A timelapse of driving our RV, a Tiffin Allegro Bus motorhome, 47 miles from Albany to Eugene, Oregon.
Truck damage update
A real-time update on our truck issue, where the truck broke free of the motorhome when being towed.
As mentioned in that post, we decided to head home to get the truck fixed (if possible), and do the Alaska trip another year. After driving our morothome and truck separately for about 950 miles (1,529 km), we made it home safely.
Today we dropped off our truck at a local body shop, so they could investigate further, and get it inspected by the insurance adjuster. Hopefully we’ll hear their conclusion in the next few days, most likely early next week.
Here are some photos of the broken components laid out on the ground at home:
Truck, front frame, tow base plate, bumper, tow bar; all damaged:
I’ll do more real-time updates as we hear more, but in the meantime will resume normal blog posts next week, which are a couple of months behind real-time. They are not without drama, too… stay tuned!
Our motorhome and toad had a parting of ways
This blog is a bit behind real-time; we are actually in Canada at present, on our way to Alaska. Just 46 miles into the Alcan after Dawson Creek, leaving a fuel stop in Fort St John, the front frame of our truck failed, and the tow base plate broke off. Fortunately the truck was stopped at an intersection when it failed; it could have been much worse if it failed in motion. Luckily we caught it within about a minute of it happening. Yes, we have a rear-view camera which shows the truck, but we don’t stare at it all the time, when merging onto a highway and navigating traffic (and it shows the side view when indicating).
After sleeping on it, we decided to head home. We considered driving the truck separately, or storing it in Fort St John and renting a car in Alaska, but either would impact the enjoyment of our trip. We decided we’d rather come back again in a year or two and do it right. (We’re thinking about downsizing to a van or B+ anyway, which might work better.)
I’ve zip-tied the loose wires etc, and we’ll drive separately home over the next few days. We aren’t entirely missing out on Alaska this year: we also have an Alaska cruise in September, so that helps us feel this was the right choice for us. We’ll be back to see the rest of Alaska in the next year or two, and would like to explore more of Canada too.
Here’s a video from someone who saw us dragging the bumper (and then flagged us down). The video has gone viral, with millons of views in various Facebook groups, TikTok, etc. Reading the comments provides an interesting sample of humanity; some sympathetic people, but a lot more trolls showing a lack of empathy for a significant event, or making irrelevant comments or incorrect assumptions (it’s not a Jeep, we didn’t drag it lots of miles, we’re not Boomers or rich, etc etc). Disappointing, but not surprising.
Photos:
Zip-tied components:
I’ll provide more information later.
Albany to Oregon Motorcoach Center in Eugene, Oregon
We drove our coach just 47 miles, about an hour of driving, from Blue Ox RV Park in Albany to Oregon Motorcoach Center in Eugene, Oregon.
Here’s a map showing our route, heading south:
An interactive map:
Leaving Blue Ox:
South on I-5:
Exit to Eugene:
Turn towards the airport:
Arriving at Oregon Motorcoach Center:
We left our coach here for 3.5 weeks, while they did annual servicing and some repairs and improvements.
Video: Mount Shasta, California to Albany, Oregon motorhome travel timelapse
A timelapse of driving our RV, a Tiffin Allegro Bus motorhome, 292 miles from Mount Shasta, California to Albany, Oregon.
Mount Shasta, California to Blue Ox RV Park in Albany, Oregon
We drove our coach 292 miles, about six hours of driving, from Mount Shasta City KOA Holiday in Mount Shasta, California to Blue Ox RV Park in Albany, Oregon.
Here’s a map showing our route, heading north:
An interactive map, with potential stops pinned:
Back through the narrow KOA driveway:
Entering I-5 North:
Black Butte:
Barn:
Anderson Grade Summit Elevation 3067 Feet:
Klamath River bridge:
Oregon Welcomes You:
Siskiyou Mountain Summit Elevation 4310 Feet, Highest Elevation on I-5:
Truck speed guidance:
6% Downgrade:
Emigrant Lake looking mostly full:
Oregon Welcome Center rest area:
More barns:
Table Rock:
Ouch:
Seven Feathers rest area:
Paladin on the dash:
Downhill:
Willamette River:
Fuel stop:
Exit 233:
Arriving at Blue Ox RV Park:
They recommended (in the reservation email) parking here to check in:
Office:
Campground map:
It’s them again:
Our site, #144:
A mostly long-term RV park, but decent short-term spots.
Video: Lodi to Mount Shasta, California motorhome travel timelapse
A timelapse of driving our RV, a Tiffin Allegro Bus motorhome, 255 miles from Lodi to Mount Shasta, California.
Lodi to Mount Shasta City KOA Holiday in Mount Shasta, California
We drove our coach 255 miles, about five hours of driving, from Flag City RV Resort in Lodi to Mount Shasta City KOA Holiday in Mount Shasta, California.
Here’s a map showing our route, heading north:
An interactive map, with potential stops pinned:
Entering I-5 North:
Sacramento River:
Rest area:
Billboard for Granzella’s… truck & RV parking, eh? Interesting… I quickly investigated them for a lunch stop:
Swimming pools:
Granzella’s parking looked compatible, so exit to Williams:
Williams arch:
The aforementioned truck & RV parking:
Parked:
Tasty:
Later, a rest area:
Mount Shasta in the distance:
Shasta Lake:
Paladin asleep:
Mount Shasta:
Castle Crags:
Mount Shasta:
Pointy peak:
City of Mount Shasta:
Arriving at Mount Shasta City KOA Holiday:
A narrow access road:
Campground map:
Our site, #32:
Take note of the neighbor RV; we saw them again at our next stop, too:
A tight access road, but a perfectly fine place for a one-night stop. Though some train horn noise. Not a lot of options in this area; KOA is easy.
Video: Orange to Lodi, California motorhome travel timelapse
A timelapse of driving our RV, a Tiffin Allegro Bus motorhome, 379 miles from Orange to Lodi, California.
Orange to Flag City RV Resort in Lodi, California
We drove our coach 379 miles, about six hours of driving, from Orangeland RV Park in Orange to Flag City RV Resort in Lodi, California.
Here’s a map showing our route, heading north:
An interactive map, with potential stops pinned:
Following the coach to toad up by the office, as usual:
Tight corner for a motorhome and toad totaling over 60 feet, but easier when we can take both lanes:
In the correct lane for CA-91 East:
Exit to CA-91:
Exit to I-5 North:
I-5 North:
Downtown LA:
California freeways doing their thing:
Traffic and hill:
Wildflowers:
Rest area:
Hills:
Exit to CA-269:
An interesting toad:
Fuel stop:
Spendy fuel:
Paladin keeping the seat warm:
Hills:
Aquaduct:
Closed rest area:
Exit to CA-12:
Arriving at Flag City RV Resort:
Campground map:
Our site, #E14:
Annoyingly for a one-night stay, we had to untoad, as the site was too short to remain connected. That might be my fault, though; they let you choose your site when booking, and I must not have measured it with Google Maps:
If we stay here again in the future, we’d choose a better site.