2009 AROC Convention Road Trip



Greetings Fellow Travelers!

In June of 2008, Kathy and I drove a newly acquired Alfetta GTV from Seattle back home to Connecticut. The experience was documented in a AlfaBB thread alfetta trans-continental recovery.

The itch to set out on a transcontinental road trip once again taken hold on us, and the result is a trip from Connecticut out to the AROC Convention in Portland. The planning was recently discussed in the AlfaBB post: Portland Convention Trip Planning , while the actual journey was blogged on this AlfaBB thread: Transcontinental Road Trip Redux

For starters, here’s a look at our S4 Spider all gussied up with new shoes and ready to trot, along with a map of the intended route.







Here is a Google map of the trip route.





We have no reservations until Yellowstone, and plan to push as hard as practical up till that point, 'cause as you say, its all flat and boring till then... We have reached our lunch stope at Belefonte PA, and are making great time.
Weather and traffic cooperated on our first day out, and we made it all the way to South Bend, IN. It took us about 14 hours to do ~750 miles, with a number of breaks and two full meal stops.The spider is running strong, and giving us well over 30MPG, with one segment at 37.

Photo here is from historic downtown Bellefonte, PA.

As for the weather, our experience has been mostly rain, rain, rain so far. Just enough occasional sunshine to reward us for addressing the AC. Can't put the top up and down on I90 at 78 MPH....

Today's travels took us into Chicago, where we were greeted with the 29th annual "Taste of Chicago" street fair in Grant Park. We spent several hours there, partaking of the food offerings and the crowd-watching.

Our run was to take us just east of St. Paul, but between our time at the fair and the heavy traffic/downpours/construction traveling north, we re-set our destination to be Black River Falls, WI. What's there? Well, nothing actually. We drove about 15 miles to a recommended family restaurant in (what is called) Downtown Hatfield, WI. There is also a small (very small) indian-run casino - with a buffet and a snack bar, and an indian Pow-Wow grounds, where we watched a bit of the action.

The S4 spider (which is still for sale, lgbalfa) is running strong. We are averaging 32 MPG and have yet to use any oil at 1200 miles out. Photos below display how we pack 14 days worth of luggage ( the spider's trunk is much bigger than your Sky/Boxter/Miata/Vette 2-seater); Some shots from Chicago, including a closed street with signage to our destination; and a photo op at the Inwood restaurant, which probably serves a yearly volume of less than an hour's worth of the Chicago street event. Great food, and just what we are looking for "off the beaten track".
We are in Moorehead, MN, just outside of Fargo. We ventured into Fargo for a Mexican Dinner at one of the heavy commercial beltway areas.

Today dawned bright and dry, so after running with the top up untill we reached the St. Paul outskirts, the top came down and we motored towards the St Paul, Minneapolis area. After crossing the mighty Mississippi River (first photo), we visited Minnehaha Falls park, where the next two pictures were taken. We then attempted to visit Como park, but there was a big arts festival being held there and all the parking was swamped. We then drove into Minneapolis and had lunch at the Old Spaghetti factory near the Twin's ballpark. Ironically, the firm opened their first restaurant in the 60's in Portland Oregon, the destination of our trip!

Tomorrow morning we will visit downtown Fargo as Rgrimm suggested, and then run to Mendora to partake of their "Musical" on RoadTrip's recommendation.

The Spider has been running fantastic, with the trip up from Minneapolis on 94 done in four hours at 70-80 mph. Top down, as the sky was bright blue with puffy cotton-ball clouds scattered about.. Still getting about 32MPG according to my "app".

We are in Medora, ND, resting a bit prior to going out for the evening adventures at "The Musical" that Roadtrip suggested.

The morning began with a tour of downtown Fargo, where we dropped in on a few shops and grabbed a mid-morning snack. The first few pictures show some of the nicely maintained historic storefronts, behind which are numerous arts and crafts stores.

Lunch stop was at The Grizzly's Grill & Saloon in Jamestown, where I was nearly mauled by a wild bear.

The Alfa continues to run strong and smooth. Top down all day, mostly at 80MPH. It needed a quart of oil for the first time. While driving along for at these velocities for hours, I keep thinking about all the things that might go wrong. I do wish I had replaced the driveshaft u-joints, or at least thoroughly inspected them. They may be original... Last picture shows her turning over 144,444 miles, on I94 near Gladstone, ND.

We will be spending the night of the 13th at the Talking Rock Resort in Quaaout, and the night of the 14th at the Pemberton Valley Lodge. That would put s passing through Cache Creek mid-day on the 14th. We would love to have the company, come on up!

Our stay in the Glacier NP and the Lake Louise areas are both going to be two days each, so I am quite hopeful we will be able to keep to those dates.
based on roadtrip's recommendations, we made a cultural stop this evening at the crisp and cheery "Medora Musical". We had a grand time, and the weather and scenery was spectacular. The show was delivered by a group of enthusiastic singers, and accompanied by a great band.

Here are a few shots from the amphitheater. The stuff up front is stage scenery, but the back drop and sky are most decidedly real.

Off tomorrow for the Little Bighorn Memorial, and on to Red Lodge, MT. That will position us up to take on the Bear Claw Highway on the 8th.

Ah, Nicola, you had that one nailed! We (ah, she) does indeed love the sweets. So after a wonderful dinner at the Bridge Creek Backcountry Kitchen we wandered up Broadway and visited the Candy Emporium. What a kick.

We rose early today, and I gave the Alfa a quick spitz bath using the room's trash bucket and shampoo. Looking spiffy, we rode up to the top of a nearby ridge to shoot some photos of the ND badlands. Then we were off on the 403 mile trek to Red Lodge.

First leg was on I94, again running at 80 for 200 miles to Forsyth, where we had lunch and visited the beautiful Rosebud County Court House. Then we ran down to The Little Bighorn Memorial, via MT 93, and then US 212. Those two grade roads were lovely (speed limit 70 MPH), and the weather fully supporting the top-down running. After the visit to the National Park, we put the top up for a quick afternoon jaunt over to Red Lodge, with the AC running.

One thing is clear - running at 80 with the AC on yields better milage than 80 with the top down! But, damn the cost, top will be down when the situation suits.

We are retiring early tonight, with a plan to depart early in the AM to get a leg up on the Beartooth Highway traffic. If tomorrow goes well, we will have attained one of the major goals of the trip. If the Spider should give us problems after that, we can just rent a car and continue.
Well, we haven't been to Wyoming yet, but it is on the agenda for today. My hopes should not be too high, as all of today's WY will be in the boundaries of Yellowstone, who's rangers would have eradicated any that strayed into the park.

Transcontinental Road Trip Redux
Jackalope - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Here are a few more pictures of downtown sites. First of the Roxy theater in Forsyth, MT. The painted sign on the building states continuous movies since 1930. Next Marquee is from the Candy shop in Red Lodge, and final shot outside our dinner venue here in Red Lodge.
What a Fantastic day we had!!! Leaving early from Red Lodge, we got a jump on the crowds, and had a smooth and unopposed run across US 212 Beartooth Highway. The weather was stunning. Crisp, certainly, at 8AM, but the visibility seemed like 100 miles! With all there was to see, the run could likely be taken several times in a day to catch every nuance.

The run was made with the top down, our shells and caps on, and the heat on gently warming our feet. The roadway was well paved, and none of the white stuff lingering on the road bed. There were small patches of snow in the sheltered areas, as shown in the pictures. We have way too many photos to post here, but I hope to eventually put them up on the gallery pages I posted earlier.

After the pass, the road falls into Cook City, where we did a little decompressing and shopping at the Trading Post. Then on to Yellowstone, where we had lunch at the Roosevelt Lodge, just inside the NE gate.

We had visited lower Yellowstone last year while shuttling the Alfetta home. But it was only June, so the snow as still falling. Today, we enjoyed about half our visit in sunshine, but a storm rolled in and brought some light rain and heavy overcast. Top up, jackets back on, we traveled out to see the Artist's Paint Pots, and the Mammoth Hot springs. The traffic in the park was not an issue at all, with much of the run done with no one impeding us.

The drive out of the park (through the Roosevelt Gate) and up to Livingston was supposed to be uneventful, but the Montana Highway department chose this week to re-oil and chip-grade the first 15 miles of 89. Ugh. The section was taken at 25-30 MPH behind a Pilot Truck. There had been some delays between the Beartooth Pass and Yellowstone, but those paled in comparison to the hassle of driving over basically loose gravel for 1/2 hour. Had we known, we would have slipped out the West Gate and run by Big Sky, as we did last year on our way in.

This evening we went into downtown and had dinner at the Livingston bar and Grill. Great decor, great food, but the service was a bit slow. Seemed all the help were fawning over a visiting TV personality, James Denton of those silly Desperate Housewives. Tall, handsome brute. The downtown area is quite nice, with numerous restaurants, bars and shops, and the requisite Movie House.

The Spider is running like clockwork, and with the run over the pass behind us, we can breath a bit easier.

Last thing we did this evening is find a self-serve car wash and scrub her down. Tomorrow we are off north to the Glacier National Park area.


find myself so invigorated by the drive we are on. Must be the adrenalin rush of the scenery and being in the Alfa for these roads. I griped a bit yesterday about the 15 miles of slo-go on loose gravel, but Montana has teated us to hundreds and hundreds of miles of grade road that are drivable at 70 to 80 MPH while feeling completely in control and comfortable. Wheee!

Like today's! We left Livingston on I90, running west to US 287 North, which took us in initially up to Helena. We visited the State House grounds, and then went downtown to a pedestrian mall on the former Last Chance Gulch Street. While visiting a jewelry store, we found ourselves discussing the next leg up to Glacier with the proprietor. He steered us to taking the run up the eastern side of the Rockies, rather than our intended route to the west. His justification was that the Rockies are in full and splendid view from the flatlands to the east, while our original route is heavily forested and not at all that interesting. We took his advice and the trip was spectacular as suggested.

Taking I 15 north out of Helena, we then rejoined US 287 for the next leg north. Our lunch stop was at a wonderful MooseHorn Bar and Grill in Augusta. At one point Kathy noticed an old road bed that had bloomed in golden flowers With the Rockies in the background, it made a great photo.The route took us up to East Glacier, and then over the Marias Pass at the bottom of the park to West Glacier, where we had dinner.

Tomorrow we drive back to West Glacier, where we will leave our trusty Spider behind and take a 7 hour Red Bus ride over the Going To the Sun Road.

The first attached photo panorama is from summit of the BearTooth Pass yesterday. BB won't let me load the image in a usable size, so if you are interested you can see it at BearTooth Pass Large Enjoy!


Today's tour of the Going to the Sun Road in Glacier National Park was accomplished by taking the Big Red Bus, not by tooling along in the Spider. We (Kathy, I and the Spider) needed a bit of a rest after 7 days of hard driving. Truth be told, this particular road is better left to the professionals, and in this case that would be the bus tour operators.

While our BearTooth Highway run was wide open, this road is quite tight and very crowded. The bus allowed us to gaze out on the wonder without the hassle of fighting my fellow road warriors. And the buses are neat! Originaly 34 of these White Tour Buses were built in 1936-1937, and back a few years ago Ford Motor undertook a total restoration of 33 of them. Now they have propane as fuel, power brakes, and auto transmissions. The "Jammers" of old are replaced, in our case, by a lovely college student who knows the park like the back of her hand. AND THEY ARE CONVERTIBLES!

The views contrast quite a bit with those of the Beartooth/Yellowstone. The mountains are not nearly as high, as the summit of the Beartooth highway pass is actually higher than the highest peak in Glacier. But the views seem more compact, with so many more mountain peaks in a smaller space. Different, and we are glad we experienced it.

Our lunch stop was at the Many Glaciers Lodge, where fine food and service was provided in their huge dinning hall. Very Alpine decor, scenery, and food (I had a German Sausage, yum!). For dinner we wandered down Main Street in Kalispell and stumbled on a fantastic restaurant, "Capers". Hope they do well, as the area seems to desperately need some fine dining. An observation: "Downtown" areas such as Fargo, Helena and Lincoln have been able to maintain their "Main Street" in some historic state, by insulating it from the modern thoroughfares. The main highway North-South through Kalispell rips right up Main Street, which has IMHO left it a bit stark and inhospitable to foot traffic.

Here are some shots from today, starting with a panoramic view of the Many Glaciers Lodge Large. The small image here can be seen in a bigger view at the following link: Many Glaciers Lodge Large

Tomorrow we are off to Canada!

This morning dawned dry and sunny, so we set out from Kalispell with the top down for the ride to Lake Louise, Alberta. Another nice run on Montana Roads, traveling up US 93 into Canada just above Eureka, where it becomes BC Rt 93. North of the border we stumbled on a wonderful place:

Quote:
Fort Steele is a Heritage Town, where visitors can travel back in time to the 1890s and enjoy daily re-enactments of the town's past history and heritage year-round. Throughout British Columbia, diverse historic 19th-century forts have been preserved as reminders of how the west was settled by Europeans. Fort Steele is undoubtedly the best example and is well worth a day's visit when travelling through the East Kootenays in summer months.
We agree that this place is well worth the visit, as it is very carefully preserved, and does not look like a Disney Park. Free to enter, BTW. We had lunch in one of their "hotel" restaurants.

A bit further north we stopped at a view overlooking the Columbia Lake. The sign states this is the source of the Columbia River, which travels all the way from there to the Portland area, just like we will be doing!

By entering the Banff National Park from the western entrance on 93, the visitor is treated to 100 KM of fantastic road as the highway cuts up and over from the Rocky Mountain Trough Trans-Canadian Highway and the Banff valley. Start with a full tank at Radium Hot Springs, 'cause it is 140KM to the next gas, in Banff.(although the Spider made the entire trip from Kalispell to Banff on one tank!)

Kathy took the photo of a Moose and it's young offspring sprinting along on that stretch. It was also the area I took the Serpent Mountain picture

We treated ourselves to some alternate transportation in Banff - The Gondola Ride up Sulphur Mountain. Then we had a wonderful dinner at Georgioo's Trattoria in downtown Banff. Then off to Lake Louise, where we will be spending two nights.

Tomorrow we plan to drive up towards Jasper, stopping to take another form of alternative transportation over the Columbia Ice Fields....
Statistically, driving any type of sports car any distance seems to be a non-conventional move. We have been on the lookout for anyone who might help validate our sanity. With the major exceptions of late model Corvettes (one C4, several C5, a dozen C6) we have seen virtually no convertible roadsters on the trip. Yesterday was an exception, as we saw two Boxters, a BMW 3 convertible, and a bright red TR3. Of course, they were in Canada. An occasional Min has been sighted, but no Miattas, no Nissan Z cars, no Fiats, and certainly no Alfas.

There are a LOT of motorcycles out there - everywhere. Mountains, cities, scenic roads, interstates. That seems to be the transportation of choice by our fellow nonconformists. Kathy has a motorcycle license; had one before her auto license. She enjoys an occasional ride on relative's bikes in New Hampshire, but she is not interested in "traveling" on one. Be assured, neither am I. The Spider is our "motorcycle alternative", in a way.

Metric: we have put over 3,500 miles on the Spider since leaving CT. That works out to 388 miles per day for the 9 days so far (430/day if you consider our one idle day at Glacier). We checked the odometer, and it run s about 4% optimistic - due to the 195/55 tires) I put one quart of oil in so far, but it likely needs another one today. Getting just over 31 MPG on the trip.

Here are a few shots from the Ft. Steele Historic site. They have a steam train that runs tours over a 4km roadbed. Also another shot from above Banff on Sulphur Mountain, and one Kathy took of the sun setting on the TransCanadian. We have been blessed with fair weather (a bit cool) and long days. The last shot in the previous post - spider at the hotel with the ice fields visible in the background - was taken at 10:15 PM with my cell phone!)
We put on another 180 miles today, traveling up towards Jasper to the Coumbia Ice Fields. The trip up the Icefields Parkway was spectacular, easily worth the trip by itself. We took a tour on one of those big-wheeled busses, traveling out onto the lower pediment of the glacial field. Quite a site. On the way back we took the short ride out to Moraine Lake. Truth be told, it looked like a landslide-created lake, but quite beautiful.

We just finished a fine fondu dinner here at the chateau. Tomorrow we ride westward again.

ur ride out of Lake Louise towards Kamloops was invigorating on several fronts. While I am not a formal railroad buff, the subject does interest me. The early pioneer history of British Columbia, as the case with much of the West, was driven by the progress of the Railroad over these inhospitable mountains.

Quote:
Prehistoric people never lived in the central Selkirks. The rugged mountains and harsh climate made agriculture impossible. Deep winter snows restrict populations of game animals so Indians could not rely on them for food. Avalanches were a threat to travellers much of the year. The prehistoric relationship between man and the land was a simple one - it was no man's land.
from a post by a true railroad fan, whose article is full of interesting tidbits.

From the subtext of the exhibits we have viewed, those railroads were usually "driven" by the lure of mineral rights, and a bit of competition between the US and the fledgling Canada.

The Trans-Canadian Highway is undergoing a 1 Billion-Dollar upgrade as it passes over Laughing Horse Pass. At the Visitor's Center in Golden there are several dioramas and displays of the work. Truly monumental. I will attach a photo of one of the bridges that has been completed.

When the Canadian-Pacific Railroad was financed by the Canadian Government, 10 years were spent finding a route that "worked". Late in the game the route was still in flux when Major A.B. Rogers identified a solution. He was mtivated by the CPR's offer to name any viable route after the discoverer, along with a $5,000 reward. Well, the pass is named "Rogers", but he reportedly did not cash the check. Unfortunately, while the pass offered passage, the steep slope on either side provided a constant downpour of snow avalanches during the long winters, leading the CPR to shed most of the track through the area. By 1916 the pass was abandoned when the Connaught Tunnel was completed under the mountain, only to be re-opened much later by the Trans-Canadian Highway.

Kathy and I spent some time at the Pass summit, where we had lunch and visited the Glacier National Park information center. That's where our Spider met the Grizzly bear.

Next up was the Meadows-in-the-Sky Parkway, which climbs out of Revelstoke. The 26 KM parkway was built (gasp) in 1914-1917, as a pet project of the local townspeople. They continue to view the wondrous road to the 6360-ft top of Revelstoke Mountain as "their park". Now, it seems like most mountain-climbing "park" roads in the US were built in the 1930's as WPA projects.

We kept a respectful pace up and down the mountain in our Spider, but nevertheless had a blast dealing with the 20 or more sharp hairpin corners. These were marked as "20KM/Hr" and they meant it. The corners looked to be laid out with the same template, as their radius were virtually all identical, only varying L-vs-R hand and grade on entry and exit. The road bed was smooth and encouraged 2nd-gear punch out. Kathy took a few short videos, and I will try to add one here later for your pleasure.

Only scare so far with the Spider was at the top, where she did not want to idle in the parking lot. After I parked, Kathy noted a humming/wheezing noise continuing, and it turned out to be the gas tank relieve valve. Seems I gained too much elevation too quickly for the system to cope with, so I opened the gas cap and "whosh"; everything was fine again.

Up at the top we took a 2-3 KM hike to view the scenery. Spectacular. An Indian stands watch over the view. ( Link to big panorama) At the summit is one of the few remaining fire tower buildings in Canada.

We are staying at a wonderful hotel just east of Kamloops. Talking Rock Resort. Our waitress at dinner was kind enough to explain one mystery that has befuddled us. We were talking about how nice the roads and traffic has been - generally, at least.

She observed that all British Columbians are painfully aware of the bad road habits of the "Flatlanders" from Alberta and eastward. "Watch out for those red plates". They are very adept at running above the speed limit IN A STRAIGHT LINE . Throw them a curve in the road and they panic, slowing down to a crawl. If you are trapped behind one of them on the curvy no-pass sections, you have virtually no hope of passing them when the road straightens out. That has happened several times to us.

We had an opportunity to run the Spider up a long grade at "well" over the speed limit yesterday to escape one of those idiots. Thankfully we have the HP, revs and the gearing to do it, and the hill was steep enough to leave the stupid Mazda far behind.

Now we continue westward towards Vancouver, using the less-traveled northerly route recommended to us. The Spider is handing our abuse in fine fashion, and we just washed her again to show our a appreciation.

Getting close to the finish line! Today we did about 350 miles from Quaaout to Pemberton, BC. The first stretch to Kamloops was on fast-roll quasi-interstate. Once off to the north on the Trans-Canadian "scenic" route, the road took on a decidedly cozier behavior. We enjoyed a "greek" lunch in Cache Creek at the Heartland Family Restaurant.

Leaving Cache Creek, and the Trans-Canadian Highway, our route took us up RT97 a bit, then onto the much more scenic and rustic RT99. The road got significantly rougher and required much more attention to where we put the wheels. How about a roadway bridge made of timbers?

At the historic town of Lillooet we visited the Museum and Visitor Center. They have converted an old church to hold a fantastic display of early pioneer life in the Fraiser River valley.

Leaving Lillooet, RT99 continues to generate excitement as the road twists and turns, and the bridges are now mostly one-lane! I understand that this section of roadway is consider the real thing when it comes to Twisties, but I would be hard pressed to recommend it today. Better to try in a month or so. At present the center 30KM of this 100KM stretch of 99 is undergoing major upgrades. They took it right down to the gravel, graded it, then are putting on a base asphalt coat and a finish coat. The job looks to be about 50% done, with only about 5KM as graded/oiled gravel presently. The roadbed will be spectacular through this stretch by mid August.

This evening we are at the lovely Pemberton Valley Lodge Tomorrow we are off to the Seattle area via Whistler and Vancouver. Keeping the fingers crossed, as our road trip is almost finished and the weather and luck continues on our side.


Rt99 had virtually NO traffic. What we did face was quickly dealt with via a downshift or a scenic rest stop.

We will not get to Portland until Thursday evening, as we are spending Wednesday night in Seattle area and attempting to get a view of Mt. St. Helen on the way through.

The trip down rt99 was memorable and we hare quite happy we did it. Watching the paving operation was an encouraging sign that we will indeed have smooth curvy roads in the future

These links are to some high resolution versions of pictures from along 99:

Seaton Lake just south of Lillooet
Duffey Lake, about half way to Pemberton

Here are a few more photos from that 99 run.
Today we traveled from BC back into the US. Much of the trip was a grind, especially traversing Vancouver and getting back into heavy Interstate traffic on I5.

On the way, though, we spent several hours in the sparkling Village of Wistler. This place is gearing up for the 2010 Winter Olympics, and the result is stunning. The center of the village is a 1/2 mile pedestrian mall, dotted with great stores and fine restaurants. While there is a bit of "Disney" in the spiffiness, the structures look to be built to last a hundred years! We had a nice lunch in a bistro overlooking the village square.

Upon arriving in Seattle, we quickly headed for the Space Needle and found some secure parking. The "alternate transportation" bug bit again, and we were off on the Monorail to downtown.

A map of the area was provided at the Monorail kiosk, and while standing on Pine St searching for a nice restaurant, a fine young lady approached us and asked if she could help us. Upon hearing we were looking for a nice seafood restaurant down by the water she - without hesitation - suggested we head to Etta's on Western Ave. We were seated at a window table overlooking the waterfront park, a truly lovely setting for our Oysters, Tuna and Dungeness Crab servings. Yummy!

Tomorrow we are off to the south, and will attempt to make the trip over to the Mt. St. Helen observatory.

Then the 2009 AROC Convention!!!!

DONE! Arrived at Convention site at 6PM. Scrambling to clean up for the Portland Dining bus at 7PM.

Well, this is a bit anticlimactic, but we should clean up the register of the last day. We started out from Seattle with an optimistic plan to take in the sights and roads of two of the North-West's great wonders - Rainier and St. Helens. Those were on the agenda for our first day of the Alfetta Recovery last year, but the early June weather was heavy overcast with snow.

Optimistic, as the roads around the east side of these monsters are challenging, and it would be hard to get into Portland in time for the Notte Italiana dinner at the listed 6 PM start time. Once again the sun, traffic (non) and luck held sway and Kathy and I were able to visit both Sunrise and Windy Ridge. And dinner actually worked since there was a bus at 7PM!

Seattle & Portland ~ sea level, Sunrise 6,400 ft, @ Packwood @ 1,051 ft, Windy Ridge @ 5,038 ft = a whole lot of gearshifts over 300 miles of road!

As an example of the lack of traffic, we left Windy Ridge on St. Helen's eastern flank and drove to within 15 miles of I5 before we came upon a car ahead of us. And there was never anyone behind pushing, either! Only issue keeping the day sober was that the roadbed had the occasional frost heave waiting in the shadows to smack the bump-stops and clang the exhaust if the eye and concentration strayed.

Our lunch stop was in Packwood, between the two mountains. We had eaten at this particular pizzeria last year during our failed viewing attempt.

Statistic: door-to-door milage was (147,313-142,419) 4,899, and adjusting for the 4% optimistic odometer = ~4,700 Miles. I did not fill up this evening, so I don't have final fuel costs yet.

We are safely home in CT after a wonderful vacation that included the 2009 AROC Convention in Portland. Thanks to all who contributed to the success of our road trip. Now that the Spider has carried out its duty with nary a wimpier, we can start to brag about how wonderful it all was without jinxing our luck!

Statistic to consider: The spider consumed three quarts of oil and 164 Gallons of premium gasoline, for a cost of just over $500. Our little iPhone app calculated that we had a carbon footprint of 3300 lbs of CO2. Now 164 gallons weighs under 1,000 lb of "C" , so I guess that binds with ~ two times as much slightly heavier (8 vs 6) "O" = 3,300 lb? My only thought is that would be 1/3 the footprint of an Excursion....

Here are a few more high resolution photos from the trip.

Beartooth Pass
Road to Jasper
Athabasca Glacier, a tongue of the Columbia Icefield
Road up Revelstoke Mountain
CacheCreek to Lillooet

One last detail. The spider was delivered to the shipper's NJ terminal (saves $$$), and today I brought her back home. The last few miles were tense, not only due to the rush hour traffic (Jersey Turnpike, George Washington Bridge...), but with the thought that after all these miles, I did not want to misstep so close to home!

She came through the shipping in fine shape, although there are a lot of small watermarks on the finish. A quick detail spray did not cut it; will need a good cleaner wax.

The tail has been graced with three subtle "Travel Decals", for Glacier, Banff and Rainier. The red letters with white framing are on a transparent background that lets the black through. We picked them up at different shops, but must be the same vendor...