Not much has been going on here. The last three days it has been relatively cold. During the day it warms up to the 60's but at night it probably has been getting down into the 30's. The new motorhome has been doing very well. Today,even though it has been in the 40's early this morning and a high in the 60's and in the evening, back into the 40's we have not had to turn on any heat. I heard before buying the motorhome that one positive about Newmar was the insulation r values. I thought this was mainly a sales pitch but I am very impressed about how tight this thing is and how well it is insulated. We have not had any issues but I am a little nervous about being able to find places to get diesel and def fluid. On the interstate there are truck stops that we can get into but when we get off the interstate is where I am having concerns. With the 5th wheel we didn't travel that much so when we would unhook in the evening I could go to the local Walmart and fill up with no problem. In the motorhome there is no unhooking. I have to find places I can get this thing into to get diesel. It has a 100 gallon tank and supposedly will get 7-8 mile to the gallon but I doubt it will do that well pulling a 7800 lb. 2500 hd Chevy truck. We will see once we are able to put some miles on it. I also have some concerns about hauling the truck up and down the mountains. The motorhome has 380hp and 1050 or so foot pounds of torque. That sounds like alot but my truck has 365hp and 650 or so foot lbs of torque. The truck pulled a 16,000 lb 5th wheel and maybe another 1000 lb. trailer and motorcycle for a total of 17,000 lbs. plus the 8,000 lbs the truck weighs for a total of 25,000 pounds. The motorhome, which I need to get weighed, has a gross vehicle weight rating of 44,000 lbs. and can pull another 10,000 lbs. for a total of 54,000 lbs. This means I could potentially be twice the weight with only 5% more horse power. This is something I knew before buying it but this is what I wanted. I see too many diesel pushers with 450-500 horse power that is not really needed 98% of the time. I know my truck runs better when I push it a little. The mileage with the truck by itself is always the best after pulling the 5er and making it really work hard. I figure the worst that could happen with the motorhome is I would have to take it slow going up steep mountains or worst case yet have Huli drive the truck separately going up Pikes peak. For the rare occasions we would do this it wouldn't be that much of an inconvienience. For the other 98% of the time the mileage should be better and the engine should be working in a comfortable range. From what I have gathered with the use of DEF fluid diesel engines actually can be tuned to produce more power than without the use of def. That's my story and I am sticking to it until I find out through experience I am wrong. If it turns out I am wrong we will find out what the trade value is on a hardly used 43 foot Newmar Ventana motorhome and will be looking at a 450-500 hp model but I am almost positive from what I have learned through much research that the 380hp will do just fine.
Today since it was in the 60's and too cold for the pool or golf, we decided to take a trip to Sebring, Florida which is around 45 miles from Okeechobee. Sebring, Florida is best known for the 12 hours of Sebring road race. This race is known as one of the three legs of the unofficial triple crowns of indurance racing. This race is one of the oldest in the U.S. dating back to 1950. Prior to that the property was used as a training facility for B17 Flying Fortress bombers in the mid 1940's which is what my dad flew in the Air Force. The track is now 3.7 miles long but for much of it's history it was 5.2 miles long. Today we saw a variety of cars on the track from LeMan type cars to a 1964 Mustang and everything in between. We say many Porsches, Corvettes, Camaros, and new Mustangs but the fastest seemed to be the LeMan style cars. They were also the loudest. We went to the mall in Sebring after leaving the race track. Below are a few pictures of the track. We didn't have the big camera to zoom in on the cars but you can still get a feel for the track.
