Ovrlnd_Trvlr
On A Journey
That is good customer service!
Who traveled the farthest to pick up a Sprinter?
- Thread starter Cole
- Start date
israndy
2007 LTV Serenity
Did they ship a Cab Chassis to B.C.? Or was that a van conversion that you built up with Total Composite's RV kit?Got mine shipped from Germany
-Randy
cargo170ext
New member
Live Boston, flew to Philly and picked it up in NJ near the Philly state line. I was sick that day so I had nothing better to do than go ahead and seal the deal after months of perusing cargurus.
-CargoExt
-CargoExt
killerpitou
New member
Just picked one up downtown NY and drove it back to Denver (after flying from there) in 2 days 1,850 miles only..... Exhausting. The VAN had wheel speed issues so ABS was gone which is great in the snow and limp mode was a problem. I was able to reset limp mode with a chinese knock off OBD reader I've had for a long time. Limpmode was probably due to cracked resonator. So once I had stabilized speed, it wouldn't go in limpmode for a while.... It was Dec 29th and 30th, with blizzard along the whole route. The heater air would only come out of the front vents and no partition on the 144" WB high roof VAN..... Was between 0 and 10 degrees the whole time. Had to put my feet up on the dashboard to warm my feet up and avoid frostbite lol. No cruise control either of course... Arguably one of my most painful cross country drive I've done.
Made it and finishing to fix up the VAN as we speak.
Made it and finishing to fix up the VAN as we speak.
Struggling to find a new Sprinter with the options I wanted locally (or even on the west coast), flew out to Philadelphia from Seattle to purchase my new rig. Wandered home over the next eight days. Google said we could have made it in about 2800 miles but we took 3500. A great way to break her in.
We bought our Airstream Interstate on eBay from a seller who lives in Sedona, AZ. We drove from our house in eastern TN to Nashville, spent the night there, caught the first flight to Phoenix, AZ then a shuttle van ride to Sedona. Inspected the vehicle, paid the man and started back towards Nashville to pick up the car and then home. 1997 miles on the drive back. Took 3 days.
in 1999 i flew from NYC to San Fransisco with a buddy, we rented a car, drove to Reno, bought a 1974 lime green VW Westfalia bus, returned the rental car, and drove back to Long Island, New York...all in about 4 days. was a sketchy ride home for sure in the VW bus. only drove to New Jersey for the Sprinter.
israndy
2007 LTV Serenity
Wait, that's not a Sprinter!
For a NON-Sprinter, I did have quite the trip. I had a friend meet at my place, we took BART to SFO and flew to St. Louis, where we were met by the RV Seller's minion. We drove for like 2 hours and got to the place, only to discover that the RV was in MUCH worse shape than the pictures revealed. After MUCH argument about dropping the cost by $10,000 to cover the repairs we gave up and begged for a ride BACK to the airport where we did NOT have a return flight and spent the day trying to get back home the next day.
Then the RV appeared back on eBay, this time I won it AGAIN only at the $10,000 less price, but the guy wouldn't sell it to me, this happened two times more in the course of almost two months. When I did win and the guy relented to sell to me at that price, I also won an electric car for my wife in the same part of the world. I wanted to pick them up together but feared the guy would screw me again so I had it shipped. Arrived w/i the week for $500, the RV took another month for it to be ready to collect as I was having him fix things I had seen when I first "visited" (cracked windshield, new toilet, new batteries and tires)
I then reproduced my original trip out, alone this time, my friend didn't have more time off work. Got there and after more argument, he fixed the moving entry floor and a baggage door that would not close and I was on my way. I drove thru St. Louis, Kansas City(s), Denver, and a few hours after Laramie I blew a hose. To be fair the engine was 10 years old with 6,000 miles on it. I was putting another 50% on the ODO with this one trip. For only $900 they towed me back to Rawlins, WY, but the shop was closed.
The next day (good thing I was in an RV) when they opened they told me the parts were a week out, so I booked a train that was oddly walking distance and traveled back home to go to work. A couple of weeks later it was ready and I took another train ride out, the biggest adventure of the trip was trying to wind down the Sonora Pass near my cabin in the Sierras, in a 40-foot motorhome with smoking brakes, even with the engine brake going full blast, just no place to stop on that ride. Quite the adventure!
I have since taken that pass in my Volvo and my Sprinter and they also used a lot of brakes. The Sprinter started the shuttering of warping rotors going down the mountain. My new Tesla is the first vehicle that I felt secure going down those steep mountain passes. Barely uses the brakes.
-Randy
For a NON-Sprinter, I did have quite the trip. I had a friend meet at my place, we took BART to SFO and flew to St. Louis, where we were met by the RV Seller's minion. We drove for like 2 hours and got to the place, only to discover that the RV was in MUCH worse shape than the pictures revealed. After MUCH argument about dropping the cost by $10,000 to cover the repairs we gave up and begged for a ride BACK to the airport where we did NOT have a return flight and spent the day trying to get back home the next day.
Then the RV appeared back on eBay, this time I won it AGAIN only at the $10,000 less price, but the guy wouldn't sell it to me, this happened two times more in the course of almost two months. When I did win and the guy relented to sell to me at that price, I also won an electric car for my wife in the same part of the world. I wanted to pick them up together but feared the guy would screw me again so I had it shipped. Arrived w/i the week for $500, the RV took another month for it to be ready to collect as I was having him fix things I had seen when I first "visited" (cracked windshield, new toilet, new batteries and tires)
I then reproduced my original trip out, alone this time, my friend didn't have more time off work. Got there and after more argument, he fixed the moving entry floor and a baggage door that would not close and I was on my way. I drove thru St. Louis, Kansas City(s), Denver, and a few hours after Laramie I blew a hose. To be fair the engine was 10 years old with 6,000 miles on it. I was putting another 50% on the ODO with this one trip. For only $900 they towed me back to Rawlins, WY, but the shop was closed.
The next day (good thing I was in an RV) when they opened they told me the parts were a week out, so I booked a train that was oddly walking distance and traveled back home to go to work. A couple of weeks later it was ready and I took another train ride out, the biggest adventure of the trip was trying to wind down the Sonora Pass near my cabin in the Sierras, in a 40-foot motorhome with smoking brakes, even with the engine brake going full blast, just no place to stop on that ride. Quite the adventure!
I have since taken that pass in my Volvo and my Sprinter and they also used a lot of brakes. The Sprinter started the shuttering of warping rotors going down the mountain. My new Tesla is the first vehicle that I felt secure going down those steep mountain passes. Barely uses the brakes.
-Randy
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Midwestdrifter
Engineer In Residence
Fun trip. Sonora pass is pretty crazy, 26% in some places. That being said, if you are smoking brakes, you are driving too fast. I have descended at 15% sustained for miles with with only 400F brakes at the bottom. The secret, go slow!
In about a week I am flying to LA from OK to pick up our van from the port. The return trip is going to be pretty long, could take months...
In about a week I am flying to LA from OK to pick up our van from the port. The return trip is going to be pretty long, could take months...
RVCuisineScene
Active member
Flew from Albuquerque NM to Newark NJ took a train and rental car to Devon PA picked up my 3500 and drove out to Pagosa Springs CO in 5 days, 2200 miles with the first 1000 taking the longest due to break-in.
We flew from British Columbia to Nova Scotia and picked up our 2006 2500. We toured the Maritimes up through Newfoundland to see icebergs -Prince Edward Island to visit friends- around Nova Scotia to eat lobster and see lighthouses- Off to New Brunswick to eat more lobster and sticky buns-bypassed Quebec - into Ontario to visit a friend who restores Studebaker truck- into Manitoba visiting old friends and help replace all the hydraulic oil line on a Skidder- Missed visiting a friend in Saskatchewan who was on his own adventure at the time-into Alberta to see dinosaurs (way too busy tourist trap) met up with old friends and helped them install a VW engine in their '67 bug but had to remove it and tear it apart due to a collapsed valve spring as it had been sitting for 8 years without turning it over on the same cylinder .
Visited our grown "kids" in BC. Back home on Friday 13th
10 L per 100kms ran perfect we logged 10,000 kms. in 31 days
excellent adventure
cheers
Hank
Visited our grown "kids" in BC. Back home on Friday 13th
10 L per 100kms ran perfect we logged 10,000 kms. in 31 days
excellent adventure
cheers
Hank
KGB Pilot125
Member
Flew from Denver to Jacksonville to get my 2014
Left the Dealership at noon on Monday and was home at 7pm on Wednesday. Including going up to North Carolina to see a friend who had just moved to Charlotte.
Flew Denver to Chicago for the 2006, was home the next day at sun up.
Love flying out to buy a car/truck/van and driving home. Feels like a real adventure to me.
Left the Dealership at noon on Monday and was home at 7pm on Wednesday. Including going up to North Carolina to see a friend who had just moved to Charlotte.
Flew Denver to Chicago for the 2006, was home the next day at sun up.
Love flying out to buy a car/truck/van and driving home. Feels like a real adventure to me.
First one in 2014 was bought new in Milwaukee, then driven back to San Diego.
Current one was bought in SF CA, rode with dealership delivery driver to Reno NV to take delivery out of state and avoid paying CA sales taxes.
Took Nevada HWY 50 (America’s loneliest road) then through Moab on way back to SW Colorado.
I’ll agree the return trip from purchase is part of the fun for me.
I love sleeping in a new van in the middle of nowhere on the way home.
For the flight out I check a bag with exped megamat pad and sleeping bag, pillow.
Current one was bought in SF CA, rode with dealership delivery driver to Reno NV to take delivery out of state and avoid paying CA sales taxes.
Took Nevada HWY 50 (America’s loneliest road) then through Moab on way back to SW Colorado.
I’ll agree the return trip from purchase is part of the fun for me.
I love sleeping in a new van in the middle of nowhere on the way home.
For the flight out I check a bag with exped megamat pad and sleeping bag, pillow.
TheBarefootBrophys
New member
Insane gumption you have! Way to stick with itHow about who traveled the farthest to almost pick up a Sprinter
My first attempt at buying one. I flew out to Boston MA from Fresno CA only to find black death under the cover and rust in all the wrong places. I needed a van though so I went double or nothing and instead of flying back home I flew to Phoenix AZ and got my first Sprinter. I ended up getting lucky and getting a really solid van.
The one I am working with right now I ended up flying from Fresno CA to Little Rock AR and drove it back.
Missouri Blue
Member
On 11/6/18 we will have owned our Sprinter for 6 years.
On Tuesday, 11/6/12 my 8 year old (now he's 14) and I got on a plane at 7am and flew to Chicago. Then we jumped in a rental car and drove to Grand Rapids. Met the seller at the Grand Rapids airport where we returned the rental car, paid for the Sprinter (hadn't seen it prior), and jumped in and drove home. Stopped at Chipotle for dinner somewhere in Illinois and made it back to Kansas City area by 1am on 11/7. My son went to school that morning. We look back at pictures and smile. He did a state report that year on Michigan. Bought it with 162,000 miles: just rolled over 300,000 on a recent camping/rock climbing trip to Arkansas.
I think owning a Sprinter has shaped some of our hobbies and interests. Our outdoor adventures have been enriched by owning a Sprinter.
On Tuesday, 11/6/12 my 8 year old (now he's 14) and I got on a plane at 7am and flew to Chicago. Then we jumped in a rental car and drove to Grand Rapids. Met the seller at the Grand Rapids airport where we returned the rental car, paid for the Sprinter (hadn't seen it prior), and jumped in and drove home. Stopped at Chipotle for dinner somewhere in Illinois and made it back to Kansas City area by 1am on 11/7. My son went to school that morning. We look back at pictures and smile. He did a state report that year on Michigan. Bought it with 162,000 miles: just rolled over 300,000 on a recent camping/rock climbing trip to Arkansas.
I think owning a Sprinter has shaped some of our hobbies and interests. Our outdoor adventures have been enriched by owning a Sprinter.