My experience of towing 4,700lb travel trailer, which now weighs closer to 5,000lbs… maybe.

I run Toyo AT3 SL tires at 32 psi (even while towing) and happy with them. I should probably air them up while towing but they have nitrogen in them and I don't want to mess with it for the amount of towing I do.

The Coopers should be a great choice. I'd get the C rated LT if you go that route due to weight and stiffness (there's a C and E rated tire in 265/70r16).

I haven't read about slip lock and looking forward to hearing more about it.

 

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads...verter-lock-up-3rd-gear.802179/#post-28752871

 

Setting out for a drive tomorrow. Estimating 4-6 weeks for this jaunt...

App is inRoute.

 

That's amazing Mark. Fort Pulaski(East of Savannah GA) is an amazing stop if that sort of thing interests you.

That app is pretty awesome. I look forward to see pics along the way. Safe travels to you both.

 

I'm interested in your experience with the hill after you leave Albuquerque, New Mexico.

 

I'm following Mark. Always interested in your knowledge towing with a Tacoma!

 

Didn’t really notice it. Back to back traffic due to repaving, decided to take route 66 as we sailed past the miles of stopped traffic doing 40/55mph.
TBH some 20 miles or so before Albuquerque there was a good climb that got the pan temp up to 200’, we were hustling though, pushing 70mph+ most of the time. Averaged 12mpg today over 460 miles.

I put a set of Cooper AT3 4s tires on just before this trip and even though they are 5lb heavier than the oem wranglers the rolling resistance is less, mpg is definitely a tad better.

Currently in San Jon freebie village campsite, heading to Foss State park for 2 nights rest…

 

Yesterday was a long day because we drove an extra 100 miles because I knew the wind was going to be annoying today. 460 miles is the longest I’ve towed in one day. Drove an hour at night which was a first too, makes dodging big potholes even harder.

You can see from the screen shot from inRoute showing the wind along the route, the first half was yesterday, second half today. You can change the graph to show wind, elevation, precipitation, temperature, curviness and for some reason humidity.

Drove through north Texas (nothing to see there) and part of Oklahoma with 15-20mph SW crosswinds, spent most of todays 250 miles in 4th gear at 65mph, 11mpg.

Now in a cute state park (Foss) parked next to a monster 5th wheel giving me slide envy

Did see some guy at a gas stop with a Ranger which was lifted, big wheels, nitro grabbers, roof rack and all the other trimmings pulling a 30ft long, 8ft wide TT that weighed 7k lb’s loaded. He said his truck was rated for 7,400lb. That’s cutting it a bit too close for me… but each to their own.

 

At lease you have a slide. There are times we'd like to have a little more room in our 7.5'x 19.5 no slide TT but most of the time we simply appreciate the easier setup and the fact that we have fewer limitations to where we can camp...... and what we can two with.

Your making some nice progress. I'm enjoying the ride. Also, I agree 100% with what you said about the Ranger pulling 7k.... that's nuts.

 

Yes the slide makes a huge difference, it only extends 18” but it’s very noticeable inside. Couch is primarily the dogs of course.

Looks like we’re forfeiting tomorrows stay here in Foss as the winds Thursday and Friday are over 25mph. It looks like once we’re past OK city we’re out of the windy zone… so onwards we push in 18/19mph crosswinds, yey!

Will be in Memphis for the weekend.

 

Oh yeah, managed to lose one bumper sewer cap and the spare tire cover today.

Also forgot to mention that the slide threw an error code on the first night saying one of the motors cabling had a short. Checked everything and re synced the slide as it was a bit wonky and fingers crossed all is good, time will tell.

Slides are great until you have a problem.

 

1,500 miles in 5 days.

Currently in Memphis at the T.O. Fuller state park with really crappy cell service which means I can’t catch up on last weeks Qatar F1 race… yet

My alignment went out of wack due to some shity roads so had to get that done this morning, $100 at Toyota dealer which wasn’t too bad.

Had some tasty ribs and a deep fried Twinkie which was very interesting

On Sunday we have one more day drive of 360 miles to Parksville lake campground in TN and then we get to start to take things a little more slowly and enjoy the ride.

 

Had a nice layover in Parksville lake campground TN after driving 360 miles from Memphis. @rybern you should check this campground out, very peaceful with lots to do around the lake…

Now we’re near Asheville NC, we decided to make a diversion to drive through some of the smokies, the colours are amazing right now.

In one long week we have driven over 2,000 miles, 1,900 of those were towing, 1,500 of those were with 15mph cross winds.

I’ve just tallied up my mpg and we’re hovering around 11.25mpg for the towing portion.

Heading to some friends in Anderson SC in a few days and then on to Myrtle beach.

 

Thanks for the recommendation Mark. Parksville Lake campground is 2.5 hrs from me so I'll certainly put it on our list. I've enjoyed reading about your experiences and welcome another pic or two.

Did you stay overnight at any Cracker Barrels? If so, how did that go?

 

Hello South Carolina. Arrived to Myrtle Beach state campground yesterday afternoon, caught a glimpse of the ocean and will go for a walk on the beach a little later. First time seeing the Atlantic in person.

Nice campground d if it wasn’t for the nearby airport.

 

This is one lucky dog. He has swam in HI, WA, ID, OR, CA, NV, UT, CO, OK, TN and now SC.
We inherited him 3 years ago from my late FIL and he’s getting pretty old now (12 years old) and he’s slowing down, especially in the last 6 months. As we walked down the path to the beach he got all excited and acted like a puppy again… he’ll be in some pain this afternoon but I think he’s okay with that.

 

Good stuff Mark. Myrtle Beach campground looks nice and beach looks very inviting.... reminds my of Tybee Island.

 

See your veterinarian and get him on some pain management. It will immensely improve his long term quality of life.
NSAIDs such as Carprofen or depending on lab work Galliprant (a new generation of NSAID that blocks prostaglandin receptors instead of blocking prostaglandin production) combined with things to block nerve pain conduction....Gabapentin are good starts.
Exercise is of utmost importance to maintain muscle mass. Just like humans, they will naturally loose muscle with age, exercise and a good quality senior diet will help.
Supplements are a good add on but should not be considered a primary treatment plan.
Dasuquin w/MSM is a good product as it has 2 natural anti-inflammatories in it. The parent company Nutrimax has human equivalents and is one of the only manufacturers to actually do pressure plate studies with their products. https://www.chewy.com/nutramax-dasuquin-hip-joint-soft/dp/35840
Another thing to consider is CBD. Ellevetsciences has done studies in conjunction with UC Davis and Cornell to show their product do have benefit in arthritic dogs. You can purchase directly from Ellevetscienses online https://www.ellevetsciences.com/
I have 19 yr old at home who is severely arthritic and he is on combinations of meds to keep him as pain free as possible.
Now back to our regularly scheduled program......
Your trip looks fantastic. Hoping to get out soon with my trailer.

 

EDIT: this post was supposed to be posted a couple of days ago…

Myrtle Beach was on the list of places as a potential to live. After grabbing a coffee and chatting with a photographer friend that had recently moved to Asheville from Myrtle after a 20year stint I really though that Myrtle could be the one, lots of tourists, good weather and good work... however after a few days we came to the realization that in the summer it would be absolutely crazy, I'm sure the population increases 5 fold and it must be gridlock down there. Given the choice I'd probably prefer being up in Asheville, that says a lot considering how much I love the ocean!

Anyways, today was the shortest drive (Myrtle beach to Charleston) of this current trip, only 111 miles/13.2 mpg but did take nearly 3 hours, dual carriageway with lots and lots of traffic lights and stop go traffic. Decided to do the drive in D, with an ambient temp of 80', the pan temp never went above 192'. As usual I was barefoot, caressing the accelerator with my big toe and the transmission behaved as expected. As I always preach "knowing when the TC is locked is key". The transmission did slip into 6th (with lock up) a few times but spent most of the time in 5th.

 

Thanks for the advice. He went from doing daily 3 mile walks in April to only being able to walk a couple of blocks at most a month later. He injured his front left paw and we don’t know what the deal is, this summer he’s been to the vets once a month at least and we’ve tried 3 different vets and two different sets of X-rays. No one knows what’s up. The pads are slightly swollen and there’s some swelling/mass in between his toes in the webbing, but apparently not enough to warrant surgery. He also has some arthritis in his spine.

He’s on great senior food, gets supplements, takes Carprofen and Gabapentin but still constantly wants to hold his paw up. He does seem to do better on sand but that may be just because he loves the beach

I’ve always thought it was a sliver but honestly I’ve spent hours with a head torch on looking over his paw and seen nothing, tried epsom baths for his paw and nothing. It really sucks.

Next week when we stop for a longer time we’re going to get him into another vet and see if he can get a steroid shot or something specific to target just the paw.

I’ll look into the galliprant, the last vet mentioned it but they hadn’t received it yet and now we’re on the road.