Road Trip
My daughter Emily and I went to New Mexico for a week to visit my cousin Jack. It was a twenty hour marathon down U.S.-54 then a short trip to finish on I-40 to Edgewood.
I washed the car and Rain-Xed the glass before the trip. I also sprayed on a heavy coat of Rain-X Bug&Tar Shield to the front end. I was skeptical as I sprayed it on, but that stuff really works. It goes on as a white opaque mask. It washes off with soapy water, but when the bugs hit the car finish it acts like a separator and bug squat doesn't stick as well, meaning the bug squat isn't as capable at eating through the clear coat. So if you drive in a buggy area or late at night a lot try this stuff out, just don't spray it on tour headlights or windshield or it'll cloud things up.
I had the stock tires pumped to 40psi and think I'll leave it there since it helped out the handling and mileage noticeably. I now run 5w-30, Mobile 1 in the 1.8 rice grinder. Mileage during the 3,800 miles ranged from a high of 40.4 down to 28.6 according to my calculator. The onboard gas ticker is still stuck on 37.4mpg average.
The car handled the road conditions and traffic admirably, even during some pretty nasty events of wind and weather. Pushing the tire pressures up really did help with the car's handling. Going up to the summit of Sandia Crest(10,000'+) and back we averaged 32 mpg. I was amazed by the scenery and the cube.
Em and I set out on the Turquoise Trail, NM-14, and since the road seemed abandoned we puttered down that at 45-50 mph, taking in the sights. That's where we got 40+mpg. Later in the week we braved Albuquerque's streets and the milage fell off at the stoplights. We drove on old 66 when ever we could. It was a nice little trip.
Two hours from home we hit some nasty weather. Here I'd been driving straight for 18 hours, wired on Love's high octane coffee, now searching for funnel clouds between the lightening flashes of early morn. It rained hard and continuously 'til we got home. We rested beneath the shelter of a gas station carwash for 20 mins. or so, then pressed on MO-19. The road was awash, then the next thing I remember crashing through the flash flood of a swollen creek. We were cruising across 70 feet of flooded roadway at 50 mph, never even saw it coming. I drove a lot slower after that and even made two attempts to warn oncoming traffic, but they just blew on by me. Oh well, we made it home in one piece. What an adventure.
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