It looks like a trip to the mid-Atlantic to see Ducky and Jerry is a lock.
Mrs ERJ made the hotel reservations.
I bought a float-valve for the cattle tank. They will get two fresh paddocks just before I leave, primarily because the paddock that is two ahead of where they are now has the best logistics for water.
Belladonna and Kubota will watch the dogs.
The destination is a county with a population density of 2000 people per square mile compared to Eaton Rapids Township's 100/. Most of the population is jammed into the east side of the county. The west side is owned by "horse people" and includes a trout stream, not something I expected at that latitude.
I was interested in hitting a Farmers' Market but the days and hours don't work out. The region is very well-to-do by my standards. Median household income is twice the US median and those yuppies like their boutique markets.
Maybe I can find somebody to give me a tour of Kinkos and OfficeMax. If I am lucky, maybe they will demonstrate how to operate a copy machine, a device I heard stories about but have never seen with my own eyes.
Maybe it is paranoia
Maybe it is paranoia or maybe it is just planning.
The truck has a useable range of 450 miles. The destination is significantly farther than that. I like to drive on the top half of the tank.
In the event of social unrest, there is no way to drive the entire distance without stops for fuel. On the way back, refueling in Northern West Virginia should give me enough range to get the rest of the way home.
Bonus joke
A boy and his father from Eaton Rapids were visiting the Big City. They were amazed by almost everything they saw, but especially by two shiny, silver walls that could move apart and then slide back together again.
The boy asked, "What is this Father?"
The father (never having seen an elevator) responded, "Son, I have never seen anything like this in my life, I don't know what it is"
While the boy and his father were watching with amazement, a dowdy, older lady hobbled up to the moving walls and pressed a button. The walls opened and the lady lurched between them into a small room. The walls closed and the boy and his father watched the small circular numbers above the walls light up sequentially. They continued to watch until it reached the last number and then the numbers began to light in the reverse order. Finally the walls opened up again and a gorgeous 24-year-old blonde stepped out.
The father said quietly to his son....."Go get your mother."
It's interesting when you remember a joke as it's being told, but forget the punchline.
ReplyDeleteIt's less interesting when I tell a joke and forget the punchline.
Ha ha good one! If ya get ta see one of them copier things could ya post a picture so the rest of us rural backwoods Michigan hayseeds know what one looks like?
ReplyDeleteRE: top half of the tank - me, too. I am aware my "top half" is larger than the "bottom half."
ReplyDeleteTrips involve extensive route planning, not so much for fuel cost but fuel availability. On trips the first mission is "keep the tank full;" stop for food or hotel, top off the tank, then eat/sleep. "Range," specifically "usable range I'm comfortable with" is overlapping circles on the map, helps maintain "route diversity" should it become necessary.
I have similar range to yours; I keep a pair of NATO cans (secured inside the shell and not visible from outside) and 2 spouts (2 is 1 and 1 is none, esp. since nothing else fits a NATO can and spouts need to be modified with a extension tube to reach the filler on my truck). 40 liters (10.6 US gallons) is 200 miles if I nurse it.
Some years back on a rental I found a 12% MPG difference between 10% ethanol gasoline (quite possibly slightly over 10%) and 0% ethanol gasoline. I fill the "emergency cans" with 0% and if "range-uncomfortable" on stops fill the truck with it as well. Every little bit helps.
Drives me nuts why automotive engineers scrimp on fuel capacity; how hard/expensive would it be to make tanks 4-8 gallons larger, especially on trucks? Over 50,000+ vehicles, maybe $3-%5. I'd pay it.
It is driven by evaporative emissions considerations. The volume of fuel drives the volume of the evap canister and packaging the evap canister is a pain.
DeleteI am not sure if the fuel economy testing comprehends the weight of the fuel. If it does, than a larger fuel tank could drive the vehicle into a higher weight class and for high volume vehicles might impact Corporate Average Fuel Economy.
Or so I was once told.
Have a pleasant visit, and an uneventful, safe and enjoyable journey, Joe.
ReplyDeleteAs to the elevator and a true story( rather than joke). Years ago we took our dogs with us as we went to a hotel during a Hurricane . The dogs were well behaved...we checked in, walked down a short hallway and got in the elevator. One dog in particular had big eyes and seemed very surprised when we got in a room, hit a button and then got out and...no check in desk. Just a very long hallway with doors. Even crazier...later in the day ( during a lull in the storm) we got in the elevator and after a moment...the hall that was all doors were gone and the check in desk was back. MAGIC !! I thought the one dog would about feint.
ReplyDeleteI had always thought that the size of the tank was chosen so that a car had a certain range, say 250-300 miles, or any other number that they chose. And I was under the impression that most cars from a given manufacturer had similar ranges no matter what the size and weight of the vehicle, meaning that the larger the vehicle, the larger the tank. My opinions are from owning many different cars from many different makers, no any inside information.
ReplyDeleteI've always owned trucks and there has always been an option to order a larger fuel tank...or even an extra one, with a selector switch.
DeleteSome full-size American pickups have options on fuel tanks, their number and capacities. The imports, nada. If you want more fuel capacity in a Toyota, Nissan or whatever, you're on your own, and for a large number of models, and model years within those models (I'm thinking mostly Tacomas here, because that's what I have the most experience with) there may or may not be aftermarket anything available, and for those models and years where aftermarket stuff is available, extra fuel tanks are conspicuous by their absence. Which is probaby one reason why so many different 20L gas can mounts are available for Jeeps (they'll work on other vehicles, too, just sayin').
ReplyDeleteI hadn't heard of the evap canister limitation, but that's certainly plausible - more government interference.
Some American brands have limitations, too; pickups with 8 ft beds have become rare, even in the "order it from the mfg" catalog. No idea about recent model years, but several years back a single 37-gallon midships tank was the default on F250/350 diesels with 8 ft beds; the 6 1/2 ft bed had a smaller tank. (JC Whitney, in years past, listed lots of "underbed, outside the frame" aftermarket tanks, and early '80s some years of Chevies/GMC diesels had dual 20 gallon tanks outside the frame; gas versions a single tank inside the frame.
There are tricks - way back when, I used to visit a particular gas station where the concrete apron alongside the set of pumps at one end was on a steep incline. Parking the right way - filler necks uphill - allowed me to fill both 22 gallon tanks right to the cap with 25+ gallons. That got me from northern Virgina to just south of Jacksonville non-stop (ethanol in gas hadn't been "invented" yet, and I still had a pair of 20-liter cans on board, "just in case").
Range is life - ask any pilot - and it's no less true for ground transport, especially now.