Sunday, June 20, 2010

New Truck / Same old S##$%$#

 You would think that a guy with a new truck would not have to do the poop dump and could just kick back and chill on Fathers Day, while listening to the radio! Not So! I talked Peggy into going to the Lake this weekend so I could test how the new Dodge 4x4 Dual Wheel Truck handles the Rolling Condo. The heat in East Tex has been horrible. The humidity makes it feel even worse. We headed out on Friday evening and made it to camp by 6pm. The next thirty minutes spent setting up and trying to get the Condo cooled down was just awful. We both were soaking wet and give plumb out by the time everything was in order. On Saturday we explored some, but to tell the truth, we did not explore beyond the confines of the truck any longer than a few minutes at the time. With Temps in the high 90's and the humidity near 100 percent, we stayed real close to the A/C. I did learn that I really like the way the dual wheels tow the Condo. Everything seems a lot more stable now. I even got to use the four wheel drive as I had to jackknife the trailer a bit to get it into the spot. The tires spun a bit, so I just kicked it into 4 wheel low and eased on back! Love That! The truck has a lot of stuff to learn, and I have been reading a lot about the operations of it in the Dodge Truck Owners Manual. I usually keep one handy for reference when I forget some function, but nowdays the manual is on a DVD that is included with your purchase. Thats not handy while your driving down the road, to open the manual in a laptop and try to find what your looking for. When I went back to the dealer, I requested a printed manual just like the DVD told me too. The service tech said sure, he could order it, but it would cost me fifty bucks! Does not seem right that you would have to pay for an owners manual. Peggy has taken the challenge up and fired off an email to the Dodge customer service folks, and we shall see. As far as the tank dumping goes. We left camp early this morning to beat the "rush to dump" that happens after everyone breaks camp to go home. We were first and did not have to wait in a line.

I am not exactly happy with the little bit of squat that the heavy trailer does to the new truck. May end up putting some air bags on it to level it out some more. I will be researching this some more to see the available options. Anyone with suggestions on this, feel free to drop me a line. I have even mastered the art of using the Sat. Radio in the new truck. It comes with a years free subscription to Sirius Radio. I have been surfing the channels to find interesting radio. You can find any type of News, Sports, Weather, and music that you would ever care to listen to. I found the Playboy Channel on Sirrius! After listening to some women breathing heavy with music playing in the background, I thought that was dang funny! I could not hear for sure what the women were saying but I am pretty sure it is sex related chatting. I found some better things to listen to on the comedy channels that one can listen to on Sat. After a year, I doubt I would ever actually subscribe to Sirrius. I can just listen to the old FM stations that I have always enjoyed and they are free! Until next time, safe travels to all.
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7 comments:

  1. Sorry the weather is so miserable. Glad the new truck is working out.

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  2. Oh what fancy new wheels! Looks like quite the vehicle to sport around that rolling condo!

    Glad you got out and about, even with the hot weather. Time to head north where it's cooler!

    ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
    Karen and Steve
    (Our Blog) RVing: Small House... BIG Backyard
    http://kareninthewoods-kareninthewoods.blogspot.com/

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  3. Nice looking truck. You will enjoy it. Stay cool in that Texas heat.

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  4. Contragulations on that great-looking truck! Dave and I are officially full-timers now and set up at the RV park on Thursday...in the heat of the day, of course. We can certainly relate to the high temps and humidity, even in the Austin area. Absolutely miserable. We'll be heading to Nac on July 8 to have some tweaks done at the dealer. Glad you guys got out for the weekend! Cheers!

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  5. Congratulations on the new truck!! Glad you are enjoying all it has to offer. The heat has been bad in Georgia also...such high humidity makes it unbearable.

    Take care!
    Mike & Gerri (happytrails)
    http://freedom2roll.blogspot.com

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  6. Congrats on the new diggs! My Hubby looked at your rig setup and said airbags are definitely in order, he was also concerned about how high the front end of your trailer looks. Does the back end of you truck feel like it is lifting on bumps? bucking a bit?
    Perhaps it is the angle you are sitting at, but if your nose on the trailer is up on a flat plane, have the nose lowered on the fifth wheel neck hitch so you are level and shift some heavy stuff to your pass through storage.
    This will improve your driving experience, but again, it could just be the angle the picture was taken at and you may not have a problem at all....we had this problem with our old trailer so we watch for it on others, it's a quick fix that can make your life soooo much better and safer!
    Happy rambling and hope to see you in Texas this year, we are in North east Texas in March and would love to see a fellow Heartland owner!

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