Plane tickets are a small additional expense compared with the cost of the van.

[ctb]

Well then, First trip should be west from Mass, go to Upper NY where St. Lawrence Seaway starts, then traveling as close to the shores of ALL the Great Lakes! See all the lakes, plenty of great campsites both with amenities and boondocking...rockhounding, fishing, eating, eating, eating, VIEWS! Great sunsets and northern Huron, all of Superior have the best dark nights for stars...good luck and look forward to your posts!

Ps Any problems on the way, SMBNorth is in Huntington, IN, you could stop if you had to...not saying that warrantee or anything would be the same/honored there, BUT, they are the best and would take care of you...lots closer than back to Cali or TX

[lbp]

Originally Posted by doublevan2

Dear Ibp -- "just sayin" -- think about having an available SMB Forum member from Ca or WA State - Oregon - drive van to east coast for you ! I'm sure there are many competent and honorable and diligent driver members !? Think about it --

I will think about this, thanks. I hadn't thought about something like this, though another person's suggestion to fly out for a couple of days before shipping, may work as well.

[daveb]

Originally Posted by lbp

Thanks to all who replied to my post. As it turns out, we're going to have to ship the van from SMB West here to us in Massachusetts, as the van is ready and SMB can't hold on to it until June, which would be the earliest we can get there. So...no cross country trip from CA to MA, instead we're having the van shipped to us here.

All of the ideas and suggestions were great, and I'm keeping track of them in a "future travel" folder on my computer. Obviously we won't be able to do a shake down run near Fresno, so we'll hope for the best with the van and all of the systems as we use it here on the East coast. We'll definitely be heading across the country with the van at some point in the future, but no set dates yet. If we find anything that needs dealing with right away, we'll come as soon as we can to deal with it. Hopefully not! My wife and I are birders, so we'll be working on some trips in late fall / early winter to go to some good birding sites, and make our way west that way.

Thanks again for all of your responses. Stay safe and enjoy any travels you do!
lbp

That's too bad. Would have been a interesting trip. Have you thought about flying out to do a shakedown run for a couple days, then fly back home? Well If you do get out this way, there are a couple spots around Fresno that might be considered areas to bird at. Santa Fe Grade rd is a fairly nice drive. Several duck clubs provide areas for waterfowl and it's surrounded by several wildlife refuges such as Great Valley Grasslands SP. Not very many people visit the area. Portions of Santa Fe Grade Rd are unpaved and you see wildlife from the refuges along it.



Good luck on the shipping.

[lbp]

Originally Posted by daveb

That's too bad. Would have been a interesting trip. Have you thought about flying out to do a shakedown run for a couple days, then fly back home? Well If you do get out this way, there are a couple spots around Fresno that might be considered areas to bird at. Santa Fe Grade rd is a fairly nice drive. Several duck clubs provide areas for waterfowl and it's surrounded by several wildlife refuges such as Great Valley Grasslands SP. Not very many people visit the area. Portions of Santa Fe Grade Rd are unpaved and you see wildlife from the refuges along it.



Good luck on the shipping.

daveb - thanks for this information! With our son and grandkids in L.A., we'll definitely be doing some long distance driving, and likely go to the area you mentioned. I don't know about those particular refuges. We went to one further north, basically north and east of Roseville where we saw thousands of snow geese.

One thought we've had, and a reason for shipping the van is so we can drive out to L.A. at the end of May - so it will be a very long shake down cruise!
lbp