If any of y'all see a blue/gold Excursion bearing Virginia vanity plates "LAND YOT" in the next couple weeks, you will have found me ... or I should say, "us." The soon-to-be Mrs. LAND YOT and I will be heading west Sunday, 07/25/04 on I-40. Our current targets include a quick visit with SPARTAN in Nashville (assuming our timing is OK), the Meteor Crater, Grand Canyon, Las Vegas ... and if we're doing good time-wise at that point, we'll slip up to San Francisco, and visit some firends in Fairfield, CA. Then it's on to Lake Tahoe, Reno, Salt Lake City, Denver, St. Louis, and then home.

I was hoping to drive her EB Explorer for this trip, but we recently discovered her rear wheel bearings need replacing, and we don't have the time to bother with it right now. So, (gulp .... literally will gulp more gasoline) the Mighty-X has been pulled in for relief duty.

Give us a honk if you see us!
Ken E.

 

If you've never been out that way you are in for a TREAT !!!
Meteor Crater STUNNED me
Petrified Forest is worth a trip,....
Stop at the State visitors stop entering the state and get the "tourist" map....
Not a road map, but a map that has all the plaes of interest !!! Worth it for the things you wouldn't think of !!!
Consider a narrow guage rail trip if you go by Durango, Colo.. Super cool !

 

Hey! If you are looking for some top notch grub, stop through Chi town area. You are welcome here as a guest from me! I hold my own, trust me! Ask anybody around the area, food is awsome! Good luck on the adventure.

 

WHAT?!?

You're not gonna drive to the Big Island?! Heck, you'll be in CA! It's only about 10 hours from there...

Have a safe, fun trip, Ken!

 

Monsta ... I'm sure you've heard about the guy in CA who stumbled across a genie in a bottle, and wished for a bridge to Hawaii ....

 

LOL! Did you want 2 lanes or 4?

If you happen down to the Monterey Peninsula (Pebble Beach, Carmel, etc) drop me an email. I'll buy you and the new missus a cup of coffee. And hey, maybe I can give you my deposit on the radius bars too!

J/K of course...about the deposit, I mean!

Stewart

 

They are on the way and moving fast. Saw the newlyweds for brunch this morning and they were great. It's really nice to meet the folks we communicate with on the FTE site. Landyot's X is cherry and I can personally vouch for his custom radius rods.

We did discover that his X has a factory double carden drive shaft as opposed to the standard two u-joint piece. Check out my topic on Excursion drive shafts and let us know what you have.

 

Any idea when they will be in Amarillo? That's where I am, maybe could buy them lunch or dinner? They must come through here if they stay on I-40. That's Amarillo, Texas of course.

 

I'd say they went through there Tuesday. Maybe next time.

 

Mrs. LAND YOT and I completed our excursion (pun intended) around the U.S. in good order. We traveled west through NC, TN, AR, OK, TX, NM & AZ. Then north and east through NV, AZ, UT, CO, KS, MO, IL, IN, KY, WV & VA. Saw many things along the way, including the Meteor Crater, Grand Canyon, Hoover Dam, Las Vegas, and the Rocky Mountains.

I would like to thank those of you who conveyed their best wishes for our journey. I am glad to report there were no obstacles along the way, and my X performed flawlessly. My average MPG (calculated) for the entire 5,300 miles was 13.67, with one short (indicated) reading of 17.2MPG while cruising along at 45MPH right after refueling in Gallup, NM (highway speed was restricted for a few miles due to construction). BTW, my X is a 2001 V10 Limited model. We originally planned to slip up to the San Francisco / Napa Valley area, but since we will eventually visit there via airplane in the future, we decided to take a pass at that point. So, after spending a night at Caesars Palace, we started heading north and east.

I’m sorry, but we did not make a stop at the Ford SuperDuty plant near Louisville, KY, but we did see a convoy of four SD trucks cruising west on I-64 (cruising along in one of their longevity tests) … and they weren’t 2005 models, nor anything like your typical SD models either. These trucks looked a lot like future models fashioned after the big yellow “Tonka Toy” truck in the Toby Keith video “Who’s Your Daddy?” I wish I was heading in the same direction in order to check them out further because I could not see their badges to determine if they were F250, F350, F450 or F550 models. I believe two were extra-cab styles, and the other two were crew-cab versions.

I am not out to offend anyone, but everyone has an opinion. Mrs. LAND YOT and I offer the following list as our joint opinion of what we experienced along our route. We did not see everything each state has to offer … we only saw what was visible along the corridor we traveled … and that the condition of roads and rest areas are not a reflection of that state’s population, and are most likely a reflection of how much money each state allocates to such things … but these things leave impressions upon road-traveling visitors..

WORST ROADS – MO & TX (my fillings almost came loose in both states)

BEST ROADS – NV & our driveway (upon returning home)

WORST DRIVERS – MO (People were in way too much of a hurry to go where? And on a Sunday, too.) & NV (Maybe in a hurry to go gamble?)

BEST DRIVERS – everywhere along I-40 … people seemed to be more concerned with being able to arrive at their destination, and not worried about getting there 10 minutes early

WORST REST AREAS – NM (Posted sign said to watch out for snakes.) & AR (Just plain dirty.)

BEST REST AREAS – KY & KS (One needs something to look forward to while traveling I-70 through … [yawn] … Kansas.)

MOST SCENIC – AZ & CO

LEAST SCENIC – AR, OK & KS

BEST BARGAIN – Colorado Rockies (No charge for viewing. Great views while simply driving along I-70.)

BIGGEST RIP-OFF – Meteor Crater (Very interesting site, but $12 per head? And why do all the employees there wear uniforms that resemble National Park Service uniforms when this attraction is a privately run business?)


PS - It was a real pleasure to finally meet SPARTAN face to face, who treated us to breakfast. Thanks!

 

WORST REST AREAS – NM (Posted sign said to watch out for snakes.)

We have a number of them little critters..............want some.
However if you step smartly…. you can miss most…. if its slithering it is a snake if it is on the pavement……we call them road rope.

 

WORST ROADS – MO & TX (my fillings almost came loose in both states)

HAHA- you aint seen nothing yet until you swing down I-10 thru houston. Between dodging the huge Cats working on the road, to the blue haired ladies in caddies to the imports stuck in the potholes; you'll forget about the fillings. I promise that. Glad you had a good safe trip. Next time swing down towards houston and Ill take you to get some of the best seafood ever.

 

Best seafood ever? Thanks for the offer, but you'd be in for some stiff competition since my father-in-law is a Chesapeake Bay waterman. BTW, it may be a few years before I do another road trip like the one we just completed.

One thing I failed to mention in my previous road trip summary ... This was the first vehicle in which my hind-parts were not gnawing at me after spending several hours in the saddle. In my two other cross-country motor vehicle journeys, both vehicles had me squirming in my seat by the end of the first day, and my tail was just plain numb thereafter. My X is a 2001 model which has the older (and LARGER, thankfully) captain's chairs up front. My tush was never uncomfortable. And would you believe it wasn't until about 3,000 miles into this trip that I realized I could turn the rear ceiling vents around to blow AC down the back of my neck? A new day, and something new to learn.

 

Oh man - the vents down the back of your neck thing is the cat's pajamas. I'm just dissapointed in you Landyot! LOL. One of the smartest guys I know and it took you three years to figure out the rear AC Excursion trick.

Seats - what about those little baby buckets in the rear of the new X's not to mention the fronts - how worthless are they? My rear bench seat sleeps like a short twin bed.

You pretty much summed it up. Worst roads MO and TX. Now you know why I travel west via I-70. MO is much smaller than TX.

Glad you are home safe and sound. Congratulations again!

And yeah - I'm from VA and grew up feeding off the Chesapeake - it will be a sore day when anybody beats the seafood that comes out of there.