Thinking about a U-Haul plus auto transport trailer (rental, towing, cheaper)
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Bruceski44, did you plan out your major stops in advance? What sorts of places did you stay at for sleeping?
Yes I did. I forget how far we went each day, but I do recall we stopped at Tallahassee the first night, because we diverted on the first day out of Melbourne to visit my mother’s grave. Then we stopped in Baton Rouge. And I know we stopped in San Antonio, but I think there was a stop before that. Our last night was in Las Cruces, NM, then a long day to LA area.
I had a lot of Hilton and Marriott rewards from my business travel, so we stayed at the lower tier of those places, as long as they served a free breakfast buffet. I parked the truck and trailer right outside our room to keep an eye on it.
First off, backing up a trailer, if you haven't done it before, is NOT intuitive at all. With practice it gets easier, but for most people, the movements are the opposite of what you're naturally do when backing up. ....
Place your hand on the bottom of the steering wheel, steer the direction you want the trailer to go.
kitty61, what I’m bringing is stuff that I do not want anyone else handling. Whatever furniture we do decide to bring will go on a moving truck.
Check to see if there are any truck stops along your route. They'll have very large parking lots for over size vehicles. Fuel is also a little cheaper at these. Most of them have showers/laundry/c-store/restaurant/barber services. Some even have small churches inside them.
I just moved with my family from Colorado to NJ. Me, wife, twins, and two dogs. We have a VW Atlas, and rented a 12ft U-Haul trailer, so probably similar size to what you're doing, it was about 30ft nose to tail. It was my first time towing a trailer.
If it’s the twin axle trailer, I’ve towed this twice, once behind a Touareg and the second time behind a Q7. It’s a beast.
We moved across country with a U-Haul and pulled our car on a tow dolly. We had no problem with hotels. We stayed at places not too far off the interstate for obvious reasons. Every hotel had easy parking for the truck. Usually on the back side of the hotel, parking cross-ways over regular parking spots. We'd find an open place that seemed to inconvenience the fewest other guests' parking and then confirmed with the check in desk that it was a good place to park. They always said it was fine. Often they'd set us up in a room where we could see the truck from our room window. Probably a good idea not to check in too late when finding a long open stretch of spaces might be more challenging, although in these COVID days every hotel we stayed at was pretty empty. RVs also park that way, so you'll see that too.
Having moved across country twice in the past five years I have learned a valuable lesson; sell or dispose of everything and start over. My first move entailed a traditional moving company that ended up costing 14k. Most of the furniture “ didn’t work” in my new house and I got rid of it within a year of the move. Recently moved across country again, this time using pods to move most of the big stuff (WAY CHEAPER than a traditional moving company) then towed a U-haul trailer with my tools and other outdoor stuff. Once again, new house, furniture looked out of place, sent almost everything to consignment shops. Moving bulky items long distance is costly and a pain. I think it’s actually cheaper to liquidate almost everything and start over. Will never pay to move personal belongings again.
I’m actually not planning on bringing any large items except my Sleep Number bed. Every other piece of large furniture is going to be gotten rid of one way or another. I am bringing small things like lamps etc, maybe a couple of book cases. But otherwise it’s kitchen stuff, clothing, electronics, stuff like that. I already have a new living room and new lanai furniture at the new house.
Place your hand on the bottom of the steering wheel, steer the direction you want the trailer to go.
Good to know, but not bad advice for people who aren't accustomed to it to avoid ever having to back up. We traveled west coast to east coast and never had to back up the truck with the car tow dolly attached. Most (all?) gas stations have their pumps set up for driving through. For hotels, you can look on Google maps satellite view to make sure you can drive all the way around the building and back onto the street, do it before you book a place. It's simple to do and only takes a minute. We did find that large chain hotels you find along the interstate are almost always designed this way. After all, they get a lot of business from truckers and design their buildings and parking lot layouts accordingly. They want to make it easy.
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