I made it!

"jminer" (jminer)
10/27/2020 at 13:55 • Filed to: None

After a 2200 mile drive I made it to San Jose early afternoon Sunday.

I didn’t make many interesting stops that were more than a few minutes long as I had a long way to go . Above is an entrance to medicine b ow national forest in Wyoming, it’s very pretty up here.

Here’s the salt flats rest stop in Utah. It was covered in people so I didn’t stay long.

People were driving right onto it, I was tempted but my car was loaded way down and drug the bike carrier when going over anything more than a couple inch dip.

Now I’m in a long term hotel until I find a place to rent. Then the missus will come join me.

I’m still exhausted from the drive, but also excited as hell to get settled in here.

DISCUSSION (14)

WasGTIthenGTOthenNOVAnowbacktoGTI > jminer
10/27/2020 at 14:01

Missed opportunity to set a land speed record with topper and bike attached.

1 Oppo point removed.

2,200 miles is a shit load to drive alone!

jminer > WasGTIthenGTOthenNOVAnowbacktoGTI
10/27/2020 at 14:03

I was seriously tempted, then I thought I’d take off the bike and ride it on the salt. But then I remembered how I was only a bit over halfway there and it wasn’t a great idea to both risk hurting myself or tiring myself out.

A Jetta that’s way overloaded with a topper and a bike is surprisingly stable at 95 across a long flat stretch of highway. But the wind noise was intolerable.

I did it over 3 nights which broke it up some, but yes it was quite a drive.

CompactLuxuryFan > jminer
10/27/2020 at 14:32

Just about to order lunch so you got me thinking about Falafel’s Drive In Make sure you check that out sometime!

jminer > CompactLuxuryFan
10/27/2020 at 14:55

One of the guys I work with recommended that too!

Who is the Leader - 404 / Blog No Longer Available > jminer
10/27/2020 at 15:05

How many miles was the drive over how many days? Congrats on the big move!

jminer > Who is the Leader - 404 / Blog No Longer Available
10/27/2020 at 15:10

It was 2200 miles over not quite 72 hours. Left Thursday at 6ish pm and got here Sunday at noonish.

Thanks! I’m excited for sure.

Who is the Leader - 404 / Blog No Longer Available > jminer
10/27/2020 at 15:21

Now that’s a drive and a half! Congrats.

Wrong Wheel Drive (41%) > jminer
10/27/2020 at 16:22

That sounds awful! Although my comparison is doing 4600 miles in a miata with a knockoff bride bucket seat and Coilovers and no roof the whole way. Doing that in 10 days felt WAYYYY too short. Just so much to see and driving more than one day in a row is tiring, even if it's only 3-4 hours each day on average. I did more of a 6-8 with some zero days mixed in though.

shop-teacher > jminer
10/27/2020 at 16:32

Congrats on the successful journey!

jminer > shop-teacher
10/27/2020 at 16:51

Thanks!

I’m missing not having a bike here, got to wait until I have a place to put them to get them shipped. It’s hard to resist the temptation to crawl CL and pick up something cheap.

jminer > Wrong Wheel Drive (41%)
10/27/2020 at 17:38

The Sportwagen is a pretty sweet road trip car. The seat is comfy and it’s fairly roomy.

I’m used to long drives as a couple times a year I’d drive to Denver for a couple days that’s an almost 2k round trip from Missouri.

I hit it hard the first day and a half covering 1, 000 miles on Friday. Sat was an easy 600 then Sunday a quick 250. I could have done it in 2 full days, but that would have been even more exhausting. 1, 000 miles a day is my top limit for sure.

shop-teacher > jminer
10/27/2020 at 17:44

I don’t blame you!

Slant6 > jminer
10/27/2020 at 18:09

What hitch do you have? I have a very generic Reese or something on my JSW and it will bottom out if I don’t pull in my driveway at the right angle, forget about pulling out of the driveway with a bike rack on.

Also MPGs with all that extra stuff (and speed)?

jminer > Slant6
10/27/2020 at 18:17

It is a draw-tite which went on fairly easily. I also tried replacing the rear springs with some that were supposed to be heavy duty moog springs others used on the forums for a lift but it sat lower than the stock springs.

I put rubber spacers in the stock springs and it keeps it up out of most spots when empty, when loaded good God did it drag almost anywhere that wasn’t the highway. I think I’ll eventually out tiguan springs on it.

Mileage was not good, usually get 40-45 on long highway stretches at 80-85 mph. I fought 20mph wind for a lot of the drive and that plus my now shit aero I got 28 mpg at 80-85 mph. Worst I’d ever seen out of it.

It still had no problem pulling 85 mph at 6k feet altitude and all this weight. She handled it all like a champ.

The driving was all across I-80 which has 80mph speed limits for a lot of it.