Drive, drive, driveJul 25, 2008
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| We started out early with the intent of getting to Lake George, NY. This seemed doable as it is all interstate.Up to now, I've done a good job as navigator, which gives you an idea of what is to come. By my calculations, we had about 375 miles to go, a good day in the RV. Charlie knows the route, I-81 through Pennsylvania to I-88 in NY, then a short stretch on I-90 north of Albany to catch I-87 to Upstate New York and Lake George. Pennsylvania, is a beautiful state and Charlie had lots of opportunity to become better acquainted with how to operate the RV in mountainous or hilly terrain. This RV drives differently, and much more smoothly, than the old one. He did a great job! We never activated the GPS that came with the RV; there was so much to get used to in learning this vehicle that Charlie was concerned it would be a distraction. Instead I used a combination of state maps, an atlas, and Next Exit, a guide to all the facilities at each exit, from campgrounds to RV accessible gas stations, to shopping and restaurants. So far, that was working. We also had been fairly fortunate in finding gas under $4 a gallon; VA was $3.69. To date we had spent about $600 on gas, which was in our budget. We knew though, that NY would be the most expensive because of their high tax rate. Charlie wanted to to hit the last Flying J in PA, just before the NY border. Our 80 gallon gauge continued to drop as we went up and down the hills, and slowed for construction around Scranton PA. The low fuel light came on, and then the beeping that says, "hey idiot, I'm drinking fuel here and I'm about out!" Suddenly, in construction, I realized that I was off by 10 miles and we panicked. We took an exit and were fortunate enough to find a small station that had room for us (39 feet plus the Vue, no backing up with a tow). After filling the tank, $220 at $4.19 a gallon, the owner told us that there was very slow construction ahead. Needless to say, we wouldn't let the tank get that low again, or count on my mileage estimates to be that accurate. I needed a spreadsheet! |
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