Epic Winter Road Trip

[MiniDave]

My nephew decided it was time for him to grow up and leave home and start his own life (at age 27!) - and as they say go big or go home....he moved from the family home in St. Louis to Bend, Oregon. How or why he decided to go there I have no idea, but he did it. It took him a while to get established even tho I offered to hook him up with people I know there - one of whom is our own Jeff10049 - who kindly offered to help him. He decided if he was going to do this he wanted to do it all by himself and I respect that but.........I digress.

So, here we are about 2 years on and his old Honda CRV's transmission took a dump and they claim you can't fix it, there are no parts available....so in searching for a replacement vehicle he settled on a used Subaru Forester. Because they're extremely popular (and therefore expensive) in both the Northeast and Northwest, he had his dad find one for him in the Midwest -- St. Louis.....which he did. The young man did all his own financial arrangements and the car is ready for his dad to pick up tomorrow.

You see where this is going?

Son can't take off work long enough to fly in and drive it home so my brother and I decided to take it to him - next week. Dead of winter. Thru the mountains. You know, the stuff legendary road trips are made of!

Fortunately we have family and friends along the route.......so Friday Dec 7 he'll drive in to KC, and Sat we'll head out across the snow covered plains to Denver where our sister lives. We'll spend a day or two (depending on the weather west and north of there) with her and my niece and nephew and their little ones then head for our next stop.

Next up is Idaho Falls, where we'll stop for the night and spend a quality evening with a friend of mine - he goes by Sludgo on BaT, and is writing a series of stories for them under that non de pen titled Mile Markers. I'd encourage you all to go read his stuff, he's an interesting guy and has a unique style of writing and telling his stories (to find him on BaT, search for sludgo) I've known Rich for over a decade and look forward to hoisting a cold one with him, he's also an accomplished musician and may be playing a gig that night, it would be fun to hear him!

Again, depending on weather, we'll either hole up there or hit the road for Bend. We've built in plenty of extra days for weather delays and we'll have plenty of wintery stuff aboard - cable chains, extra clothes and so on. Whatever we don't want to schlep home we'll leave with him.

Once the car is delivered and I say hello  to the folks I know there in Bend, we'll pick up a rental car and head south to our other sister's home in Volcano, California. Another mountain town, but unlikely to have any snow. We'll drive right thru the Paradise area where the town was burned to the ground in the most recent Ca wildfire and on to Volcano. My brother lives in Pleasanton  (Bay area) and either he'll come up or we'll drive down to see im, then fly home on the 18th from Oakland.

That's the plan anyway.

One advantage we have is that instead of doing it in what I usually drive on these events - a classic Mini that I just bought and know nothing about - we'll have a modern all wheel drive car that's still under factory warranty. Definitely increases our chances of making it!

More as it happens!

[MiniGene]

Soooooo, what are we supposed to do for Inno updates during that time??  LOL!

Seriously though, it sounds like a great time!  One thing my family and I missed while in the UK was the American road trip.  We're looking forward to some this coming summer.

[MiniDave]

Yep, I like a good road trip, I've already done two or three this year, so I'll finish out the year with a mega!

Are you guys settled in now? (Sandy Eggo, right?)

[gr8kornholio]

Keep an eye on the mountain passes you plan to traverse in case they close any of them.  Some detours out there are ridiculous to go around.  Otherwise sounds like epic fun.  And can attest to the popularity of Subaru in the Northeast.  I swear 90% of the cars in Maine/Vermont/ upstate NY were Subaru.

[BruceK]

Wait 

Sludgo = the Rich I know from the old forums!?    Mind blown.  :-[

[MiniDave]

Yes!   4.gif

As soon as I read the first one I knew it was him - his style is unique, plus I communicate with him on FaceTube and he said he had put a writing gig together. Easy to put 1 and 1 together then......

[MiniGene]

Yep, I like a good road trip, I've already done two or three this year, so I'll finish out the year with a mega!

Are you guys settled in now? (Sandy Eggo, right?)

The Brits think that driving for a couple hours is a long "journey."  They were floored when I told them you could drive all day long in one direction at 70MPH and still be in the same state. <cough> Texas! <cough>

We're mostly settled; renting a house, kids in school, wife working.  All that's left is for me to find a job.

[MiniDave]

California north to south is over 14 hours!

[MiniGene]

California north to south is over 14 hours!

I believe it, and that's probably withOUT traffic.  We had to drive up past LA to pick up my wife's Mini at the port a couple of months ago.  I never want to drive through LA in my life again.

[MiniDave]

Nah, LA's not bad, you just have to know where you're going and the best way to get there. Sandy Eggo can be a bitch too if you're going the wrong way at the wrong time of day. 8 west in the Am and 8 east in the afternoon for example....

[jeff10049]

looking forward to visiting.
Poor guy must have got sucked in by one of the many delusional Subaru owners here who think they are good cars reminds me of the air-cooled VW crowd the condition is very similar to Stockholm syndrome. As long as he does not become a Subaru person its ok.

[ve9aa]

You go MINI Dave !  We've had a couple Subie Outbacks'--early to mid 2000's.  Great in the snow.

Pix or it didn't happen.

4.gif

Good luck !

[BruceK]

Can't wait for updates from the road.   We need details please.  And photos!   Strange food encountered, worst driver seen, prettiest scenery, etc.

[MiniDave]

Well, now that I know how to make the videos out of my Garmin dashcam, maybe I'll take it along for comic value - although I have to say, the first 8 hours of the drive across Kansas and  eastern Colorado will be BORING! Oh, and my brother will be talking non-stop......I'll let him drive that section and I'll just sleep most of the way, once we get into the mountains it'll be a little more fun.....

Pics at the very least.

Jeff, I don't know if he's a brainwashed Subie guy or not, I tried to talk him into something else - like a Ford Escape - because of the Subie's CVT but they have a 100K warranty on them now so he decided that's what he wanted, and there was no talking him out of it. He's envisioning himself going kayaking and off into the woods a lot.

We're leaving next Sat morning (Dec 8 ) for Colorado so that gives me the rest of this week and next to get some work done on the Moke and the Inno. Hope it warms up a bit, it's no fun trying to work in the shop with gloves on - tools stick to your hands and stuff!

[gr8kornholio]

Ah yes, I-70 between Salina KS and Colo Springs is all kinds of BORING.  Drove it a lot when I was in college in the Springs and going home to Wichita for breaks.  Sure it's not much more scenic between you and Salina either.

[MiniDave]

I used to live in Colorado Springs and drive home to KC.....the only thing that made it fun was the run between the Springs and Oakley on 94-40 thru Kit Carson. No cops, no traffic = cruise control set at 100. No idea why you would drive to Salina from the Springs to go to Wichita and not go 94 - 287 - 400. Much shorter run....but then that was in the past.....

My sister lives near Cherry Creek in Denver so it's a straight run across I-70 to her place...as long as they don't close the highway due to snow it's an 8 hour drive.

[gr8kornholio]

Late 90's I took the 50- 400 route out of Peublo for "fun" and it took 12 hours.  Not to mention all the steaming cow crap from the endless rows of feed farms. 

Looking at it now it might have saved time to jump off in Oakley and take 40 - 287 - 94.  I just went off my parents instructions and didn't bother to pick up a map and google didn't exist back then. 

It is funny though, cause now I totally avoid the Interstate when I travel between TX and KS.  It is a lot quicker and way less annoying.  More scenery too.

[MiniDave]

Cool, we might just do that, we're leaving early Sat morning so we should hit your part of the world about 4-5 pm depending on weather....be great to meet another Restoration Mini member and fellow Miniac! I'll PM my phone number to you.

Edit: PM(s) sent.....

[MiniDave]

We'll have cable chains with us....in fact we'll be well covered, the tires on the car are M&S and it's all wheel drive too....

[MiniDave]

Would it be better to take 86 out of Limon or stay on 70 if it's snowing?

[MiniDave]

We'll come in town on 86.

When we leave we'll go north on 25 to 80 then 80 to 15, then 15 north to Idaho Falls.

The more "interesting" part will be across Idaho and eastern Oregon......

Jeff sent me a pic from Bend, they have snow on the ground today....but we won't be there for 10 days, so there's plenty of time for it to get worse or melt away.

[tsumini]

try this it has road info. Has real time cameras plus lotsa info

http://www.cotrip.org/map.htm#/default

[MiniDave]

Cool, wonder if there's one of these for Wyoming, Idaho and Oregon?

[MiniDave]

Well, my brother drove in tonight from St. Louis with no issues, he's also loaded up with some stuff the young lad left at home when he moved himself to Oregon - important things like Xbox and loads of video games!   ;D

Tomorrow we're meeting Don at breakfast, then we're headed to Colorado across Kansas, the most boring part of the whole trip - with the possible exception of the part across Wyoming on I-80!

We'll spend a day at my sister's, I'll get to see her and the grand niece I've never met (3 years old now) and Sat we're driving down to see Whee's collection of Minis at the Whee compound in Caste Rock. Sunday we'll head north to Idaho Falls.....

Pics tomorrow before we hit the road.

[jeff10049]

oregon roads and cams

https://tripcheck.com/