Billi’s Wagon!

[Crazed_Insanity]

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Having a kid younger than 12 unable to get her vaccine, plus we don’t want to expose our cats to Covid 19, we thought moving via RV is going to our best option. This Gulfstream Envision 21TBD is something a bit bigger than we wanted, but there weren’t a whole lot of choices… our Kia Sorento has a max tow capacity of 5000lbs and this trailer is 4000lbs empty! So weight-wise we got real close to our legal limit. In the end I just made sure I didn’t exceed my axle limits.
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I also avoided a more direct path to Seattle because I needed to avoid some mountain passes. So instead we went the coastal route to make it easy for my Kia Sorento.

After 5 days and 4 nights, we’ve safely arrived at our new home in WA. Glad we didn’t encounter any issues during our 1300 mile journey!

Back in LA, we’re like the only house with a travel trailer on our driveway. Here in WA neighborhood, we fit right in, almost every family owns one! ;) anyway, at the moment our travel trailer will just be part of our backyard patio furniture for now…

Next up is probably have my Sorento tow my S2000 up here if I can’t find somebody who can ship it cheap…

[samoht]

Nice one! I can definitely see the appeal for a safe family move. Must be satisfying to plan a big move like this and pull it off.

Not sure what would be more dicey over a mountain, the climb or the descent?

How much colder is it in Seattle than LA?

Not tempted to fly back and roadtrip the S2000 the scenic route yourself? Probably would take too long tho.

[George]

That's a nice rig. :up:

[Dicknose]

Good work!

[Crazed_Insanity]

Yeah, driving it back the S2000 is probably the cheapest and fastest option if I have time… it’s the annoying rise of delta variant making me nervous about flying… we’ll wait and see.

Anyway, Sorentos weakest link was transmission. Temperature could quickly get out of control… even after I added an ATF cooler. I monitored the temp closely and stop and cool off when I reached 230 deg F twice!

With weight distribution hitch and sway control, dual axles, and maybe with my heavy weight, my rig felt pretty stable. No sway at all! When going down steep hills, my draggy trailer seemed to slow me down even without engine braking! I think on the steepest downhill, my terminal velocity was at most 65mph, which is still normal fwy speed. :lol:

I feel bad for the traffic I held up going uphill at 45mph! :p

[Yw-slayer]

Good work!

I agree.

[Crazed_Insanity]

Thanks YW!

Btw, samoht, Seattle is only about 20 degrees cooler plus coastal route was fairly cool too. However, Seattle and the entire north west has recently recorded rare triple digit heat! Hotter than LA at times thanks to climate change…

Glad that didn’t happen during my trip… also even while going the coastal route, we saw and smell smoke from the CA and OR fires… I guess it was good that we didn’t actually see any real fires…

But anyways, even in cooler ambient temperatures, Sorento could still overheat if inclines were long and steep enough! :p

[Phil_SS]

Glad to hear you made it. :)

[Crazed_Insanity]

Can’t go to Disneyland anymore, so I guess the thing to do at WA is RV camping! I’ve learned to keep my tranny cool by minimizing engine rev at around 3000 rpm. So yeah, I was pedaling to the metal @3000rpm going up a mountain pass at around 45mph… hey I was doing faster than some trucks! Hopefully I can make it to Yellowstone some day…., but that’s like 8,000ft in elevation. Probably need a bigger tow vehicle, but can’t afford that in todays market! :p

This is at the peak of Snoqualmie summit rest area. Taking a cool down break!
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I've always been a car guy, but apparently now as I get older, I want a bigger SUV! ;) I'm eyeing the new Jeep GC 4xe. This plugin hybrid has more tow capacity and has an EV range of 20 some miles. Should be good running errands around town... and it should also give me plenty of range when towing compared to other EV trucks. Since it's so new, I'll have to wait and see how reliable it is... Will have to live with my Kia for now. :p It has been amazingly solid. I did not think it could climb that 3000ft initially, so I was pleasantly surprised with my test run before I plan that trip...

[Cam]

Nice.