This was not really a camping trip, but one to see family. Since they are 3000 miles away it seemed like a good trip for the Transit. I have other relatives along the way so, I could stop in and say high along the way. We would “camp” along the way. I use the term camp loosely, because in many cases that meant pulling into a rest stop for the night. I would say this was our first trip with everything completed, well for now (Is it ever completed?). We found we had an abundance of storage, now we just need to find the proper location for things.
The first thing I checked out was charging the batteries on the road. One of the last big modifications was installing a second alternator and a Wakespeed controller. I had been testing it the last couple of weeks but never had a real long drive charge to completion test. One of the previous mods was to install a Stick PC and run a version of my old SMB status program. This would allow me to use the rear-view camera, and monitor the output of the Wakespeed controller, Battery SOC, Temperature, and such. I had some issues with the video capture, but the data display worked well.
The Alternator/Controller worked great, I had a charge profile that took not quite to 100% SOC, and it would complete. I could turn the charge on and off from the driver seat. I started the trip at about 53% SOC, I have a 555 Amp-hr. battery. I have the charge set at 140 amps, add a little solar and it is a pretty good charge rate. It didn’t take long to bring the battery to full charge (well more like 99%). I stopped it before it was complete, but it was only about two hours.
With the battery fully charged, it was time for our first rest stop. Being older we must get out and walk around a bit, we also need to have more coffee. This is where the high roof Transit excels, I hop into the back, get out the Keurig Mini and brew a couple of cups of coffee. I am up for making coffee just about anyway, this ends up be simple and fast we generally use San Francisco Bay Coffee Pods, because the better for the environment. The Victron Multiplus II inverter worked fantastically and performed it duties. Depending on the rest stop, I might just use my own bathroom. While it is just a Thetford Curve Porta Poti, being able to fully stand up and not have to pull anything out makes it convenient.
Back on the road, the process is repeated substituting lunch for coffee, and of course the gas stops. The rig got about 15 miles a gallon on the way out. This was down a bit from previous trips, but that was Van Compass lift kit and the full weight of the completed build out. Being this was a trip to see family we pushed the daily milage and ended up east of Livingston Montana when we pulled into a rest stop. We didn’t even cover the windshield, just hopped in the back, and went to sleep.
The next day we diverted to go see the Devil Tower Monument. We pretty much repeated the process except we stopped a little earlier and used a KOA, not really my thing but they always have clean restrooms and showers, so they are good for travel. Talking to the owner, he had some overflow spots for travelers, power hook up only. I told him I didn’t even need that, so he said he could set me up at a tent site. All worked well.
Again, we repeated the process, spent a couple of days outside Buffalo, NY visiting my mother, then went to Beaver Falls, NY to visit my wife’s 90 year old uncle and his kids. After a good day of family bonding, we started working our way back towards Sodus Point NY. We stopped along the way and found a campsite on Ontario Lake outside Oswego NY. There was a nice soft serve ice cream place across the street, so we substituted ice cream for dinner.
We had been in the Canadian smoke most of the trip, so this was a clear night, and it was great to wake up on the lake.
After that we made it to a small marina that is located, and I think part of the area my brother-in-law has a lake cottage. It pretty much had a few sites for overnight campers. It worked out because of the proximity to my brother-in-law’s cottage, and it was on the lake.
After a nice visit with in-laws, we started our journey back west, we stopped for a break at the Rock & Roll Hall of fame and continued to push towards Iowa. We started to run into warmer weather, more specifically warmer nighttime tempos, so it was a perfect time to test the Air-conditioner running off the battery. The unit is very quiet (I used to have a Starcool in my old van), It quickly cooled the van down, and made sleeping comfortable. I could hear the Inverter a bit when the compressor kicked in, but it never needed the blower to come on. In the morning the battery was at 48% SOC, which was reasonable. When we hit the road, I quickly invoked the second alternator and charged the house battery back up in a couple of hours. This was a process that was a process that I used a couple of times the rest of the trip.
In Iowa I stopped to see my dad, he is in an extended care facility and not doing very well. It was a good visit, but certainly not a pick me up. We pushed on into Nebraska on our way home. We decided to divert to the Tetons to play around for the day on.
Other than the crowds, the Tetons were an uplifting experience. That night we decided to use the built-in shower, we were both getting a little gamey. I stopped for about an hour before we were going to camp and turned on the hot water heater. The
Truma Combi eco has multiple power settings. While driving propane was off the table, but I could use all electric mode. I put it in the low power electric mode. I watched it pull the power down some and then invoked the 2nd alternator, it of course had enough to carry the load as we drove. The water was plenty hot, I removed the porta potty to make a little more room. We had a refreshing shower and were ready for bed. I left the water heater on all night with little impact to the battery SOC.
The next morning started with the coffee ritual and then hit the road. At a rest stop 120 miles a way we fired up the microwave and made some Jimmy Dean Egg’Wich’s for breakfast. Coming through the Columbia Gorge was as beautiful as usual. Later that day we pulled into our driveway in Beaverton completing the 6385-mile journey.
All the systems on the van worked very well. The
Insty-Connect consistently pulled in some bandwidth that wasn’t there with just phones. This is still a pretty good interim solution, the final being starlink for data service.
We found the
RIB Scopema Altair 3P to be very comfortable in bed mode. We did find it difficult to return to a seated position and may look for a different solution in the future.
The game changer for me has been the
2nd alternator/Wakespeed controller charging option. While having a large lithium battery bank is great, it still needs to be recharged, this makes that an easy task on the road.
2008 GMC 3500 SMB
Linear Mode
