The great american Road trip Summer 2021 - 7000 miles

D

dave silva

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Oct 2, 2009
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The Coach was completely gone through by the COOP in 2013. Then it mostly sat until i got it last summer.

I got it running pretty well with fresh gas, The trans had clutch particles in the pan so a rebuilt has been procured and will be installed on the
next warm weekend. New tires and hoses, brake bleeding and we should be good.

So we're discussing summer plans and i have support for a west coast trip - Grand canyon, family in the Bay area, Yellowstone, return to North
Carolina.

There's a lot of little things to think about, and a few big ones.

We do not currently have a Toad and i'm thinking we'll keep it that way. We can rent a car for a few days while visit family. Not sure how much we'd
miss having a car for the rest of the trip.

The boys are 10 and 13 perfect age for such a trip.

I don't have specific questions but i would welcome opinions, experiences, checklists or horror stories.



--
Dave & Ellen Silva

1972 Revcon Olds 455, toro drive train. All Stock
 
i just got back from grand canyon. Pretty cool, but the more impressive stuff is just north of grand canyon. We were at the south rim about 10 am.
Left feeling we seen enough by 3:30pm.

The areas I was more impressed with was a loop driving out of page, AZ that another gmc’r told me to do. He was not wrong.

But if you go and look at Ken Henderson’s blog from his trip cross country a few years ago with his grandson. That was an impressive list of things
to see/do.

http://kenndennis.blogspot.com/?m=0
--
Jon Roche
75 palm beach
EBL EFI, manny headers, Micro Level, rebuilt most of coach now.
St. Cloud, MN
http://lqqkatjon.blogspot.com/
 
> I don't have specific questions but i would welcome opinions,
> experiences, checklists or horror stories.

We did a similar trip in Summer 2017, however, *I* did bring the GMC
alone to the west coast where I picked up my family. They flew in. Than
we spend 3 nice weeks on the west coast. They flew back, and I drove it
back alone. The way back took from Thursday a.m. to Sunday p.m. with
rarely going over 55-60mph.

Grand Canyon is a place one has to experience, not by overlooking from
the rims, but by hiking down, imho.

--
Best regards

Olly Schmidt
PGP KeyID: 0x4196BF22
'76a 26' Eleganza II - Virginia, US
'73 23' Sequoia - Schleswig-Holstein, Germany
 
Dave and family,

We were in Yellowstone (a long term goal) a few years back. We stayed at Fishing Bridge. We had no towed.

While Fishing bridge was expensive, the cost of the fuel and time to drive in from one of the outside crampgrounds made it a wash. When we were
there, both of the loop roads were broken, so we had to plan carefully. We would pick a target for the day and if the plan got hindered, it really
didn't matter.

We did get stopped in several Bison Jams. They don't care, they live there. There were a few times that we got stopped by animal watchers that got
out of their cars to see. From the front of a GMC, you have a better view as you are sitting at a passcar roof elevation. There were some places
that said,"No Large Vehicles" and we did not venture into some, several we did and I had no trouble maneuvering the '23 as required. (There are
pickup trucks that are as broad and as nearly as long.)

Just across the road form Fishing Bridge is a visitor center that has the geyser "schedule" posted. Also there we bought THE BOOK "Yellowstone
Resources and Issues Handbook". You want one. I did not find it on Amazon, but I did find a not that it can be downloaded as a *.pdf from a
Yellowstone site. This is a publication by the park and it is the text book for training the rangers at the park. It wasn't cheap, but when we found
it, we wished we had had it sooner. I just found out it can be downloaded all or parts Here: https://www.nps.gov/yell/learn/resources-and-issues.htm

At Fishing Bridge, while an FHU site, the dump in our slip was about a foot too high for our dump, but there is a very available dump by the entrance.
At the time (fall 2015) cell service at the campground was problematic even with a 3werp repeater. I am told it is better now, but I have no
confirmation.

We were only there four days. If we had been hikers (I had/have a bad leg) we easily could have killed several days more. We did have two pairs of
binoculars. There were only two of us. You will want at least that.

It worked out well for us, and we would like to go back. Unfortunately, that is a very slim chance. Things will be changing.

Matt
--
Matt & Mary Colie - Chaumière -'73 Glacier 23 - Members GMCMI, GMCGL, GMCES
Electronically Controlled Quiet Engine Cooling Fan with OE Rear Drum Brakes with Applied Control Arms
SE Michigan - Near DTW - Twixt A2 and Detroit
 
THanks Matt. I was hoping you would chime in on this question.
--
Dave & Ellen Silva
Hertford, NC

74 Birchaven, 1-ton and other stuff
 
David,
Does not make any difference as to what shop did the work.
You must learn to be aware of things that can happen.

On Sat, Dec 12, 2020 at 7:17 AM dave silva via Gmclist <

> THanks Matt. I was hoping you would chime in on this question.
> --
> Dave & Ellen Silva
> Hertford, NC
>
> 74 Birchaven, 1-ton and other stuff
>
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> GMCnet mailing list
> Unsubscribe or Change List Options:
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>

--
Jim Kanomata
Applied/GMC, Newark,CA
jimk
http://www.gmcrvparts.com
1-800-752-7502
 
> David,
> Does not make any difference as to what shop did the work.
> You must learn to be aware of things that can happen.

Right, i was just explaining it's somewhat unique condition, many new parts, almost no miles, and seven years of sitting.

But i would welcome a checklist of things that can go wrong and how best to get in front of them,

WIth a little luck i'll be pulling the coach into your yard for a mid-trip checkup.

By the way, are there any places in the East Bay where one can camp? I have 50 cousins to visit between San Jose, Richmond and Walnut Creek, and not
one of them has a decent size driveway.

--
Dave & Ellen Silva
Hertford, NC

74 Birchaven, 1-ton and other stuff
 
There is a small county or federal park up the hill from Berkeley
Ill see if we can find more info.
.

On Sat, Dec 12, 2020 at 5:04 PM dave silva via Gmclist <

> > David,
> > Does not make any difference as to what shop did the work.
> > You must learn to be aware of things that can happen.
>
> Right, i was just explaining it's somewhat unique condition, many new
> parts, almost no miles, and seven years of sitting.
>
> But i would welcome a checklist of things that can go wrong and how best
> to get in front of them,
>
> WIth a little luck i'll be pulling the coach into your yard for a mid-trip
> checkup.
>
> By the way, are there any places in the East Bay where one can camp? I
> have 50 cousins to visit between San Jose, Richmond and Walnut Creek, and
> not
> one of them has a decent size driveway.
>
> --
> Dave & Ellen Silva
> Hertford, NC
>
> 74 Birchaven, 1-ton and other stuff
>
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> GMCnet mailing list
> Unsubscribe or Change List Options:
> http://list.gmcnet.org/mailman/listinfo/gmclist_list.gmcnet.org
>

--
Jim Kanomata
Applied/GMC, Newark,CA
jimk
http://www.gmcrvparts.com
1-800-752-7502
 
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