Just be safe that first thing on such a huge drive. Keep us posted on the fe tho it is nice to know what ya are getting.

I've noticed that if I have a long, droning road trip, I'll tend to get better-than average mileage just because of the lack of stop-and-go.

W/ day-to-day driving, I'll watch my mileage/habits much more carefully then on a road trip where I just want to get to my destination.

Of the Chrysler Vans...
 

Of the Chrysler Vans I've rented, the cruise control is definitely not FE friendly -- in any engine: 2.4, 3.3, 3.8L. Especially with the smaller engines, on hills -- it scrubs off quite a bit of speed, downshifts, and really accelerates at a high RPM until the target is actually surpassed, and it shifts and levels.

Further, (I think Daimler-Benz had some design in this) -- when the CC is set, it actually will downshift to hold speed down hills. Convenient for pinpoint speed accuracy and runway speed prevention, but not so much for FE.

Flat ground might be good -- with the 3.3L I averaged 18-22 in testing with 5 adults and stuff in hilly 75-80 mph terrain (Dodge Grand review).

RH77

well on modern cars, when its engien brakeing, sometimes the decrease the injector pulse width (inotherwods spraying less fuel than idle) so your saveing gas vs coastin in neutral

If you are prepared to change the appearances of your car a bit I would definitely go for aeromods (or a mild one like a grill block that won't be visible to others). And speed is a big factor as well. I had to take a 2003 Buick LeSabre a few times to drive up to Michigan and managed to get 39.3 mpg on a 450 mile roundtrip, mainly doing this by driving 60 mph. It does take some stamina but in that car is greatly helped by the computer that that car has that shows your immediate and average gasmileage :)

So I'm in L.A. now and will be completing my trip on the 1st. McPatrick my grill is blocked pretty good if you look at the pics in my garage. With a 3 year and 10 month old screaming I had to make up my mind between MPG and time. So I chose time. Leaving from Ozona I pretty much cruised from 75 to 80 mph. Las Cruces to Phoenix cruise was set at 75 but my average speed for the tank was 60 mph due to constuction and traffic. My best tank so far has been between Las Cruces and Phoenix with 29.05 MPG. I don't understand how I could have gotten that when I worked my you know what off with the Neutral to Drive going from Biloxi to Houston and Houston to Ozona. So I think my van does better when I just let it be and run steady. View my gas logs for more details.

Also my tires were rotated and deflated to 36 psi by Discount Tires in Las Cruces. I told those A holes to leave it where it was at but they said they had to. I was going to pump it back up but I haven't, and since I actually got better MPG from Cruces to Phoenix I might actually leave it.

Filled up today in Buena Park, CA. $3.11 a gallon. Most I've ever paid for fuel. I'll continue on to Fairfield tommorrow and see what happens. This trip has put me in the hypermiller category but we'll see for how long when I return to city driving.

Welcome to CA:D

Thanks Red we'll have to get together once I get settled in. Hopefully I-5 is forgiving. The kids and wife are ready to call it quits and I'm not far behind them. I think next time I'm going to fly. The only bad thing is that it would have costed about $1000 to ship the Strawberry.