In looking at the routes we will be taking over the next several days I noticed one detour we are forced to take when traveling on route 89 north of Flagstaff. The picture below shows route 89 kind of sliding down the mountain just south of Page, Az. This will cause us to take a 49 mile detour to go around this. This happened in February and it could be many months before the road is back in service. Driving the motorhome pulling the car can be interesting enough when you have fairly good roads so we should really be having some fun on the trip between Flagstaff and Salt Lake City. The road that is out of commission is the good road so the 49 mile detour is on the not so good roads. We better lock all of the cabinet doors. This is the area where we are visiting three national parks and traveling on a road that is suppose to be the most scenic highway in the west. When it comes to which road to take you really don't have to many options in this part of the country. However, I think this trip is a really good shake down cruise for the motorhome. At the present time we have no unresolved issues with the motorhome unless you count a crack in the grout on one side of a tile in the kitchen area and a piece of tape that I noticed that came loose on the roof that covers the seam between the front cap and the fiberglass main part of the roof. The end of the tape delaminated and was sticking up. I will replace this myself tomorrow in Albuquerque assuming I can find the tape I need. (The ladder up the back to the roof feels real sturdy). I thought on the floor unless it gets worse I would ask Newmar to send me some of the grout and I could patch the crack pretty easily myself since I have had a lot of experience laying ceramic tile. It's not noticeable unless you are very anal about noticing this kind of stuff.
Tomorrow we are heading to Albuquerque, New Mexico which will take us around four hours. It should be an easy trip since all we do is get on 40 and head west. I haven't decided yet whether I am going to put the hammer down or try to improve the miles per gallon. More than likely if the traffic is light I will put the hammer down since we tend to make up for the bad mileage on the motorhome with the Equinox. The Equinox averages 27.5 miles per gallon combined and does much better highway. This is how I justify to myself sacrificing some mpg with the motorhome. I haven't been using the economy mode on the motorhome due to the hills we have been traveling through so this tends to take our mpg down some. I have also been going a little faster and that seems to make a significant difference. I don't mind the lower mpg as long as I understand how I can improve it if I want to. I think one of the main factors effecting mileage is the wind and I can't do anything about that. We have a lot of traveling to do before we get home so maybe I have time to figure it out or at least better understand it. Once we head to Florida the motorhome just sits for months so I won't get the chance to do it then. I pulled the fifth wheel all around the eastern part of the U.S. for years and the mileage would vary and I couldn't explain why. One day I could get 11.5 mpg and the next day on what appeared to be similar roads I would get 8.5. I always blamed it on the wind since I had no other explanation for it. Live and learn I guess.
Route 89 south of Page, Arizona.
