Latin America Driving Grand Tour
Shake down Cruise
July 13th, we have the Motor home in front our house and load it with the last things for our shake down trip. We have selected to go to California because it is a nice grade on the way there on the road, the summit is on about 4600 feet and it goes to the top in only 6 miles so it very steep indeed. After rearranging and loading and hooking the Jeep, about 7 am on the 14th we were in our way for the testing of what it will be our home for about 2 years or so. The engine (8 cylinders 460 Ford) performed very well, lots of power going up the hill and it was a very hot morning so I turned the engine air conditioning on and set the cruise control and about 50 miles per hour, up it went with no hesitations and not even reaching the normal temperature (or middle of the water temperature gauge). The engine air conditioning worked so well that did not require turning the house air on to keep the coach cool.
Stopped and had breakfast half way (about 150 miles) and checked the Motor Home and the Jeep and everything looked good so far.
Went to a campground in Acton, California and after 3 or 4 days there we realized that all the systems worked and worked good, that our shake down cruise was going just about perfect but we had to come back to Las Vegas the same way that we come, and the steep hill would be there again.
I wanted it to drive the coach at night, to see if it needed more headlights, (not that I intented to drive at night in Central or South America) but just in case, we left Acton about 6pm on July the 10th was very hot again (about 105 and very windy) so I turned the engine air on and up we went, and again the engine performed very well and very cool, remember, we were pulling a 4400 hundred pound Jeep and about 60 miles p/hour speed on 16 miles of up hill and again it did not even got to the gage normal temperature setting I was very pleasantly surprised on the performance of the engine. I think after the 350 miles of our shake down trip I’m falling in love with this coach, drives very well, does not wandered all over the road, the wind affected very little, inside it is not like as comfortable like our Alfa, but it is 10 feet shorter too, and after I insulated the Dog House the noise is very minimal so we can converse in a normal tone of voice and no heat is coming into the coach from the engine compartment. Overall one excellent shake down trip with nothing but good surprises, we think that the Motor home and Willy the Jeep are ready for the Latin America Grand Tour. We are going to miss the comforts of our Alfa, the 4 door refrigerator, the washer and dryer, and all the storage spaces, etc, etc, but it will be waiting for us here when we come back and we will enjoy it again.
Stopped and had breakfast half way (about 150 miles) and checked the Motor Home and the Jeep and everything looked good so far.
Went to a campground in Acton, California and after 3 or 4 days there we realized that all the systems worked and worked good, that our shake down cruise was going just about perfect but we had to come back to Las Vegas the same way that we come, and the steep hill would be there again.
I wanted it to drive the coach at night, to see if it needed more headlights, (not that I intented to drive at night in Central or South America) but just in case, we left Acton about 6pm on July the 10th was very hot again (about 105 and very windy) so I turned the engine air on and up we went, and again the engine performed very well and very cool, remember, we were pulling a 4400 hundred pound Jeep and about 60 miles p/hour speed on 16 miles of up hill and again it did not even got to the gage normal temperature setting I was very pleasantly surprised on the performance of the engine. I think after the 350 miles of our shake down trip I’m falling in love with this coach, drives very well, does not wandered all over the road, the wind affected very little, inside it is not like as comfortable like our Alfa, but it is 10 feet shorter too, and after I insulated the Dog House the noise is very minimal so we can converse in a normal tone of voice and no heat is coming into the coach from the engine compartment. Overall one excellent shake down trip with nothing but good surprises, we think that the Motor home and Willy the Jeep are ready for the Latin America Grand Tour. We are going to miss the comforts of our Alfa, the 4 door refrigerator, the washer and dryer, and all the storage spaces, etc, etc, but it will be waiting for us here when we come back and we will enjoy it again.
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