Picked up car at around 10AM Wednesday Morning.
Straight into lunch time traffic, and negotiating those oh so wide hips through traffic had my heart in my mouth more than once.
Traffic cleared a little, which meant that I could look around a little. Would have been nice if a little clearer, but a joy, nonetheless.
A little further North, and into some gnarly looking forest.
Had lunch at a little place up road #1.
Clam chowder for me, and hotdog for better half. Can recommend both.
Ducked inland a little to have a look at some trees and things
Back to the coast, and North to Stewart's Point, where we turned inland, across some really pretty scenery.
Spent the night at the Inn in Guyserville. Can highly recommend the Inn for price, friendliness, and quality of the rooms.
Had dinner at Catelli's. Nice Place, food, and people.
http://www.mycatellis.com/
Next day headed cross country to the East. More great scenery. Rice paddies took us by surprise.
Had a very pleasant lunch with a charming couple in a place called Lincoln, who gave us a few pointers on other diversions along our route.
Here's one of them. The sudden climate change took us by surprise.
Spent the night in Reno, and better half got to see a Walmart.
Day 3, we filled up at a gas station that doubles as a casino
Had gotten a little more used to the hippiness, and where my person was supposed to sit with relation to the lines, so wasn't nearly as nervous between these barriers as I was heading to Reno.
Snow melting into Emerald Bay
Drop off time at 18:00 on Friday, Day 3.
What can I say, the scenery was magnificent.
The car was an absolute joy.
305hp V-6 had heaps of grunt (couldn't at the time, but should have justified the SS in hindsight).
The auto with manual "flappy" buttons on the steering wheel was great. When engaged in manual, there's none of the traditional torque converter wind up, it feels like a manual.
Second gear was great for the mountain areas, providing strong engine braking, and ample acceleration and speed where required.
Select 1st, and there's a bit of hesitation while the drive by wire spools up the revs to rev-match for the down change. Was a tad annoying, but selecting 1st was entirely un-necessary.
Ride was really very good, considering that it handled so well. Given that I spent the 3 days uncomfortable about my cornering lines (remember, 25 years driving RHD, and 3 days LHD), and couldn't hit corners as hard as I'd have liked, on effective lines.
Friday, we drove from 8:30AM to 18:00, with a few photo stops, and a half hour for lunch. No backaches, funny walks etc. exiting the vehicle, it was that comfortable.
Drove around 850 miles in total, used 11% of the oil life according to the monitor.
Fuel economy was outstanding, averaging 27.2MPG for the trip. First couple of hundred (Road 1, and the mountains) was just under 20MPG, so the highway economy should have been hovering over the 30 mark to get the trip average up to 27.2.
IMO, a great car, and my family is lucky that they aren't available here.
Straight into lunch time traffic, and negotiating those oh so wide hips through traffic had my heart in my mouth more than once.
Traffic cleared a little, which meant that I could look around a little. Would have been nice if a little clearer, but a joy, nonetheless.
A little further North, and into some gnarly looking forest.
Had lunch at a little place up road #1.
Clam chowder for me, and hotdog for better half. Can recommend both.
Ducked inland a little to have a look at some trees and things
Back to the coast, and North to Stewart's Point, where we turned inland, across some really pretty scenery.
Spent the night at the Inn in Guyserville. Can highly recommend the Inn for price, friendliness, and quality of the rooms.
Had dinner at Catelli's. Nice Place, food, and people.
http://www.mycatellis.com/
Next day headed cross country to the East. More great scenery. Rice paddies took us by surprise.
Had a very pleasant lunch with a charming couple in a place called Lincoln, who gave us a few pointers on other diversions along our route.
Here's one of them. The sudden climate change took us by surprise.
Spent the night in Reno, and better half got to see a Walmart.
Day 3, we filled up at a gas station that doubles as a casino
Had gotten a little more used to the hippiness, and where my person was supposed to sit with relation to the lines, so wasn't nearly as nervous between these barriers as I was heading to Reno.
Snow melting into Emerald Bay
Drop off time at 18:00 on Friday, Day 3.
What can I say, the scenery was magnificent.
The car was an absolute joy.
305hp V-6 had heaps of grunt (couldn't at the time, but should have justified the SS in hindsight).
The auto with manual "flappy" buttons on the steering wheel was great. When engaged in manual, there's none of the traditional torque converter wind up, it feels like a manual.
Second gear was great for the mountain areas, providing strong engine braking, and ample acceleration and speed where required.
Select 1st, and there's a bit of hesitation while the drive by wire spools up the revs to rev-match for the down change. Was a tad annoying, but selecting 1st was entirely un-necessary.
Ride was really very good, considering that it handled so well. Given that I spent the 3 days uncomfortable about my cornering lines (remember, 25 years driving RHD, and 3 days LHD), and couldn't hit corners as hard as I'd have liked, on effective lines.
Friday, we drove from 8:30AM to 18:00, with a few photo stops, and a half hour for lunch. No backaches, funny walks etc. exiting the vehicle, it was that comfortable.
Drove around 850 miles in total, used 11% of the oil life according to the monitor.
Fuel economy was outstanding, averaging 27.2MPG for the trip. First couple of hundred (Road 1, and the mountains) was just under 20MPG, so the highway economy should have been hovering over the 30 mark to get the trip average up to 27.2.
IMO, a great car, and my family is lucky that they aren't available here.
