We headed out of San Diego on December 17 and returned home on December 31. In that two week period we covered almost exactly 2400 miles. It was our first trip of consequence with the F350 and the Lance Max 981. We had some cold temps, but no snow. Overall we averaged a bit over 8 mpg which was not sparkling but probably as good as could be expected with the truck pretty close to it's GVW.
The highlights of this trip included:
Being at Chaco for the Winter solstice.
Making our first visit to Mesa Verde N.P.
Spending Christmas day at the Durango Mountain (formerly Purgatory) ski area where our grandson was taking snowboarding lessons.
Normally
we shy away from sites that are crowded, so we had never been to Mesa Verde. The
thoughts of the crowds in the summer were enough to discourage us. On this trip
we went there on 12/23. I doubt that there were 100 people in the entire park on
the day we went. True, some of the famous trails were closed for the winter but
plenty was still open and available.
The ride through the park is glorious and would probably be so at any time of the year. The campground within the park was closed, as were most of the commercial CGs in the area. We found one though in Cortez, CO which is about a 17 mile drive from the park.