Interstate vs. secoundary roads?
I was wondering if driving the interstate using cruise countrol would save much gas verses the slow down, speedup of going thru towns? My truck seems to have a sweetspot towing of 63 mph.
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I found going out East last summer (over 2000km round trip) that the answer was a big no for me. The sweet spot for my TV/TT combo was abt 95km/h (60mph). Going over that point even a little bit made a huge cost in mpg (just going up to 65mph was enough to make mpg go downhill by 25%. Driving thru Mennonite country between Watertown and Lake Placid and across US2 from Lake Placid to Bangor was great, the mpg was much lower, and yes there were small towns along the way with the occasional stop sign or traffic light, but we found the days went much quicker because the drive was much more interesting than on the freeways. The 401 in Ontario and AUT20 in Quebec were a much more boring (and slower feeling)ride even though they shaved a few hours off the return trip, I wished we had taken secondary highways on the return as well.
I am in the process of planning next summer's big trip down the US East Coast (Ontario to Delaware, down the coast to Myrtle Beach, and back thru the mountains in VA/WV. I have been going out of my way to find scenic secondary routes, with the realization that keeping my speed below 60 will save me more money than the cost of an extra night in a KOA due to the extra time needed.
I am in the process of planning next summer's big trip down the US East Coast (Ontario to Delaware, down the coast to Myrtle Beach, and back thru the mountains in VA/WV. I have been going out of my way to find scenic secondary routes, with the realization that keeping my speed below 60 will save me more money than the cost of an extra night in a KOA due to the extra time needed.
