This report details my journey from the Detroit area to Kansas City and from Kansas City to Wichita, Kansas and back home.

When I left on my trip to KC it was hot and sunny. I filled up, loaded my cargo and took off. The truck ran like a dream with no hiccups or problems. I got about 19 MPG on the first leg of the trip to the South Suburbs of Chicago.

I spent the night with a friend who was accompanying me on my trip. He's a big guy and in addition to my two bags and briefcase we added two heavy boxes and his two bags.


The trip all told was about 750 miles to KC. The truck performed great. Then I ran into a few problems.

Parking in downtown Kansas City was an issue. All of the garages near where we were conducting business had signs that said 6'6". I was scraping my antenna in a garage that size in downtown Ann Arbor once and was determined not to do it again. I had to park on a pay lot, which was twice the price of the garage. There were a lot of other trucks parked there as well. I later walked through the garage and found that it was taller than advertised and parked there later in the week with no problem.

The return trip was much more interesting. The weather forecast said rain all day, and it was no joke. It rained hard. In fact, at one point I had to pull over and clean out the sunroof drain tubes because water was not draining completely. I didn't have time to disconnect the tubes and clean them out the proper way, so I took a straw, inserted it into the drain tube and blew the debris out. I had my air compressor but was in a rush. It worked.

On the return trip I decided to drive all the way back to Michigan from KC. I was grateful for the four wheel drive and the fog lights in the pouring rain. I replaced the stock bulbs with brighter lights when I first bought the truck. It was foggy and storming from Springfield, Illinois all the way home.

I ran about 70-80 miles an hour except for the worst weather and construction zones. Other than the drain tubes and weather, everything went great.

Here are a few observations.

Weight affects gas mileage. Once I dropped off my friend and all of that cargo, mileage went up noticeably.

Always buy good wiper blades. I run Rain-X Latitude. They worked great, even in the worst weather.

Maintain your brakes and tires. I run BFG T/A KO2s on my truck. They are great in rain, snow and mud.

Pack a cooler with water, ice and one or two caffeinated beverages.
Bring a few snacks but don't each much.
Drink cold water when you get tired. It will help perk you up.
Separate your food and gas breaks.

Carry an emergency kit with extra water, some food, a good hooded jacket, waterproof boots or galoshes and basic tools.

Check your spare tire before traveling.
Practice changing your tire in good weather so you can do it in bad weather. I didn't have to do this Thank God.

Keep spare change. Toll roads are nearly unavoidable now.

Use a good GPS or GPS app that updates according to traffic conditions. I used Waze for the entire trip. It tells you where the police, accidents and road hazards are reported by other drivers. On I-94 near Joliet it navigated us around an accident. Brilliant.

H3's are great for traveling. They don't get great gas mileage, but when properly maintained, it will take just about anything the road can throw at it.

 

Nice report.

I have made the road trip to Wichita from suburbia D before, but it was in an Olds Toronado convertible, got a good sunburn.