Day 1:
Day 1 Pic
Didn't actually leave the house until 6pm. (grr...)
So, of course, we got stuck in traffic on C-470. I decided to pull off and eat dinner, letting the traffic settle down. Left again a little after 7pm. The goal was Grand Junction by midnight. Made it with 10 minutes to spare. Crashed in a Motel 6.
The Guac performed beautifully! Got 20mpg between Denver and Vail. Fully loaded with people and luggage. =) (I didn't record the odo reading at Vail, so don't know what I got from there.) I out-pulled the semis on the verticals. Yay! Snow and lots of ice on the roads. In fact, I had people at the gas station in Vail ask how I did over the ice. "Fine", I said, and pointed at the Hakkapeliitta tires. I'm glad I changed my mind and kept them on. I-70 was a sheet of ice for 20 miles before the Eisenhower Tunnel, and all the way to Vail.
Today I leave Grand Junction for Las Vegas. It's supposed to be in the 90's in the desert.
Day 2:
Day 2 Pic.
Day 2 Pic..
Day 2 Pic...
Day 2 Pic....
NOTE: Motel 6 blows. Every single time I stay in one, it's crap. Friday night we stayed in a Motel 6 in Grand Junction. Urine on the toilet, boogers on the bathroom walls, condoms for sale in a machine next to the snack vending machine, etc. Bad.
We took off around 10am Saturday and headed for Vegas. We stopped in Utah to go to Walmart to get some black RTV to hold the top rubber in the slider window channel. Walking up to the Guac, I noticed 4 oil spots. Drat! I was so stoked to not have any oil leaks. I guess 500-ish miles of 70mph did it. I'll figure out where the leak is once I get to California. It's small, so I'm not concerned. Just keep checking the oil.
Speaking of 70mph, that's the speed I maintained on the flats and downhills. The Guac handled 70 easily, with just a nudge on the gas pedal. Even some uphills it took at 70 at no more than 3/4 throttle. I did notice there's little difference in pull between 3/4 throttle and full throttle. So I saw no point in using full throttle ever. If the hills get steep, I drop to third and hold at 48 mph. Ticked SUV drivers be darned.
At each stop I check the oil. Dipstick has never been more than mildly warm, though that's not much of an indicator with a type 4 engine because it passes through the cooling airflow to get to the sump.
We stopped in Mesquite, NV instead of Vegas because I was too fried. My shoulders and neck muscles hurt from fighting crosswinds in Utah for hours on end. We stayed at the Virgin River Casino. $89 for a huge room on a spring Saturday night. Pretty good. Plus I'm $20 ahead on the slots.
We'll stop in Vegas so the kids can visit Circus Circus for an hour or two then on to Anaheim!
Day 3:
Day 3 Pic
Got to Anaheim at 10:30 last night. Traffic on I-15 was horrible between Vegas and Baker, with some slowing off-and-on until Barstow. We stopped at State Line (errrr... "Primm") and hung out for a couple hours hoping to let the traffic go by. Didn't happen. There was an accident that caused the traffic initially, but then cars were overheating and stalling and such in the traffic, stretching out the problem for much longer than it needed to be.
At Primm I saw a nearly new Escalade dump its radiator. A little ways up I saw a BRAND new Excursion do the same thing. The Guac just chugged along with nary a worry. =)
Stopped at Baker and looked at the thermometer. (For those of you who don't know, Baker has the "World's Largest Thermometer".) When we got there it was 109 degrees! 20 minutes later after buying the obligatory Lotto ticket at the Lotto store, it was 113!!! I'm glad I made sure to seal up the tinwork on the Guac's engine before leaving!
The oil leak is VERY small. Still no noticable change in the dipstick level. And the oil is still clear and gold. Have to hold the dipstick at an angle to the light to see the oil level. =)
A couple notes about the Guac:
I didn't change the points to Pertronix. Once I got a scale on there and discovered I'd been running at TDC (oops), I set it to 7.5*. The mark was ROCK SOLID. Didn't flicker a bit. I put my dwell meter on there and it was locked in at 50*. Moved a degree or two when revving the engine. Well, shoot. Who am I to mess with perfection? I gotta say Troy did a kick butt job on this bus.
As mentioned, I decided to leave the Nokian snow tires on there. Going over the Rockies, I'm glad I did. There were areas where I-70 was just a sheet of ice. Those tires locked into that ice like it was dry pavement. I'm VERY impressed. But at 113 degrees through Baker, I hope there's some tread left. I'm going to rotate the tires before heading back to CO. The crosswind fighting was scrubbing my tires bad.
I'd forgotten what a difference in power levels between 5500 feet elevation, and sea level. I put down some rubber running for coffee this morning (accidentally!) Ok, it was just a chirp, but still...
My shoulders and neck still hurt. I'm gonna dabble with changing the seating position to see if that helps any. What was comfortable for puttering around town may not necessarily be the best position for cross country driving.
All in all, I had a blast! The kids were great, my daughter only had one "accident" on the trip! I'm impressed. =)
And I get to do it all over again in a couple days when I head back to Colorado. =)
Day 1 Pic
Didn't actually leave the house until 6pm. (grr...)
So, of course, we got stuck in traffic on C-470. I decided to pull off and eat dinner, letting the traffic settle down. Left again a little after 7pm. The goal was Grand Junction by midnight. Made it with 10 minutes to spare. Crashed in a Motel 6.
The Guac performed beautifully! Got 20mpg between Denver and Vail. Fully loaded with people and luggage. =) (I didn't record the odo reading at Vail, so don't know what I got from there.) I out-pulled the semis on the verticals. Yay! Snow and lots of ice on the roads. In fact, I had people at the gas station in Vail ask how I did over the ice. "Fine", I said, and pointed at the Hakkapeliitta tires. I'm glad I changed my mind and kept them on. I-70 was a sheet of ice for 20 miles before the Eisenhower Tunnel, and all the way to Vail.
Today I leave Grand Junction for Las Vegas. It's supposed to be in the 90's in the desert.
Day 2:
Day 2 Pic.
Day 2 Pic..
Day 2 Pic...
Day 2 Pic....
NOTE: Motel 6 blows. Every single time I stay in one, it's crap. Friday night we stayed in a Motel 6 in Grand Junction. Urine on the toilet, boogers on the bathroom walls, condoms for sale in a machine next to the snack vending machine, etc. Bad.
We took off around 10am Saturday and headed for Vegas. We stopped in Utah to go to Walmart to get some black RTV to hold the top rubber in the slider window channel. Walking up to the Guac, I noticed 4 oil spots. Drat! I was so stoked to not have any oil leaks. I guess 500-ish miles of 70mph did it. I'll figure out where the leak is once I get to California. It's small, so I'm not concerned. Just keep checking the oil.
Speaking of 70mph, that's the speed I maintained on the flats and downhills. The Guac handled 70 easily, with just a nudge on the gas pedal. Even some uphills it took at 70 at no more than 3/4 throttle. I did notice there's little difference in pull between 3/4 throttle and full throttle. So I saw no point in using full throttle ever. If the hills get steep, I drop to third and hold at 48 mph. Ticked SUV drivers be darned.
At each stop I check the oil. Dipstick has never been more than mildly warm, though that's not much of an indicator with a type 4 engine because it passes through the cooling airflow to get to the sump.
We stopped in Mesquite, NV instead of Vegas because I was too fried. My shoulders and neck muscles hurt from fighting crosswinds in Utah for hours on end. We stayed at the Virgin River Casino. $89 for a huge room on a spring Saturday night. Pretty good. Plus I'm $20 ahead on the slots.
We'll stop in Vegas so the kids can visit Circus Circus for an hour or two then on to Anaheim!
Day 3:
Day 3 Pic
Got to Anaheim at 10:30 last night. Traffic on I-15 was horrible between Vegas and Baker, with some slowing off-and-on until Barstow. We stopped at State Line (errrr... "Primm") and hung out for a couple hours hoping to let the traffic go by. Didn't happen. There was an accident that caused the traffic initially, but then cars were overheating and stalling and such in the traffic, stretching out the problem for much longer than it needed to be.
At Primm I saw a nearly new Escalade dump its radiator. A little ways up I saw a BRAND new Excursion do the same thing. The Guac just chugged along with nary a worry. =)
Stopped at Baker and looked at the thermometer. (For those of you who don't know, Baker has the "World's Largest Thermometer".) When we got there it was 109 degrees! 20 minutes later after buying the obligatory Lotto ticket at the Lotto store, it was 113!!! I'm glad I made sure to seal up the tinwork on the Guac's engine before leaving!
The oil leak is VERY small. Still no noticable change in the dipstick level. And the oil is still clear and gold. Have to hold the dipstick at an angle to the light to see the oil level. =)
A couple notes about the Guac:
I didn't change the points to Pertronix. Once I got a scale on there and discovered I'd been running at TDC (oops), I set it to 7.5*. The mark was ROCK SOLID. Didn't flicker a bit. I put my dwell meter on there and it was locked in at 50*. Moved a degree or two when revving the engine. Well, shoot. Who am I to mess with perfection? I gotta say Troy did a kick butt job on this bus.
As mentioned, I decided to leave the Nokian snow tires on there. Going over the Rockies, I'm glad I did. There were areas where I-70 was just a sheet of ice. Those tires locked into that ice like it was dry pavement. I'm VERY impressed. But at 113 degrees through Baker, I hope there's some tread left. I'm going to rotate the tires before heading back to CO. The crosswind fighting was scrubbing my tires bad.
I'd forgotten what a difference in power levels between 5500 feet elevation, and sea level. I put down some rubber running for coffee this morning (accidentally!) Ok, it was just a chirp, but still...
My shoulders and neck still hurt. I'm gonna dabble with changing the seating position to see if that helps any. What was comfortable for puttering around town may not necessarily be the best position for cross country driving.
All in all, I had a blast! The kids were great, my daughter only had one "accident" on the trip! I'm impressed. =)
And I get to do it all over again in a couple days when I head back to Colorado. =)
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