Day 5 - (1/8/16) - Tucson

(Web photo)

About a thousand miles ago I was getting the notice that it was time for my Prius to have its oil changed.

The Prius maintenance manual says to service the vehicle every 5,000 miles, nut oil is not a listed item.

Here is the 5,000 maintence list.

The oil specifically listed to be changed every 10,000 miles. 

If you ask Toyota service managers you may get 5,000 or 10,000.  For warranty purposes it's oil change every 10,000.

I have always changed my vehicle oil earlier than listed as I think it is important to the health of the engine but going over 5,000 was not a concern.

Since I will be driving a lot more and not always around a dealer, who I would rather change the oil other than myself, I took the Prius to one of the two Toyota dealers for service.  Actually I went to the same dealer I have used last year on my 2015 Travels.

I arrived exactly at 7:00 when they opened.  It was dark and I told the service attendant I only wanted the oil changed & tire rotation.

He says ok and I sign the work order but couldn't see in the dark.  I went to the lounge and saw that he wrote green service for &106.03.  What!

So I walked out to see him and had a conversation and he said they made changes the first of January for pricing and that was the only way to do it.  I didn't believe it and I figured I would let my feet do the talking next time. 

(Web photo)

Using their free wifi I checked the competition (other Tucson Toyota Dealer) and l see a coupon.

I wait for the service rep to let me know my Prius was done and said I wanted to show him something and showed the picture above.  He said email it to him.  

When I checked out my bill was reduced as shown above.  I explained to the service rep that I appreciated the reduction.

I don't like to be taken advantage of and if I am I will use my feet to find another place to go for my service.

(Web photo)

After my Prius was serviced I headed over to the Pilot truck stop for a shower for $12.00.

The Pilot showers are consistently the same good quality.

On the way to get my shower I noticed a large column of smoke from the airbase.

I've seen smoke from the base before and I believe it to be a training fire.

After my shower I headed to the laundromat to handle my wash for the week and I met the woman that runs the place. We briefly speak and I think she remembers me from last year.

Then it's oft to Walmart for some groceries for my trip to Quartzsite as there isn't very food shopping near where I will be at the vandweller gathering. 

By now it's getting near sunset and I head to my parking place for the night.

You have to live the sunsets out here.

Brent

macaloney@hotmail.com

Day 4 - (1/7/16) - TX to AZ

I woke up in a very crowded Texas rest area at 5:00 central time having a much better night sleep than the past two nights.  This is my last long day of driving to get to AZ.  The weather will be good through NM but then I'm looking at hitting weather in AZ. 

I stop for gas at the truck stop in Midland, TX (on long days I get gas 3 times). It was a beautiful clear sunrise.  I can see a piece of the moon and the planet Mercury near it.

Northern Texas is dotted with many oil well rigs like this one.

I get to see many trains hauling freight.  Here is a very long train as you can tell by the number of engines.

I'm making my way to meet up with I10 in western TX.  I will be passing to the right of the mountains off in the distance.

Yes you can go 80 mph and many do.  My cruise control is set st 65.  I am not in a rush and no desire to waste fuel.

I made it to I10 and through the mountains to El Paso, TX.

When headed east on I10 you need to stop for border control as I will later in NM.  

You can see the cloud bank ahead foretelling my future weather.

Driving through El Paso.  Off to the left those houses are in Mexico.

I did stop in El Paso to play a bit of disc golf and the closest one just off I10 was in a small park with the baskets 30feet from the road.  It was not an interesting course and didn't want yo chase discs into the road do I drove on.

Up the highway a short distance from El Paso is Mew Mexico.

Another train after passing through the boarder control checkpoint just west of Las Cruces, NM.  Check the clouds!

I made it to AZ with only a few sprinkles so far.

As I head down into Wilcox, AZ oh my.  Look at that nasty cloud I'm headed into.

Yea, I've been watching the radar all the way and I have done fun ahead of me.

Bam!  Rain to sleet to heavy wet snow.

I don't like the road conditions and the way people are driving so I get off in a side road an then there are sirens and police, ambulances, and Fire Vehicles on and off the ramp.  I check Google Traffic and there are multiple accidents east and west bound.  

I sit here for 45 minutes and we get 2" of heavy wet snow.

I restart my travels and here is one such accident.

Now down out of the hills closer to Tucson I run into this traffic merge where it says two lanes and to take turns.  This is the first I have seen of this, but have heard of them.

People in front of me wouldn't take turns causing a bit of confusion.

This end today with my last long leg, and the most interesting I will add, with another 695 miles put on my Prius Campervan. 

Brent

macaliney@hotmail.com

Day 3 - (1/6/16) - MS to TX

I woke up after 5 hours sleep at 3:30 central time at the MS welcome rest area outside of Meridian, MS on the AL border and drove many hours before my daily morning stop at McDonalds for unsweetened iced tea and downloads. 

So far the WIFI at McDonald's have not been fast enough to download more than one or two podcasts so luckily I am still working off all the podcasts I downloaded at home. 

Here I am well into LA on my way through the BIG state of Texas.

The only city I drive through is Jackson, MS and only minor traffic.  I do drive through the Dallas / Fort Worth area but only on the outskirts.

Finally I get to Texas but my day is only half done as my plan is to get well into Texas to take advantage of the mild temperatures ahead of me in MM before the next front cones through.

I do have some light rain to drive through in TX but it was very light.

I haven't been through northern Texas for a long time and unlike the rolling hills west of San Antonio in southern TX it is relatively flat here.

I end up picking a rest area in northwestern TX (Westbrook) for the night, west of Colorado City and east of Big Spring.  I still had some daylight and I cooked some hotdogs for dinner.  I made them by boiling water in my 12 volt pot and cutting the hotdogs to fit in a short insulated container and letting them sit for a half hour.  I had some macaroni salad that I had bought at home before my trip and that was dinner. 

This was a second long drive day putting on 733 miles from MS at the AL border to northwestern TX.

Brent

macaloney@hotmail.com

Staying Warm in Prius Campervan

The reason I travel to warmer weather in the winter is that I dislike cold weather.  So living in and out of my Prius Campervan has its challenges and cold weather is one of them as I don't have a little buddy heater as I feel it is too dangerous in such a small space.  Last year my coldest over night was 19 degrees in Bryce Canyon National Park.  I slept in my -20 degree sleeping bag with head under the covers with a tunnel for my nose to get fresh air that wasn't too cold.  Yes I wore a fleece hat.

I was going to do the same thing last night (Night 1) but I was asked by one of my Campervan friends why don't I just leave the Prius on all night and it will run as needed.  

This reminded me of another Person who wrote me about using the Prius for heat overnight and this would be an excellent test with such low temperatures (14 degrees) and wind.

The results were positive:

(Temperature was set for 65 in the Prius and 14 outside)

- with the car already warm the Prius would run about one minute for every 5 with the engine not running.  I didn't actually time it so these are estimates.

- the privacy curtain was across the back of the front seats so there was no direct airflow to the back but that's ok as I wished it cooler in the back since I have such a warm sleeping bag.

- the Prius is drafty do if the car was designed specifically for heating and cooling with insulation the engine would run less.  The Prius may be drafty as it has the high voltage battery cooler and static vent in the back near 12 volt battery.

- initially I woke from the engine starting every 5 minutes but soon went to sleep and woke 5 hours later.  

In any case I went to bed with an average of 46.5 mpg (Note: when running the heat in the passenger compartment while driving especially at such lie temperatures mpg goes down.) I woke up with 35.4 mpg.  I didn't calculate fuel usage for my 5 hours of running the Prius that way, but I had only gotten fuel 120 miles before I stopped.  

The experiment worked great and I was toasty all night.  Yet another plus for the Prius as a Campervan.

I do have a smoke/CO detector on the ceiling of my Orius Campervan for my safety.

Brent 

macaloney@hotmail.con

Day 2 - (1/5/16) - PA to MS - Headed for Warmer Weather

After my heated Prius experiment night at the I81 rest areas near PA,  I was on my way at 3:30 am after 5 hours sleep.  My initial travel was in the dark.  I don't mind driving in the dark on interstates, but not as much on secondary roads due to the extra caution I have to take.  

When it got light outside I made note of at least 3 large crosses on the side of the highway letting me know I was now in the Bible Belt.

I stopped to get gas at a truck stop and it was still 14 degrees well into western VA.  That is the windshield washer bucket with frozen windshield washer fluid.

It finally got up above freezing with the nice sunshine and moving further south.  Here I am in Chattanooga, TN 

Above is the Tennessee River as it winds itself through Chattanooga, before heading south into the northwest corner of GA and then into AL. 

Above is sunset just south of Birmingham, AL

I was planning to head for Beloxi, MS to spend the night at one of the casino parking lots but looked ahead at the weather and saw a window I could get to El Paso, TX by taking the northern route on I20 through Dallas, TX, so I headed into upper MS on I20 and spent the night at their Welcome Center rest area.

I drove 861 miles from just north of MD border in PA to MS just across from the AL boarder today.  It's a long drive day but I was making up for the short day of travel yesterday.

As you can tell long drives don't bother me. I did stop at a VA rest area after 4 hours of driving for a 1 hour nap.

Brent

macaloney&shot mail.com

Day 1 - (1/4/16) - MA to PA - I'm Off!

The first day of my 2016 Travels started in the afternoon after my 6 months dentist appointment.  This mid-day departure also gave me time to get my Tacoma's inspection in the morning.

Today is Monday and is also the coldest day of the year with the high of 25 degrees going down to the single digits overnight. 

The only issue of starting off late in the day was I knew I wasn't going to make it as far south as I wished.

The best news of the day was the weather.  The flurries that were being produced by the artic cold front were limited on my route and wouldn't bother my travels.  

Here the sun is setting over New York State.

As I made it into the mountains in PA before arriving in Scranton, PA it got down to 9 degrees.

I filled up with gas for the night in Willkes-Barre, PA and the temperature was 14 and a 25 mph wind.  Boy was it cold.

My first days travels got me 459 miles along my way.  I took I190 to I290 to I90 in MA to I84 into CT & NY to I81 in PA.  

In the picture below I am stopped at my overnight spot at a rest area just before the MD state line. It was very crowded with trucks but only a few brave folks in cars.

I didn't hit any traffic problems on my trip but I did see one car roll over mva on I84 in PA

It was 12 degrees with a stiff wind all night.  See separate post on staying warm in my Prius Campervan.

I got to sleep about 10 pm. I will have an early start tomorrow.

Brent

macaloney@hotmail.com

Feelings About - 2016 Travels

I've traveled solo for the last two years (2014 & 2015) for 3.5 months each.  As I prepared for my 2016 a Travels I wonder why I have the same uneasy feelings that come before I leave.  Each year the feelings seem to start closer to the time I leave and aren't as strong.  I would have figured facing my second year in the Prius I wouldn't have faced the uneasiness of leaving.  

The feelings about leaving are all natural and not strong, but the feelings about leaving are stronger this year with the anticipationattending the RTR.  For people considering solo traveling, having a focal point to see as a goal is important.

Long gone are the anxieties of traveling solo across the country and finding a safe place to stop for the night.  If you are reading this and you are looking to travel solo too keep in mind that the feelings of being pulled forward and the uneasiness of leaving are natural.

It's important to note that once I drove away I knew the adventure had begun.  There are always lots of unknowns that may or not become reality.  Overcoming any fears you have to leave are quickly replaced on the road by the adventures you create.

If traveling is something you are considering you need to be comfortable with yourself.  Accept that things will happen and you will get through them.  I recommend focusing on the good and not the problems that come up.  Your trip will be so much more enjoyable.  Your planning should include online reading of the many before you that have done the work on their vehicles and how they cope on the road.

On the road we seem to be a group of people just like in any town.  We have different personalities and some few people you meet may become friends, many become acquaintances.  Most do their own thing and some travel in very small groups.  This is why you need to be good living with yourself as this is how you spend most of your time.

I also enjoy writing about my travels and this gives me a focus and purposeful travels.  This conbined with my work teaching as an adjunct professor keep me plenty busy.  The other main occupier  of my time is the daily routine that we have as individuals.

My travel suggestion is to look for the good in all that you do and see.  Just like enjoying the sunset above.

Brent

macaloney@hotmail.com