Road Trip! Western US

[gofastdan]

It's been a couple of weeks since I got back from a little walkabout from Seattle to Phoenix by way of British Columbia and back but I finally got around to adding up some numbers. I love statistics so here are a few facts from the trip.

I was on the road from May 25th through June 13th but I spent five or six days with my parents in the Phoenix area so it's not like I was actually driving every day I was away from home.
Total miles - 4,357
Gallons of gas - 293
Total cost of fuel - $1,617

MPG - 14.9
Average cost per gallon - $5.52
Cheapest gas - $4.76 in Fredonia, AZ
Most expensive gas - (tie) $6.50 in Scottsdale, AZ and in Austin, NV
I filled once in Canada (Creston,BC) for $5.94 per gallon...

One note on the cost of fuel. I normally only put super in my truck but there were a couple of stations in the middle of nowhere that only carried regular fuel.
States and provinces driven through: British Columbia, Washington, Idaho, Montana, Utah, Arizona, Nevada, Oregon.
Zero problems with the truck or any other systems or gear.

I paid for a camp site once (two nights in Rossland, BC). All other nights were spent dispersed camping on public lands (BLM or National Forest) other than a couple of nights I camped on my friend's property in Sisters, OR.

I aired down tires twice when driving extended miles off pavement. Going from 35psi to 18-20psi makes a huge difference when driving off-road as far as comfort goes!

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[Lando]

Great write up, I’ve been through southwestern BC and it’s beautiful. The MPG I find low with it being hwy miles. I guess loaded up with what, 1000 lbs of extras? And a lot of it was hilly mountain driving.

 

[OminousSkitter]

The MPG I find low with it being hwy miles. I guess loaded up with what, 1000 lbs of extras? And a lot of it was hilly mountain driving.

Don't forget the reduced aerodynamics. I had a Jeep, and whenever I put my paddle board on top of it, I lost 1-2mpg. Worst was when I put a paddle board on top of my roof top tent; I was 4-5mpg less than nothing on the roof (the board and tent were about 100lbs total, so it wasn't the weight).

 

[trailhunger]

Looks like you had great weather, largely avoided bad air quality areas w/wildland fires currently flaring up so I’d call that a success and well worth it. Great pics. ESP camping on the edge of the Grand Canyon

 

[Wife bought my 24 TRD]

Looks like you had a great adventure , as I always say, enjoy the built and love the adventures.

 

[Dirt]

Looks like you Found a playa. Is that the Alvord? Your mentioning Austin, NV says you look for routes less traveled. Good write up.

 

[gofastdan]

Great write up, I’ve been through southwestern BC and it’s beautiful. The MPG I find low with it being hwy miles. I guess loaded up with what, 1000 lbs of extras? And a lot of it was hilly mountain driving.

There are a lot of factors that affect fuel economy for sure.

I avoid Interstates like the plague but I drive fast on the back roads. There was also a fair amount of dirt driving on this trip.

Yes, a lot of mountain passes but you also make up some of the mileage going back down the other side.

There's the fact that the truck is lifted by ~3inches and the camper and whatnot certainly kills any aerodynamics. The KO3's are only 33" but they're pretty heavy and the miles I drive are a big reason why I'm not inclined to go any larger.

I'm sure the biggest reason though is the weight I'm carrying. I haven't weighed the truck absolutely fully loaded but with the everyday carry items I'm right at GAWR (last time I stopped at a scale I was at 6,440 lbs) and I'm almost certainly a few hundred pounds over that once I have everything loaded.

Ultimately I'm perfectly fine with the gas mileage I get. Load any other truck down and it's going to be a similar situation.

 

[gofastdan]

Looks like you Found a playa. Is that the Alvord? Your mentioning Austin, NV says you look for routes less traveled. Good write up.

Yup. Alvord. I really wanted to spend more time and camp on it but a big rain storm was coming in (and the wind was blowing like crazy). I drove out on it, took some pictures, and took off. Within 30 minutes of leaving it started raining so I think I made the right call. I'm going back though for sure and want to also spend some time in the Steens. The loop wasn't open yet all the way around so I couldn't drive it but it opened a week or so ago and I'm considering going back down next weekend.

And, yes, I try to find the least traveled roads possible in all my journeys! I spent maybe 100 miles on Interstates outside of the drive from Portland back to Seattle, which I've done countless times and absolutely hate....

 

[gofastdan]

Looks like you had great weather, largely avoided bad air quality areas w/wildland fires currently flaring up so I’d call that a success and well worth it. Great pics. ESP camping on the edge of the Grand Canyon

Camping on the edge of the Grand Canyon was epic but it was another place where the wind was howling! The truck was being whipped around all night long and I barely slept at all. I finally gave up about 4am and packed up. I'd do it again though! As a bonus I saw this little guy on my way out. I've never seen an American Badger in the wild and it was one of the highlights of the trip for me.

 

[Pappy]

Nice! I love seeing folks using the trucks in the dirt. I've been on the road too doing the western loop of the Trans-America Trail. 3405 miles so far, with ~500 more to go.

 

[gofastdan]

Nice! I love seeing folks using the trucks in the dirt. I've been on the road too doing the western loop of the Trans-America Trail. 3405 miles so far, with ~500 more to go.

That looks like a worthwhile road trip! I plan on doing both the Oregon and Washington BDR's at some point but don't think I'll have time this year with everything else I've planned.

 

[Pappy]

I've done the WA BDR. I would recommend a small chainsaw.

I would also highly recommend the ID BDR. Well, except the southern section below Glenn's Ferry. Do it because it's there.

 

[tkrum015]

It's been a couple of weeks since I got back from a little walkabout from Seattle to Phoenix by way of British Columbia and back but I finally got around to adding up some numbers. I love statistics so here are a few facts from the trip.

I was on the road from May 25th through June 13th but I spent five or six days with my parents in the Phoenix area so it's not like I was actually driving every day I was away from home.
Total miles - 4,357
Gallons of gas - 293
Total cost of fuel - $1,617

MPG - 14.9
Average cost per gallon - $5.52
Cheapest gas - $4.76 in Fredonia, AZ
Most expensive gas - (tie) $6.50 in Scottsdale, AZ and in Austin, NV
I filled once in Canada (Creston,BC) for $5.94 per gallon...

One note on the cost of fuel. I normally only put super in my truck but there were a couple of stations in the middle of nowhere that only carried regular fuel.
States and provinces driven through: British Columbia, Washington, Idaho, Montana, Utah, Arizona, Nevada, Oregon.
Zero problems with the truck or any other systems or gear.

I paid for a camp site once (two nights in Rossland, BC). All other nights were spent dispersed camping on public lands (BLM or National Forest) other than a couple of nights I camped on my friend's property in Sisters, OR.

I aired down tires twice when driving extended miles off pavement. Going from 35psi to 18-20psi makes a huge difference when driving off-road as far as comfort goes!

I saw in one of your posts about your Thor compressor that you also use the Echo Flow. Are you using there alternator charger to keep it charged?

 

[gofastdan]

I saw in one of your posts about your Thor compressor that you also use the Echo Flow. Are you using there alternator charger to keep it charged?

No. I'm sure the Ecoflow charger works just fine but the ports are proprietary and only work with Ecoflow products. I didn't want to be locked in their ecosystem so I ended up going with ETaker. It just has posts for the output so you can attach any cable you like to it. I have the ETaker charging an Ecoflow Delta 2 Max with a Delta 2 Max expansion battery and the whole system works great together.

There are other posts about my experience and how I got the unit but the bottom line is that I have the F2000 and it works perfectly for what I want, which is to combine alternator charging with solar (prioritizing solar) into a single output. I've had two F2000's and the wifi module has gone out on both so the app doesn't work any longer, but once I had set it up like I wanted the app was largely irrelevant anyway.

 

[JoeMongo]

Wow! Great trip and great advice on equipment. Thank you,
j.

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