Road Trip!

fintail · January 2022

Exactly. This winter so far is pretty much just as I remember things in the Columbia Basin during that era when I was growing up. Last winter we got plenty of snow, but it would usually melt in 48 hours. We've had snow on the ground now for at least a month, nothing too extreme, but it feels like old times. I don't like driving in the muck nor do I like driving in ice fog, but I like it otherwise.

xwesx said:

fintail said:
Had some fun yesterday - pulled out of the driveway and was treated to a TPMS warning showing 11 PSI in the left rear tire. That one has thrown warnings before, I had assumed because of a quirky sensor responding to our yo-yo temperatures - I would previously just add air now and then and make the warning go away, and it be fine for weeks. I guess not. I got out and could visibly see the tire was low, so pulled up to an adjacent gas station with a (paid, but the modern kind that automatically goes to the pressure you specify) tire pump. I then noticed the pressure was steady as I went home, so I decided to drive to work to see what would happen. It didn't lose a single PSI. Took it into a nearby repair shop, and it had a big nasty looking nail, but was able to be patched - I guess the chunky Blizzaks can take some abuse.

Been dicey on the roads here the past week too - first the slick mess after we had 10" of snow with a layer of freezing rain, then a freeze-thaw cycle, then ice fog - yesterday morning was especially bad with all exposed surfaces having a glaze of ice. I'd much rather have plain old snow, nicer to look at and easier to drive in (and seems to scare the timid off the road more than ice, somehow, I guess as it is easier to see).
Sounds like the old normal for that region! That sort of weather was par for the course during January and February in the eastern parts of Washington and Oregon during my time there (~1980 - 1995).

tjc78 · January 2022

@kyfdx said:
34.7 mpg in my rental RAV 4 for about 400 miles, today

What do you think of the RAV? My Mom has a current generation XLE and I just can’t warm up to it. She of course loves it.

Comes off lease in November and will have around 15K miles at most. I’m thinking about showing her a Venza. She had one before when it was more of a wagon and liked it.

Current thought process is to shop it around in the summer to see if there is equity. That will at least offset how much more expensive the new one will be.

kyfdx · January 2022

tjc78 said:

@kyfdx said:

34.7 mpg in my rental RAV 4 for about 400 miles, today

What do you think of the RAV? My Mom has a current generation XLE and I just can’t warm up to it. She of course loves it.

Comes off lease in November and will have around 15K miles at most. I’m thinking about showing her a Venza. She had one before when it was more of a wagon and liked it.

Current thought process is to shop it around in the summer to see if there is equity. That will at least offset how much more expensive the new one will be.

I was impressed. I liked it a lot more than the Rogue I had for a rental back in May. Very nice seats (hey, @stickguy ). No issue cruising at 80-85 mph on the freeway. A lot of cargo room, even with the seats up. Tracked really well. (Better than my wife's X3 on 19" tires)

Amazing fuel mileage. Almost 33 mpg for 2000 mile trip.

The rental was an XLE, but no extra options. No moonroof or NAV, but it did have Carplay.

If your Mom likes hers, I'd look at buying it.

tjc78 · January 2022

That’s an option too, I have to look at what the residual is. She is used to getting a new ride every couple years. Ultimately it will be her decision.

Sandman6472 · January 2022

I like the Rav4, a co-worker bought a pre-owned 2019 unit with 16K miles right before the current situation and paid in the low low $20's so he said. It's a bit too big for me that's why I'm looking into the Corolla Cross or the CH-R as they are smaller & have that Toyota "cheap to keep" that I'm ready to return to at this stage of life. Since this crazy chip situation has prices so out of whack, waiting till things end, hopefully sometime in 2023 to re-enter the market and buy something.
Until then, we're good with what we've got as all is quiet right now. Yay!!!

Michaell · April 2022

Wow - 4+ months since the last post in this thread. Doesn't seem like anyone is going anywhere.

In two weeks, I'm flying to CA to visit my family in both San Diego and Oxnard, then driving my mom's '03 Sonata back to Colorado. My sister has been using the car for the past 2 years after she moved our mom into an assisted care facility close to her, but she no longer needs it as her oldest son is in Japan for the next year teaching middle school and left his '15 Jetta behind. 5 cars for 4 drivers makes for a lot of driveway tetris, and she's asked that I take it until her son returns next spring.

At my request, she's installing a new head unit with CarPlay, so I'll have some decent entertainment options for the drive home.

The Sonata only has 45,000 miles on it, so a road trip will probably do it good.

xwesx · April 2022

I think it is going to be a good time for you. And, by the time you make it home, you should have just enough seat time to actually be able to use that fancy new head unit!

xwesx · April 2022

We should be making a run to Ohio again in August, so I promise I'll swing through this thread more around then.

cdnpinhead · April 2022

Doesn't seem like anyone is going anywhere.

Glad someone is. I'll leave it at that.

andres3 · April 2022

cdnpinhead said:
Doesn't seem like anyone is going anywhere.

Glad someone is. I'll leave it at that.

I'm trying to plan a little trip soon; nothing major, but something minor is better than nothing. Of course, being in San Diego my back yard playground is the East County Mountains, including Palomar, Laguna, and Anza-Borrego.

Michaell · April 2022

cdnpinhead said:
Doesn't seem like anyone is going anywhere.

Glad someone is. I'll leave it at that.

The best part is I get to shuttle it back to CA next spring.

fintail · April 2022

Will probably be going out to the coast in June, nothing else planned as of yet.

explorerx4 · April 2022

Wife and I talked a bit about renting another trailer to take another load of stuff to Ohio in a couple of weeks or so.

cdnpinhead · April 2022

fintail said:
Will probably be going out to the coast in June, nothing else planned as of yet.

Yeah, you seem to use that Merc on the highway regularly. It's a nice run over the Cascades, and I think I heard you say you go on out to the Aberdeen area -- a definite improvement over Eastern WA in terms of scenery and nice roads -- can get crowded, though.

fintail · April 2022

I make at least a couple road trips to the coast yearly now, yeah. Total round trip ends up being the greater part of 1000 miles, I think. It's a nice drive, especially if one can time it right getting through the area from Issaquah to Olympia or so. The extreme green of the coast is nice, but the back roads here are nice in their own way, they can be really empty, and I like the climate here too. This state has an extreme variety of climates for its size, from rainforest to alpine mountains to desert.

I've also been going into the office at least 3-4x per week, not a huge round trip (maybe 17 miles total), but mostly on second tier arterial suburban and semi-rural roads, running at ~55 mph, which isn't unpleasant. Spokane isn't the size of Seattle, but it is far from a small town, 90 and downtown can have real congestion.

cdnpinhead said:

fintail said:
Will probably be going out to the coast in June, nothing else planned as of yet.
Yeah, you seem to use that Merc on the highway regularly. It's a nice run over the Cascades, and I think I heard you say you go on out to the Aberdeen area -- a definite improvement over Eastern WA in terms of scenery and nice roads -- can get crowded, though.

andres3 · April 2022

cdnpinhead said:

fintail said:
Will probably be going out to the coast in June, nothing else planned as of yet.
Yeah, you seem to use that Merc on the highway regularly. It's a nice run over the Cascades, and I think I heard you say you go on out to the Aberdeen area -- a definite improvement over Eastern WA in terms of scenery and nice roads -- can get crowded, though.

Merc makes me think of Mercury, and the last one I saw was a beat up Cougar with a V6 emblem in back, which of course, made me quake in my boots in fear of racing them and losing.

cdnpinhead · April 2022

andres3 said:
Merc makes me think of Mercury, and the last one I saw was a beat up Cougar with a V6 emblem in back, which of course, made me quake in my boots in fear of racing them and losing.

OMG -- You need to get with the European programme.

That said, I agree.

Michaell · April 2022

Yikes! My road trip from CA to CO in a couple of weeks is gonna cost me some serious $$$ for gas.

$5.50-6/gal in CA
$5/gal or more in NV
$4.50/gal in UT
$4/gal in CO

And, with the old tech V6 and 4-speed automatic in the Sonata, I'm not expecting great gas mileage.

Going uphill 80% of the drive isn't going to help, either.

andres3 · April 2022

Michaell said:
Yikes! My road trip from CA to CO in a couple of weeks is gonna cost me some serious $$$ for gas.

$5.50-6/gal in CA
$5/gal or more in NV
$4.50/gal in UT
$4/gal in CO

And, with the old tech V6 and 4-speed automatic in the Sonata, I'm not expecting great gas mileage.

Going uphill 80% of the drive isn't going to help, either.

Buy a 100 gallon tank on a little trailer hitch and use all the gas from CO for the trip!

explorerx4 · April 2022

Hopefully your sister will start you out with a full tank.

Michaell · April 2022

andres3 said:

Michaell said:
Yikes! My road trip from CA to CO in a couple of weeks is gonna cost me some serious $$$ for gas.

$5.50-6/gal in CA
$5/gal or more in NV
$4.50/gal in UT
$4/gal in CO

And, with the old tech V6 and 4-speed automatic in the Sonata, I'm not expecting great gas mileage.

Going uphill 80% of the drive isn't going to help, either.
Buy a 100 gallon tank on a little trailer hitch and use all the gas from CO for the trip!

It's a one-way drive - I'm flying to San Diego first and picking up the car there.

I'll bring it back to CA in about a year.

ab348 · April 2022

Up here in the land of the worthless Canadian dollar, diesel went up 50-some cents per liter (so about $2 CAN per gallon) this week.

fintail · April 2022

I've noticed some significant diesel spreads locally, around $1/gallon, negating the mileage advantage for many I bet,.

xwesx · April 2022

It's not great.

Ultimately, that's going to be the secret weapon that prices ICE vehicles out of daily use.

cdnpinhead · April 2022

Hide and watch. I think it'll take awhile. Or two.

fintail · April 2022

Yep. EVs may be the way of the future, but it is going to take some time, especially with current economic devolution.

cdnpinhead said:
Hide and watch. I think it'll take awhile. Or two.

Sandman6472 · May 2022

We were discussing the EV situation at dinner last night. I'd like one as my d d since I don't do that much driving each week, 40 miles if I'm lucky, so makes sense for me. The wife still wants to keep her dino powered vehicle to be honest as she's not convinced that an EV would fit her. She keeps the amount of miles she has left on her tank instead of the digital speed like mine has. Think the range anxiety would get to her even though we'd try to never let it get that low. Think most folks who get one would retrofit their garages so they could charge at home, as long as the power stays on. In that case, any range anxiety should be a thing of the past. And if on the road, one can probably find a free working charger as I think over the next few years, we'll see the infrastructure ramp up so there would be more & more working charging stations all over. But, it'll take some time & lots of money to get to where we want to be. Think a partnership of private investors & the government could speed up the process.
Another major variable is pricing! Most EV's are just out of reach for middle & lower class families at this point. The prices need to fall to reasonable levels & rebates need to be given to those folks taking the plunge. Show me an affordable EV with a decent rebate & I'll be the first in line to buy one.

xwesx · May 2022

Well, my road trip is a done deal. After my son's graduation last Thursday, we took a quick jaunt from Alaska to Washington, then rented a vehicle and visited a few places in Oregon and Washington.

We caught a customs vehicle show in Roseburg, which sported some truly impressive machines, then headed north via the "back roads," taking a tiny ferry across the Columbia and visiting Mt. St. Helens the same day. We caught a wonderful break in the weather (lots of wind, rain, and snow in the area for several days both before and after our visit) and had the most picturesque views!

Afterward, we toured the LeMay collection at Marymount. Both the variety of machines on display and the rich history of the facility certainly made it a worthwhile visit. I probably took more photos than I'll ever be able to look at again, but I guess that's just part of being a tourist.

Overall, we hit about 900 miles (left Fairbanks early Saturday and arrived home at noon on Thursday).

xwesx · May 2022

In Roseburg:

xwesx · May 2022

kyfdx · May 2022

@xwesx Very cool. Mt St Helens is amazing!

fintail · May 2022

@xwesx Almost there on anniversary day, Mother Nature cooperated too.

xwesx · May 2022

fintail said:
@xwesx Almost there on anniversary day, Mother Nature cooperated too.

Yes! I told my son, "now that I think about it, this is pretty darn close to the anniversary of the eruption." He asked, "when was it, exactly?" I said, "I think it was May 17 or 18, 1980. It is the first significant world event that I clearly remember during my childhood."

He looks it up on his phone (which had pretty spotty reception at that point because we were traveling along the highway to the overlook) and says, "18th."

Figures! However, the weather was garbage on the 18th. I'm thrilled that we were able to catch such a picturesque break in the weather that week... and on the day that we actually planned to make the trip! It *rarely* works out that way for me. Haha

fintail · May 2022

You got lucky - I have visited several times, as for me too it is one of the first big events I remember, living in Moses Lake as a kid the ash was still everywhere, and I became a little obsessed with the event. Even in not too bad weather, the mountain might not be visible at all. I was lucky enough to hike around Spirit Lake on a beautiful day in 1995, still remember that clearly.

xwesx said:

fintail said:
@xwesx Almost there on anniversary day, Mother Nature cooperated too.

Yes! I told my son, "now that I think about it, this is pretty darn close to the anniversary of the eruption." He asked, "when was it, exactly?" I said, "I think it was May 17 or 18, 1980. It is the first significant world event that I clearly remember during my childhood."

He looks it up on his phone (which had pretty spotty reception at that point because we were traveling along the highway to the overlook) and says, "18th."

Figures! However, the weather was garbage on the 18th. I'm thrilled that we were able to catch such a picturesque break in the weather that week... and on the day that we actually planned to make the trip! It *rarely* works out that way for me. Haha

xwesx · May 2022

I don't recall much ashfall in the Pendleton, OR, area, but I do remember the incredible burnt orange / crimson of the whole sky. I couldn't comprehend the magnitude of the event when my father told me what caused it. I read a large article in National Geographic several years later, and it still seemed a little mind-boggling trying to connect that with my memories of the sky.

fintail · May 2022

Yeah, Pendleton was south of the real heavy zone a line from maybe Yakima to Ritzville got it worst I think, even Spokane got a bit less than Moses Lake or Yakima. My mom likes to tell the story of a busybody neighbor who was going door to door pleading with people to fill their bathtubs with water, as the end of the world was nigh. I suppose as that was an age when not everyone was connected to news, it did catch some people off guard. I recall piles of ash along I90 for years that kind of resembled dirty snow.

xwesx said:
I don't recall much ashfall in the Pendleton, OR, area, but I do remember the incredible burnt orange / crimson of the whole sky. I couldn't comprehend the magnitude of the event when my father told me what caused it. I read a large article in National Geographic several years later, and it still seemed a little mind-boggling trying to connect that with my memories of the sky.

fintail · June 2022

In about 2 and a half weeks I'll be driving out to the beach - can't wait to see my fuel bill

Trip will probably be close to 1000 miles round trip.

On a fun road trip note, I learned my sister and BIL are taking their new Tesla on a trip to Vegas in a few weeks. It'll be interesting to see how they planned it out and how much time they spend charging.

imidazol97 · June 2022

What is their starting location?

fintail · June 2022

imidazol97 said:
What is their starting location?

Seattle suburb.

fintail · June 2022

First and maybe only big road trip of the year, I am now out near the beach. Not a bad drive, but traffic was horrible on 167 around Puyallup and I5 from JBLM to Olympia - I forgot how bad it can be. Took a little over 8 hours to get here, but I did stop to fill up and add air, as a TPMS sensor was being weird (no leak, I think). First really sunny weekend of the season has a lot of campers and motorhomes etc on the road, $5+ gas prices, you'd never know it.

Car claimed 29.x mpg. not too bad with a lot of ~80 mph cruising, a bit of stop and go traffic, and a ~10 mile slow speed detour on a state highway due to a bad crash.

xwesx · June 2022

Wow. And you even got an early start on it! All's well that ends well, though. Enjoy your weekend.

andres3 · June 2022

fintail said:
First and maybe only big road trip of the year, I am now out near the beach. Not a bad drive, but traffic was horrible on 167 around Puyallup and I5 from JBLM to Olympia - I forgot how bad it can be. Took a little over 8 hours to get here, but I did stop to fill up and add air, as a TPMS sensor was being weird (no leak, I think). First really sunny weekend of the season has a lot of campers and motorhomes etc on the road, $5+ gas prices, you'd never know it.

Car claimed 29.x mpg. not too bad with a lot of ~80 mph cruising, a bit of stop and go traffic, and a ~10 mile slow speed detour on a state highway due to a bad crash.

80 MPH!!!!! What's the speed limit in Washington again?

xwesx · June 2022

andres3 said:

80 MPH!!!!! What's the speed limit in Washington again?

80. Duh!

fintail · June 2022

andres3 said:

fintail said:
First and maybe only big road trip of the year, I am now out near the beach. Not a bad drive, but traffic was horrible on 167 around Puyallup and I5 from JBLM to Olympia - I forgot how bad it can be. Took a little over 8 hours to get here, but I did stop to fill up and add air, as a TPMS sensor was being weird (no leak, I think). First really sunny weekend of the season has a lot of campers and motorhomes etc on the road, $5+ gas prices, you'd never know it.

Car claimed 29.x mpg. not too bad with a lot of ~80 mph cruising, a bit of stop and go traffic, and a ~10 mile slow speed detour on a state highway due to a bad crash.
80 MPH!!!!! What's the speed limit in Washington again?

70 on interstates in much of eastern WA, sparse enforcement (I think the only speed trap I saw was in Ellensburg).

fintail · June 2022

xwesx said:
Wow. And you even got an early start on it! All's well that ends well, though. Enjoy your weekend.

Yeah, I left around dawn. I'm not sure what was going on in the south sound, but it was a zoo. I stopped at a Costco to refuel and pick up something for family for who a Costco visit is still something cool, and oddly it wasn't especially busy. Everyone was on the road.

fintail · June 2022

Got a check in from my sister - they left for Reno in their Model Y at 0400 yesterday, arrived around 1730. I think they stopped 4 times, and I can't remember the cost, not free but definitely cheaper than gasoline. My BIL has been geeking out over the car since they got it, so he's having the time of his life.

xwesx · June 2022

fintail said:
Got a check in from my sister - they left for Reno in their Model Y at 0400 yesterday, arrived around 1730. I think they stopped 4 times, and I can't remember the cost, not free but definitely cheaper than gasoline. My BIL has been geeking out over the car since they got it, so he's having the time of his life.

What was the drive; I mean, starting point? Seems like decent timing. Nice, short (moderately) drive.

fintail · June 2022

xwesx said:

fintail said:
Got a check in from my sister - they left for Reno in their Model Y at 0400 yesterday, arrived around 1730. I think they stopped 4 times, and I can't remember the cost, not free but definitely cheaper than gasoline. My BIL has been geeking out over the car since they got it, so he's having the time of his life.
What was the drive; I mean, starting point? Seems like decent timing. Nice, short (moderately) drive.

Puyallup, just a little south of Seattle/east of Tacoma. Apparently they are headed to Vegas today, which should be easy. I am sure they are switching off with driving chores, but I expect my BIL to describe how the car drove itself there

xwesx · June 2022

fintail said:

xwesx said:

fintail said:
Got a check in from my sister - they left for Reno in their Model Y at 0400 yesterday, arrived around 1730. I think they stopped 4 times, and I can't remember the cost, not free but definitely cheaper than gasoline. My BIL has been geeking out over the car since they got it, so he's having the time of his life.
What was the drive; I mean, starting point? Seems like decent timing. Nice, short (moderately) drive.
Puyallup, just a little south of Seattle/east of Tacoma. Apparently they are headed to Vegas today, which should be easy. I am sure they are switching off with driving chores, but I expect my BIL to describe how the car drove itself there

That's a decent haul! They made pretty good time, and NOW I see why they left at 0400! LOL That traffic on I5. My goodness.

fintail · June 2022

Back home now - easy drive back other than annoying rain on the coast (yay summer!), some Puget Sound congestion, and more LLCs from the pass eastward than I recall seeing in ages - something was in the water yesterday.

Road Trip!

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