Better Beaters - Building Cars and Daily Drivers

Driving, driving, and even more driving! 

The Summer has come to an end as I finish writing up this post. 

I started writing this post back in June, I've racked up a lot of miles since then.

Jordan understood the attraction of driving.

The City is surprisingly empty during the week.

My plan is to make the most of this decade of my life.

My last "fun" decade.  "Fun?" In my Seventies? It's all relative. They're all that I've got left!

Laugh if you will, but at my age you've got to get the most out of the years that you've got left.

Enjoyment for me has always been about motorized travel. 

We just returned from our annual trip to the Oregon Coast. 

A one night lay over in Klamath Falls on the way up, nine days in Depoe Bay, and then two more nights in Klamath Falls on the return trip. We wanted to be off the road on Memorial Day itself.

A total of a bit over 1,800 miles, which netted overall trip gas mileage of 24.3 in our Flex. As always, the Flex makes a great road trip car, comfortable, quiet and relaxing to drive. I especially like how it allows us the luxury of extra room to fit in our stuff. 

Is the Flex fun to drive like a sporty car? No, but for me, the fun is always in the trip itself. Now that I'm retired, I'm never in a hurry and enjoy the process and looking at the scenery. My days of burning up the road are long past.

Now we are up in Reno. ( That's where I was when I started writing this post) I made it a point to take the Mustang. It seems that I'm hardly able to put any miles on that car. 

My Wife wanted to attend a quilt show and she wanted to take some classes that were offered a couple of days before the show. Mileage for the trip would be a bit over 500 miles.

So, why not? 

I just put a new set of tires on the car as well as a new battery. It's a shame to just let it sit in the garage.

I haven't driven up Interstate 80 to Reno in a long time. We usually stay in South Lake Tahoe and take Highway 50. If we go to Reno, we take the back highways.  It's a very nice scenic drive on 80, east of the Lake Tahoe area. It's also a much faster highway than I remembered it to be.

We stayed at a condo in downtown Reno. My Wife attended her quilt show. I drove around Reno, visited the Harley dealership, then spent a couple of days walking the area checking out the old casinos.

I also visited the National Auto Museum. I posted photos from that visit last week.

While in Reno the "little wrench" icon lit up on the dash. That meant that a little wrenching needed to be done. The car seemed to run the same as always, so I just let it go. 

On the way home the CEL came on, but again it seemed to run the same,. The last time this happened I needed to clean the Mass Air Flow Sensor.( MAS) It seems that the K&N open air filter bleeds a bit of oil into the sensor, fouling it. I have not been a fan of that open filter. Just think, the former owner paid over 300 bucks for the darn thing!

By the time I pulled into the drive at home, the CEL had gone off.  

A week later I drove my Wife up to Sacramento for a Glow Forge show and sale. This time we drove the Flex. That's another 240 miles.

Just this weekend I drove up to Dixon for an antique motorcycle show and swap meet, produced by the Antique Motorcycle Club of America. I was so impressed by the show and the machines that I joined the club!

That trip was only a couple of hundred miles added to the Mustang.

So what's up with all this determination to drive?

It's about making the most out of the time that I've got left. I realistically feel that I've got at least a good decade left to drive wherever, and whenever I want.

There's no point in looking back, I can't get those years back. Not to say that I haven't had a lot of fun driving my cars and riding my motorcycles over those past years, because I did. 

I have to deal with the reality of making the most of the time that I've got left. So I'm pretty much ready to drive anywhere. 

My Wife wanted to attend a jewelry making "boot camp" up in Washington state, in the Seattle area. She asked if I wanted to drive up with her, or whether she should fly up with her friends. 

Of course I answered, let's drive.

In preparation I removed and cleaned the MAS. The CEL went out after that. I did wonder how long it would stay off. That darn open K&N air filter. I was going to be prepared, and carried the needed tools and supplies with me, just in case it needed to be done while on the trip.

This would be 800 miles one way, for a round trip of 1,600 plus miles. There would be four driving days that would cover 400 miles each. We would drive up and have a one night stop over in Medford Oregon. This is the repeat of the first leg of our annual trip to the Oregon Coast, which we just did in May. Then we would continue north on Interstate 5 into Washington. It's been quite a few years since I've been that far North.  

I've been up Interstate 5 quite a few times, it's a bit boring until we pass Redding and the road enters the mountains. Then there is the descent towards Medford. One of my favorite stretches is between Medford and Grants Pass through the Rogue River area. 

Lots of winding, smoothly paved mountain highways which are very scenic and great fun to drive.

The Mustang is great to drive in conditions like that. The ride is smoother and the engine is fairly quiet cruising at 70 mph. Gas mileage has been averaging at 23.5 mpg. 

There are antique stores in Medford and up the road in Springfield, that we usually stop for.

Trophy from the road. A '70 Boss 429 dressed up as
 a Sheriff's Dept. vehicle. Bought in Portland.

Lincoln Mark V, bought in Springfield Oregon.

On the way back we encountered a lot of traffic driving south on I 5 from Centralia Wa. The traffic persisted until we were well south of Portland. Freeways in this area are quite narrow, especially in Portland itself. There is even a drawbridge on the Interstate crossing the Columbia river! I can imagine how that would snarl up traffic when it is in operation. 

Portland has become a very popular city. It appears to now be very nice with nice cityscapes. I first drove through there in the mid 1970's. It struck me then as a very dreary, neglected city, but it has certainly experienced a Renaissance since then. That accounts for all the traffic. They were in the middle of a heat wave, and we stopped at a huge rest stop south of the City which was completely jammed with motorists looking to take a break. After a quick lunch we were back on the road.

On the return leg, driving through the mountains, I was in the mood for a little higher speed driving; passing slower vehicles and running at speeds at up to 80 mph. After I crossed into California I dialed it all back and went back to my usual 70 mph. cruising speed. I find that much more relaxing.

The drive home was easy and relaxing, though it was a tad boring. We arrived home without any problems in the early afternoon. Gas mileage for the entire 1,600 mile trip was 24 MPG according to the trip computer. I had been concerned that the check engine light might be tripped by a dirty MAS sensor while on the trip, but that never happened. I had carried the necessary tools and cleansing spray with me on the trip, just in case. It would be a 15 minute fix at worst. It's always a smart move to be prepared, I remember that from my days as a Boy Scout.

The Summer is drawing to an end. So far I've driven a total of 4,340 miles. I am happy to say these have been safe trouble free miles. There may be more opportunities to hit the road before the Summer ends. I'll continue to make the most of the opportunities that make themselves available to me.

We are always ready to take a trip to Pismo Beach whenever we can. My Wife made arrangements and we drove down to spend a few nights and days. Besides walking on the beach and eating fish and chips and clam chowder, there were a few antique and quilt stores that my Wife wanted to visit. 

Distance of a bit over 400 miles.

My cell phone doesn't take good long distance shots.

We took a lunch break at a rest stop south of King City on US101. It's so nice to not be in a hurry, and with no kids and no pets at home, we are free to take our time.

On the way down we passed the first motel built in the United States, located in San Luis Obispo right off of US101, the Motel Inn. I told my Wife that I really wanted to take a picture in front of the Inn on this trip. I've wanted to do that for almost fifteen years, but it seems that I'm always in a hurry on the trip back.

This trip I finally did it.

No rooms are available.

The motel was built in 1925, and was the first motel built in the U.S. It was the idea of two brothers, Arthur and Alfred Heineman. It was originally called the Milestone Inn. It was located "approximately halfway between Los Angeles and San Francisco." Later it was renamed the Motel Inn and it remained open until 1991. Now the property belongs to the adjacent motel, the Apple Inn. 

Before this, most hotels were located in the main downtown area of a city. There might be tourist camps where travellers could pitch a tent, or stay in small tourist cabins out by the highway. This was the birth of the roadside motor- hotel. The"motel."

Blue sky matches blue Mustang.

I found that there was going to be an antique motorcycle swap meet at two places on the same day. One in San Luis Obispo and one in Modesto. Then I learned that the big Turlock swap meet was also on that Sunday. 

I ended up going to the antique swap meet first, and later I drove up to Turlock for the swap meet. Total distance for this excursion was 200 miles.

The Summer is winding down, but there was still time to squeeze in one more family get together. We planned a four day get together in Windsor. I offered to drive my youngest daughter and her partner, saving them the hassle and expense of driving. My Son and his Wife would drive up and meet us there. I'm glad that I have my Flex, it is comfortable and spacious, but we still managed to cram it pretty full! I plan to keep a large vehicle like this in the fleet for the future. I like being able to provide transport to my adult children, when it's needed. We even rode six up, in it on one occasion. 

 Again this trip was planned around my Wife's desire to attend a Halloween art/crafts sale in Petaluma as well as the Petaluma Antique Faire. The next day they all wanted to go to an Escape Room. I initially  deferred, as I'm a bit claustrophobic, but I later relented. I found that there wasn't any reason for concern.

This is a pretty local trip for us, and I only rolled up a bit over 400 miles over the long weekend.

I've had a pretty busy Summer, with many long and several shorter road trips. I enjoyed them all. I'm glad that I still enjoy getting behind the wheel, I plan on putting down as many miles as I can. While I still can.

After all, there are only "so many" Summers left.