Carrie Gets a Bath

In anticipiation of putting on her stripes, I gave Carrie her first bath this weekend and a nice Zaino wax finish, she looked great. I was impressed at how waterproof the top is, the beads of water just sat on the fabric and were easily wiped off with a cloth. I have some 303 protectant that I will apply every now and then to keep it looking good. I am already noticing white marks on the top where the roof is wearing, seems like a poor design but it is what it is.

Unfortunately it was 108F during all of this fun and when I was finished I decided that drinking a beer whilst naked under the bedroom fan (sorry for the visual) was in order and I never did get to the stripes. And driving to San Diego yesterday we were attacked by white flies and now Carrie is as dirty as she was before.

Josh has some good tips for extending your mileage on his website. I tried some gentle driving techniques on the way home Friday and back here Monday and currently the OBC is indicating 26.1 which is better than previously. Not as good as his 29 though. One problem I have is that my highway commute goes from below sea level to 4500 feet and back over quite a few miles, its not the Grapevine but it does cause a 3-4 dip in the mpg just to get to the top. I’m curious to know what I’d get for fairly level highway driving.

I did get the universal garage door opener working, though which made me happy. Still to do: the stripes, the window auto-up circuit and the XM direct installs. But they might have to wait until it gets cooler.