We're on our first trip of any length since I brought the bus home from NM. We're at a campground on the KY/TN state line. We aren't in any particular hurry and the first night stayed at Big Lick campground just south of Cincinnati. I wanted to avoid interstates just to see more scenery so I set the gps for shortest route which went quite well. The last 10 miles or so was on a "scenic" road that wound around and went up and down a lot. Not sure what we would have done if we would have met another large vehicle.
I had written down the number for the alternator belt a number of times, thinking I should get a spare, but never seemed to quite get around to it. I did try to get one the day before we left, but there wasn't one in town. It's one of the multigroove types. When I checked things over the first night it had lost some of the backing and frayed the "v" off on one side. Before we left the "big city" area the next morning I spent some time looking for one to no avail. Since it only runs the alternator and is a mechanical engine I have enough battery to run quite some time so we pressed onward. The belt is still working so it getting home should be no problem. I did find some in SD so should be home when we get there, I ordered two.
I did an overhead last week hoping to improve fuel mileage, it's hard to tell because I'm pulling a Land Rover which is a bit heavy and there were some pretty long hills. Found some fuel for $2.19 and mileage was 6.7 last tank before that was 6.8 on flat ground not pulling anything, so I'm pretty sure mileage has improved.
I'm a little concerned about transmission temps. It's an Allison MT643 with external filter and a fluid to water cooler. Temp fluctuates quite a bit running between 200 and 250 and on one occasion was about 280. I think the first order of business would be change the fluid and filter. Have been doing some research, one suggested that adding a tank adding about 3 gallons extra did the trick on the same transmission on the long western mountains.
All in all the trip is great, the mountains didn't really slow us down that much, the weather is great, the mini splits work great, mama is happy. What more can you ask for? Life is good.
Dick
looks like fun :mrgreen:
