ssicarmana California adventure

**XCovlov70** · 12-31-2012, 01:04 AM

Originally Posted by ssicarman

I got a kick out of the barges. Reminded me of a trip on the Danube with my father in the 80's.

The RV I believe is a fifth wheel due to the height of the roof and the upslope of the roof. They do tend to make them big here. The bigger ones need to be pulled by one ton pick ups that seem to be dwarfed by the fifth wheel trailers that they tow.
Snow bird season for the US could start in November. In Canada it tends to start after our Thanksgiving at the beginning of October.

The mileage numbers are actually quite good. The 8.8 should be a steady state driving number. Anything lower than that would be a off throttle coasting number. The car gets what I consider to be good MPG numbers. I came into this car from a 95 Chevy 1/2 ton with a 5.0 LT that got 22-24MPG on the highway unloaded and mid high teens in the city so the worst MPG numbers on the Volvo are great to me. Right now with our temps in city driving is 10.3 ish LT/100km.
Hope you don't loose any coffee on those numbers. Good coffee is a bad thing to waste.
I am sure that you get a good bit better with your diesel and manual but Volvo has decided that we don't see them here and certainly not manual transmissions that I have seen. Maybe on an R. For a six cylinder luxury car the numbers are pretty good to me. Your diesel, does it require DEF additive? If not then this may be why Volvo doesn't bring the diesels here. May not be able to meet the US emission specs. The German luxury car dealer that I work for has diesel engines in the SUVs that need Adblue (DEF).

Hi!
Thank fully we don't need the DEF additive as I think there are a number of additives already in the fuel when we get it. The only one I used on a previous V70 was to occasionally put a half litre into a full tank that was supposed to keep the injectors clean, but as the engine was Volkswagen after cruising along and then put my foot down I was able to put down a 'Smoke Screen' of thick black smoke behind! The current XC does not do this thankfully as it used to upset people travelling behind!

The pictures of the sea mist and the Redwoods look great, it's only when you see the sign with the dimensions on that you can visualise the size!
We had the same thing in New Zealand when we saw the Kauri Trees which are absolutely massive, so much so that one shop had the trunk of one inside with a staircase inside the trunk going from the ground floor to the first floor, and the wood was beautiful!

I hope you were obeying the speed limits as you went around them bends while taking the pictures?
You looked a little 'wobbly' on a couple!

Nice to see it getting warmer for you.
As we are now back in the Mountains over here our nights are 'Freezing' and boy does the temperature drop fast after the sun has gone down!

**ssicarman** · 01-01-2013, 10:35 AM

Originally Posted by XCovlov70

Hi!
Thank fully we don't need the DEF additive as I think there are a number of additives already in the fuel when we get it. The only one I used on a previous V70 was to occasionally put a half litre into a full tank that was supposed to keep the injectors clean, but as the engine was Volkswagen after cruising along and then put my foot down I was able to put down a 'Smoke Screen' of thick black smoke behind! The current XC does not do this thankfully as it used to upset people travelling behind!

The pictures of the sea mist and the Redwoods look great, it's only when you see the sign with the dimensions on that you can visualise the size!
We had the same thing in New Zealand when we saw the Kauri Trees which are absolutely massive, so much so that one shop had the trunk of one inside with a staircase inside the trunk going from the ground floor to the first floor, and the wood was beautiful!

I hope you were obeying the speed limits as you went around them bends while taking the pictures?
You looked a little 'wobbly' on a couple!

Nice to see it getting warmer for you.
As we are now back in the Mountains over here our nights are 'Freezing' and boy does the temperature drop fast after the sun has gone down!

The DEF doesn't actually go into the fuel. It has its own tank and supply/injection system into the exhaust. It works well, when you smell the exhaust from one of those diesels you don't get the typical diesel exhaust smell and I have yet to see a puff of black from them. Certainly a different story with the Smart car diesels. They stink.

The west coast of the US is an interesting drive. We see something new each time we go there.
I don't know if I managed to hit the speed limit on the 21 mile stretch. I don't think that I managed to look at the speedo.

**ssicarman** · 01-01-2013, 11:24 AM

So the trip continues.

By the way the nice red mushrooms were on the side of the road going to the lighthouse.

The road to the lighthouse

Taken from Mendicino looking north to the light house.

Hard to tell/see but there are a couple of divers in the water. More to the right side of the picture to the left of the rock point in the center right side.

South of Mendicino

**XCovlov70** · 01-01-2013, 11:46 PM

Originally Posted by ssicarman

The DEF doesn't actually go into the fuel. It has its own tank and supply/injection system into the exhaust. It works well, when you smell the exhaust from one of those diesels you don't get the typical diesel exhaust smell and I have yet to see a puff of black from them. Certainly a different story with the Smart car diesels. They stink.

The west coast of the US is an interesting drive. We see something new each time we go there.
I don't know if I managed to hit the speed limit on the 21 mile stretch. I don't think that I managed to look at the speedo.

While we have never used DEF or the 'system' over here although it sounds a bit like the old '2 Stroke' Motorcycle Engine where the petrol went in the tank and the 2 Stroke Oil went in a separate tank which was then mixed with the petrol as it went through the carburettor!

On this and the previous XC70 the engine is designed to re-cycle the 'black smoke' taking it back into the engine and re-burning it, at least that is what I have been told which makes it a cleaner burn as we get nothing in the way of black smoke out of the exhausts even after cruising along and then sticking the pedal to the metal while dropping a couple of cogs!

Having said that I did get the comment from a Ministry Testing Garage that when testing both Volvo & BMW they have been advised to wear filtration masks due to the toxic fumes that are now being emitted when doing the Carbon Monoxide test!
Bit scary really!

Loved the pictures of the Lighthouse, especially the BIG one with the red roof! It looked like it was designed to be the centre piece on some ones wedding cake!

I did wonder also what the divers were after?

**ssicarman** · 01-05-2013, 06:26 PM

I found the light house very striking as well. The entire complex with the keepers homes was interesting to see. It is a bit over 100 years old, not old for your part of the world but over here it is getting up there. Apparently at one time it was supplied only by ship a couple (?) of times a year.

http://www.parks.ca.gov/?page_id=22276

http://www.pointcabrillo.org/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Point_Cabrillo_Light

As for the divers I suspect that they may be after Abalone.

**ssicarman** · 01-06-2013, 11:08 AM

Starting the run from Mendicino area inland to the next over night in Healdsburg. Went through a mix of Redwood forest, mixed trees, scrub hillsides and wineries. Interesting drive as the mix repeated a few times before ending up with the wineries. Healdsburg is north of Santa Rosa which is on the edge of the Sonoma valley.

Next day stopping for lunch in Sonoma in the town square before heading south through San Francisco.

Was looking to get to a view point at the north end of the Golden Gate bridge at the same level of the bridge but managed a wrong turn and ended up well below the bridge in a military/navel base. Never been there before and got some different to me views.

Through San Franscisco, managed to miss full rush hour which is why there are not a lot of pictures, heading south.

**giorgio** · 01-06-2013, 03:01 PM

Thank you for the photos !
But the vines ...still have the leaves ?

**ssicarman** · 01-06-2013, 04:49 PM

Si.

You have to remember that this trip was done in November. The picture was taken about November 13. The leaves were turning colour and it depended on elevation how far to colour they were.

**giorgio** · 01-07-2013, 10:23 AM

Originally Posted by ssicarman

Si.

You have to remember that this trip was done in November. The picture was taken about November 13. The leaves were turning colour and it depended on elevation how far to colour they were.

Now understand .