Heading East to deliver a camper

benburnett

Senior Member
Joined
Oct 5, 2006
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771
I am going to be heading East to deliver a camper to a customer. The map below is my route. I will be leaving the 27th or 28th of this month. Our customer is in Weston Florida. I have not heard yet if he is going to meet me in Missouri yet or if I am going all the way to Florida.

If someone would like to see the camper (a fully loaded Bobcat) on my way out, please let me know. I will be happy to show the camper on the way there. Please call me if you would like to meet and please pick a spot just off the freeway to meet at, such as a gas station or restaurant just off an exit.

The route at this point will be from Sacramento down I5 to 46 E to Bakersfield. 58 E to Barstow to catch I40. Straight through I40 to Clinton OK. 281 N from Clinton to Alva Ok. 64 E from Alva going north of Tulsa and over to Springfield.

I have told my daughter that I will be in Springfield for Halloween with her. So that is set in stone.
 

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Heading East Early

If anyone wants to look at the camper that I am taking East, I will be leaving a day early. I am leaving tomorrow the 26th.

Just give me a call if your on the route and want to take a look. I will be delivering a fully loaded Bobcat camper.

I will post again if my route is going to continue on from Missouri to Florida. I still have yet to hear from the customer as to where he wants the final destination to be.
 
Future owner will extend promo tour to Miami

Being the future owner of this 'cat I'll be meeting Ben between Orlando Fl and Springfield MO. If anybody is interested in seeing this camper on my way back from Springfield to Miami FL just let me know and we can meet along the way.
 
on the road again

I am now currently in Springfield, Missouri. I will be here probably until the 2nd of November. If anyone in the area would like to see the camper while I am here, just give me a call.
 
Isn't there some big sportsman store there in Springfield? Bass pro shops? Can't remember....All I know is that that is a bad place to take a credit card.......

dave
 
bass pro shop

Yes, there is a Bass Pro Shop here. I will be too busy with my daughter though to ever see it.
 
heading east to Orlando

Well plans change. I am going to take my daughter with me to Orlando to see Martin and install the camper. Then we get to go to Disney World for a day and play.

John, I believe that was your idea on that one and it looks like it will work out after all.

So if anyone wants to see the camper between Missouri and Orlando, I will be leaving the 31st from Springfield. I should arrive in Orlando on the 1st. If you do a map quest route from Springfield to Orlando you will see the route that I am taking. Just give me a call if you are on the route and would like to see the camper. 800-446-1003
 
HINTS for WDW (Walt Disney World). Your daughter’s age is important as to where to go. I’m guessing she is about 12 years old. Stay in one of the hotels in the park and you can use the inter park transportation (busses). This will save you money for parking. If you are going to be there only one day, go EARLY and go to Magic Kingdom. If it opens at 9 o’clock, be there at 8 o’clock, at least one hour before it opens. It depends on what your daughter is interested in because certain rides have height limits. Go through Main Street, in front of the castle. Go immediately to your right to Tomorrow Land and work your way round the castle counter clockwise through the day. The best thing you can do is stop when you arrive at the front of the park right at the tunnel that goes under the rail road, someone will be at a booth with a map that you will need. Get one. It shows parade times and everything else you will need. Follow the map, working counterclockwise around the castle, using the map. Work your way to finish at Frontier Land late afternoon or evening. It will be a challenge to see everything in this one park in one day.

If you have never been to WDW, Magic Kingdom will be the thing to see if you have only one day. If you have two days, spend one day at Magic Kingdom and one day at MGM Studios, which is a smaller park compared to the others. Same drill, get there an hour before it opens. It has the same basic design; gigantic sorcerer’s hat is in middle. Work your way round the hat the same way you did with the castle at Magic Kingdom. You will need a map of MGM. There are more shows at MGM. Your daughter will probably want to see the Beauty and the Beast show. In the back, far back, they have the Lights, Action, Motor Stunt show. You will like it and she will like it, fast cars and skilled driving. There is also something called the Great Movie Ride, directly behind the Sorcerer’s Hat. It looks like Grumman’s Chinese Theater of LA. Lot of fun for both of you. Plenty more to see. Do you like roller coasters … The Rock and Rolla Coaster? It is a dilly. Tower of Terror is not for bad hearts.

If you are looking for somewhere to eat lunch, try to get reservations at the Sci Fi Drive in Theater, lunch or dinner. It takes reservations. The Indiana Jones Show is good, look at your map. Get a show card that will tell you the schedule of different shows during the day.

You will probably come through Alabama in the middle of the night. I will call you on the phone if I can get this woman I know to drive down with me to see your new camper. She wants one. I will try to get her to come down to meet you but don't wait for me.

From Birmingham heading Southeast, you will be on Highway 280. Once clear of Birmingham, it is a good road. Even though not interstate. it is the best way. Please try to avoid South Birmingham during rush hour on 280. Highway 280 is known at the Old Florida Short Route ... which it is. It also goes very near Auburn University. If you have time, take you daughter to see the campus because this is an excellent place for a girl to go to college, especially a pretty one.

John D.
 
back from Orlando, almost

John,

Wow, thanks for all the advice. Will save it for the next trip. I just got your post and we are already back. We looked at the map of Disney World and my daughter wanted to go to Epcot. It worked out fine. We spent the day there and she had a great time.

I also took her to the Arabian Nights dinner and I think she liked that more than DW. Took the VIP dinner and she was able to see all the horses and pet them before the show. She loves horses.

It was a great time and we just pulled into Missouri a couple of hours ago. Will be heading back home tomorrow and then catch up on everything.

Thanks again for all the great info.
 
Looks like you had a GREAT trip with your daughter. As time goes on, you will see your time with your daughter as the most valuable time in you life, not just for yourself, but what it does for your daughter. One really cool side effect of spending time with Dad, is they learn there is no mystery to males. Young ladies with strong ties to their fathers are not greatly impressed with men their own age. So, they make better choices in boy friends and husbands.

WDW is worth more than one trip. You certainly did go at a good time of the year. John
 
camper delivery

Back home finally. If anyone had a question that I have missed, please ask again. I am trying to catch up over the weekend and will be going over the threads to see what I have missed.

The trip was great. Was able to spend a few days with my daughter and I think she had a good time too.:)

Her mother sent me the following rules and made a note that she thought they were funny. I told her I saw nothing funny with them at all. I could relate to them totaly. I also suggested that she print out about 100 copies and have out daughter just pass them out to any boy she meets. Might as well get things started right.

Daddy's Rules:

Rule One:

If you pull into my driveway and honk you'd better be delivering a package, because you're sure not picking anything up.

Rule Two:

You do not touch my daughter in front of me. You may glance at her, so long as you do not peer at anything below her neck. If you cannot keep your eyes or hands off of my daughter's body, I will remove them.

Rule Three:

I am aware that it is considered fashionable for boys of your age to wear their trousers so loosely that they appear to be falling off their hips. Please don't take this as an insult, but you and all of your friends are complete idiots. Still, I want to be fair and open minded about this issue, so I propose this compromise: You may come to the door with your underwear showing and your pants ten sizes too big, and I will not object. However, in order to ensure that your clothes do not, infact come off during the course of you date with my daughter, I will take my electric nail gun and fasten your trousers securely in place to your waist.

Rule Four:

I'm sure you've been told that in today's world, sex without utilizing a "Barrier method" of some kind can kill you. Let me elaborate, when it comes to sex, I am the barrrier, and I will kill you.

Rule Five:

It is usually understood that in order for us to get to know each other, we should talk about sports, politics, and other issues of the day. Please do not do this. The only information I require from you is an indication of when you expect to have my daughter safely back at my house, and the only word I need from you on this subject is: "early"

Rule Six:

I have no doubt you are a popular fellow, with many opportunities to date other girls. This is fine with me as long as it is okay with my daughter. Otherwise, once you have gone out with my little girl, you will continue to date no one but her until she is finished with you. If you make her cry, I will make you cry.

Rule Seven:

As you stand in my front hallway, waiting for my daughter to appear, and more than an hour goes by, do not sigh and fidget. If you want to be on time for the movie, you should not be dating. My daughter is putting on her makeup, a process than can take longer than painting the Golden Gate Bridge. Instead of just standing there, why don't you do something useful, like changing the oil in my car?

Rule Eight:

The following places are not appropriate for a date with my daughter: Places where there are beds, sofas, or anything softer than a wooden tool. Places where there is darkness. Places where there is dancing, holding hands, or happiness. Places where the ambient temperature is warm enough to introduce my daughter to wear shorts, tank tops, midriff T-shirts, or anything other than overalls, a sweater, and a goose down parka - zipped up to her throat. Movies with a strong romantic or sexual theme are to be avoided; movies which features chain saws are okay. Hockey games are okay. Old folks homes are better.

Rule Nine:

Do not lie to me. I may appear to be a potbellied, balding, middle-aged, dimwitted has-been. But on issues relating to my daughter, I am the all-knowing, merciless god of your universe. If I ask you where you are going and with whom, you have one chance to tell me the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. I have a shotgun, a shovel, and five acres behind the house.

Rule Ten:

Be afraid. Be very afraid. It takes very little for me to mistake the sound of your car in the driveway for a chopper coming in over a rice paddy near Hanoi. When my Agent Orange starts acting up, the voices in my head frequently tell me to clean the guns as I wait for you to bring my daughter home. As soon as you pull into the driveways you should exit the car with both hands in plain sight. Speak the perimeter password, announce in a clear voice that you have brought my daughter home safely and early, then return to your car - there is no need for you to come inside. The camoflaged face at the window is mine.
 
Lets not forget - if your wear your baseball cap backwards it automaticaly takes 10 points off you're already limited IQ
 
It is good to have you back, Ben. I am sure both lightweight popup camper companies have noticed a slowdown in your absence. This board has not been as active either.

Most of us in the east would appreciate a run down on how you made the delivery (unless the customer objects). I would find it interesting to know what you did about fitting the camper to a truck in Florida. Did you have to install tie downs? Where there any lessons learned?

The market for lightweight popup truck campers is bound to grow in the east. There are plenty of popup trailers in the Southeast. Unless one of the companies is willing to open a factory in the east, you will be making more long distance deliveries. I know an older couple with bucks who want one of your campers right now. The delivery problem has delayed the sale.

John D
 
Delivery

John,

The delivery process is no problem at all. In the delivery to Orlando, Martin had told me he had a short bed truck and I did not ask enough questions to find out it was a four door toyota with the 5' bed. In those trucks the wheel wells are right up against the front of the bed an we are unable to put eyebolts in the bed of the truck for a set of turnbuckles.

In this case when I showed up and discovered it, I phoned Marty and had him send me the hardware overnight so that I could bolt the camper down in the front. I installed the camper except for the front bolts when I arrived and finished the install the next morning when the parts arrived. The actual install on the road like that really only takes about an hour to an hour and a half. Then it is just going through the camnper with the customer and expaining the use and upkeep of the camper.

To do the install on the road is nothing new to us. We have been doing this for years. We just make sure we have enough parts with us to do the work and in this case when we discover that we are dealing with something different, it didn't hamper the install really. Just had to wait another day to get the rest of the parts.

Martin was in Orlando for the DEMA show and the extra day was not a problem for him. I had planned on spending the extra day there myself, so it worked out fine.

If you have a couple that want a camper, delivery is really not a problem. I can bring it out to them or meet them anywhere between here and there that they would like. The best case would be to meet them in Springfield at my daughters. Any excuse to head out there I will take.

I will be putting up a November special in a couple of days that my make it a little sweeter for them to get a camper also.

So to answer your questions, yes, I install the eye bolts and electrical. The eye bolts only take about 20 minutes to put in. The electrical takes a bit more time to run the wire, make sure it is tied down correctly and wired up correctly. The only lesson on this one was to make sure next time some one tells me short bed that I ask the actual length of the bed so that I will have all the correct hardware on me. I will probably just add it to the road kit from now on just in case. We usually make a mistake once, but I get really upset if it happens twice. :)
 
This is how the installation looks like

Here are a few pics Ben installing my Bobcat. As he already mentioned before, if it wasn't for the bolts going through the bed the whole installation would have been done in about one hour.
 

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Bobcat installation, part 2

the last pic of the installation is of the eye bolts in the rear of the truck. To finish the whole series you get a pic of a happy Tacoma, new Bobcat and an even happier camper in Long Key, Florida.
 

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cool, your are definnately one happy camper...interesting how your power source come up throught the wheelwell...i need to figure out something like this...so you have an aux. battery somewhere? congrats and thanks for the pics!
 
Ben...

Cabezon guy....Wow, very nice. You DO look pretty happy. Be sure to save those photos. As far as I know they may be the only actual photos of Ben working....when I was there he was just counting his money, cracking the whip over Marty and Jeff and regaling me with tales of his raucous past.;) He's a rascal, that one.
Brian
 
Aux Battery

cool, your are definnately one happy camper...interesting how your power source come up throught the wheelwell...i need to figure out something like this...so you have an aux. battery somewhere? congrats and thanks for the pics!

Hey Erod,

there is an aux battery inside the camper underneath the bed/couch. I ordered the camper with this battery and I think it is well worth it. What I want to install next is the inverter so I can charge laptop, cameras, phones etc from this battery.
 
I don't know if this will help or not with your project, but here are some pics of an inverter installation I saved. This was installed aftermarket by one of our customers. It might be hard to actually tell whats going on in there with all of that wiring :)


========================================================


What I want to install next is the inverter so I can charge laptop, cameras, phones etc from this battery.



.
 

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