Texas to Rte 66, Death Valley NP, Sequoia NP, Yosemite NP, Lake Tahoe, Loneliest Road in America, Glacier NP, Canada, Yellowstone NP, Grand Teton NP

[PetitFrereArmada]

What happened to the Armada? Are you not going on any off-road trips?

You are talking about my 2012 QX56. I sold it.

After 5 years of ownership and over $20,000 of warrantied covered repair bills and about $10,000 out of pocket repair and maintenance cost (TOTAL of over $30,000 spent on that car in 5 years to maintain and fix every crazy thing that happened to it), I was sad to part with it. The new owner actually lives 30 minutes away from me and I have seen that my Infiniti once at walmart parking lot when I went shopping at that walmart. Well, I had to go walk by it. It is still looking good and shiny with the new owner. But honestly, before I sold that car I had done EVERYTHING to keep it good. The new buyer will enjoy it. I have replaced a ton of things and done some great maintenance. But I let it go when it had 170,000 miles on it.

I made a thread asking people if my warranty company can cancel my warranty since by the time I made the thread, my warranty company had paid over $18,000 in repairs on my 2012 Infiniti QX56. Well, they never canceled my warranty until my warranty ran its full course, while they paid for some more repairs. If you have some time to burn, here is the link to that thread I created...

Can My Extended Warranty Company cancel my policy after paying over $18,000 in repair cost?

Well, its replacement is coming really soon. Well, it was going to be here sooner until car prices recently jumped up and inflation set into the economy. So, no need to go spend over $30,000 now.

My 2008 Maxima that I bought brand new in 2008 died in 2020 after 12 reliable years of ownership and putting over 268,600 miles on it. The CVT went out. So, I sold it on craigslist for $1,000. A Mexican bought it and towed it on the same day to cross the border into Mexico with the car. So, I looked for a new daily driver. I wanted a great gas saver as my daily driver. It was a toss up between Camry Hybrid and Accord Hybrid. I ended up picking the Accord Hybrid that I bought brand new in October 2020. It has checked all the boxes for me as a daily driver and a gas saver. Then surprised me to be a good road trip car. Amazingly cheaper on gas than my gas guzzler V8 Infiniti. It will be 1 year in 2 months and will have about 30,000 miles by then. I plan to keep this car forever or until it dies above 250,000 miles, as this is my daily driver. It replaces my 2008 Maxima which used to be my daily driver.

When I bought my Hybrid, I was fed-up with the problems my Infiniti was giving me and just decided to get rid of it while planning for its replacement.

I need a 4x4 in my life. The mountains in Colorado keep on calling my name, so I have to respond to that call sooner or later. When the mountains call, you go!

 

[PetitFrereArmada]

Just started my road trip with my 13 hours drive through the night. Picture of odometer at time of departure.

12:30am stop for gas and for a break

 

[wurningdirt]

Good luck on your road trip and have fun. Can't wait to see pictures and videos.

 

[ITTOG]

Good luck driving through the night.

I would be interested in knowing your highway mileage. Most hybrids I have seen primarily help in the city.

 

[PetitFrereArmada]

Good luck driving through the night.

I would be interested in knowing your highway mileage. Most hybrids I have seen primarily help in the city.

The night driving was not easy especially as I did it after working a very hectic 12 hours shift at work. Then got off work and 2 hours later I was on the freeway driving for 13 hours through the night. I was sleepy a lot during the wee hours of midnight and 3 am. But stopped and refreshed myself with water to drink.

Talking about the Hybrid. It shines a lot in the city. This scenario in this paragraph is when I put my mind to it and hypermile. This is 60% city driving and 40% highway with a top speed of only 55mpg on the highway. Doing that, my best miles so far on my best 2 tanks of gas has been getting above 62mpg there by getting over 800 miles from my 12.8 tank of gas.

When I am not focused on hypermiling and driving like a grandma, or for a better choice of words, treating the car as most gentle as ever, I hypermile just a bit and I get over 50mpg. And here I often get 650 to 700 miles from a tank of gas.

But when it comes to the highway, the Honda Accord Hybrid does not shine. On my road trips with freeways having 75mph, I always find that everybody is doing 85-90 as the speed limit. So, keeping up with that speed drops my Hybrid numbers fast. So, I get 36mpg to 38mpg. So, I end up with about 450 miles to the tank.

But whenever I am done with the road trip and I get to the next city, where most of the driving now will be city driving, it just comes natural now to hypermile. And so that helps improve the overall average mpg.

For a daily driver, I really like this Accord. Plus, it is the reason I have gone on so many road trips this summer. Putting gas in this thing is very affordable than my 2012 Infiniti QX80 where I fill up its 26 gallon tank but the V8 will give me only 310 miles to a tank. But my Accord Hybrid with a 12.8 gallon tank gives me 800 miles to a tank. Or 650 miles if I do not try hard to get 800.

 

[PetitFrereArmada]

These are the attractions I stopped at on my overnight drive today from Houston to Albuquerque in the order in which I stopped to visit them.
Stations of the Cross in Groom, TX
You can see the laser beam from my magnetic roof led bar from my Accoed shining in the center of the cross.

Cadillac Ranch

And I like this look faxing the parking lot and I40.

Midpoint of Route 66 in Adrian, TX

World Famous Blue Hole

 

[PetitFrereArmada]

Today was a very long drive from Albuquerque to Las Vegas as I stopped at a lot of the Route 66 attractions. Let me share some of my favorite pictures.

Some random guests at the hotel were very friendly and asked to get into my pucture for fun.

 

[PetitFrereArmada]

Heading to Oatman

Got there late and the town was closed and not a soul in town

As I was leaving town, I saw this burro by the side of the road. I pulled up and stopped. It walked to my car thinking I was going to feed it. Instead I got out and took some pictures and was on my way.

 

[ITTOG]

Thanks on the car info. My wife had an accord in the early 2000's and we thought it was a great car. Just like Toyota's, they just run... and do it for a long time.

I don't envy your drive. So far to go but you appear to be breaking it up well with your stops.

Where is the "world famous blue hole"? I search and all it returned is the Great Blue Hole which is in the ocean.

The Indian Market looked like a cool place. All the old cars in the lot by the teepee's would have been cool to look at.

I did not see you "standing on the corner in Winslow Arizona". Hopefully you did get a picture of it! I did like the old truck in the pic though.

The burro was cool. You don't see that very often. I see a car in the background coming for you.

Thanks for sharing. Looks like a great start to the trip. Looks like you can look forward to less driving and more exploring over the next few days. Enjoy.

 

[PetitFrereArmada]

Thanks on the car info. My wife had an accord in the early 2000's and we thought it was a great car. Just like Toyota's, they just run... and do it for a long time.

I don't envy your drive. So far to go but you appear to be breaking it up well with your stops.

Where is the "world famous blue hole"? I search and all it returned is the Great Blue Hole which is in the ocean.

The Indian Market looked like a cool place. All the old cars in the lot by the teepee's would have been cool to look at.

I did not see you "standing on the corner in Winslow Arizona". Hopefully you did get a picture of it! I did like the old truck in the pic though.

The burro was cool. You don't see that very often. I see a car in the background coming for you.

Thanks for sharing. Looks like a great start to the trip. Looks like you can look forward to less driving and more exploring over the next few days. Enjoy.

You are right. Hondas and Toyotas run forever. Well, my Nissan that I bought new and it lasted 12 years and gave me over 268,000 trouble free miles too was impressive. I love to travel and so my cars get a lot of miles. Same as this Accord. By the time it hits one year, it would have over 30,000 miles. I hope to keep it too forever since it is my daily driver and so I do not even worry about miles. I hope it gives me more miles than my Nissan Maxima gave me. Besides, I plan to maintain it very well. SO, I hope the car returns the favor of being good and not surprise me with a sudden huge expense.

It was a truly long drive. But the good thing is that I really enjoy being behind the wheel and being on the open road. So, that is why the distances do not bother me much. Plus, it is the only way I can get to see so many things. I will say since it is a 4 cylinder hybrid, I sure am enjoying the gas savings compared to if it was my former suv. But then again, driving my suv was very comfortable compared to sitting in my Accord for such long distances. But I use 1/3 the gas I would use in my suv to cover the same distance. So, that is also good.

The world famous blue hole is called the Blue Hole in Santa Rosa. If you google that you will find it. When you get there, there is a sign that says "Welcome to the world famous Blue Hole".

There are so many Indian markets to stop at on that road. All of them seem like really nice and offer different things. I stopped at 2 and they sure have very good things. Too bad I do not plan on spending money for souvenirs that just get home and never get used. So, not buying souvenirs on this trip except I find something unique I may truly use.

The burro was really cool indeed. Oh, and the lady in that white Jeep was not a good camper. When she got to me, before I could get into my car to move, she made right and got on the rocky shoulder behind the burro and sped off throwing some rocks in the air. I just got into my car and continued my trip. She was the only one I met on the road within like almost 5 minutes of driving. It was so desolate.

Here are my pictures of me "Standing on the corner". You know that is a must when one visits this corner.
This is my "Standing on the corner" pic.

 

[Umbrarian]

Great thread. Thanks for so many pix off the usual path.

Cant wait to make this trip myself and this is a great resource!

 

[PetitFrereArmada]

Vegas today. A long line at the Welcome to Vegas sign. A couple was getting married today right at the sign.

Freemont Street

 

[PetitFrereArmada]

Death Valley National Park.

Badwater Basin

Natural Bridge

Devil's Golf Course

Artist's Drive

Zabriskie Point

Furnace Creek Visitor Center
Death Valley is truly a dangerous desert oven.

Gas price in the park

 

[PetitFrereArmada]

The most impressive view in Death Valley: Dante's View. Pictures do not do it justice.

Sand Dunes

Charcoal Kilns. My most exciting attraction. I took my Accord on a 2 miles serious offroading on a very steep hill climbing up to 7,000ft! I was worried I may have a flat tire, but I just drove slow and steady. My car got extremely dusty, but the adventure was exciting. The drive on paved road has lots of curves then the last 2 miles climbing up to 7,000ft with a very high risk of tire puncture made it nerve wracking.

Met some wild burros on my way out from the Charcoal kilns.

Eureka Mine

Borax Works

The Oasis in Death Valley

Last thing I did for the day. I went and drove this scenic route again. This was to take a GoPro video of the drive. I put my GoPro on my car and drove the complete 11 miles. I do not know if there is a complete YouTube video of this drive. So, I may post mine when I edit it. Well, no editing needed since I just need to post the complete video. Well, I will post when I can.

 

[checkmate]

Awesome trip!

what do you use for your photography?