Slowly Rolling Downhill

[kevin_standlee]

I'd hoped to be away from Fernley before 8 AM, but it was nearly 9 by the time I finally got away. Despite our precautions, some of the lines in the Rolling Stone were frozen again overnight, although there was no concern about the hot water heater that we'd left running overnight. I shut it down just before leaving, and by the time I got to Sacramento, the slush in the lines had melted again and the water flowed freely again.

My thanks to totient for pointing at ThermoCube, which looks promising for connecting an oil heater inside the RV for times we want to store it semi-hot without burning through a lot of propane or running the heater unnecessarily. As long as we can keep the temperature above freezing, that would likely be enough.

Meanwhile, I am slightly amused to see people bundled up like arctic explorers against the Bay Area cold spell of weather around 8-10°C. They looked at me funny as I strolled along in shirtsleeves without even a jacket. It's twenty degrees warmer here than at home, and feels almost tropical by comparison.

Without a steering stabilizer, I generally kept the speed down to only 55 mph except when the heavy traffic coming down the mountains forced me slower. That, combined with the trip being mostly downhill, led to a 20% improvement in fuel consumption, albeit that's an improvement from 9.5 to 11.5 miles per gallon. The Stone Ford 460 engine is never going to be what you'd call economical. Also, with all of my usual stops, it took me nine hours to make the trip. I'm glad I don't have to be up early tomorrow.

Comments

[delosharriman]

9.5 miles per gallon to 11.5 miles per gallon doesn't sound like much, but the reciprocal is the interesting quantity, which I think they quote in Europe at litres per 100 kilometers.
Reno to San Francisco, a comparable drive to yours, is 350 km. At 4.0 km/l, that uses up 87 l of fuel. At 4.9 km/l, it uses up 72 l — a considerable improvement, I think.

[kevin-standlee.livejournal.com]

Yep. That's why working out the percentage change is so useful. Lisa's Big Orange Van has the same 460 engine and she says she almost never can manage more than 10 mpg, which is one of the main reasons she doesn't drive it often. (In fact, probably not often enough; it sits too much and gets balky when she needs it.)