If you come through Nashville I'd love to see the Sl diesel. I'm a bit west off i40.

OM617YOTA: I'll take you up on that offer. Planning on going back to Vancouver and then Banff and Jasper, etc.

Let me know when you pass through Calgary it that's on your route. If I am back from holidays, (early April) would love to have you over for at least a BBQ.

Day 3 - Abilene to Jackson
 

As indicated above, the day started off with black ice on the freeway. After a significant delay I headed out again and found the roads mostly beginning to thaw a bit even though the temp was still 28. The bridges were treacherous for quite a long time. Slowly increased the speed 30, 35, 40, 45 as the roads got better. Thankfully the trucks were maintaining a safe speed unlike yesterday.

Even so, there were ample reminders of how treacherous things were overnite.

http://www.peachparts.com/shopforum/...1&d=1425263937

http://www.peachparts.com/shopforum/...1&d=1425264394

http://www.peachparts.com/shopforum/...1&d=1425264394

http://www.peachparts.com/shopforum/...1&d=1425264394

And those were by no means all of the accidents

As I got toward Dallas, the temperature moved above freezing for the first time on the trip. As the day went on, the temps got higher and higher and then got some nice drizzle and finally some rain... hopefully enough to rinse any salt off the car. My understanding is that Texas doesn't use salt but some of the communities off the interstate obviously did.

Later in the day, I passed a milestone on the car. It had 181k on it when I began the project, so that's almost 70k miles. The engine has about 30k more.

http://www.peachparts.com/shopforum/...1&d=1425264125

dieselbenz1: I'll let you know when we head out for Canada - would love to meet you

biopete: Probably won't make Nashville this trip, but I'll let you know if anything changes

SD Blue: Thanks for the heads up - fortunately no issues today

Great car, great fun, great story! Keep it coming!

Count me in with the gtg!
It'll be fun to look over your car again, and see the console you built! Maybe I'll have a bumper on my 5 speed 190 by then.
Lemme know if you need any parts once ya get here.

HA, ya better build him a hitch for the SL so he can haul a Trailer load home.:D


Hey...we had 3"of Snow yesterday morning when we got up, but it was gone by 2pm:).

24F this morning out here in the Waste Lands of Nevada.


Charlie

Day 4 - Jackson to Kernersville
 

Got a decent start today and spent the first several hours in rain - mostly pretty light but periods of pretty heavy rain interspersed. Then things cleared up, the temperature got to as high as 70 and turned out to be a nice day. I was glad for the rain to really rinse out any remnant of any salt that might still be lingering.

One of the more interesting aspects of the day was watching all of the NASCAR car carriers and equipment in the process of moving from Atlanta to Las Vegas along I-20. The car carriers all had huge graphics on the side, the crews moved in large motor homes towing a pickup with a golf cart in the bed, the media and camera equipment had their own tractor-trailers and the safety vehicles all were loaded on open car carriers.

http://www.peachparts.com/shopforum/...1&d=1425358551

In South Carolina there was a really nice rest stop right next to a lake. It was good to walk around and stretch a bit after a long leg.

http://www.peachparts.com/shopforum/...1&d=1425358957

I thought I could do this trip on the current tires, but alas a new set of fronts is on the agenda for the next couple of days. My valve cover has begun leaking to excess, so that probably needs to be addressed too. And I think I mentioned earlier that my cruise control has gone wonky. Other than that, she did good.

Went right to the hospital to meet my sister and visit my mom. Wish I could say she was doing well, but not so much.

It's good to be here given the potential for weather issues.

Funny I was going to ask about your tires I believe until late April banff, Jasper, yohoo National parks require snow tires or all season tires or you'll be turned back. You may wish to do a bit of research.

Glad you made it safely!

Hang in there, I just went through the revolving healthcare door over the last year with my dad. If you have any questions, let me know through PM. I can help figuring out planning, etc... It's all still all too fresh in my mind.

Numbers
 

For those interested in performance stats, here are the numbers for the outbound leg of the trip. The low numbers on the leg to Anthony reflect headwinds and climbing toward the Continental Divide while the leg to Pecos reflect the slow storm driving and idling waiting for wrecks to clear.

http://www.peachparts.com/shopforum/...1&d=1425480495

Those are some excellent mileage figures!

I love how high 20's is considered "low" mileage.

Amazing car, amazing work.

I hope things are going well with your mom.

Be nice to also get your average speed for each tankful. The CDIs give that info, but you've got to not have turned the car off for only X-amount of time to get that encapsulated figure. The hourmeter is a handy calculation tool to have too. 30 for that heavy car is a good number.

I just might try that on the return trip. Here's the display of the HUD app I'm using with my "gauges project". There's a trip function that gives time and distance, so I could key average speed off that as long as I remembered to catch it and reset it.

http://www.peachparts.com/shopforum/...1&d=1425591249