Monday, September 3, 2012

Home Again

Let me tell you something. I have not seen so many cars in my life as we saw yesterday from Lapeer, Mi. through Chicago. I guess everyone had the same idea I had, go home a day early and miss the traffic. When we headed south on I-57 I could see nothing but solid traffic in both southbound and northbound lanes. We were happy to find most vehicles exited the highway by the time we got to Kankakee. Whew. I was watching the radar trying to miss the storms that had Indianapolis swamped. We had no rain until we got to Champaign Urbanna. Then it was spotty until we got to Effingham. Rained on us all the way to Cairo. But, no traffic, just bugs after we crossed the river into Mo..
Look at the above gauge. 62.3 mpg and the engine at 1792 rpms. What is interesting is that the digital fuel gauge shows a little over a gallon left in the tank. This has not been calibrated so I had no idea what was left. My calculations were less than a half gallon. So, for 80 miles, Champaign to Effingham, I drafted a semi about 50 yards back. Worked. The next picture you will see our speed was 69 mph. Speed limit is 65.

Pulled into the truckstop in Effingham. Put 9.2 gallons of fuel in the thing. It is supposed to hold 9.5. Now, do you see why I drafted that semi for 80 miles? My plan is to carry a gallon of fuel and run the tank dry. Then I will know how accurate the gauge is. The Ultra-Gauge is a handy little item to have. The car has several computer screens but not one for instant miles per gallon, just average. I calculated each fill up and we topped 50 mpg the entire trip, which was about 1700 miles. Not bad. You no longer need to ask me why I bought a Toyota. They have this thing down. Ford will be next. GM, well, they are still trying to market the Volt which is not for hiway driving.

As we passed through Effingham there was a perfect rainbow in the eastern sky. We could not get the entire thing as we were in a construction zone.

Now, I need this part. It is a tee in our GMC airline system. If you know where I can find one let me know. Not sure of the sizes but I think the two big ends are 3/8.
We had a great trip. Did the FMCA thing, visited with our friend Joe in Mucie. Then up to help my aunt celebrate her 93rd birthday. My sister and her two sons drove up from Brooklyn, Mi. to visit with us Saturday.
Life is good. We are home and the bugs are cleaned off the front of the new car. Dryer sheets are the best tool to get those off. Our car bumper was solid with them. 5 minutes and no more bugs.
Dan

posted by Dan & Teri Gregg @ 2:40 PM 2 Comments