San Antonio, TX to Forrest, IL on 01JAN2014

[fuzzytoaster]

Hey Rob, how did AB's heater/genny idea work out? I see what you mean when your bobber got a good hood smack.

 

[M813rc]

Good grief, that looks like a heck of a trip!! I'll stick to driving M915s to Arizona in the summer, all I have to battle is the heat!

Glad y'all are safe home. Looking forward to the details.

Cheers

 

[FarmerRob]

We skipped the electric heater idea. I figured that with everything that was going wrong, I probably would have set the dang truck on fire or something.

 

[airbornebandsman]

Day 1: Me and my 7 year old daughter left San Antonio, TX around 8am. Stopped in Temple, TX to pick up a couple tires for delivery to an SSer in MI and a hardtop to install on Fuzzytoasters M813 to cut down on the cold. Then continued thru to just east of Little Rock, AR to spend the night. Miles for the day: 617. MPG: 5.7.

Day 2: Started out early again, once we hit MO we started seeing snow on the ground. My daughter was excited to see snow and I told her there would be more when we stopped. As we neared IL we started hitting snow and worse road conditions. Lots of semis in the center divider, including one turned over. We stopped in Terra Haute, IN for dinner. It started getting cold real fast during the days trip and lots of ice and snow on the ground/road. We continued on through to Indianapolis, IN when I heard a sound like chain falling, I thought it was a plow truck we were passing, I looked in my left mirror and saw sparks as what turned out to be a 20ft 1/2in chain fell onto the interstate. I pulled over and turned on the strobes and 4 ways, called the State Troopers in the hope that they could get the things off the highway not only for the safety of others but since I lost 3 chains and 2 binders to the tune of $500. I called and after an hour of waiting called again, they said that a trooper had gone by and not seen the two strobes and my 4 ways on the side of the freeway, camo must work really well. The guy finally showed up, and proceeded to tell me they would stay where they were and to continue moving. One expensive lesson. Stopped in Anderson, IN for the night. Mileage total: 602. MPG: 5/4.8 mpg.

 

[airbornebandsman]

Day 3: Actual temp was -5. Truck took a bit to start, bottle of windex and all fluids in cab were frozen solid. Not even sure what the windchill brought the temp down to. Lots of snow/ice on the ground. made it to Stockdale, MI and spent the next 3-4 hrs trying to find the chain and binders to replace the ones lost the day before. Got Farmerrobs bobber an trailer loader later that night, it was down to 11 degrees and my daughter was having a blast trying to get frostbite playing in the snow. After loading and a while securing the load (hard to do when it gets increasingly colder). Made it to Battle Creek, MI and dropped off the two tires for Ridgerunner at another SSers. Drove for another 30 mins and stopped for the night. Miles: 315. MPG: 4.9.

Day 4: Drove from Kalamazoo, MI through to Forrest, IL. My GPS took us on a route that added about 30 mins onto the trip. Thank you Sprint. Farmerrob and me met up with HMMWV NUT and some of his family to start getting ready for the trip. My 813 was ready pretty quick and we got it started with a jump, she ran good but has a busted brake line that leaked all the fluid out. Fuzzytoasters 813 took a bit longer as it needed the hardtop installed. We convoyed over to a nearby ramp and HMMWV NUT had a friend plow the snow off of it so we could load out. We got FRs bobber and trailer off my truck and then he loaded my 813 and his trailer onto the M872. I pulled off to tiedown and he and HN loaded his blazer onto the M813 and hooked up his bobber behind it. After that we secured the load and he switched out a couple tires on the bobber for safer towing. While he was doing that I attempted to get the top of the stack off my 813 as it was around 13'9", ended up breaking the muffler as it was rusted pretty good. But I did get the stack down to 13'5". About 45 min before we left it started snowing, so the 20 min drive back to the interstate interesting as it was already around 10pm. Ended up stopping about 30 mins after we got on the interstate for the night as the roads started getting pretty bad. I would like to thank HMMWV NUT and his family for their huge amount of help during the prep and loading, definitely a credit to the MV community. Miles: 282. MPG ?

 

[airbornebandsman]

Day 5: Snowing out pretty bad, got on the interstate, conditions got alot worse. Lots of cars in ditches. Snow and ice everywhere. We were going around 30 MPH or slower for around 5 hrs. Right before we got out of IL the snowing stopped and we managed to start getting onto clear roads and raise our road speed. Miles: 417. MPG: 3.65.

Day 6: Got on the road and drove all day with no issues, clear roads all the way. It was cold but at least the snow was gone. Got home to San Antonio around 0030. Still have ice on the truck two days later, lol. Miles: 685. MPG: 3.77/3.9/4.2.

So the lessons learned are; no recoveries north of Texas in the winter months and always secure chain in a box strapped to the trailer deck.
I would like to thank Farmerrob for his help on the trip as well, it was nice having a travel companion, especially one who has experience driving in the snow.

 

[BlackNoma]

Glad yall made it back safe and sound! Crazy stuff yall drove through!

 

[agazza2]

Glad you made it back safely. Thanks for sharing the pics of your trip. But I will definitely keep to the South too during the winter months.

 

[Trailboss]

I never minded driving in snow while younger, but it can be very tiring as it takes all of your attention all of the time. The worst part was trying to wash the salt off my cars and trucks to stave off cancer. Glad your trip was safe, and thanks for the pics.

 

[FarmerRob]

Sooo... anybody have a deuce hood for sale? :-\

 

[trooper632]

Cool trip

 

[FarmerRob]

Cool trip

Downright COLD trip!!

 

[crusader]

Glad you had a safe trip.
I bet the people who were stuck envied what you guys were driving.

 

[silverstate55]

Quite an adventure Mik! Looks like your daughter enjoyed it (you two really are two peas in a pod). Glad you made it back safe & sound.

 

[Ridgerunner]

airborne,

I'm pleased to hear that your trip went well. It's something that your daughter will remember for the rest of her life, that you and her did together. Sounds like quite the trip. And thanks again for bringing/transporting and dropping off the 16.00 XZL tires for me. I really do appreciate it. I wish I could have been at Tim's when you dropped the tires off, so we could have met, but time wasn't on the same schedule as you and me. take care...