Another Road Trip; TX-NM-AZ-UT-CO, July 2019

[PetitFrereArmada]

Great stuff! Thanks for sharing it. I must add though that it is not exactly good for your engine and tranny to coast in neutral. Bad for gas mileage too! Just a little tip

Thanks for the compliment. It is truly nice to know that people do take time out of their busy schedule to read one's trip report. It makes it worthwhile sharing.

Lol, but you know I have to disagree about coasting in neutral that it hurts the engine and tranny.

In Europe, before cars were being built now to automatically shut off in traffic and start automatically, when you get stuck in traffic, it is usually ok to put the gear in neutral and let it sit idling. Or you put in neutral and kill the engine.

But the auto functions now in the European cars that have manual transmission, when you get stuck in traffic and depress your clutch, step on brakes and put the car in neutral, the car automatically kills itself. Then when traffic is moving again, you know you just step on the clutch and the car comes alive. You engage first gear and you are off.

Well, it is kind of the same principle. On a lot of the roads like Phoenix to Sedona and back, there are some parts of the freeway that are more than 5 miles long and steep. They advice 18wheelers to use low gears and there are a few runaway ramps in case their brakes fail. Well, by the time I usually get to that steep downhill, we all are doing about 65mph, which is the speed limit there.

That is when I throw my SUV into neutral. Well, in less than no time, my suv usually goes from 65mph to 85mph. That is when you see everybody is basically like flying down the hill at about same speed. I know none of those people are stepping on the gas. Everyone is playing with their brakes. I personally would coast until when I am getting close to a sharp bend, I put my SUV into manual and immediately the car shows it is in 7 speed. At which time, I downshift from 7 to 6 to 5 to 4 and to 3 for a second or two and back to 4. It helps me not brake so hard. I enjoy it a lot. It makes my SUV feel like a race car and it takes the bends very more stable and balanced.

The BAD thing that has happened TWICE with me doing this is that I have accidentally put my car into reverse TWICE, while doing about 70mph going downhill during this trip. First time in my life that has happened.

I saw my 360 degree camera come on and everything around my car was flying. My car was in reverse for like 2 or 3 seconds while doing 70mph coasting downhill, before I quickly put it back to neutral for a bit before putting into manual again.

Well, that happened about 3 days ago. Car is still driving fine. Transmission has not given out at all. So, I am good. I will just watch for that next time.

 

[PetitFrereArmada]

I am going to miss your posts/pictures. I live in Houston as well so i can do the same trip. I would love to in fact but I would have to add Moab. I marked a few places I wasnt aware of.

One of the things I noticed on your trip was that it appeared you had to do the 3 1/2 hour trip from lake City to Ourey. How did get to telluride from there. Was the trail by the waterfall open.

PS Your links to the second and third road trips are to the same trip. Yes I have reviewed all of them. Great trips.

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Glad to know you have enjoyed reading my trip report. It is good to know you have gotten some ideas from mine and will do a similar road trip.

Moab is a great destination. Definitely add it on your itinerary if you are going to Ouray also.

Thanks for pointing out about the link to my 2018 trip report. I just fixed it and put the correct trip in the link.

Let me quote you to answer your main question in your post.


Your Question;


One of the things I noticed on your trip was that it appeared you had to do the 3 1/2 hour trip from lake City to Ourey. How did get to telluride from there. Was the trail by the waterfall open.


Answer:
No, I did not do the 3.5 hours trip from Lake City to Ouray.
The 3.5 hours trip I did was from Ouray to Marble, CO.
I got to Telluride from Ouray by using Ophir Pass. It was open.
The trail by the waterfall you are talking about is probably Black Bear Pass. No, it was not open. It was still blocked by snow. I posted some pictures showing that.

 

[SayWutOverland]

Thanks for the compliment. It is truly nice to know that people do take time out of their busy schedule to read one's trip report. It makes it worthwhile sharing.

Lol, but you know I have to disagree about coasting in neutral that it hurts the engine and tranny.

In Europe, before cars were being built now to automatically shut off in traffic and start automatically, when you get stuck in traffic, it is usually ok to put the gear in neutral and let it sit idling. Or you put in neutral and kill the engine.

But the auto functions now in the European cars that have manual transmission, when you get stuck in traffic and depress your clutch, step on brakes and put the car in neutral, the car automatically kills itself. Then when traffic is moving again, you know you just step on the clutch and the car comes alive. You engage first gear and you are off.

Well, it is kind of the same principle. On a lot of the roads like Phoenix to Sedona and back, there are some parts of the freeway that are more than 5 miles long and steep. They advice 18wheelers to use low gears and there are a few runaway ramps in case their brakes fail. Well, by the time I usually get to that steep downhill, we all are doing about 65mph, which is the speed limit there.

That is when I throw my SUV into neutral. Well, in less than no time, my suv usually goes from 65mph to 85mph. That is when you see everybody is basically like flying down the hill at about same speed. I know none of those people are stepping on the gas. Everyone is playing with their brakes. I personally would coast until when I am getting close to a sharp bend, I put my SUV into manual and immediately the car shows it is in 7 speed. At which time, I downshift from 7 to 6 to 5 to 4 and to 3 for a second or two and back to 4. It helps me not brake so hard. I enjoy it a lot. It makes my SUV feel like a race car and it takes the bends very more stable and balanced.

The BAD thing that has happened TWICE with me doing this is that I have accidentally put my car into reverse TWICE, while doing about 70mph going downhill during this trip. First time in my life that has happened.

I saw my 360 degree camera come on and everything around my car was flying. My car was in reverse for like 2 or 3 seconds while doing 70mph coasting downhill, before I quickly put it back to neutral for a bit before putting into manual again.

Well, that happened about 3 days ago. Car is still driving fine. Transmission has not given out at all. So, I am good. I will just watch for that next time.

I should've rephrased that. Its not necessarily bad, its just not great as you lose the control if you need to react and the engine actually gets better mpg coasting in gear since the wheels are spinning the engine instead of gas having to be put into the combustion chambers. Not trying to start anything, just an observation. Thanks again for sharing my man.

 

[PetitFrereArmada]

I should've rephrased that. Its not necessarily bad, its just not great as you lose the control if you need to react and the engine actually gets better mpg coasting in gear since the wheels are spinning the engine instead of gas having to be put into the combustion chambers. Not trying to start anything, just an observation. Thanks again for sharing my man.

I believe that on the forums we all learn everyday. So, it is very ok that you pointed that out. We all learn from each other on here, so I truly do not mind you pointing that out at all. Besides, I truly appreciate you reading my trip report and commenting contributing by posting. It makes it more interesting to read alongside looking at the pictures.

 

[PetitFrereArmada]

Starting odometer and ending odometer after my trip. So, I drove 6,147 miles on this my 20 days road trip. As for gas, I need to figure it out, but I put some very heavy 35s Yokohama mud tires on my suv which comes with 33s stock tires that are quite lighter. The heavy tires truly affected my gas mileage very badly on this trip. I spent an estimate of about $1,500 in a mixture of regular and premium gas throughout this trip. Yeah, that is too much to spend on gas in only 20 days, I know.

 

[PetitFrereArmada]

TRIP REPORT IN FIGURES:

Length of road trip: 20 days
Miles driven: 6,147 miles
Cost of gas: Approximately $1,500. I think it may be more or less, I need to really figure this out and confirm this number.
Cost of hotels for 19 nights: Approximately $1,500. This is quite precise.
Cost of food: Less than $500. I didn't eat fancy on this trip
Vehicle maintenance or emergencies? None. I did not do any hardcore trails and did not have any car problems also, so that was good.

 

[molanginaeda]

@PetitFrereArmada It’s good to hear about your trip. For tracking fuel cost and mpg, I use an app on my smartphone call fuelly. I tracked my fuel spending on every trip, but it just hard to keep copy of receipts.

Here is my fuel trip tracking on my trip.

 

[molanginaeda]

In 2017, I did another road trip with a friend. It was my best road trip ever.

I was nice to meet you at Jasper AB. Still owe you the steak dinner as promised. The kitkat ice cream still my fav of the trip.

 

[PetitFrereArmada]

@PetitFrereArmada It’s good to hear about your trip. For tracking fuel cost and mpg, I use an app on my smartphone call fuelly. I tracked my fuel spending on every trip, but it just hard to keep copy of receipts.

Here is my fuel trip tracking on my trip.

View attachment 530661

Nice to see you again! Thanks for the tip about the gas tracking app. It would have been great for me to have such an app.

I see you spent $958 in gas to drive 2,980 miles averaging 11.4 miles per gallon. I think I was averaging about that or a bit more. That means if I was logging my info using this app, my gas cost may be about close to $3,000 in gas to cover 6,147 miles that I drove on this trip.

The thing that I messed up on this trip is that I normally love to use 1 single credit for gas ONLY for the whole trip, but I did not do that this time. So, I cannot get the exact figure.

I might go through the pain of looking at my statement and summing up all that I think is gas and seeing what it sums up to. But next time, I will remember that there is an app for everything.

 

[molanginaeda]

Nice to see you again! Thanks for the tip about the gas tracking app. It would have been great for me to have such an app.

I see you spent $958 in gas to drive 2,980 miles averaging 11.4 miles per gallon. I think I was averaging about that or a bit more. That means if I was logging my info using this app, my gas cost may be about close to $3,000 in gas to cover 6,147 miles that I drove on this trip.

The thing that I messed up on

@PetitFrereArmada no mess up. My trip is mostly in Canada. Fuel cost will be $3.5 - $4 per gallon. US fuel price is still cheaper. Due to better exchange rates, it's cost less to travel in Canada.

 

[PetitFrereArmada]

I was nice to meet you at Jasper AB. Still owe you the steak dinner as promised. The kitkat ice cream still my fav of the trip.

Oh yes, you still owe us that steak you promised. I was looking forward to it. But even though we did not get the steak, it was such a pleasure meeting you, wife and kids. The icecream was awesome too.

2017 has been my best road trip and vacation ever. I don't know if I will ever top that for myself. I met some really awesome people that I have never met before. Our first guest who we got to know only on the forums here who hosted us and bbqed wings for us and gave us gifts even. That was precious. had a good time with him, his wife and his 2 kids. It was really a great gesture by them. Even meeting you and spending time with you, wife and kids too was priceless. I personally like to visit that my trip report and view the pictures often.

My 2017 Road Trip...

 

[GHI]

Cool trip. I enjoyed reading it. I used to keep a logbook of all my fuel, food, lodging etc. Then I realized I was gonna do these types of trips regardless of fuel prices or what have you so why bother with all the note taking and adding it all up. I do wish I kept better notes on places I've been to. We make annual Shutterfly photo books from our travels, but we can never fit everything into the allotted space. I complain when my wife spends hours upon hours editing for the book. I sure do appreciate the finished product though. It amazes me how many places or trips I forgot about.

 

[PetitFrereArmada]

It has been really a few months since the end of this trip but I finally just got around to making a video from the road trip. I will actually end up making more than 1 video and will upload here. I still have some offroad footage I could make videos from.

Here is a summary video from the whole trip. Let me know what you guys think. Feel free to press the like button if you enjoy the video.

Clips from my July 2019 Road Trip

 

[PetitFrereArmada]

And this is another video from the same road trip. Driving down Black Bear Pass in Colorado. July 2019.

 

[PetitFrereArmada]

Driving down Ophir Pass, Co. July 2019. A FJ Cruiser forum member met me at the top of Ophir Pass. We talked for a bit and I asked him if I could put my gopro on his windshield while we went down. He said yes. I put it on his FJ Cruiser and we started our trip downhill.