[Vwdiesel] Just back from a vacation.

[dieseltdi at verizon.net]

Hey all, just got back for the east side of the country from a 2 week vacation.  The wife and I packed up our new travel trailer, hooked it onto the Jeep Grand Cherokee Ecodiesel and headed for the Appalachians.  Goal was to cross the Great Smokey Mountains into North Carolina and then drive the entire 470 miles of the Blue Ridge Parkway and the 100 plus miles of the Skyline Drive (Shenandoah National Forest).  We camped near the parkway and took side trips to the various nearby Civil War Battlefields:  Appomattox Court House, the Wilderness, Chancelorsville, Fredricksburg, Petersburg, Manassas (I and II), Antietam, and finally Gettysburg.  Did some other sight seeing on the side also but mostly stuck to Civil War stuff.  Jeep did incredibly well.  I always had more power than I needed and was able to pass other cars going uphill.  The trailer weighs about 4500 lbs fully loaded so it is pretty light weight.  Anyway mileage was all about speed and road type:  Interstates at 60 mph gave 17.3-17.7 mpg, interstate at 65 mph varied a lot depending upon how hilly the roads, most gave in the mid 16’s (16.3-16.7) but the rolling hills of West Virginia and Kentucky got as low as 15.3 mpg. The 45 mph Blue Ridge Parkway with its hills and twisty turns fell in the high 18’s.  Best mileage we got was on a day of trailer off driving on mixed roads and speeds from as low as 25 mph in towns to highway speeds of 65 mph.  That tank got 32.1 mpg my best yet.  (BTW I have decided to stop manually figuring my mpg and just use the car’s display as they are usually within .5 mpg of each other, sometimes they are perfectly matched).  Seems the sweet spot is really between 60 and 65 where I feel comfortable towing a trailer anyway.
Didn’t see any older diesels during the whole trip but did see a number of TDIs and I am pretty sure I spotted a Tiguan TDI in Maryland (VW’s new corporate headquarters).  I saw a number of old VW bugs and buses along the sides of the road in various states of decay and did see a nice early 60’s bug driving in Northern Maryland on the way to Gettysburg. One of the really amazing things was the wild variations in diesel prices.  In Virginia, I bought diesel for $3.55 at one station while the two stations across the road both had it for $3.79!  Never paid more than $3.99 although we saw it in several places at $4 or more.  Good thing about a 24.6 gallon tank.  Means you can be choosy about the stations you stop at.  Anyway good to be back I need to rest up from my vacation!  I need to add an AC cooling fan to the 82 Jetta tomorrow and finish some flooring in the 70 Apache trailer I bought.
Hayden                                                   

“There are many men of principle in both parties in America, but there is no party of principle.” 
“I do not know if the people of the United States would vote for superior men if they ran for office, but there can be no doubt that such men do not run."
“I cannot help fearing that men may reach a point where they look on every new theory as a danger, every innovation as a toilsome trouble, every social advance as a first step toward revolution, and that they may absolutely refuse to move at all.”  Alexis de Tocqueville

Proud owner of:
2014 Jeep Grand Cherokee Ecodiesel
1968 Beetle, Still in progress
1982 VW Jetta Coupe GTD "FrankenJetta"
And many, many, many VWs; from a 1947 Beetle (13 Beetles total), to Vans (5 - 3 splitties  2 bay window (both were campers), 1 Vanagon Westy, Rabbits (3), Karmen Ghia (1), Jettas (11), Passats (2), Dasher (1), New Beetle (1), Rabbit Convertible (1) and Rabbit Pickups (3) most now gone but not forgotten.