North American Adventure

[thedjjack]

I always sleep in rest areas on long drives...

[nxski]

I always sleep in rest areas on long drives...

As in the trucker stops on the sides of the road?

[thedjjack]

No I use the public "Rest Areas" the usually have a no camping (this means no Tents). and they can have max sleep times ~6-8hours (no one enforces). Pull off with the toilets.

The US ones sometimes have free coffee.

Last Christmas when we went to Joshua Tree when we crossed the boarder they ask where we were sleeping that night (i was 1am Dec 26) I said at the first "Rest Area" and he told us there was a good one in about 10 minutes.

[nxski]

Awesome, that's a great tip, thank you! I'm more concerned with where we visit during the days than I am with where we sleep at night.

[jessef]

You don't happen to have an install thread do you? Or reccomendations for what to buy?

This is the one Jesse used on a customer's L300 and it brought the auto trans temps down significantly on highway use compared to the stock trans cooler.
http://www.summitracing.com/parts/FLX-4190/

Many different one's to choose from: http://www.summitracing.com/search/Part ... fan&RC=100

I would pick the biggest one I can stuff under there but make sure it has a fan and not a static cooler.

Install is straight forward. Pinch off the in/outlet lines going to the stock cooler. remove stock cooler. install new cooler and hook up lines. Install new trans filter/screen and flush transmission.

This is the best thing you can do to your auto transmission, especially if you're logging some serious highway miles in summer months.

[nxski]

Awesome, I'll look into that! Thanks

[nxski]

Aaaaanddd... updated again...

I've plotted this all on a map now which is why some changes were made. BCAA will create a booklet with maps for each city you're going to along with suggestions for places to visit, phone numbers for mechanics and tow trucks. I'll be asking to have this done soon and hopefully it turns out well.


Newest Route:
(May 7)
- British Columbia- home (pick up Katie)
- Washington - Forks, La Push
- Wyoming - Yellowstone national park
- Idaho- sun valley
- Utah - Great Salt Lake + Alpine Circuit
- California - San Fransisco, Yosemite
- Nevada - Las Vegas
- California - Los Angeles, Joshua City 4x4, Slab City
(June 8)
- Arizona - Phoenix, Apache Junction ~VALERIE~, Sedona, Grand Canyon
- Utah - , Arches National Park 4X4, Bryce Canyon, Zion
- New Mexico - Santa Fe (Katie flies home)
- Kansas - Meades Ranch
- Oklahoma - Ada ~R.Costa~
(July 1)
- Tennessee - Memphis ~JESSIE~ (pick up Ashleigh)
- Mississippi - Mississippi river
- Florida - Miami, The Keys, Cape Canavral + Flight Museum
- Georgia, Appalachian Mountains, Atlanta
- *Blue Ridge Parkway
- South Carolina ~possibly where Claudio will be~
- ?North Carolina - Durham ~SABRINA~
- ?Indiana - Bloomington ~CLAUDIO~
- District of Columbia - Washington
- New York - New York
- Pennsylvania - Scranton
- New York - Ithaca ~MARY JO + JIM~
- Massachusetts - Cape Cod, Boston ~DEB + REABIE~
- Vermont - Montpellier
- ?New Brunswick - St. Stephen
- ?Nova Scotia - Digby, Cape Breton (cabbot trail)
- ?New Brunswick - Fredrickton, Wood-stock
- Quebec - Quebec City, Montreal ~CLAIRE~ (Ashleigh flies home)
(August 20)
- Ontario - Ottawa ~THE SPURLINGS + CAMILLE~, Toronto ~THE BOONE'S +delicioso!~, Waterloo ~KAEL~, Niagra Falls, Carling (Killbear provincial park) Killarney (fish+chips, osa lake portage), ?Manitoulin Island (Bridal Veil Falls)
- Manitoba - Winnipeg ~VanVonVan~
- Saskatchewan - Saskatoon
- Alberta - Drumheller, Calgary ~THE SARGISSONS~, Edmonton ~THE PRYKE'S + CREGAN~
- British Columbia- Kelowna ~TERESA~, Oyama ~PENNY~, Kamloops ~JESS~, home
(September 30)
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________

I've done a rough calculation of mileage and costs (using all conservative estimates based on today's economy). I used the scale on the map and a piece of string to trace out the shortest distance that can be travelled to see each place.

*Assuming a rate of gas of $1.30 and fuel economy of 14L/100km and a regular maintenance cost of $6/100km.

Katie: Vancouver - Santa Fe
8,398.4 km ($2,016) split between 2 = $1008

Ashleigh: Memphis - Fredericton
9,556.8 km ($2294) split between 2 = $1147

Nick:
Vancouver - Santa Fe = $1008
Santa Fe - Memphis ... 2,606.4 km ($626) = $626
Memphis - Fredericton = $1147
Fredericton - Vancouver ... 7,240 ($1738) = $1738

Total = $4519

[lrp374]

I just completed a 26000 km journey across Canada, including Newfoundland, and back through the states going only as far south as Memphis. It took nearly 4 months. My journey was much different than yours will be ( truck and trailer) but in order to plan stops and route changes I found Microsoft Streets and Trips was a great resource. You can easily compare options by changing routes etc. and you don't need the internet. The maps have far greater detail than BCAA and if you want a paper map stop @ the first tourist booth and get all the detailed maps you want - for the area your visiting. The version I have is 2006 so it created a few issues but newer versions are available for about $50 or you can get versions with GPS for under $100. I found it best to always have @ least 2 and preferably 3 map systems to compare as many times my GPS, S&T and paper were different.
Enjoy your adventure!

[Feds]

On the Ontario leg: Much better to do Toronto -> Niagara Falls -> Waterloo -> go up north.

I'm near enough to Niagara Falls if you are in need of shower/shop facilities, and would be happy to meet up.

[nxski]

I haven't spent much time deciding the order I will do cities in. I've come up with a rough guideline for BCAA to produce a map. I like to wing it on my trips for the most part.

Thank you very much for your offer, I'll keep everyone posted as the trip progresses.

[liquidmonkey]

I'm in NB (Fredericton) and you are welcome to stop by for anything. I would vouch for Cabot Trail. Fundy Park in NB is fantastic. If your in Cape Breton you should definately use the proximity card and hit Newfoundland. Maine is fantastic also. Let me know if you need info on this leg of your trip. I'm very familiar with Maritime Canada and New England states.

Cheers

[nxski]

Thanks for the offer! I'll be in touch throughout the trip.

[BproofOG]

no Yukon? no NWT? I have lived and worked all over Canada and in Southern Cali but never bought a home until I saw Canada's north.
Joshua Tree is open year round and does not take long to see - from the road. World class rock climbing and some great hiking trails as well. Get a good map though the rock is like a maze and it is easy to lose your way.

post pics of your travels... and have fun!!!

[nxski]

Yukon, NWT and Alaska are for another trip, as well as the westcoast (driving along the coastline) of the US since I'm doing a lot of zig zags this time. I just picked up a huge pile of booklets that I had BCAA make for me along with every state and provincial map, western and eastern maps, national maps and I have a very nice GPS with up-to-date maps as well. I'm looking forward to it and will try to stay as active as possible on delica.ca and facebook with lots of updates.

Also, is there a good website for plotting my route while travelling? I thought I saw some from other Delica people who've done longer journeys!?

[Artacoma]

We went south for few weeks last fall and as a rule we stopped at the first visitors info every time we crossed a state line and loaded up on the free maps and free info regarding hwy conditions , camping availability etc.
The visitor info people were always friendly ,chatty and pointed us to great stops we never heard of.
I also used a great photo blogging tool called justpullover.com