Need advice - boondocking at PSU in travel trailer for football weekend

[oceanguy]

I am bringing the 26BH to the PSU vs Michigan game and staying in their rv lot. No hookups at all and no running external generators. I think I am ok with power as I converted to LED for lighting and the weather is supposed to be mild so hopefully no heat need. My questions to anyone that has done this are - do you travel with your water tanks pre-filled? I have 90 gallons and really wish there was a place to fill up when I get there (or close anyway). Also, where did you dump the black/grey tanks at the end of the weekend? Any comments, suggestions, concerns I should be aware of would be greatly appreciated. My Suburban with the 6.5 still doesn't like the hills and heating up so staying light is a real key for me.

Thanks
Bob

[Jagiven]

There are lots of places to fill and dump, but it may take a little web searching, there is a smart phone app that can help with your search too (forgot it’s name, and it is on my DW phone). Often you can find businesses such as gas stations with dump stations. In some states highway rest areas have dump stations. Most Cabala stores have both water and dump. You might even try calling the stadium and ask them for any recommendations.

Best of luck.

[oceanguy]

My travel route won't put me onto the PA Turnpike (which I am told has a dump station at their rest stop). I am looking into a Flying J that has the dump station but I am not really familiar with the area enough to know what is close by. I was hoping for someone that has done the RV lot out there and gain . I am thinking of calling one of the places there that rent RV's for the games to get their input.

[FPM III]

Even if you were using the PA Turnpike, there are only three service areas that have a dump station- Sideling Hill, Valley Forge (eastbound only) and Allentown. If you can tell us your general routing you plan to take to State College maybe someone can help. I was at PSU a year ago and camped at the Bellefonte/State College KOA. They have a dump station there. The campground is a few miles from the I-80/US-220/I-99 interchange. There are also two campgrounds, Kearns Campground and Seven Mountains Campground, about 10-15 miles east of State College off of US-322. I would think they have a dump station, but I'd call and check first to be sure.

Make sure you take time to visit the Creamery while you're there. The ice cream is awesome.

[oceanguy]

I am heading up 322 via 81 west - I did look at camping with full hook-up at the KOA as well as Gram and Pap's in Bellefonte but the folks (sister and brother-in law) I am bringing the camper out there for wanted the full PSU tailgating experience. I was hoping I didn't have to go too far out of the way for dumping and Kearns or Seven Mountains looks like a good options. THANK YOU! I will call them to see if dumping there is an option. I will also post back what I find out from my call in to the rv rental places. Good call on the Creamery - my sister is out there now and stocked up on chocolate milk.

[FPM III]

You might want to check the status of the I-81/US-22/US-322 interchange. Last May, a tanker truck overturned there and the resulting fire caused damage to some of the interchange's bridges. I passed through there back in July and at least one ramp was closed because it had to be replaced due to all the heat damage from the fire. I only passed under the interchange on I-81 (I was headed to the Jonestown KOA) and I-81 was open in both directions so I don't know which interchange ramps, if any, are still closed.

My DW and I really enjoyed The Tavern in State College. It's located on 220 East College Avenue. Great food, reasonable and good service. However, that was in July. I'm sure things are a lot different with classes in session on a game weekend.

That Suburban will get a little workout. You'll follow the river for about the first 20 miles or so on US-322, which is pretty flat, but it becomes hilly after that. I do recall several long climbs on the remainder of the trip to State College.

BTW- How do you tailgate in a Suburban? Most of the ones I've ever seen have doors, not a tailgate. LOL

[oceanguy]

Originally Posted by FPM III

You might want to check the status of the I-81/US-22/US-322 interchange.

That Suburban will get a little workout. You'll follow the river for about the first 20 miles or so on US-322, which is pretty flat, but it becomes hilly after that. I do recall several long climbs on the remainder of the trip to State College.

BTW- How do you tailgate in a Suburban? Most of the ones I've ever seen have doors, not a tailgate. LOL

From what I was told - there is a detour around that ramp that is going to be in place for a while.

The Suburban is a concern with the final climbs... I have plenty of HP and torque with a tune and exhaust upgrade but the temps start to climb. I have the HO water pump, upgraded fan and clutch with new radiator but I think the water pump may be due... We just did a trip to the Little League World Series in Williamsport and had similar mountain climbs and I had to slow down to 35 - 40 mph. Other option though is taking a Durango with 5.7 Hemi so I thought the Suburban was the better option.

I have the tailgate (unfortunately, it will be parked away from the camper as there is a 40' combined length maximum).

[oceanguy]

So I tracked down a plan for dumping. It is a "Tom's Travel Center" http://www.tomsonline.com/toms-trave...el-center.aspx about 25 miles from the stadium. I spoke to them about filling up water as well but they seemed a little unsure about answering that one so I think they may have just been agreeing that it is there. Maybe they were referring to their hose by the dump station for washing?

Thank you FPM III for the great info and suggestions. My niece is a freshman there so I figure I need to gather as much helpful info as possible for her next # of years there.

[FPM III]

Glad to know you're rooting for PSU- even if they're not presently doing so well. I thought you were going to keep it a secret until you mentioned your niece being a student there in your last post. I'm sure there will be lots of Wolverine fans in attendance since Ann Arbor is within a day's driving distance.

I know you talked to someone, but I looked at that Tom's Travel Center website and I was unable to find a dump station mentioned for any of their three locations.

Interesting... My niece is a graduate of PSU.

[oceanguy]

I google earthed it as well to see their set-up. The person I spoke with confirmed it was in the back of their store so I am confident it exists. I found it as a UniMart review - someone posted saying it must now be the Tom's name now.

I have a good number of friends and some family as well that are PSU grads - with what has happened within their football program, it can be a toxic thing to discuss. The Second Mile Foundation was helpful to some of the foster children we have housed with sponsored trips to places like Knoebels so that part will be missed. I almost wanted to see the PSU football program take more of a hit but I guess you end up punishing the sins of others. Makes me sick to think about someone being involved in a program to help kids doing what they/he did

My niece is now involved in the THON organization so good for her

[oceanguy]

So - late change in plan. I am going to take the PA Turnpike (476 - NE Extension) to 80 West to hopefully avoid some of the 322 mountain climbs - if anyone has an opinion on that, I'm open to hearing them (especially if I'm not avoiding anything). This is also in part because of the ease of use at the Flying J (I-80 and Exit 173) 5609 Nittany Valley Drive
Mill Hall, PA 17751. It seems like it is the last 25 miles where the hill climbing comes in but I do know that traffic on 322 can be a hassle. They definitely have the water fill station as well so I am traveling a few more miles in hopes of lesser grades on the interstates. If I had a newer diesel rig, it would be a concern - maybe by next year I'll have the temps under control.

[FPM III]

Sorry, for some reason I missed seeing your posting #10.

Anyway, there's not much I can say about your new routing except that it will be longer. However, if it makes it easier on the Suburban, it's probably the route to take.

My DW was attending a conference at State College when we camped there in July of 2012. They had just removed Joe Paterno's statue. All that remained was a pile of dirt. How sad.

[oceanguy]

I'm okay with the 40 extra miles - sometimes it ends up saving you time in the long run. My sister just made the run and what shows as a 3 hour trip took them 4 (not towing anything). from my home to Beaver Stadium shows 2:45 with an unfriendly towing route so I am fine with an extra 40 miles of highway travel. I wanted to make that decision when we went to the LL World Series but opted to pull the hills and while I was fine temperature wise, it took the added time that I would have used on the interstate. Sounds like the same difference, but I just got the tune and that actually caused temps to spike again - the truck used to cut fuel due to temp which helped to keep temps down. I just put a bunch of money into the 96 burb so I need it to be my rig for a while. If only I could squeeze 6 kids and a hottie in a pick-up. They need to design a stacked car seat for little ones I was a bit nervous for a while - which was why I started the thread. Now that a few decisions are made, I'm actually excited! LMK when you want to unload the Sierra - by then, maybe I'll be traveling with 6 (if you have the front bench) - lol.

[oceanguy]

To finalize this thread - I did take a longer mileage route by taking the PA Turnpike (Northeast Extension rt476) to Route 80 west. It was a very easy travel route for towing as the only long climb that I slowed to 55 mph was on the turnpike and temperatures stayed within my comfort range. We stopped at a Flying J/Pilot prior to the one at the 173 Exit off 80 and they had someplace to fill the water. When you gotta go, you gotta go and figured I'd kill 2 birds with 1 stone. This Flying J did not have an RV Dump station.

The wait to get into the RV lot was unbelievable as we were in a line for maybe 3 hours and then sent to an alternate lot anyway. I'm told the wait is typically closer to 1/2 hour... As soon as we got set-up, everyone and their mother had generators going. Next time, I'm bringing the generator. I was luck enough to trade a 5 gallon portable clean water can for an extension cord to someone's beautiful RV to keep me powered through all day Saturday (thanks Dave). I would have run out of battery storage (due to the radio playing for entertainment) without the corded power.

Now - to the game - maybe the best college football game I have seen. Maybe not the best played but the overall excitement. I didn't leave my seat from the time of kick-off until probably 1/2 hour after the game. The weather ended up being very nice and had a great weekend even though we didn't leave the RV lot. Even the Michigan fans in the lot were very friendly and courteous. Can't wait to do it again!

The drive home we stopped at the Flying J/Pilot at the 173 exit off 80 as they have 3 RV lanes for fueling and Sanitary Dump station - $5 with RV Card - if you don't have one, just ask them for it and save yourself the extra $5. I didn't see anywhere to fill for potable water but I didn't look beyond the RV lanes. At the Flying J we stopped at on the way up, the person specifically asked if I needed potable water and pointed me to the correct spigot.

I just figured I would post the conclusion in hopes to help someone heading to the game in the future and possibly wondering...

Happy Camping,
Bob