Trip Report and other tidbits.

[Runaway]

Well the dust has settled after my trip out west. It was cut short by week as the spouse was called back to work early. But some interesting info for those of you who want to know.
The truck had apprx 11,800 miles on her when we left, 3000 miles later we returned home. The bed of the truck was full of firewood, and was pulling the 5ver (which has been modified in height). This trip, no matter what direction I traveled I had strong head or quartering winds to put up with. The following is some statistics for you:
CGVW: 17,156 lbs
Avg MPG: 10.7
Worst MPG: 8.8
Best MPG: 12.3
(The more miles traveled, the better the mileage.)
Avg MPH: 67 (Note, I never saw any of you who state 75+ mph as your towing speeds, all the Strokers, Dmaxes, and Cummins were running the same sane speeds as I.)
I take that back, had a Stroker pulling a travel trailer pass me like a bat out of h#ll outside of Rapid City, SD, when I signaled him to come back in the wind caught him and took him down onto the shoulder of the road, almost ditching it. He saved himself and hauled her back up onto the interstate and drove a sane speed that I could tell until I turned off for the Badlands.
Had another fellow Rammer struggle to pass me for 150 miles I could see him behind me. When we pulled the grades I would increase my lead, come down the hill he would gain some back. When he finally got in a position to pass, I slowed to let him by for safety reasons. He had I suspect a 98.5 with Cummins pulling a 30 ft+ Layton 5ver. The 5ver looked to have a list of at least 25*. When a gust of wind would blow, he was all over the road, taking both lanes of the east bound interstate just to control the rig. Running Oregon plates, that wasn't one of you Oregon TDR members, was it? I was sure hoping not to witness this young family going across the SD prairie unexpectantly.
Anyway, the truck performed flawlessly, but I didn't use any oil. Fuel mileage was lower than expected, but increased the whole trip, so I suspect this will keep increasing with more mile that are put on. I keep remebering the "99" and it didn't start to get consistent mileage until it had over 50K on her. With just 15K on this one it keeps increasing. An engine that is suppose to go 400K before an over haul can't be expected to be broke in in such a short amount of miles, my opinion of course.
Well, off on my next appointed round.

Vince