We departed AR on 3 June for Methuen, MA and returned 19 June. The trip was 3555 miles with no problems with the bus.
We traveled through AR, MO, TN, KY, OH, PA, NY, CT, MA, VT, MA, CT, NY, NJ, PA, DE, MD, WV, KY, TN, MO and home to AR in that order.
Diesel was most expensive in NY and CT. OH prices were good, PA and NJ weren't too bad. KY was the cheapest at $4.51 at a Love's near Kentucky Dam. The most we paid was $4.89 in NY at a TravelAmerica truck stop where most others were $4.99+. I think the highest I saw on the trip was $5.08 in NY.
WalMart Locations;
Youngstown, OH - Good location and a very large parking lot. No walking distance restaurant so we stopped at a Cracker Barrel on the way to WM.
Newburg, NY - Good location and an Appleby's within easy walking distance. We were the only RV there overnight.
We called ahead and the very friendly manager said as long as we parked far from the store entrance and didn't build a campfire! I really didn't expect to find a WM in NY that allowed overnight parking so was pleasantly surprised. We stopped here both going and coming back.
Clarksburg, WV - A Sam's Club which is a good location and quieter than a WM. Large parking lot and a couple of restaurants within easy walking distance. The WM retail store was new and not in the same location as shown in the outdated GPS database. A common problem on our "New" Garmin Nuvi 200 GPS.
Mt. Sterling, KY- Not easy to find thanks to the old GPS database, but we got there. We were one of only two RVs there overnight.
Footnote; Many of the WM addresses listed in their Rand McNally road atlas are obsolete because of new store construction. I found that after arriving at a city I could usually type "WalMart" into my GPS "Points of Interest, Spell Name" menu page and find the new store location. This didn't always work, but usually did. In one case both the old and new locations came up??
NO WalMart Parking
The only one we found was at Middletown, NY where, thanks to the GPS listing the phone number, we called ahead before searching for the store. This is near NYC so it was no surprise.
Remainder of notes to follow;
Gus -
Sounds like you had a wonderful time. THIS is what owning a coach is all about!!
Out of curiosity, have you got a ballpark figure for your trip's overall average fuel mileage?
And the good old 4104. . . definitely a dependable workhorse!
What adventure are you planning next??
;)
RJ,
Hasven't check mileage in quite a while but when I did I got 10-10.5 in level country and 8-8.5 in the western mountains.
On this trip I think I spent as much time in third gear in western MD, WV and eastern KY as I have on any of my western trips to NV, WA, MT and WY.
Our next run is a 1200 mi trip after the 4th to LA and MS to pick up granddaughters for their annual stay at the farm. We will repeat this trip to return the girls after about two weeks.
Good RV Parks
We only used two commercial RV parks and one state park the whole trip, all other nights were courtesy of WM.
Elizabethtown, KY - Elizabethtown Crossroads Campground. Beautiful, very friendly folks, right off The Kentucky Parkway and I-65. No restaurant. We arrived quite late with no problem. Good Sam discount even though not a GS park. $24. Many sites have no dumps but that was no problem for one night. We stopped there because it was miserably hot and we wanted AC.
Bernardston, MA - Traveler's Woods of New England. Right on I-91 just a few miles south of VT. Beautiful location on a small river, lots of trees. We liked it so much we stayed two nights. No site dumps. With Passport America 50% discount ($11/night). This park is owned by some CT Masons who use it primarily for a weekend getaway and operate it as a commercial park just to help with expenses.
Kentucky Dam State Park, I-24, Exit 25. 221 sites. Very nice and clean with lots of trees and grass. A bit difficult to find. 30/50 amp and water but no on site dumps. Two central dumps. Electric and water hookups are far from small asphalt pads, some were 50' away!! With permission I backed about 20' onto grass to avoid long cords. Still had to use 40' of water hose. Many sites not anywhere near level and many very short. This is a better place for small camper trailers than big MHs. Not cheap at $18. State operating personnel didn't seem to take much interest. Since we stopped for fuel only two miles away it sounded like a good place to spend the night. A commercial RV park would have been a better choice for a one night stay.
Miscellaneous Stuff
The only state in which we found rest stop dump stations is KY. The only one we used was in a strange location as it blocked an exit for trucks while being used.
We managed to avoid all eastern tolls except for the bridge just east of Newburgh, NY on I-84 which was only $2.50 eastbound and The NY Thruway (I-87) south from Newburgh to NJ which was only a couple of bucks. I consider that a small miracle!
Some states have more than their share of rough roads, PA, NY, MA and CT come immediately to mind. I'm talking bone-jarring, teeth-rattling, pothole filled roads. This includes Interstates as well as parkways. I finally got so used to them that I was no longer even annoyed since they were so normal in the NE. Once we left OH going east we didn't see a smooth road until we arrived in NJ. From there on it wasn't too bad except near some cities in MD and WV. I've concluded that the NE has so much traffic they will never catch up on road repair. It is no better now than when I lived there 30-50 years ago.
I didn't see one bus conversion the whole trip. One Bluebird skoolie type was in the MA RV park but it had obviously been there for many years.
End of trip report, a great trip in a great bus!!
If you took I-90 through NY you missed the cheap gas and cigrettes, at the indian reservation in Silver Creek!!!!!
Todays price was $4.55 gallon!!!!
jjr,
I don't think I drove one mile on I-90 the whole trip and didn't go any farther north in NY than Newburgh.
Forgot to show this bus photo. This is a photo I took of a very interesting bus we saw on the way to the NE. It was parked at a rest stop in OH and I had a chance to talk to the owner. He is a left over Hippy still wearing his pigtail. Very interesting guy. He was headed for upstate NY.
I first saw the bus on the interstate going uphill at about 60 mph. Since it is a '57 Chevy school bus I was pretty impressed by that but found he has installed a souped up 350 Chevy engine not even made in '57. He was pretty surprised to find out that our bus was older than his, said that doesn't happen very often.
That door is a real work of art but I think I would have hinged it in front instead of the rear!! Note that the "Penthouse" is a VW bus body! Pretty classy. A lot of the body is fiberglas but is so well done it is hard to tell.
I've seen a photo of this bus somewhere on the net but never guessed I would see it in person!