I note that the communicator had a problem with some of the specila
characters, thus am resending.
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Hey Gang,
So, anyway...
Daybreak at White's City is beautiful, no other adjective will do.
There are scattered clouds streaked with pink and orange to the north
and deep blue New Mexico skies to the east while thirty miles to the
south the mountain tops have fluffy white clouds clinging to them. The
temperature is in the 70's, humidity is non-existent, and a light
breeze stirs the leaves. Loverly.
Even though we sleep in 'til 6 AM, a first for this trip, we are still
loaded up, gassed up, watered up, coffeed up, and headed out by 7:15.
Since I want to check the mileage I have, for the first time during
this tour, filled the gas tank all the way up. I don't like to fill
'Beamish all the way up because of the problem these cars seem to have
with pushing gas back out the filler cap when filled. Besides, we have
been stopping so often that filling up just wasn't necessary.
Traffic is very light on US 62/180 as we head south toward El Paso,
Texas. The two-lane road is dry and smooth so I put the speedometer
needle on 75 and hold it there. It seems only minutes before we reach
the Texas border and see the first sign giving milage to Las Cruces,
NM. According to the sign, The Codpiece of America Tour has 171 miles
to go.
The highway immediately climbs into the Franklin Mountains, eventually
cresting at about 5700 feet, a pretty respectable elevation for Texas.
The 'Pine's temp gauge climbs from 75 C to 85 C as we climb the
mountains but once over the crest the indicated engine temp plummets,
dropping to 75 C and then going still farther down. I point out to
Janet that if this little dude gets to running any cooler I can stick
a couple of cans of Vern behind the alternator bracket to chill 'em.
Janet asks what an "alternated backet" is.
Sigh....
Climbing back into the mountains we run through the clouds, the
windshield misting over enough to require the use of wipers even
though visibility remains pretty good. The little bit of moisture is
well worth enduring to get the wonderful views of the surrounding
mountains streaked with white clouds.
Down off the mountain, I stop in the flats and put in a couple of
pints of water. The car is not running hot, but why push my luck?
An hour and a half later we are still pushing along at 75 when we find
a road sign notifying us that El Paso is 20 miles down the road. About
a mile after that we pass the El Paso City Limits sign. Thankfully, we
are able to skirt El Paso to the north on Loop 375, a brand new
four-lane bypass that really simplifies getting past the sprawling
city with some of the worst urban freeways in the country.
At the terminus of Loop 375, just before we climb back into the
Franklins for one last short hop, I stop and gas up. We have come 152
miles on the tank, perhaps 140 or so miles have been at highway speeds
from 65 to 75 mph with a couple of sections of stop and go traffic to
balance things out. I fill it up with 4.7 gallons of 91 test... I am
absolutely flabbergasted to find that the mileage was 32.3 miles per
gallon!
Loaded the way it is, climbing mountains, running at 75 mph... 32.3
miles!
I resolve to check the mileage again at some future date but for the
nonce I am a happy camper. I dump in a couple of pints of water and
off we go on the Intermountain Highway to climb back over a little
hump of the Franklins rising to nearly 6,000 feet inside the El Paso
city limits.
The Intermountain is another very good four-lane road though it
consists entirely of very steep grade. You haul up it, then haul right
back down again. Cresting the Intermountain we drop back down into the
valley and decide at the last minute to take Interstate 10 for the
last 45 miles to Las Cruces. This is a last minute decision because IH
10 is plagued with construction zones from El Paso to the New Mexico
border and I do not want to get caught in stop and go traffic. Since
the freeway looks clear and open, I decide to risk it and happily head
up the highway.
The road stays open and clear all the way to Las Cruces where I take
US 70 to cover the last 10 miles. It is 11:30 AM when I shut the
engine down in my driveway. We have covered 210 miles in just over
four hours this morning.
Total mileage for the tour is 2,115 miles.
Both Janet and I declare the trip to be an unqualified success. We had
a ball! And we arrived home safe and sound with the machinery working
AOK.
Fortunately, we had the annoyance of the water loss and overheating to
contend with, otherwise the trip would have been so trouble free as to
make the Gods jealous.
The car did such a good job, was so comfortable, so stable, so
enjoyable to drive, so easy running that I am immensely pleased. The
aquaplaneing I consider my own damned fault for not doing what I knew
I shoulda done. The problem with the brand new JVC which still remains
to be diagnosed is just a noise level concern.
My only problem now is figuring a way to get to my map book into the
bedroom without Janet knowing it... gotta start figuring a
freeway-less route to SUNI!
Naah...
‹Colin Cobb, At Home In Las Cruces, The City of Broken Bottles.
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