Well the girl friend and myself had got talking her recently that next summer we really want to do something special and take a long trip to places we have never been before.
Now the girl friend has never been out of the NW and myself I have spent much of my time on the west coast except for a trip to Washington DC when I was a kid. That trip actually got me thinking how much I would love to go back to DC and see the museums and all of that again and just be around that history you know? She agreed and we decided that would become our ultimate destination.
The next step was deciding how we would get there and what all we would do. Initially we thought about flying out, however as we talked we thought that maybe a road trip would be more in order, a coast to coast tour as it was. We have discussed heading out through the northern states and seeing all the sites that we can along the way and returning through a southern route (maybe swing further south and hit Florida).
The next decision is going to be what rig do we take? Our current line up is my truck (Ram 1500 std cab short box 4x4) has some transmission issues that would need to be resolved first. Option two is the 2001 Taurus, its in good running order, is ok comfort wise (better than the truck at least) and gets decent mileage. The last option is the Olds I am building. It would not be that difficult to re-purpose it as the long distance cruiser instead of a corner carver. Basically auto trans instead of the manual, leave the 2.73 gearing in the rear end to help mileage, softer springs instead of the race springs I have and buy the most comfortable seats I can find to stick in it for the trip. Definitely leaning this way as I think it would have a little more "soul" to the trip and provide some great memories for the car.
The final decision is what to do about photographing the trip and recording the memories? Take one of the digitals and a ton of memory cards? Take a video camera? Go old school and just take the FM and a bunch of film. Or should I go with a combination of the above?
So what do you guys think? Which rig (car and camera) should I go with? My head tells me go with the Taurus but my heart tells me go with the Olds and use the Taurus as a fall back. What are some "must haves" for the trip and "gotta sees"? We are planning on taking 3 or 4 weeks off to do this by the way. I would love to get some tips from locals for places to stop at and the like.
Now the girl friend has never been out of the NW and myself I have spent much of my time on the west coast except for a trip to Washington DC when I was a kid. That trip actually got me thinking how much I would love to go back to DC and see the museums and all of that again and just be around that history you know? She agreed and we decided that would become our ultimate destination.
The next step was deciding how we would get there and what all we would do. Initially we thought about flying out, however as we talked we thought that maybe a road trip would be more in order, a coast to coast tour as it was. We have discussed heading out through the northern states and seeing all the sites that we can along the way and returning through a southern route (maybe swing further south and hit Florida).
The next decision is going to be what rig do we take? Our current line up is my truck (Ram 1500 std cab short box 4x4) has some transmission issues that would need to be resolved first. Option two is the 2001 Taurus, its in good running order, is ok comfort wise (better than the truck at least) and gets decent mileage. The last option is the Olds I am building. It would not be that difficult to re-purpose it as the long distance cruiser instead of a corner carver. Basically auto trans instead of the manual, leave the 2.73 gearing in the rear end to help mileage, softer springs instead of the race springs I have and buy the most comfortable seats I can find to stick in it for the trip. Definitely leaning this way as I think it would have a little more "soul" to the trip and provide some great memories for the car.
The final decision is what to do about photographing the trip and recording the memories? Take one of the digitals and a ton of memory cards? Take a video camera? Go old school and just take the FM and a bunch of film. Or should I go with a combination of the above?
So what do you guys think? Which rig (car and camera) should I go with? My head tells me go with the Taurus but my heart tells me go with the Olds and use the Taurus as a fall back. What are some "must haves" for the trip and "gotta sees"? We are planning on taking 3 or 4 weeks off to do this by the way. I would love to get some tips from locals for places to stop at and the like.
