"Akio Ohtori - RIP Oppo" (akioohtori)
07/06/2020 at 10:10 • Filed to: TQ4
4
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"Akio Ohtori - RIP Oppo" (akioohtori)
07/06/2020 at 10:10 • Filed to: TQ4 | 4
| 14 |
With 2019 in the bag and 2020 dragging on like a bad double date, it is time for us to look forward to 2021, when we can pretend everything will be OK and back to normal and all the dead people will come back to life and we’ll have solved racism.
Yup. 2021 is going to be the best.
No pressure!
Since everything will be great, I think it is OK to speculate on our 2021 road trip. About every two years, two friends and I buy cheap cars and then semi-immediately drive them on an epic road trip. We’ve done the west coast, we’ve done overlanding, and we’ve done Canada.
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Against all odds all thee cars have always made it and against all odds all three of us want to do it again. (Though it was touch and go there for a while after AlCan...)
This year we’re looking to change things up a bit...
Lessons learned
Buying close to home
For the last trip we bought cars locally and had them shipped to/ driven to the start point in Tacoma, Washington. The reason for this was complicated, but boiled down to thinking crossing the border would be much more straightforward in cars we had 100% legal paperwork for, which necessitated buying in our home states.
This part we sort of liked a lot. I’d always maintained that part of the magic of the first two trips was only having two days to buy the car, but in actual fact buying them over a larger period of time didn’t diminish the excitement or the rush. What it did allow is each of us to buy our cars at our own pace, in our own way. I, for one, got a list of potentials, visited them in order of interest, and bought the first one that was “good enough”. George went for the “look at literally everything that is available” route and had a lot of fun with that too. Taylor, on the other hand, only had a weekend to buy so he ended up buying the only car whose seller would call/text/email/smoke signal him back.
And we all enjoyed the hell out of the process.
And we ended up with titles and registration in our names, which made selling them at the end a lot more straightforward.
What we did not enjoy was keeping the cars secret from each other. It was a lot of work for very little reward.
Additionally, buying local enabled us to work on our cars a little more extensively than previous trips had allowed, which, in theory, allowed us some more confidence in each of our vehicles. Taylor ended up with two new CVs, I ended up with new shock mounts and a non-leaking turbo (lol), and George, tragically, ended up with all new brakes.
Did our cars still break down on the trip? Oh course!
Taylor ended up with a truly massive coolant leak, I (probably) had a clogged PCV causing oil to go... everywhere, and George’s car started leaking oil from pretty much every possible place.
And that is OK.
Selling close to home
Lastly, a thing we have not enjoyed from these trips is selling the cars at the end. None of us did on the first trip, mind you, but on the second George and Taylor had a lot of stress and heartache associated with getting rid of their beloved companions... and I just kept mine again. On the most recent Taylor and I got lucky and sold ours within hours, but George barely got rid of his by the deadline and at a substantial loss.
So for this next one we’re all thinking that if we can start and end within 1200 or so miles of our respective homes, that would go a long way to (A) getting awesome cars and (B) getting more of our money back in the end. (Or make it cheaper for me to keep my car haha)
2021 Speculations
Location
Each of us has championed a couple different ideas for this trip, though we’re pretty sure we’re honed in on one area.
In the past we’ve pitched the Lincoln Highway, the East Coast, Route 66, Mexico, the Gulf Coast, the Great Lakes, Canada Route 1, and even Iceland.
Initially I was a big fan of driving the Appalachian trail and getting involved with some of the trappings of that. All three were interested in exploring doing a distillery tour through Tennessee and Kentucky. Taylor was a big fan or exploring the Smokey Mountains and the Blue Ridge Parkway.
But it seems like all three of us agree we know nothing of Montana, Wyoming, and the Dakotas to the extent that (what we’re calling) the “mid-North” sounds like it might be our target.
The reason the “mid-north” appeals to us is predominantly it is an area of the country none of us have ever been to.
Starting City
Assuming the mid-North route, the two most discussed starting cities are Salt Lake City or Denver, the former being a moderate 2-day drive for most of us and the latter being a somewhat hellish 1-day drive. Alternatively, all three of us expect to be in WFH positions during this trip, so we could take an extra week or two and buy the cars in the starting city.
In either case, Salt Lake City is somewhat fraught as a starting city because it was the ending city for the 2017 trip. Given that we “started what we finished” in 2019, essentially resuming the 2015 trip from where we left off, starting at the end point of the 2017 trip seems... fraught.
That said, if we’re buying local and driving the cars to the start point, we could realistically start wherever we felt like it, not being limited by the size of the car market. Picking a random medium/ small town might make more sense?
Dunno
Car Pitches (so far)
George floated the idea of purchasing softroaders rather than actual offroaders to make the trip in. I’m not opposed, but I’ve also done that...
I’m actually in favor of meeting in Dallas (we’re all close), buying cars at auction, driving them home, taking two - four weeks to improve them, and then set off. We have plenty of dealer contacts to make the auction thing happen and I feel like changing the format a bit might be fun! Also might make it harder to end up with an oddball, but I feel like I’ll manage?
That’s really all I’ve got so far though...
Next steps?
Easy enough. We need to start doing feasibility analysis, mock routes/schedules, and mock budgets. These will tell us how far we can reasonably go in the time we have available. Usually after displaying a couple options we start to hone in on one or two and begin to refine them. Eventually a real route starts to develop from there.
Once we know where we’re going, we can take a stab at figuring out when. If I were to guess I’d say August 2021, but who can say.
Annnnnd... that’s all I’ve got.
Who is the Leader - 404 / Blog No Longer Available
> Akio Ohtori - RIP Oppo
07/06/2020 at 10:26 |
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I love the auction idea. It would film well too for your video series and it would also have the excitement factor that you’re after.
2021B is my pick but I also don’t know how familiar you are with the northeast. One factor would be that buying a rust free Dallas car would mean the cars would appreciate in value the further into the rust belt you drove them.
davesaddiction @ opposite-lock.com
> Akio Ohtori - RIP Oppo
07/06/2020 at 10:41 |
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South Dakota, Wyoming & Montana are all fantastic - highly recommended!
Don’t miss the Beartooth Highway if you go that way.
CompactLuxuryFan
> Akio Ohtori - RIP Oppo
07/06/2020 at 10:54 |
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Maybe you can all decide to buy the same car and see who ends up with differing examples? Could be something common but that varies a lot (EK Civic, Wrangler?) or something rare (Vehicross?). Or maybe just require the same car class and then you can get into more specialized activities (track day, autocross, off-roading, towing ).
SBA Thanks You For All The Fish
> Akio Ohtori - RIP Oppo
07/06/2020 at 11:00 |
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Following the Clark and Lewis Expedition from the Mouth of the Columbia back to the midwest would be fun. Lots of national parks,
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Akio Ohtori - RIP Oppo
> CompactLuxuryFan
07/06/2020 at 11:10 |
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I love the idea, but think it would be a hard sell. Mostly we do these so infrequently thus far we’ve resisted putting major restrictions on the cars. Also we’ve done the “competition” thing and it seems to change the dynamic in a bad way... Still going to bring it up at the next meeting though!
I also pitched all going to Duncan Imports and buying k ei cars, but that was shut down due to cost haha.
facw
> Akio Ohtori - RIP Oppo
07/06/2020 at 11:28 |
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The Appalachian Trail idea is cool, though I think you’d want good handling cars for all those twisty roads rather than offroaders.
PowderHound
> davesaddiction @ opposite-lock.com
07/06/2020 at 11:30 |
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Beartooth highway is amazing. Super fun road and some great camping/summer snowboarding
gmporschenut also a fan of hondas
> Akio Ohtori - RIP Oppo
07/06/2020 at 11:59 |
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Couple of thoughts
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dixie_Highway Florida to michigan
Car and driver, Springfield challenge: Springfield Michigan, to Springfield Ontario, NY, Mass, Vermont, Maine
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CompactLuxuryFan
> Akio Ohtori - RIP Oppo
07/06/2020 at 12:09 |
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Ooh that would be an amazing one!
Taylor Martin
> Akio Ohtori - RIP Oppo
07/06/2020 at 12:48 |
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Both 2021A and 2021B are awesome options. I’ve never been to the Dakotas, or just that far north, but I’ve always wanted to, and as a Marylander I can say that the 2021B route c ould be fun, especially if you stay more inland and take the mountain highways backroads. Took one of my in car driving lessons down a mountain highway and it was and still is one of the best drives I’ve ever been on.
Both are excellent, and I’m looking forward to seeing what direction you all take.
MM54
> Who is the Leader - 404 / Blog No Longer Available
07/06/2020 at 14:51 |
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That is a good point, pretty much anything >10 years old from the southern end of 2021B would have probably increased 50% in value by the time you’re in Ohio
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MM54
> Akio Ohtori - RIP Oppo
07/06/2020 at 14:53 |
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If you do that, end up near me and bring a cheap Suzuki Carry...
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Who is the Leader - 404 / Blog No Longer Available
> MM54
07/06/2020 at 14:56 |
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Depen ding on the car that could go a long way towards alleviating the economic problems of transporting them there.
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MM54
> Akio Ohtori - RIP Oppo
07/06/2020 at 15:03 |
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2021A could be interesting, I’m not too familiar with “up there” but at least the western half of the highlighted area should be very good for scenery and interesting landscape . Visit some national parks, etc.
2021B has good potential as long as you either run up the mountains (could be fun, bring sports cars) or otherwise take some time to plan out what you’ll actually be doing along the way. It’s definitely a change of pace from what you’ve done before, which might be nice. For a plot twist you could start in Maine and not have to deal with selling the cars non-locally (i. e. drive them home to sell ) . Going south-to-north though you could stand to have an easy time selling them, being old southern cars that aren’t rotted out yet.
2021C looks... short. I don’t know what exactly the plan woul d be in that area but nothing in particular comes to mind. The highlighted region’s western-most 2/3 is pretty much flat and nothing-there. Co uld be a viable route if you wanted to make a loop though; buying and selling the cars locally (though that may take too much of the adventure out of it).
Looking forward to hearing what you guys come up with, always seems to turn out a blast!