We're in no real hurry to get anywhere. I had talked to a bunch of RVer's before and they all mentioned the same thing. Slow down and enjoy the ride. Plus don't drive too much in one day, it can be exhausting. It's not like driving your car at 70 plus mph and trying to log a gazzilion miles in one day to get where ever your going. Driving this 43 foot, 45,000 pound house on wheels is challenging enough without wearing yourself out.
We need to get fuel, diesel of course. But we have a plan. We are members of a big camping club,"Good Sam" and get a 3 cent discount per gallon at Flying J stations. Plus we got a Flying J credit card and get another 3 cent discount, every penny counts when you have a 100 gallon tank.
To explain what we have going on, I have to explain CC. She has a 453 cubic inch Cummins Diesel engine, cranking out 435 horsepower. Plus she has a 10kw diesel generator completely powering the "house". I'm not completely sure what all that means but the people that I have talked to that know about such stuff say it's really good.
We are driving in the summer so the generator is enough power to run everything on board, including the 3 roof air conditioners. Seriously we are traveling in style....
So just 10 miles east of our campground we stopped for diesel. The boys "recon" the lot for those elusive license plates and I fill up.
6.5 miles per gallon.....ouch.
But we remember we didn't buy her for the fuel economy, or lack there of. It's the adventure. And having our home with us. No more hotels, CC is nicer than most hotels we've stayed at anyway. Plus no more restaurants. Unless we want to treat ourselves.....
The views on the trip really improved. Hitting the mountains of West Virginia & Virginia was awesome. Plus we have an perfect place to see it all. About six feet above all the cars. The boys take turns sitting up front, looking at the mountains & valleys, plus tracking down those pesky license plates. (Everytime we stop they recon the parking lot)
Same routine though drive half way, then Rest Stop for lunch. Pretty nice, clean restroom, on board. Good looking waitress for my lunch, I'm negotiating the payment..... Perfect day.
The driving is a little more involved. I mentioned to Hunter what it's like to drive across Kansas. Straight, flat & ineventful. I mentioned you could probably wedge the steering wheel against your legs and take a nap while cruising at 70mph.
The Virginia's not so much. Uphill, downhill, curves. Our GPS keeps telling me to "slow down for dangerous curves ahead". So I'm cruising at 62mph. But I spend most of my time engaging the Jake Brakes down the hills. Then slip into a tight turn and back up the next mountain. More than once on the downside of a 7% grade CC tried to sneak into the mid 70's, that's a little scary. So it's speed up, slow down, repeat.
Poor o' CC is laboring up the mountains. She's not overly struggling, but cranking out the power to get up. I'm still passing 18 wheelers and other campers..... I'm curious what the MPG will be next time....
Anyway we are spending the night at Misty Mountain campground. We just drove 310 miles today and are staging 18 miles east of our first real stop, Monticello. Thomas Jefferson's home. www.monticello.org
Oh yeah. License plate count is 39.
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