Maiden voyage

businessgypsy

Curiosity fed the dog
After shopping around for just six years, I finally found a deal I couldn't refuse on a 2008 3500 with the contractor group (220a alternator, rubber floor and wheel well covers, tiedowns everywhere, rear seat sockets under floor, partition prep, slider and rear windows). Off the lot as excess defunct California dealer stock at $27K with 21 miles on the odometer. I had Thanksgiving dinner in Southwest Florida with my 80 year old mom and 30 year old son, got on an afternoon flight and woke up 2400 miles away in Phoenix, Arizona.


I've been lusting after a Sprinter for years, but had only driven a couple of miles in a 2006 T1N a few years back. Now, on Black Friday, I was finally behind the wheel for a three day drive. After reading these forums I was expecting every kind of problem, from unbearable road noise to Black Death. Beginner's luck maybe, but it was a pleasure cruise. I took off through the desert on a bright clear day to get to know the beast.

Join me for the trip via crappy iPhone photos shrunk to postage stamp size shot through a bug splattered window! It'll be as fun as watching your aunt Sadie's cruise slides.

Leaving the Mothership, Airpark Dodge Jeep in Phoneix. These giant Saguaro cacti are what passes for ornamental trees in this part of the world.

I figured to take it easy the first day while I found my way around, so my destination was Ruidoso, New Mexico - about 600 miles.

Passing the Old West town of Tombstone


The ubiquitous roadside attraction billboards of the desert Southwest. Funny, one of my other rides is a '73 Thing (Kublewagen, Type 181) designed by Ferdinand Porsche for some nutcase with military aspirations.


All rocks and mesquite trees, but kinda cool


Passing near the Mexican border, think I saw Rudi blazing away with a load of turistas in his Silver Cloud


White Sands Missile Base in New Mexico, just outside Las Cruces. Birthplace of the space program (and lots of conspiracy theories)


U.S. Border Patrol checkpoint, far away from the border. There are indeed stop signs on the freeway. How many people are in that thing? One? Lemme take a look...


Early Santa sighting just outside of Alamogordo. In the desert. On a rat rod high bike.


So, isn't the little ski town of Ruidoso a way off route? Besides cutting the first day short and running me about two hundred miles off course, why would I do that?


Could it be a date with my friend Karen?


Worth it. Totally. Great first day of driving, using Diesel Kleen and getting to know the sounds and vibes. One of these days I'll distill the notes and figure out my mpg. Sadly, there were miles to go, so I said my goodbyes and hit the road bright and early.


Next stop, Roswell. The area 51 Roswell.


They make a big deal out of the alien thing here.


A real big deal.


Lots of sky and road on the New Mexico / Texas border. Also plenty of roadrunners and coyotes, but no Acme anvils falling out of the sky.


Hangin' Judge Roy Bean's office in Pecos, TX "Law West of the Pecos"


It's a beaut! Actually a butte.


An old wooden oil derrick, like the movie "There will be Blood"


What are those green things? Trees? Yeah, out of the dry country and into the Texas Hill country. Hungry for BBQ.


The last bit of fall at 80mph just outside of Fredriksburg, TX.


The cool little German town of Fredriksburg. There was a Christmas Festival going on, but the light was too low for the iPhone's poor excuse for a camera.


After driving the night through Austin, TX with a brief stop to see a friend I had my only weird driving episode. A spaghetti-like urban freeway connection suddenly shot me six stories in the air on a curving single lane ramp. The Sprinter's height and high profile disoriented me 'till I freaked out and slowed to a crawl. Better after a beer and a BBQ brisket. Kept driving untill I saw the sun rise on the Louisiana border.


The Henderson swamp. Scene of many of my childhood days spent flyfishing from a bateau, as well as lots of body dumpings (allegedly).


The Interstate highway over the Atchafalaya River Basin is mostly suspended over water. It's the largest freshwater hardwood swamp in the United States. A majority of the local speak French. I learned to cook here as a kid. Gumbo, Jambalaya, Crawfish Etoufee.


My childhood home of Baton Rouge, LA at 80mph distorted through the windshield while crossing the Mississippi River.


Mobile, Alabama. One of the few places in the US where the Interstate highway...


...crosses under a large body of water through a tunnel


Finally back in my current state of Florida, overlooking Escambia Bay just outside of Pensacola. Only 700 miles to go!


Back at base in Southwest Florida. I wonder if the SLK will fit in the back of the Sprinter?


The new rig was great! I filled up at little mom and pops (yeah, I know) and huge truck stops, pulled off for naps in rest areas and WalMarts, ate a lot of local food, saw some of my beautiful country and some beautiful friends. Can't wait to build it out for an extended backroads journey. Thanks to all here for lots of info and support. This vehicle feels more like me than anything I've been in for a long time.
 
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I bought my 07 out of Miami, FL and had it shipped to me in Phoenix! Thought about doing the drive vs $1000, but couldn't make the numbers work with airfare, taking vacation, 3 days on road, fuel, etc. Will probably duplicate your drive this summer, taking the whale to Tallahassee, and points south for some diving. Plenty of room for everything, last time did it in a 'burb.
 

businessgypsy

Curiosity fed the dog
...Thought about doing the drive vs $1000, but couldn't make the numbers work...
Yeah, it was a close thing. I bid it out on uShip.com, and the lowest came back at $1,695.00 Probably a wash, dollar-wise, but the road time saved me big bucks on psychotherapy. I have a little shoebox of a condo in Portland, Oregon and one of my life goals is to make the summer trip out there from Florida in two months. Best I've done so far is ten days, but I'm working on it. Forget cruising the Caribbean in a sailboat - there's no more interesting, romantic, and soul satisfying trip than hitting the forgotten backroads of the United States.
 

Sacto John

New member
That was awesome...on day I will do a cross country roadie in my Sprinter. My parents are going to be borrowing my van for their 6 week cruise of the lower 48 this spring, I wish I could join them
 

ben322

Member
Congrats on a great deal! I did a similar drive in October when I went to Phoenix to pickup the Airstream and drove it back to Maryland, (2,300 miles). Like you I couldn't pass up a deal and AirTran got me there for $120. I was also really happy with the 3500 chassis driving across the panhandle of Texas where the crosswinds were fierce.
 

businessgypsy

Curiosity fed the dog
... I was also really happy with the 3500 chassis driving across the panhandle of Texas where the crosswinds were fierce.
Good point. I came down some tight mountain turns and through canyon gaps with posted crosswind warnings without any feeling of instability. Very little sensation of being sucked into the draft of passing eighteen wheelers, either (although I did seem to see a Prius or two wobble in my wake). I'll have to stand up between or stack over the wheel wells when transporting 4'x8' sheet goods, but a small compromise in my mind. Some of the expediters have commented that a standard pallet won't forklift into the space between the wells, but there are workarounds.
 

businessgypsy

Curiosity fed the dog
Thanks for the picture story. :clapping: :thumbup:
As a San Jose taxpayer, thank you for the good deal! This vehicle was originally ordered for the Santa Cruz school district, and when they cratered it dominoed Hartzheim Dodge in San Jose. From reviews I read, seems like they did you a favor by going under. Hope you have a better service/sales choice these days, but with the bay area nearby I'm sure your options are many. I'll be swinging by your wonderful neck of the woods this summer to visit my best friend, the grand high poobah of the San Jose Biomed Incubator. I can taste the grilled artichokes already...
 

glasseye

Well-known member
This vehicle feels more like me than anything I've been in for a long time.
Exactly. :thumbup: Same here.

Is there anything, anything as soul-satisfying as a long-distance, solo road trip?:rad:

Congrats on a great deal and thanks for a most excellent post.
 

Bajabum

Vi veri veniversum vivus
Great story and pics to boot! Only one thing bothers me......aren't you a little old for that pretty young lady? :thumbup:
B
 

Aldo

New member
Forget cruising the Caribbean in a sailboat - there's no more interesting, romantic, and soul satisfying trip than hitting the forgotten backroads of the United States.
As a newbie to this forum (but I've been keeping my eye on these vehicles for a long time; back in the mid 90's my wife and I had a 20' Class C RV), your post here captured one of the true joys of life in America, traveling by backroads. There was a book written many years ago "Blue Highways" by William 'Least Heat' Moon that dealt with this issue. We are both professionals who are tied to the work week...but long for the freedom to disappear on the road. I see a stealth conversion of a Sprinter as the ticket to go off grid and just live.

Your description was marvelous! Thanks!!!
 

boatmax

Member
Congratulations on a heck of a deal. I did a similar deal only a month ago; bought a used 2004 MB Cruiser motor home on the 2500 Sprinter chassis, with only 11,000 miles. My wife and I flew out to Los Angeles, California, VERY early, arriving at 10:30 AM and drove it back cross country, to North Alabama (Guntersville). My wife had never been west, so we took a side trip to Las Vegas, then a day at the Grand Canyon. We had Huevos Rancheros for breakfast, and then began our drive back on I-40 for 1,600 miles before getting off I-40. I made it as far as Amarillo, TX first night. We took many pictures of flat topped mesas, beautiful rock formations and cactus. We made it home the second night.
I bought the unit for business, and travel extensively. In the month since my purchase, I have not spent 1 cent on motel accomodations, and have put almost 7,000 miles on the unit in only a month, but 2,000 was on my maiden voyage. I have changed my oil, since I did not know what was in it when I bought it, and have read this forum extensively before and since my purchase, and find it to be an invaluable source of information.
The OTHER Max :)
 

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