Day 12 : Cheyenne WY - Motorhome
Trip Start
Jul 15, 2010
1
12
28
Trip End
Aug 19, 2010
Denver, Colorado
Monday, July 26, 2010
The day started with the iPhone ringing its ears off at around 7.15 am.
We planned to have a quick bite to eat, pack all our gear and go get the Motorhome right on 9 a.m.
Then drop the hire car off and hit Walmart for some supplies then be on the road...
Well...
The Camping World RV yard turned out to be a little more out the road than we figured and by the time we got there, there was 3 families lined up in front of us with one attendant serving.
I don't blame Thomas who has been fantastic to deal with the whole way through and he dilligently worked his way through each group.
By the time were done and sitting behind the wheel of our 31-foot, 8 berth motorhome - which mind you is pretty much brand new and only had 5000 miles on the clock - it was almost 11am.
We worked our way back to the Paris Casino and dropped off the hire car, before venturing out of Vegas and to a Walmart on the Northern limits of the city.
We pulled into a fuel servo and grabbed the boys some lunch which we ate whilst sitting in the parking lot of WalMart.
Now, here is where the trend of the day started.
By the time Jo and Mum returned, with almost three trolleys full and a few hundred less in the bank account it was after 2pm!
So we finally hit the road - Griswald style - the whole family excited to be off on a Motorhome vacation.
We fired up Dad's gadget, for the loss of better terms, he haggled down some guy in Vegas from $199 to $99 for an iPhone holder, charger and FM transmitter all in one and to say he is pretty chuffed with his toy is a massive understatement.
With my iTunes pumping out the speakers and TomTom directions now in full stereo throughout the van we bopped away and sang and danced as we fled north at a rate of knots.
Some 250 miles north we were alarmed to find that the fuel gauge had worked its way below the quarter tank marker.
We pulled into a gas station and filled the tank - $120.. ouch..
Without being Einstein, we figured that first leg was costing us 50c a mile and this trip could well send us broke and that we may have to ring Mark to start throwing gear from home on Ebay to allow us to get home.
For the next leg I kept the motorhome running on around the 2000 rev mark, rather than the 75 mile an hour figure of the first and our fuel mileage ratio turned out to be a massive improvement and we all felt a whole let better about the trip.
With the fuel consumption now our major priority, and still a lot of hills to navigate, our expected 15 hour trip to Mt. Rushmore was now looking more like 20 plus.
We pushed through Nevada, into Arizona and onto Utah.
With the late start, and the reduction in miles per hour meant that our start to crossing the state of Colorado came as the sun went down for a rest.
We figured we would continue regardless as stopping would leave us way to big a drive on the next day.
By 4 am we had covered some miles and were nearing the end of the Colorado Mountains.
After some 14 hours of travel, we though it best we stop before we miss Colorado all together so we pulled up on the side of the Interstate and 'camped' for a few hours.
It was a very long day, and times a touch testing, but we are a long way down the road and there is no turning back now!
Night Clarke, Night Ellen, Night Rusty and Night Audrey.
The handbrake is on isn't it?
