Headed out this morning for the final long haul into California. The weather was cool, but high cloud and dry. Nothing different from previous days as far as driving and scenery were concerned. We hit our first “major” city, in the form of Reno Nevada. It came as a shock as everyone seemed to be out driving.
Reno Skyline
We climbed back up to 7500 feet to cross the Sierra Nevada mountain range, then started a slow descent towards the coast.
Diesel prices in Nevada were higher than other states so I decided to tough it out and wait until California before fueling, my magic computerised fuel thingy said that I had plenty to spare, so we carried on. The gas needle proceeded to slide nicely into the red zone and the computer insisted I still had 9 gallons in the tank (~200 miles). We arrived at the lunch / gas stop, the low fuel light had remained off (so at least 5 gallons in the tank). The computer told me I would need 25.6 gallons to fill and the tank eventually took 26 so it was pretty accurate. It’s just a little disturbing to see the needle so low when there is plenty of fuel left.
After filling up both ourselves and the truck, we headed off again. As we were still descending I got some pretty impressive fuel readings; 1075 miles till the tank ran dry and an average of 31.8 MPG (remember this is a 6.2 litre engine).
The next city we passed through was Sacramento, the traffic here made Reno look like a small English village in the off season. We made it to the hotel unscathed and happily got out into the 27°C heat.
A lot of the plants are in bloom, and right outside our hotel window is a cherry tree full of fruit.
Note the blue sky!
Tomorrow we head off for another 50 miles into the back country to pick up the trailer. I must admit to being a little nervous as to what state the trailer might be in after being left for year.