350Xhilaration
07-27-2007, 11:35 AM
I bought a 26' camper off ebay. It was exactly the model I wanted and the price was super.
I live in western PA, the camper was in Hastings, MI.
After I sent the deposit via paypal and made arrangements to drive to MI in the morning I was lying in bed to sleep at 10:30, I said to myself: "Self, We don't have an Electic brake controller on the Durango."
I get one the boards and post a thread asking for advice. Nobody responding. I check out chat. Billy and Kilborg are in there. Good advice. They set me straight with the kind of controller to get.
I go to bed at 12:30AM. Wake up at 6AM and start digging through the phone book and internet for local shops that might have what I'm looking for.
I check WallyWorld (against my better judgement) Advanced Auto and NAPA. NAPA was the only place that had what I wanted. I pick up the controller at 8AM and install it. 8:45 I'm on my way to pick up dad. We finally hit the road at 9:30AM.
No problems getting there.
Coming home is a different story. We get the waaay bigger than I remembered trailer hooked up to the Durango. We open up the instructions for the controller to figure out how to adjust the power and level. Pull out, hit the brakes several times and get it adjusted nicely. Feels like the Durango is riding a wheelie. Very light in the front end. I didn't know nor did I have time to adjust the weight distribution bars. It was level and that's all I cared about.
After an hour so, I get used to it and it's not as bad as I thought.
Here comes the rain and wind. And more rain and wind, and yet more rain and wind. For about an hour or so we drive half blind through the rain. Not just a few sprinkles. We ran into some of the worst rain I've ever been in. Traffic on I-69 South was running below 20 MPH. People were pulling off both sides of the road and trying to wait it out. Rigs were crawling. At the Indiana Turnpike we sat through a small, but very real tornado. Five minutes before I asked my dad if Indiana ever got tornadoes. He said he had no idea. As we approached the turnpike exit, I look to my right and see this 100 ft tall and several hundred feet wide swirling mass of leaves/limbs/debris over the plaza to the right. I said holy crap thats a tornado. Dad says, "nah, just a few leaves blowing around." The "leaves blowing around" start making their way toward where we were driving. It comes across the interstate at the exit for the turnpike which is where we are. Road construction signs and barrels were blowing into the median and off the side of the road on the Northbound side and blowing into traffic on the Southbound side. We were heading south. I'm dodging barrels blowing across the road and watching this massive "Leaves blowing around" come across the road and whip everything in it's path off the road. It was awesome to see, but I was gettin concerned. Luckily we were able to pull underneath a bridge. We could see debris swirling 100 feet above us and at least 500 ft wide circle. The Durango was shaking, the car in front of us was bouncing up and down and side to side. We sat there for a few minutes and it was all over. Rain and winds slowed down and we pulled back onto the ramp and continued our merry way toward PA.
By the way...If you ask dad now..it was a tornado.
We left Hastings, MI at 6PM and I hit my driveway this morning at 4AM.
I leave the trailer hooked up to the Durango and wake up to find the neighbors having a garage sale. Road is packed with cars trying to get through the narrow street that's even narrower now with my trailer. I finally was able to get it turned around and pulled back into my driveway.
Just thought it was an interesting enough story to share.
I live in western PA, the camper was in Hastings, MI.
After I sent the deposit via paypal and made arrangements to drive to MI in the morning I was lying in bed to sleep at 10:30, I said to myself: "Self, We don't have an Electic brake controller on the Durango."
I get one the boards and post a thread asking for advice. Nobody responding. I check out chat. Billy and Kilborg are in there. Good advice. They set me straight with the kind of controller to get.
I go to bed at 12:30AM. Wake up at 6AM and start digging through the phone book and internet for local shops that might have what I'm looking for.
I check WallyWorld (against my better judgement) Advanced Auto and NAPA. NAPA was the only place that had what I wanted. I pick up the controller at 8AM and install it. 8:45 I'm on my way to pick up dad. We finally hit the road at 9:30AM.
No problems getting there.
Coming home is a different story. We get the waaay bigger than I remembered trailer hooked up to the Durango. We open up the instructions for the controller to figure out how to adjust the power and level. Pull out, hit the brakes several times and get it adjusted nicely. Feels like the Durango is riding a wheelie. Very light in the front end. I didn't know nor did I have time to adjust the weight distribution bars. It was level and that's all I cared about.
After an hour so, I get used to it and it's not as bad as I thought.
Here comes the rain and wind. And more rain and wind, and yet more rain and wind. For about an hour or so we drive half blind through the rain. Not just a few sprinkles. We ran into some of the worst rain I've ever been in. Traffic on I-69 South was running below 20 MPH. People were pulling off both sides of the road and trying to wait it out. Rigs were crawling. At the Indiana Turnpike we sat through a small, but very real tornado. Five minutes before I asked my dad if Indiana ever got tornadoes. He said he had no idea. As we approached the turnpike exit, I look to my right and see this 100 ft tall and several hundred feet wide swirling mass of leaves/limbs/debris over the plaza to the right. I said holy crap thats a tornado. Dad says, "nah, just a few leaves blowing around." The "leaves blowing around" start making their way toward where we were driving. It comes across the interstate at the exit for the turnpike which is where we are. Road construction signs and barrels were blowing into the median and off the side of the road on the Northbound side and blowing into traffic on the Southbound side. We were heading south. I'm dodging barrels blowing across the road and watching this massive "Leaves blowing around" come across the road and whip everything in it's path off the road. It was awesome to see, but I was gettin concerned. Luckily we were able to pull underneath a bridge. We could see debris swirling 100 feet above us and at least 500 ft wide circle. The Durango was shaking, the car in front of us was bouncing up and down and side to side. We sat there for a few minutes and it was all over. Rain and winds slowed down and we pulled back onto the ramp and continued our merry way toward PA.
By the way...If you ask dad now..it was a tornado.
We left Hastings, MI at 6PM and I hit my driveway this morning at 4AM.
I leave the trailer hooked up to the Durango and wake up to find the neighbors having a garage sale. Road is packed with cars trying to get through the narrow street that's even narrower now with my trailer. I finally was able to get it turned around and pulled back into my driveway.
Just thought it was an interesting enough story to share.