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Date:         Fri, 21 Mar 2008 17:48:47 -0800
Reply-To:     Don Hanson <dhanson@GORGE.NET>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Don Hanson <dhanson@GORGE.NET>
Subject:      Successful road trip completed..Some figures(long post)
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="Windows-1252"

Hi All, Just returned from an extended winter trip (in my 84 faux-Westie with an inline 4 cabriolet motor conversion) to the desert southwest. I kept track of the mileage and gas costs on my return leg and though it might be of interest. The brown 'topless' camper was pretty loaded, weighing in at about 5200lbs on a truck scale. I had aboard all my cycle gear and a full carpenter's day job tool collection, plus camping gear for an extended outing and two cycles mounted on a Yakima rack attached to the rear hatch out of the wind, mostly.

The miles traveled on the return leg: 1155, from near the Salton Sea below Palm Springs, Ca. via Hwy 395 along the east slope of the Sierra's and the Cascades to near Hood River, Oregon, east of Portland. Many mountain passes, pretty windy and some heavy snow flurries out in eastern Oregon in the middle of the night. The trip took about 20 hours of driving time. I stopped and slept southeast of Bend, Or. for a few hours, but with all the gear and tools inside, I was not able to really get too comfortable. I spent $178 on gas, used 49.2 gallons at an average $3.63 per gallon. My mile per gallon fuel consumption figures at 23.4. I tried to keep my speed to about 65mph average, thinking to keep my fuel consumption down. Considering the load and the windy mountainous route, I was happy with 23+ mpg. No problems on the trip other than needing a clutch slave during my stay in California..Now I'll be needing a brake master because during the bleeding for the new slave, my helper was putting "everything" into pumping the BRAKE pedal while I was trying to bleed the CLUTCH slave....Doh! And she is a very strong-legged bicycle racer type, mashing down +hard+ on the brake, without it going down...until it did! But I still was getting no fluid from the slave bleed screw...Until I crawled out and pushed the clutch to feel it for myself, and she said..."Oh, I was pushing the OTHER pedal"...Doh! I think the MC might have some deformed seals now as it felt a bit "fadey" on hard stops.. I had some 14" Hekapolita(sp?) snow tires on the rear, thank goodness, and they worked great during my midnight encounter with very crappy snow driving.. All in all, a very pleasant trip. The Vanagon again proves it's versatility. I hate to think what I might have spent driving my Ford diesel and pulling my utility trailer..Diesel was usually over $4 per gallon and that truck with a load gets about 11mpg.. Don Hanson


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