Trip report / finally used my TSD fuel card

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05wingrider
Posts: 104
Joined: Sun Oct 27, 2019 7:26 pm
Location: Spokane, Washington

Trip report / finally used my TSD fuel card

Post by 05wingrider »

We took a break from it all and went over to Leavenworth, Washington for two nights last week since our previous vacation plans and efforts got thrown out the door with the current situation. This was the first trip in the Sahara in two years - last year we went to Ireland for 3 weeks which pretty much wiped out the vacation funds account, so it was our first trip after making a few repairs/mods. First repair was the dash AC unit, and I'm more than happy to report that it works like a champ now. I held my hand near the vent under the stereo, and within a few minutes my finger tips were starting to hurt because it was blowing so cold (it was 90 outside and sunny). The second mod was to replace our front rooftop AC unit with an Air Command unit - the old one was working OK, but the amount of noise was excessive to me compared to all the new units that I've heard in the past few years, so we took the plunge and replaced it. I'm super happy with the new unit - it kept our rig nice and cool during the day sitting, and when I remembered to turn it on, the heat pump in it worked great to keep the rig warm during the night. I didn't turn it on the first night, so when we woke up to 53 degrees in the RV, I ended up using the furnace to take the chill off since I knew it would take way too long with the heat pump otherwise. All in all, I'm happy with the new unit, and even more so since I had it running all night long and never heard it.

I had topped the fuel tank off earlier in the year before I went out and had my Pac Brake reprogrammed, but never thought to top it off again before we headed out on our trip. It was a short drive over from Spokane - just over 190 miles, so I wasn't worried at all about not having enough fuel and needing to fill up en-route, instead I had planned on stopping at a Petro on the edge of town on my way in and use the TSD card that I've had since early last year and never used yet. We didn't have the car trailer behind us this trip, but I can see how it's going to be a lot easier to swing into the truck lanes with it hooked up behind us in the future to fill up, and as anyone that's used the card knows, it was a super simple process to fuel up and then go. Our trip used 41 gallons of fuel, and with the card we were able to save over $25 on our fill up, so now I'm looking forward to a longer trip next year down to Disneyland.

I'm going to take it in next spring and have the alignment checked, plus I want them to check the king pin alignment as well. The couple that I bought it from several years ago had an additional leaf put in the springs, but from reading the paperwork, they never had them check the rear axle alignment after adding a spring. I've been told that I'm not tracking straight going down the road, so I want them to check that as well as all the steering components and make sure that everything is as it should be. I'm constantly adjusting the steering wheel going down the road (I know, it's a 24 year old rig, and even with a stabilizer there's going to be some play) but I want to have someone more knowledgeable than I am to give it a once over. It does pretty good considering that it's a 30 foot box going down the road, but I'd like that little bit of peace of mind knowing that that area has been looked over good and that there's no surprises or problems there.

All in all we had a good time, and now we know someplace close by that we can get out of town and go relax. The campground wasn't anything fancy, but I didn't anticipate it - I just wanted someplace in walking distance to the town with hookups, and this fit the bill. It felt SO good to get out on the road for a drive (and we got home before the obnoxious smoke rolled in and socked us in like it has for the past 3 days now).
Duane
96 Sahara 30', 250hp Cat 3126
Allison 6spd MD-3060
2015 Jeep Cherokee Trailhawk "Toad"
Spokane WA
chuckster
Posts: 286
Joined: Thu Aug 27, 2020 4:53 pm

Re: Trip report / finally used my TSD fuel card

Post by chuckster »

Duane, glad to hear you got her back out after 2 years and dusted off the cobwebs. Hope you have a few more trips to get in before old man Jack Frost appears. Thanks for the update!

BTW - I tried to book reservations to the Oregon coast (Newport/Garibaldi) but the smoke and resultant horrible air quality from the fires turned us away from going. Imagine that...on the COAST right on the water and horrible air! *sigh*
Chuck & Mitzi
'01 Safari Zanzibar 3646 (side entry)
Cat 3126B / Allison MD3060
Magnum M-Series "Blue Max" chassis
2016 Jeep Grand Cherokee Overland toad
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