Making the Trip to The DL Nats.... Part 1
Posted: Wed Jul 12, 2006 10:33 am
Driving To The Center Of The Universe.
I am one of those people that not only likes to be on-time, but would prefer to be early for most everything. That time is usually used to reflect on the previous day's activities, and go over what I want to accomplish for the new day. Hey, it's worked for me for as long as I can remember, so I'll stick with it.
The trip we are into right now is no different, I take that back, the one thing that was different already is that leaving a day early wasn't my idea, my wife Margie gets credit for that. We had originally planned on leaving Massachusetts on Monday, and in turn ended up leaving on Sunday afternoon sometime. It wasn't my idea, so I didn't even look at the clock.
Most of you know that we bought one of those GPS units to help us along the way, and I also printed out directions from Map Quest, just in case. Printing out he directions proved to be the best idea I have had in a long time. We named the GPS unit Dot Dot because the thing has a female voice that gives directions.
Not knowing what to expect as far as gas mileage out of the motorhome towing the car/trailer halfway across the country, had me wondering. If you've never been to Massachusetts, let me clue you in on at least one thing, the Mass Pike has some of the longest hills I have ever driven. One of the hills we drove up was 17 miles long and my foot was pegged to the floor the entire time. All I could think about at the time was the fuel that was rushing thru the V10's cylinders at an alarming rate, and we weren't going very fast!
I had planned on not letting the fuel gauge get below the half-way point so it wouldn't be such a shock to fill it up. (The tank holds 75 gallons) When we left home, the tank wasn't full, so our first stop was 125 miles away, in Blandford, MA. Our first fill-up was 39.4 gallons at $3.04. Checked out the car to make sure nothing had moved, and off we went for the next gas stop. The next leg brought us roughly 180 miles further to a place called Canastota, NY. The gas prices dropped a bit to $2.96, which was fine with me. Dumped a total of 26.6 gallons in this time. A quick fuel mileage check let me know that we were getting a whopping 7 mpg!! Seeing as how it was close to 3am, we decided to call it a night, and pulled into a truck stop for some sleep.
As usual, bright and early in the morning we headed on down the road. The hills started to get smaller and smaller the further west we went. No traffic tie-ups, no bad weather, no miserable construction delays, things were going great!! Made it to Erie, PA and it finally dawned on me that we are way ahead of schedule. Erie marked the half-way point in our 1038 mile trip to Illinois. Another 36.2 gallons of fuel @ $2.89 and we were off again.
By the time we got to our next stop, which was in Genoa, Ohio, a total of 738 miles from home, we finally ran into some rain. Nothing earth shattering, just enough to wash off all the bugs that tried to fly thru the hood rather than go around. There was also a bird that attempted the same thing, and met with the same results, only this time I heard it. At the fuel stop in Ohio, I poured in a total of 27.3 gallons of gasoline @ $2.92. Shortly after getting fuel, we decided to stop and rest just for the heck of it. As soon as we got off the highway, I noticed an ice cream place, along with a restaurant in the same large parking lot. It was roughly 1:30 in the afternoon and being as far ahead of schedule as we were, we decided to stay there in Austinburg, Ohio for the night.
Just before we stopped for fuel, our GPS unit, Dot Dot went out of her mind and kept telling us to Go North, Go North, Recalculating, Go North, Go North, Recalculating. Her little screen kept flashing, and we couldn't stop laughing. I finally decided to give her a rest and pushed the "off" button. It was either that, or I was going to have to slap her across the face to knock some sense into her like they do in the movies. The off button did the trick.
In the morning we headed off for what was to be the last leg of our trip. Made it to Rolling Praire, Indiana, a total of 911 miles into the trip and refueled for the last time putting in a total of 21.9 gallons @ $3.09. I called Gary and let him know that we only had about 200 miles to go, so get ready. I mentioned earlier that we were traffic free, that all came to a screeching halt when we got to the RT294/80 split. Other than that one spot, the entire trip was smooth as silk.
A quick call from Gary alerted us that we had better take a different route due to some intense traffic in the direction we were headed. The new route took us right past RT66 Raceway, COOL!!! We met up with Gary and followed him home to where I am writing this from. Breathtaking sights the entire trip. Can you say CORN?? Yikes!!
We may be heading over to Rapid Randy Baker Country tomorrow, so the trip isn't quite over yet, and the saga will continue.........
Mike and Margie
p.s. Map Quest said 1038 miles, the actual mileage was 1015. Not too bad if you ask me.
I am one of those people that not only likes to be on-time, but would prefer to be early for most everything. That time is usually used to reflect on the previous day's activities, and go over what I want to accomplish for the new day. Hey, it's worked for me for as long as I can remember, so I'll stick with it.
The trip we are into right now is no different, I take that back, the one thing that was different already is that leaving a day early wasn't my idea, my wife Margie gets credit for that. We had originally planned on leaving Massachusetts on Monday, and in turn ended up leaving on Sunday afternoon sometime. It wasn't my idea, so I didn't even look at the clock.
Most of you know that we bought one of those GPS units to help us along the way, and I also printed out directions from Map Quest, just in case. Printing out he directions proved to be the best idea I have had in a long time. We named the GPS unit Dot Dot because the thing has a female voice that gives directions.
Not knowing what to expect as far as gas mileage out of the motorhome towing the car/trailer halfway across the country, had me wondering. If you've never been to Massachusetts, let me clue you in on at least one thing, the Mass Pike has some of the longest hills I have ever driven. One of the hills we drove up was 17 miles long and my foot was pegged to the floor the entire time. All I could think about at the time was the fuel that was rushing thru the V10's cylinders at an alarming rate, and we weren't going very fast!
I had planned on not letting the fuel gauge get below the half-way point so it wouldn't be such a shock to fill it up. (The tank holds 75 gallons) When we left home, the tank wasn't full, so our first stop was 125 miles away, in Blandford, MA. Our first fill-up was 39.4 gallons at $3.04. Checked out the car to make sure nothing had moved, and off we went for the next gas stop. The next leg brought us roughly 180 miles further to a place called Canastota, NY. The gas prices dropped a bit to $2.96, which was fine with me. Dumped a total of 26.6 gallons in this time. A quick fuel mileage check let me know that we were getting a whopping 7 mpg!! Seeing as how it was close to 3am, we decided to call it a night, and pulled into a truck stop for some sleep.
As usual, bright and early in the morning we headed on down the road. The hills started to get smaller and smaller the further west we went. No traffic tie-ups, no bad weather, no miserable construction delays, things were going great!! Made it to Erie, PA and it finally dawned on me that we are way ahead of schedule. Erie marked the half-way point in our 1038 mile trip to Illinois. Another 36.2 gallons of fuel @ $2.89 and we were off again.
By the time we got to our next stop, which was in Genoa, Ohio, a total of 738 miles from home, we finally ran into some rain. Nothing earth shattering, just enough to wash off all the bugs that tried to fly thru the hood rather than go around. There was also a bird that attempted the same thing, and met with the same results, only this time I heard it. At the fuel stop in Ohio, I poured in a total of 27.3 gallons of gasoline @ $2.92. Shortly after getting fuel, we decided to stop and rest just for the heck of it. As soon as we got off the highway, I noticed an ice cream place, along with a restaurant in the same large parking lot. It was roughly 1:30 in the afternoon and being as far ahead of schedule as we were, we decided to stay there in Austinburg, Ohio for the night.
Just before we stopped for fuel, our GPS unit, Dot Dot went out of her mind and kept telling us to Go North, Go North, Recalculating, Go North, Go North, Recalculating. Her little screen kept flashing, and we couldn't stop laughing. I finally decided to give her a rest and pushed the "off" button. It was either that, or I was going to have to slap her across the face to knock some sense into her like they do in the movies. The off button did the trick.
In the morning we headed off for what was to be the last leg of our trip. Made it to Rolling Praire, Indiana, a total of 911 miles into the trip and refueled for the last time putting in a total of 21.9 gallons @ $3.09. I called Gary and let him know that we only had about 200 miles to go, so get ready. I mentioned earlier that we were traffic free, that all came to a screeching halt when we got to the RT294/80 split. Other than that one spot, the entire trip was smooth as silk.
A quick call from Gary alerted us that we had better take a different route due to some intense traffic in the direction we were headed. The new route took us right past RT66 Raceway, COOL!!! We met up with Gary and followed him home to where I am writing this from. Breathtaking sights the entire trip. Can you say CORN?? Yikes!!
We may be heading over to Rapid Randy Baker Country tomorrow, so the trip isn't quite over yet, and the saga will continue.........
Mike and Margie
p.s. Map Quest said 1038 miles, the actual mileage was 1015. Not too bad if you ask me.
Mike all of the Gasser Ghosts in Ohio were communicating with Dot Dot and she got flustered. Didn't know which way to go to get to them. They wanted to see your ride. 
