When you click on links to various merchants on this site and make a purchase, this can result in this site earning a commission. Affiliate programs and affiliations include, but are not limited to, the eBay Partner Network.
Congrats OP for taking the red mist, probably the first one in WA state! - I know we have two Washingtonian forum members here who are also getting the red mist C8s soon, and one of them Jon is also supposed to get it around May, but you maybe the first one.
Are you on the Vashon island? If so, I am just across the water from you. Consider joining the local Seattle Corvette Club, membership chair Steve is also a forum member here.
I was going to have my car shipped to Vashon from MacMulkin but when I spoke to Intercity the prospect of a May delivery looked bleak, so I hopped Alaska Airlines to BOS and a limo to Nashua (Uber is not available in MA because of the generous unemployment benefits being worth more than working). Todd and crew got me on the road by 10:00 or so and the first day I did 400 miles to Batavia,NY. NH and VT were beautiful but NY was a bit of a grind.
I wanted to avoid the traffic and craziness of Chicago and Minneapolis so I diverted south to Peoria for day two, Tuesday, which put the odometer at over 1000 miles. I’d never done backroads Indiana before and I was impressed by how beautiful it is there and how American it is. Small towns with traditional houses and stone courthouses on the square. American flags flying and literally NOBODY wearing a mask. It felt like 2020 never happened. Google maps sent me through farming country on small back roads but I lost LTE and maps crashed when I had to divert around a washed out bridge. It was glorious!
Day three was 550 miles to Sioux Falls,SD and speed limits were from 45 to 80 in various places. I got the thrill of hearing the mighty LT2 roar like a lion traveling the on ramp to an 80 mph freeway a few times and I thought I would have an orgasm. It’s impossible to stop at 80 when you’re in the groove.
Today was a high speed day on mostly 80 mph roads and a few major cheats on 65 mph roads in The beautiful country of South Dakota and Montana. Google maps sent me on a short cut around the I-90 bend and I shared a 65 to 70 mph back road with the semis who also knew about the diversion. I had the thrill of passing one lumbering behemoth after another on the scenic mountain highway and it was great fun except that nobody bothered to mention that it’s over a hundred miles between gas stations and since LTE went missing I couldn’t get a fix on the next one. Total miles today was over 800.
I’m in Bozeman MT tonight and it’s a sad situation. Forecast along the route for tomorrow is snow and highs in the 20s with me on summer tires. It looks like I’ll have to wait it out at the La Quinta until things improve starting Saturday morning.
Photos from MacMulkin, Vermont, Peoria, Sioux Falls and the road through SD today.
Hey Biffle,
Love the pictures. I am now at status 3000 at MM; guessing we'll be getting our RM car in late August with Museum delivery.
When we brought our '08 Z06 back from the Museum in April of '08, we hit snow in SD and had to stay over an extra day; had Goodyear tires on it then. Since then, I have talked to Michelin and they say do NOT move the car on the summer tires if the temps get down to the 20s until the temps get back to about 40. They claim that the tires will fracture. This was when I was using the Michelin Super Sport tires; don't know if this hold true for the summer tires on the C8s. You might want to check a local Michelin tire store though.
Have a great rest of the trip and thanks for the pictures. Look forward to seeing your car when you get back.
First off, congratulations on the car. It is not surprising to catch a spring snowstorm in Montana. Looking forward to the rest of your trip photos, especially once you get home. Big fan of your home area.
It stopped snowing sometime last night and I resolved to get going as early as possible. I borrowed a broom/scraper from the hotel and I got the C8 clean enough to drive, sort of. Forecast was for major warming but it was still 27 degrees so I waited until a prudent 30 degrees and started out.
The on ramp near the hotel dumps into 80 mph traffic but it was light so I drove 65 to try to protect the tires. The road was covered in windshield-destroying grit and all the bridges were icy. At the top of the Great Divide the temperature had dropped to 26 and I was feeling pretty bleak looking at all the overturned cars along the route, reminding me of the the human cadavers on the heights of Everest. It’s not encouraging.
After Butte the road descends and by Missoula it was in the 40s. Then an amazing thing happened: I turned onto beautiful WA-12 and the air was warm, the trees were green, the river was blue and there was no traffic. It’s a fairly technical road with a 70 mph speed limit until Idaho where it is reduced, but there was nobody to care so I drove a speed that made me smile.
At Lewiston ID the terrain changes and I was in the Palouse to Richland; gentile rolling hills with no trees and covered mostly with bright green wheat and other places with golden stubble. There was almost no traffic - in some places ten minutes between oncoming cars. It was ten hours since my last meal but I wouldn’t stop for anything. It was the dream you have where you are flying.
On the river highway. US12 In the Palouse
Last edited by gbf_98070; May 22, 2021 at 10:50 PM.
Reason: Spacing
It stopped snowing sometime last night and I resolved to get going as early as possible. I borrowed a broom/scraper from the hotel and I got the C8 clean enough to drive, sort of. Forecast was for major warming but it was still 27 degrees so I waited until a prudent 30 degrees and started out.
The on ramp near the hotel dumps into 80 mph traffic but it was light so I drove 65 to try to protect the tires. The road was covered in windshield-destroying grit and all the bridges were icy. At the top of the Great Divide the temperature had dropped to 26 and I was feeling pretty bleak looking at all the overturned cars along the route, reminding me of the the human cadavers on the heights of Everest. It’s not encouraging.
After Butte the road descends and by Missoula it was in the 40s. Then an amazing thing happened: I turned onto beautiful WA-12 and the air was warm, the trees were green, the river was blue and there was no traffic. It’s a fairly technical road with a 70 mph speed limit until Idaho where it is reduced, but there was nobody to care so I drove a speed that made me smile.
At Lewiston ID the terrain changes and I was in the Palouse to Richland; gentile rolling hills with no trees and covered mostly with bright green wheat and other places with golden stubble. There was almost no traffic - in some places ten minutes between oncoming cars. It was ten hours since my last meal but I wouldn’t stop for anything. It was the dream you have where you are flying.
On the river highway. US12 In the Palouse
Drove US Hwy 12 Missoula - Lolo Pass - Lewiston ID 250 miles of river grade curves frequently trucking in the mid 70’s. On the bucket list to return with my MM ordered C8
next trip to Boise to visit family. Thanks for sharing!
Designer Imagines A Corvette That Looks More Like a Corvette Than the Corvette
Slideshow: A Jaguar designer's personal project imagines what a modern front-engined Corvette might look like if Chevrolet revisited the golden age of the Stingray.
