Chinook RV

Travel safe and enjoy your trip!

Just took a look at the weather again, and then a little mapping.

If you do stay on I-40, there will be cold nighttime weather in NM and eastern AZ. OTOH, the drive from Amarillo, TX to Kingman, AZ is about 11 hours. If you cranked it out, that would get you past the worst of the cold (about ten miles west of Kingman you drop right down into the desert and it's warm from there on out basically).

Otherwise, there are various options for when/where to cut down to I-10, and whether to hit or miss Dallas (missing is pleasant!).

I swear, I can be IN my own Chinook and a road trip still sounds fun

Update:
I stopped for the night a little past Crab Or hard, slightly under halfway from Knoxville to Nashville.
It rained on and off. Temps were mild 40’s to 50’s.
Am finding a few things on the rig that need a fixin’.
I think there’s a small leak where the antenna crank goes through the roof. Some linen that they left there was a little wet.
The cruise control doesn’t work. Not even an icon lit up on the dash.
When I tried to see about the left rear blinker, I tried pulling the wood out by a small handle that’s in there. The whole rotted side came off! Haha have to laugh st that.
Speaking of rot, Blue you were right about beneath the fridge. Nuff said.
The fantastic looking fan in front of the roof AC doesn’t open or work at all. The latrine light and fan don’t either.
He wasn’t sure about the furnace working since he never
used it, so I bought a Mr. Heater portable buddy in case I’m stuck somewhere cold and not plugged in.
The important thing is that so far, mechanically, the rig purrs at 70mph, although I’ve been also going 55, 60,and 65 too.
I will update more at times. Trying to drive when I feel the energy, and I like it! Blue, thx for weather updates. I haven’t gone in the site yet since you’ve been keeping me abreast of it.
Later.

Great to get a "live" report. Go you!

I'm not sure which wood by the taillight you mean, but one note is that (at least on my year) Chinook tended to use wee little strips of plywood around the openings for hatches and other things. Then they'd fasten through the fiberglass and into the wood. The wood was "attached" to the inside body by polyester mush (basically sort of like bondo) which doesn't work very well. None of mine have been rotted but as I remove things to re-bed them over the course of time I check out those wood pieces. If they are bad I replace, but either way I affix them to the shell with thickened epoxy. That takes care of that.

Under the fridge: Shocker Now imagine a normal type RV with gaps and seams all over the place

My cruise control didn't work when I bought mine either. If I remember correctly, there isn't a light that comes on at all (on my era) even when it is working (later on Ford made it light up). I had mine repaired and it was the wheel switch. You could also take a quick look at the brake pedal --- I think there may be some kind of switch there that makes the cruise go off if you hit the brakes - maybe that's maladjusted? But my guess would be the wheel switch because given that you are turning the wheel all the time and there is a switch in there....

Fantastic vent: That'll be a 14" square hole so any typical RV roof vent can fit there. In case it needs replacing.

Antenna crank: I could see that leaking. Again a rotating thing. Mine wasn't leaking but I ended up removing the whole antenna anyway because it was so huge, flapped around a bit when driving, and I don't really watch TV. Anyway, I believe I have a photo post about removing it. If not I do have photos I could post later (when you are at home!).

The big thing is going to be the crazy cold night temps. To the good, that means sunny and dry during the day. I'm going to take a look at the forecast again now and will post back a summary.

On my 2004 I don't have a dash indicator on the cruise control. Mine was also inoperative when purchased and they replaced the "control module". As I recall $400-$500.

Okay, so, weather summary from the NOAA graphical CONUS view.

In terms of snow/mix, it looks like you're going to have a window to get through Texas panhandle and NM that's from mid-day tomorrow (Saturday) through Sunday day. There is some snow now through mid-day tomorrow, then it clears, but then by Sunday night a new bunch comes. It's a skinny window.

Temps are going to be cold at night. The stretch from Amarillo, TX to Kingman, AZ on I-40 will be quite cold at night (that's like an 11-hour drive across). But that's the most direct route, so you could either have one very cold night, one plugged in very cold night, or one looong stretch to get across it. There is a slightly low/warm point in the middle of that around the Winslow Walmart but even that will be 9ºF on Saturday night!
(21ºF on Sunday night but that's close to when snow comes back).

On I-10 it will also be cold, but less cold and the band of cold is narrower. If you are going to cut down to I-10, the most direct is to start down around Memphis, TN -- but then you go through Dallas/Ft. Worth (not all that fun), but maybe not so bad on a Saturday? If you do head across Texas that way note there are a few long stretches without gas. Nothing the Chinook can't handle just be aware.

Or you can stick it out on I-40 Amarillo and then go down on I-27. More of a right angle corner. If you do stay on I-40 to Amarillo then be wary about "cutting across" to I-10 on anything that looks shorter than I-27 to I-10. There be mountains there in southeastern NM!

So in summary from what I can see now:

1) Snowy patch on I-40 centered in NM will dissipate mid-day Saturday and stay clear through late Sunday (maybe early Monday morning?). Overnight lows will be brutal pretty much the whole way from Albuquerque to just west of Kingman -- that's an 11-hour drive or so if you want to blast through it.

2) Same snowy patch (albeit a bit narrower) will affect I-10 through Sunday mid-day, then be clear until mid-day Monday (then more snow comes). Lows will still be unseasonably cold, but not as cold as I-40 and the "cold band" is narrower (shorter area of high altitude).

I'll post screen shots here and into the next reply. First, the "weather" tab that shows systems. I'll start late tonight so you can see the progression.

Tonight (Saturday 2a.m. MST): Saturday afternoon, 2 p.m. MST Sunday morning (8 a.m. MST) Sunday night (11 p.m. MST) Continued...

Weather systems, cont. As you can see the window is closing now again for I-40 in terms of snow.

Monday morning (5 a.m. MST) Monday mid-day (11 a.m. MST) And now for the temps. As you probably know, once you get out west the temps pretty much correlate with altitude. That frigid patch on I-40 basically all 4000' or higher. West of Kingman you immediately drop down around 1000' or lower.

Saturday high temps:
Saturday night low temps: Turquoise... blue... PURPLE
Continued....

Sunday highs:
Sunday night lows:
Then skipping right on to Monday night lows:
BTW, I-10 is right down on the southern border of the US as it goes through the El Paso/NM/AZ border area.

Sman: Good info on the cruise control and that it was still the same in 2004. I know that puzzled me when I first got the Chinook. Cruise control not working, no lights or indicators. Then had it repaired, has worked fine ever since then (2014) and... still zero lights or indicators. I guess we are just used to those from other vehicles. I will say I do really like the controls though. Buddy bought a new Ford truck and you practically have to stare at the wheel for minutes at a time to figure out the cruise control buttons. Our vans? Perfect tactile no-eyes-needed buttons.

Forgot to mention wind. The cold temps may be a bummer, but you're winning the wind lottery! These are the afternoon snapshots, since that's typically the windiest. Has anyone actually ever seen light wind in El Paso?! I sure haven't.

As is probably obvious, the arrows show wind direction. The wind "flies" as the arrow would. Not that there is any wind to speak of.

Saturday, 2 p.m. MST:
Sunday, 2 p.m. MST
Monday, 2 p.m. MST