This time we did it – we got gas for less than four dollars per gallon. While we’ve actually seen it once or twice, we never got it even close to that when we needed it. On the road from Black Canyon to Great Sand Dunes we had to have gas – in Gunnison – and we finally managed to get it for less than four dollars

 

At present, in the Great Sand Dunes National Park, we have driven about 2400 miles (3840 km) and our average fuel economy has been 15.9 MPG (6,7 km/L or 14,9 L/100km) so far – 23% better than expected.

 

 

Last news on the cooler front is that when we left Mesa Verde I again checked the cooler for coolant and water.  This time I actually figured out how much was supposed to be in the extra tank. I knew it was not supposed to be overfilled, but could not find the min/max lines – I found them about 1/3 down in the tank. I honestly didn’t look that far down before. Ok I filled to max and we left. We stopped at WalMart to shop – and we saw the engine smoking!!!!! Well it was not smoke it was steam, but none the less. We pulled in and checked the engine again – and I had forgotten to put the cap on the cooler this time, but what was worse was that the gasket (Danish: pakning/German: Dichtung) was broken in two. Well – WalMart has it all (supposedly), so we went in. They were helpful enough and we checked to find a new cap, but the booklet they had did not clearly tell which one we needed, so I took the one matching the

Dodge RAM pickup from the same year. After food shopping and a long overdue oil change we continued

 

The bus behaved nicely, but when we came to Black Canyon – at the campground – it started to lose power. No clue. We pulled into one  spot to camp – nice place – and I had a look. It looked like the extra tank didn’t work well. I pulled off the gasket from the new cap and put on the old cap and crossed my fingers that this would work.

 

Ok, the hills were not that bad and the weather not that hot, but the cooler stays full and the extra tank gets the overflow from the cooler and it really looks like it might be working now. There was no need to add more coolant after the drive today. Nice. ($$$!!!)