Recently returned from our summer vacation in Colorado and thought I'd share some info...


Total mileage driven - 3,925 miles


Total fuel burned - 243 gallons


Overall MPG - 17.8 MPG


Best MPG (towing) - 16.4 MPG (KY & IL)


Worst MPG (towing) - 14.1 MPG (climbing into CO with head winds on I-70)


Best MPG (not towing) - 18.8 MPG (5,000' elev.)


Worst MPG (not towing) - 17.1


Time truck spent in local dealer for repairs - 28 hours. ("Service 4WD" and no shifting of transfer case.)


Highest price per gallon of diesel - $1.999 (Florissant, CO & Santa Fe, NM)


Lowest price per gallon of diesel - $1.559 (Oak Grove, KY)


Highest elevation climbed - 14,110' at Pikes Peak (91*F front rotor temp coming down)


Deepest snow crossing - above the nerf bars.


Overall experience with family - priceless!


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Sounds like you had alot of fun! http://www.dieselplace.com/forum/smileys/Clap.gif nice pics

The drive there is quick but the drive home is always a long one isn't it.http://www.dieselplace.com/forum/smileys/Cry.gif

We broke-up the drive going and returning so that made it easier. Going back to work and getting into that routine is still hard.

I like Colorado too I was out there for 3 weeks in June 2003 most recently. Not nice to see down time at a dealer though as that can be a spoiler. You would not expect that with a pretty new truck. I must be lucky because in well over a dozen cross country trips thru the rocky mountain states I have had zero down time at dealers for repairs. My old 89 4x4 burb has logged at least a dozen trips itself including last years trip. I am planning to go back it 2005 for several weeks again. Did you go thru the Eisenhower tunnel/pass west on Denver? That one is a beaut!

Sure did. The Eisenhower tunnel is still pretty impressive. Missed a photo op though since we missed the road-side stop prior to entering and ended up stopping after we came out. The back side doesn't have the big signs and touristy stuff like the front. Oh well....I'm sure there will be another time.

Worked at the Western entrance to Rocky Moutain National Park, and just hearing you all talk brought it all back to me. The view from Grand Lake Lodge looking over Grand Lake is often in my thoughts.

Edited by: brazos

Brazos, I think this is Grand View...??? (Behind me) http://www.dieselplace.com/forum/smileys/Approve.gif


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Sure did. The Eisenhower tunnel is still pretty impressive. Missed a photo op though since we missed the road-side stop prior to entering and ended up stopping after we came out. The back side doesn't have the big signs and touristy stuff like the front. Oh well....I'm sure there will be another time.

Look familiar



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THis one was taken the last week of June 2003 near vistor center in Rocky Mountain Nation park

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And this one same day just north of Grand Lake

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And how about this one in same area

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Man, I wish we were out there! Elk are awesome to see aren't they? Watched a bull effortlessly jump a four foot fence to get into my parents back yard to feed. All this make me wonder just how long we'll stay in TN. http://www.dieselplace.com/forum/smileys/Cry.gif

Man, I wish we were out there! Elk are awesome to see aren't they? Watched a bull effortlessly jump a four foot fence to get into my parents back yard to feed. All this make me wonder just how long we'll stay in TN. http://www.dieselplace.com/forum/smileys/Cry.gif

It was very green ot there that year. Elk are pretty animal in the summer when they are fat a sassy and they call them rock mountain cattle too. I have seen it a lot dryer. My wife and I want to move out there in 5 to 7 years when youngest kids are finished (or nearly finished) with college. I want to live on the west side of the rockies along I-70 corridoor. I liked the Dillion area a lot and Estese Park area was pretty. I lived in SW Montana for a while in the mid 90's at about 7000 feet and we had some long winters there and temps down to minus 50. You would not want a diesel there! All the P/U's with plows there were gas powered. I used to see moose grazing in marshes along the road often driving down to Idaho Falls a couple times a month in warmer months and occasional some poor sole would hit one in a car or P/U and get busted up good or killed doing it. During the winter that upper plateu between Montana and Idaho falls was fit for neither man nor beast and was a winter waste land for 4 or 5 months with 2 or 3 of them being well below zero at times. I can remember driving down through there at 25 and 30 below zero. SOmetimes thinking about it makes me home sick for it.

PS: As a side note, when it got that cold, we used to run down thru their is a winterized 91 Camary. With just about all the front grill blocked off with a bra, it ran quite well at -30 and colder and the front drive unit warmed up nicely and had a good heater too. WHen I drove my Burb as those kind of temps, the engine started and ran fine and it had dual heaters so it could keep inside warm but it felt like it was dragging an anchor as xfercase and diff oil never heated up and thinned out even with 75w90 synthetic. It was okay a lower speeds below 40 or so and at 50 or 55 and above it was like you had a drag shoot out at about 25 to 30 below and colder Edited by: snoman

http://www.dieselplace.com/forum/smileys/Clap.gif Way to go guys. Bringing back the memories. I worked at the Lodge, but the same people own the Visitor Center Gift store.


I also worked at Keystone in Dillion before the service. Prefer the Grand Lake area for visiting. The view from Loveland and Berthoud Pass are both worth a look. Spent way too much time at the Foghorn.


It has been a long time since I went through the tunnel. It was the best Summer of my life. Learned people all over the country were not that much different than the ones I had known.

Here is a few pics for a 99 trip (picture quality is not as good)

Little Bighorn Battlefield (custers last stand)

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Pike Peak summit vistor center form about the 9000 foot level (barely visable in pic)
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and a view from Pikes Peak down into Colorado Springs.
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I have some mount rushmore (1999) and rocky mountain park pics (99 and 2003), if anyone wants to see a few too.

Snowman, show us a pic of Mount Rushmore. That is a sight I haven't seen....yet.

Okay, here you go....

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Here is one of Crazy Horse near Mount Rushmore. It is a privately funded project the carved surfaces will be over 600 feet tall (much much larger than Rushmore) This picture is 5 years old now and they have been working on it for 50 years now but I hear it has changed a lot in last 5 years.

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How are those? The rushmore pics are old and camara was not that great back then. I have a lot of pics for Mesa Verede near Cortez CO from last year too.