Road trip summary

Well, I'm back home after a very good trip. Around 2500+ miles and I added two states to my CV (Arizona & New Mexico). My brother in law drove his trusty '92 mariner blue and I drove my '97 black & tan. Drove from Seattle to Boise, then to Vernal Utah for to visit Dinosaur National Monument. Take the auto tour to see petroglyphs galore.

Left Vernal and drove to Grand Junction CO to drop in on the Flyin' Miata folks. They were very nice, gave us a tour of the place and suggested Hwy

141 to get to Moab. Turbodog greeted us at the door and was always ready with a tennis ball if we felt like playing.

Hwy 141 is very scenic running down a river canyon cut through red rocks. Turned right on 90 which took us to Moab UT. Since we missed it on the road from Colorado we took a drive up rte 128. Very similar to 141, but there are places to stop and stand in the river while rafters go by. Arches national park is astounding. Words don't work to describe it.

Next stop Cortez CO and Mesa Verde national park. Only National Park to preserve works of humans. Cliff pueblos and petroglyphs galore. Wildflowers were in bloom and trees were green.

Then it was south into New Mexico and West to the Petrified Forest / Painted Desert NP. Driving across the desert but the sagebrush was green and the tumbleweeds were not tumbling. Yet.

After all this history and education we left Flagstaff and headed for Vegas, Baby. Time for re-introduction to modern life. After that, press for home.

As expected, both miatae ate up the miles and curves without a hitch. We just added gas and washed them a few times.

Steve

Reply to
Steve Whisman
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Must have been great fun. I assume you had no trouble putting the blue 92 in its proper place with a 97? Would have been even more uneven with a white 97. ;)

How was CO 141 for driving? Rand-McNally marks the scenic route as 128-I70 which apparently you took on the way in, but I have some doubts. CO 141 looks *very* curvy.

Leon

Reply to
Leon van Dommelen

It is, in a few places where it climbs from river to mesa top. It's mainly desert ranching country, very hot in summer. Almost zero traffic, but watch your speed in the handful of small towns. It was part of the late, lamented FM Strafing Run, where we drove most of it very fast, limited by the unevenness of the pavement--it's amusing to see air under the rear tires of the Miata in front of you, coming out of dips at 100 mph. Worth doing, but probably not a road you'd choose to drive twice.

See

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Reply to
Lanny Chambers

Sounds like a great road.

Leon

Reply to
Leon van Dommelen

It's a good road. US 191 between Alpine and Clifton, Arizona, is a great road.

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Reply to
Lanny Chambers

I really need *early* retirement. When I will have the time to drive all the roads I need, I will be too old to really drive them. ;(

Leon

Reply to
Leon van Dommelen

Even though I detuned my '97 to factory specs so I could burn regular gas the '92 was always in my mirrors. Black ones are only slightly slower than the white...

Since it was the first time we saw 141 we kept it to a leisurely 75 or so. The whole thing has few straights and those aren't very long. The first several miles aren't very scenic but eventually the canyon turns to red rocks and is very nice. The road follows the river through the canyon so there is no shortage of curves. We turned right on Colorado 90 to head back west. 128 is more scenic and is also much shorter. Interesting phenomenon, on the 141 drive we both got 35 MPG. Can't explain it.

Reply to
Steve Whisman

There was a place named "Coke Oven Ranch". I assumed in reference to the summer temps.

Reply to
Steve Whisman

Which reminds me. In answer to previous questions, I measured

25 mpg on the interstate at a true average speed of about 72 mph. Never got around to measuring it before, but this time, I filled up on starting to drive, and refilled after exactly 250 miles.

Conditions: *very* windy, relatively light traffic (i.e. on cruise control pretty much all of the time.) The mixture was stochiometric all the time. Mileage traveled and speed measured using GPS (75 mph and a bit of 70 mph.) Fifth gear, top up, AC running hard. I don't know how much wind I had against.

It seems that the SC does affect fuel consumption a bit. Though I do not know why.

Leon

Reply to
Leon van Dommelen

Hey! I resemble that remark!!

Anyway, I'm not worried. I *know* you must have been hallucinating.

Reply to
Per K. Nielsen

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