I find an oil change place that can accommodate my truck with camper and trailer.

One of the challenges of my winter travels is getting maintenance for my truck when I’m on the road. The trouble is, when I’m in transit, I usually have my camper on the back of my truck, which raises its height to about 13 feet. When I’m not in transit and the camper is off, I’m often parked in a place where there are no maintenance shops nearby.

I drive thousands of miles in my truck each winter, and although I get an oil change right before I leave, I always need one before I come home. This year, I lucked out: on my way to a supermarket in Yuma, AZ to do a week’s worth of grocery shopping before my next off-the-grid campsite, I happened to drive past a Valvoline oil change place that had very tall garage doors in its bays. I was able to pull into the turning lane and zip right in with my camper on top and my 12-foot enclosed cargo trailer behind me.

While I realize this isn’t very interesting for most readers, it was a great treat for me — especially since the sticker on my window said I was only 24 miles overdue for the 5,000 mile oil change. I didn’t have to park the trailer and camper somewhere to get the job done. Something that had been front and center on my mind for the past 200 miles could now be tucked away until after I got home.

I subsequently put about 1,800 more miles on the truck before finally getting home in mid March.