I'm not sure if this is the best place for this, but I'm going to post here anyway.

I’m heading out to UT on Monday. Thought I would create a thread for the trip. Use it for notes and it can be a journal of sorts. Follow along if you like.

Recently (since Feb) I have done a lot of work to my truck; e fuel, T500, IC, Stage 2s, reburnt the chip. Since the truck has been regulated to tow duty and Sunday drives since moving to town (and a 1 mile commute), this will be the first big trip; we’re going to see how it runs and what it can do. Have some spare parts hopefully I can deal with any problems.

The trip will be somewhere around 5500 miles round trip. Leaving Easton going to visit my college roommate in Denver then dropping off a car outside Park City UT, Then down to Zion National Park and then up to Eau Claire WI where my girl is from for the 4th of July and to pick up here dad’s truck. Then back home. Figure the trip will take about 3 weeks. Be living out of the back of the truck for the most part.

This is the basic route – a figure 8 across country

Easton, MD to Easton, MD 21601 - Google Maps

Truck is the 94 in my sig. It is also where we'll be spending a couple nights.



Here is the load. fiberglass body on a ford chassis





I hope to get across the scales before I leave Mon. I’m guessing fully fueled and loaded to be around 12K lbs out to Park City, then 9500lbs to Eau Claire, then 14K back home.

Going to keep up miles, fuel, MPGs, interesting things we see/problems we have. If anyone sees the rig broken down on the side of the road feel free to stop by.

Anyone comments are welcome.

I'll get a pic of the whole setup tomorrow

 

Sounds like a good way to sepnd a few weeks and see some of the country. Look forward to the updates and some pics. Travel safe!

 

This will be interesting---subscribing as we speak!

 

okay start with a pic of the rig




guessed a little heavy on weight. took it across the scales today loaded 11980 lbs

my that bed fills up fast



got under way about 1015 this morning stopped just east of Dayton OH at about 745 tonight

ran about 515 miles

ran 385.1 before i stopped for fuel. filled up with 23.984 gallons comes to 16.056MPG now that is with stock tires, miy tires off off by about 3.5% s actual fuel economy is about 16.618. i was running about 62-64 with the cruise slightly slower on some of the longer uphills

pulling the "BIG" (that's sarcasm) md/wv hills never broke 1150* and had plenty of power to spare. i really like this tow tune from tony.

have an oil leak from the dipstick on the side of the hopefully i can put some sealant on it tomorrow night and have it hold a bit. going to order the kit from dieselorings.com and get it shipped to my GF family's house in WI I'll fix it there

 

Nice post. Keep 'em coming. 16 mpg's - I'm envious.

 

Dayton, Ohio? That's about 45 minutes west of me!

Looking back on a few of my long haul trips the most ambitious thing I've done is driving from Columbus, Ohio to Daytona, Florida and back twice in an 11 day span. For OTR drivers that's laughable but trying to run a business and watching racing live over 1,000 miles away. Fun but tiring especially when under the gun time wise.

Hope that oil leak is an easy fix-----looking forward to some scenic photos too!

 

stopped for lunch just inside CO. heading to denver tonight to stay with my college roommate. there'll be a more detailed post then (with pictures). got a low of 13.5 mpgs and the other tanks were 14.5 and 15.5

 

i don't have all the numbers in front on me but the wort i got today (all trip) was 11.80 over 155 miles. it was into a head wind and climbing the western part of kansas and eastern part of CO. also got a tank of 16.04.

last night i discovered i have 1 bolt holding my inspection cover on. the other three have mysteriously vanished, the one still there is loose. i put one zip tie through it and now need to find some bolts hopefully before i leave denver.

some pics

st louis arch


driving west in kansas


camping at milford state park in KS it was on a beautiful lake and if i had made a right instead of a left we could have camped on the lake.


here is the lake just after sundown. it was a beautiful park


look familiar? this is eastern CO


gunna leave denver tomorrow afternoon heading for cheyenne wyoming and I 80 west

 

Are you coming through Idaho at all or are you trying to shoot straight into Utah? You're getting pretty close to my neck of the woods...

That shot of eastern CO is pretty much all you're going to see for the next few hundred miles or so...

 

i don't know guys. i think WY is much better than ks. ks is the same mile after mile after mile (after you get a hundred miles in). at least wy breaks up a little.

i tried to get photos of the mountains in CO off in the distance off of I25 but my camera let me down

some of WY




look familiar


sitting in park city mcdonalds waiting on a college friend to get out of work. gunna spend another night in free lodging.

dropped off the car no issues. now running empty for about 1900 miles



again i left the mileage figures in the truck but i got just over 16(over 306 miles) and just over 15 (over 352 miles) for the two tanks today.

spent a day and a half in denver with my college roommate and his girlfriend. it was fun wondered around saw some things some i wish i hadn't. it was a nice break from driving my girl friend really liked that part. leaft this morning at 615 or so no problems. anyway my girl and i got to talking about different areas of the country and what people drive, type of vehicles, age of vehicles and what that says about the people in those areas. where we live most people have new cars trucks suvs sedans doesn't matter they are 5 years old at the most. in denver the people are crunchy (liberal into the outdoors and environment) drive smaller cars or priuses and subarus. in WY all we saw were pick up trucks. we were in WY for 360 some miles saw less than 10 cars (sedans) with WY plates majority of the cars that pasted us had out of state plates.

 

this whole trip started at christmas time. my girlfriend's (mik) mom gave her and her brother a trip to UT for a week to go hiking. they were invited to bring their significant others (me). she and i don't really like flying, she and i discussed driving and visiting friends doing some camping so we did. figured it would be fun and only cost a little more than flying and be an adventure together. so it was set we would drive my truck and camp and whatnot our way across country. then the car delivery fell into my lap. a local lady died and the estate had the car it went to the son/grandson in park city UT. well now i'm not going to make money going across country, but i won't spend any either and it only added 200 or so miles to the trip. i also gives my mik a chance to get her dad's truck home from WI (her dad died several years ago and neither her mom or brother have any use for the truck so it was given to her) since we have an empty trailer. i also love driving. this is the third time i have driven across country (or at least the majority of the way). and this trip has allowed me to see some old college buddies that i rarely get to see.

so anyway....

left park city this morning and got to zion this afternoon. i actually got to park in the hotel/lodge parking lot which blew my mind (i'll get pics of it), though i did have to unhook the trailer to do it. i thought i would have to park the truck and trailer far away. also averaged out the mpgs towing that car from Easton MD to Park City UT and came out with 15.00 mpg.

it is beautiful country and i would recommend to everyone to drive across the whole country at some point in their lives. i just wish i had more time to take some smaller/back roads. here are some pics

outside Park city


i didn't know UT had so many lakes


I got to drive through provo canyon which is gorgeous


these last 2 are driving up 9 to Zion




did some long climbs today never cracked 1150* EGTs, granted i was only hauling and empty trailer. but that was with the AC blasting and doing 64ish

 

Terry you might not be old enough to remember the time when "motoring" was all the rage here in the USA, Sunday's spent with the family loaded in the car and heading somewhere, the beginning of day trips. Summer vacations for the working man were similar, only going further and very much like yourself sight seeing, catching up with friends and family a bit distant. Roadside rest stops, diners, attractions were literally everywhere so there was rarely a dull moment. Well, if you don't consider being cooped up with family in a car for a week at a time painful it was a lot of fun or could be!

Sounds like you're both enjoying this adventure, makes it something to talk about in your later years.

Thanks for the updates----very interesting!

 

got up today and did some hiking. started early at 630 to beat the heat. did a trail to the emerald pools which while very pretty pals in comparison to angle's landing. also did some more sightseeing around the Zion Lodge and visitor center cam back to the hotel where we were staying and promptly passed out.

view from the front of the hotel parking lot


view from the room


have already seen lots of wildlife including ducks, mountain goat, mule deer, squirrels, chipmunks, and lots of birds. this deer is thinking "oh great another *****ing tourist taking photos." she was about 15 ft from the trail. the wildlife is very use to people and the chipmunks will actually run onto your packs if you set them down


some views of Zion Canyon








the top of this is angles landing



the trail to the top




the views from the top




Mik and I, yes we match isn't it sooooo cute (gun to head)


another view of angle's landing (on the far right)

 

did a hike today that looked down on yesterday's hike and then up a canyon that involved some bouldering and scrambling. here some photos

observation point where we were headed










in the center of this is angle's landing where we were yesterday




did a trail called hidden canyon and after the official end of the trail you could walk up the canyon and do some scrambling and bouldering


Mik's family - brother and mother - in the hidden arch


another of observation point

 

Looks like a great trip and appreciate all the photos.