4000+ mile road trip
08-26-2015, 12:18 PM
#1
Burning Brakes
Thread Starter
4000+ mile road trip
Just got back to Tampa from a long road trip to Denver in my 97, over 4000 miles, thru 11 different states. Took back roads when I could instead of interstates, was not in a hurry, stayed and played in many different cities. Below is a brief rundown of my trip.
Started out in Tampa with my 28 yo son and drove the first leg to Pens Beach. I grew up there as a kid, so was good to get back. Stayed with an old friend there, he has a C4. Spent a day at the beach and a day at the Pens Naval Air Museum which was very impressive.
Drove on to Memphis, stayed two days there mainly on Beale Street listening to the many different blues bands, although took 1/2 a day to do the Miss riverboat thing. After that my son flew back to Tampa and I moved on to Ft Smith AR, nothing going on there, should have stopped in Little Rock. Car turned over 150k somewhere around there.
From Ft Smith went on to Ponca City, a small town in OK. Had a great rib dinner there. Next on to Wichita. I spent one day there just catching up on sleep. They had a great BBQ place there called Hog Wild. Went one day to the old airport museum. Being centrally located they were at one time the fifth busiest airport in US, and also was the largest aircraft manufacturing center at one time, mainly from 1920 to 1970.
From Wichita stopped in Dodge City, then stayed the night in Garden City KS. Just before leaving KS I noticed the cities were at 4000 feet which surprised me since I didn't see many mountains yet, and didn't realize at some point I had gone uphill.
On to Pueblo CO, plenty of mountains there. There is a big army depot there, and I was talking to a guy (civilian) that was working there. Said they were wanting to dispose of 890,000 gas bombs, some dating back to WWII.
Next stop was Colorado Springs/Manatou area which is at the base on Pikes Peak. I was at about 6500' and the altitude was getting to me a little bit. Checked out one of their legal pot stores. Drove thru Garden of the Gods. Stayed in a nice cabin there and met some nice people.
On to my brothers house in Denver area (Parker) and picked up girlfriend at airport. Stayed a few days with him, ate very well, went flying RC planes (both our hobby). Very nice beautiful area.
On way back home went to Amarillo, Tyler TX, Baton Rogue and Gulf Shores AL. Had a blast in GS, hanging out at the Flora-Bama lounge.
On to Pens Beach for one night at a resort, very nice. Seven hour drive back to Tampa.
Here are some things I learned along the way.
The C5 is comfortable (and very dependable) on long road trips. Got great gas mileage, about 26mpg. Although I gave up trying to keep my car real clean after the first week, got a lot of compliments along the way. Some states I saw a few Corvettes (CO, LA, AL), some states I saw virtually none (OK, KS, AR). Here in FL they are everywhere, especially the new C7's.
Gas prices were fairly cheap along the way except CO. LA and MS were cheapest at $2.11 (using regular as a standard, I used the highest grade available), most places were around $2.34, CO was at about $2.79. Some places only had 85, 87, 89 grade available. Almost ran out one time in KS just before CO, not a lot out there.
Road conditions varied in each state. I found it somewhat ironic that the state with the highest gas prices and extra money from pot sales ($68mill in taxes), CO, had the worse roads, at least where I was at. There was either a crack, hole or bump every 10 feet there (AR not much better). I will never complain about FL roads again.
I ate very well along the way, each state had their own specialty, seafood, BBQ, ribs, steak, Mexican, ect. Three places really stand out though, Memphis, OK and CO.
Stayed in a lot of different hotels, tried to do my research but it was hit and miss the whole time, no matter the cost. Stayed at some $50 and some $200 ones. All in all, most hotels are badly run IMHO.
There were some states where I saw very little to no police. Open road speed limit in most states was 75. Most drivers were good, except the one lady that almost T-boned me in Wichita.
Four weeks, about 4200 miles, too much money, but what an experience. Took a lot of pics and will post some. Will take me a few days to get caught up on things and get car cleaned up. It ran great, no problems. Glad to be back home, done with driving for a while.
Started out in Tampa with my 28 yo son and drove the first leg to Pens Beach. I grew up there as a kid, so was good to get back. Stayed with an old friend there, he has a C4. Spent a day at the beach and a day at the Pens Naval Air Museum which was very impressive.
Drove on to Memphis, stayed two days there mainly on Beale Street listening to the many different blues bands, although took 1/2 a day to do the Miss riverboat thing. After that my son flew back to Tampa and I moved on to Ft Smith AR, nothing going on there, should have stopped in Little Rock. Car turned over 150k somewhere around there.
From Ft Smith went on to Ponca City, a small town in OK. Had a great rib dinner there. Next on to Wichita. I spent one day there just catching up on sleep. They had a great BBQ place there called Hog Wild. Went one day to the old airport museum. Being centrally located they were at one time the fifth busiest airport in US, and also was the largest aircraft manufacturing center at one time, mainly from 1920 to 1970.
From Wichita stopped in Dodge City, then stayed the night in Garden City KS. Just before leaving KS I noticed the cities were at 4000 feet which surprised me since I didn't see many mountains yet, and didn't realize at some point I had gone uphill.
On to Pueblo CO, plenty of mountains there. There is a big army depot there, and I was talking to a guy (civilian) that was working there. Said they were wanting to dispose of 890,000 gas bombs, some dating back to WWII.
Next stop was Colorado Springs/Manatou area which is at the base on Pikes Peak. I was at about 6500' and the altitude was getting to me a little bit. Checked out one of their legal pot stores. Drove thru Garden of the Gods. Stayed in a nice cabin there and met some nice people.
On to my brothers house in Denver area (Parker) and picked up girlfriend at airport. Stayed a few days with him, ate very well, went flying RC planes (both our hobby). Very nice beautiful area.
On way back home went to Amarillo, Tyler TX, Baton Rogue and Gulf Shores AL. Had a blast in GS, hanging out at the Flora-Bama lounge.
On to Pens Beach for one night at a resort, very nice. Seven hour drive back to Tampa.
Here are some things I learned along the way.
The C5 is comfortable (and very dependable) on long road trips. Got great gas mileage, about 26mpg. Although I gave up trying to keep my car real clean after the first week, got a lot of compliments along the way. Some states I saw a few Corvettes (CO, LA, AL), some states I saw virtually none (OK, KS, AR). Here in FL they are everywhere, especially the new C7's.
Gas prices were fairly cheap along the way except CO. LA and MS were cheapest at $2.11 (using regular as a standard, I used the highest grade available), most places were around $2.34, CO was at about $2.79. Some places only had 85, 87, 89 grade available. Almost ran out one time in KS just before CO, not a lot out there.
Road conditions varied in each state. I found it somewhat ironic that the state with the highest gas prices and extra money from pot sales ($68mill in taxes), CO, had the worse roads, at least where I was at. There was either a crack, hole or bump every 10 feet there (AR not much better). I will never complain about FL roads again.
I ate very well along the way, each state had their own specialty, seafood, BBQ, ribs, steak, Mexican, ect. Three places really stand out though, Memphis, OK and CO.
Stayed in a lot of different hotels, tried to do my research but it was hit and miss the whole time, no matter the cost. Stayed at some $50 and some $200 ones. All in all, most hotels are badly run IMHO.
There were some states where I saw very little to no police. Open road speed limit in most states was 75. Most drivers were good, except the one lady that almost T-boned me in Wichita.
Four weeks, about 4200 miles, too much money, but what an experience. Took a lot of pics and will post some. Will take me a few days to get caught up on things and get car cleaned up. It ran great, no problems. Glad to be back home, done with driving for a while.
Last edited by ronwc; 08-26-2015 at 03:49 PM.
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Westy R (01-10-2021)
08-26-2015, 01:20 PM
#3
Le Mans Master
Road trips in C5s are wonderful. Took a 3800 mile trip last year and a 1200 mile this year. Planning on a 3000 mile trip to Wyoming next year.
Looking forward to pictures of your trip.
Looking forward to pictures of your trip.
Last edited by JR-01; 08-26-2015 at 02:17 PM.
08-26-2015, 02:00 PM
#4
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Sounds like you had a blast and got to see a lot of this great country. Looking forward to seeing some pics.
08-28-2015, 02:00 AM
#13
Burning Brakes
Thread Starter
08-28-2015, 02:39 AM
#14
Good to hear. Flying is the great love of my life. Bought my first Vette, 2004 coupe, couple years ago after a 51 year desire to own one. I now drive it almost daily and love it as much as my Cessna 172 except it's A LOT CHEAPER to own. What kind of RC planes do you and your brother fly?
08-28-2015, 08:18 AM
#16
Burning Brakes
Thread Starter
Good to hear. Flying is the great love of my life. Bought my first Vette, 2004 coupe, couple years ago after a 51 year desire to own one. I now drive it almost daily and love it as much as my Cessna 172 except it's A LOT CHEAPER to own. What kind of RC planes do you and your brother fly?
08-28-2015, 04:47 PM
#17
Great pics. Looking forward to more of yours and your brothers. How many of those planes do you have? Hope we didn't steal the thread. Then again it's your thread. Maybe mix in some pics of your trip. I too started in my teens with the plane on the end of strings until a prop broke and went into my Dad's cheek and Mom make him stop the hobby. I took up flying in the Navy on my own while waiting for orders to a submarine in Charleston in 1963. Took lessons in a lot of places but finally got my ticket in 69. There's an RC flying club near me between Morgan Hill and San Jose, Ca. Haven't seen any big ones like yours there although I'm sure they have them. Can actually see them flying when driving down 101. Great combo Vettes and planes. When I bought my Vette in Ohio I drove it back through Denver, Las Vegas, Death Valley, Yosemite to San Jose. Had camcorder rolling in front window whole trip and took lots of pics too. Was strange in that I saw very few Vettes whole trip. Maybe 8 until I got back to Cal and then found 3 in my neighborhood. Vettes makes a great traveller with plenty of room in the coupe. Had a skinny spare tire and all my stuff.
10-23-2015, 03:53 PM
#20
Burning Brakes
Thread Starter
Been back a few weeks, finally started working on cleaning up the car. Next time I will protect the front better from the bugs. Adding a few more pics.