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Pictures from cross-country drive!

rouar

rouar

fixer
Admin
Joined
Mar 18, 2001
Messages
7,079
Location
Nashua NH
[[ I'm getting more and more messages from people who had no clue I bought an SVT. I posted a topic in NECEG a few weeks ago, here's a clone of that topic .. so feel free to ignore if you saw it the first time around ]]

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Wednesday: San Jose, CA -> Lovelock, NV
Thursday: Lovelock, NV -> Laramie, WY
Friday: Laramie, WY -> Des Moines, IA
Saturday: Des Moines, IA -> Newton Falls, OH
Sunday: Newton Falls, OH -> Millbury, MA

Lots of stories, tons of pics. Favorite diversions include seeing Millbury Ohio (the only other in the US, Millbury MA is my childhood home) and the original Donner Pass road in Nevada.


see all pics here





Favorites - click on pic to see large version (I have 7Mp high res if anyone is interested)


California



Nevada



Utah - Salt Flats (my favorite photos)






Okalala, NE






Brooklyn, IA -- Community Of Flags




Millbury, OH :)



Watsonville, PA




Gas mileage averaged 28-30mpg throughout the trip!
 
That looked like tons of fun. And Millbury, OH isn't far from Toledo!! I've always wanted to do something like that...need to get all my vacation time back though :(
 
Welcome back to the tours! I'm one of the many that didnt know you had another also lol. Nice ride by the way
 
Fourth pic was calender worth if the windows were up and maybe a little closer. Man you are a lucky guy to take that trip. Any more pics? :D
 
Thanks guys! :)

Millbury was so weird. I knew I was expecting a small town, but it is TINY! Main Street was a tree-lined residential road with a post office, church, and a bunch of picket-fence single-family houses. There was a Big Boy in the next town over though, I hadn't been to one of those in years since most(all?) of the New England ones closed.

The Maxima will be my daily driver. Now that I have the SVT I can appreciate the good qualities of my Maxima even more. 106K miles and running fine. The shifter and gas pedal are so much nicer than the SVT, but I still dislike the clutch.

I'm entering a few pics into the Calendar post whenever there is one. I just got the SVT registered yesterday so expect more pics to come. Figures it's going to be overcast and rainy all weekend.
 
I'm on dialup right now (modem via cellphone) but I'll shoot it to you next time I'm on a decent connection. I love that picture so much too. I couldn't believe I didn't notice my dad had the passenger's window all the way down, until after I took all the pics.

The salt flats are an amazing scene, if any of you are ever in Utah you have to go there. I also got to see the fastest motorcycle in the world: the BUB '7' Streamliner, holds the record at 354.832 MPH. http://bub.com/Racing/Number-7-Streamliner/index.html

It's in a few of the pictures in that album. It was in its trailer, he was going to be racing on the flats on Sunday, but it was Friday and we had to get home!
 
Great pics , Matt - and a memorable trip indeed :cool: . Glad it all went off without a hitch . I'll (if all goes well) be making a very similar trip - from PA to Bonneville next September - taking my rat rod 122 Volvo , and my friend will be taking his '51 Ford truck . It should be an exciting trip - I hope we make it ;) . I'll take tons of pics , I'm sure .
 
No issues on the drive :)
I left an extra day on my vacation just in case, but it was nice that I could use that last day to relax at home instead!

Koni struts, Eibach springs, Fondmetal wheels (and I have a fifth in case any is damaged beyond repair). There are many suspension mods. The body is not in perfect condition but mechanically it is very good, and there is no undercarriage rust which was one of my priorities. It's a joy to drive and I'm extremely happy.

Allen, good luck with that trip!! It will be interesting especially with the older cars.

Beans, email sent.
 
Last edited:
Rouar said:
Allen, good luck with that trip!! It will be interesting especially with the older cars.
Click to expand...

It will be VERY interesting using older cars :crazy: . I don't even remember how the trip came about , but we're full steam ahead on doing it . My Volvo's almost ready for the road (keep your eyes ready for pics) , but we've gotta get pushing on his old truck so we can build up as many "confidence miles" as possible till next year .

How many days did it take you to make the trip all told ? Which route did you take ? Is it rte. 80 that runs across most of the way (don't remember - gotta look again) ? Pretty cool that your dad made the trip with you , and interesting , because MY dad wants to make the trip along with me too . Maybe a father/son bonding thing , lol ? At least you guys had comfy seats , A/C and a fast car for your trip :) !
 
4.5 days all told to drive home. Wednesday: I left Boston at 8am, arrived in San Jose at 11:30AM (PST). Between buying the car, chatting with FMR12B and having lunch with two of my friends who moved out there, we started the journey at 4:30PM Wednesday. We arrived at my parents house in Massachusetts on Sunday evening. Location details are in my first post :)

You're right, pretty much Rt. 80 all the way to PA, then 84 up through CT to home. Going I-90 through NY would have been quicker, but I avoided NY as much as possible because of certain NECEG experiences with dark tint and NY staties.

This is my favorite step for the trip on Google Maps:
- Take exit 304 to merge onto I-80 E toward Cheyenne
Passing through Wyoming, Nebraska
Entering Iowa
[Drive] 1,053 mi
 
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