Well, I survived a trip!! For those who know good old Saskatchewan, I towed it from Grenfell to Saskatoon, stayed overnight in the Wobble-Mart lot at the west end of S'toon, on the road to Rosetown, on the first day.
Continued on to Rosetown, then south to Swift Current, south to Cadillac, east to Kincaid, then north to a gopher patch. Stayed two nights in a field, then towed it home.
Learned a few things: 1. Wal-Mart is a good place to stay. Need something? Just stroll over and buy it. The place I stayed at closed at 11, and opened before I got up, had a Tim Hortons.
2. Try to remember the friggin' operator's manual
next time!!
3. Don't leave anything on the counter.....
4. Keep the operator's manual
IN THE TRAILER at all times!
5. City water hook-up (at a friend's) doesn't fill the water tank!
6. To get the fridge working on propane, you need to hold the button until you hear the burner light. ( See 2 & 4
)
All in all, I had a good experience. Got the feel of trailering. One thing for sure - if a person was going on a long road trip with the idea of saving money on hotels - forget it, unless you stay in 5 star hotels and eat caviar every meal. The extra fuel used pulling a trailer on a long day will outstrip what a motel room would cost.
I used my 2002 Dodge 1500 Q-cab. It guzzles enough fuel just pulling itself, let alone pulling a trailer. I bought the trailer with an eye to short days of pulling, with lots of time spent checking out small town stuff, and parking in a gopher patch, etc.
I couldn't imagine pulling even that little trailer with anything less. I pulled it against a good wind on the way home, and was glad to have the hp and the weight. Its sweet spot seemed to be about 2500-2700, overdrive off. Not setting any speed records, but ran nicely. Down a long hill I let it run in OD, but it wouldn't do it against any wind on level ground.
I am not at all disappointed in the fuel mileage. That is not an issue. If it was, I would use my nice old '95 Gran Marquis at 30 mpg (Cdn) and stay in a motel.
And, no, I didn't grease the poor wheel bearings four times each day!!