road trip
 

leaving tomorrow for copper mountain, colorado. should arrive on thursday and spend the weekend there. start the return trip on monday. around 3600 miles round trip. this will be the first time for the boxster to visit the states of iowa, nebraska and colorado.

according to google maps, the "suggested" route is north along the ohio and indiana state lines, passing near chicago and then on. i'm not yet certain if that's the way i'll go. a run-in with an indiana state trooper on the same stretch of I80 back in january requires me to keep my record clean in the state for another 7 months. :cool:

usually on my road trips i end up leaving around noon. i think this time i will try to head out early!

http://greenpuppydev.com/blog_post_i...trip_route.png

I live in Colorado about 45 miles SW of Denver and my folks still live in Rockford, IL. I've made that trip at least a dozen times and always use the route you show. From the Chicago area at least, it is the fastest way out here. Too bad you have to drive across Iowa and Nebraska - (I think the only thing worse is Kansas). At least after you get through Denver the roads start to get interesting.
Have a good trip and I'm sure you will enjoy that Bozster when you get out here.

Dave S.

I used to drive that route between home in Denver and Indiana (school). There's not much interesting to see through eastern Colorado, Iowa and Nebraska, sorry residents, but there just isn't. At least Iowa is hilly.

If you have the time, you could take the northern route through Wisconsin, Minnesota, S Dakota and Wyoming. Much prettier scenery.

I've been in Seattle for 8 months now and am really missing Colorado's roads. But not the heat wave they're having.

Have a good trip!

Who was it that told me to check my spare tire before starting my road trip??? I also carry a kit for tire repair but that was not much help with the damage I had.

Have fun, I am!

quite a few police on the PA turnpike. quite a lot of construction too.

currently in austintown, oh. going to try to make it to south bend, in - another 300 miles or so.

http://db.tt/WZ0rW0T

"Porsche Parking"

I like the "Additional Parking" sign in the background...can someone photoshop in a sign in tony's row that reads "Porsche Parking"?
:dance:

made it to omaha, nebraska last night. pretty uneventful except for all the traffic around chicago. took me almost 3 hours to go 90 miles between the general traffic (i guess i shouldn't try to get through during rush hour) and the construction - i swear half of 80 was limited to 45 mph in the "work zone" though there were no workers to be seen.

here come the pics...

i wish i knew what my a/c was set at... been this way for a while. just have not fixed it with module master's new panel.

http://greenpuppydev.com/blog_post_i...o_whattemp.jpg


wheee...


http://greenpuppydev.com/blog_post_i..._pa_curves.jpg

if you can't go around, go through! mountain tunnel in PA.

http://greenpuppydev.com/blog_post_i...pa_tunnel1.jpg

nice fixer-upper. i think it's around $150 / month...

http://greenpuppydev.com/blog_post_i...ixer_upper.jpg

and finally - my windshield is quite schmeared!

http://greenpuppydev.com/blog_post_i...windshield.jpg

Time for a quick stop at Wal-Mart/Target/gas station for some glass cleaner...or the ever-present squeegee cleaner next to the pump at the gas station. :rolleyes:

:cheers:

SWEEEEEEEET !! the way the good man meant it to be !

yay! picked up the car this afternoon. new water pump installed. staying an extra night in colorado then start the trip back home.

so far on this trip i've replaced the water pump and ignition switch. sadly the driver's side arm rest has gone flaccid. lifted it up one morning to put my wallet in there. heard a *snap* and it fell back down.

Wait a sec...you had to replace the water pump on your trip? Did I miss something above? It didn't fail on you, did it?

it was "failing." as i was leaving omaha i started hearing what i thought was an occasional brake dragging. as i got into colorado i noticed it was more of a rattle/grinding noise and had gotten a lot more constant. was scared it was the IMS bearing going out.

after a little more thought i remembered seeing some crust on one of the coolant hoses last week when i did an oil change. hooked up the durametric and watched the cam shaft deviation numbers and they didn't change. so figured it had to be the water pump or a pulley.

took it to a denver p-shop and they confirmed the water pump was going out. the pulley was wobbling and the bearings had started to grind.

it was the original pump - the tech said he did have to cut the gasket. 92k miles on it.

http://greenpuppydev.com/blog_post_images/waterpump.jpg

driving through kansas - i think there's more "bug" than paint on the car now.

http://www.greenpuppydev.com/blog_po...ip/ks_bugs.jpg

Beware: The great Bug Hunter Cometh! :troll:

Never driven across Saskatchewan on the Trans-Canada, have you? :D

I think your car's saying :eek: "EWWWWW! GET IT OFF! GET IT OFF!! GET IT OFF!!!" :barf:

In other news, your radiators must've gotten housed after all that, might wanna check em...and it's probably a good thing you don't have that 3rd radiator in this instance. That's a crazy amount of dead insect.

Been doin' some night time driving, eh?

At least you missed the earthquake here.

Like the poster says, "Kills Bugs Fast"... But I think one of those spots on your bumper is a bird?????

That's why I'm a true life-long believer in 3M clear bra installation.

Welcome to my world
 

Yeah, living in the midwest, I have to deal with a nightly barrage of Kamikaze bugs, hell bent on desecrating my Boxster. As for my radiators, I actually checked them yesterday and they were surprisingly clean.

I remember many years ago I was riding my motorcycle on the highway at night. As I approached this bridge over a river I could see what looked like fog over the bridge area. As I hit this patch of fog at about 65 mph, I discovered that it was in fact a massive swarm of fish flies - millions of them. No windshield on the bike. Sure was glad I was wearing a full face helmet, but it was really, really gross to be covered head to foot in squished bugs.

i think that's close to what i said when the spider jump off my steering wheel towards me (among other things!) thankfully i was at a stop sign otherwise i would have been swerving all over the road.

made it home last night. just finished washing the car.

other than replacing the ignition switch and water pump (both of which i should have done before leaving), the only other thing that happened with the car was the driver's side door pocket cover lost it's spring. now it's all flappy and won't stay up.

while i was washing it i noticed a new rock chip right over the passenger side headlight. at one point i was stuck behind a truck hauling road stuff and it hit a bump - saw little rocks fly up and bounce all over the hood. i'm surprised there were not more chips.

also, looks like a red car was parked next to me at one point because on the passenger door there's a small red smudge that i first thought was bug blood but turns out to be a little paint.

i'm sunburned on my arms because yesterday was a top-down day. almost 6 hours of sun.

3550 miles round trip, 153 gallons of gas, passed through 11 separate states (Maryland -> Pennsylvania -> Ohio -> Indiana -> Illinois -> Iowa -> Nebraska -> Colorado -> Kansas -> Missouri -> Illinois -> Indiana -> Ohio -> West Virginia -> Pennsylvania -> Maryland)

i hear boxstoberfest is in a couple of weeks... 3200 miles round trip. :dance:

more pictures soon.

some more photos...
driving through the allegheny mountains in pennsylvania

http://greenpuppydev.com/blog_post_i.../3_pa_road.jpg

http://greenpuppydev.com/blog_post_i...ountryside.jpg

http://greenpuppydev.com/blog_post_i..._mountains.jpg

if i pay $200, does that mean i can ignore the speed limit?

http://greenpuppydev.com/blog_post_i...eding_cost.jpg

i think this was the tallest structure in nebraska...

http://greenpuppydev.com/blog_post_i...2_nebraska.jpg

the reason for my road trip was to participate in the warrior dash in copper mountain, colorado. if you've never heard of it, it's a 5k run with obstacle courses. it ended up being a lot of fun. people of all ages, races, backgrounds were there. i think the organizers said close to 10,000 people attended.

start line...
http://greenpuppydev.com/blog_post_i...dash_start.jpg

one of the more fun obstacles was a mud pit that you have to crawl through, being careful of the overhead barbed wire.
http://greenpuppydev.com/blog_post_i...14_mud_pit.jpg

after rinsing off, i still had mud in every crevice
http://greenpuppydev.com/blog_post_i...rrior_dash.jpg

of course, after the race and getting my car back, i had to go for a short drive through the mountains.

http://greenpuppydev.com/blog_post_i...o_shooting.jpg

fyi: the sign says "NO SHOOTING - Except during the lawful pursuit of birds and mammals." people are mammals too...

on my way out of colorado, i ended up taking a non-interstate road and let the boxster stretch his legs a little... ;)

http://greenpuppydev.com/blog_post_i..._dirt_road.jpg

http://greenpuppydev.com/blog_post_i..._flat_road.jpg

ended up pulling into a service area and couldn't resist parking next to the honda.

http://greenpuppydev.com/blog_post_i...da_boxster.jpg

something i found interesting, he pulled in right before i did. i had time to close my top, lock it. unplug my iphone, gather up my wallet, shut off the ignition, get out of the car and lock it all while he was busy closing and locking his top. i guess only having 1 latch point is convenient!

I saw that museum over on the side of the road for over a year as they were constructing it. They built it and then picked it up and put it on the pillars over the highway.

Tony, your shirt is awesome! I spent a good few minutes laughing at that coupled with your expression in the photo. :D