Overweight Truck

When we arrived at Lake Corpus Christi and began our volunteering work you could tell by more than the calendar that it was winter. Most of the grasses were brown, few trees sported leaves, and although it was warm and comfortable, it just felt wintry.

Almost two months have passed, we are going to move to a new location next week, and most significantly it really feels like spring.





The days are noticeable longer, the sky is consistently less cloudy, trees are leafing and blossoming, and birds are singing mating songs. Oh, and you can currently buy tomatoes, lettuce and pepper plants in the big-box garden centers. It's spring in southeast Texas.

What have the Mosey'n Millers been doing for the last two months? Well, we have been fulfilling our 25 hours per week of volunteer commitment here in the park, of course. But we have also taken several “day trips” to surrounding areas to get a feel of the “Coastal Bend” area of Texas, which will be the subjects of future posts. Why haven't you read about them in our blog? Would you believe I haven't had time to write? Well that problem just got solved.

Both Darlene and the ER doctor told me I have to stay off my foot and not do anything but rest & heal for a week or so. WHAT? Well, I was out on the patio beside the trailer and wasn't looking at my feet when I moved our waste basket. I stepped with a foot half-on and half-off the patio edge which resulted in pronounced pain in my foot and an embarrassing face plant. Thankfully there are no broken bones, just a sprained foot (stretched & torn ligaments). Now I have a few days to sit with ice on my foot and a book (or cold beverage) in my hand watching the world go by. Sounds like retirement doesn't it? Now I have time to blog again.

Maybe the first order of business should be to discuss that over-weight truck I mentioned in a previous post. Our truck is a 2010 Ford F350 Super Duty powered by a 6.4 liter Powerstroke diesel engine. That means it has plenty of power to pull our 5^th wheel trailer. With the 20 inch tires it impresses people as a BIG truck. We love it. With the trailer hitched up the rig is pretty level and drives like a dream going down the road.

But, here's what we discovered when we had the whole rig weighed at an RV scale in Livingston, TX. All 8 wheels have acceptable weight loads. All 4 axles have acceptable weight loads. The trailer is well within its Gross Vehicle Weight Rating. The truck without the trailer hitched is within its Gross Vehicle Weight Rating. The truck and trailer hitched together are within the Gross Combined Weight Rating. HOWEVER, when the trailer is hitched onto the truck, the weight of the trailer pushing down into the truck bed (pin weight) puts the truck over its Gross Vehicle Weight Rating.

So What? … Well, there is little to no chance of being stopped and weighed and given a ticket of some sort, so why worry? Good question. True, some truck parts could experience greater than normal wear because of the overweight condition. True, in some extreme circumstance a bigger truck might be able to handle the trailer better than my current truck. But the real issue, I believe, is that if I were ever in a bad accident, some lawyer might argue that I am liable if he could verify that I was driving an overweight truck.

Hitched up my truck is overweight by enough that moving or removing a few items won't solve the problem. It seems that the only real solution to the problem is to get a smaller, lighter trailer :-( or a bigger truck with 4 wheels on the back instead of 2 ;-) . Another solution is to ignore the whole issue and go on happily driving my rig the way it is now.

However, if you are worried that I'm a little overweight and you're a little over-moneyed, you could by me a new truck and put your worries to rest. To that end, I've added the closing picture to help you with shopping for my new truck. Oh yea, THANKS!!!

That's all for now, but come back to read about DayTripping' and Supercamper to the Rescue.