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STR posted:If it makes you feel any better, GM's official solution to a noisy gearbox on my car was to overfill it by, well, a cup or so, via a different opening. One that's right next to a "DON'T loving TOUCH THIS BOLT IF YOU WANT THE CAR TO EVER MOVE AGAIN WITHOUT A TRANSMISSION SWAP" bolt. Needless to say, I deal with it being noisy. Put a Fumoto in the fill port, pump a bit extra in and shut the valve before it can flow back out?
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Jun 9, 2018 19:42
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IOwnCalculus posted:Put a Fumoto in the fill port, pump a bit extra in and shut the valve before it can flow back out? I didn't think they'd have the proper thread size for that, but looking at their website they've got quite the variety. Kinda curious what the "DONT TOUCH" bolt is holding, I would have expected anything critical to only be accessible after splitting the case. I'm a visual person, so new page means new pictures. Drove out to a beach we've never been to on the recommendation of a friend. We followed Google maps, and it managed to take us down 30km of freshly resurfaced gravel road.  The dust was epic. The intake for the engine pulls from the opening right behind the drivers door. The intake is fairly dust free but I might check up on it to make sure it didn't get clogged up right away. It got really dusty so I think I'll spend the time and actually open up the engine compartment and hose it down.  In any case, the beach was a bit of a bust. There was a crazy amount of bugs and the beach was rocky and filled with sharp empty clamshells. The drive out was at least nice until the gravel. 
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Jun 10, 2018 22:46
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Bajaha posted:I didn't think they'd have the proper thread size for that, but looking at their website they've got quite the variety. Kinda curious what the "DONT TOUCH" bolt is holding, I would have expected anything critical to only be accessible after splitting the case. I actually have an off-brand one installed in place of a hex plug in my WJ's cooling system. Makes it much easier to bleed, especially if I need to do so roadside. So far it's holding up just fine to the pressure. I seem to recall it being possible on Miata transmissions to undo a bolt that would result in similar "you've got to pull the trans apart and put it back together" levels of hosed-ness.
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Jun 10, 2018 23:55
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My wife and I have gone to the actual beach together twice. We didn't like it the first time, and the second time we remembered why we didn't like it. There hasn't been a third.
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Jun 11, 2018 20:49
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Bajaha posted:Kinda curious what the "DONT TOUCH" bolt is holding, I would have expected anything critical to only be accessible after splitting the case. Shift forks, I think? A lot of manual gearboxes have a couple of NO TOUCHIE bolts - I know Honda and Nissan both do.
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Jun 12, 2018 00:06
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STR posted:A lot of manual gearboxes have a couple of NO TOUCHIE bolts - I know Honda and Nissan both do. As does Toyota, at least on All-Trac wagons. (Ask me about working at a quick lube. No, it wasn't me.)
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Jun 12, 2018 01:39
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Dagen H posted:As does Toyota, at least on All-Trac wagons. (Ask me about working at a quick lube. No, it wasn't me.) Pretty much every FWD toyota transmission really. Also if you remove both axles at the same time your spider gears can fall out of their cage and then you have to open the case to put them back.
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Jun 12, 2018 22:13
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Terrible Robot posted:Pretty much every FWD toyota transmission really. Also if you remove both axles at the same time your spider gears can fall out of their cage and then you have to open the case to put them back.  How do you perform a rebuild then?
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Jun 12, 2018 23:08
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I'm thankful the worst I've had to deal with was making sure I didn't lose a circlip into the trans when pulling axles on the newer Subaru stuff, and those drat pins holding the axles on the older ones, they love to go flying as you tap them out.
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Jun 13, 2018 03:39
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I think the reverse idler is usually attached to the casing with an oh-no bolt.
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Jun 13, 2018 04:38
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You know, I STILL haven't unloaded those loving Altima taillights I got from you. Guess I really need to toss them on Craigslist or eBay, seeing as I'm moving ~3 hours away in less than 2 months.Terrible Robot posted:Pretty much every FWD toyota transmission really. Also if you remove both axles at the same time your spider gears can fall out of their cage and then you have to open the case to put them back. The Getrag F23 (used in a lot of GM FWD applications) will also perform this awesome party trick! (possibly the 4T4x-E automatic too?) Wrar posted:
With a stub jammed in during assembly. randomidiot fucked around with this message at 09:56 on Jun 13, 2018 |
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Jun 13, 2018 09:32
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Wrar posted:
I'd guess make sure the diff is turned so they are side by side, or shove a something in there 
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Jun 13, 2018 15:35
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STR posted:You know, I STILL haven't unloaded those loving Altima taillights I got from you. Guess I really need to toss them on Craigslist or eBay, seeing as I'm moving ~3 hours away in less than 2 months. Yeah, you've got to get rid of those, how long has it even been since you've even owned an altima? Moving time is probably the best time to get rid of all the extra stuff that gets amassed throughout the years. Minor update for today, washed the wheels. New pads are real dusty. Surprised how bad they get considering I went with OEM spec pads.  Also cleaned up the radio buttons. So Porsche loved putting a soft touch coating on their control surfaces, I guess so it felt more luxurious or something. In any case, these coatings get broken down into a sticky mess by years of handling with greasy/moisturized hands and it looks like crap. I forgot to take 'before' photos so this is already in progress while I was removing the worn out coating  A few people on Rennlist have had similar issues, and the fix is as simple as using a solvent to remove the sticky coating and you end up with a nice new looking button, although lacking it's luxurious soft touch coating. So with a bottle of appropriately named goo-gone I went to town and wiped the coating off.  Good as new  Also got a quote for the body work, and well it's a decent sized number and it's going to be painful but from what I've seen of the insurance repair quote from the last Porsche, I'm getting a pretty great deal on the work. Just waiting for their call back to schedule it all in, have to wait a little as there are many variants of the bumpers and they need to verify against the vin by physically calling Porsche as it's not an automated process.
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Jun 24, 2018 21:50
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Bajaha posted:Yeah, you've got to get rid of those, how long has it even been since you've even owned an altima? Moving time is probably the best time to get rid of all the extra stuff that gets amassed throughout the years. 5 1/2 years.  There's a ton of poo poo I need to get rid of before I move - mostly stuff like old rear end computer stuff (stuff that's far from collectable and never will be collectable), cables, old routers, etc. I'll probably toss the lights on Craigslist and eBay tomorrow. I don't work tomorrow, and worked 2 hours past my scheduled time tonight, I may as well go ahead and fill up a box with stuff I'm not going to take. Shouldn't take more than... 10 minutes to fill a couple. 
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Jun 25, 2018 06:53
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Remember those clear/smoked side marker lights I bought? Well it turns out that one of the them was defective, the lens fogged up and the reflector got really dirty. There's no way to disassemble them without damaging them as the lens is glued to the backing so I opened up a claim and managed to get a warranty replacement for the defect light. Unfortunately they would only ship to the original address on the order so back to the US I go.  Made a day trip out of it and found a nice place for a quick stop to snap a photo or two.  In other automotive news, a neighbor wanted to get his bumper fixed for as cheap as possible so I asked a friend who does body work to help out. For the cost of some spray bombs and an afternoon it's pretty much fixed.  It was nice to see the process for this quick fix, air powered sander smoothed out the damaged areas. As this was a cheap-as-possible fix no body filler was used, just sanded down enough to smooth everything out.  Prime, wetsand, repeat, then color and clear.  Once the paint has had time to cure the overspray can be cleaned up. Not perfect but it's the best it can get for the price.
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Jul 2, 2018 16:21
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Impressive cheap repair!
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Jul 2, 2018 18:10
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Thanks! Bodywork is not my forte so I've been leaning on others to fill in my lack of skill but I'm picking a few things up from seeing more experienced guys do it. Anyway, the rear trunk actuator was being flaky again and since I had purchased a replacement a while ago and I finally managed to track down a FSM for the car. I failed previously because I didn't remove the rear spoiler which is a necessary step to removing the bracketing that's in front of the actuator.  Rear spoiler is out, it was a little bit of a mystery to remove as there are three plastic rivets and you have push through the rivet rod to release the clips, pretty much every other clip I've ever dealt with you're supposed to pull the center rod out, but these you push straight through. Once the plastic cover is off it's just two 13mm nuts holding the spoiler assembly to the spoiler actuator rods. Removing the 4 allen bolts that hold the actuator rods in place and removing a few nuts on the inside bracket is enough to free the assembly and through some careful  Once that's out of the way, there's lots of access. The actuator only has a single 2-pin power plug and that's it. Just unplug and install the new-to-me actuator, test a few times with the fob to make sure it pulls nicely, and installation is the reverse of removal.  While reinstalling, I managed to drop one of the allen bolts and it bounced it's way into the depths of the bumper. The rear bumper has a full heatshield to save it from the hot exhaust so there's a cavity that's almost inaccessible. The tried and true method of percussive persuasion wasn't working so I grabbed the endoscope to get a better idea of where it went. Found the thing and then spent another few minutes with a magnetic retrieval tool through the small gap between the bumper and heatshield and out it came.  Putting the body coloured spoiler cover on and looking at the panel gaps, took a few tries to get it nicely centered. During the course of this I managed to lose one of the plastic rods that's inserted into the rivets. pn 999 507 499 40, at least it's only $0.70-$1.00 or so.  So far the replacement actuator has been reliable, I guess I'll see how it holds up.
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Jul 3, 2018 00:29
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So, seeing as I'm going to be replacing the front and rear bumpers anyway, I started looking into improving the look of the rear spoiler. I prefer the look of a minor ducktail spoiler, but for whatever reason nobody seems to make a subtle small one, and even the outrageous ones are hard to find. The cayman rear bumper is very slightly different around the taillights where it meets the sheetmetal of the body which results in some ugly panel clearances when installed on a boxster. At one point, Porsche offered the boxster with the XAL Sport Design Package, which included a lip for the front, a revised rear bumper, and a rear wing which is pretty much exactly what I'm looking for. Unfortunately the option was $8,200 when new so there's not a lot of them out there, I've never come across one for sale, and all the photos I can find are pretty much marketing and stock photos.   Someone did manage to find the spoiler as a piece on it's own and installed it with the regular rear bumper, but because it doesn't have that little lip riser to meet the spoiler, there's an ugly gap if you go that route.  Although, on a black car the gap may not be as noticeable, but half assing it seems wrong. The front lip I'm not really a huge fan, I don't think it really work with the lines of the car. On second thought the shallow diffuser thing in the sport design bumper is kinda meh too, primarily I want it just for it working with the spoiler.  I'm thinking of contacting the body shop to just see what the difference would be vs just sticking with the regular rear bumper, can't hurt to ask right?
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Jul 4, 2018 03:16
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You can always ask, but I'd just leave it stock dude.
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Jul 4, 2018 06:12
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I know this is AI but that seems a little crazy it already looks awesome what you are after does t even seem that different or cool BUT YOU DO YOU I’m just saying I think you are overthinking it lol
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Jul 4, 2018 06:16
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everdave posted:I think you are overthinking it lol You're right, I definitely am. I should focus my restlessness onto something actually productive like finding parts for bringing the Baja back up to factory ride height for winter duty.
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Jul 4, 2018 12:56
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Restlessness Refocused! First things first, can't get anything done if the garage is still a huge mess so snap a finger, and viola! Washed the floor and it's all squeaky clean.  Spent a day detailing the Boxster and treating the top.  After a thorough clean I used a lint roller to get the last bit of fluff off of it before the treatment.  Used 303 Fabric Guard on the top, applied via a roller actually so all the masking was kind of a waste. Treatment worked fairly well but there's still a little bit of soaking action after a rainfall so I think it may need another coat. I gave it the full 24hrs to cure after application, but I may have gone a little light as I didn't want to oversaturate it.  Once the top was taken care of, I spent the rest of the evening working on the paint work. Started with a synthetic clay pad, worked really well and it's so much easier than a regular clay bar. It helped take out some of the paint transfer from the previous owner and I did the plastic bag test and the before was just brutal. After Clay, did a 3 step polish working my way up from a heavy cut to medium, to light using a dual action random orbital. I need to work on my technique with the heavy cut as It was a pain to wipe off the buffing compound so I don't think I was working it correctly, with the lighter cuts it finished nicely and was easy to wipe down. Finished with a carnauba glaze to give some extra luster and I'm pretty happy with the results. It really helped bring back depth to the paint, this is why I love black cars. They clean up beautifully (for the 36hrs they stay clean...)  Now it was looking good, it had to pay me back with something breaking. The B pillar gasket cracked and started hanging down a little, It's a an odd mixture of fabric, plastic, and rubber construction and the plastic appears to have become brittle and cracked. Of course it's a $400 part, and a huge pain to remove.  Every screw is accessible except for one.  Thanks to the tool thread, I chopped a torx bit to shorten it and used a 1/4 stubby wrench and painstaking turned this screw 1/8 of a turn at a time.  This was not a fun experience, but it came out, and more importantly it went back in with the same method.   True to my roots and being a cheap bastard, I'm hesitant to shell out $400 for a short gasket, so I used some Locktite 495 to glue this back together, crossing my fingers this lasts as a permanent fix.  If it busts again then I'll give in and get a new one, but seeing as it's not under a lot of stress I'm hoping the glue works.
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Jul 25, 2018 00:40
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And the Baja has not been forgotten, although it looks like someone stole the wheels.  No, wait, here they are.  These have definitely seen better days.  Nothing a wire wheel and 80 grit can't fix  "Scratch Fill" primer was the weapon of choice. Sanding wheels sucks and the highest grit I had readily available for the mechanical sander was 120 grit so that's as high as I went at this stage.  Hit the primer with 600 grit as an "eh I tried" to smooth it out some more and sprayed on the colour, Meteor Grey Mica - a factory Mazda colour.  Can't stop there though, we're going for the baller on a budget look. TE37SL cost real money, but red paint leftover from a jeep repair is readily available in my garage   Doesn't look quite right so I called up a friend with a vinyl cutter and BAM!  Prepped the paint afterwords with 1500/2000 grit, clear coated and ready to go!  I'm actually really proud of how these turned out, they've got imperfections and I'm not sure how long the finish will last but for the price of a few cans of primer and colour and a few days of work, I'm happy. 
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Jul 25, 2018 00:53
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Looks really good. I thought at first you were using one of the Duplicolor metallic wheel paints.
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Jul 25, 2018 03:07
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Thanks! The local CT paint isle is a bit of a mess so I must've missed the metallic wheel paints. I did get duplicolor branded paint for the metalic dark and the primer, and man the nozzles suck. It's like night and day compared the ones from Rondex, should have just gone there instead and had them mix something up rather than just CTing it. Anyway, last time I asked for suggestions on a roadtrip you guys stepped up and gave some great suggestions. I'm planning quite the grand tour and could use some suggestions for the places I'm not familiar with. Last few trips we stayed in a central location and explored outwards, this time I want to switch it up and do a big loop of the west. E: Look 8 posts down for the revised list, I figure it's less confusion if there's not a huge wall of maps every page. So yeah, I plead to you fine forum posters on this here comedy forum, if you know of anything along the route that you want to suggest, please post! I'm particularly clueless about the stuff in the US. Bajaha fucked around with this message at 23:21 on Jul 30, 2018 |
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Jul 28, 2018 00:35
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I've got some advice, but can't post it now. I'll give you a bit of an effortpost later.
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Jul 28, 2018 02:08
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So when are you doing this trip? A couple of your legs might be impacted by that. I'll give you my input by day; Day 0: No comment, try not to kill yourself Day 1: Not much better, but I'll give you a couple of things to ponder. Depending when you do this, make it south to the Lethbridge area and we can have a couple beers and steaks. Heck, we might even have a spare room if I can convince Mrs. Slidebite into believing you aren't murders from the internet. Secondly, if you're not going to have the time to do Tyrell museum, I'm not so sure I'd make the detour to Drumheller. Sure, the badlands is cool to look at, but the museum is why a person goes to Drumheller. There is other stuff to do, like drive the Dinosaur trail and do a few other sightseeing things, but not convinced I'd make the detour for it. E; Alternative, if you're not going to Drumheller, take the Crowsnest south and head north up 95 north via Radium/Fairmont? Day 2: Not much to add, really. I've you've driven it and know what you want to do, whatever floats your boat. Personally, I'm not a big fan of doubling back, but that's me. Word of note RE Jasper. Might be worth your while to check for vacancies as you go through town. You might get luck and not have $rape$ but the bit from Hinton to Jasper, even though it looks short on a map (and it isn't long), can take longer than you think in prime tourist season when everyone stops for any reason. Day 3: When I was a kid, we used to stop at the Enchanted Forest just after the Rogers Pass. It was like dioramas of little elfs or some poo poo and I thought it as cool as an 8 year old. Might be a run down piece of poo poo now, but might not be. May be worth a look. Dunno. Day 4: That's a good route. Try not to catch on fire.  Day 5: Not a lot of choice here for the route. I presume you are purposefully not visiting any of the gulf islands or Vancouver island? Day 6/7: Here is where we differ. If you want to end up down the pacific coast in the US, I'm not sure I'd go all the way to the Okanagan just to backtrack. Yeah, it's kind of nice, but assuming you're going in the summer months the traffic is terrible, possibility of fires blocking roads, tourists everywhere, just gets painful. I prefer the US side to the Canadian side there as it's far more rustic and less developed, but personally, I'd probably just head south from the Abbotsford area, check out the mount baker area and end up south. I see you're purposely avoiding I5 which is good as it's pretty boring, but a good way to try to make up some time if you need to. Day 8: I've never been to Rainer, but have been to St. Helen's a few years back. Worth the trip. Lots of back roads in the area I think if you want to explore or take long routes. Day 9: Portland is a cool city. A neat hotel is Kennedy School, and old elementary school made into a hotel. Might be worthwhile spending a night there if you can juggle the evenings. The cafeteria is a restaurant, teachers lounge a pub, gym a licensed movie theater, cool as hell. Smack dab in the middle of a residential area. Kelso might be cool too, don't know. Never been. Day 10: That's a drive I've always wanted to do. Mt Shasta is neat to see and Lassen park is cool, but probably not worth the detour. Redding can be hot as gently caress, but I'd probably hug the coast and check out redwoods. Day 11: Not much to add but I was literally just in San Fran last month. You're going to have to be very, very choosy if you are literally only going to a couple places on the way through town. Assuming you're not spending the night, you're going to drive over GG bridge, so use your time wisely after that. Fishermans Wharf is definitely touristy but might float your boat and worth a stop. Cable cars are cool. Alcatraz is a must but that's 3 hours alone very, very easily and you need tickets ahead of time. San Francisco isn't super driver friendly, but parking spots can be found... but transit is where it's at if that's an option. Tough in 3-4 days, impossible in 3-4 hours. It'll take you a bit just to get through the city, especially if you are going INTO the city. You might want to consider spending the night. Day 12: Nothing to add, never been. Day 13: I love the desert, but crossing Nevada is pretty drat boring. I've done it a couple times and it can be hot as gently caress any time, but especially middle of summer. Be prepared, have water. Only thing I might add, Reno is a cool little city with cheap rooms and good food at the casinos and not quite unbearably hot... as much. I recommend the Peppermill. You can then take the superslab to make up time Twin and Idaho Falls. You'll cross some big expanses which remind you of photos of mars where you can see for miles and dust devils in various places. As you leave Twin Falls, there is a beautiful bridge and view as you cross the Snake river canyon. Definitely worth stopping for 10-15 and taking some pics. Depending on your day, I personally prefer Twin Falls to Idaho Falls. Day 14: This is another place where I would differ. In the summer months, I avoid Yellowstone like the plague. Full stop. It's insane. Just a madhouse and not enjoyable. I go in May/June and September. If you must go though, while approaching from the Tetons in the south is nice, I'd personally approach from the West. Go through the west gate and from there you can decide if you want to go south loop via Old Faithful/villiage or north to Mammoth. Mammoth is really cool for sure, but the geyser plain near old faithful is otherworldly, and if you are going to brave Yellowstone, you really might as well do that and then you can see the other geysers, Grand Prismatic, Paint pots, etc. I'd personally try to spend the night in Bozeman if you are going to try to blast through. I recomend the Hampton right off the highway, stayed many times. The periphery towns like Gardiner and West Yellowstone turn into traps. BUT, your route has you going the Beartooth which is truly gorgeous. Day 15-16. Downhill after Yellowstone. Make a point to stop by Little Bighorn where Custer bit it. Good little museum but the interperter talks are *amazing* Last time I was there the dude giving the talk was a narrator for National Geographic or some drat thing and his story telling was utterly enthralling. There was probably 200 people watching him and you could hear a pin drop when he took a breath or a drink of water. I think there might be a minuteman missile silo museum on the way back east of Billings I've been meaning to check out but haven't yet.Black Hills aren't that far if you angle through South Dakota and you can also see badlands on the US side in that area. Avoid it at all costs if it is anytime remotely close to Sturgis rally time. That is a poo poo ton of driving son. You're doing yourself a disservice if you rush it with that many miles. You might want to consider buying a US Annual Parks Pass at your first opportunity. slidebite fucked around with this message at 04:22 on Jul 28, 2018 |
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Jul 28, 2018 03:54
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The Enchanted Forest has changed owners apparently and they have put some money into it. We drove past on TM2TW3 and it looked way nicer than I remember it in my childhood. I will be immensely disappointed if it actually is a lot bougier, though.
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Jul 28, 2018 05:07
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Huge thanks, I appreciate the effort! There's a lot so I'll have to digest but my initial take is below. I probably should have specified in my initial request, trip is planned for the first two weeks in September. The first weekend is going to be crazy since it's a long weekend but then school starts so I'm hoping most of the family touristy traffic will subside as the kids are back in school. Day 1: I'll have to play around with maps to see. The drive time doesn't leave much time for the museum as you mention. South through Crowsnest may be the better idea but would add time to the next day driving up to Jasper as I think I'd spend the night in Cranbrook, Radium is a bit far for one day (10:41 according to google, although I've done Winnipeg to Banff in one day before, I'm trying not to push it too much this trip) I might be able to get a few more hours on friday and shoot a little closer west but that's iffy. Day 2: I'm hoping there's some cancellations in the next little while, looks like my options opened already in Jasper to $700+, $385 for Best Western, and $70 for a nearby hostel. Might do the hostel thing for one night if it saves a few hours of driving, I'll keep an eye on what pops up. Day 5: We used to have family friends in Gibsons and it was the place I stayed the last time I visited. Loved it but they've since moved to Costa Rica and while it was nice I don't think I'll go out of my way to visit. Vancouver island I kind of remember from visiting as a kid but I can't remember anything to draw me back in, plus the ferries will add a good amount of time. Day 6/7: Got recommended to drive the Cascade loop with HWY 20, it does end up being 2 days to go what's normally a 3hr drive. It does look pretty though. I could cut a few hours from the Vancouver visit and drive farther east the day before and cut down the loop to a single day. I'm not sure I'd want to cut out the loop completely though.  Day 11: I wasn't planning on Alcatraz but I'll consider it. I don't know too much about San Fran so I started with just planning on GG, lombard, and fishermans warf. Prices to stay in the city were insane so I was trying to avoid that. Day 13: Up to Reno looks like a good way to go, would shorten the next day and actually give some time to see twin falls, thanks for the tip. Day 14: Second week of september so I'm hoping the tourist crowds die down by then. I've got to sit down and make a solid plan for the Yellowstone. I skipped a lot but I'll have to go through it again this weekend. Again, can't stress enough how much I appreciate that you took the time to write that up. As for the pass I've still got the one from last year, which coincidentally was issued in september and is punched as such. I'm assuming but I'm not sure that it's valid until the end of the month. On another note, my wife does have mobility issues which knocks out a lot of the nature exploring we'd like to do, roadside attractions and boardwalk type walks are about the limit and we take a lot longer through them than most people. Rough terrain or anything more than 800m is not really a good option, and stairs can be an issue as well which can make finding more budget friendly hotels difficult in places like San Fran. The Handi pass does come in handy ( ) a lot when it comes to city parking at least, her physio people got her a prescription so we're also shopping for mobility aids for this trip as last time we were in Yellowstone she didn't get to experience the prismatic spring as it was too much of a distance on a hot day.
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Jul 28, 2018 05:38
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I'll give this a bit more thought, but Crowsnest and up is a nicer drive. RE SFO, I don't think you want to do Alcatraz if you're not spending a whole day (or overnight) there. We were booked for the 11AM boat, got there around 10:30, explored and left the island something like 3, 3:30 and could have stayed longer. The audio tour was very well done (included with admission) and a must in its entirety, BUT, if your better half has mobility issues you might really have to think about that. There is a shitload of walking and grades. No place in that area is really a bargain, you'll probably be in the $200US range either way, unless you're a ways out of SFO and even then it'll probably be $150+ and tbh, just pay the extra for the convenience if your spending a day. Union Square is where we stayed (Hilton) and other than the panhandlers everywhere and the possibility of seeing a deuce in the gutter in the AM, it was a great spot. Close to everything. Expect to pay for parking virtually everywhere. If you hit Reno and spend the night, get a Peppermill voucher from Costco.com. It's a smoking deal and great rooms. I'm a cheap bastard and we've done that for several days in a row multiple times. We just go down, chill at the pool in the days, maybe the spa, and eat at night so much you get uncomfortable. e: Not much to see in Twin Falls other than the gorge. Craters of the Moon isn't terribly far off and might be worth a detour. I'm a sucker for volcanic landscapes though and that part of Idaho is all volcanic. After labor day, Yellowstone shouldn't be terrible. We've been there around that time but still expensive to stay. You might want to consider a B&B if you are determined to stay in the Gardiner area, but 1 night might be tough. You might be disappointed with the Teton area if you're also doing the Rockies/BC/Alberta parks. e: Seat Safety Switch posted:The Enchanted Forest has changed owners apparently and they have put some money into it. We drove past on TM2TW3 and it looked way nicer than I remember it in my childhood. Oh, that's cool it's still around. I might have to check it out just for old times sake some day. ee: If you do make it through Bozeman, they have a fantastic museum just off campus. The Museum of the Rockies.. Highly, highly recommended and an easy place to kill anywhere from 1 to 4 hours. Focuses on geoglogical history, dinosaurs and space stuff. slidebite fucked around with this message at 16:21 on Jul 28, 2018 |
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Jul 28, 2018 05:56
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Edited my first post rather than reposting the whole trip, Days 00, 01, 02, 03, 11, 12, 13, 14 have changed. Slidebite - looks like we'll be taking you up on your offer as the revised route takes us through Lethbridge. I promise we're not murders, pinky swear. The Peppermill was a good tip, how did you even find out Costco had vouchers like that? I wouldn't have even thought to look at Costco for a hotel. I'll see how I can work in Little Bighorn, might try to find a better place with that in mind than Gardiner, although finding things around Yellowstone is surprisingly difficult. Craters of the Moon only adds 2 hours to the commute day now that we're starting in Reno so I think we'll go through there for a change of scenery. If I'm switching things up around Yellowstone I'll see if I can make Bozeman work. Still lots of time to prepare so there's at least that.
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Jul 28, 2018 22:32
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Don't think twice about California 1. I can't speak for what's north of Ft. Bragg but I'm pretty sure it's gorgeous everywhere. If have the time and interest it might be worth leaving the coast for the Santa Cruz mountains when you're south of SF. Take a left at Half Moon Bay on 92 or a little further south on 84 at San Gregorio (more scenic, more twisty) and head up to 35. South on 35 will get you to 9, which you can follow down to Santa Cruz and resume your route. Twisty roads and big redwoods on 84 and 9. If it's a weekend 35 will be all bikes and exotics. They'll be parked up at Alice's Restaurant.
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Jul 30, 2018 13:12
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Just to be clear, I wouldn't call anything "scenic" about that southern AB route until you get to Pincher Creek. But, I do like it better than the Trans Canada for sure. When you get the days figured out, drop me a line. We're going to be going to have some company Early September and then going on holidays ourselves, but should be OK. What will you be driving? Also, if you do the Costco deal for the Peppermill, remember you have to book it ahead of time so you might want to get on that more sooner than later. Don't get talked into upgrading the suite, the Tuscany tower room you get standard with the deal is great. That is a poo poo-load of driving man. You've got some long days in there, especially if you're trying to do sightseeing in the same days.
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Jul 30, 2018 19:32
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Alright, here's where I'm at: E: This is outdated, next page has new info Day 00: Leave work a little early, get some of the most boring driving through the prairies out of the way and end up late night in Swift Current.  Day 01: Scenic Southern Alberta route, notably only scenic once you actually get into the mountains, otherwise it's very much like the prairies, just shorter grass, more cows, and less flatness. Ending up in the town of Invermere. Most likely will have some short stops at roadside vista pullouts. I remember loving going through Fernie last time I was there.  Day 02: Invermere to Jasper. I managed to find a not so internet savvy place that doesn't have an automated booking process that had an opening for not $rape so I save an hour today and the next vs lodging in Hilton, gives more time to take it slow on 93 and stop at a few attractions.  Day 03: Scenic drive down 93, through glacier national park, and stopping in Revelstoke. Going to try to get to the end of the meadows in the sky parkway this time, last time we were too early in the season and it was blocked by snow.  Day 04: Revelstoke to Whistler: actually not too familiar what's notable along the way here, expecting roadside pull outs with stunning vistas, and a nice twisty road to Whistler along 99. Not catching on fire is on the list of to-do.  Day 05: Whistler to Abbotsford: Vancouver aquarium is on the docket, probably the botanical gardens, not sure what else.  Day 06: Abbotsford to Osoyoos to Burlington: Scenic drive through the northern cascade loop, planned on a few stops at scenic vistas and lakes. Just going to enjoy the drive and keep it simple.  Day 07: Burlington to Packwood: Go through the coastal islands and end up in seattle, checking out the famous Pike Place Market, finish the night going through paradise and ending up in a small town of Packwood.  Day 08: Mount St Helens and Portland: After portland it's just a cruise down 5 to make it farther south for the next day.  Day 09: Crater Lake and rush to the coast. Probably will see some redwoods closer to Klamath  Day 10: Redwoods and California coast. Depending on how many stops we make along the coast, we might spend a couple hours in San Fran, more likely we'll end up in the hotel to relax for the night. There's a lot of twisty bits just west of San Rafael, any recommendations for that bit there?  Day 11: San Fran proper, doing the quick notes tour of San Fran and then shooting down the coast and aiming for a late arrival in Chowchilla.  Alt Route  Day 12: Yosemite Valley, take in the views, there's an upper vista point looking over the valley that looks really cool that we want to stop by. Then it's north to Reno  Day 13: Desert roads, Twin falls, Craters of the moon for the volcanic landscape, then idaho falls. One of the longest days I've planned.  Day 14: Yellowstone. Spend some time actually walking along the boardwards and seeing the weird landscape and geological features.  Day 15: The Falls and Beartooth but this time not super rushed.  Day 16: Commute  The last few days I've been playing around with. Going through the badlands and checking out the little bighorn museum is on the list but I'm not sure how to make it work with the route... Trying to find lodging around yellowstone is not easy. Bajaha fucked around with this message at 01:00 on Aug 3, 2018 |
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Jul 30, 2018 23:20
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Goddamn, that's a lot of driving. I'm getting exhausted just looking at that.
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Jul 31, 2018 00:52
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yeah, please say you're stopping at a couple of those places for a day or something. I drive a TON and that is way, way more than I would want to do for a holiday. I realize several of your days are <7 hours which might not seem like a huge amount, but by the time you sight-see, meals, stay longer than you planned, just general various delays, you are going to have some very long days... and 12 hour days on holidays is not something I like to do. But hey, if that floats your boat all the power to you. I am a huge fan of all those states you are going through.
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Jul 31, 2018 01:01
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ought ten posted:Don't think twice about California 1. I can't speak for what's north of Ft. Bragg but I'm pretty sure it's gorgeous everywhere. The route does look a lot more interesting from a twists and turns perspective, but I'm still leaning towards the coast just because of how different it'll be compared to what I'm used to in the prairies. slidebite posted:Just to be clear, I wouldn't call anything "scenic" about that southern AB route until you get to Pincher Creek. But, I do like it better than the Trans Canada for sure. We'll be in the boxster for this trip. I had the body work scheduled in for before the trip but since apparently there's a shortage of Porsche bumpers I am still waiting on them to call me in the next month. I'm figuring since the body work is all cosmetic, I may just hold off on the repair until after the trip since any rock chips on the bumper and hood will be gone with the repair, same for the rear bumper. Already booked the Peppermill, that is quite a good deal with the resort coupon, I'm thinking a massage might be a good idea after this much driving. And speaking of driving, I'm pretty OK with lots of driving. Last trip to the rockies was over 6000km in a week, and on the east coast I clocked in a little over 3700km in under a week. This will be an ambitious trip at 9700km for a little over two weeks, but I think it's manageable without being too much. The roadtrip loop thing is going to be different for me this time, as I've said before I usually just pick a central location and branch out daily which gave some flexibility as to what exactly we did each day, but this time I'll try this style out which does limit us to making it to the next destination within the day. I'm planning on ~12 hour days from start to stop, it worked for most of our trips a. The trip to pick up the car was crazy as it ended up being 15+ hour days to get back from LA to Winnipeg in 4 days, being on the road that much was exhausting. This being a 2 week stint may be clouding my judgement though. I'll have to think on it. I tend to either do the above with everything packed into one vacation, or the exact opposite with just going to a single destination with nothing planned and just relaxing and lounging about. Apparently I'm not good at ballance.
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Jul 31, 2018 01:19
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Bajaha posted:We'll be in the boxster for this trip.  Let's home the IMS holds up!  Your plan about not doing chip repairs until after an epic road trip is a good one. If you are up to the massive drives, all the power to you dude. I just think it's a pity you won't have any time to enjoy most of the places that you are going through.  You'll like the Peppermill I'm sure, and the spa is really nice. They have a private Caldarium and the steam room is great. We've done hour long massages each time we've gone and the staff has always been very good. If you have the time... that is!  Restaurants are good but we always seem to end up eating at their normal "cafe" Milano. Huge menu, prices are reasonable and servings are amazing. When you do Yellowstone, instead of backtracking maybe head East from Old Faithful and continue the loop a bit? You'll be able to see the canyon and stuff that way.
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Jul 31, 2018 01:47
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I've still got some vacation so I think it's prudent to add a day, the most rushed part of the trip (non commuting at least) to me seems to be Day 11 and 12, if I can add a day between those two it gives more time for San Francisco which seems to be a very geographically packed area. That way I'm thinking end of day 11 I'll find a place just south of San Fran and spend Day 12 along the coast and finishing near Yosemite. Otherwise I'm trying to think where to trim the fat but I'm not sure what I want to give up. The Cascades loop (Day 6) is most obvious to trim as we end up not far from the starting point so it would be simple to skip and move the bookings around. I've kept everything as free cancellation so I've got the freedom to change the trip until it makes sense. If I cut this then thinking the best bet would be around San Fran then maybe another night at the resort in Reno, it's got a pool so we could just lounge and relax for a day to recharge. E: definitely adding a day to help break things up, and seriously considering skipping the cascades to give another day of mostly rest to break it up some more. Bajaha fucked around with this message at 04:55 on Jul 31, 2018 |
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Jul 31, 2018 03:45
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Bajaha posted:Day 10: Redwoods and California coast. Depending on how many stops we make along the coast, we might spend a couple hours in San Fran, more likely we'll end up in the hotel to relax for the night. There's a lot of twisty bits just west of San Rafael, any recommendations for that bit there? I’d say you’re better off staying on 1 through Tomales Bay and Stinson Beach rather than cutting east after Bodega Bay. Sounds like that’ll be the end of a long day so your interest might be waning, but south of Stinson Beach you can either stay on 1 or go east on Panoramic Highway and both are gorgeous. Twisty enough to make you carsick. And there’s good oysters at Hog Island if that’s your thing. That’s in Marshall, just a bit south of Bodega Bay. Don’t miss Sol Food in San Rafael if you have any interest in Puerto Rican food.
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Jul 31, 2018 03:49
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