charlier180
New member
Took one of my cars to an Antique Car Show in Bristol, TN last week. The trip was mostly interstate (PA Turnpike & I-81). Don't know what it is about my 4Runner & my Car Trailer but they seems to attract the idiots when I am towing. First idiot (Toyota Corolla with NY tags) threads the needle between me and another tow vehicle pulling a minivan on an open trailer. The Corolla passes the other trailer on the right (in my lane). The other tow vehicle starts to pull into my lane then sees the Corolla. When he tries to avoid the Corolla passing him his correction starts the trailer w/minivan swaying. Needless to say the driver of the other tow vehicle used both lanes and the left hand shoulder lane to regain control. Meanwhile I applied the brakes to try to give him some room since he was wagging his tail about two vehicle+trailer lengths in front of me.
This situation was even more fun considering it happened on the westbound side of the PA Turnpike bridge at Harrisburg during evening rush hour.
This is just one example of about a half dozen situations I found myself in during my trip.
In another situation I had to avoid hitting an idiot and got my trailer swaying a bit (even with the dual cam sway control I have).
Applying the brakes on the trailer while accelerating the 4Runner got me straightened out very quickly.
BTW, I must say that whomever designed the rest stops along I-81 in Virginia must not tow anything. There are maybe 8-10 spots at most at many of these stops. On the upside I got a LOT of practice parallel parking my trailer on this trip.
FYI, I-81 in Virginia has a number of construction areas that impact travel on that road. At the car show I ran into someone who works for the VA DOT. He told me that there are a number of bridge, lane and interchange project starting soon on I-81 that will tie up traffic even worse for the next 3-4 Years. Speaking of traffic on I-81 it took me 1.5 hours longer to get to my destination than to get home all thanks to the construction. During one of the traffic tie-ups I found it interesting that when my 4Runner was just idling it could pull my loaded car trailer up a slight incline from a dead stop.
The Antique Car Show was held at Bristol Motor Speedway in Bristol, TN.
I took the tour of the facility and I must say it is impressive. A 1/2 mile oval track with 30 degree banking that seats 160,000 people. A few people I know who attended the show took their Antique Cars for laps around the track the day before the show. Some of these guys took their time on their laps and did not take the banked turns too high. Others got their cars up to 80 mph+ and went pretty darn high up the 30 degree turns some while taking pictures/video. All in all a FUN weekend.
BTW, I did better than I expected MPG wise on this trip. Given all the stop and go traffic and mountains I climbed, getting 8.1 MPG (calculated) was better than I expected and better than some other towing trips I have taken. It also helped that even along the interstate gas prices were 20-30 cents a gallon less than at home.
The main point of this post for those that tow is that when towing one should never, ever, underestimate the stupidity of other drivers one shares the road with. Sometimes expecting other drivers to do the most stupid maneuver possible is the only thing that keeps one out of an accident.
Interesting to note is that even 5th Gen 4Runner owners do bonehead maneuvers on the road .... ask me how I know. :wink2:
This situation was even more fun considering it happened on the westbound side of the PA Turnpike bridge at Harrisburg during evening rush hour.
This is just one example of about a half dozen situations I found myself in during my trip.
In another situation I had to avoid hitting an idiot and got my trailer swaying a bit (even with the dual cam sway control I have).
Applying the brakes on the trailer while accelerating the 4Runner got me straightened out very quickly.
BTW, I must say that whomever designed the rest stops along I-81 in Virginia must not tow anything. There are maybe 8-10 spots at most at many of these stops. On the upside I got a LOT of practice parallel parking my trailer on this trip.
FYI, I-81 in Virginia has a number of construction areas that impact travel on that road. At the car show I ran into someone who works for the VA DOT. He told me that there are a number of bridge, lane and interchange project starting soon on I-81 that will tie up traffic even worse for the next 3-4 Years. Speaking of traffic on I-81 it took me 1.5 hours longer to get to my destination than to get home all thanks to the construction. During one of the traffic tie-ups I found it interesting that when my 4Runner was just idling it could pull my loaded car trailer up a slight incline from a dead stop.
The Antique Car Show was held at Bristol Motor Speedway in Bristol, TN.
I took the tour of the facility and I must say it is impressive. A 1/2 mile oval track with 30 degree banking that seats 160,000 people. A few people I know who attended the show took their Antique Cars for laps around the track the day before the show. Some of these guys took their time on their laps and did not take the banked turns too high. Others got their cars up to 80 mph+ and went pretty darn high up the 30 degree turns some while taking pictures/video. All in all a FUN weekend.
BTW, I did better than I expected MPG wise on this trip. Given all the stop and go traffic and mountains I climbed, getting 8.1 MPG (calculated) was better than I expected and better than some other towing trips I have taken. It also helped that even along the interstate gas prices were 20-30 cents a gallon less than at home.
The main point of this post for those that tow is that when towing one should never, ever, underestimate the stupidity of other drivers one shares the road with. Sometimes expecting other drivers to do the most stupid maneuver possible is the only thing that keeps one out of an accident.
Interesting to note is that even 5th Gen 4Runner owners do bonehead maneuvers on the road .... ask me how I know. :wink2:
eace:
