New member with RoadTrek Adventurous

[arrveedogz]

Hi,
Joined yesterday after lurking for a while. I've especially enjoyed reading about some of the creative mods people are doing.

My wife and the dogs (there's a new photo in the 'Owners Pets' album) just returned from our first-ever long road trip in an RV: 4500 miles from Texas to Maine and back. We're veteran campers, but we learned a LOT about RVing in just the first few days. The photo attached was taken at a great state park in Arkansas (Village Creek SP, just west of Memphis) and illustrates why we went with a Class B!

Dan F.
Houston, TX

2008 RS A

[ennajean]

Neat picture and welcome. Lots of info on this board.

[julievojo]

Congratulations on your new B! I love the picture - aren't you tempted to ask the guy with the big 5th wheel just what kind of gas mileage he gets??

[Mike]

Nice van, Dan. Sprinters do seem to be the way to go these days.
There's plenty of info and experience with them on here,
and you're in great company!
If we hadn't got such a good deal on our '02 Chev, I'd probably be
looking for a Sprinter based model myself.
Congratulations on your first trip out, and here's to many more!!!

Mike.

[arrveedogz]

Thanks. I was hesitant about driving a diesel, but the Sprinter ran beautifully. We had a "check engine" light come on once, but that turned out (most likely) to be a bit of moisture in the fuel and was only temporary. No other mechanical issues on the van side of things.

Since you see so many Sprinters in commercial use, its kind of fun to be the first to say if we spotted another RT or not.

Reading the oil specs in the Sprinter manual is still a bit daunting, though. And you don't exactly find the recommended Euro grades of oil when you're passing through Podunk, Arkansas. We actually made good use of a book called "The Next Exit," which claims to have a list of everything at every exit on all the interstates. Even though we did considerable mileage on the back roads, it seems like you cross over/under an interstate just about every day.

Dan F.

[Mike]

I know what you mean about being out and about in the backwoods.
It can be daunting finding the stuff you need out on the road, that you take for granted
in your own neck of the woods, sometimes. On our latest trip it was a quickie oil change place that
could handle the weight/length/height of our van. Dealers were all closed on the weekends in the
summer months in the Maritimes and the eastern US it seemed. We weren't desperate, but I like
to keep on top of the maintenance, and it was just past due. Got it done today at our local GM
dealer, who has a 4 post hoist good for 12,000 lbs. and 20 feet length and high ceilings above it.

Speaking of size, something Sprinter related just came to mind. Height.
Can it fit under the roof of a McDonald's drive-thru, for example?
Ours does (mostly) although one or two we didn't try.
Sprinters look a bit taller naturally, and I'm guessing they might not fit.
Our van is 100" (8' 4") and since most are 9', we're usually fine.

However,we almost took off the top of our '02 RT190PC at the toll booths at the St. John New Brunswick river bridge.
There weren't any signs (that I or my wife recall) about taller or oversize vehicles using specific lanes.
We saw a guy in uniform running towards us waving and after a brief moment of "what the heck?" realized
we wouldn't fit through most of their lanes except one. FYI.

Funny/scary experience. Someone else on here recently asked about where to find POI low bridge info for GPS
units and he listed a site where you can get the info for a nominal fee. He's had some near misses recently he said
in his original posting.

Mike

[arrveedogz]

Originally Posted by Mike

Speaking of size, something Sprinter related just came to mind. Height.
Can it fit under the roof of a McDonald's drive-thru, for example?
Ours does (mostly) although one or two we didn't try.
Sprinters look a bit taller naturally, and I'm guessing they might not fit.

The Adventurous roof AC tops out at 9'6""; I give all drive-thru lanes a pass. Something about pulling into a McD's almost always gives me a reason to go inside, anyway. And there's usually some grass out back for the dogs. However, while I was disturbed to find that I couldn't pull in to a Sonic, they actually do have walk-up windows. Nothing like that cherry-limeade on a hot day.

However,we almost took off the top of our '02 RT190PC at the toll booths at the St. John New Brunswick river bridge.
There weren't any signs (that I or my wife recall) about taller or oversize vehicles using specific lanes.

A toll booth not built for truck-size vehicles? Was this on some kind of limited access road?

What about the tolls? We were always charged the car toll, even though we got some funny looks. One woman thought we might have dual tires in back, but still charged just a buck.

Funny/scary experience. Someone else on here recently asked about where to find POI low bridge info for GPS
units and he listed a site where you can get the info for a nominal fee.

I recall reading that; its worth another look-see. Ya never know.

Dan

[Mike]

Originally Posted by arrveedogz

The Adventurous roof AC tops out at 9'6""; I give all drive-thru lanes a pass. Something about pulling into a McD's almost always gives me a reason to go inside, anyway. And there's usually some grass out back for the dogs. However, while I was disturbed to find that I couldn't pull in to a Sonic, they actually do have walk-up windows. Nothing like that cherry-limeade on a hot day.

That's about how we feel about McD's too. We keep meaning to try Sonic, but we always seem to gravitate
naturally to Chez Ronald's.
Speaking of low bridge episodes, we were grabbing breakfast in a smallish New Brunswick town McD's one morning.
We ordered at the ordering sign in the drive thru lane but as we approached the actual drive thru roof,
I noticed a banged up piece of eaves trough underneath it and decided to park instead.
So, I walked over, and did a walk-thru from the pay window to the food window.
The girl at the food window opened it and said "Can I help you?" like I was a street person looking for loose change.
I showed her my receipt and pointed to the RT, and she realized why I was standing there.

Originally Posted by arrveedogz

A toll booth not built for truck-size vehicles? Was this on some kind of limited access road?

What about the tolls? We were always charged the car toll, even though we got some funny looks. One woman thought we might have dual tires in back, but still charged just a buck.

We were traveling south towards St. Stephen NB and then Maine, and we crossed the river in St. John NB on a toll bridge with mostly car sized lanes, except the rightmost one. The guy who came running towards us looked like he does it all the time.
We only ever got charged the basic car rates. The priciest toll was the NYS Thruway from the
Mass./NY border to Buffalo. I think it totalled over $10, after that I-95 from Maine to Mass. was $2 every time we got off at a service plaza and re-entered. I think you can get some sort of voucher, to get you back on, but we just kept forgetting to get one at the service plazas. The main highway into Nova Scotia to Halifax cost $4 each way.

btw, that cherry limeade sounds good.
Mike.