The Weekend At Falcon Lake.

East on the Trans-Canada Highway.

____ Just over a 300 kilometre round-trip in the Mack on the four-lane Trans-Canada Highway. A good chance to record the fuel consumption for out-of-town driving. Around the town, it is about 7.5 to 8 mpg. [US 3.85 litre/gallon] It was just over 9 mpg for the weekend as I filled up, there and back, at Deacon's Corner on the edge of Winnipeg. It would have been better if I hadn't done about 30 kilometres on the dirt roads to the Falcon Ridge Ski Slopes and Mountain Bike Trail Area. I also found out that you cannot leave the windows open when driving on dirt or you will finish-up with a dust-coated vehicle interior in a very short time.

____ This was another trip to fine-tune the living requirements of the Mack. The insect netting for the doors worked well; held-up with magnets and clothes pegs. The shower wasn't so good. Water pressure was fine but the shower hose needs to be longer and the Off/On switch for the pump needs to be more accessible. The soak-lather-rinse routine  would be better and save water if the water could be turned-off easily after the wetting-down. But three and a half gallons of water does give a good shower when pumped at 2 gallons per minute.

 ____ The solar panels and house batteries seem to be coping with the demand very well The fridge is drawing power all the time from the 12 volt system with just occasional use of the water pumps and interior lights. 300 watts from the sun and 800 amp/hours of storage means the batteries have yet to show less than 75% capacity and are always showing 100% by mid-afternoon; although it has been a sunny June and the sun is at it's highest in the sky.

____These first trips are about finding a place for all the things that get used regularly and discarding all those items that will never be utilized and take up too much space. Too many wine glasses when all the beer is being drunk straight from the can. Having guests is great but carrying enough crockery to feed five thousand is not an option. Same with space in the fridge: half-full bottles of different salad-dressings and bar-b-q sauces take away too much valuable beer-chilling capacity. Milk for the coffee and HP sauce for the bacon butties are enough for the fridge door.

The beach at Falcon Lake Provincial Park; within earshot of traffic on the TCH, sadly.

Photo-opportunity for the Mack at the new Centre of Canada sign, just east of Winnipeg on Highway 1.