Cross Country Towing Round Trip 6000 miles

17026 Views 33 Replies 9 Participants Last post by DStrachan, Dec 5, 2014

firemist32

Discussion Starter · Oct 27, 2014

I had hoped to find more time to do a daily blog-ish update for this trip. However here I am on day 4 of my trip just writing the first post. My gang of 4 (2 littles, my wife and I) headed out from our home in NC to visit friends and family along the US and end up in CA for a couple weeks where I am originally from. The whole trip should be around 6000 miles. I left with 6108 on the odometer and on our 4th night now we are ~7500. I am having to fill up once a day and the first morning diesel was 3.44, then 3.41, then 3.33, then 3.26 today in Oklahoma where we are stopped. We are going between 57-63mph and I am mostly using the tow mode so the gears don't hunt as much. I turn it off down grades and on flat travel. Gas milage for the first 2 refills were 14.1 each and then a 13.1 and then a 14.6. We had a lot of wind today coming right at us today and the computer is showing 12.6 currently with about 115 miles to empty when I gas up tomorrow. I am not taking the time to hand calculate any milage on this trip but I have done it in the past and found it was always within .1 everytime I did it so I have stopped. The last thing I will add is I am towing a Rockwood Mini Lite 2504s for anyone wanting specs. It is ~5200lbs dry and I am guessing about 5800lbs with our stuff in it and some fluid in the tanks. I will update again in a few days I hope and if anyone has questions I will try to answer them. Pray for us and my sanity as I drive a 2 year old girl and 5 year old boy cross country!

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zoomie

· #2 · Oct 27, 2014

Thanks for the report.

My folks dragged me and my two sisters across canada in a trailer like that back in the 70's. It was a great time and I'll never forget it. You're building some fantastic family memories. Oh, my dad had a 70's ish pontiac station wagon with a 454 4 bbl that got 5mpg towing. He was complaining that gas just hit $1 per gallon.

Boocoodinkydow

· #3 · Oct 27, 2014

Thanx for the post. Anxious to hear more of your adventure. Great fuel mileage.

firemist32

Discussion Starter · #4 · Oct 28, 2014 (Edited)

A quick post today. The gas price locator in the 8.4N works really well to tell you prices within 30 miles of your position and add it as a way point on your route in progress. I have found HUGE differences by going off the freeway just a few blocks or passing a big town to go to a little town 8 miles up the road.. Today the LOVES & FLYING J were both asking 3.85 for diesel. I went 1.8 miles off the freeway with the GPS and got Valero diesel for 3.35. I would have never known it was there with no freeway sign. A .50/ gal difference is a outrageous though for people buying off the highway. Just a heads up

BTW my 12.6 yesterday turned into a 13.1 by the time I filled up. I had little wind today and mostly flat and it is showing 15.1 currently 1/2 way through the tank I bought late this morning.

10%More

· #5 · Oct 28, 2014

This is "cool". Sure appreciate the information.

Have fun.

firemist32

Discussion Starter · #6 · Oct 29, 2014

Thanks 10%. I Finished with the best tank ever for this trip at 14.8 when I filled up today in Albuquerque, New Mexico (which BTW was $3.79 off the freeway and $3.25 about 2 miles in at a major grocery store). I find this milage odd since I climbed over 3500ft on this tank pulling dead weight up a hill. It must be the light wind yesterday and no wind today making that much of a difference. The 2nd half of the day we climbed over the Continental divide at 7200 ft and back down a little to our stop tonight at 6500 ft. This tank is showing a great 15.3 (with 2/3 tank to go) with lots more flat & downhill tomorrow! I am hoping the wind stays gone.

firemist32

Discussion Starter · #7 · Oct 30, 2014

The wind did stay gone. Got 15.4 on that tank. Refilled in Flagstaff AZ for $3.25 (it was as high as $4.09 in town). Showing 16.2 now going down from 6600ft to 700ft at Needles, CA for the night with 1/2 tank to go. (BTW never get fuel in Needles. Literally most expensive gas in the country according the internet. Currently Unleaded $4.29, diesel $4.89)

firemist32

Discussion Starter · #8 · Oct 31, 2014

Got the last tank in CA in Barstow for $3.55 and saw it as high as $4.29 in that town. Ended up with 15.3 on that one. Going over Tehachapi pass and down into Bakersfield netted 16.3 so far on this tank with about 2/3 to go. Heading to San Francisco Bay Area tomorrow for a couple weeks to park the trailer before heading home. I will report one more fill and total milage tomorrow for leg one of the cross country trip

zoomie

· #9 · Oct 31, 2014

This is really interesting to follow, Thanks for this Firemist.

CJnOC

· #10 · Oct 31, 2014

Yeah, I find this interesting too. Must be getting old when we are excited about fuel prices!

firemist32

Discussion Starter · #11 · Nov 2, 2014

Ok so a day late on the last post. Arrived with 2997 miles from A to B. Last tank I filled up for 3.80 (cheapest off the highway near Tracy, CA) I was getting 15.1 (down from my 16.3) after a strong head wind from a rain front moving through the area on HWY 5 north.

All in all I think I did ok. Just averaging the numbers I get 14.4 total mpg for the trip on 9 fill-ups. I have all the receipts somewhere and at some point I may add up all the gallons and hand calculate the milage.

I hope to get better milage going home since wind generally moves west to east and will be at our back and after a climb into AZ its mostly downhill for several states into Tennessee. I will be back in a couple weeks to post leg 2

zoomie

· #12 · Nov 3, 2014

I think 14.4 is pretty good since we see lot's of hemi's in that range without even towing anything.

firemist32

Discussion Starter · #13 · Nov 16, 2014

I'm back! Headed out of the Bay Area a couple days ago and filled in San Jose, CA for $3.47 and made it to Barstow, CA $3.55 and got 15.5mpg. From there we climbed about 6000 ft and filled up in Flagstaff, AZ $3.35 and got 13.9 with that climb (also had a small $10 add to make it up the hill at $3.79) but we had the wind at our backs which helped a lot.

Today we went from Flagstaff, AZ to Albuquerque, NM and got a record for our trip 17.9mpg and filled again for $3.25 same place as before in this city!! We had a strong easterly wind at our back the whole day and I was easily doing 65mph and getting good mpg. There is a slight drop in elevation as well from 7200ft to 5200ft between those cities so that helped also. Hoping for good wind tomorrow and there will be more down hill as well into the plains.

ECO33

· #14 · Nov 18, 2014

Did you run into snow

>

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firemist32 said:
I'm back! Headed out of the Bay Area a couple days ago and filled in San Jose, CA for $3.47 and made it to Barstow, CA $3.55 and got 15.5mpg. From there we climbed about 6000 ft and filled up in Flagstaff, AZ $3.35 and got 13.9 with that climb (also had a small $10 add to make it up the hill at $3.79) but we had the wind at our backs which helped a lot.

Today we went from Flagstaff, AZ to Albuquerque, NM and got a record for our trip 17.9mpg and filled again for $3.25 same place as before in this city!! We had a strong easterly wind at our back the whole day and I was easily doing 65mph and getting good mpg. There is a slight drop in elevation as well from 7200ft to 5200ft between those cities so that helped also. Hoping for good wind tomorrow and there will be more down hill as well into the plains.

Are you stuck in a snowdrift, waiting for an update on your trip. :|

firemist32

Discussion Starter · #15 · Nov 19, 2014

Thanks for checking in ECO33 sorry its been a few days. The night we stopped in Albuquerque it started to snow. When we woke up instead of heading east on 40 and heading over large mountains with heavy snow and possibly getting stuck/ and also scheduled to arrive in Amarillo TX with an expected high of 6 with wind chill, we decided to head south on 25 to El Paso TX right near the MX border. It was 54 degrees there. We got 15.5 going south on that tank and filled for $3.39. We then headed east to San Antonio, TX where it was also 54 degrees (our longest day of the whole trip at 540 miles) We faced a tough head wind all day and filled twice on this trip yesterday for $3.35 midway somewhere and $3.29 when we got into San Antonio. The first leg was 12.1 mpg and the second was 13.6.

Today we spent the whole morning in San Antonio which we really liked and then headed north a short distance to Austin, Tx and had a favorable wind getting 16.6mpg and used about a 1/4 tank. Tomorrow we will head to Dallas TX and then continue east as we were waiting for the cold weather and snow to clear. It was nice to have the flexibility in our schedule to completely redo our itinerary for weather related events.

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ECO33

· #16 · Nov 19, 2014

<firemist> I was following your trip as we plan to do a long one this coming spring. Plan to head east,south, north or where every we decide to go. May take a month or two so will give the rig a good test.

We did the southwest last year for a month plus a few days. That was with my F150 which was a nice rig but lousy gas milage.
This is my 4th Ram, starting with a 91,then a 95 and finally a 03 1 ton. When I sold the 5th wheel and big horse trailer I sold the 03. When this ECO diesel came out I started following the blogs and decided I would go back to a Ram. So far we have less than 2000 miles on it and really love it.
When we start our trip next spring I will do a blog about it.

zoomie

· #17 · Nov 19, 2014

ECO33 said:
<firemist> I was following your trip as we plan to do a long one this coming spring. Plan to head east,south, north or where every we decide to go. May take a month or two so will give the rig a good test. We did the southwest last year for a month plus a few days. That was with my F150 which was a nice rig but lousy gas milage.
This is my 4th Ram, starting with a 91,then a 95 and finally a 03 1 ton. When I sold the 5th wheel and big horse trailer I sold the 03. When this ECO diesel came out I started following the blogs and decided I would go back to a Ram. So far we have less than 2000 miles on it and really love it.
When we start our trip next spring I will do a blog about it.

Good news, we love reading these.

firemist32

Discussion Starter · #18 · Nov 20, 2014

ECO33 said:
that was with my F150 which was a nice rig but lousy gas milage.

ECO33 how am I doing compared to a F150? Some days I question if we would be doing the same in a gas truck at $2.49 a gallon now. This is our first travel trailer and my old gas truck never towed anything this heavy or wind blocking so I have nothing to compare.

At any rate I made it to Dallas,TX today on the rest of my tank and the EVIC shows 17.2 with a good favorable wind again today. I will fill in the morning and start heading east to Mississippi.

ECO33

· #19 · Nov 20, 2014

firemist32 said:
ECO33 how am I doing compared to a F150? Some days I question if we would be doing the same in a gas truck at $2.49 a gallon now. This is our first travel trailer and my old gas truck never towed anything this heavy or wind blocking so I have nothing to compare.

At any rate I made it to Dallas,TX today on the rest of my tank and the EVIC shows 17.2 with a good favorable wind again today. I will fill in the morning and start heading east to Mississippi.

<firemist>
The mileage I have read about is the main reason I decided to go back to the Ram ECODiesel. Even with the higher price for fuel this truck has saved money on each fill so far. The F150 would get 8 to 11 MPG towing so I'm sure this rig will be a cost saving outfit. Enjoyed your updates. Thanks for taking the time.

On a side note, I drive allot , the F150 had nearly 40,000 miles on it in just over 1 1/2 years. :|

firemist32

Discussion Starter · #20 · Nov 22, 2014

I filled in the morning in Dallas at $3.29 I had seen it cheaper in Texas at $3.16 but not when I needed it of course. We drove through Louisiana and got diesel in Monroe for $3.24 (and facing a rough head wind all day netted 12.9mpg) on our way to Mississippi for the night. We actually saw diesel for the lowest price we have seen the entire trip right at the state line after you leave Texas at $3.06 but I was basically full tank at that point.

This morning we left Jackson, MS and headed east to Alabama with a stop in Meridian, MS at $3.15 for some diesel and was getting a slightly better combined 13.8mpg with 1/2 tank from yesterdays head wind. Stopping for the night at Hopehull, Al and currently showing 14.6 on EVIC

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