Managing Expectations....

In less than three weeks we will depart for our journey west.  This was the only day we could find to take out the Chama Cabin to find out how the thing works before we depart.

Park in the Autumn

We had to find a park with a RV campground where we could completely set-up the rig to check-out how it trailered and how all the pieces worked.  Previously we tried to get into Pere Marquette, which is less than 20 miles away and also Siloam Springs which is about 60 miles away.  Unfortunately both require reservations and both are fully reserved this time of year.  We had to find another alternative. 

After a bit of head scratching we decided on a place that has a “first come, first served” policy and in the event the campground was full it had abundant parking lots in which we could practice backing and parking.  We decided to leave at 8:00 this morning so bright and early I went out to hitch “Old Blue” to the Chama Cabin.

I knew this drill, it is a piece of cake that takes only 15 minutes to hitch-up and get on the road.      

Put the hitch on the truck.  The damn thing is 40 pounds of steel with all sorts of greasy pointy things on it and it is all I can do to haul it out of the Cabin and jam it into the receiver on the truck.   

      Remember to test to make sure the hitch is firmly seated on the hitch ball – Check

.         Connect the equalizer bars.  Another 20 pounds of steel and chain and two of them to boot.  Use steel tube to properly attach the chains and avoid flying steel when pulling the chains into place.

a.       What the hell did I do with the tube?  15 minutes pass and I go through at least 3 stages of the grief process as I search for the damn thing.  

b.      Finally one is in place and I go for the second and the damn tube is missing again.  10 minutes later the second is done.

So it goes until the last piece, the sway control and I must remember to REMOVE THE SWAY CONTROL BEFORE BACKING!

And we are off with a full tank of gas on a 103 mile drive to our destination.  20 minutes later we are in line at the Kampsville ferry. 

“Please let me be first and in the middle.”  A car it waiting at the ferry and a big truck for towing heavy equipment pulls up behind.  Then the ferry arrives:

“Please let me be in the middle, if you do I will be faithful to my church forever.   S**t, he is putting me against the left side railing and that HUGE TRUCK is pulling up beside IN THE MIDDLE – The Creator of the Universe must hate me!”

Finally that is over and off we go to Eldred and a quick drive to the Interstate.  All goes well on this part but the gas mileage doesn’t seem right.

The east on the Interstate is uneventful at a steady 60 mph but the gas gauge is messed-up – it has to be because this mileage is terrible and the gas gauge is falling like a rock.  We stop and fill the tank – 12 gallons and we have only gone 60 miles on this trip and a total of 100 since it was filled two nights ago – this is not right.

A full tank of gas now everything will be better.  40 miles left to our destination and it is low speed on a twisty, hilly road.  Ten miles in I check the mileage – “SIX MILES TO THE GALLON”, twenty mile in “Seven miles to the gallon”, forty miles in at our destination 7.7 miles to the gallon.

We check in with the host at the campground.  Lots of vacancies and it is a beautiful place.  The hosts were really nice folks; they took one look at our rig and me and said, “First time out?”  Is it really that obvious?  We had a nice laugh and the lady there said they all wanted us to park close so they could get a good laugh as I backed into a site.  I found one way in the back out of site.

So I backed in – not too bad with a bit of direction from G.  It made a funny scratchy noise with a loud pop while backing but I didn’t think too much about that.  We planned on fully unhitching and then basically setting everything up and afterward breaking it all down re-hitching and coming home.   

The unhitching went well until I realized that I FORGOT TO TAKE OFF THE SWAY CONTROL before backing.  No damage but I must not forget that.  Hmm, I believe it is on the checklist I prepared a couple weeks ago but didn’t bring along on this trip.

Everything went well in setting up the cabin.  It is very compact but perfect for the two of us.  We were camped in a forested area and a zephyr kept the place cool.   After an hour we closed everything up and re-hitched. 

Off we went retracing our route.  The mileage was slowly increasing and when we made it back to the Interstate the mileage slowly climbed to 9 MPG.  We arrived home after our 210 mile drive and backed the Cabin directly into its place behind the shed on the south side.  It made the same scratching/popping noise again – I FORGOT TO TAKE OFF THE SWAY CONTROL!

It was a good day, with lots of good lessons and some expectations.  The biggest item is the mileage situation.  I talked with the hosts at the campground and they said this is pretty normal.  The engine we replaced pulled 11 to 12 mpg before it failed but the load was a few hundred pounds lower.  I believe the real issue now is I drove the truck without the overdrive engaged, which Ford recommends when towing, and the new engine is not fully broken-in. 

Most folks today don’t understand the break-in process and timing for a new motor be it in a new car or a new engine in an older vehicle.   Fully breaking-in new engines takes much more time than most realize and the process is not complete until you have upwards of 12,000 miles on the vehicle.  That being said, today’s trip was made with a motor having just over 2,000 miles on it – it is still very tight which you can hear in the way the motor labors while pulling a load.  I expect the mileage will climb by about 20% or a bit more as it fully breaks in over the 4,500 miles of high speed driving from here to Chama in the next two months.

We are ready and all that is left is continuing study and remembering to, plan on fueling more often and to TAKE OF THE SWAY CONTROL WHEN BACKING.

Lincoln's New Salem Historic Park, Illinois

When we just want to get away for a couple days we know where to go.  It is beautiful and quiet and a really wonder filled place.  If you haven't been to Lincoln's New Salem Historic Park, you have really missed something.  This was the fifth or sixth time we have visited and now we can linger just a few days longer.