ArmyofOne

On the 10th of August, my wife Meghan and I ventured out on another road trip. Seems we do these about once per year. A week prior, I traded in my late model Ram 1500 SLT on a brand-spankin’ new (leftover 2011) Big Horn Crew Cab 4x4, about 3 trim levels upgrade from what I had. The truck performed flawlessly, from 100 ft below sea level in Deland Florida, to 14,110 ft above sea level on the Pikes Peak Hill Climb, from coast-to-coast and corner-to-corner, I could not have asked for a better performing or more comfortable ride. I averaged 510-520 miles per tank, so roughly 20-21mpg, at around 80mph average speed. Drop it to 60-70 and she gets about 23-24. Cant complain I guess, it costs to make good time LOL. We planned on spending roughly $5,000 this trip, we came in under budget at around $3,600 from our front door and back. This year, the National Park Service gave out free Annual Park Passes for US Armed Forces, good at most National Parks across the nation, so we incorporated 7 national park visits into our trip. It saved us roughly $300. We camped at the end of each leg at a KOA Campground in the city we chose to stop in. Total mileage from driveway-to-driveway was 8,402 miles. We spent $1,600 in fuel, including driving our truck for 10 days in Fort Worth TX, 5 days in Deland FL, and 5 days in Gatlinburg TN. Our itinerary:

Leg 1- Seattle WA to Salt Lake City UT: An overnight stop at a KOA Campground.

Leg 2- Salt Lake City UT to Flagstaff AZ: During leg 2 we stopped at Bryce Canyon, Zion Canyon, Grand Staircase and Grand Canyon (North Rim) National Parks. 3 national park entrance fees at $25 per park, and $50 for the Grand Canyon, but that complimentary annual passes saved us the entrance fees. Handed them my Military ID and my Pass and we were waved on through the gates around the literally hundreds of cars that were waiting in line.

Leg 3- Flagstaff AZ to Fort Worth TX: Spent 10 days with my folks, Went to the Ram Truck Club meet I organzed called RamFest. Other than that, lots of FBI (Fishing, Beer and Isolation). Nothing to see there. We did make it to Houston, to see my grandmother, and managed to squeeze in a short dinner with Bob (Lil4x). We try to do that every time we are in TX. Bob, ya’ll are such great people, my family was glad to meet you and it was good to see you again!

Leg 4- Fort Worth TX to Gatlinburg TN: This was just an overnight stop to scoop up Meghan’s parents before going to Florida.

Leg 5- Gatlinburg TN to Deland FL: We followed my in-laws down to Deland FL to see Meghan’s sister and her family. We got there just in time for Hurricane Issac Figures. I drive to Florida, wash my truck and a freakin’ hurricane. Whatever. LOL. I made it as far south as Orlando, we wanted to meet up with Paul (bitkahuna) but it just didn’t happen, between the weather, my lack of cell service and the amusement parks in Orlando offering free admission for Returning veterans and their families that week, it was all I could do to get sleep.

Leg 6- Deland FL back to Gatlinburg TN: Spent 5 days with Meghan’s parents and Grandparents here. Gatlinburg is always a fun time! I love that town. We did the Hatfield and McCoy’s dinner show, Ober Gatlinburg, Dollywood and some other amusement park type stuff. I could live there and never run out of things to do! LOL.

Leg 7- Gatlinburg TN to Clarksville TN. Had to stop overnight and see friends of ours stationed at Fort Campbell KY. Clarksville is just on the other side of the TN/KY border about 10 mins from the base.

Leg 8- Clarksville TN to Goodland KS: Just an overnight stop in a KOA Campground before heading on through Leg 9.

Leg 9- Goodland KS to Colorado Springs CO: Time for the Pikes Peak Hill Climb. We had a blast, but it was a little nerve wracking. Every time you look over the side of the road it’s a straight drop thousands of feet. For a guy who hates heights, this was the ultimate adrenaline rush. They tell you at the park entrance, 2nd gear going up, and 1st gear going down and if you have less than ¾ tank of fuel, they won’t let you in. On the way up, I had to use 2nd like he said, I also had to take a tube off of my intake before the filter to allow the engine to get more air. It did not care what kind of air it got, hot or cold, so I ran a short-ram intake for a little bit by removing the tube that goes from the fender to the airbox. Get to the top, and don’t plan on doing too much moving around. The oxygen is so thin at the summit, even I, in as good a shape as I am, was having trouble. I was dizzy, nauseous, extremely short of breath, had a splitting headache and a severe walking disability. I was stumbling around trying to take pictures. It was worth it though, as you will see we got some good ones. On the descent, 1st gear was needed along with 4wd-low range in a couple spots that were extremely steep. We got halfway down and they stopped us and check the temperature on our brake rotors. They were 200 degrees, and I was being easy. 12 and 14% grades were not uncommon, if your brakes are 300 degrees they make you park for an hour. Losing your brakes on one of the steep switchbacks was not what I would call a good time. We got to the bottom and started leg 10.

Leg 10-Colorado Springs CO to Rock Springs WY: An overnight stop after driving through Denver. There is some very nice scenery in CO.

Leg 11-Rock Springs WY to Grand Teton, Yellowstone and finally Butte MT: Doing 2 national parks this size in one day was not the best idea I have ever had, but I had no idea how big Yellowstone was until I actually got there. Grand Teton was just mountains and forest, and lots of Bison. Beautiful as it was, I am glad I didn’t have to go out of our way to get to it, it was on our route. Yellowstone was the best national park I have been to in a very long time by far. The bubbling cauldrons of hot mud and water, Old Faithful, the Sulphur Springs, we did all of it that we had time to do. We pulled into Yellowstone at 130pm, we didn’t leave until 8pm, and our campground in Butte, MT was roughly 3 hrs away still. Whose idea was this anyway? :P

Leg 12-Butte MT to Seattle WA: This leg simply consisted of coming home. Nothing to see here. :) So without further ado, the pictures! If anyone wants hi-res versions of these photos, let me know and I will get them to you.

Leg 1- Seattle WA to Salt Lake City UT:

^Signing out on leave, my friend from work and I had a mini truck-meet.

^All packed up and ready to go

^Sunrise in southern Idaho

^Marv likes to ride.

^This one time at Ram Camp

^Marv calls it a day in Salt Lake City, UT.

Slidell LA was pretty hard hit and last i knew thats where you live. you good friend?

good advice. we are 2/3 through our trip now. leaving Gatlinburg TN tomorrow!

Yeah I dont nessecarily like the deal I got, but I am ok with it...just ok.

I got $0 down and 84 months at $501/month and 3% interest. We LOVE the rig though. I plan to pay it off within the year, I just needed to build my credit and the lowest interest rate was 84 months (which is weird). This is definately the longest loan I have had, but at 3% I should be able to pay it off even at the minimum faster than it depreciates. My plan is this time next year to cash in part of my portfolio, buy a home outright and payoff my truck.

Steve, is 84 Months a common loan term nowadays? Seems to be, I know a couple others who are in 84 or even 96 month terms. O_O

Well, I returned home from my final deployment recently and I wanted to go get the rig of my dreams. I found one yesterday, it literally fell in my lap while I was in for service. She is a 2011 Ram 1500 Big Horn 4x4 Crewcab. Options include:

-Tow Package

-In-dash DVD Player/touch screen/HDD Radio

-5.7L Hemi

-Split folding rear bench with lockable in-floor storage compartments

-Rhino Spray-in Bedliner

-AWD (4x4 Auto)

-Multiple Displacement System 4-Cylinder Shutdown.

-Factory Dual exhaust.

-20" Wheels

-CLIV Trailer Hitch

-Power Memory front seats

-U-connect

-heated steering wheel

...the list goes on.

They threw in a soft tonneau cover, which I get to pick up monday if it comes in. They are also letting me go in monday, put both trucks on a lift side-by-side and swap my new brakes, and my new Total Load Control helper air springs for the rear end. I swapped everything else yesterday at the lot. So without futher ado...here she is!:

Old with the new:

Well folks, just wanted to check in. Been home since the 17th of July, and it has been awesome. Starting our roadtrip next friday morning EARLY. Our Route:

Tacoma WA-Salt Lake City UT (overnight stop-camping)

Salt Lake City UT-Grand Staircase-Escalante National Park

GSENP-Grand Canyon National Park

GCNP-Flagstaff AZ (overnight stop-camping).

Flagstaff AZ-Fort Worth TX (Stop for 10 days with my family and picking up my 26' Bayliner).

While in DFW, we are going to jet down to houston to see my grandparents, then back up to DFW. Then...

DFW, TX-Gatlinburg TN (meet up with Meghan's folks and stay overnight)

Gatlinburg, TN-Orlando, FL for 4 days

Back to Gatty TN for 5 more.

Gatty TN to Clarksville TN (overnight stop with friends)

Clarksville TN-Goodland KS (overnight stop, camping)

Goodland KS-Pikes Peak National Park CO

PPNP- Rock Springs WY (overnight stop camping)

Rock Springs WY-Jackson WY

Jackson WY-Grand Tetons National Park

Grand Tetons National Park-Yellowstone National Park

Yellowstone National Park-Bozeman MT (overnight stop camping)

Bozeman MT-Tacoma WA (HOME).

Total cost for the trip will be roughly $1800 in fuel, maybe more...depending on the mileage I get towing 7,000 lbs of boat. Then the campsites were $160, figuring a grand of fun money in both TX, and FL/TN, so roughly $4,000 total cost. Not bad considering I will be having 30 days of FUN. All the national parks we are stopping at are free this year (got a free annual pass with military ID) so thats why we are hitting all of those.

Here we go!

5 days and a wake-up!

All I can say, is thank god for Tricare and the VA. LOL.

2 more weeks folks! I am at FOB Sharana near the pakistani border, giving all my equipment to a new unit, and then we are flying out via Helicopter to Bagram Air Field, then back to camp Leatherneck for 2 weeks. We go wheels up on 14 July! Should be home by the 20th!

We hit 145 today...and it's only gonna get hotter!

My brain...:D

not home yet, 22 days!

Taken today, at noon, in front of my office, at Camp Leatherneck, Afghanistan.

Thanks Steve! How have you been?

Coming in off of my last mission in afghanistan... Towing an 80,000# Buffalo Route Clearance Vehicle with the MRV (MaxxPro Recovery Vehicle).

For this deployment, and all I have accomplished, I was awarded my 3rd Army Commendation Medal:

See taliban? We kick your !Removed!, and we get awards for it ;)

The only problem I have is haters hatin' cause its a Mopar. :P

Wife says Regular, mid and premium are $4.30/$4.40/$4.50 respectively, ON THE MILITARY BASE, in Tacoma today.

Nice. With a road trip coming fast (6500 miles), and a 7,000lb boat in tow behind me for 5k of it, its gonna be a long and expensive trip.

Great Info here! Wish it was around when my ES250 was actin' up!

Do it! The XK8 is timelessly gorgeous car that is fast and well-built if you stick with the 2004 to 2006 model years when Jaguar/Ford really got these things right. And they're very affordable - ours stickered new at just over $80,000. I picked it up for $24,200 pre-auction in Jacksonville, FL and had it shipped to us. 36,300 miles - it was a Beverly Hills toy for a couple in their late 60s. Wonderfully cared for. It is all my wife wants to drive now. In the seven weeks we've owned it, she's driven her RX330 once and our S-Type once. I plan to sell her RX330 to the same guy who bought her previous RX300 in January 2007. He has to sell that RX300 first....

Wow thats a good price! Still dont want to afford it though LOL. My Ram is the most expensive vehicle I have ever bought, at $21,000. LOL

We need pictures!

I gassed up and washed the Jeep today, I'm thinking about trying E85 in it. Its E85 ready, and its $.50/gal cheaper than regular now. I have heard there is some fuel economy penalty, the question is if it would be a wash or not...

Agreed on the pix, and a note about E85-

I run it in the Ram, it yields about 12mpg city and 15-16 hwy, as opposed to 15-16 city and 20-22 hwy. I only use it in town, on road trips, she gets the Real stuff. E85 on post at Fort Lewis is $2.87 a gallon. Regular unleaded is $4.11 today. HUGE savings, even with the gas hit. I can pay $65 a tank, or $125 a tank..DUH. LOL.

27 years old, and I am playing in the sandbox. When I was a kid I loved the sandbox. Hot-wheels, matchbox cars and Tonka trucks everywhere...my parents couldn't pull me out of the damned thing.:D

This isn't the sandbox I remember...but the Tonka trucks are WAY cooler:D

For my birthday, I got:

-Another day alive, and none of the guys in my unit have had to make the ultimate sacrifice...oh and 3:92 gears with limited slip differentials for my Ram...but thats not really that important, in the grand scheme. 3 more months to go.

Wifey says $4 flat for regular in seattle.

So much for my late summer road trip. 7500 miles at 20mpg= 22 tanks of fuel.

$4 a gallon x32 gallons= $128.

$128 x 22=$2,816...in fuel.

FML.

The word "Lexus" and all of the "L" symbols are used under license from Toyota Motor Corporation. Thats about as far as the affiliation goes. LOL! :D

And it sucks, here I am, half a world away, for the 4th time in 6 years. :( I left this on her FB wall this morning, since I cant call, its the next best thing.

Today, I took a long look back. A look back at my life the past 6 years. I realized something. There are alot of bad memories...but none of them involve her. I can't seem to recall a single reason for any of our fights. I thought about the people I have known, friends I have lost (in combat and otherwise), and I realized one person was always constant...whether I was by her side, or a half a world away, I always had a reason to keep on moving, fighting the fight...and a reason to come home.

Meghan, We have guided each other through some extremely rough waters, but you have always been my beacon on the shoreline, guiding me into safe harbor. People said we were crazy, that we would never last...but 6 years later, here we are...probably stronger than ever. We don't always get along, the good Lord knows we have had some humdinger's, but we have always stayed true to our hearts. I love you, now, as much as I ever have. I hope your ready for this ride, because 6 years is only the beginning.

Today, Tomorrow, Always...

Love Always,

Your husband.

So we just made a rental reservation through National Rental Car. Went with Kia Optima or similar.

$549 (for 30 days, gotta love military pricing), ~$200 deposit (not in the "frequent renters club), Free roadside assistance.

Gas will run me $1,000 in that if it goes to $5 a gallon, $1200 if it goes to 6. It will run me $2,000 if it goes to $5 a gallon, and $3,000 if it goes to 6, in the ram. Think I just made a really smart descision.

Well, if everyone took mass transit would that not be around the same amount of money you put in your car every day? I live in one of the 5 boroughs. I would have to take a bus to a train twice a day - I don't put that much money in my car every week but I hate driving into the city. Regardless everyone has us by the balls.

WTF? O_o. First off, not everyone in the US has access to public transportation. Public transportation is EASY in NY for whatever reason. Pretty much everywhere else in the US, its EXTREMELY complex and can take literally hours to get anywhere. I live about 8 miles from where I work, I work on a military base, and there is NO public transportation that can get me to work every day on time. They cant even get onto the base.

I have to have a vehicle. I chose to buy a pickup truck because I have toys and a need for a truck to haul them. I also use my truck to haul wood, furniture and whatever else I may need for my home.

And its fair that I can expect $6 a gallon by mid-summer? At $6 a gallon, it will cost me $195 to fill my Ram from empty.

So much for my 7500 mile-round-the-country trip I was supposed to take in august. Guess I have to tell my mom I cant see her. More importantly, my wife has to tell her father that she will most likely not be able to see him before he dies of cancer.

Gas is north of $4 again. The White House is blaming others. Nothing but talk coming from our leaders. Yep...that was a fast 4 years from when this thread started. Must be election season again! I stand by my original comments on all of this. It's a game, and energy to the core of our nation is being manipulated by those who aren't happy with the way things are going, and smell the blood in the political waters (that's called volitility, which in the trading world means profitability, which requires movement of values.) In the words of Ricky Riccardo - Youz gots some esplainin' to do, Lucy Obama. Bush ain't around anymore to blame, and the public isn't buying it when he is blamed.

Here we go again....

IDK WTF is going on, but sometimes I cant believe this is the country I swore to defend....

That wouldn't of helped. The fact is, energy is a commodity, and when its value is offered to be determined by any hillbilly with a laptop and e-trade account, it's vulnerable to the winds of perception and manipulation of ideas and lies. Example: 2009 - $35 +/- a bucket - demand hasn't changed that much since then (still in a recession with high unemployment), so that component of the arguement is toast. In fact, some could easily argue with fact that in many ways, the economy is worse today than 2009.

Look at where the DOW was then, when oil was $35 a barrel - 7,000 +/-. Look at were the DOW is now, flirting with 13,000 (2008 memories). Look at where oil is now. $105.

And...look at what we're reading in the media again.... Iran. Closing the Straight of Hormuth. Sound familiar?

Fact of the matter is this: We could fill up the entire gulf of Mexico with oil, just for us to use. Literally, drain the ocean out, and fill it with oil. Somebody in some investment banking shop with a bunch of call options on crude would slip someone a $50 at the local news rag of a bird with the flu pooping in the oil, which could ruin it all, and cause a false sense of panic. Runs up the price, trader executes the options, and gets rich. Yet, the President is called to task on why? Think this guy is going to do anything but pander to big oil this year? Nope... Why? Because he's already burned the bridge to the other big "president maker" donors.... Wall Street and the business community that is sufficating under regulations that keep changing. He has nobody else to go to.

That being said: Here's why it's election season...

Who else can donate to a re-electoin campaign? YOU and ME. YOU going to donate money to a guy who is supposed to answer for why it still costs $100 to fill up the family buggy? You got $100 to give to him, instead of to your gas tank? Nope.....

5 years ago, markets were manipulated. Somebody promised a full investigation if they were elected.... Instead....somebody took a pitch fork to a conference room full of bankers, while big oil went on vacation in the gulf of mexico, got a little drunk, and knocked over the pitcher of Black & Tans...

Bingo.