Transcontinental in a VX summary, pics, pics, pics

A summary of our transcontinental drive so far.
We left Virginia on 4Aug14. We didn’t hit the road until about 2000 so we didn’t get too far.
We met up with my parents, my brother, SIL, and nieces in Beattyville, Ky for a few days. Did some camping, shooting, 4 wheeling etc.
Then we drove to Excelsior Springs, MO, visited my in-laws,more shooting, went to the drive in.
After that we headed southwest to Albuquerque, NM. I had to keep the windows down and the heat on full to keep coolant <210 degrees across texas. It was about 100 degrees outside, and it did not like the hills at all.
After that, it was a decent trip to Moab, Utah. We met up with the coolest couple from Manitoba, Canada,Wayd and Laura Foxon. They were at the same campground as us, and were looking for some people to wheel with. He had a huge buggy on 55s. We did some wheeling, I lost the master cylinder on Hell’s Revenge at the first drop into dragon’s tail (which I thought was escalator like the map showed). Did the rest of the trail with no brakes. FWIW, the puddle in front of Baby Lion's Back is now a pond. I remembered it being < 1 foot deep and just started chugging in until it went on the hood...slowed down, water was at the top of the impact bar on the door, about 3 feet deep. Got some good ol moab water on my floorboards, good thing I have no carpet and it is all herculined inside:)
Had to drive to Salt Lake City the next day to get a new master cylinder, and hit up a pick n pull for a back up and a new proportioning valve. 9 hours of driving for 30 minutes at Autozone and the junk yard.
Got the truck up and running. We went “rafting”, which was a bust. I did the rapids in the water instead of on the boat, it was much better that way. Our raft had a bunch of old people who did not want to get wet. Who the hell wears jeans on a rafting trip?!
After we left Moab, I stopped and noticed the hard hits from the ledges and no brakes cracked the weld on the hitch where I welded it to the frame. I stopped in at 4wheel parts in SLC, but they couldn’t help me. They did hook me up with the guys over at Fat Bob’s Garage in Layton.
We swung in there, and they were able to fix me up. They were the coolest the dudes ever! They crawled all over the VX, noticed all of the dents, scrapes, rash on the tires, and noted that I actually wheeled the old girl, no mall crawling here. That was enough to buy us a tour of the shop, all their sweet fab equipment. We spent an hour in there after closing, just talking and looking at stuff. They gave us tshirts, decals, and an open invitation to come back and do a SAS one day. I highly recommend them, my tow strap bag, hi lift cover and the repair was 90 bucks! He put 6 weld beads on the hitch, it will never break again.
We went ahead and made it almost to twin Falls, Idaho. Today, we drove from twin falls up to Kennewick, WA. About 4 more hours to Bremerton. We stopped a few times, scored some more 22LR at a cabellas…lol.
Total of 62 hrs in the driver’s seat so far, 3300 miles. 8 quarts of mobil one. Average speed is 56mph, 12ish mpg overall. Haven’t done the exact calculations yet, will get that later. I got 15mpg on the run from Moab to SLC! Mountains, towing 2500lbs and 15mpg? I was stoked. At 200 miles on the tripometer and still had a quarter tank to go. Scangage said 14.8 mpg.
Nothing too exciting today, met a lot of cool people along the way. Frogs has been a champ, walked him in stores, rest areas, really no leash needed anymore.

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Good show!

Keep us posted on your further adventures (especially like the stuff about keeping the VX running, what works, what doesn't etc.).

Keeping her running is easy. Blood sacrifice, (i have had surgery, needed stitches, busted knuckles, black eye and so on thanks to this truck), she needs your blood. Don't be afraid to curse at her, she likes it...sometimes. You also have to praise her when she deserves it, but punish her with the BFH as well. She is a bipolar monster, and you have to love the highs and lows. But seriously, I have never had engine problems, changed the tranny 5 yrs ago, just never flush it. Run full sythetic, and just turn up the radio to ignore creaks, rattles, pops and bangs. Keep rags to wipe up all the drips, and most importantly, take her out and drive her, no babying, really drive her.

A lot better than my cross country move. I also moved from Virginia (Alexandria), but moved to Humboldt County in California for school (not weed I swear!). My trip was pretty much all I-80, sooooo boring aside from the drugged up cat meowing and falling over in the hatch of my CRZ. Best of luck in your new home!

I'm actually using a part on the VX purchased from Fat Bob's Garage! Best price for poly coil spacers.

That buggy is a beast, those 54" tires makes your VX look tiny...

Great Thread..... :thumbup:

Jo

Thanks Jo.
We found a house today, 1,1 acres, 2400sqft, best schools in the area, got a 9/10 rating.
House is secluded and has an RV parking pad.
On a side note, my truck is the featured ride on fat bob's FB page...lol.
Now we have nothing to do, just sitting in bremerton at a hotel until Tue when we get the keys to the house.