I need to pick up some parts in Phoenix because the vendor wants $2,000 to ship on a flat bed. The parts are light, but long and it would be easy to pick them up with either my bus or my mini-van. Even if I drove the bus it would cost less than $2,000 and I get to be in Phoenix in late January instead of dealing with the cold and the Super Bowl street shutdowns in downtown Minneapolis. The local bus drivers have also authorized a strike during Super Bowl and parking will be impossible to find in downtown Minneapolis if that happens.
What would be a good route from Minneapolis to Phoenix if I take the bus? Google Maps wants me to take 400 or 500 miles of US highways and such across Kansas and Oklahoma. I prefer interstates in the bus, but it would add hundreds of miles to take interstates the whole way I think. I may end up taking my mini-van with a light aluminum trailer, but I'm not sure I save much money due to needing hotels for 10 days.
Quote from: belfert on November 15, 2017, 11:21:24 AM
I'm not sure I save much money due to needing hotels for 10 days.
where does 10 days play into this ?
Ship it or wait, crossing Kansas the Texas, OK pan handle and across New Mexico in Jan would be a adventure for you with the ice storm and winds rolls in ? are you planning on crossing Ok at Guymon Ok 10 days of hotel expensive may not cover you on that trip ;D in Jan
Quote from: eagle19952 on November 15, 2017, 11:27:35 AM
where does 10 days play into this ?
I am planning to be on the road for 10 nights so I would need to pay for 10 nights of hotels if I take my mini-van.
Not a chance I am paying $2,000 to ship $700 worth of steel. The vendor won't do LTL due to damages in the past. I have other options that would be cheaper than $2,700.
I was thinking I could kill three birds with one stone. I could get a vacation in, pick up my steel, and be out of town during Super Bowl. I would have to wait until May if I were to take the bus due to spring road restrictions. It sounds like too much chance of getting stuck in a snow or ice storm in late January.
Hi Brian, from I-40 at Flagstaff, to Phoenix, on I-17 has some mighty steep grades, good freeway but the grades, fog and snow/ice is something to consider. Flagstaff is 7000 ft, how about I-10 thru Tucson? lvmci...
I would go 169 south to Sioux City, I29 south to Omaha, I80 to York, NE, 81 to Salina, KS, I70 to exit 225, hwy 156 to Great Bend, 56 to Boise City, 385 to Calhart, 54 to Tucumcari, I40 to Flagstaff, I17 to Phoenix. 1714 miles. 26 hours, according to Google Maps.
Actually, that's not exactly how I'd go, but 2 lane state highways don't bother me and are often my preferred choice.
You could go I35 to Des Moines and across I80 to York. That adds about 16 miles.
BTW, Most of 169 to Sioux City and 81 from York to Salina is divided 4 lane (i.e. interstate-esk). so really, the only 2 lane you'd have is from Salina to Tucumcari. About 400 miles.
BTW, what kind of steel are you getting, and why is it so special it's not available here?
Quote from: gumpy on November 15, 2017, 12:14:17 PM
BTW, what kind of steel are you getting, and why is it so special it's not available here?
It is a ground mount system for solar panels. It isn't just raw steel. There is only one other company I know of in the USA selling this type of mount and they only sell in large quantities to commercial customers. The other company makes a different type of mount that would cost me around $2250 shipped. I really like the mounts the company in Phoenix sells.
I hate two lane roads in the bus because they are lot more tiring to drive on. There is often zero margin for error.
Brian I say take Craig's route and drive the bus, while yer at it take a couple extra days and visit Quartsite while yer there.
;D BK ;D
I would not plan on I40 from Albuquerque to Flagstaff in January. I would go south from Albuquerque and take the Hatch cut off and Take I 10 over to Phoenix unless you like mountains WITH snow. It seems like we always drive home from Mexico in the winter and hit snow before we get to albuquerque. Heck we even drove through snow two years ago coming home from the dam rally in November.
Everyone has their own comfort level but farther south that time of year is MUCH better.
Melbo
I would take I35 to OKC then I40 to the Hatch cutoff to I10 to Phoenix. There are several places you can drop further straight south along that route if it looks like you're going to get into freezing precip such as at KC you can go south on I29 down to I40 in AR or drop south to I10 from there if OK is gummed up. At OKC you can drop all the way to DFW if you need to. It just gives you options.
BTW , I just recently shipped awnings for my coach and the trucking companies all quoted $1K or more from Chicago to Springfield MO. I then went to uship.com and got a quote for $425. Took two days longer but saved a bunch of cash.
Rob
Missouri
I just bought a large snow blower attachment and the seller got a price of $700 to ship it to me. I arranged shipping through an online LTL broker and paid $370. I'm not sure if I could do so well for this shipment since the vendor doesn't recommend LTL. If I could get the shipment done for around $1,000 I might just go that route.
Minneapolis to Oklahoma City to Hatch, NM to Phoenix puts me at 1916 miles each way and I will easily be at 4,000 miles for the trip. That is really more than I want to spend on fuel. I could take my mini-van with trailer for less cost, but I really don't want to put 4,000 miles on the mini-van. An extra 4,000 miles on the bus is nothing.
4000 miles on a minivan is only 1 oil change. That's nothing! We have 3 minivans with over 300,000 miles on them still going strong and one w/127,000 miles on it.
I change the oil religiously every 5000 miles on every one of them and anytime something acts like it needs replaced it gets it.
These vans get used daily and hardly ever give me a problem.
If you really want the best route to avoid bad weather/road conditions consider I-29 down to Joplin, MO I-44 over to OKC, I-35 down to Dallas 1-20 down to I-10 all the way to Phoenix an back.
;D BK ;D
We travel from AZ to Texas often you don't use 1 40 in the winter time unless you like being stranded for a few days
Just take your bus and go! Any excuse for a bus road trip... Mini van and hotel rooms doesn't sound like any fun.
JC
If you can haul it the bay of a bus check with the snowbirds in Quartszite they may haul your items backs for a few bucks for fuel you see a lot of MN plates here in the winter time
You guys are all a bunch of weenies when it comes to a little dusting of snow. Take the bus. If its really bad stop and sleep until the road is clear again. Its just a little snow ferchrisake. ;D ;D ;D
Quote from: bobofthenorth on November 16, 2017, 11:44:10 AM
You guys are all a bunch of weenies when it comes to a little dusting of snow. Take the bus. If its really bad stop and sleep until the road is clear again. Its just a little snow ferchrisake. ;D ;D ;D
I don't mind the snow I driven in a lot of it living in Idaho,lol that friggin ice in Kansas,OK,Texas and parts of New Mexico is nerve racking to say the least plus they cannot plow ice
Now your starting to sound like a Canadian, Bob. :) :)
I'm leaning towards waiting until later in the year to do this. If I have to drop all the way down to Fort Worth to avoid ice that gets me to at least 4,000 miles. At $2.59 a gallon that puts me right about $1,500 and who knows what fuel will be at in two and a half months. I'm not real flush with cash after buying a bunch of solar stuff recently and I still need to buy the mounts for the solar panels.
The stuff I am picking up won't fit in the bays of a bus.
Quote from: B_K on November 16, 2017, 06:32:11 AM
If you really want the best route to avoid bad weather/road conditions consider I-29 down to Joplin, MO I-44 over to OKC, I-35 down to Dallas 1-20 down to I-10 all the way to Phoenix an back.
Why wouldn't I just take I-35 all the way from Minneapolis to Fort Worth? With rust in Minnesota I would probably be lucky to get 200,000 miles from my mini-van. I don't really want to give up 2% of its lifespan in ten days.
Quote from: belfert on November 16, 2017, 01:46:26 PM
Why wouldn't I just take I-35 all the way from Minneapolis to Fort Worth? With rust in Minnesota I would probably be lucky to get 200,000 miles from my mini-van. I don't really want to give up 2% of its lifespan in ten days.
More tolls going all the way thru KS on I-35 than the toll on I-44 plus less chance of ice and snow bound areas!
Glad I don't have to worry about rust!
;D BK ;D
Quote from: belfert on November 16, 2017, 01:12:30 PM
who knows what fuel will be at in two and a half months.
if you believe analysts, crude could be $80.00 a barrel by years end...they're waiting on the new Tax Relief Bill...
If oil is $80 a barrel when I go on this trip I would have to drive my mini-van for sure. No way I could afford $3 a gallon for diesel. Every 15 cents a gallon increase means another $100 in cost.
Why not go in a pickup or SUV. Once out there, rent a u-haul trailer to haul it back. Either flat trailer or enclosed, whichever works best. You are assuming you'll have no issues with the coach in possibly shitty, cold, icy, snowy, weather. In pickup or SUV, you can then take the two lanes.
Rent a truck from Home Depot.
That time of year I would take I-35 to Dallas then I-20 west to I-10 west. Right at 2,000 miles. Still can run into ice storms.
Wait till March or April. Good Luck, TomC
The total weight of the steel items I am picking up plus my aluminum trailer is only about 1,000 pounds. My mini-van should be able to tow that just fine if I went that route. Budget will rent a moving truck for $275 one way, but with rental, flight, hotels, and fuel would probably cost as much as driving my bus. It would certainly be a lot less driving. I can't find anybody who rents pickup trucks one way.
The reason to do this at the end of Jan/early Feb is to get out of town during the Super Bowl mayhem in downtown Minneapolis. I would wait until later in the year otherwise.
Quote from: chessie4905 on November 17, 2017, 06:01:50 AM
Why not go in a pickup or SUV. Once out there, rent a u-haul trailer to haul it back. Either flat trailer or enclosed, whichever works best. You are assuming you'll have no issues with the coach in possibly shitty, cold, icy, snowy, weather. In pickup or SUV, you can then take the two lanes.
Is the two lane thing to save miles, or are you saying two lanes would be less likely to have ice/snow?
Hi Brian - I'm not sure what racking you are interested in, but I buy a lot of racking and have not had too much trouble with shipping. Sometimes I have to pay a little extra for a "short" load and wait for a truck coming in the general direction but normally not a problem. I use www.freightquote.com (http://www.freightquote.com) a lot, they usually are pretty good.
SolarDude
Quote from: solardude on November 17, 2017, 10:37:48 PM
Hi Brian - I'm not sure what racking you are interested in, but I buy a lot of racking and have not had too much trouble with shipping. Sometimes I have to pay a little extra for a "short" load and wait for a truck coming in the general direction but normally not a problem. I use www.freightquote.com (http://www.freightquote.com) a lot, they usually are pretty good.
The company is Powers Solar Frames. They make a ballasted ground mount system that is very inexpensive. Everyone I've talked to says with my soil conditions that a ballasted ground mount would be best solution for my needs. The reason freight is so darn expensive is due to Powers only using flat beds for deliveries. They won't do LTL due to damage in the past. Most of their orders are for large installations so the trucking cost isn't a big deal for 200+ units versus me buying four units.
If you have another idea for a ground mount system please send me a PM.
I think I'm probably going to scrap trying to take this trip in the winter. Too much risk of getting stuck due to winter weather. I'll just have to live with the Super Bowl disruptions.
I forgot about a big rocket launch a bit south of Fresno, California in mid May so I might do that trip and stop on the way home to pick up my stuff. Mapping sites seem to show going through Las Vegas as the best route. Going home through Phoenix only adds about 250 miles. Total trip mileage would be about 300 miles more than taking the southern route in the winter. I can hopefully find at least one person to go with to help drive and offset a bit of the fuel cost. I'll have to look at the route Craig recommended from Phoenix back to Minnesota.
Quote from: belfert on November 18, 2017, 01:10:29 AM
The company is Powers Solar Frames. They make a ballasted ground mount system that is very inexpensive. Everyone I've talked to says with my soil conditions that a ballasted ground mount would be best solution for my needs. The reason freight is so darn expensive is due to Powers only using flat beds for deliveries. They won't do LTL due to damage in the past. Most of their orders are for large installations so the trucking cost isn't a big deal for 200+ units versus me buying four units.
If you have another idea for a ground mount system please send me a PM.
Have you asked them if they have another large order coming anywhere near you? Perhaps you can arrange to have your order on the same truck. Even if it's final destination is 4-5 hours away from you, it's certainly closer than traveling all the way to them. This doesn't always work, but I have had success in the past getting manufacturers to arrange for a shared transit.
Quote from: richard5933 on November 18, 2017, 04:15:54 AM
Have you asked them if they have another large order coming anywhere near you? Perhaps you can arrange to have your order on the same truck. Even if it's final destination is 4-5 hours away from you, it's certainly closer than traveling all the way to them. This doesn't always work, but I have had success in the past getting manufacturers to arrange for a shared transit.
Great idea, thank you. I will call them Monday to see what they say. I will probably still schedule vacation for May in case I have to head out that way.
Am I the only one that calculated round trip fuel cost in a bus getting 5mpg at just under $2000? How is taking your bus money savings? Diesel is pushing $3 or more a gallon right now in most places and if you average 5mpg you're out literally just under $2000 for fuel. Not to mention wear and tear.
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Forget a trailer. Just pull middle and rear seat from your caravan and haul it.We once took our Jetta from Pa. to Fla to get a 4:11 differential for our 4905. Seller lowered it into trunk with engine hoist.
Quote from: Scott & Heather on November 18, 2017, 11:46:51 PM
Am I the only one that calculated round trip fuel cost in a bus getting 5mpg at just under $2000? How is taking your bus money savings? Diesel is pushing $3 or more a gallon right now in most places and if you average 5mpg you're out literally just under $2000 for fuel. Not to mention wear and tear.
Pulling a 20 foot enclosed trailer I get over 6 MPG. No trailer or small trailer I easily get 7 MPG. I checked a number of cities along the proposed route and I can get diesel in many spots for $2.59 or less if you stay away from the big truck stops. I was shocked at the diesel prices because I paid as high as $3.09 in late September. I have no concerns about wear and tear on the bus. 4,000 miles is nothing for a bus. My tires age out before they wear out.
The trip would also be a vacation so it isn't just about saving a few hundred dollars on shipping. I've pretty much decided not to do this trip and instead drive the bus out to a big national rocket launch in California in mid May and then stop in Phoenix on the way home.
Brian,
" big national rocket launch in California in mid May "
What's the big event? Assuming it's at Vandenberg. Always wanted to swing by to catch a launch but always learn about it on the news when it's already over. lol
Oh ok, those numbers do
Make a difference. The rocket launch sounds fun
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Quote from: windtrader on November 19, 2017, 12:03:54 PM
" big national rocket launch in California in mid May "
What's the big event? Assuming it's at Vandenberg. Always wanted to swing by to catch a launch but always learn about it on the news when it's already over. lol
It isn't the big rocket going into space type of rocket launch. I am part of a national organization where folks launch their own high power rockets. There is a national event called LDRS that will be in Helm, California this year. The website for the organization is tripoli.org.
Quote from: belfert on November 19, 2017, 05:29:07 PM
There is a national event called LDRS that will be in Helm, California this year.
Brian -Helm, CA is in the middle of literally "nowhere" in the big Central Valley, about 45 minutes/one hour SW of Fresno. It's not much more than a convenience store, a gas station, a post office, an elementary school, and some farm implement repair shops. Smack dab in the middle of farmland and migrant labor. How's your Spanish? :o
Coming from MN, suggest you fuel in NV or AZ before entering CA, as Moonbeam just raised the taxes on diesel 20¢/gallon, making it the most expensive in the nation. If you have a Costco card, they've got a fuel island in Bakersfield that has diesel, it will be the cheapest in the area. Located on the west side of the 99 freeway at the Rosedale Hiway exit.
Also suggest you provision up in Bakersfield, too, because the little convenience store in Helm will undoubtedly sell out and/or raise their prices for the event.
FWIW & HTH. . .
;)
Quote from: belfert on November 19, 2017, 05:29:07 PM
It isn't the big rocket going into space type of rocket launch. I am part of a national organization where folks launch their own high power rockets. There is a national event called LDRS that will be in Helm, California this year. The website for the organization is tripoli.org.
For one moment I thought that Bakersfield had got its own nuclear deterrence, and was about to nuke its arch-rival Fresno with a few well-placed missiles. Phew. Mind you, some of the Central Valley towns could probably be improved if they were hit by something big and explosive.
I'm still slightly curious - if they go up from Helm, where do they come down? Helm?
John
RJ, diesel was $4.98 a gallon on Molokai last year.....i doubt if it has gone down much if at all. Last time i checked it was still part of the US. :)
Quote from: Ed Hackenbruch on November 21, 2017, 07:03:30 AM
RJ, diesel was $4.98 a gallon on Molokai last year.....i doubt if it has gone down much if at all. Last time i checked it was still part of the US. :)
Sounds like Needles Ca fuel prices on the Az side of the river there is almost $2.00 a gal difference in price
Quote from: Ed Hackenbruch on November 21, 2017, 07:03:30 AM
RJ, diesel was $4.98 a gallon on Molokai last year.....i doubt if it has gone down much if at all. Last time i checked it was still part of the US. :)
Yeah, but it's so much work to burn any fuel as it's only 25 miles end to end and some of the roads are hardly bus friendly. lol
I'd much rather pay 5 bucks there than three and a half here in CA.
Yah, but a gallon of milk was $9.00
The electrician helping me with my solar system convinced me that the type of solar ground mount I wanted to pick up in Phoenix won't work well with our frost. He recommended a different type of mounting system sold by a guy with a warehouse right here in Minneapolis. It uses helical screw anchors and I was able to install it last Friday even with some frost in the ground. Cost was probably $500 more installed than the Phoenix system would have cost installed, but I believe I got a stronger better ground mount.
The bottom line is I am not going to be stopping in Phoenix this spring/summer. I am still planning to take the bus out to California in May.