Correction, the Uinta range leg is correct, but was not tops. That was a leg on mostly level ground on the High Plains at around 4000 feet elevation from Amarillo, Texas to Boyce City, Oklahoma on two lane roads that yielded 23.28 mpg. Part of that was spent at fairly low speeds because I was on county and Forest Service roads looking for a seemingly misplaced Rita Blanca National Grasslands campground outside of Dalhart, Texas (it was where it was supposed to be and where I'd found in earlier years, but the roads were not well marked).

BTW, at that campground (technically not a campground, but a picnic site that rangers have told me on other occasions that I could camp in, no fee) there was not a soul except myself and Bonnie. Nothing so comfortable as a High Plains camp in August when it cools off dramatically at night and the stars are densely strewn across a velvet black sky while the coyotes disturb the profound quiet.

It is interesting, too, that this was the site of an extensive planting of trees that was done in the thirties and again in the fifties and sixties of the last century. The site is called "Thompson's Grove". I found the old weathered wooden information signs that date from the days of the plantings explaining the values of "reforestation" (NFS terminology on the sign). That is in a location where the only native trees are along the rare watercourses. The "reforested" site has an annual rainfall of about 14 inches, and is bordered all around by beautiful short grass prairie in a near native condition (though much of the area, including that owned by the FS, is heavily grazed, made up of "improved" pasture containing exotic grasses, or is irrigated crop land growing corn, grain sorghum, wheat, vegetables, and sugar beets). An historical note, it is only a hop and a skip from the headquarters of the North Section of the fabled XIT Ranch that ran from the Oklahoma border south along the Texas-NM line for over 300 miles.

The forest service has put in bear proof trash disposal at the location since my last visit several years ago, and has the usual look out for bears signs. First I had heard of bears frequenting the Texas Panhandle in modern times, and I haven't run across any corroborating evidence other than the sign and the receptacles. I do know that bears occur some 40 miles away on the Black Mesa in Oklahoma and New Mexico.

Well, what a rambling post.

Dave Mc

................................................................................. On Sat, Sep 26, 2009 at 3:55 PM , Dave Mcneely wrote:

> up to 23.20 mpg in the Uinta Range in Utah