[Sailing_Faith]

Will be checking in (gotta love an Ipad), leaving in the morning to drive from Fl to Ca via Colorado and Arkansas. Going to see my dad, but stopping to see the grand canyon, las vegas, and maybe a couple guys i served with.

Taking the wife's new dog along for the ride, she has never been in a car for more then 30minutes...

Might see me on the road, give a honk and a wave...

 

[SilverBullet1997]

Pfft! You left out the best state of all. Washington State

You'll get no honk from me as I will not see you

 

[Sailing_Faith]

Pfft! You left out the best state of all. Washington State

You'll get no honk from me as I will not see you

I bought my second F-250 (1984 HD deisel 4x4) in Cour de Lane (sp) ID. Funny thing was it was the early days of EBay... Did not notice until I won it was 2,700 miles away!

I flew into Seattle, and drove it back... Via Yellowstone, Mt. Rushmore, Grand Tetons, then turned south to Colorado.... I know, taking the road less traveled to the extreme.

What I saw of Washington was beautiful, Oregon and Maine are two states I have never been to... Never know where I will turn up! :dunce:

 

[SilverBullet1997]

Pfft! You left out the best state of all. Washington State

You'll get no honk from me as I will not see you

I bought my second F-250 (1984 HD deisel 4x4) in Cour de Lane (sp) ID. Funny thing was it was the early days of EBay... Did not notice until I won it was 2,700 miles away!

I flew into Seattle, and drove it back... Via Yellowstone, Mt. Rushmore, Grand Tetons, then turned south to Colorado.... I know, taking the road less traveled to the extreme.

What I saw of Washington was beautiful, Oregon and Maine are two states I have never been to... Never know where I will turn up! :dunce:

Well if you detour to washington, shoot me a PM I'd love to meet up with some more fellow crazy 'strofari people

 

[tinworm]

have fun!

I love that stretch of highway that has all the national parks on it, from CO into UT, Mesa Verde, Arches, ect. Are you travelling down that direction?

Also I loved rocky mountain national park, thats a heck of a drive up above the tree line, fabulous views up there. Not too far off the beaten path

 

[Sailing_Faith]

7 state line crossing so later, the van and I are doing great!

So glad I changed the distributor and visited those cooling issues! Been a couple days over 104... Texas and New Mexico get hot!

 

[Sailing_Faith]

Well into the trip.

Camped in TX, AZ, NM, Lake Mead, South rim of the Grand Canyon, North Rim of the Grand Canyon and stayed in LongStreet Casino last night.

Driving through Death Valley in a bit, going to test all those cooling system repairs I made before the trip started....

I love this van, what a perfect platform for doing a trip Ike this! :cheers:

 

[Sailing_Faith]

I got to watch the 3rd race of the America's cup yesterday.

Made it to my dads house, in Marin county!

It was a great trip out, ended up driving all over the place!

Saw the Grand Canyon, both south and north rims.

Saw Zion national park, Hoover dam, Bryce Canyon, drove up to Lake Tahoe...

Drove through Death Valley (116f)!

 

[Sailing_Faith]

Drove 4,227 miles and burned 215 gallons of gas.... Averaged about 19.5 mpg, not too bad considering the speed limit was 75 most of the trip.

 

[Leeann_93]

Not bad at all

 

[Sailing_Faith]

Maybe not so bad....

So, the America's cup is taking a down day and I decided to work on the van. I looked at the pads through the wheel just south of Las Vegas and they looked a little thin to me. I also has a "friendly" gas station attendant say he thought I needed new shocks and kindly offered to replace them for me... At $128 each!

I ordered the shocks and some pads from RockAuto.com, and just jacked up the front of the van.

Here is where I am working on it, this is the view from my dads driveway (pretty nice);

 

[Sailing_Faith]

Upon jacking up the front end and removing the tire, it am thing that the pads can wait.

I have basic tools, but did not pack a large Allen to remove the break pad bolts....

Here is another one;

And a third...

The reason for sharing this is twofold. A reminder to have adequate tools onboard when you take a trip, and to solicit input as to my desire to procrastinate changing my pads. The argument for doing it now, is that I will drive back via I 80 and probably thought the Rockys too.....

(Ok, and to share some more cool pictures... Busted) :whack:

 

[Sailing_Faith]

The shocks I got are KYB gas-adjusts for the front, and the Monroe's with the helper spring for the back.... Hope I can get the rears in just using the factory jack... They might have to wait.

 

[Tegnus]

I checked pads on mine few days ago and fronts looked great however one and only one of rear pads is near metal to metal situation (obviously something is not good there or has not been in past), so my suggestion would be to check all 4 wheels, because there might be that one pad that will give you a grief especially on long journey.

Cheers!

 

[Sailing_Faith]

Wow!

I am SO glad I drove out! The America's cup was nothing short of amazing!

We won today, coming back from being down my 8 races was simply amazing!

These boats are incredible!

After lackluster turnout, the stands were packed to capacity today!
I was there every day (after the 1st I was still driving in).... Looked pretty grim for a while.

Great to see the replica of the original "America" the first America's cup winner...

 

[Sailing_Faith]

Later this week I will hit the road for the return trip.

So far I drove through;

-

• Florida
  Alabama
  Mississippi
  Lousianna (stopped in my old home town)
  Texas (calmed in a wonderful Walmart parking lot)
  New Mexico (cohiti lake camp ground) spent a day driving around the desert looking at cool rocks)
  Arizona
  Nevada (camped at lake mead)
  Picked up my dad at Las Vegas airport, toured the strip
  Drove back into Arizona, camped along the colorada river
  South rim of the Grand Canyon
  Bryce canyon national park
  Camped in Zion national park
  Utah
  North rim of the Grand Canyon
  Hotel in Nevada next to Death Valley.
  Drive through Death Valley
  Manzanar relocation camp
  Camped on the shore of Lake Tahoe
  Drove home (to dads house) in Marin county California.

So, I have been through 10 states so far this trip.

Now I have to set my route to come back.

Looking at stoping in Yosemite (love that place!)
Pikes peak in colorada
Maybe hot spring Arkansas....

If I take hwy 80 as google suggests I will add Wyoming, Colorado, Oklahoma, Arkansas, and Tennessee to the list of states on this trip... Should add about 3000 more miles...

Anyone have any suggestions? I have no idea where I will be stopping.... First day is 200 miles, then 1,200 to Colorado....

 

[SilverBullet1997]

Fine, just ignore us fine Astro-Safari owners here in the great Pacific NorthWest....

If you were to detour to Seattle, hit me up.

 

[Sailing_Faith]

Maybe next trip, never know where I might turn up!

Wish I knew whether the national parks were going to be open....

 

[SilverBullet1997]

Maybe next trip, never know where I might turn up!
Is hoping....

Wish I knew whether the national parks were going to be open....

I hope for your sake they are...

 

[Sailing_Faith]

Maybe next trip, never know where I might turn up!
Is hoping....

Wish I knew whether the national parks were going to be open....

I hope for your sake they are...

Well, they are still closed. I am getting back in the road in the morning, headed up hwy 80 to Lake Tahoe and then east.... To florida. Will update the thread as I make progress.