Saturday, my daughter (16) and I are driving from Topeka to my sister's house in Colorado to pick up a desk. Nice roll-top that sis doesn't want anymore, and we do.
Google Maps says 500 miles exactly door to door. I believe that to be accurate, but I'm gonna test it with my old handheld GPS eTrex.
Vehicle for this adventure is the 20 year old Avalanche with 268,295 miles.
Plan is early start, lunch with them, load it up, then we turn around and come home.
1,000 miles. Goal is 15 hours and 15 mpg. She has plans that night.
Truck is ready. Recent maintenance includes all new hard brake lines, new radiator and hoses, new power steering hoses, oil change. Tires are new oversize BFG all-terrain KO2's.
Forecast is cold and clear. Luckily we have all these warning lights to keep us warm.
johndej
SuperDork
11/18/22 9:54 p.m.
Should be a great bonding trip and some good time behind the wheel for her!
She's a great kid, and a really good driver already. She drove the entire 500 miles home last time we were there in May. We get along well almost all the time, so it should be fun.
We grabbed about 30 CD's. Original head unit, upgraded speakers. It rocks.
In reply to llysgennad :
When you said 20 year old Avalanche, that REALLY made me feel old! 
Sounds like a fun trip. Enjoy, and be safe!
In reply to 03Panther :
Will do.
We bought it new in Aug 2002. Its technically 21, I guess. It's been good. And bad. She loves it, though. Nearly cries when we talk about selling (or scrapping) it.
Launch time was 5:17 am. Maps says 7 hours and 22 minutes, I am hoping to make that 7 even. We are behind my arbitrary schedule, but not a big deal.
Temp is 16F.
Sunrise in the mirror. Good thing, because it was BRIGHT!
She is curled up in the backseat sleeping. I was really tired about an hour in, enough that I almost aborted the mission.
First gas stop, Goodland. 327 miles down. (Truck says 322). Low fuel light came on as I took the off ramp.
12.38 mpg. Slight headwind on the right front all the way, plus it's all uphill.
We did stop briefly in Russell for bathroom and breakfast. Mt Dew and a Honeybun.
Back on the road, she's driving now.
Music rn is Judas Priest..live
Billy Idol Greatest Hits
Which bothers me, because I think his latest album is great, but no one will ever hear anything on the radio except the big hits from the 80's.
We arrived at 11:19 local time. Barely over 7 hours.
500.8 miles
Hugs all around
What town in Colorado?
Driven some/ most of your route a few times.
Good job - I've done three 1,000 mile single day car trips.
The last one was SoCal to Chicago in 2 days - 900 + 1,100 in a packed out Nissan Sentra. Got home, two Tylenol and I slept like a rock.
I enjoy seeing these type of threads.
Alrighty then. We had a good lunch, helped move some heavy stuff for them, and loaded the desk. On the road again, an hour later than intended.
Fits like a glove
In reply to mechanicalmeanderings :
Colorado Springs area
That was Pike's Peak in the picture earlier
llysgennad said:
First gas stop, Goodland. 327 miles down. (Truck says 322). Low fuel light came on as I took the off ramp.
12.38 mpg. Slight headwind on the right front all the way, plus it's all uphill.
We did stop briefly in Russell for bathroom and breakfast. Mt Dew and a Honeybun.
Back on the road, she's driving now.
That's an impressive max speed.
Funny story about that GPS. We went to Washington DC back in 2015. Touring the Air and Space museum, my wife kinda snickers and says "hey, come look at this". I get over there and my GPS is in the display case, part of the navigation history display.
Grrr. I still like it.
Gas stop, back in Goodland. 318 miles, 13.6 mpg. Candy for later tonight, drinks, funny socks, batteries for the GPS.
Music has been Collective Soul, INXS, Taylor Swift.
We stopped to look at a blue Dodge Stealth for sale earlier, somebodies driveway. She had not seen one. She immediately googled the top speed. 165! I did not know that.
We both decided we should always have an empty trailer along for things like this. She's cool, and totally an enabler.
