misterp Posted June 11, 2009 Report Share Posted June 11, 2009 5400-miles over 8 days, lots of time to bond with the truck, the kids, and the girlfriend. It has been really nice to get away from it all, lots of highlights - the kids are awesome (as always), and the girlfriend is shaping-up to be a real keeper (finally!) - this was a very rewarding trip. EVEN BETTER, I discovered Misty (my girlfriend) grew-up riding with her dad a long-haul trucker, she is already road-trained YES!!!! She can read a map, automatically unwraps & hands you your Big-Mac, and does not need a break every 50-miles. There may be a God afterall!!! On the not-so-wonderful side, the exhaust is rattling against the transmission crossmember, the truck drivetrain is now so noisy that when coasting it sounds like there's gravel for bearings in the front axle and transfer case, I'm pretty certain the viscous coupling in the transfer case is partially fused, the glovebox handle rattles and to the kids' amusement it drove me up the freaking wall, there's a buzzing in the dash or console now, the third brake light leaks water like a biatch and soaked the back 1/4 of the headliner, the relay for the headlights has worked itself loose and several times the headlights shut off (!), and about 1/2-way through the trip there was a mystery noise which I swore was a hum in the left-rear speaker but the kids traced it down to the aspirator above my head afterwhich I was driving down the road at 90-mph beating on the headliner with my fist (it worked, the aspirator quit humming! for now). The truck got BAD gas mileage. The PCM tune is so bad on the truck it actually got BETTER mileage going up and down the Rockies than it did on flat level freeway - the average MPG was 14 Then again my average speed over the entire trip was 73-mph, city driving included; the cruise was set at 90 and the tach at 2900-RPM almost the whole way except the day puttering around Yellowstone Again I wish I had the time to log & tune the truck along the trip because I drove through every possible weather, road, and altitude condition you can imagine. After I get the headers switched-out that will be a priority. Jerry Hereid freshend the transmission before I left for CA, and the transmission has absolutely come alive during the trip, it's now positively hammering into 2nd, hard enough that Misty and the kids just subconciously braced for the 1-2 kick every time Misty asked me "...WHY is it shifting like that?!" The kids were already used to it LOL. It's perfect! If you want a transmission built right call Jerry. Got in a couple fun driving moments, including passing a caravan of 4 trucks & pilot cars in the sandhills on the indian reservation in Rosebud SD, they were delivering a windmill and I started at 40mph, by the time I passed the lead pilot car the truck had long ago shifted into 4th under WOT... I dunno how fast that was but it was at least 135 But the best was blasting the truck stoplight to stoplight around Chinatown in San Francisco with the windows down, the Corsa was loud as f*ck in the land of the econo-cars you had to be there, Misty said "oh my god you're a child" but once we were on the bay bridge she told me she wants a SSS now Taking a photo-op at Salt Lake: ...and I drove us around Lake Tahoe and through my old stomping grounds in the Sierra gold country : My sister and her husband recently bought 11-acres of grapes outside Lodi CA, we stayed with her - I washed-up the truck and snapped a pic: Kids love Bedrugs! I picked-up my kids for the road trip back to Texas, and after about 30-minutes I lost track of my daughter - I discovered she had snuck away and was cat-napping in the back of the truck She told me she missed the truck. Misty is born/raised in Sturgis SD and told me she had never seen the ocean before, so I took us to Golden Gate Park; we stayed at the beach for about an hour and then drove across the bridge into the city for dinner in Chinatown: Yellowstone Park! We were spotting license plates while driving through the park, and I already assumed we would be the only SSS in the entire state (it was!) but not only that we were the only vehicle from Texas the entire day there. Yellowstone is a BIG PLACE, I'm talking like a couple-hundred MILES of road inside the park, you cannot see it all in a day - if you ever go plan on spending 2 days there and sleeping in a camper or getting a room in Cody Wyoming. It's worth the trip, I highly recommend it and we'll have to go back to see the rest of the park again. We saw the main attractions at Yellowstone like Old Faithful and the wildlife and mudpots etc. My daughter later told her mom on the phone, "and did you know they have geysers at Yellowstone? They all smell like shredded butt!" This is the lower falls of the Yellowstone River - WOW. My kids Michael and Savanna - yeah unfortunately I have to claim them as mine. Why is it everytime I take pictures of my friends they are flipping off the camera, and the kids are picking their noses at the camera?... what hint am I missing here? A first for the truck - SNOW. We stayed in Cody Wyoming and it f'n snowed overnight. In JUNE. Note to self, visit Yellowstone in July next time! Since we were driving "through the neighborhood", Misty took us on a quick tour of her last job, the Black Thunder coal mine in eastern Wyoming, the largest operating coal mine in the Americas. Misty used to drive one of these house-sized coal hauling Cat dump trucks for a living - Misty is a qualified heavy equipment operator The tires are 13-ft tall, the top of the truck is 30-ft tall and I was surprised they get-up & go and haul major ass across the mine. Also, as we were leaving - about 1/3rd-mile back from the side of the road we stopped to watch the largest operating dragline shovel in the world. A picture Savanna took of a rainbow in Nebraska: Thank you to everyone that extended an invitation to me and my family on the road, we did not have time to stop at all - believe me if I had a few more days it would have been a treat to enjoy everyone's company along the way but the schedule did not allow it, I had to drive like hell as it was. I DO want to make more road trips, I'm even thinking of doing like Bonj did and vacationing/visiting with SSS members. Time to catch-up on a week's worth of missed work. Ugh. Mr. P. 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70chevy03ss Posted June 11, 2009 Report Share Posted June 11, 2009 Awesome pics looks like fun. Glad to see you made it back safe and sound. Looks like you need to give the SSS some TLC Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CoolBlueSS Posted June 11, 2009 Report Share Posted June 11, 2009 Very cool, Steve. My wife is on a teacher training camp at a coal mine/power plant in Longview. She sent me a picture of her standing next to one of those tires. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jaymz Posted June 11, 2009 Report Share Posted June 11, 2009 Great pictures man ! Glad you had a fun/safe trip, and a chance to stretch the SS's legs Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hankg42 Posted June 11, 2009 Report Share Posted June 11, 2009 Beautiful pictures, and you always have a good story to tell! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RockHead Posted June 11, 2009 Report Share Posted June 11, 2009 Nice Pics Steve looks like alot of fun Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WODY'S GIRL Posted June 11, 2009 Report Share Posted June 11, 2009 Awesome pics! Looks like a great time.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KissMySilvSS Posted June 11, 2009 Report Share Posted June 11, 2009 Great pics/story Steve! I'm glad you had a good time! As always, the truck is looking good Teddy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IMPALASS_RIDER Posted June 11, 2009 Report Share Posted June 11, 2009 this pic is PERFECT Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gixxerrider Posted June 11, 2009 Report Share Posted June 11, 2009 Sounds like you had a great time. I had a great time in Texas must have been cuz you were out of town. lol Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GetWithIt Posted June 11, 2009 Report Share Posted June 11, 2009 Nice pics Steve.............. .....Sounds like you had fun, and that's all that matters............. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brobradh77 Posted June 11, 2009 Report Share Posted June 11, 2009 awesoem steve...glad you all had a great time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
black00chev Posted June 12, 2009 Report Share Posted June 12, 2009 I love that picture of the falls (new background) Glad you all had a fun time Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slammedbowtie Posted June 12, 2009 Report Share Posted June 12, 2009 Beautiful pictures, and you always have a good story to tell! ditto steve! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigBlack Posted June 12, 2009 Report Share Posted June 12, 2009 Great story I was very entertained. You should tell stories for a living.. LOL The pics were great. Glad you and your family had a good time.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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