TripleBlackxThree

Just finished an epic road trip in the Vert. See pix link at the bottom of this post.

The general route was from the Dallas/Ft. Worth area where we live to Seattle, then south to San Francisco, LA, San Diego, and back to DFW. My wife didn't have enough vacation to ride with me the whole trip so she flew into Seattle where our son lives. I picked her up there and flew her out of San Francisco 9 days later. I took three days driving to Seattle and 3 driving back from San Francisco via LA/SD.

Some stats:

Miles Driven: 6182
Top Down Miles: 5299 (2445 consecutive) This might be a forum record... speak up, or I may claim it.
Average gas mileage: 29.0 Was over 30 for much of the trip home, but dipped below coming back through West Texas.
Top Speed: Well 75 of course.
Tickets: None. My lowly Solo2 saved me plenty of times.
Lowest Top Down Temp Observed: 54 and light rain.
Highest Top Down Temp Observed: 120 Time for the top up!
Highest Temp Observed: 130 – Needles, CA. 54 was sounding pretty good there.
Most embarassing moment: Being asked about my "smoked chrome" wheels by a forum member admiring them at a distance at the ALMS race at Infineon and having to explain it was only 3k miles of road grime. Actually from a distance, they looked kinda

Managed to take a lot of scenic side trips including several recommended by forum members.

Just a few...
Monument Valley
Hwy 64 across northern New Mexico
Mt. St. Helens
McKenzie Pass in Oregon
Crater Lake
Avenue of the Gaints (Redwood forest in Northern Ca.)
PCH in CA
ALMS race at Sears Point
Hwy 95 north from I10 to I40 in Ca. (what a roller coaster!!! )

What a great car to road trip in. It was very comfortable, reliable, and of course a blast to drive.

My car is a Black 04 Vert and like most on the forum, I try very hard to keep it spotless and nick/ding free. Also have been trying to keep the miles down. I worried the whole first day about dirt, grime, gravel chips, and general wear and tear. While driving here

that concern just evaporated. I decided I bought the car for the way it felt to drive, not for someone else to wonder how I kept it so clean. From there on it was pedal down... no worries.

Here are a few pix. I posted these in a "Thank you" thread yesterday to all the guys on the West Coast that helped me plan the trip, so they are dups if you saw them there.

I'm rambling so I'll close with this: I've traveled a lot and driven rental cars on some of the most scenic roads in the US. NOTHING compares with blasting down these same roads in a top down Vert. It was just the best. If you've ever thought about a long road trip in your Vette... Do it the frist chance you get.

rayncris

a man and his Vette....beautiful. Way to keep the top down. One of the brotherhood for sure .

Glad you liked your trip so much. When are you doing the DFW to New York version?

Good job. I came to that realization while I was driving down the coast in California....cars need to be driven. Well done.

Ray

vettecop1125

Great pics. Looks like you had a fun time. Love the pic of the Golden Gate.

vetterlatethannever

Awesome! That has to be one of the nicest photo collections from a trip I have seen. I have to put some on my fututre to do list.

Last C5

Outstanding slide show, I've got to get me a camera. Hope you enjoyed the road up to Mt. St. Helens. We've got quite a few more just like it.

NSTG8R

cant wait for mine .. wont be 6k worth of miles.

looking at 3k next month. hopefully all top down.

looks like you had a blast .. enjoy it! remember .. in the end .. you'll only have your memories (and maybe not even those .. )

WALLstAL

Excellent!

Vetteman Jack

Sounds like an awesome trip - plenty of time to really enjoy the car.

talon90

Nice write-up of what looks like a fantastic road trip! The pictures were awesome. I'd love to see some of the full size pics as I'm sure the resize didn't do them any justice. These cars are just amazing on long road trips. I still marvel at the comfort I find in my sportseats on trips. Good for you for taking the scenic route.

Paul

Dark-Knight

Way, way cool!

blazeone

Great trip and pix

Hundoracer

Thanks for the pics! Looks like you had a blast...

PEW01

Great pics, thanks for sharing

b98

way

Smoke-N-Shot

Nice pics and thanks for sharing....

jrose7004

That sounds like a lot of fun!

darkmercury

I hope to do something like that one day! That has always been a dream of mine too! The open road across America with my Vette!

Awesome man... That just made my day!

74-Roadster

Thanks for the pics!

And I'm glad you had a safe trip and are back home safely!

navy99vert

Thanks for the pix! You might want to get yout HUD check I saw a few speeds over 75

dadvan99

Thanks for sharing your awesome trip with us!!!!