Hello all,
Norah and I just wanted to let you know that I finally made the move up here
to Toronto. We got in last Friday. We left with 29,398 miles on the
odometer from Orem, Utah on Monday after a late start, and made it to
Rawlins, Wyoming (29,740 miles). Tuesday we made it (in ridiculuous heat)
to Kearny, Nebraska (30,212). Wednesday -- Davenport, Iowa (30,702).
Thursday we didn't want to deal with the immigration and customs people at
the border in the evening, so we stopped at Port Huron, Michigan (31,211).
Friday we got up, went through the border, and made it home to Scarborough,
Ontario with 31,412 miles showing on the odometer.
During all of this, the Dakota consumed 121.49 gallons of gasoline, giving
us an average economy of 16.58 miles per gallon. Not bad for a 4x4 pulling
a trailer tall enough to stand in (it was definitely taller than the roof of
the cab).
I did have a couple of questions, though. The first concerns fuel octane.
In Utah, most gas stations sell three grades of gasoline: 85, 88 and 91
octane. It stayed that way through Wyoming, where we started losing
altitude. Then it went to something more like 87, 89 and 93. Do they
correct octane for altitude? I can't think of any other reason that Iowa
would have higher octane gas than Utah.
The other thing I noticed was the turn signal. It was weak and flickering,
so I bought a heavier-duty flasher and installed it. Nothing. So I bought
an even heavier duty flasher and put that in. Still didn't help very much.
We saw another Dakota on the way pulling a large RV, and his turn signals
were doing the exact same thing. Is this a common thing, or did I just
replace the wrong flasher?
So, all in all, we're very happy with the way things went. The drive was
long, hot and boring, but boring drives are sometimes better than the
alternative. Plus, our Dakotas got to finally meet. We'll get some
pictures and post them as soon as we can get scans.
Thanks again to the Dakota list. We'll be sure to keep everyone up to date
on what goes on here.
-- Jason Bleazard
janor@ican.net
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