Thursday, May 5, 2011

Hooking Up

Down into the 20s last night. Thank goodness it didn’t rain or the slides would freeze up, datastorm would freeze up, Carol would freeze up and so on. We got off to an early start so we could hook up with Don/Sharon & Larry/Marilyn 115 miles up the road at a Flying J. Then it was about  285 miles to Clark County Reservoir Rec Area.  Full hook ups, $15 a night.

Here is Don/Sharon and Larry/Marilyn waiting for us. It was great seeing OLD faces again. I filled up and the Beast took 106 gallons and we went 702 miles. That’s 6.6 MPG.  Hey it’s been running 5.6 for the last 2,000 miles. I can monitor the fuel mileage several ways via on board computers.  All of them were reading the same mileage and very close to the gallons. I used the cruise control a lot, more highway driving, and the fuel additive, plus driving more miles at a time helped with the fuel mileage.DSC_0003 DSC_0005

Setting at a rest area for lunch.DSC_0006 DSC_0010

 

The snow was getting closer and closer…DSC_0015

 

And closer….DSC_0013 DSC_0017

Got to the Clark County Reservoir and the full hook up campground was closed.  Nobody told this pelican. This guy needs a new GPS.  Him and his buddy the sea gull are off track. We decided to go on down the road. The work kamper here told us about another place up the road.DSC_0018

Larry and Marilyn in the front rig.  They blend in very well. Don & Sharon are in the silver stumpy.DSC_0020 DSC_0024

We arrived at exit 59 to a small truck stop. They had OK water/electric sites around back. Hey $15 bucks it was A OK!. We would stay again as it turns out. I did have to change sites after the Beast’s front paws sunk down about 4 inches.  We all got together for dinner and talked  and talked and talked. Then we all talked some more. We decided to go on up to Great Falls because we are expecting some rain starting tomorrow. We will try to get into the Air Force Base there. No luck with the one in Salt Lake.

We drove a little over 400 miles ourselves. The Beast’s computers which I’m starting to trust said 7 MPG so far on this tank. The Beast has a Spartan computer and then there is Newmar’s Trip Tek computer. That gives be a array of instruments and monitors.  In the 2,500 plus miles they seem to be right on the money with fuel usage. That’s great.  I still keep a log of mileage which matches also.

Carol’s bro, David the mechanic called and left a message. We had no cell service last night.  He said that the Beast’s Cummins engine has no old or current updates.  Good news in several ways.  No reason to take it to Cummins at this point.  I think from it setting several years and being new explains the poor fuel mileage.  I think adding the fuel additive really helped as did running on cruise control.  This baby is very sensitive to the throttle pedal.  Again, can tell from the on board computers.  It does not figure in Generator or Hydro Hot diesel usage.  We haven’t used it a lot of hours yet.

Oh, Don & Sharon got me one “those” special friend gifts.  It’s me!  I will show it off tomorrow. 

Tomorrow is another day for sure.

See ya………….

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