Daily Archives: April 3, 2012
Las Cruces in the Rear View Mirror . . .
Today was the day, we hope.
We left Coachlight RV Park about 10:30 to take our rig back over to Rush Truck Center to hopefully finish up our repairs and get us back on the road. But on the way we pulled into the nearby Pilot station for what turned out to be 118 gallons of diesel.
And just in time too. When we got diesel, it was $4.05 ($4.03 with our Pilot Loyalty Card). But later in the day it had gone up to $4.09.
We pull into Rush’s right at 11am, got parked, and our tech, David, got right to work. It turns out that our parts had come in early, and they were ready to go.
While they were working on our coach, Jan and I decided to have one last meal at Cha Chi’s. But we weren’t going for more Mexican this time. We were going for their hamburgers.
Every time we had gone there we noticed how many customers were ordering hamburgers, not Mexican dishes. We asked our waiter and he said they’re known for their burgers, and it’s one of their best selling items. So we had to try them.
Jan had a Cheeseburger with Guacamole, and I had the Works Burger with Cheese, Hatch Green Chilies, and two pieces of thick-sliced bacon. And along with lettuce, tomato, pickles and onion, they were really, really good. It’s easy to see why they were so popular.
Getting back to Rush Truck Center about 12:30 we found David close to being done. At 12:45 we started the engine and let the air system come up to full pressure until the valve popped off, and David checked for any leaks.
I noticed the air pressure came up quicker now, and the coach came up on the airbags faster too.
After settling up the bill, we pulled the coach out of the bay and over to an area where we could hook up the toad. I also took a few minutes to add some hydraulic fluid to our PowerGear leveler reservoir. When we left the park, the levelers came all the way up, but I was still getting a “Jacks Down” alarm. This normally means the fluid level is low and some needs to be added. And so it was this time.
As far as improvements from the exhaust manifold replacement, it was certainly evident.
I now have much better low-end power and acceleration, especially from a standing start heading up hill.
But the big eye-opener was the increase in MPG. Even driving at 60 instead of my normal 55, I traveled 239.1 miles and used 24.2 gallons of diesel. That’s 9.88 miles per gallon. WOW!
That’s better than I usually get at 55. And I’m really looking forward to seeing what I get doing 55.
We got into the Saddleback RV Park at Balmorhea about 6:50pm (We lost an hour going from MDT to CDT) after a very smooth trip.
Jan fixed us a great supper of cheese and bacon quesadillas and warm cookies for dessert. Hmmm!
Sometime during the next few days I go over in more detail what I had done on the rig and why.
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Thought for the Day:
When women are depressed they either eat or go shopping. Men invade another country.
asdffd
