Transcontinental Road Trip Redux

[brownie93]

What a fun thread! I love the history lesson as you drive along as well

[Cintos]

Greetings:

Getting close to the finish line! Today we did about 350 miles from Quaaout to Pemberton, BC. The first stretch to Kamloops was on fast-roll quasi-interstate. Once off to the north on the Trans-Canadian "scenic" route, the road took on a decidedly cozier behavior. We enjoyed a "greek" lunch in Cache Creek at the Heartland Family Restaurant.

Leaving Cache Creek, and the Trans-Canadian Highway, our route took us up RT97 a bit, then onto the much more scenic and rustic RT99. The road got significantly rougher and required much more attention to where we put the wheels. How about a roadway bridge made of timbers?

At the historic town of Lillooet we visited the Museum and Visitor Center. They have converted an old church to hold a fantastic display of early pioneer life in the Fraiser River valley.

Leaving Lillooet, RT99 continues to generate excitement as the road twists and turns, and the bridges are now mostly one-lane! I understand that this section of roadway is consider the real thing when it comes to Twisties, but I would be hard pressed to recommend it today. Better to try in a month or so. At present the center 30KM of this 100KM stretch of 99 is undergoing major upgrades. They took it right down to the gravel, graded it, then are putting on a base asphalt coat and a finish coat. The job looks to be about 50% done, with only about 5KM as graded/oiled gravel presently. The roadbed will be spectacular through this stretch by mid August.

This evening we are at the lovely Pemberton Valley Lodge Tomorrow we are off to the Seattle area via Whistler and Vancouver. Keeping the fingers crossed, as our road trip is almost finished and the weather and luck continues on our side.

- Michael

[tubut]

Sorry, I didn't know there was roadwork going on along the way (I wasn't up there since last summer). Hope you didn't encounter too many Winnebagos or RVs. See you in Portland tomorrow evening...

[Cintos]

Quote:

Originally Posted by tubut ... Hope you didn't encounter too many Winnebagos or RVs. See you in Portland tomorrow evening...

[Cintos]

Greetings:

Today we traveled from BC back into the US. Much of the trip was a grind, especially traversing Vancouver and getting back into heavy Interstate traffic on I5.

On the way, though, we spent several hours in the sparkling Village of Wistler. This place is gearing up for the 2010 Winter Olympics, and the result is stunning. The center of the village is a 1/2 mile pedestrian mall, dotted with great stores and fine restaurants. While there is a bit of "Disney" in the spiffiness, the structures look to be built to last a hundred years! We had a nice lunch in a bistro overlooking the village square.

Upon arriving in Seattle, we quickly headed for the Space Needle and found some secure parking. The "alternate transportation" bug bit again, and we were off on the Monorail to downtown.

A map of the area was provided at the Monorail kiosk, and while standing on Pine St searching for a nice restaurant, a fine young lady approached us and asked if she could help us. Upon hearing we were looking for a nice seafood restaurant down by the water she - without hesitation - suggested we head to Etta's on Western Ave. We were seated at a window table overlooking the waterfront park, a truly lovely setting for our Oysters, Tuna and Dungeness Crab servings. Yummy!

Tomorrow we are off to the south, and will attempt to make the trip over to the Mt. St. Helen observatory.

Then the 2009 AROC Convention!!!!

- Michael

[Nicola]

Michael -
Hope you enjoy your drive down/around St. Helens as much as the Pre-Convention Tour participants and the Renegade Tour drivers. We all did the east side, as you know from the directions I sent you.
We'll see you tomorrow afternoon and we'll be waiting to hear the tales in person.

[Cintos]

DONE! Arrived at Convention site at 6PM. Scrambling to clean up for the Portland Dining bus at 7PM.

YEA!!!!!

[Cintos]

Greetings:

Well, this is a bit anticlimactic, but we should clean up the register of the last day. We started out from Seattle with an optimistic plan to take in the sights and roads of two of the North-West's great wonders - Rainier and St. Helens. Those were on the agenda for our first day of the Alfetta Recovery last year, but the early June weather was heavy overcast with snow.

Optimistic, as the roads around the east side of these monsters are challenging, and it would be hard to get into Portland in time for the Notte Italiana dinner at the listed 6 PM start time. Once again the sun, traffic (non) and luck held sway and Kathy and I were able to visit both Sunrise and Windy Ridge. And dinner actually worked since there was a bus at 7PM!

Seattle & Portland ~ sea level, Sunrise 6,400 ft, @ Packwood @ 1,051 ft, Windy Ridge @ 5,038 ft = a whole lot of gearshifts over 300 miles of road!

As an example of the lack of traffic, we left Windy Ridge on St. Helen's eastern flank and drove to within 15 miles of I5 before we came upon a car ahead of us. And there was never anyone behind pushing, either! Only issue keeping the day sober was that the roadbed had the occasional frost heave waiting in the shadows to smack the bump-stops and clang the exhaust if the eye and concentration strayed.

Our lunch stop was in Packwood, between the two mountains. We had eaten at this particular pizzeria last year during our failed viewing attempt.

Statistic: door-to-door milage was (147,313-142,419) 4,899, and adjusting for the 4% optimistic odometer = ~4,700 Miles. I did not fill up this evening, so I don't have final fuel costs yet.

- Michael

[Cintos]

Greetings:

We are safely home in CT after a wonderful vacation that included the 2009 AROC Convention in Portland. Thanks to all who contributed to the success of our road trip. Now that the Spider has carried out its duty with nary a wimpier, we can start to brag about how wonderful it all was without jinxing our luck!

Statistic to consider: The spider consumed three quarts of oil and 164 Gallons of premium gasoline, for a cost of just over $500. Our little iPhone app calculated that we had a carbon footprint of 3300 lbs of CO2. Now 164 gallons weighs under 1,000 lb of "C" , so I guess that binds with ~ two times as much slightly heavier (8 vs 6) "O" = 3,300 lb? My only thought is that would be 1/3 the footprint of an Excursion....

Here are a few more high resolution photos from the trip, in order that they appear below in BB-size

Beartooth Pass
Road to Jasper
Athabasca Glacier, a tongue of the Columbia Icefield
Road up Revelstoke Mountain
CacheCreek to Lillooet

- Michael

[Roadtrip]

Michael & Kathy -
What a fabulous trip!!! I just spent the last 45 minutes going through the entire thread and looking at the really great photos you took and reading your thoughts along the way. This is a really great thread . . . the best and most interesting I've see on the BB.

A sharp looking Spider, an open road, and beautiful lady in the right seat. Doesn't get any better than that!

Thanks so much for sharing your journey with us!!

[Cintos]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Roadtrip Thanks so much for sharing your journey with us!!

[multicam]

Michael and Kathy

It's was great reading about your little car trip.
Kudos for getting the award for, "Most miles traveled in a Alfa to a AROC convention"!
Wonderful memories and pictures were produced.

That car really cleaned up well form 4,500 miles of road grime.

Hope your trip home was uneventful and the car's as well.

Can't say that for the wine I was transporting back. I owe you a bottle.

[Cintos]

Greetings:

One last detail. The spider was delivered to the shipper's NJ terminal (saves $$$), and today I brought her back home. The last few miles were tense, not only due to the rush hour traffic (Jersey Turnpike, George Washington Bridge...), but with the thought that after all these miles, I did not want to misstep so close to home!

She came through the shipping in fine shape, although there are a lot of small watermarks on the finish. A quick detail spray did not cut it; will need a good cleaner wax.

The tail has been graced with three subtle "Travel Decals", for Glacier, Banff and Rainier. The red letters with white framing are on a transparent background that lets the black through. We picked them up at different shops, but must be the same vendor...

To Our Spider: Thanks for the fine service!
To our friends on the BB: Thanks for the helpful advice and spirited encouragement!

[Russ Bellinis]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cintos Greetings rgrimm: thanks for the helpful info on Fargo. We are currently planning on spending Sunday the night in the Fargo area. As for the weather, our experience has been mostly rain, rain, rain so far. Just enough occasional sunshine to reward us for addressing the AC. Can't put the top up and down on I90 at 78 MPH.... Today's travels took us into Chicago, where we were greeted with the 29th annual "Taste of Chicago" street fair in Grant Park. We spent several hours there, partaking of the food offerings and the crowd-watching. Our run was to take us just east of St. Paul, but between our time at the fair and the heavy traffic/downpours/construction traveling north, we re-set our destination to be Black River Falls, WI. What's there? Well, nothing actually. We drove about 15 miles to a recommended family restaurant in (what is called) Downtown Hatfield, WI. There is also a small (very small) indian-run casino - with a buffet and a snack bar, and an indian Pow-Wow grounds, where we watched a bit of the action. The S4 spider (which is still for sale, lgbalfa) is running strong. We are averaging 32 MPG and have yet to use any oil at 1200 miles out. Photos below display how we pack 14 days worth of luggage ( the spider's trunk is much bigger than your Sky/Boxter/Miata/Vette 2-seater); Some shots from Chicago, including a closed street with signage to our destination; and a photo op at the Inwood restaurant, which probably serves a yearly volume of less than an hour's worth of the Chicago street event. Great food, and just what we are looking for "off the beaten track". - Michael

[Cintos]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Russ Bellinis ...Regarding the luggage space in the Alfa versus most anything else of similar size on the road, I think we can blame Ford! Prior to the Mustang, most sports cars had the driver's compartment in the center of the car with a trunk generally as big as the hood. ...