Well, I'm certainly glad to see that I may have some company for the long drive north to the meet spot for this trip. Mr. Ghost65, it will be great to have a friend along. For some reason I'm not sure just how welcome I'll be on this trip.
I have thought of another question in the meantime, this one has to do with loading the trailer that it sounds like I'll have to pull behind the Prius to carry the spare tires and the Scotch. If I were taking the Xterra I would know how to load it, with most of the weight over the axle and then a little behind it. However, the Prius is a much lighter vehicle than the Xterra, and that causes me some concern. I'm worried that all the weight on or behind the trailer axle could cause the trailer to want to tip backwards (i.e. up in the front). Since the Prius is so light, I can see it now, a big pyramid with the hitch ball right in the middle, and the rear wheels of the Prius ass-up in the air like a . . . on second thought I won't use an analogy here. Anyway, I figure it should be safe to load all the weight on the trailer as far forward of the axle as possible, even well on to the tongue. I'll probably get one of those lightweight Chinese trailers, which should be quite strong and up to the task, as we all know just how solid good Chinese engineering and technology is. Does this sound reasonable to those of you who are more experienced in this sort of thing? Personally, I can't think of anything that could go wrong here.