Hello Everyone,

Well we finally had time for me to try to come on this bulletin board and give you some information I wish to share.  We have been on the road since Saturday, June 7, 2014 and today is Monday, June 16, 2014 on our way to Alaska for my (Bucket LIst) trip of a lifetime..  It is now 6;30 PM here where we are staying at (Indian Campground, in Buffalo, Wyoming).   I am pretty sure this is central mountain time but too tired to research for sure, it is not important anyhow.  We are sure in the mountains I will tell you.

On this bulletin board I will discuss some things repeated in my blog when I can find time to complete compiling it and then post it, I will discuss anything I find on our scamp pro or con on this site only as only us scamp owners will probably be concerned and hopefully interested in.

We are headed to Alaska as I stated, but have information for anyone interested in doing this trip.  We are in a brand new 13' scamp with bathroom facilities, we are cramped a little but here is the history as to why:

1) We are traveling with two Chihuahua dogs, two guinea pigs and two adults.  All the animals are female, lots of estrogen in that little egg!!

2) We are towing with a (6 Cyl) (4.0 Eng) 1995 Jeep Cherokee Laredo, 256,000 miles when we started. (Please wish us Luck)!!  This is not my choice of traveling with a vehicle with this many miles on it but these are the cards we have to deal with and work with and we will.  We take good care of our Jeep all the time, and are now babying her across country but she is peddling a little hard,  We had her completely serviced before we left, all new fluids in every mechanical surface on an automobile, new tires, newly wired for our Scamp for Electric Brakes, (sure glad we got the electric Brakes too).  But she still had some mileage.  My recommendations on this is to have a vehicle newer or will less mileage but you have to work at times with what you got.

This is how we looked at one of the rest stops.

3) We are trying to travel 300-350 miles per day but that changes which is good to be flexible where you want to stop and go and this trip will be one of a live time for us both and we are not going to miss anything if we can help it on our way to Pullman, WA. to hook up with our good friend Dave Brawdy who owns a Prevost but I will not hold that against him. LOL

4) We have packed for 4 months of traveling for warm and cold weather.  Our Scamp and our Jeep are loaded, which does not help with the traveling with the extra weight added for the needed extra items needed for our long trip.  I do wish our 13' scamp had more cupboard space above the table area, which is done with the deluxe models in wood.  Our scamp cupboards are in fiberglass to make the camper lighter but I wish the used the space that is open for more lighter storage like bedding etc. which has to be crowded in either our car or in the closet next to the bathroom / entrance door.  There is just so much room in there and then it is gone.  When we get back to Greenville, SC after our trip I will make fiberglass enclosure over the table area and on each side of the other cupboards which has an area of about 14 inches I believe on each side which also is empty space that could hold such things as our medicines which niow are in a duffel bag under the table which we leave in a bed form when traveling.   No sence breaking down and setting up the table / bed for each day when it is just us traveling, and when we stop the dogs love sleeping on the bed anyhow which controls them pretty well except when somoneon comes up and says in a loud voice, (Oh, I love your little camper) and our door is open with the screen closed.

The back of the car was even more packed for 4 months of travel more than this when we actually left.  You have no idea how much stuff we needed and how much we decided not to take as we felt we did not need it.  But you will be surprized how much you have to replace on the road that you do need.  So a lot of thought has to go into what you pack, and not just over one days time, a dry run set up has to be done for a trip like this as well as allowing for storage for the guinea's in day time and night time.  Different cages for their comfort.

5) Another reason to leave the table in the bed set up is you have storage for things you have to transfer from your car to make it possible to put the dogs and guineas in the car too!!  So now we have a system at each stop we make for the night, but it took a day or two, I had to train my bride!!!  Hehe  Don't tell her I said that.

6) Now I know the scamp MFG. say that their scamps can be pulled by a 4 cyl car / 6 cyl car but I am here to tell you on the mountains with a 6-7% grade you are in for a rude, I mean rude awakening with stuff needed for 4 months.  We went from 22mpg on our Jeep at normal use at home and not loaded like it is now to 14 mpg average on flat roads which there was very little of.  Now on the hills of SD and Wyoming, that is a different story and we have big mountains ahead of us day after tomorrow.  But when we went up the mountains of SD and Wyoming the grades were miles and miles long all going up, up and up further it seemed.  We seen a sign saying we were 6, 678 feet above sea level at one point today!!  That is a lot of climbing up hill.  I drove at 55-60 MPH when I could, on these hills described above, I had to shift down to Low in my Automatic Tranny by the way and could not get over 35 MPH!!!  So you can probably pull one of these campers on flat roads in (Florida) but in the mountains you got to have a vehicle with a little more power than what I got for sure.  I will make it but at the speed of a snail it seems, I stay behind trucks on big hills, lights flashing just like them but think about it before you load up like we did.  I have no idea how much easier it would have been with a (empty) trailer but with things you need you better think twice before using a 4 cyl, car, and older 6 cyl. cars!!!!  This is just my personal opinion, but a warning for you to consider.

Want to hear something funny, I was just typing this information to you and a bird from a tree branch above me just took a dump on my computer screen!!!  What could that mean, good grief!!

7) OK< now back to my informaiton, It was real cold in the evenings at Custer, SD when we went to bed.  The day time was great, 60-70 deg. nice and comfortable but at night, man it got cold and windy and talk about rainy and thunder and lightning!!  Man oh man it was really coming down.   BUT, we got lots of condensation through the windows as well as the cold from the winds on us.  We had to use  our portable electric heater instead of the furnace.  The furnace just blows you out of the place and it is difficult to regulate it to be comfortable on the fly.  So we use the electric heater which we can regulate the temp and it turns on and off automatically when needed.  It come on a lot as the cold come through the windows big time.  In the morning the windows were so sweaty you could not see out of them, but by 11 am or so the sun dried them all off.  I am not crazy about this now as it will be real cold at times in Alaska, I will probably tape clear plastic over the inside of windows!!!  We did that in the north on our houses and it worked, why not in our Scamp.  But again, this does not make me happy on this particular trip.

8) We also brought a fleece blanket for Alaska but used it last night as it was near the low 40's / upper 30's and we were toasty warm with that blanket,  If you go to Alaska, get one and store it in a (Space Bag) shrunk down until needed, again this take room to have but you need to consider having.  You need heavy jackets as well with hoods, we used that as well already here in SD as well.

9)  Also we awoke and found that our entrance door locking device / inside handle was condensating / dripping with condensation, big time too!!  I don't have a magnet with me but hope this is stainless, but will bet you a dozen Dunkin doughnuts this is a steel device from CHINA.

10) The brass pull handle on the entrance door, yep, condensating like hell.

11) The nuts holding the cupboards on the ceiling of the scamp, YEP, condensated!!  Hope they are Stainless, but I will change them so they are!!

12) Thank God I had the vision to build a storage box on the back of our Scamp for (shore power cord, water hose, sewer connection, wheel chocks and torque gun) to raise and lower the trailer tongue when hooking up or stopping over night and wanting to unhook the camper to travel around. These are needed but no place for stoage on trailer or in car, no sewage stuff in the car.  You need more than just the dump hose they give you.

13) I had 2 screws, AGAIN back out as we traveled,  under the  refrigerator, the wall under it.   I had another screw back out 1" out of the molding that goes around the bathroom door!  This was after it happened before when my camper was delivered and I discovered it, I put wood adhesive on the screw threads thinking it would dry and prevent the screws from backing out but no way, they sure did again.  Have to come up with a new plan especially when we do get to Alaska with gravel roads, I hope my Scamp will stay bolted together.  I will just have to check the screws and bolts after each stop.  I am not sure what to do to prevent the ones I thought I stopped from backing out but will try somethings else after thinking of it more.  Right now I am too tired, will use screwdriver to tighten and hope for the best on that too.   I can not believe they backed out as much as they did???  In fact I am stunned!!

14) Now just a few minutes ago, Linda turned on the 12v pump to pump water to the sink and toilet and shower!!!  The Pump will not shut off!!!  Good grief, now we have to turn it on to flush the toilet, and turn it off when done!!  it is Too cold, too dark to research but again another problem that will irritate me now till I find the problem.  I will call Scamp tomorrow and get advise, how to trouble shoot etc.  This is maddening!

15) I forgot to post that the stabilizer bars I have connecting the scamp to my jeep worked really, really great.  We had side winds for two days about 50-55 MPH and the trailer stayed behind the jeep with no problem at all.  Of coarse I was not going real fast, 50 MPH avg. when I could but with tractor trailers passing me etc. I had no problem with towing the trailer.  I am sure as suggested that a Sway bar would even help more, but I may just not do that as I am satisfied now so far.  Any winds any higher than we just had for two days, I am stopping for the day and night.  Out here in the mid west, the winds are brutal, in parts of Illinois, Idaho and SD there was no trees to slow down the winds and when you had to run into them head on at times it was a bummer to make any momentum.  I saw a lot of Classs 3 campers with the overhead sleepers just creeping too, the wind got under that overhead sleeper and it was like pushing a brick to them I believe in the winds.

I will have plenty of information for you on my blog which when ready to post I will post here the link to go to so you can make it a favorite if you are not bored with this information.  This all takes time to do after a day of traveling, setting up, doing what you can for meals etc. and before you know it I am laying down with the dogs and guineas and asleep I go.  So be patient, but any infomation I add concerning our scamp I will post on this board in this section.

Garylee