You can check out this post to see how the trip was...
http://www.peachparts.com/shopforum/showthread.php?postid=103868#post103868

But I have a few questions on the performance of my C280.
First of all, I do know that power is lost with an increased load, less air density, uphill driving, A/C etc.
Well I had two other people in my car, and a lot of gear, most of it blankets though (I packed the heavy stuff in the E430!)

Well as usualy, temp climbed to about 110 going up the hill, and I swear it felt like I had lost 50 horses. I probably had.... anyway, the outside temperature was about 70 or so, and the trip ranged from 1,000 feet to 7,000 feet high. Well I turned the A/C off to preserve power, gas mileage, and to lower the engine temp... nothing! It still climbed high. So I then turned on the heat full blast, closed center and passenger vents, and aimed the driver's side vent out the window to see if I could lower the engine temp that way... nope, still climbed to 110 +. I was now getting a little concerned, even ext. temps had dropped to 60 or so. Now I know this is all still OK for a Mercedes, but I have a 80/20 mixture of water to MB coolant (thanks Jim), and 2 bottles of Waterwetter (which I know don't always reduce coolant temp, but dissipate hot spots) that were all put in about 3 months ago, so it's fresh. And I everything else is in working order, etc. Well Justins Mercedes showed no increase in engine temperature... why do new MB's hold their temp stable, but once a few years old, start to climb? Is there any reason?

I also noticed VERY rough shifts up the hill also. Why is this? Hot AT fluid? I kept it in 3rd a lot of the time though. But flooring it to pass and keep up with Justin was rough and very slow. (I swear I wanted to run every Minivan on that road off the side of the hill, grrr, I understand, John Shellenberg!)

And one more thing, during our time up there, I went through a few large puddles, and then ran my battery dead. Well I jumped it, and had it started for about 20 minutes idling, then went on a 30 minute drive (through deep water), when I got back, I turned off the car, and tried to restart, and it didn't start... I was thinking that maybe water got into the alternator or something!? So we jumped it again and I let it run for about 1/2 an hour, tried to restart, and it still didn't start. I then thought screw it, I'll deal with it when we leave in the morning. So in the morning, I jumped the car, it started and I took the 2 hour drive home. When I stopped the car, it again started right up the way it should. Why do you think this is? Do you think that it just needed a really good charging? Or did the moisture/water somehow prevent the batter from charging?

Thanks for the help guys.

__________________
2006 E350 w/ 155k miles (Daily Driver)

Previous:
1993 300E 3.2L Sedan w/ close to about 300k miles
2003 E500 Brilliant Silver (Had 217k miles when totalled!)
1989 300E with 289,000 miles (had for <1 yr while in HI)
03 CLK 500 cabrio (Mom's)
2006 C230k (Dad's)
1999 S420 (Mom's/Dad's)
2000 C230k Sport sedans
2001 CLK320 Cabrio (Mom's)
1995 C280 My First Mercedes-Benz... (155k miles. EXCEPTIONAL AUTOMOBILE. Was Very hard to let go of!)