I might be going on a road trip.

"gogmorgo - rowing gears in a Grand Cherokee" (gogmorgo) 08/06/2015 at 22:09 • Filed to: None

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It’s been a while since I was active on here, and even then I wasn’t all that active. Some of you might not know who I am, and that’s okay.

I’m not good at being brief. TL/DR; tell me where I should go.

But ROAD TRIP.

Basically what’s going on is that on September 12th, I “need” to be in Kingston, Ontario (Canada). I’m currently living in Manitoba. It’s a similar distance from Colorado to New York. I hate airports and live a three hour drive from the nearest one, so that means a road trip is in order. It’ll be the second time I’ve done this drive (more or less) this year, although the first time was in my Dad’s car on his (and my brother’s) dime.

On September 5th/6th, there’s an SCCA event at Grand Forks AFB, and I’d like to be there. I’ve been a Badlands region member for over a year now and haven’t been able to get down to any events yet. (Is anyone else going?) I don’t know yet if I’ll be incorporating this into the road trip or just going down for the weekend.

This road trip is in the early planning stages. It may not happen at all. There are several facotrs at play.

1. It would be completely forgivable if I wasn’t in Kingston on September 12th. I don’t really know for sure what all I’d be doing there, just that I told a friend I’d be there. Her friend’s getting married is all I know.

2. My current work term ends on September 9th, but there’s a high probability I’ll be getting an extension. If I don’t get an extension, I’ll have more than enough time to get it done, and there’s nothing preventing my vacation days from being my last days. If I do get an extension, I’ve only got five vacation days.

3. If I include Grand Forks in the road trip, I don’t know if I’ll be able to get to Kingston and back before I’ve run out of vacation days. I’d be taking vacation on Sept 8-11th, and then the 14th. I’ve got a “personal day” I could take on the 15th. That gives me three days to make the 30ish-hour drive back, which should be more than enough driving time, but doesn’t allow much time for “what-ifs” (case in point, on the last trip, my dad’s car blew the transmission).

4. The main reason I’d include Grand Forks in the trip is because it would be a six-hour drive down there, and that puts me six hours closer to Kingston, which is 20% of the way there. I’m sure you can see the appeal.

5. I’ll be sleeping either in the car or beside it (i.e. camping).

6. I’ll be taking one of these two vehicles:

The one on the right is a Jeep. It has a metric shit ton of miles on it and has main bearing problems. I’ll be picking up an XJ donor on the weekend after next and hopefully be able to swap out the drivetrain before I leave. It would be preferable to take the Jeep. I miss driving it. It’s more comfortable. It has a/c. It has a radio. It allows better sleeping options. However reliability will be an unknown, as will completion of the project.

The one on the left is in fact a Lada Niva. I’d rather not take it. It really wasn’t intended for highway driving. Like every Lada out there, it’s always half broken (but never broken down). The transmission is not in the greatest shape, but it hasn’t gotten any worse than when I bought it 7,000 miles ago. The engine’s also not in the greatest shape, and it may have gotten a bit worse. It’s not legal to import to the US (it’s a ‘96), which shouldn’t cause problems for temporary purposes, but you never know. It’s also of questionable legality here, in part due to lighting but mostly because the only attempt at sound control on the exhaust is a glasspack hanging under the rear bumper on an otherwise straight pipe because I’ve been investing as little money into it as possible. It would be more awesome to take it on a road trip, but a lot less convenient. If anything did happen, either I’d be waiting a couple weeks for parts or else doing a lot of mad custom work. It has no sound system, roll-the-window-down ventilation, it turns at 4,000 rpm at 60mph and has minimal sound-proofing. making extending highway drives very exhausting. It also only has an 11-gallon tank and only gets around 20 mpg, so doesn’t have the greatest range. It is however currently running, driving, registered, and insured. If the Jeep isn’t together, I’ll for sure be taking the Lada, but otherwise I’ll take the Jeep.

7. My route will be based around I-94/90, basically through Winnipeg, Minneapolis, Chicago, Dentroit, and Toronto. Depending on how other factors pan out, I’ll be driving pretty well straight through at least in one direction. If on the other way I do have time for deviation, I’m willing to travel a more southerly route, and possibly end up further east or west than either end of the route. I’m debating driving to the Atlantic because it’s so friggen close to Kingston, also visiting DC because I Am The Tourist.

So. Oppo. Anything awesome I should check out? Anywhere I for sure should stop? Anyone who I don’t really know desperately want a visit? Any and all suggestions will be considered. Like I’ll actually consider them, because I don’t know much about this corner of the US.

Also, if you made it all the way down here, thanks for reading my ramblings. It’s appreciated.

Birddog > gogmorgo - rowing gears in a Grand Cherokee 08/06/2015 at 22:29

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Thanks for Rambling!

Oddly I think the Comanche and Lada are almost equal on the Cockroach scale. The electronics on the MJ might be it’s downfall.

If you make it through Chicago let me know.

gogmorgo - rowing gears in a Grand Cherokee > Birddog 08/07/2015 at 07:53

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The Comanche and Niva kinda have a different set of problems. Whereas the Niva is assembled cheaply out of cheaper components, the MJ had over ten times as many miles on it when I bought it as the Niva did. Stuff is just plain wore out.

I'll try to keep you updated as I find out more.