What a pleasant surprize! The BR174 from Cuiaba to Comodoro was excellent. We had perfectly paved road all to ourselves, while crossing the beautiful northern Pantanal region. The climate became more humid and tropical the further notth we travelled.
By the time we reached Caceres, Mato Grosso we were only 85 km from the Bolivian border, tempting to turn west and grab a photo but we continued north on BR174. We had a great picnic lunch under a huge tree beside a cute little restaurant. The owner asked where we from from...and although he knew Brasilia was the capital...he had no idea where Canada was...or USA for that matter. Brazilian hospitality kicked in and she insisted we have some homemade doce de leite, which was lovely.
Not so lovely was the fact we ran out of diesel...when we departed Cuiaba, a quick calculation would have put us in Comodoro in about 680 km. We knew this would be the upper range of the Defender but what we didn't factor in was the utter lack of ANY gas stations during the last 100 km before Comodoro. With the gas tank neddle bouncing around in the red, the GPS still showed 50 km to go...
I drafted some large trucks and really hoped one of us (ie: me) didn't have to hicth hike into town.
And then it happened...climbing the last hill before town, the truck started sputtering...but still moving. I tried to mentally recall the procedure of bleeding the fuel pump and felt comfortable I could do it.
Luckily, as we crested the hill there it was...a no name, independent gas station...It could have been a fuel drum with a hand pump...it didn't matter. I pulled into the gas station high on life while making a mental note to never, ever do that again. We filled the Defender's 77 liter diesel tank with 74.5 liters. I was also asked why we had empty jerry cans on the side of the truck...another mental note :)
Gas mileage 9.2 litres per 100 km or 25 miles/US Galon...not bad for a big truck.
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