RV Summer Excursion of '08

[opiethetileman]

wow another round the world in 90 days with the retard folks. great pics this year and the final pic prob the best. I think patti is smilin maybe johns tongue is in her ear LOL> he has he hair back like mr cool. glad ya had a safe trip ya know us floridaians are way out here in the state with water

[HS345]

Welcome home Patti and John, glad you had a safe trip.

[Steve in PA]

Good to hear that you guys and the fifth wheel made it home safely.
Let me be the first to guess...
5983 miles / $2343.37 in Diesel

[John Bridge]

The truck went 15,297 miles. I don't really know how far the trailer went, but it must have traveled over 12,000. Patti hasn't added up the fuel tickets yet, but it will come to between five and six grand, so guess again, Steve.

We did a lot of zig-zagging this past summer. For example, from Seattle we went to South Dakota, then Omaha, then Kansas City, then Western Illinois, then back down to Dayton, Ohio, then to South Central Pennsylvania, then to Upstate New York, clear over to Eastern Maine, then down the coast to Connecticut.. Can you imagine a more convoluted route?

Thank you all for the welcome back. I've got to go to work now and save enough for next year's diesel bill. Diesel is running about 3.25 in Houston right now, but I've no doubt the movers and shakers will screw it back up by next summer.

[MudMaker]

John.. Haven't ya heard?? There's an O-pression I mean D-pression in the wind...
Things is agonna be gettin worser afore they be gettin better..
Things jest may be bad for 4 years or so...

[flatfloor]

Glad you're back. I've been saving up stuff.

[Davy]

John, that's what I call a vacation. Glad y'all had a nice, safe trip.

[opiethetileman]

see gas is free in florida if ya come visit us we fill ya up send ya on your way.

[Bill Vincent]

see gas is free in florida if ya come visit us we fill ya up send ya on your way.

But parking next to the gas pumps while you fill up costs you 50.00 a minute.

[John Bridge]

Patti has tallied our various expenses this past summer, and I thought I would just finish up this thread with a few statistics.

We departed Houston June 8 and arrived back October 24 -- about 4- 1/2 months on the road.

As I said above, we traveled a total of 15,297 miles, including over the road with the trailer as well as around towns and other locations without the trailer.

We used 1,303 gallons of diesel at a total cost of $5,684. This averages out to $4.36 per gallon, and the average fuel consumption was 11.74 miles per gallon. I'm happy with the fuel economy figure. We went up and down a lot of mountains and hills, and quite of few of those miles were in cities.

I estimate the loaded trailer weighs well over 16,000 lbs, and the truck probably 5,000 something. Drag all that across the country with a 5.9 liter diesel engine and average nearly 12 mpg, and I figure you've done something.

I am right now trying to accumulate enough dinero to go 6 months next spring/summer.

[cx]

Most impressive fuel mileage for sure, JB. And maybe next year diesel won't cost but a couple or three bucks. You can maybe stretch the trip to eight months.

[ddmoit]

Too bad you can't buy diesel futures to hedge your bet, John.

[Wiley]

To pull that much weight and get that kind of mileage is amazing. You definitely have the right truck/engine combination for the job. More than that though, is the ability of the driver to be patient and thoughtful, which is needed to achieve those results. Good job guys.

Thanks for the visit. Thanks for sharing the trip, it was most enjoyable. See you next year.

[John Bridge]

Dan, I AM hedging. I own a few shares of Exxon Mobile. My hedging fund has diminished a little as of late, though.

Wiley reminded me that I forgot to reiterate the prudence of driving slower. I used to average 65-70 mph on the Interstates. Now I don't go a mile over 60, which runs the engine at 1,900 rpm. I figure that's about optimum operating speed, and I'm really not in a hurry. In our rig the difference between 70 and 60 amounts to about 3 mpg. That's significant when you figure 15,000 miles. Real beer money that is.

[kate42]

Originally Posted by John

Real beer money that is.