son heading home towing camper

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dhay13

dhay13

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He poured AF in the drains. Should be good. Did it the same way last year and I have done my daughters camper and my boats the same way. Never a problem.

He is in South Bend, IN now. Said it's snowing pretty bad there now. He is on I-294 headed east.

He is a safety coordinator for a very large company. He oversees pipeline installs. They just installed a pipeline going under the Missouri River in western North Dakota. That's where he is coming from now.
 
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dhay13

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He just got home. 1500 miles in 2 days. Said he got 10 MPG for a bit through Wisconsin and Indiana but for the most part got between 8 and 9. But he did sleep in his truck last night and left it running all night. Filled it back up before he pulled out and it used 4 gallons overnight. Camper is probably about 8000lbs as it sits. Maybe not that high. Dry weight is about 6500. He had another 500-1000lbs in the back seat and bed. Said truck was perfect.

Next week they are flying him to FL for a week but after that he has to go to eastern PA, Massachusetts, NY, and Connecticut and will be driving his truck to each place. No camper this time as he will be staying in hotels
 

GsRAM

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Glad to hear that. I just got done reading all 7 pages of your thread. I have a few observations

- it's total bs your son's employer gave him such little time for that trip. That endangered his life and the lives of others he was sharing the road with.

I'd have told them point blank, I can be there by X and if that's not good enough, then you'll need to fly me there and have some sort of lodging available for me or I can't go.

Period, End of story. I work so I can live, I don't live to work. I'll go to great lengths for my employer, put in extra time when needed, bust my butt hard, and give then my best every day. But when it comes to my personal safety, I draw a line. Some employers will take advantage of you unless you stand up for yourself.

My priorities in life:

God
My family
My job
Everything else.

This is just me. My opinion and nothing more.

I tow around and 60 when pulling my tt and average 10-11mpg towing. Towing is serious business and should be treated as such.

The faster you go, the less reaction time you have and when things go wrong the extra seconds you have can mean the difference between maintaining control and going rubber side up.

Again, my .02
 
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dhay13

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Yeah he is getting frustrated with his company lately. They are paying him very well and he is hoping to pay some stuff off in the next year or two then look for another job if things don't change here. He graduated from college in 2016 so has student loans, truck payment, camper payment, and just got married and bought a house so has alot of expenses there too. Plus his wife has student loan payments.

He dropped his truck off the other day at the local body shop to get the rest of the damage repaired from getting rear-ended out there. A body shop out there replaced the trailer hitch but didn't have time to fix the bed damage and rear bumper. He will have to leave about the 30th for his North Atlantic trip but he won't be towing then. He has a company credit card and since he will only be in each place a few days he will be staying in hotels.
 

GsRAM

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I can understand that. Your son must be in his early 20s then? If so, wow that is a ton of debt for that age.

When I was that age, just out of college, I lived with my mom till I was 24 to save some money, drove lots of old junk I fixed myself (and learned a lot doing it) and had a 25 yr old camper I paid $750 for and my pickup back then was an old Chevy Silverado k1500 that had 132k on it when I bought it.

It was nice for what it was and I maintained it well, but it was old.

We're all different. We all have choices to make, but there's no way I'd personally have taken on all that debt in my early 20s and bought all that new stuff. Especially with a house and all those student loans. Heck, even at my current age my spare is a 15 yr old Ford escape with 124k on it and starting to have some issues that I'm struggling with considering replacing it with a new Jeep. I should do it no question, but taking on debt has always bothered me. The borrower is ***** to the debtor.

I don't know, this seems to be the way of the current generation. Not for me personally, but to each their own. I wish your son the best.
 
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AFMoulton

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96 month car notes now.......price of new vehicles is outrageous. 48,000 for a tradesman 2500 with gas motor.

I bought mine end of year and with a Snow Plow Prep in San Antonio. So they wanted to move it and I leveraged them hard for it.

Sad that college costs so much now.

Tell him to keep his head up and keep working hard. They may have tons of student loan debt but no one can ever take their education away from them.


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He didn't have much choice with the truck and camper. He had to have an all season camper for the job and being so far from home he didn't have the luxury of shopping around. He needed it quick and had to take vacation days to go do the paperwork to buy it then I had to pick it up and deliver it to him where he was. As for the truck he was using a company truck but last July they told him he had to go to North Dakota (1500 miles away) and had to take his camper. Problem was he wasn't allowed to tow with a company truck so he would have had to pay a hot shot quite a bit of money to have it delivered there then brought back home when he was done there. Up until then I had went to where he was and moved the camper from place to place. So the truck had to be a 2500 for the towing and hauling he does and he uses it for work. He bought this truck at the end of July with 6000 miles on it and it now has 23,000 miles. They pay him for using his own truck so the company pretty much pays for the truck as long as he is working there but it is his. And since he uses it for work he had to have something newer and reliable. So the truck and camper weren't much of a decision there. Had to do it if he wanted to keep this job. As for the house, well I wish they had waited longer before they got married but I understand. And student loans, well that's a part of life if you want a degree unless you are a stellar athlete. BTW-he is 26 now
 
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96 month car notes now.......price of new vehicles is outrageous. 48,000 for a tradesman 2500 with gas motor.

I bought mine end of year and with a Snow Plow Prep in San Antonio. So they wanted to move it and I leveraged them hard for it.

Sad that college costs so much now.

Tell him to keep his head up and keep working hard. They may have tons of student loan debt but no one can ever take their education away from them.


2018 Ram 2500 6.4L 4x4
Amsoil SS 0W-40

We both got our trucks for $40k. They are both 2018 2500 Outdoorsmans with 4.10's and 6.4's. They are pretty much loaded except leather, sunroof and heated seats.. They have the full length console with 8.4" nav, power sliding rear window with rear defrost, etc. His had 6000 miles and mine had 8000. These were about $54k new. We both tried to buy brand new but dealers wouldn't budge off their prices. Best I could get was a 2018 Laramie 2500 6.4 for $53k. Not too bad of a price but they were playing the numbers game so I walked. My son wanted a Cummins for all the miles he will put on it but best anyone would do was about $5k off sticker. He found a couple of used ones. One was a 2016 with 20,000 miles but they wanted $45k but had 2 Carfax accident reports and another was a 2018 with 46,000 miles and they wanted $45k for that one too. Both were Big Horns
 

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Yep, I completely understand, which is why I was able to get the one I did, right place right time.

And you are 100% correct in the school debts, either stellar athletes, or join the military and take 10 years to get a bachelors. Part of life.

Sounds like you got good deals on the trucks you got and they are more than capable to do what you need them too. He will be more than good with a father like you who cares and helps. I hope I can be that for my kids when they are his age.

Keep the stories coming, it’s nice reading them.


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The amount of money it takes for schooling anymore is ridiculous. We got married at 27, and my wife started Pharmacy School at the same time. By then we had established a life and had vehicles, etc. But she moved back home and the economy for a Forensic Scientist in WV is horrible, so she went back to school so she could have a career here in WV. Plus, I was full time in grad school getting my masters while working full time.

We owe more in student loans because of that than we do on out house we just bought. We had to supplement my income with loans just to live. Its ridiculous. I dont mind paying them back, but the interest is 6.5%+ on them now. And school costs so much more than when my parents went to college. Kids nowadays start out in debt before they even graduate with a degree.

But, our parents worked like dogs to have what they have, and so have we. And that's something I can be proud of! Your son will be proud of himself as I'm sure you are of him as well!
 
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yeah it is ridiculous. My son gave me a hard time about going to college because of the costs but my reasoning was he could make $4000/month more with the degree that he pays $800/month on so in the end it makes sense but is still ridiculous. Between him and his wife they pay more on their student loans each month than they do their mortgage. His wife got her B.S. in 3 years so that saved some $$$. My daughter did the same. B.S. in 3 years but she really busted her butt and worked 2 jobs at the same time. Her tuition for 4 years would have been $140,000+ but she got a few scholarships so that helped.
 

NewBlackDak

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yeah it is ridiculous. My son gave me a hard time about going to college because of the costs but my reasoning was he could make $4000/month more with the degree that he pays $800/month on so in the end it makes sense but is still ridiculous. Between him and his wife they pay more on their student loans each month than they do their mortgage. His wife got her B.S. in 3 years so that saved some $$$. My daughter did the same. B.S. in 3 years but she really busted her butt and worked 2 jobs at the same time. Her tuition for 4 years would have been $140,000+ but she got a few scholarships so that helped.

$140k for tuition alone? Need to re-evaluate what school you are going to. My wife and I didn’t even spend that together, and our oldest is only looking at $4-8K per semester.


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Mountaineer83

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My wife didnt have a choice of schools because we needed to be close to home and the Pharmacy School that she went to is Private. So it was extremely expensive.

But of course, Marshall University which is about 30 mins from our house offers Pharamcy now that she is out of school. And it's a better school and cheaper!
 
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She went to a pretty prestigious private college near here. She got a 50% tuition scholarship and her first full time year out of college she made 6 figures (at 22) so it will pay off. Her tuition was at $70k but she graduated in 3 years so probably closer to about $50-60k. My son went to a local university and his tuition was about $70k for 4 years.
 

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There is not enough room in the Durango for a 20-820, it’s engine compartment is a little cramped.


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Op, I have a SRT filter on my Durango RT. It's same size as the 20-820. It will fit, but you're right, it's tight
 
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