My younger sister lives there, in Clovis actually, and since I have some time off this week I thought I'd use the weekend to hit the open road.
And it was mostly open, except in Merced, where roadwork held up traffic.
With a full tank of gas in the mighty Dodge, and I made it all the way with about fifty miles of range to spare. It's about 330 miles one way. 125 bucks to fill up again.
But, it's a long old drive from Redding to Fresno. And back the next day. The girls had me stop in Lodi and pick up some wine, and in Elk Grove for some of their favorite chocolate sauce from Leatherby's Ice Cream Parlor. Once, my wife even shipped some of that at silly expense to Iceland when the daughter was there. They really like it.
Anyway, the truck ran like a champ, and averaged over twenty miles per gallon even while pushing that barn door of a grill through the air at 70+. Chrysler has got that 5.7 liter motor dialed in. The one I had before this drove nearly 300k miles nearly trouble free before replacement occurred.
I did not attract the attention of the police, as I sometimes do, during the drive - a good thing.
Anyway, that's why I was silent yesterday. Now that I'm back, my normal life resumes. While I was gone the girls even got me some meat to smoke tonight for dinner, so that will be fun.
I remember a recall for leaking fuel pumps that caused fires in these Lincolns.
ReplyDeleteI had a 76 Mk IV that developed a leaky fuel pump, luckily it didn't catch fire.
DeleteGridley has/had a terrific speed trap. Terrific for them.
ReplyDeleteClovis (at least in the late 1990 - early 2000s) was nice when I was there. Like a sigh of relief even though right next to Fresno.
Good mileage. The wife and I did a Utah trip last month. Put 4,556 miles on the Ram with the 5.7 Hemi. Ran 9 over the speed limit on the Interstates and local highways, highest cruise control speed was 86 in Wyoming,and many elevation changes. Averaged 18.7 mpg over the entire run, which I thought was solid.
ReplyDeleteLast week we drove our Ridgeline from south of Wichita 1500 miles out to leadville and back through the Springs and got a trip average of 27 mpg. There was a 10,000 foot elevation chnge thrown in there. Plus the 2018 Ridgelines had more domestic content than Ford, GM and Ram pickups.
ReplyDeleteRedding to Fresno and back is a very tough run. Highway hypnosis was my struggle in the heat. (I didn't have A/C)
ReplyDeleteWelcome back - we're glad to hear the drive went without any vehicle - traffic issues. 300,000 miles - that is quite a distance ! You obviously take good care of your vehicles.
ReplyDelete$125 for gas got me wondering what round trip air fare from Redding to Fresno and back would be. It's about double what you paid for gas, give or take.
ReplyDeleteNot that that really has anything to do with anything. But there it is.
Monday Road
ReplyDeleteThe surfing Corgi was a good pic to pause (paws?) on CW!
ReplyDeleteWell, welcome to the Great San Joaquin Valley. Hope you missed the 105*F temperatures we were having a few weeks ago. Long drive. Use to go up to that area to visit my son when he leaved there. A lot more greenery up that than down here in the Valley. Glad you make it back safely.
ReplyDeleteHeltau
Always good to read of a good trip!
ReplyDeleteI had one experience with a Lincoln of that vintage, horrid piece of junk.
Welcome back. You were missed CJ.
ReplyDeleteYou were gone so long I forgot your name CW
DeleteCheers. You was runnin' through my old 70's-80's motorcycle stomping grounds. Lived in Elk Grove when it had one flashing stoplight at Elk Grove Blvd. and Elk Grove Florin. The rest of the intersections were stop signs or watch your butt intersections, My little bitty house on School and Buckskin is now in a historic district.
ReplyDelete