Road trip distance?

You don't want to go down to Mexico anymore. It isn't like the 80's or 90's. Used to work in Ciudad del Carmen, it's pretty bad.

15 hours in a 2014 Passat TDI SE

Drove from Phoenix AZ to Reno NV and back. Approx 758 miles each way. Roads are mixed 4 lane and 2 lane and a few small towns. We averaged 45 mpg. Mostly open desert and old mining towns but had a chance to talk to the wife without distractions. Life is good.

Western USA Trip

In two months:


Texas. Austin, San Antonio, Fort Stockton, Guadalupe Mountains National Park.

New Mexico. Carlsbad Caverns National Park, Santa Fe, Albuquerque.

Arizona. Flagstaff, Grand Canyon.

Nevada. Las Vegas.

California. Death Valley National Park, Sequoia National Forest, Bakersfield to Coast highway. San Luis Obispo, then up the Coast highway to San Francisco, Oakland, Sacramento, Lake Tahoe, back to I-5.

Oregon. Eugene, Springfield, Portland.

Washington. Vancouver, Tacoma, Seattle.

Canada. Vancouver, Banff National Park.

Washington. Back to Seattle.

Montana. Glacier National Park, 64 Grinnel Drive, West Glacier, MT 59936,

Wyoming. Yellowstone National Park, WY 82190,

Idaho. Craters of the Moon National Monument & Preserve, Arco, ID,

Utah. Salt Lake City.

Colorado. Denver, Pike's peak.

New Mexico..

Texas. Amarillo, Lubbock, Abilene, Fredericksburg, San Antonio. Austin.

35 hours on the road - weekend trip

Hi all, first time posting here. Figured i would wait until i had something good. Either way, my fiance and i decided to go to Colorado Springs for the weekend. They were having a Tiny House Jamboree and we wanted to go. So friday i left work got everything ready and packed in the car, put our two poodles in the back seat and were off by 6:30. Drove straight through the night and arrived at 8:30 mountain time. Hung out and what not, spent the night at a motel 6 in the small city of Raton, NM and woke up sunday to drive back and make it home by 9:45 that evening. Can't wait for the next trip, hopefully sometime real soon.

Los Angelsan juan San es area to Alaska and back

San Juan Capistrano to Fairbanks, Denali National Park, Anchorage with various side trips and back. 8500 miles total July 30-Aug 15. Went north via I5 Sumas, WA border crossing, which sucked, would do Vancouver next time, if there is a next time, Montana origin of I15 crossing coming back. Hope BC up to Cassiar Highway, Whitehorse YT to Fairbanks. Ft Nelson to Prince George BC then Jasper and Banff National Park to Calgary Alberta then I15 home.

Fuel mileage average was probably 47-48 with new Michelin 205-65-15s. Awesome trip but lots of driving in short time...averaged 500 miles a day. Saw a funnel cloud in Denali NP, very rare.

WHEW...! I'm tired just trying to keep up with you !

eav said:

In two months:


Texas. Austin, San Antonio, Fort Stockton, Guadalupe Mountains National Park.

New Mexico. Carlsbad Caverns National Park, Santa Fe, Albuquerque.

Arizona. Flagstaff, Grand Canyon.

Nevada. Las Vegas.

California. Death Valley National Park, Sequoia National Forest, Bakersfield to Coast highway. San Luis Obispo, then up the Coast highway to San Francisco, Oakland, Sacramento, Lake Tahoe, back to I-5.

Oregon. Eugene, Springfield, Portland.

Washington. Vancouver, Tacoma, Seattle.

Canada. Vancouver, Banff National Park.

Washington. Back to Seattle.

Montana. Glacier National Park, 64 Grinnel Drive, West Glacier, MT 59936,

Wyoming. Yellowstone National Park, WY 82190,

Idaho. Craters of the Moon National Monument & Preserve, Arco, ID,

Utah. Salt Lake City.

Colorado. Denver, Pike's peak.

New Mexico..

Texas. Amarillo, Lubbock, Abilene, Fredericksburg, San Antonio. Austin.

Click to expand...

Raton! Been there done that AND in that specific Motel 6 !
(your Poodles held it in for THAT long !? ! hahahaha

Firehawk09 said:

Hi all, first time posting here. Figured i would wait until i had something good. Either way, my fiance and i decided to go to Colorado Springs for the weekend. They were having a Tiny House Jamboree and we wanted to go. So friday i left work got everything ready and packed in the car, put our two poodles in the back seat and were off by 6:30. Drove straight through the night and arrived at 8:30 mountain time. Hung out and what not, spent the night at a motel 6 in the small city of Raton, NM and woke up sunday to drive back and make it home by 9:45 that evening. Can't wait for the next trip, hopefully sometime real soon.

Click to expand...

bikeprof said:

Raton! Been there done that AND in that specific Motel 6 !
(your Poodles held it in for THAT long !? ! hahahaha

Click to expand...

Heh, I spent a night at that same Motel 6 many years ago. Judging by the photos on TripAdvisor, it has not changed any.

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk

Admin, please move if I'm not in the right spot.

So I'm looking to plan a trip from San Bernardino County, CA to Fort Worth, TX in April. I just finished a trip out to NV totaling 770mi round trip and 51.09mpg. It was a good trip, guy's weekend away that I've been wanting to do for about a year now. But it's time my better half visits her family in TX.

As far as a road trip is concerned, what would be some of the items I should carry JIC? I'm driving my '02 Golf, I'll be doing a fresh oil change, planning on new tires shortly before the trip, car has been maintained very well before I took ownership 3/15 and to the current date. New TB & WP and all preventative/scheduled maintenance has been taken care of.

My question is, what other items should I bring with just in case? What issues on road trips have been experienced? What should I be looking out for? Only reason were driving is because it's cheaper than flying. Just throwing it out there in case somebody thinks of something that I've overlooked.

Thanks !!

-Tom

Thomas83 said:

Admin, please move if I'm not in the right spot.

So I'm looking to plan a trip from San Bernardino County, CA to Fort Worth, TX in April. I just finished a trip out to NV totaling 770mi round trip and 51.09mpg. It was a good trip, guy's weekend away that I've been wanting to do for about a year now. But it's time my better half visits her family in TX.

As far as a road trip is concerned, what would be some of the items I should carry JIC? I'm driving my '02 Golf, I'll be doing a fresh oil change, planning on new tires shortly before the trip, car has been maintained very well before I took ownership 3/15 and to the current date. New TB & WP and all preventative/scheduled maintenance has been taken care of.

My question is, what other items should I bring with just in case? What issues on road trips have been experienced? What should I be looking out for? Only reason were driving is because it's cheaper than flying. Just throwing it out there in case somebody thinks of something that I've overlooked.

Thanks !!

-Tom

Click to expand...

Make sure the spare is good and you've got the jack and all the items necessary to swap a flat. I had that problem in one vehicle where it popped a tire but the pieces weren't there (someone had mixed up the kit when they put it back).

Thomas...
I always have a spare in a can/the pressurized can of "fix-a-flat".
Tire mechanics do not like it and some others neither BUT it has saved me many times! Ie: Driving thru Colorado Springs; the right rear went flat pretty fast(that's what I noticed), slowed to a stop beside concrete barriers when the interstate there was super narrow(construction of more lanes).
Anyway; it was winter, slushy and 02:30 in the AM.

An extra fuel filter is always great insurance and good FOOD!
It's hard to get good fried chicken till inside Tex"i"s !

Sweet! Thank you guys. Spare is good to go, have all the appropriate tools, need the FAF though. I was also curious, are there any club members out there along my route, that if need be could help out with any roadside emergencies if needed? Timing belt comes to mind (although mine has less than 4K on it) since I can't bring the garage with me and all its tools. Or, any good TDI repair shops along the route?


Sent from my iPhone.

Alphaseinor/BRYAN is in Fort Worth, make sure you call him early before your trip to set up a tentative appt. with him. HE IS CERTIFIED shop here in the forum!

Thomas,

There is not much between Southern California and most of west Texas in the way of TDI specific repair shops. Just a whole lot of open space along I 10 and I 20 to Ft. Worth. Have your car in good shape, check your spare and tire tools. I have had no problems taking the trip from San Diego to San Antonio any number of times. Only extras I carry is my credit cards, AAA card, 2 cell phones, a car cell phone charger. Don't push your fuel tank to the bottom. Think last Sept. on the way back from San Antonio I topped the tank two or 3 times, just because it was good to make a pit stop and grab food or beverages.
I 40 can be a more interesting route thru Arizona and New Mexico. But at some point you get on to smaller roads in west Texas. So I-10 to 1-20 would be my route of choice to Ft. Worth.

john.jackson9213 said:

Thomas,

There is not much between Southern California and most of west Texas in the way of TDI specific repair shops. Just a whole lot of open space along I 10 and I 20 to Ft. Worth. Have your car in good shape, check your spare and tire tools. I have had no problems taking the trip from San Diego to San Antonio any number of times. Only extras I carry is my credit cards, AAA card, 2 cell phones, a car cell phone charger. Don't push your fuel tank to the bottom. Think last Sept. on the way back from San Antonio I topped the tank two or 3 times, just because it was good to make a pit stop and grab food or beverages.
I 40 can be a more interesting route thru Arizona and New Mexico. But at some point you get on to smaller roads in west Texas. So I-10 to 1-20 would be my route of choice to Ft. Worth.

Click to expand...

The "smaller" road John is talking about is old Route 66 that runs parallel to I-40 most of the way from Seligman, AZ to Amarillo, TX (except where I-40 was overlaid on top of Rte 66).

Not planning on running the tank dry, just topping off in Phoenix & New Mexico. I have a 5 gal diesel can I'll top off with Propel synthetic bio just in case. Found my optimum blend to be about 33-40% Propel with 67-60% D2 gives me 51mpg @ 75mph. So carrying a 5gal reserve of higher Cetane should help out. CC's, AAA, phones and chargers are all accounted for. I'm tracking the weather and road conditions weekly just in case (even though the trip is a ways out there.) thanks for the input, feedback, and opinions. Much appreciated.


Sent from my iPhone.

In 3 weeks I will be driving from just north of Philadelphia, Pa to Kohler, Wi Friday the 11th to Sunday the 13th, then it's down to Nashville, Indiana and then the 14th it's time to head back home. I think it's roughly either 12 or 13 hr drive to Wisc, not sure how the time zone changes things, 6 hours down to Nashville and maybe 9-10 hours back home. Maybe about 2000 miles. And not too much snow to deal with. I did in August drive out to Columbus Ohio about 475 miles, about 3/4 tank it took.

.

Thomas83 said:

Not planning on running the tank dry, just topping off in Phoenix & New Mexico. I have a 5 gal diesel can I'll top off with Propel synthetic bio just in case. Found my optimum blend to be about 33-40% Propel with 67-60% D2 gives me 51mpg @ 75mph. So carrying a 5gal reserve of higher Cetane should help out. CC's, AAA, phones and chargers are all accounted for. I'm tracking the weather and road conditions weekly just in case (even though the trip is a ways out there.) thanks for the input, feedback, and opinions. Much appreciated.


Sent from my iPhone.

Click to expand...

I usually bring what's necessary to survive. A blanket, repair toolbox that includes VW specialty tools, jump start battery pack in case of dead battery, water, oil, coolant, heavy jacket, my AAA card, mobile phone charger with extra usb port. Although if you deal with lots of snow, a piece of wood might be good to carry along to aid in traction if needed.

8000 mile round trip from central PA to CO, UT, AZ, NV, CA, OR and back. May 2015. Went from 178,000 to 186,000.

Vegas

To start I live in So Cal and was making a trip to Vegas in my 2015 Passat TDI and this was my first extended road trip in the car. I filled up before I left and drove to Vegas with a little city driving in Vegas and back along with some driving around home and my grand total was 720 miles. This being my first Diesel car I was impressed and happy to get such good milaege and knowing I could probably do even better with the AC off and driving more carefully.

Depart from Montreal, QC @ midnight (after working night shift and having guests in my house) on QC40, then QC138. Slept 1 h in Baie Comeau, QC, waiting for bank office to open. Continued on QC 289 N; lunch in Gagnon (ghost town), supper in Labrador City, NL. Take Translabrador HWY, slept 3 h in Happy Valley-Goose Bay, NL. Pass by Port Hope Simpson, Ann Harbour (5 DG Celsius on 1st July), Red Bay. See icebergs. Arrived @ noon in Blanc Sablon, QC, take the ferry for Newfoundland. Short visit @ Terra Nova national park. Sleeping 5 h in Gander, NL. In the morning: St. John, NL - visiting the eastern point in Canada and North America. Great pizza for late lunch. Come back on road, Trans Canada HWY. Visit Aviation Museum, airport and late supper in Gander. Depart @ almost 10 PM to catch the ferry @ 2AM: Port aux basques, NL to North Sydney, NS. Slept about 4 h on chair. Drive to Plage Parlée, NB. Supper there, after swimming. Back home in Montreal @ 3 AM. 6400 km in 4 days and 3 h, with some rapid visiting. The landscape is gorgeous, but you need absolutely the most reliable car, as you drive 1700 km with no cell coverage and with very few services.

bikeprof said:

I wonder what the minimum distance for "us"(the TDI'rs) to call the trip a ROAD TRIP?

1. Does it have to be fun?
2. What IS the magic number of mileage to call it a trip?
3. Are we driving to "Break in" the new TDI?
4. Do we have to get away from the "significant other" to call it a "road trip", or do they have to come to call it, a "road trip"?
5. Does overnight mean a "road trip"?
6. Is the making of memories entitle us to the "road trip" label?
7. NO breakdowns, means a good "road trip"?
8. Driving a TDI exclusively IS necessary for the label of a "road trip"?
9. Navigating in the USA, is it the only geographic area for it to be a
"road trip"?

Others at your request..., fill in the blanks:

Could this become a "sticky"?

Click to expand...

My first road trip did break in my TDI. Drove to TX to visit my mother when I was still living in CA. Owned the car about 3 weeks and put on about 3400 miles or so.

Most recent road trip - drove to about 45 min east of DFW to pick up to goats I purchased and drove back home. 860 miles round trip, solo, all in one day. About 34mpg on a bad DPF (that is no longer).

In about two weeks, I'll be touring some states I've never been to on the way to pick up some more livestock guardian dogs for my ranch (specialized breed). My estimated itinerary puts me at about 2200-2800 miles round trip, all covered solo.

pkhoury
DID you get on the road to pick up your "specialty dogs" ?
Do you have "specialty goats",
good thing is that you have a "specialty car", a SPORTSWAGEN that can fit dogs and goats and maybe half the barn..., maybe more?

Neat you do this, that you are in a niche of livestock that is enjoyed(I do, milk and cheese, etc...)

Hope you have GREAT success with them goats...
and good luck with the VARIANT, may it last a long time !

bikeprof said:

pkhoury
DID you get on the road to pick up your "specialty dogs" ?

Click to expand...

That trip got indefinitely cancelled because one of the dogs tested positive for heartworm. Supposed to do a different trip to Fort Worth tomorrow to pick up the same breed (google it - Maremma) from a different breeder, which is about 600+ miles round trip in one day.

Do you have "specialty goats",
good thing is that you have a "specialty car", a SPORTSWAGEN that can fit dogs and goats and maybe half the barn..., maybe more?

Click to expand...

Just 4 of the 7 established breeds of dairy goat. I can't truly fit that much back there. I'd say the most I could fit with the animals having room to move around would be 3 adults, but that's still pushing it, given adult does (females) can easily go up to 160 pounds.

Neat you do this, that you are in a niche of livestock that is enjoyed(I do, milk and cheese, etc...)

Hope you have GREAT success with them goats...
and good luck with the VARIANT, may it last a long time !

Click to expand...

Thank you. It's hard work, and usually means working all 7 days out of the week. Hard to believe that by the end of the week, I'll have driven 1800-ish miles (550 in a truck) and still haven't left the state. Also means my DSG service (that I'll do myself) will be coming up around the start of March. Thank you VW for the dealer loyalty card!

EDIT: forgot to mention, I picked up two Saanen adult does on Saturday - also to the DFW area, and round trip was about 585 miles, over 37mpg round trip. I think the car's computer stated the car had been on for about 11+ hours that day.

This summer/late spring I am going to do the mother of all road trips. I am starting out in Virginia Beach and going to Chicago then San Fransico. Once I get there I am going to drop down into Nevada to see the black mailbox by area 51 where I will then to the strip in fabulous Las Vegas. After I lose some money on the tables Im going to head into the grand canyon so I can go camping on the south rim and then the next day Im going to drop even more south into Tucson. After visiting some family there its off to some of the best looking cheer leaders in the NFL (Dallas). After once again visiting some friends and family in the area its a mad dash for Nashville so I can hit up the BBQ fest. Then back to where it all started here at the beach. My total trip is going to be about 7,000 miles and take me no more than 30 days. Its going to be fun times.

Recently went on a ski/snowboard trip to Mont-Tremblant from Hamilton/Oshawa! Was a nice 1600km round trip with full car, snowboard racks on 2 1/4 tanks (i get badish mileage!)

In November 2015, went to Quebec City from Oshawa for a concert! Another 1600km! Racking them on!

Right before I came back to the middle east this last time I left Pittsburgh at like midnight and drove to Orlando, Fl. Messed around there for a day or so then to my parents house in west Tn. That was like 2000 miles. Check engine light was on pretty much the entire trip from Orlando to tn.

My trip was from Vancouver B.C. Canada to San Diego California USA, and everything in between over 2 weeks. 5001 kms total rolling into my driveway. Made it from Vancouver to Oregon/California border in one tank.

Also every year we go to Winchester Bay Oregon to the sand dunes dirtbiking as well. Towing appox 1000lbs of dirtbikes and trailer I got 820kms to the tank all HWY. Not bad at all! FYI I tow in 5th gear on the Hwy and not in 6th.

(this was with just a old tuning box, I'm still running my first tank of fuel with my new setup. vnt17, .216 nozzles and a malone stage 4 etc)

in about a week and a half I will be doing a long roadtrip in a 2002 Jetta. NJ (where Im picking it up) down to MD to see aunt and uncle, then up to PA with aunt and gf to see amish country and back to MD. Then MD to Ontario, then to Michigan and back to Wisconsin via the YUPER peninsula. Will report all said and done what the final road mileages come out to be on this trip.

Thinking back about my LONGEST Roadtrip:
Edmonton, Alberta to Louisville, KY. Just a little over 3,100 km.
Left after work and drove straight through, with 3 Bathroom stops.
Was a little over 28 Hours.... Some speeding included....