Our Mammoth Travels: Summer Trip Begins

Thursday, June 26^th

Before we get started with the trip, I have to mention another great mod we did for Mammoth. We added two DC cut-off switches. One is for the main battery. This makes sure no current is being drawn into the coach. We placed it in the battery compartment, so it is easily accessible. Before, if we wanted to cut DC power to the coach, we would have to remove the wing-nut and pull the wires off the battery directly. Most of the time, this isn’t an issue. But I felt that if we needed to isolate a problem quickly, a cut-off switch was a good thing to have. Plus, we could use the cut-off switch to cut all power, instead of removing the battery, when the rig goes into storage.

We also added a cut-off switch between the battery and the inverter. This is to make sure the inverter is not drawing power until we need it to, and we can leave its wires connected to the battery all the time. With the coach wiring separated, we can cut the coach power and still run the inverter, eliminating the coach draw on the battery at the same time. This might come in handy in an emergency where the inverter is needed to run something for a while. This cut-off switch we located near the inverter.

Another mod we completed was to better connect the battery box vent tube to the lid of the battery box. I found a properly sized elbow pipe online, and we used JB Weld to connect the elbow to the lid. We then connected the vent pipe back to the elbow. (Before, we had just had the pipe roughly fit into a hole in the lid.)

We also decided to wash the Mammoth again, even though she had been to the Blue Beacon. We were able to spend more time on the black streaks, and use a wash-n-wax product to give her a little more shine. We ran out of time, and ended up doing it on Sunday, while it was sprinkling. Although not optimal, it turned out to be a nice day to do all that labor. Not too hot for once!

Back to the trip! We loaded up and headed out for our trip to Colorado. We’ll be visiting family in Amarillo, as well. Tony did most of the loading and food buying and prep since I was working on-site for a customer. We were up early, and had the Mammoth and kitties ready to pull out about 9:15. We traveled our usual route up to Rockwall and then onto the George Bush Tollway, to I35 North. Then we cut over west to Decatur and onto 287. This is the easiest way to get around the DFW metroplex.

We had a nice drive, stopping a few times to eat and stretch our legs. The kitties slept the whole way! We lucked into a bit of a tail wind for much of the 2^nd half of the trip, and only had to fuel from the big tank twice. (sometimes we have to 3 times).

When we arrived, much of our family was there to visit, and we had a nice meal with them. The kitties stayed in a bedroom during this time, as there was also a visiting dog! After dinner and after everyone had left, I had a work request to take care of, so I did that. We went to bed pretty late, but it was great to see my cousins and their families, all together.