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Michigan to Yellowstone and back


Totem

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Well,

Our sunrader, "Rocket", just completed his first trip to Yellowstone national park.

Here are the stats:

  • Best MPG on trip achieved 17.2 MPG (on super unleaded that was cheaper than regular for some reason in Iowa)
  • Worst MPG on trip 15 MPG in Nebraska
  • Average fuel consumption 16.6 MPG
  • Total Animal Fatalities: 1 (large male raccoon in Wyoming)
  • Total Animal Near misses: 2, Mule Deer in Yellowstone and 1 opossum in Nebraska
  • Slowest speed on Grade: 25 MPH just after Deadwood SD (wow was it slow, thought it would stall)
  • Highest Speed attained: 78 MPH in OD going down hill on 90 W in SD
  • Front Axle 1700 LBS at departure on CAT scales
  • Rear Axle 4620 on Cat scales
  • Total weight of rig, full tank of gas, 3/4 propane, 2 electric scooters and 1 German shepherd (no passengers) was 6320 Lb fully packed with clothes, gear etc.
  • States traveled: MI, IN, IL, WI, MN, SD, WY, NE, IA
  • Cool things we stopped to See: Wall Drug, Bad Lands, Yellow Stone, Thermopolis Hot Springs in NB
  • Total number of toy homes seen: 3 (2 Dolphins and one Warrior)
  • Total number of times I was asked "what kind of mileage you get with that thing": 6
  • Total number of vehicles passed 3
  • Total number of trucks passed 5
  • Total number of days on trip 10
  • Total number of campgrounds stayed at: 6
  • Total number of Truck stops stayed at 1
  • Total Number of break downs 0
  • Total number of quarts of oil consumed 3

The Drive:

I took I 94 to I 90 through IN, IL, WI, MN, SD, then 20 which is known as the "Yellowstone Highway" to Cody and into park at east gate. When I left the park I liked 20 so much that I took it all the way through Nebraska into Iowa with a few shortcut routes to save time along the way. By and large was on 20 though mostly on return trip.

If I do this trip again, I will skip I 94 because Chicago's Dan Ryan toy driving experience was less like a fun drive and more like scene from Escape from LA right down to the people I saw fighting it out in the "accident investigation" areas; quite literally I saw a Kurt Russel looking guy with a mullet getting a beat down from a lady that had had her new (to her) Jeff Gordon decorated Chevy Silverado scratched in the melee . My advice to Chicago: please place weapons like swords, axes, chainsaws, bats etc in those accident investigation areas and post camera footage to YouTube or pay per view. Great entertainment to watch during the traffic jams or while bored.

We hit Wall Drug eventually and I must say it was a nice treat; you could get a great t shirt and hat combo to many places as a package for under 20 bucks. they had Native american jewelry etc very reasonably priced. They of course had the Chinesium trinkets and knockoffs also. Free WallDrug bumper stickers there too so if your rig has a blemish or two you can always cover it with one for free. The Badlands were awesome and kicked in my vertigo at times so much so that i felt my legs wobble and almost paralyzed as I sheepishly tried to peer down their cliff faces. WATCH OUT if you have 4 year old's or younger there; mine thought she could just "jump off" and luckily we stopped her.

The Yellowstone Park:

While on this trip I tried to heed the advice of some people at the Midwest Rally on a toy trip to Yellowstone.

I can say this: unless you have electrical needs Dennis is very correct; Fishing Bridge is a waste of $ and horrible lot size. at $48 a night they give you a tiny piece of concrete that is so close to your neighbors that you can smell what they had for breakfast the following day, constant bustle of huge diesel pushers, oversized 5th wheels etc always and I mean ALWAYS parading around disturbing you. If you are forced to stay at fishing bridge as we where the one thing that its great for is partying and having a few drinks and being loud, may as well join em'. Also Fishing's water pressure was purposely set extra high so that you needed to buy one of their "pressure regulators". this of course was snake oil, as you can regulate your own pressure by just not full throttling the hook up valve. I would say the only other nice thing about Fishing Bridge Campground is that fact they have sewer; take advantage of the overly complicated federally regulated showering by just actually using your toy shower and water heater.

The other camp ground we stayed at was Canyon campground and they were awesome and cheap. I think they were $28. The sites were huge and you could always find a way to make level. They were dry sites but they had drinking water at the dump station (which I found odd but I don't drink from my fresh tanks anyway) and yes it was "clean" water as they also had potable non drinking water there also in a separately marked hose.

Both Yellowstone Campgrounds had a couple things I really despised:

  • federally controlled showering, showers were bizarrely placed such that everyone shared the same drain and there were no bathrooms in them; thus I advise to wear sandals or water shoes unless you have some warts or athletes foot you need addressed or are fond of golden showers.
  • Showers were regulated such that there were busy spells and spells where they were closed; this makes you lose time to have them
  • exceptionally LONG wait times to book your site and overly difficult and complicated booking process.
  • I would also advise that you book your site at the FIRST campground you get to even if its not the one you want; thier computer systems are all interlinked and for example the fishing bridge clerks can book you into Canyon at the fishing bridge desk.
  • I would advise NOT getting a site until you get there, ad hoc; you may end up wanting a different campground based on what you decide to do or where you are at at what time.

On the way home I stopped in Thermopolis Nebraska to hot spring it up. They had a state hot spring bathhouse and that may have been free; I'll never know because I went to one of the commercial ones next to it that were pay to play but had water slides, hot tubs, pools, steam caves etc. kids LOVED it.

Only trouble the rig gave me was filling the gas tank; which i put in another thread on this site. Tank would not fill sometimes; would overflow instead.

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Wow! Great report and thanks for sharing! I seriously thought of making a trip out to Yellowstone but from your experience and others, it sounds like a zoo with all the animal cages opened up.

I will do the Badlands again someday, that place IS awesome!

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yeah, I am not trying to disparage anyone from going to Yellowstone one bit though; the wildlife and views are amazing and a toy home is fantastic to see that stuff in as it is so slow.

also, its a great advantage as most Yellowstone sites are primarily too small to tow trailers and not have to unhitch your vehicle. the convenience of having mobile home when visiting sites that have no bathrooms cannot be beat such as some of the sulfur springs, falls etc..

Another thing is that I found afterwards that I could have just stayed at flying J's and other truck stops and gotten free showers and coffee on my way there instead of wasting time paying 25-45$ in one nighters.

Truly a trip to yellowstone in a toy home should only require you to camp in the park and pay; boon docking is the way to go on route and on home.

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  • 2 weeks later...

dolphin


Here was a Dolphin that was staying at the Canyon Campground. the owner was from Australia, and her and her husband, get this, bought it to tour Canada, USA and South America.
They had never seen a Toy home and merely bought it to do 1 trip in because she said it was cheaper than renting one... they were doing a VERY long "holiday" (a few months).
She said they had driven from British Columbia to Guatemala and then back up into Yellowstone.
So, I think there may have been a guy in here asking how one of these would do; I can tell you this dolphin did it. More interesting was the fact that her husband had also constructed an aluminum roof rack for a small boat that they had been using while in South America; and then sold there. So for those that wondered if a toy home can handle south american mountain ranges with a boat strapped on top theres your answer. She said it was a 14 foot flat bottom boat that comfortably fit her, hubby and 3 small children. That's a Big roof rack...wonder how wide the boat was.
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That sounds like a great trip. I can tolerate morons for the short term in the big parks but get out of them when possible.

My wife and I will be heading that way again in a couple of years. We will be going from Wisconsin through South Dakota, Yellowstone, Tetons, Craters of the Moon, west and north up into British Columbia, Jasper, Banff, Glacier, and home. We plan on about a 5500 tp 6000 mile trip

Totem, your theory on only turning up the water spigot on part way is incorrect. It does not regulate the water pressure, only how long it will take to get up to full pressure. If they have 75 psi water pressure, so will your system. Use the regulator, it will save you future problems and only cost about $10.

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You should write your own travel blog, very entertaining and detailed! I love Yellowstone, and like everywhere else nowadays, things always have their shortfalls, but it sounds as if it was a fantastic journey overall. Yeah, super unleaded in Iowa uses a high level of Ethanol and is usually less expensive to promote the use of it where they grow the corn for it. Casey's there has always had their 89 octaine sometimes 5 cents a gallon less than the 87 octaine. I havent lived there for many years, but it seems they still continue with the practice. Thanks for the great journal of your trip!

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P.S. Theromopolis is in WY and the state bath house is free. It has a 20 min limit if its busy, other wise stay longer.

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I stand corrected; pardon me all. Wyoming for Thermopolis.

BOB C, regulator; aye you may be right but for the record i had no water issues on 1/2 throttle of the flow valve at Fishing Bridge; so my theory was proven for me in my experiment.

WME - Glad to know the 20 minute thing; next time will definitely do that one to save $.

The lifeguard at the one we were at seemed freaked that we were leaving and not spending the night; said its bad to "tub and drive" even had his brother the local sheriff follow us out. He must not have been aware of the power of 5 hour energy.

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To much water pressure and to cheap to buy a pressure reducer, Easy answer, fill up your fresh water tank and use it

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  • 8 months later...

How many miles on this trip. Just curious about your oil consumption rate. The gas mileage was great. Thanks for sharing. I just posted my "California of Bust" post and will be doing about 6000 round trip from pa.

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3 quarts total consumed. I am unsure of the total miles driven; it was the one thing i did not record out of sheer laziness; and the fact the dash on my sunrader is the old style with no "trip" feature. I should add that i did a thick oil treatment followed by 20 miles of 30 MPH driving then hit it with thicker Oil; it reduced the oil consumption drastically.

basically from everything i have looked at all odds point to unfound leak or needing valve job; I am leaning towards the later as I am approaching 70k.

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It's nice to see a detailed report. I'm a bit envious. We were planning a family road trip to Alaska but gave it up since I'm now banned anywhere in Canada. Our plan now is to go out west - see two of my kids in Colorado and then see some of the big National parks. It's the reason why my plan now includes using a Toyota Chinook with a wife, 9 year old boy and fat dog.

You got just about exactly the same mileage average I get with a Dodge diesel truck with a slide-on camper on the back (low pop-up roof). Granted the Dodge can do 75 MPH just about anywhere but I don't see the extra speed as a huge asset. If you were able to average around 16 MPG then a low-roof and lighter Chinook ought to get near 20 MPG on such a trip (I hope).

Your fuel mileage is impressive. In fact, it's the best I've ever heard reported from anyone I trust with a 21 foot Toyota RV. My neighbor has a Dolphin-Toyota and when he went out west he averaged 13.5 MPG for the entire trip.

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Totem, nice trip right up! Indiana to Yellowstone was our best road trip also.

We had a 17 foot canoe on the Toyota roof and did some fishing on Lake Lewis

(does not allow motor boats), we ended up being the only boat on the lake.

Dennis...

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I aspire to someday be banned from an entire country.

Serious bragging rights!

Getting banned in Canada is not a hard thing to accomplish. Many Americans (USA Americans that is) are banned and do not know it. You find out when you try to cross the border and get turned away - or incarcerated and then "deported" to the US like they did to me.

It's all about the vast amount of information sharing between the US and Canada, the Patriot Act, etc. If you have any arrests on your record - even from 40 years ago - and even if NO convictions - it can happen to you.

To the converse - there was a Canadian in the news this year that got "banned from the USA. He had won a contest to fufil his lifetime dream of going to the Super Bowl. But - they blocked him at the border. I think he was 60 years old and had one arrest in his background from when he was a teenager. So it seems - it works both ways.

I have been travelling through Canada every year since the 1970s. I used to work in Canada and my wife got her masters degree there. This just happened for the first time last year. Now - I am banned from Canada BUT they will let me back in if I pay a $500 -$1000 "waiver" fee. I refuse. i own property in Michigan and had been cutting through Canada 6-8 times a year. Now - I got through PA and Ohio to get there.

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Does not take any special skill to get banned from a country. Any idiot can accomplish it in about 3 sentences posted on a website....

From what I've read and experienced myself - the biggest problem is with people old enough to have had any arrests before computers were invented (as in my case). I had an arrest for a bar-brawl in 1971. Clean record since. Now that shows in the shared-database that the US has given Canada. It is just a mark that shows I was arrested for something but cannot be verfied without getting copies of the paperwork or microfiche from the city it happened in (Englewood NJ in my case). It does not matter if a person was convicted or not. Just a mark on the record showing the arrest. If I'd been arrested 10 years ago and my full file was on a digital database - they probably would not of banned me.

The Canuks told me that I could arrange a meeting at the US consulate by Niagara Falls. Be interviewed to determine my character, authorize and pay for a full FBI search of my records, pay a "waiver" fee to the them ($500-$1000) - and then be allowed. No thanks. Think I'll stick to the USA.

But hey . . . this way I can say anything I want on any Website about the Canuks! Ironic that my family came from Québec and my g-g-g-g-g-grandma was a huge Acadien heroine in the Canuk history books.

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jde, they are illegally barring you from entry; unless you were convicted for your bar fight...

http://www.canadainternational.gc.ca/australia-australie/visas/rehabilitation-readaptation.aspx

from that page:

I was charged with an offence. However the court outcome was that “no conviction was recorded”. Can I enter Canada as a visitor?

Yes. You should also carry your current police certificate and the documents which show that no conviction was recorded and present them to the Canadian Port of Entry, if requested. You do not have to make further contact with the Sydney office.

seems you just need the bar fight paperwork showing outcome; of course the NJ microfiche copy will prolly cost a few bucks; small price to pay though to shoot the 402/401.

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jde, they are illegally barring you from entry; unless you were convicted for your bar fight...

http://www.canadainternational.gc.ca/australia-australie/visas/rehabilitation-readaptation.aspx

Yeah well . . . it's not as easy to prove one's "not guiltyness" as it might seem. In fact, it's often near impossible to prove a negative.

Canada is truly another country although it did not use to feel that way to me. I.e. they can do whatever they want - and if some Canadian official seems to be stretching Canadian regs - what the heck am I going to do about it as a foreigner?

I am a US citizen and I see US law enforcement officials bend, break or fabricate the law on an ad hoc basis. If I can't make that behavior stop here in my own country - I'd be a fool to try to get a foreign nation like Canada to do it. Right now - I kind of wish the Fenians had won when they invaded Canada from New York State (supposedly with the backing of our US president).

In the nutshell - I was officially informed that is I ever attempt to gain entry into Canada at any crossing - I will immediately be arrested and put in jail.

I was also told that I could get a waiver IF I agreed to be interviewed at the Canadian Consulate in Buffalo, NY and pay them money. I also just pay for an FBI search of my background. I also must pay for a search of the archives that hold records where my arrest was. If those records no longer exist - my only recourse is to request a pardon from the governor of whatever state I was arrested in. That happens to be New Jersey. I DID request a pardon back when John Corzine was the governor. He pardoned several convicted murderers but probably never even looked at my request. I was a registered republican and he was a die-hard Lib-tard. I would not be surprised if all republican requests wound up in the trash basket. Note that requesting a pardon is not an easy affair either. Especially when I don't even recall what if anything my conviction was. I had to supply three character references that have known me at least 10 years. Employment history and also was interviewed by State investigators. I was "cleared" and "approved" for the pardon which just needed the NJ Imperial Wizard's signature. Never happened and I pretty much gave up. But hey -maybe if I sent Chris Christie a lifetime supply of doughnuts - he'll sign the papers.

At this point - I don't care anymore. After being forced to take the US route to Michigan which is 100 miles longer, I found out it takes the same amount of time because I can go faster on better roads via NY-PA-OH-MI. We miss camping along the Ottawa River in Canada - but besides that - I don't miss the place at all. I'm certainly not gong to spend a bunch more time and money for a temporary 10 year "permission slip" to enter Canada. And yeah, if I got one it has to be renewed every now and then. I'll say this though. The Canuks gave me an official title I kind of like. I am a "vintage criminal" until I prove otherwise. That sounds kind of distinguished!

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One thing I forgot to mention. On the year I was arrested at the border. Three months prior to that - I was at the Canada border and got pulled over and interviewed by Canadian border police. They saw the mark on my US record from the 70s and told me it was fine and I was OK for travel in Canada. Then - three months ;later - with a different bunch of border police - I got a whole different story. When I informed them that on my penultimate visit I had been told I was "good to go" they got furious with me and said I was lying. How does one deal with a disparity like that? Both sets of border agents had access to the same records and same Canadian regulations. My way of dealing with it is to stay the heck out of Canada. At least in the US - technically I have rights as a citizen.

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In case some US citizen never head of the Fenians attacking Canada from New York State - it's kind of a funny story. It's a big deal in Canadian history but kind of unknown to US people since our schools usually fail to mention it in the history lessons. It was a Fenian that built one of the first successful submarines in the USA. One of the leaders of the invasion into Canada (John O'Neill) has a town named after him in Nebraska.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fenian_raids

http://teachinghistory.org/history-content/ask-a-historian/19821

http://www.irishfreedom.net/Fenian%20graves/O'Neill,%20John/John%20O'NeillL.htm

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  • 2 weeks later...

When my kids were younger, we took trips to Yellowstone on 4 occasions towing a pop-up Starcraft. They all loved the trips and still talk about them. Last Christmas we were all sitting around talking about the trips and one of the kids asked if we would consider doing a group trip with whoever could make it. Well, as we sat there, two of our daughters decided that they wanted to do the trip. It will be my wife, 2 daughters, two grandkids. We will be taking our Toyhouse and my wife's Mercury Grand Marquis pulling the a pop-up.

I did inform them that the same rules will apply to this trip as when they were younger. Everyone has a job to do during set-up, meal prep, washing dishes, tear-down, every gas stop. I also told them that wake up is 7:00 am, on the road no later than 8:00 am.

I hope that the grandkids have great memories of the trip.

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May want to check that pop up with the park; due to bears many campsites are hard sided only; we saw them turning soft sided pop ups away....

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I have been through the area many times. The national forest east of Yellowstone is hard side only as are several near Banff and Jasper. We have never cooked anything in the pop-up to cut down on the bear issues.

I have seen what a determined bear can do. If they want into a motorhome of any size or brand, they are coming in.

I saw a cabin in the Jasper area that had every door and window shutter made out of 3" thick planks with spiked driven through the planks (facing out of course) The owner said that grizzlies sometimes would stay outside for hours on end before wandering away.

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Fishing bridge and some others won't allow soft sided regardless at least as of summer 2012. It was the only site with vacancies when on our first night in. Just passing on the observation, I would book in advance the sites that do.

-totem

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Thanks for the information Totem. I will check into the soft side issue.

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