Our First Outing!

Since we made it home from Austin, I've been working on adapting our Sportsmobile to our needs.  Sportsmobile did a great job but there is always something that can be improved.  Actually, they say this never ends and to be sure, I am looking forward to many years of "tweaking" our van.

One of the first things that I did was to finalize our air conditioner installation.  Kevin, at Sportsmobile had done a great job adapting the A/C that we had left when we made our first trip to Austin.  Unfortunately, when he plugged it in he discovered that the A/C did not work.  So we were forced to buy another and make it work just to get us home.

The new A/C was actually smaller and more powerful. So all that I had to do was modify the pedestal that Kevin had fabricated so that it would fit the base of the new A/C.  I think it fits quite nicely now...

The major item that had to be accomplished before our next trip was to be able to store our bicycles. After all, this is the major factor that our van was designed around.  I actually figured out a method to get 2 road bikes and 2 mountain bikes in the space under the platform along with 3 tubs of gear, 2 folding chairs, and a folding table.  I guess that I was so busy doing so that I did not get a picture!

Off to Durango for the US Pro Championship!

We have been watching the Tour de France and other races for years and had always wanted to be spectators so here was our chance.  Durango CO is about 440 miles from Silver City so we new that these 3 days off would require a lot of driving but we would be taking our bikes so that we could get in 2 rides.  We left at noon on Sunday Aug.19.

We arrived in Durango and pulled into the Durango KOA at about 9:30 PM.  The next morning we said a brief hello to our friends Jay and Carrol and pulled out to get ahead of the race.

We parked at the top of Hesperus hill along US 160 with a couple hundred other fans and waited...

Everyone was in a festive mood and we were entertained by the massive number of official vehicles preceding the race but eventually here they came!  It was over too soon, but we waited for the road to open and the traffic to clear before we took off to follow them.  Next year we plan to follow the entire tour through Colorado.

We have a habit of eating a fresh salad for lunch and traveling in the Mercury allows us to do this with ease without the frustration of finding a salad bar in most small towns.  Here we are having lunch on a dirt pull out along US 160 near Mancos.

Good thing we found a ground squirrel photographer!

We followed the race route up toward Lizard Head pass and found a great campsite Monday night near the Dolores river.  The next day we were able to enjoy a great ride up the pass through the town of Rico.  On our way back we got very wet in a cold rain but, no problem, the ride was great!

Back to New Mexico!

Tuesday, we turned for Cortez, CO and then south through the reservations.  On the way we just had to get a picture of the Mercury with Shiprock in the background.

 Our destination for Tuesday night was the road to the Fox Mountain Lookout off of NM 32, between Quemado and Apache Creek.  We arrived there late in the afternoon and decided to go ahead and take our ride.  It was a good decision as it rained that night and early in the morning and we weren't looking for another cold rain ride.  Coming back to the Mercury after a ride for a hot shower was a pleasure we will continue to enjoy.

We made it home by noon on Wednesday and had a totally wonderful trip with only one incident.

Driving along US 550 towards Durango I kicked up a large stick from the right front wheel.  Fine time to discover that the front of the right grey tank is not shielded!  Oh well, another project!

On the outward bound trip, traveling the interstate at 75 mph we achieved 18.6 mpg.  But coming back at a more leisurely pace of 60 to 65 mph, we got over 21 mpg!  Shows you what a lead foot will do!

See ya next trip!

JIM

We Pick-up our Sprinter and hit the road!

OMG! We own a Sportsmobile Sprinter!

Monday July 22 we flew into Austin, took a cab to Sportsmobile and there waiting in the delivery bay was the Mercury "in the flesh".  As I look back, the entire process took about 7 months from order to pick-up. The most difficult part, of course, being the waiting and anticipation. 

After getting a thorough "walk around" by Kevin, we had a few last minute additions and we were given the keys.  Having never driven a Sprinter I was advised by Kevin that they were on a city block and that by the time I went around once I would be good to hit the road.  He was right, we did, and set off for a 9 day trek to return to Silver City.

We would be camping in the van every night:

Here we are at the Winfield Kansas City Lake.



Our trip took us through the hottest part of the country, Texas, Oklahoma, and Kansas before we would get back to the cool elevations of New Mexico.  So we chose camping in places that we could operate our portable air conditioner (more later).  That meant we stayed in KOA Campgrounds, City and State Lakes, friends and relatives driveways and did not get to sleep without the A/C until New Mexico.

So, let me give you a tour:

I always like to start with the platform.  The highest priority we had was to be able to store our bicycles inside as we travel.  Couple this with the desire to have a full time queen sized bed and the design was fully compromised.  This meant that we had to start with an Extended Body Sprinter.  But look at all of the storage space!

And such a nice bedroom.  We both slept very well and as long as we remain agile enough to crawl into bed everything will work great.

Directly behind the driver we have 5 large drawers.  We found this to be plenty of space for our clothes and gear.

This photo, colored by the overhead LED lights, shows Jackie preparing our first dinner at the galley.

I, personally, found that at 6'1" I had no problem using the shower.  The porta-potty turned out to be well worth while as the condition of some of the City and State campground facilities showed why our guests appreciate our KOA.

The living room is cozy and comfortable although I am going to add a footstool.

Kevin had done a great job of adapting our portable A/C unit.  He made a Plexiglas adapter for the exhaust duct that rolls up in the passenger side window.  All through Texas, Oklahoma, and Kansas, the A/C ran all night.  At 105 degrees F in the daytime the van A/C worked great, just what you would expect from a Mercedes!  But often at night it would not even get below 80 degrees F by morning.  We have a place to store the A/C unit under the platform when we are traveling when and where we will need it.  Otherwise (most of the time) we will leave it at home.

So, just for the curious:

We weighed the van in Boise City OK at what I would consider to be a "light" camping load with 1/2 tank of fuel at 8120#.  With a GRVW of 8550# that leaves a comfortable margin.

We traveled about 1950 miles and I have never had a more comfortable ride.  Average fuel consumption for the trip was 17.7 mpg and we had tanks that got us 18.6 mpg and they say it will get better!

We love our Motor home (yes, a very small one!) and can't wait for our next trip.  We will be going to Durango, CO for the first stage of the US Pro Bicycle Race, Aug. 20.

So, we will let you know how that goes...

Jim and Jackie