Road Trip!

slorenzen

explorerx4 said:

Back home from the weekend trip to Indiana.
Decided to drive home yesterday instead of splitting between 2 days.
Lesser of 2 evils. PA/NY do construction during the day, CT at night.
My daughter drove to Cleveland and I drove the rest.
Fusion averaged 31 mpg for the trip.
Computer read 1623 miles, 25 hours 16 minutes.
3 tanks of PUG and 1 RUG. Went with RUG once because price was high(Toll Road station) and I was going to burn through it in a few hours.

Heading out to Wisconsin in a couple of weeks.

PUG in a Fusion?

I thought they all required RUG only.

explorerx4

Engine is designed to run on a range of octanes. It makes more power using PUG, and generally seems to run a bit smoother.

explorerx4

Having taken some road trips in the spring. summer and now the fall, does anyone notice that the number of bugs seems to be down?
Just cleaning the bugs off the windshield used to take more time than the fuel fill up.

xwesx

I haven't hardly seen any bugs at all for a couple weeks now!

stever

Ice worms?

explorerx4

Taking the Escape on the trip to Madison. Pretty excited to see how it works out. We are meeting the future in laws for dinner in the Cleveland area tomorrow night.

explorerx4

Back from out road trip to Madison, WI with the Escape. Add 2k to the trip odometer. It automatically resets.
Divide the trip length by the engine hours and you'll see we made pretty good time.
I'll post pictures of some Saturday highlights soon.

fintail

Been on the road for a few days, with a few more ahead. User error erased my good dashcam clips, but I saved a scenic view and a snap:

gagrice

Is that the Bend area? Fresh snow already? Wonder if we are in for a rough early winter. We had a couple cool 50s days and now back in the 90s.

slorenzen

fintail said:

Been on the road for a few days, with a few more ahead. User error erased my good dashcam clips, but I saved a scenic view and a snap:

Impressive resolution!

berri

I like the open road shot, makes me want to get out on the highway!

xwesx

slorenzen said:

Impressive resolution!

Hah! Yeah, I was thinking the same thing. Nice work, Fin!

xwesx

Here's a quick clip from my "dashcam" (hahah) of my trip down to Palmer last weekend. It was a gorgeous day on Friday morning, so I had to take a quick snap that contrasts the snowy vid from this past spring:

PS.... I'm sorry about the dirty windshield; that's just how we roll up here in Alaska!


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aGAzWxgC8I8


Above is along the exact (within a mile or two, anyway) same stretch of road as this one that I shared earlier in the year:


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hB8OEvUfUGc

berri

Eeeew - snow! We're trying to enjoy fall down here in the lower 48

xwesx

berri said:

Eeeew - snow! We're trying to enjoy fall down here in the lower 48

Wait, SNOW is what you took away from that gorgeous scenery?! Is that like missing the forest for the trees?

Considering that this area had around two feet of snow about two weeks ago, I was pretty happy about it mostly being gone (at least at the elevation where I was driving).

xwesx

argh... sorry for the double

explorerx4

Saturday Morning at Farmer's market



Afternoon at New Glarus Brewery



Night at U Wisconsin hockey game

stever

Great posts, brings back memories.

The farmer's market in Madtown is about the best one we've ever been to.

xwesx

explorerx4 said:

Night at U Wisconsin hockey game

Badgers? Badgers?! We don't NEED no stinkin' Badgers!!!!!!!

explorerx4

@xwesx,
Bucky's not happy with you.

stever

I had a Bucky Badger decal on that little red Tercel in my avatar, from our ~6 month stint in Madison back in, oh, '84 I guess.

fintail

First pic is Bend (phone pic), second is just south of Mt Bachelor (dashcam snapshot), on a road that my car's navigation later would claim did not exist and tried to take me on a horrible detour route.

I don't think it was fresh snow. It was cold at night in Bend - maybe 40 or less, but warm in the day, above 70. I've been in the Willamette Valley, highs almost 80. I suspect we will have a harsher winter than the past couple of really mild ones, it is all cyclical.

gagrice said:

Is that the Bend area? Fresh snow already? Wonder if we are in for a rough early winter. We had a couple cool 50s days and now back in the 90s.

elias

Here's one of my road trip photos. 5000 miles on new car in 2 months...
Photos like these are kindly made available to many tourists as well as locals!

stever

One for @gagrice:

Driving Alaska’s Dalton Highway (NY Times)

gagrice

I don't think the author liked the Dalton highway. One of those eco nut writers from New York City. Deadhorse was my home for half the year from 1981 to 2006. I did not think it looked that bad leaving every 3 weeks. In all those years working up there, the furthest South I drove on the Dalton was about 50 miles to some great Grayling fishing streams. If he was a true adventurer, he would have rented an SUV in Seattle, and made a real trip.

stever

My Seward friend drove south recently, hit freezing rain in Tok and Destruction Bay. Would have been much cheaper to fly but he was moving some junk to Texas. The Dalton was pretty fun, but I've only been on it in the summer.

berri

If he was a true adventurer, he would have rented an SUV in Seattle, and made a real trip

You mean getting through Seattle on I-5 in one piece

stever

Nothing gets through Seattle in one piece, including Big Bertha!

We need an autobahn check-in from @fintail.

berri

I'm afraid that Seattle tunnel project may make the Boston one look like a gem!

fintail

Seattle is a headache in terms of transportation infrastructure. As I put it, both vehicle and pedestrian unfriendly. The tunnel will make the Big Dig look like a sandbox project at recess - and the perks collected by the first class citizenry in charge of it will be astounding.

I haven't needed/wanted a car yet here, public transport is usually good and cheap in large German cities - it's that first world social good thing that brings contempt from many across the pond. I was on a rail"road" trip which reached some nice speeds:

berri

When I've been in hotels in downtown Seattle, they seem to take good care of the bicyclists though

stever

Every time I hear someone complain about bikes not paying their fair share, I used to think of the Big Dig.

Now Bertha is on track to replace Boston in the subsidy race.

fintail

It's subsidizing the economy, not subsidizing the playthings of some greenies who are pretending to use the bikes as commuter rigs. I suspect a statistically insignificant amount of bikes actually replace cars, in the overall American transport spectrum. For better or worse, the American economy is dependent on cheap personal transport. The corrupt tunnel projects are just a symptom of an untouchable first class citizenry group.

berri

In all fairness, that Alaskan Way overpass on the waterfront is hideous, so I understand wanting to replace it. But what in the heck is with the project management and execution?

stever

Let's hope it doesn't fall down in the next quake before they can get the tunnel restarted - that ETA on digging is Dec. 23rd.

fintail

2018? Meanwhile a bunch of consultants and "private" contractors will continue to cash in.

stever

The (newest) estimate for restarting the drill is Christmas. Didn't notice an estimated completion date.

stever

Short road trip. This guy was heard by my wife ~30 minutes ago in the corner of the garage by the man door. Gotta quit leaving the garage door open this time of year, they are all trying to find good spots to den up.

"Road trip" because after I managed to flip him into a garbage can, we took a short ride out into the desert. That little bit of trash was in the garbage can. I left it.

kyfdx

Note to self: Cancel trip to see Steve

Mr_Shiftright

But he's beautiful! (The snake I mean).

stever

The thick ones like this guy kind of freak me out. We had the neighbor shoot the smaller one that was in the yard last Spring. Would rather relocate them, but I've heard that snakes often don't survive the move. But this move was relatively short and the habitat is the same, so hopefully finding a new den won't be too hard.

kyfdx

So, you put him in the neighbor's garage?

berri

Well if its any consolation, the moccasins in the Midwest, east and south are more aggressive, as are the copperheads.

iluvmysephia1

stever-yep, thank you for your animal care skills. Not found everywhere these days. 

stever

I remember plenty of snakes at our fish camp in N. Mississippi and a memorable hike up Jack's River in N. Georgia with way too many rattlers spotted. Some snake dropped out of a tree into my canoe on the Buffalo River in Arkansas one trip and I let him have it. The canoe I mean, I bailed out. The gopher snake in my cutlery drawer in Boise was a bit of a surprise too. I try to tolerate them but it's hard.

Last night a stray dog showed up and the owner wasn't answering her phone. I figured out who she was and where she lived from the number on the collar and headed out on foot, the dog following right along. After about a short quarter mile I got a bit antsy about walking down the gravel road in the dark with just my free Harbor Freight flashlight, so I bailed and went back and got the van and drove the mile to the house and dropped the dog off, both of us unbit.

iluvmysephia1

That's what I'm talkin'about!

tjc78

My wife would never go in the garage again.

slorenzen

We get a lot of non-poisonous snakes around here, and we like 'em a lot, as they keep the rodents in check. Never had one get into the house or garage, though.

I'm told there are rattlers around here, but in 23 years, i've never seen one.

xwesx

slorenzen said:

I'm told there are rattlers around here, but in 23 years, i've never seen one.

In that area? Prarie rattlers probably pretty rare there as you're getting outside of their preferred habitat. They are common in the Columbia Basin area as well as the leeward side of the Cascades, though.

slorenzen

xwesx said:

slorenzen said:

I'm told there are rattlers around here, but in 23 years, i've never seen one.

In that area? Prarie rattlers probably pretty rare there as you're getting outside of their preferred habitat. They are common in the Columbia Basin area as well as the leeward side of the Cascades, though.

Last summer there were 2 rattlers spotted on a hiking trail about half a mile apart(up near Eugene). Other than that, my wife and I hike a LOT in the hills behind our home, and I've never seen 'em.

Our place backs up to BLM(not Black Lives Matter) land, and we go up there 3-4 times a week.