9,400 mile road trip in a 22 year old hand-built 240sx

[PoorManQ45]

I'd swap the coolant out for some G05

[nissangirl74]

I am loving this thread. Thanks for keeping us posted.

[AZhitman]

I've been racking my brain... what was your screen name back in the day? (Alzheimer's is kickin' my a$$)

[KrazyKyle]

What an awesome trip. I don't have the testicular fortitude to try this in my beat up S13.

[rockstarking]

IF you catch yourself in Nashville aka Music City aka Belt Buckle of the Bible Belt, heart of the south and home of sweet tea, LET ME KNOW!!! (Beforehand, hopefully, eh?)

Are you recording your expenses by chance? Of course, EVERYONE has wanted to do this, and it would be awesome if we knew how you preppared, what sort of funding, time, things you learned, must haves, tips, how many greasy burgers, ounces of soft drinks, gallons of gas, miles per day, etc after its all over with =]

[rockstarking]

I really wonder if you could do a coast to coast trip just staying at nico people places. that would be a fun trip.

This must happen! lets do something like this and have it organized and mapped out!!!

I sure would be more likely to do some travel of my own or if I could grab some friends (unlikely) with my crappy paychecks if I knew I had somewhere cool to stay! <3 nico!!!!

[AZhitman]

3500 ain't sh*t for an SR20. That thing red-lines at almost three times that.

No it doesn't. 3500 x 3 = 10,500.

[krimsonviper]

I've been racking my brain... what was your screen name back in the day? (Alzheimer's is kickin' my a$$)

I believe that's always been his screen name. Iirc, he's the guy whose family owns a cheese company and went to Japan for a little while. I'm not sure because he has no avatar, the bastard.

[Mr1der]

I've been racking my brain... what was your screen name back in the day? (Alzheimer's is kickin' my a$$)

hell, he used to be a mod...it was SR something or another...I remember him changing it for something less generic.

[AZhitman]

I've been racking my brain... what was your screen name back in the day? (Alzheimer's is kickin' my a$$)

hell, he used to be a mod...it was SR something or another...I remember him changing it for something less generic.

Thank you. It's been making me crazy. I can't even remember his real name... Grrr.

[Mr1der]

Ben.

[skydragoness]

Thank you. It's been making me crazy. I can't even remember his real name... Grrr.

Onizuka I thought used to be Fiss240 on here, and is my friend Matt.



I died. HOW EFFING PERFECT.

[Onizuka]

Lol yeah, the name's matt. I actually used to be J-spec Tuner and was a SR forum moderator waaaaay back in like 2003.

[Onizuka]

Could be an air temp sensor gone bad, too...

That's actually more likely IMO.

You could be onto something there, but for now I'm just going to keep driving it as is because it hasn't given me any functional problems since kansas (I can still tell its not starting normally).

Ok I got to get onto writing my update for the last two days or im going to get no sleep at all///

[fame_s13]

looking good...hope the car is running good now!

[kouki munster]

I'll bet that your problem is mainly caused by a heat soak issues on a ignition component that is starting to show its age, my car is doing the same thing right now.

[Dattebayo]

3500 ain't sh*t for an SR20. That thing red-lines at almost three times that.

No it doesn't. 3500 x 3 = 10,500.

almost three times

Hiya Greg.

[PapaSmurf2k3]

Awesome thread.

Torry and I made a trip to Newfoundland and back (from the dirty south), and only paid to sleep somewhere (in separate beds mind you..) for 1 night.

[AZhitman]

3500 ain't sh*t for an SR20. That thing red-lines at almost three times that.

No it doesn't. 3500 x 3 = 10,500.

Hiya Greg.

Hiya yourself.

7500 is barely more than twice 3500. And I suck at math.

[Jesda]

My couch is free and open to any NICO travelers.

I might stare at you while you sleep, but the price is right.

[Dattebayo]

Hiya yourself.

7500 is barely more than twice 3500. And I suck at math.

Sorry, I was under the understanding that redline meant where the dotted red became solid red. That's closer to 9 thousand.

[sx moneypit]

My couch is free and open to any NICO travelers.

I might stare at you while you sleep, but the price is right.

[Mr1der]

My couch is free and open to any NICO travelers.

I might stare at you while you sleep, but the price is right.

throw in an apology letter and you've got a deal.

let's see Priceline negotiate THAT.

[Onizuka]

Sorry for taking forever to update, unusable wireless internet at last 3 locations. Anyways, here goes it...

Day 7: Into the Rockies

Literally as soon as I got onto the highway this morning I could see the Rocky Mountains that I couldnt see yesterday thanks to the clouds.



I passed through Denver and stopped on the other side to fill up gas. It was pretty early and I didnt have my thinking cap on and accidentally filled my car up with 85 octane gas. Around me regular is 87 so I just went for the cheapest stuff like usual. I ended up not having any problems but I'm guessing it has something to do with altitude. I get back onto the highway and imediatly start climbing into the rockies a tad nervous about the state of my car. At least if I break down here its nice and cool.




I-80 is really cool along the beginning, with small towns towns nestled in the canyon and the remains from the gold rush still visible on the mountain sides.



However this mega 4 lane highway is way too pedestrian, and I look to cross the rockies using a path less traveled.



A few miles in I can already tell I'm about to get a face full of pure awesomeness or complete automotive disaster. First things first though, I stop on the last town before the mountain pass, perched on the side of the valley, to top off on premium.




Having started the day already at over 5000 ft in altitude, I run up the mountain road. I can feel the car steadily losing power as the air gets thinner, and for the first time on the trip I miss having turbo power. However, with the extreme hairpin turns you really dont need to be going too fast to have a blast anyways. I pull off to snap a picture of the valley and road I came up.



The car is really working now as I approach the tree line and I get totally pumped. I also turn on some classical music on satellite radio, seemed like a good idea and it really fit the bill and got me double pumped up. The view, depending on which switchback im on, is either cliff face or the peak of this totally rocking volcano on the other side of the valley.



Sooner than I would have liked, I made it to the summit of Berthoud Pass, at 11,307 feet up, and it is COLD. At this point, I'm triple pumped up. Not only did the car make it without a hiccup, but the rest of the mountain range spreads out before me, promising endless twisties and cool little towns ahead.



I pull off again a little bit to snap some more pictures when a car with Colorado government plates pulls up. For a second I though maybe I wasnt supposed to pull off where I was or they had crazy hidden cameras that caught my shenanigans on the way up. Instead, its this totally cool dude who works with ranchers all across the state. He said he took the job so he could drive around colorado on roads like this, and I am immediately jealous. I wonder if they would let you use your own car He offers to take some pictures, so now you all get to see my ugly mug next to the hatch.



I continue down into one of the small ski resort towns that dot the road when I spot some sort of food stand on the side of the road. Its super nice, like 70 some odd degrees out (in mid august!), so I pull a u-turn and happen upon this crazy gourmet hot dog stand. I order the one called the Notorious D.O.D.D. and it is one of the best I've ever had.




Things flatten out for a little while, although there are always mountain peaks in every direction when your up here. Eventually the road gets cool again and I carve down a canyon I wish was 100 miles long.




After passing through the canyon, the landscape changes from the forested feet of mountain peaks to high prairie land. I was already driving with my jaw-dropped for the last couple of hours, and the color here didn't help.




After undulating up and down rolling hills for a couple hours in this wild landscape, its back up for another mountain pass. Not as high as the first one, but still almost 10,000 feet up.



There is actually a little traffic on this pass so I have to spend some time dodging overloaded suv and the odd semi. I was expecting as similar view after the summit as the first pass, but a different and gorgeous view greeted me instead.



Its amazing how fast the scenery can change from lush forests to prairie and back again as you chew up miles. After a third and final mountain pass, I enter the high semi-desert that straddles the border of Colorado and Utah (yeah I didnt know it was there either). Now, I've never really been in the middle of nowhere before, but I think driving for 40 minutes at 65mph without seeing a single living creature or shrub taller than a foot undoubtedly qualifies.




I finally hit the Utah border, after 6 or so hours on route 40, and again the landscape goes through a subtle change. You can get a sense of why they divided the states the way they did as you pass through that blurred area of change.




Soon after, I snap my 5000th picture with this camera. Cool! It wasn't an accidental crotch shot and its actually of something interesting



I finally get to my camping location in Vernal Utah, and it hits me that even though I drove for hours and hours and hundreds of miles, I'm still not out of the Rockies. They are way, way bigger than I thought. I cap off an awesome day of driving with make-shift reheated pizza (I discovered really quick that you cant just put it right on the bottom of the pan, burns the bottom and the cheese stays cold)



Updates for days 8, 9 and 10 will be real soon, I promise

[Otto.]

Great thread. Looks like tons of fun.

Be safe out there.

[Sil240]

That is some awesome scenery!!!

[dre1507]

Colorado = awesome.

[nissangirl74]

<------ wants to go on a road trip

[IanS]

<------ wants to go on a road trip

Me too, really really bad. Good thing I get to run up the North shore of Lake Superior in a few weeks. Its nothing as epic as this, but it will be fun.

[breadbox]

I need need do this in 2 years and find a new place to settle.