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I'm in need of a good road trip.
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2015 Subaru Outback 3.6R / 2014 MINI Countryman S ALL4
2023 Mercedes EQE 350 4Matic / 2022 Ram 1500 Bighorn, Built to Serve
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2015 Subaru Outback 3.6R / 2014 MINI Countryman S ALL4
Of course, it was only about 20 minutes after we merged onto the highway that the first snowflake fell, and I've told that story a time or two already.
And, that 85 MPH limit is reduced to 65 when you go through the various towns, and UHP was pretty serious about enforcement.
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2015 Subaru Outback 3.6R / 2014 MINI Countryman S ALL4
I arrived at the dealership at about 0630 this morning, waited until 0700 when they opened, then went in, retrieved the Q7, and started making my way home. Honestly, it felt like a bit of a lumbering beast in comparison to the Q5 - particularly the braking, so I might need to do a little work on that system this summer. I was feeling a little bit of pulsating in the front when I would start braking. I did make it home without any warning lights, though, so that's a win!
Once again, the skies were perfect and temperatures eventually climbed to 15C by the time I arrived home at 1430 this afternoon... just in time to get my son to work at 1500. It was a bit chilly in Anchorage this morning, maybe 2C.
Funny enough, I only overtook maybe a handful of cars on this trip, and, without fail, every single one of them took offense to me passing and eventually overtook me again. As I told them at the time (as if they could hear me).... "I care not if you want to pass, but you better not hold me up again!" Happily, I didn't need to overtake any of them a second time.
Once the roads dry off, I tend not to be in the top 10% of driving speeds any longer because I usually drive 70 on that road year round.
My commute will be twice the distance, but roughly the same amount of time. The car has been kind of wasting away anyway, it'll be nice to use it and get out a little more.
2023 Hyundai Kona Limited AWD (wife) / 2015 Golf TSI (me) / 2019 Chevrolet Cruze Premier RS (daughter #1) / 2020 Hyundai Accent SE (daughter #2) / 2023 Subaru Impreza Base (son)
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2015 Subaru Outback 3.6R / 2014 MINI Countryman S ALL4
I'm not super-fantastic at the whole scheduling specific times/places when I'm traveling.... I prefer to just wing it. However, we should definitely set up with contact info and whatnot so that I can share ballpark timing information and keep you posted as I narrow in.
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2015 Subaru Outback 3.6R / 2014 MINI Countryman S ALL4
I certainly wouldn't get a pass for just that. Those were the only tolls on that whole stretch.
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That said, every single route I mapped out has a "this route has tolls" warning, and avoiding the tolls were, in some cases, adding significant time and/or distance, so I figured I would just cover my bases at once. This way, I don't have to care about tolls at all. And, in the cases of the areas that have gone cashless, the price for the mailed bill based on license plate is substantially more expensive.
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2015 Subaru Outback 3.6R / 2014 MINI Countryman S ALL4
Mine is delayed now. I wanted to leave tomorrow morning, but I *still* do not have my passport back from the feds. So much for "expedited." However, the word from them is that it is "in the mail," so I'm hoping I will have it by Wednesday (7/7). As such, I'm planning on that being my new earliest possible date of departure.
All that being said, I was able to check one thing off the list today: I have my license plate and registration in hand for my trailer (which I factory-ordered in North Carolina). I hope to pick it up at the end of August as we start to make our way back toward Alaska. Sadly, despite my very clear instructions/insistence with the manufacturer that I absolutely *must* receive the titling documentation no later than yesterday (7/1), they decided to mail it via USPS "first class" with a tracking label on it. I warned them that such a method was 7-10 days and would not get here in time, but they were confident. Instead, it arrived at about 10am this morning (7 days). I immediately took it to DMV, but DMV simply turned me out and told me, "nope, you missed your appointment (I was scheduled at 0930), too bad for you." What a-holes.
Thankfully, I was able to use a private place that summarily gouged the crap out of me on the cost. However, it is done, so the heck with the details.
We are home now, 900 miles later.
You learn a lot about a vehicle on a 1900 mile trip.
Posted speed on I-75 was 75. We had no problem keeping up up with traffic or maybe a little better with 4 people and more than all the stuff in the picture.
Fuel mileage did suffer though, averaged 21.5 for the trip.
Only 4500 miles on it, so far from being broken in.
The tank before I left on the trip, mostly local driving, was 23.5.
You can't just "pick your spot" and ZOOM ZOOM into it like I can with my other vehicles.
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2015 Subaru Outback 3.6R / 2014 MINI Countryman S ALL4
Commute is almost the same amount of time as my Seattle-area slog, but twice the distance. I get to be on the highway for a few miles, which is probably good for the car. And man, the drivers. Merging here is as iffy as on the west side, so few signals, people like to dawdle at 5 under on an interstate, and downtown Spokane has a couple of dicey highway interchanges. Add in some upper midwest-quality road surfaces for kicks - I sometimes feel like I am abusing the car on these roads, and would be better served in a heavier duty SUV, but we will see.
I see a G in your future
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2015 Subaru Outback 3.6R / 2014 MINI Countryman S ALL4
Fuel economy of a G is what turns me off the most - maintenance costs on a non-AMG shouldn't be insane relative to other V8 MBs. I've also toyed with the idea of looking at a Landcruiser, as they are always worth something (as is a G), but it'd have to be after 2015 or so to have infotainment with higher tech than the fintail's radio.
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2015 Subaru Outback 3.6R / 2014 MINI Countryman S ALL4
Amusingly, I low-key like the original ML (W163), and apparently they can be pretty solid if sorted, but can also be troublesome. Build quality was inconsistent. Early ones especially are kind of plain and honest for what they are, not like modern equivalents. I am not big on the bric a brac, maybe why I am not wanting to actually own a modern AMG as well.
I'd like to be able to drive and not weave around the endless road imperfections, and/or feel bad when a bump can't be avoided.
Overall, no major issues, but I did need to detour significantly in order to make my destinations. Originally, the plan was to drive straight down the Cassiar and Cariboo highways, cross the border at Sumas (WA), and head to Salem, OR, to deal with some estate issues for my grandmother. Then, cross through central Oregon over to I-84, down to I-70 in Utah, and then cross I-70 all the way into Ohio, stopping in Denver for a brief visit with Edmunds friends there.
What I ended up doing was detouring around unprecedented fire activity in Western BC: I drove the entire length of the Alaska Highway to Dawson Creek, crossed down through Prince George and over on Highway 16 to then go south through the national parks (Jasper/Banff) in the middle of the night under heavy smoke to enter into the US in northern Idaho (Kingsgate). I then backtracked through Spokane and the Columbia River gorge to eventually hit I5 south to Salem. After leaving Oregon, I ended up getting stopped on I70 in the Glenn Canyon area where there was a road closure about 30 minutes before I arrived there due to landslides. However, the light show from the lightning storm in the mountains there was impressive. Unforgettable! I had to detour all the way to northern Colorado, so it didn't really make sense to push back south to Denver again since the guys were otherwise occupied into the weekend. Instead, I jumped onto I80 at Laramie, WY, and crossed over to Ohio from there.
I'll post a few photos next, because those are a little more fun!
Overall, 5,500 miles (almost exactly) covered.
Day 2: Outside of Teslin, YT, overlooking Teslin Lake, which is absolutely huge (the highway runs along side it the entire length, for something like 60 miles.
Day 3: Stopped at a pullout outside Toad River, BC, which is a long-term favorite of mine after we stopped there in 2007 on the way home with our 2008 Outback when the kids were micro-pups.
This one is a very old beaver dam that, in 2007, was new and active. In the years since, it has gone from dilapidated like this to renewed, and back to dilapidated. I suspect that the dam causes flooding issues somewhere upriver, so the beavers get trapped periodically.
Day 7: Western Iowa, just outside of Omaha, NE. A crazy wind/rain storm, which apparently was a tornado a little further south, tipped over a pair of trucks in the westbound lane on I80. Don't worry; I planned ahead for this and was able to snap without the need to slow, etc., out the windshield.
Day 8: Morning rest stop, which I think was in Indiana. Amazing display on this hyacinth bush.
And, the morning after arriving at my destination (so, day 9?)
I kind of feel like you should have just bought a Suburban.
You would look a lot less Beverly Hillbillies.
My mom just bought a different house and is downsizing, I will be headed out to the coast in about a month. What was a less than 3 hour drive will probably be more than 7, each way. Looking forward to it.
I've been going to the office a bit, nice to get out, but the drivers here can be as special as Seattle, just in their own way. And I've said it before, Idaho plates - watch out. We need to close that border
Third day was the best: up and over the Cedar Breaks east of Cedar City, then up the middle of Utah on roads I'd never been on before (there aren't too many of them anymore). Not much traffic, excellent scenery and an overall beautiful drive. Day four from Price, UT, to Fruita, CO, was partly on a new road to me but otherwise in high desert (boring), other than Douglas Pass, which was a real pleasure.
A couple of days in Fruita (near Grand Junction) to enjoy the Colorado National Monument (and the mud springs campground) and Grand Mesa, where I've been visiting since the mid '50s, plus visiting the various places I lived in GJ back in the '50s. The Grand Mesa day ended in Cortez, CO, (via Telluride) where I once again joined the land of beige and mostly flatness.
The trip was 1816 miles, which worked out to ~300 miles a day, a far cry from my marathon driving in the "old days." Averaging the car's MPG readings at each fill yielded 38.2 mpg, vs. the actual fill numbers at the pump which worked out to 34.1 mpg, an 11.4% difference, favoring the car's computer, as always. High elevation is very good for gas mileage for sure.
I think there are only a couple of us on Edmunds who actually drive somewhere from time to time, so thought XWESX might be interested, plus the nine other people who actually venture out of their home zip code.
I had a short road trip last week. Flew to CA to visit family. Sister picked me up from LAX and we went to my son's for his and his wife's baby shower. I stayed an extra day and drove my mom's 2003 Sonata from north of LA to SD, where my mom and sister live.
175 miles in roughly 3 hours (I left around 6-ish on a Sunday night, so no real traffic in/through LA). The Sonata has been getting quite a bit of repair and maintenance over the last year - it turned over 43,000 miles while I had it - and ran like a champ. Averaged about 25 MPG for 300+ miles, most of which were on the highway.
(I wanted to drive to CA, but I just didn't have enough time to dedicate 2 days either way)
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2015 Subaru Outback 3.6R / 2014 MINI Countryman S ALL4