JasonA Posted May 22, 2004 Report Share Posted May 22, 2004 Getting the ol' girl ready for yet ANOTHER road trip this morning. My maternal grandmother passed last night, so we're going to drive up to Michigan for the funeral. We'll make a stop along the way in Northern Virginia (Alexandria area) to pickup my brother, then it's to the Pennsylvania/Ohio turnpikes to shoot over to Toledo. Then I think it's US-23 up past Ann Arbor, up to I-96 west, over to Grand Rapids. My folks (full-time RVers) have their rig out at the lake at Grand Haven, so we'll make a bit of a mini vacation out of it too I suppose. I just aired up the tires (that pesky one that Sears RE-PATCHED was down to 19 pounds) and vacuumed the car out and she's gassed up and ready to go. I checked the spare for air JUST IN CASE. I'm already got my eye on a set of Symmetrys if this one tire decides to blow up. I'm at that awkward point in this set of tires' mileage again (just like last time) where it's almost low enough to justify replacing just the one tire, but almost high enough to justify replacing the whole set if one went. I've got about 30,000 on them now (Pilot XGT H4s). I'd like to get another 10-15k out of them before I replace. We'll see. Hopefully, we'll encounter no issues on the road. The car just turned 132,000, and might be as high as 135,000 when we get back home. She'll be 7 years old this August, with an expected average of about 20k miles per year. That's more than either I or my family has ever put on a car before (per year). She's sure seen lots of country! Jason(2001 STS, White Diamond) "When you turn your car on...does it return the favor?" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
98Concours Posted May 22, 2004 Report Share Posted May 22, 2004 Jason, sorry to hear about your grandmother. Have a safe trip. Jeff Jeff 98 Concours 90 Seville 04 Corvette Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KHE Posted May 22, 2004 Report Share Posted May 22, 2004 Jason, My condolences to you and your family on the loss of your grandmother. I live in Grand Haven - the weather has been lousy the last week. Yesterday, we received 3" of rain in one hour. Storm after storm keeps passing through. Kevin '93 Fleetwood Brougham '05 Deville '04 Deville 2013 Silverado Z71 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JasonA Posted May 22, 2004 Author Report Share Posted May 22, 2004 Thanks guys. So far (in Woodbridge, VA at my bro's house now), the trip has been uneventful. Car drives as smooth as ever. Averaged 27 mpg on the trip, averaging probably 75-80 mph up I-95, and loaded with LOTS of luggage and stuff. Weather was a hot 94-95*F the whole way up, and the car ran nice and cool at between 190*F and 199*F. Jason(2001 STS, White Diamond) "When you turn your car on...does it return the favor?" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JasonA Posted May 27, 2004 Author Report Share Posted May 27, 2004 Well...after a long drive to and from Michigan, and after beating the poor dampers to death on the Michigan roads, we're back in Virginia, awaiting the last 6-hour leg of the journey home to North Carolina in the morning. Even after driving 85+ through the mountains of Pennsylvania and eastern Ohio, and with three people and lots of luggage, we averaged just over 26 mpg, which is quite good in my opinion. My brother wrecked it (the mileage) with throttle stabs and 100 mph dashes. He has a '96 Grand Cherokee, which is apparently pretty wishy-washy at speed because he loved driving the Caddy. What a wonderful car. Jason(2001 STS, White Diamond) "When you turn your car on...does it return the favor?" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1RustyP Posted May 27, 2004 Report Share Posted May 27, 2004 Jason, Sorry about the Death in your family. I live in Vienna, Va for now and am bulding a house down at Beacon Ridge at Seven Lakes, West End, NC. Where are you down there.? I hope to be moving shortly down there into a rental property until my house is finished. I'm brand new to this group so don't know anyone yet. Hope your trip home was OK. How do you go from Northern Virginia down to sandhills?? Looking for another route besides I85/I95?? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JasonA Posted May 27, 2004 Author Report Share Posted May 27, 2004 Hi William, I know West End very well. When we drive home to my in-laws' in Southwestern Virginia, we go out NC-211 all the time to US-220 north. I don't know any other way to get down here besides I-85/I-95. In fact, we drive 95 straight down to Fayetteville, and we're just 30 mins from the Interstate. If you're out in West End, it'll probably be quicker to pickup 85 South as you mentioned, down to US-220. Jason(2001 STS, White Diamond) "When you turn your car on...does it return the favor?" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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