Just got home from the Black Hills

Marilyn had it planned for four months now. I didn't really want to go. After 13 years of carousing around the west on the wheat harvest this was kind of old hat to me but after we got there I had a blast.

We took two of my daughter's teen aged girls and their step-sister with us. We had a wonderful time. There was no fighting, no yelling, but plenty of giggling. The girls didn't want to go home, they were having so much fun. Marilyn booked a house at a rental cabin place just outside of Keystone, that had a furnished kitchen and the works, just like home. The house was across the road from the rest of the cabins so it was like we were in our own little world. We didn't have any close calls and there were no scary moments.

So here I go with my mileage figures again. 2008 Toyota Sienna with a six foot luggage carrier on the roof packed full, two adults and three teen age girls inside with cooler, suitcases, blankets, the works. I didn't go above 70 MPH even though the limit was 75. The temp was 103 and I just figured the tires didn't need any more stress. On the highway the mileage was 21.5 for an average. Twisting around the needles highway and all of the other twisty, hilly roads, without luggage but the five of us inside and an empty luggage carrier on top the mileage was 16.5. This van gets 24 MPG with just Marilyn and I and luggage with no carrier on top at 70-75 MPH. It's good to be home but we certainly do have a lot of good memories. Jim

Most Toyota's get the best mileage at 75mph.

I don't believe that!

What don't you believe? Jim

He"s probably like me and doesn"t believe any vehicle gets better mileage at 75 than at 70 under normal conditions.

We check mileage with every fill. We know definitely that we get better mileage on both the Tundra and the Camry at 70 than at 65 - and better mileage at 75 than at 70.

We've had some long 75 mph trips where we made 22.5 mpg on the V8 Tundra and 32mpg on the Camry. Most of our driving with the Camry is on city streets where mileage drops down to 25 mpg.

City mileage on the Tundra is 18 - 19 mpg.

I get the best mileage on my super duty diesel at 70-75. I would not believe it if not seen it.

glad you enjoyed the stay. Did you guys ride the train?

Same as me. All things being equal, fuel mileage always will increase with reduced speed.

Very, very few I'm talking almost no engines (don't know of any in a production car) have a funny spot in the brake specific fuel consumption curves where total fuel consumption decreases with increased hp production.

We took the train. Got on at Keystone at 8:30 in the morn., walked around downtown Hill City for awhile and got back on the return train at 1:30. I really enjoyed it because I was a passenger and had time to look around. Can't do much gawking while you're driving in that country. At bear country we happened to be in the right place at the right time and ended up in the middle of the confusion when they fed the bears. A pickup loaded with fresh meat came driving through with a guy shoveling the meat. Somewhere around 60 bears came stampeding in like a herd of buffalo following the pickup that was trying to keep ahead of them with the guy in back shoveling like crazy. When the scraps were gone the fighting began. Wasn't a big brawl, but several of them were wrestling for awhile. The wolves kept trying to sneak in for a bite but the bears kept them ar bay. It reminded me of my farrowing days when I fed the sows on the feed floor. Dump the feed pails and get the heck out of there!

I was kind of surprised the Toyota's mileage was as good as it was. It was kind of wallowing around because of the load and the luggage carrier didn't help with it's wind resistance. That six cylinder had it's work cut out for it most of the time. Jim