Ok,
That was a long drive... I can't thank Mike enough. I know this is where I should be inserting pictures... When I got there, I pulled out my camera only to find the memory card door ajar... That's right, I left the memory card plugged into my laptop back home.
I had many great shots to take, which will have to reside in my mind... One funny story that is worth telling... Just west of SLC is the great Bonneville Salt Flats... If you've never seen it, it's worth a trip. Anyway, thousands of acres of just flat white land. Going out, and again coming home, there is all of these tire tracks. It looks like cars must just pull off the interstate and go whizzing around the flats.
I was thinking - that looks like it might be a little marshy - I wonder if you would have any problems... Must not - there's tracks everywhere.... Well, that is where the picture opportunity came in on the way home... At the very east end, it is very marshy looking. About 30 feet in there is the cowboy with the big lifted Ford with at least 37" tires - that would be just a guess... The tires were completely submerged, except for the top 3 or 4 inches. The owner and a tow truck driver where sitting there scratching their heads. You could tell they had been trying to no avail, and because of their proximity to the interstate, could only attempt angled extractions. To have the best luck, they'd need to close the interstate and try and pull it straight back. There was no highway patrol there yet, so they must not have been there too long. I imagine this morning Cowboy is out some serious cash.
Anyway, back to the transfer... Mike and Westi live in paradise. Their house is beautiful, and in one of the most desirable locales in the country. The twins looked happy and healthy, and the dogs were friendly to a fault.
Installing the camper was a fairly quick operation, and made the ride home without problems.
I didn't get away until about 4:30pm, so I was going to be doing the first 200 miles in pretty heavy traffic, so I didn't check the tie-downs until stopping for fuel out east of Sacramento. The front driver side was completely off, the front passenger side was a little loose, and the two in the rear were tight. I was watching the camper closely and didn't see any bounce or movement, so I was surprised the front ties where so loose. I tightened down the front ones, fueled and hit the road again. Going up the hill to Tahoe/Truckee/Sparks/Reno was a really tough drive. Heavy traffic, rain, road construction all made that a very slow go.
By the time I hit Elko, I was done. I couldn't go any further. I stopped in Elko, and there was a little commercial area where there was a Smith's grocery and a Starbucks - perfect for waking up - using the restroom at the grocery, grabbing a donut, hitting Starbucks, fueling and going. That was the first official night in the camper. It was great. Anyway, funny anecdote - as I was driving east out of Elko, I picked up a little local am radio station and they were talking about how a person had been murdered while sleeping in the Smith's parking lot 2 nights earlier. Nice.
I checked the tiedowns before pulling out, all tight. My assumption is that the camper shift on the temporary 1x4's that its resting on. My sidewall clearance was going to be tight, and I couldn't find a rubber mat, so we did a temporary improvisation to make sure we cleared the sidewalls.
All in all, the trip went great. Today I'm going to put some lock nuts on my tie-downs, double check my eye-bolts, do a little wipe down, and stock it with some items. Tomorrow I'll leave home for a stretch of 6 work shifts in 3 days, so I'll sleep in it over the weekend.
That's about it for now. Thanks again to the group, and Mike.
