Left last Saturday with the vette all packed up for a roadtrip. Before leaving I installed the TKO sound deadening mat kit. It worked very well. Huge difference in interior noise. We went from SLC to Durango Colorado. Took about 11 hours. We went all cool back roads. Tons of twisties and places to open it up. Went down the Million Dollar Highway through Silverton. Got pulled over by a shieriff about 10 miles outside of Durango. He said someone called in a silver corvette driving wrecklessly and running people off the road. I couldn't believe it. I did pass tons of people but none of it was wreckless. It is easy to pass people when they are in old trucks towing trailors up a steep incline at 10000+ ft. I bet it was just some old idiot pissed that I passed him going the speed limit when he was going 20 under.

Got into Durango. Grabbed dinner and walked around a bit. Sunday we woke up and drove out to Mesa Verde national park. Went up a gravel road up onto the mesa and did a tour of one of the cliff dwellings. Hit a speed bump scuffing up the front splitter. Ohh well. Back to Durango where we hit main street for live music and dancing. Fun time.

Monday morning we drove to Albuquerque, NM. There we just hung out with friends. All my car friends wanted rides in the vette so we went around and beat on it. Fun times. Went to the zoo/aquarium/botanical gardens. Fun times. Had some good mexican food. Ohh how I miss green chile.

Wednesday we follwoed my friend in his s2000 to Phoenix. We went the fun way and had a good time going through the mountains. Lisa drove the vette for a good portion by herself as I rode with my friend. Got to Phoenix around 1. It was 112 outside. Vette never got over 200F. AC was ice cold the whole time. Car loved the low elevation. Even beening 110+ outside it was way faster then up in SLC. The lowend torque was also a nice addition. The car just loved the low elevation. Thursday morning we rolled out to Scottsdale and took a tour of Frank Lloyd Wright's winter house. Very nice place. Then we went to old town Scottsdale for lunch and some shopping. It was hot so we headed to the mall to enjoy some AC.

Thursday night we drove to Tucson to grab some dinner with friends down there. Came back the same night. Friday we packed up and drove up to Kanab. The worst part of the trip was hitting a piece of roadkill about 20 miles before Page, AZ. Guts/meat splatted all over the windshield and the smell of rotting flesh was so pungent and gross we in agnony until page. I stopped for gas and by the time I finished filling up the car was being swarmed by flies and bugs. Ick. I assessed the damage. Front splitter was knocked loose in the front. Blood and guts all over the grill. Other then that no perminate damage. Took it to a car wash and sprayed the blood/guts off as good as I could. Chunks of fur could be seen hanging off the exhaust. Spent the night in Kanab.

Saturday we headed up highway 89 to highway 12. Took the scenenic route intot Torrey Utah. Highway 12 was really nice. Tons of good places to open it up. Stopped in Torry for lunch then continued onwards. Around Provo we caught up to a stunning cybergray zr1 with competition gray wheels. Exchanged thumbs up and headed on. My bug/blood/meat covered z06 probably didn't look as good as the sparkling clean zr1 but it got me home.

2476 miles on the odometer later. Averaged 26.6mpg overall. That was including all the city driving I did and the aggressive driving through the mountains. Spent Sunday reattaching the splitter and cleaning more guts/blood off. The oilfilter still has a good ammount of chunks stuck to it and the oil cooler lines are coated in blood. There is a bone stuck to the oil cooler that I can't get to. Ohh well.

Overall a fun trip. The vette served me well. Good gasmileage and not a single hickup. Brought home a few cases of good beer and wine. Rear tires are nearing the end of their life. I should get 1000-1500 more miles out of them, I hope.

 

Sorry about the damage, but for a great road trip!

"See the USA in your Chevrolet!"

 

Sounds like a great trip. Pics?

 

"wrecklessly?" or did you mean recklessly? Perhaps schools teach a different use of language now......

 

Pics are coming. They are on the girlfriends camera and she hasn't unloaded them yet.

Yah, reckless. Just finished cleaning it up and she is all pretty and ready for more road duty. Car now has 25000 miles, 10% of them from last week.

 

Mesa Verde


Dinner in Durango. Damn good BBQ


Durango main street. 4th of July


ABQ Zoo



Those were just a few off my phone. Got tons on the real camera that I have to go through.

 

Looks like you guys had good fun. Thanks for sharing your trip with us.
Glad the vette took care of you guys, and made it home safely.

 

Awesome. Glad the Blockit helped prevent any possible headaches

It's great that your actually using the vette. Other then getting pulled over and the scuff, sounds like a fantastic trip which will provide endless stories over a beer or two..

 

Sounds like a great trip. We've been through a lot of those areas, but not in a vette.

Nice teaser pics, need a lot more, especially of the girlfriend

 

Couldn't tell if the BBQ pic was just of the BBQ!!!

 

Of course it was only the BBQ.

Car is a 2006 z06. The blockit made a huge difference. Girlfriend went from hating the car to tolerating it. After I let her drive it for a bit she likes it even more. Other lessons learned on the trip would be don't tell your girl "Damn, you look bloated". That didn't go over well.

Another thing I noticed was how friendly people were in New Mexico and Arizona. Once I got back to Utah it was the same poor service, no smile, bad attitude I'm use to. This trip just motivates me to look for a job elsewhere.

 

I, along with two others, installed the Block-It mats in our cars before leaving for Talladega. Short and sweet...... It works.

Southwest Colorado is one of my favorite places to visit. Beautiful country.

 

So far, they have only offered the Block-It for the coupes, but I understand that they will be offering it for the verts soon. Might take a while to get feedback.

 

Agree. That was a great picture on so many levels.

 

good story, sounds like you had a good time.... i can't wait for thursday, 7 of us in corvettes are leaving on a 12 day, western states, national park tour.. from glacier park to the grand canyon and alot of places in between.. oh yeah, great picture of the BBQ..

 

Nice trip, I just got back from some of those places and more, and can truly appreciate your experience. There is so much to see in the U.S. I met a lot of friendly and helpful people during my trip.

 

If you go through SLC feel free to PM me with questions/etc.

On highway 12 in southern Utah I did pass 2 corvettes that were cruising together. A yellow c5 and blue c6 if my memory serves me. I saw them pull over together.

 

good looking rack.

Oh - ya, of course I am talkin' bout the ribs, get yer mind outta the gutter

 

great pics from a phone ,the ones with the camera must be awesome,,