Epic Winter Road Trip

[MiniDave]

Great! We'll message you before we leave my sister's, she's about 1/2 hour north according to the Google.

[BruceK]

Have a fun and safe trip!   Watch out for the crazies.

[MiniDave]

Ha! Cookies look great!

So we hit Colorado yesterday afternoon, the weather is clear and sunny and temps just over freezing. The car has run perfectly (as a modern car should) it's  2016 Forester with minimal equipment but all the basics, about 28K miles, fuel mileage about 25 when running 80 mph so - respectable.

We got to our sister's place about dusk, so good timing as I don't like to drive in heavily congested big cities in the dark, trying to navigate in unfamiliar territory. Traffic in Denver is crazy busy, and we are WAY out in the suburbs!

This morning we headed down to see Whee and his collection of Minis - what a fabulous place he has. His shop will be epic once he gets it all organized the way he's planned. He took my brother for a run in his Aussie Cooper S and showed him what fun driving a Mini can be! Then we all piled into the Moke for a run around the 'hood. The Moke definitely suffers at this altitude, and  having three full sized guys in it doesn't help! Not to mention it was about 35* out! He also showed us his South African Wolsley, Pup and 2013GP

First pic is where we finally got off of I-70, and turned onto Colorado 86, still couldn't see the mountains due to cloud cover, but today was brilliantly clear.

Next pic is my sis and bro, both younger than me....

Next is Whee outside his garage with his Aussie Cooper S

[MiniDave]

Today was a long day behind the wheel, we generally drive to the gas stop and then change drivers.

We left Denver about 8 am in bright sunshine, and most of the way across Wyoming was sunny - although there was plenty of snow on the ground, the roads were clear and dry . When we got close to the Utah border we hit some incredible fog, but as the sun was out we could navigate along OK. One nice thing about Wyoming, Utah and Idaho so far - 80 mph speed limit on the Interstates! The Subie cruised along just fine at that speed, and is retuning about 25 mpg...not bad - even tho we did a lot of climbing - from 6K in Denver to well over 8K at times.....most of Wyoming was at 7K or above.

Once into Utah we turned north and found I-15 north to Idaho, landing in Idaho Falls about 6 pm for the night. We met my friend Sludgo for dinner, and despite the way he looks in the pic, we all were in great spirits and had a wonderful meal and conversation.

Tomorrow we start the last leg into Bend, weather could be a bit iffy across Oregon and parts of Idaho into Boise, so we may wind up either changing routes and taking a more southern route across the state or staying in Boise to let the weather pass us....we'll see.

Once in Bend we'll spend a day or two with my nephew and friends, then pick up our rental car and head south to Volcano, Ca and my other sister's house, in the mountains just west of Lake Tahoe.

[MiniDave]

Thanks for having us Peter, we both love your place and your Minis! See you in Aspen next summer!

[John Gervais]

Great cookies!   77.gif

[MiniDave]

We are here in Bend now, ran into some snow in Boise but not that much, ran thru the aftermath of a pretty good snowstorm thru the mountains of central Oregon, but once we got close to Bend it was all sunshine and mid 40's

The car averaged about 27 mpg for the trip, Richard and I are going to g find a carwash before we deliver it to the lad this evening. I know he's excited to see it!

More in a bit.....

My brother was finally able to hook up with his son once he got off work, so he's gone off to pick him up and have dinner, I stayed behind.

A few pics from today's drive across Idaho, and pretty much most of Oregon.

[Willie_B]

Cool trip.

Nice views too.

[BruceK]

Those parts of Idaho and Oregon look pretty.  And pretty empty, too.  Sounds like a great trip.  And you had an AWD vehicle and didn't even need that capability!

See any 'award-winning' drivers on your trip?

[MiniDave]

We had one close one...or so we thought. You're right, there was little traffic and fewer people out there across Idaho and eastern Oregon, so we tended to push the speed limit a bit. Richard thought 15 over was about right except for the roads where the speed limit was 80 (all the multi lane highways are 80) , there he only went 5 or 6 over....so our average speed was close to 80 for the whole trip so far!

So we had been cruising along about 15 over across the lonely parts of Oregon, and I decided that might be pushing it a bit so I dropped back to 10 and a few minutes later we saw the very first police car we'd seen on practically the entire trip - going the other way in a group of cars. As soon as he passed our group I saw his brake lights go on, so I kept watch in the rear view but he had gone over a small hill. There was an Escalade a ways behind us and after a few minutes I saw the bubble gum lights behind her, then they were gone......while she was still behind us, and she continued along just as we did.. Never saw anything of him after that. Never saw another cop except in Burns - in town - where we stopped for gas. Can't pump your own gas in Oregon, it's a very strange setup -  even tho the attendant swipes your card and puts the nozzle in the tank, he doesn't do anything else -- you have to clean your own windows and check your own tires and oil. Weird setup. I didn't know if you were supposed to tip the guy or what......

As far as other drivers, the only issue we really had - as we were on 4 lane hiways the whole way till we headed west across Idaho - was people who would not pass a truck. Then before long three or four are behind and now as the last guy you'd have to pass them all as they're all bunched up tight behind the semi. In those cases all you can do is wait for the truck to turn off or hit a weigh station or something. Once clear, people tended to haul ass just like we were....

The only place we ran into snow or slush on the road was in the mountains in central Oregon. It was snowing pretty good as we went thru Boise but it wasn't accumulating on the road there and we were out of it pretty quickly. Central Oregon had had a good foot or snow but they had already cleared the roads and the sun was out so it was mostly dry except for a few places where the mountains kept the sun off the road - those were a bit slushy but not bad.

All in all, a problem free run, just the way I like it. The car - pretty much like you expect any modern car to do - was trouble free and ran those highway speeds with no problem. Even tho we were above 6K altitude for most of the trip, the car did about 25mpg, much better than that when we slowed down to a more reasonable speed.

Later today we'll pick up the rental and as the lad has today and tomorrow off I expect him to be with his dad and I'll go see a couple of people I know here in town. Thursday we'll head south to Volcano up in the gold country west of Tahoe to see our sis for a couple of days, then over to Pleasanton to see our youngest brother and his two......then we head to Oakland, drop off the car and fly home. We're on the same plane to Denver, then we split off and he goes to St. Louis on a different flight.

Still one more chance for weather to vex us going over the pass between Oregon and northern California, after that the worst we might see is rain.....and traffic. Lots of traffic!

One other tiny spot of good news, I've had absolutely no issues with the altitude other than a slight shortness of breath after climbing a flight of stairs or something....which is perfectly normal for an old out of shape guy like me. Bodes well for going to MMEMW next summer in Aspen.

[MiniDave]

Pics worth 1000 words....got a little snow last night, but it's sunny today so the roads will be clear by noon I'm guessing. Ryan already went to DMV and got his car registered and plated, easy peasy....tomorrow morning we'll head south in our rental Kia Sorrento to California for the next leg of the trip.....

[BruceK]

Wait.   The Lou Fusz dealer (from St. Louis) license frame continues its advertising duty in Oregon?    8.gif

Safe travels on the next part of your trip. I'd be interested to hear your feedback on the rental Kia versus the Subaru. 

[MiniDave]

I already can tell you my view on the Kia - it sucks!

It's big and heavy and ponderous to drive, but it has electronics out the wazoo that I haven't played with yet, so I might be able to tune it a bit to be more to my liking. When we got it it was in "Eco" mode, which means absolutely no throttle response - I've since discovered "sport", "comfort" and "normal" modes. I'll have plenty of time and miles to learn the systems. It's also AWD which adds to the weight. The seats are narrow and pinch my legs much like the MINI sport seats in my Clubby do, the driver's seat is fully power operated, the passenger's is manual. View out is decent, but like all cars these days the back end is sky high, so you use your mirrors a lot, and it has the ubiquitous back up camera.

Edit: Oh and another thing, the headlights suck big monkey balls!

The Subie was big inside but drove well - the engine was well underpowered, but it gets up and scoots from a light - and gets decent MPG when you're not flogging it, it also handled well in the mountains. Ryan's Subie is low spec, no sunroof, cold weather pack and the like but the seats were good. I don't know why he kept the frames on, I would have trashed them immediately!

We're meeting Jeff10049 and the bride for dinner tonight, then on the road early tomorrow.

[MiniDave]

We're in Volcano, more tomorrow!

[MiniDave]

It was about a 9 hour drive from Bend to Volcano, the worst part was getting into and out of Sacramento - the heavier the traffic the more aggressive my brother becomes behind the wheel. At one point I told him either to cool it or pull over and park nd I would drive....he cooled it.

So we're at my sister's place up in the mountains just west of Lake Tahoe - it's a terrific place on about 10 acres with gorgeous views of the valley and mountains. It's so quiet, the only sounds are the wind in the pine trees. We'll stay here till Monday, then head to Pleasanton and my youngest brothers - I'll get to see my niece and nephew - last time I saw my nephew he was about 10, he's now 16 and taller than me and playing football. My niece is in her 2nd year of college in Flagstaff....should be fun times. Tuesday we head for Oakland and the flight home....it's been a long trip but well worth it to reconnect with family I don't see nearly often enough.

[MiniDave]

Well, our trip is almost over.....We drove down from the mountains this morning and we're in Pleasanton having spent the day with my youngest brother and getting a little facetime with my niece and nephew - his bride had to work really late and came home exhausted so we headed to the hotel shortly after she got home.

One true highlight of the day was getting to drive his 2014 Porsche 911!

Tomorrow we head to the Oakland airport, from there to Sandy Eggo, then home - arriving KC at 10 pm. It promises to be a long day as the drive home from the airport is another hour, but I'll be glad to be home to the wife and da boiz. At least I won't need a coat till I get home as it's a balmy 65* here in California......ahhhh.....nice.

We drove by the Tesla Factory on the way to my brother's in Pleasanton and I mentioned that we hadn't seen any all day - he laughed, and sure enough on the drive to lunch barely a few miles from his house and back we counted over 25!

[ve9aa]

cool trip!  Followed along from time to time. 4.gif

[MiniDave]

Oh, we just missed you, we left at 1:40 for Sandy Eggo......

One thing that struck me when we got into the Oakland airport, was how many dogs there were walking about on leashes and sitting with people while in carriers. Turns out there's been a real boom in people traveling with their "emotional support" dogs, and in fact on our 1 hour ride down to Sandy Eggo a young couple and their two small pit bulls were right in front of me. Turns out that it's legal as long as you have the right entity write a letter hitting all the hot buttons the airline requires.

Got in on time, Rose was waiting at the curb with the Audi and we're home.....and I've been inundated with small poodoos ever since. It's good to be home, warmer than I expected too - 50* at midnight.

1st pic is of a Pitty on a lap, second is Ca gas prices. What's interesting to me is 10¢ difference in the price between the grades, here our price is lower, but as much as 60¢ between the grades.

[MiniDave]

My brother got home safely too. His flight left San Diego an hour before mine, but I was home a good 1/2 hour before he was in St. Louis, and his home is much closer to Lindberg than I am to MCI.

The lad loves his new car tho he is still riding his bicycle as much as the weather allows. One thing nice he says, is being able to bring more than one thing home from the store at a time.

[MiniGene]

Glad the mission was a success and everybody made it home safely.  Thanks for sharing it with us.