Successful trip

Brian Diehl · August 14, 2012, 10:01:39 AM

This past weekend I had occasion to bring the family down to Kansas city and back. We left on Friday after work and returned on Sunday. The whole drive was around 900 miles round trip. I'm happy to report a completely trouble free trip with no issues. We also had a postive tail wind most of the way down and about 33% of the way back home. :-) Due to the positive tail wind I set the cruise on at 73 mph and let the engine run full power up the hills - which I normally allow speed to bleed off on and then pick up the speed on the downhill side. I only had the need to run air conditioning on the drive home as it was 92 degrees Sunday afternoon. My average fuel economy was 9.4 mpg for the trip.

I love being able to just jump in the bus and GO! We could have done the trip in the car and stayed at a hotel, but with pets and such it is so much easier to have our hotel with us at all times! Anyway, it was a great trip and I thought given our normal habit of reporting "issues" from our journeys I would report an incident free trip for all to be motivated/encouraged by.

Brian Diehl · August 14, 2012, 10:02:53 AM

Oh, I forgot to also mention ...

I also got to test drive my Dad's new 2011 Ford F350 with the 6 speed auto tranny. That was FUN! The 6.7 sure is a lot more responsive than the 7.3 he had in his old truck was! Sweet!

fraser8 · August 14, 2012, 03:14:49 PM

Brian, it's nice when things go smooth, makes driving the bus a lot of fun. We're on a two month journey in ours and enjoying every minute. Great to hear you had another trouble free adventure, we need to hear about more of them..

gumpy · August 15, 2012, 08:06:59 AM

Quote from: Brian Diehl on August 14, 2012, 10:01:39 AM
... We could have done the trip in the car and stayed at a hotel, but with pets and such it is so much easier to have our hotel with us at all times!

We just got home from our Alaska motorcycle trip. I was really missing my bus! Finding a reasonably priced hotel in Canada, or one at all in Montana
was difficult. It is so much nicer when you can just pull off the road and you have your own hotel right there. I've decided that fuel prices are not
going to deter me from using the bus. It may cost more money than traveling by car, but the convenience and fun are well worth it.

bevans6 · August 15, 2012, 10:32:31 AM

This is so much fun to read, I love hearing good stuff. Gumpy there ain't no reasonable priced hotels/motels in Canada, I have decided. You roll into a town with one stop sign, a Red Roof Inn or whatever, deserted parking lot so you wonder if it's still in business, and it's $100 plus. When we travel by motel in the USA, we stop at the welcome to our State rest stop at the state border and pick up the motel coupon books. We usually find a deal where we want to stop for $50 - $60.

Brian

poppi · August 15, 2012, 01:11:32 PM

Brian,

Sounds like smiles all around congrats!

Skip

gumpy · August 15, 2012, 01:12:03 PM

Brian,

I was very surprised at how expensive everything in Canada has become. I guess everyone in Canada must really be raking it in on wages to afford the expensive living.

Food, gas, hotels. Everything was expensive. Hamburgers started at $12. It was nothing to see $20 for an 8 oz prime rib dinner. We stopped at an A&W restaurant for nostalgic purposes.
The meal for two people was $25. They had a kid that couldn't speak english very well. He asked Teri if she wanted cheese and bacon. She though he said cheese and pickles. They charged
$0.60 for a slice of cheese and $0.75 for a piece of bacon on her hamburger. A scoop of icecream in the root beer was like $2 more.

I used to like going to Canada, but I can't afford it any more.

bevans6 · August 15, 2012, 03:23:59 PM

Yeah, Craig, it's rich but on the other hand my mother in law got a free quad bypass a few years ago, my father is in a top notch old folks home for $60 a day, so there are paybacks. The over-all cost is about the same, from my way of thinking. But that's getting philosophical - I like it just fine when I roll into a deserted truck stop and park with my kitchen, bathroom, bedroom, for free, on the Trans Canada Highway...

Brian

Dave5Cs · August 15, 2012, 04:28:55 PM

I saw on the news last night that people who go to Costco on the US and Canadian boarder where upset because the people from Canada are coming down and buying up all the milk in the gallon jugs because it is so much cheaper here. One woman said she won't go at certain times of day because of the Canadians. We laughed, it sounded like you guys were invading or crossing boarder at night, LOL

Dave5Cs

fraser8 · August 15, 2012, 08:25:00 PM

That news cast was sure a joke, most of the hoarders were eastern indians buying for their corner stores so they could resell. When the Canadian dollar was down to about 50 cents US most of the border towns in our area almost closed up. I think the majority would like to keep the employment in these hard times. The other thing is, if you believe the news stories, you have bought a few bridges in your day.,

Dave5Cs · August 15, 2012, 08:51:25 PM

Fraser8
Relax buddy, I was just saying what they had and showed on the Local news (KCRA 3) said and it was on the west coast side. They showed the people taking all the milk off the pallets, getting in eachothers way etc. and they were definitely not East Indians. LOL

Dave5Cs

gumpy · August 15, 2012, 08:56:11 PM

Well, I know that to be true. Some of our friends come to the US on a weekly basis.

When we crossed into US at Sweetgrass the other day, there were probably 30 cars in the lanes. Most were from Alberta. Teri said they were going
south for the winter, but I said it was Monday and they were coming to the US to shop. We had grapes and pears, so got special attention from the
border guards (as if we were smuggling illegal drugs or something), and the guard that came out and did the inspection confirmed what I thought.
He said the Canadians were all going to the US to shop for groceries and pick up packages.

I'm surprised there's not a Wal-Mart right across the border.

FloridaCliff · August 16, 2012, 04:09:53 PM

Brian,

Glad to hear you had an uneventful trip!

I agree on the reporting of "events". I would quickly jump on here to report a problem.

But failed to talk about 5,000 miles logged, over four different trips without a single issue worth conversing about.

I guess part of it is getting past those first years where you do work the major bug's out, so to speak.

No sugar coating here, I had my fair share!

Anyway, nothing like firing that diesel up and heading out.

Best of luck,

Cliff