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Thread: George's Garage

  1. #161
    High Plains Luddite George's Avatar
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    No. Of course not.

    Just another lame attempt at humor on my part.

  2. #162
    High Plains Luddite George's Avatar
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    I looks like my road trip will start this Wednesday. It's not as interesting and relatively rare on the roads as first-generation Ridgelines, but at just three years old and with fewer than 23,000 miles, this seems like a new car to me. And 23 mpg average (per the in-car display) sure beats the 16 mpg displayed in the Ridgeline.

    Keeping in mind I've always driven mundane cars, this has downright shocking acceleration for what it is. I would have guessed it had a six-cylinder engine, but the window sticker and other original paperwork says it's a Forester 2.5i with Option Package 02, a "lineartronic" CVT, 17" alloy wheels, and roof rails. I have the roof crossbars also, but they're not currently on the car.

    Here's a picture I took yesterday here in South Carolina.



    Quote Originally Posted by Phil_SS
    And yes, an AWD car will chew up tires. Make sure you get an alignment while putting on the new tires
    I didn't, but I will. The car tracks straight and true with no hands on the wheel, both before and after getting new tires installed, so I'm going to roll the dice and wait to get an alignment when I get home. Penny wise and pound foolish? Possibly, but I was able to get tires at a shop right next door to where I'm working here. They didn't offer alignments and I didn't think I had the time then to go elsewhere. I'm still on a pretty tight schedule, so I'll take it to my regular shop in Colorado. That should coincide with it needing an oil change.
    Last edited by George; November 25th, 2019 at 06:15 AM.

  3. #163
    Jedi Cam's Avatar
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    Almost identical to ours. Happy motoring!

  4. #164
    Spiny beast TheBenior's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by George View Post
    Keeping in mind I've always driven mundane cars, this has downright shocking acceleration for what it is. I would have guessed it had a six-cylinder engine, but the window sticker and other original paperwork says it's a Forester 2.5i with Option Package 02, a "lineartronic" CVT, 17" alloy wheels, and roof rails. I have the roof crossbars also, but they're not currently on the car.
    If your frame of reference is older 1990s cars, that Forester is about as quick as a 1990s Ford Taurus with the Vulcan V6 was (high 16s in the quarter mile). When I ride my Ducati Monster 696 or drove my Mazdaspeed3 for a week and got back to our Mazda CX-5, the CX-5 felt really slow, but I have to remind myself that the CX-5 is just about as quick as Japanese V6 sedans in the mid to late 1990s (~16 second quarter with the automatics).

    Modern cars tend to be pretty good these days. Just about all of them accelerate, brake, and handle competently, and protect their occupants far better in crashes. Anecdotally, more people walk away from some pretty spectacular crashes these days compared to when I was a new officer almost 13 years ago and there were more 1980s and 1990s cars left on the roads around Chicago.

  5. #165
    High Plains Luddite George's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by TheBenior
    If your frame of reference is older 1990s cars...
    Yes, that's exactly it. Until July of this year, I drove a 1999 Accord for eleven and a half years. Before that I had a 1994 Toyota Camry for nine years. Before that, I had a 1991 Mitsubishi pickup for seven years.

    And before that, I drove 1970s VWs.

    Signing off from the future,

    Captain John Christopher, USAF.

  6. #166
    High Plains Luddite George's Avatar
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    Way too many cross-country driving pictures and some commentary below, hidden below the spoiler tag so they won't have to be scrolled past from now until eternity, or whenever another page starts itself in this thread.

    I made a slide show for the family and it was no more trouble to upload and post 'em here as well.

    Posting mostly because I enjoy this kind of content from others. Taking pictures made the trip a lot more interesting than it might have been otherwise.

    Spoiler:


    Can't read the sign from the glare from the rental car dashboard, but the sign says Welcome To Georgia or Hey, Y'all or something like that.



    Starting my return trip home in the Subaru a few days later from North Carolina. Chilly, cloudy, and about to rain.

    The Bar-B-Q King Lincolnton, NC. I should have stopped for a sammich but was eager to get going.



    I like independent BBQ shacks in the south. Colorado is cool and all, but we don't have any good Carolina-style BBQ here.

    I did manage to grab a Big Joe Sandwich at Maurice's Piggy Park in Cam's part of the world. It was okay, but not as good I remembered from my college days.



    I took a lot of pictures of signs and not many of just scenery in the east. I guess that's because everything looks pretty much the same once you get a few miles inland from the Atlantic until you get to Texas on I-40, when the trees give way to interesting landscapes.



    Western North Carolina - the Appalachian Mountains.









    Welcome to Tennessee.



    Watch out for the East Tennessee Ninjas.



    Conveniently placed Krystal restaurant just when I needed gas. Krystal burgers are tasty once in a while, and we don't have them (or White Castle restaurants) where I live.



    No picture, but the Sunsphere is still standing in Knoxville, TN. It reminded me of a Simpsons episode.



    Leaving Nashville, TN early in the morning. Tennessee takes a long time to drive through and there were state troopers every five miles or so it seemed. I was using a radar detector of unknown vintage that alerted me to some, but I'm sure not all. I didn't speed much and didn't have to with high speed limits most of the way.



    Part of the Cumberland River. I learned that goes through Nashville from a Todd Snider song.





    I was standing here pumping gas just east of Memphis and wondering where I might get some good BBQ when my wife texted a picture of her and the kids watching the Macy's Thanksgiving Parade on TV. I sent this in answer to her not-yet-asked question of where are you?





    The bridge over the Mississippi River on I-40, between Memphis, Tennessee and West Memphis, Arkansas.

    Time to finish the Yuengling and switch over to Coors.

    *burp*



    Looking north:



    Looking south:





    As soon as I entered Arkansas, I started seeing crappy old cars towing other crappy old cars, and all with what looked like temporary license plates. Most were small sedans with the rear bumper covers removed and makeshift towing hitches installed, I guess. I looked over at one of the drivers as I passed and he gave me the meanest "what are YOU lookin' at?!" glare I've ever seen. He probably couldn't see me anyway through the Subaru's dark tinted windows.

    Can a three-car highway train like this be legal? Maybe so in Arkansas.







    I think I saw three police cars in all of Arkansas. On to Oklahoma, where I saw one, I think. The radar detector went off and I saw a black Dodge Magnum with tinted windows go by in the other direction.



    This reminded me of two good songs...



    Stopped for gas in Checotah, Oklahoma and took these pictures of the motel next door. I stayed in OKC that night but I texted these pics to my wife to show her my accommodations for the evening. She said, "That looks like a sh!thole!" My wife is a classy broad, huh?



    This parking lot would be the perfect setting for Jack Reacher to beat up a few bad guys single-handedly, as he does in most of the novels.



    Ready to leave Friday morning for the final run home. Parked in a corner spot, of course.



    A good preview of the weather for the day:



    Not snow. Cotton. I haven't seen cotton fields in a long time.





    Foggy.





    Signs can be fun on long boring drives. Tennessee had changeable-message illuminated signs above the highway saying "Gobble, Gobble - Watch the Throttle" (readers of the future, it was Thanksgiving) and also "I-40 Challenge - Troopers Every 20 Miles". I'm sticking with my original estimate of every five miles. I felt safe in case of a breakdown - not so much in the lower-budget states.

    This one says

    WATCH OUT
    Don't Hit Our Workers
    Avoid $10,000 Fine



    And I liked these signs throughout Oklahoma: DO NOT IMPEDE LEFT LANE. I was pleased to see very few clueless left-lane cruisers out on the highway away from cities. People drive very well out in the middle of nowhere.



    Taking a shortcut on what would become Texas state route 152. I might have eaten lunch at The Big Texan, but I exited I-40 east of Amarillo.



    Did I mention it was foggy?



    The dude in front is hauling a bale/roll of hay.







    Welcome to Texas
    Drive Friendly - The Texas Way

    And I did.



    And no sooner than that sign went by came another - the first 75 mph speed limit of my trip so far.

    Great picture, huh? The sign coming up had some harsh and threatening words for anyone foolish enough to text and drive in Texas. If it weren't so damn hot, I think I could live in Texas.



    Yup, 75 mph (and then some) on roads like this.



    Below is one of a few places on my trip that reminded me of the town in Kris Kristofferson's song "Best Of All Possible Worlds".

    This was across the street where I got gas and coffee and realized I might have the only non-American branded vehicle for miles around. This is pickup truck and cowboy hat country, both of which I was sadly lacking. I took this picture in anticipation of my wife's next "Where are you now?" text.



    Westbound and down, loaded up and truckin'...



    75 miles per hour here, with oncoming traffic okay to pass?



    What's under all those tires? After rolling the window back up, I had my answer. Manure. Lots and lots of manure. You might even say it was a Texas-sized pile of manure.



    Bales of cotton, rolled up in yellow plastic (or some kind of material).



    Not cotton. Snow.





    Too bad this place was closed...





    Texas patrol car:



    That's the end of Part One due to forum post length restrictions.

    You'd think I'd take the hint...


  7. #167
    High Plains Luddite George's Avatar
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    Part Two

    (groan)

    Spoiler:


    Guess where?



    That's right, Dalhart, Texas. Waiting for the mens room inside the Stop N'Rob.



    And here's a Texas-sized train on the left.



    Welcome to New Mexico.



    Foggy.



    Ahh - blue skies ahead. Looking forward to clear weather the rest of the way home.



    Maybe not...





    Ski New Mexico - and a fine day for it.









    I was glad to have new tires.



    This is at the top of Raton Pass at the New Mexico/Colorado border.



    Welcome to Colorado.







    Coming into Trinidad, CO.



    Pot shop next to Wal-Mart. Yup, I must be home.









    Then it REALLY started raining.



    These wind turbines sort of looked like the gate to Hell. Really windy and just pouring rain as hard as rain can come down.





    Got off highway just after Pueblo at what I thought was a restaurant from afar. Figured I'd skip all the crowded fast food joints at interstate exits in the city. I'll go hungry rather than be tenth or fifteenth in line at a drive-through. I don't know who has that kind of free time, but apparently many do.

    It wasn't a restaurant after all.



    Getting back on the HIGHway...



    Coming into Colorado Springs. Surely it won't rain anymore, will it?



    Pfft. Dream on.







    So much fog. I felt like I was in a Stephen King short story or something...



    Back in my neighborhood. Mission accomplished. And I've now put more miles on the Subaru than the Ridgeline, I think.



    I listened to about half of the audiobook Ready Player One on my mp3 player, thanks to the Subaru's AUX IN jack. The stereo in the car may be the nicest and most powerful stock setup I've ever heard. I didn't really notice it until I hit play on Quiet Riot's Metal Health album I got from the library recently and pumped up the volume for some high-speed head-banging somewhere near that Trump billboard in Arkansas.

    Nice car. Goes as fast as any sane person would want to on the highway and gets good mileage while doing so. And it's like a van inside with the back seats down. I can see why these are so popular.

    Just before getting a much-needed car wash the next day:





    Gonna have to make some decisions pretty soon, as we now have three vehicles. The two newest get to sleep indoors.



    That's all. Thanks for coming along for the ride, if anyone made it this far.

    Here's your reward. Turn it up.




  8. #168
    Fun! Road trips are great. You get to see so much, and so much variety in nature/culture. I took that same Arkansas bridge picture in 2014 when I brought home an NC from... NC.

    Subaru seems to be killing it on the standard stereo sound quality. The BRZ stock stereo is surprisingly good, even in terms of imaging, something car stereos usually suck at. My Dad's Forester impressed me, too, when I borrowed it for road trips. And like you say it moves just fine, get good mileage for a big/tall vehicle, and is pretty practical. I also appreciated the ride height for the randomly harsh speed bumps and driveways I'd encounter outside my hometown. Borrowing it with reasonable frequency for a couple years was a contributing factor in me selling the 350Z for the 328i.

    Here's to years of faithful service!

  9. #169
    Administrator dodint's Avatar
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    Dude, you lost me at "Texas...interesting landscape."

  10. #170
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    There's some very nice landscape... it's just hell and gone from anywhere else - You've got to get into the Transpecos (Chihuahua desert/Davis mtns/Chisos mtns/Big Bend nat'l park) region, all of which are hours and hours from anything including medium-sized population centers, let alone real cities.

    Unfortunately, it's still full of Texans.
    -Formerly Stabulator

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