Driving 944 from Cali to Washington DC - Advice please!

[GH85Carrera]

Cell coverage is fine along I-40 and Rt-66. For fun try to get Siri to figure out how far is it to Tucumcari. All I ever get is some info on how much two people can carry.

[ChesapeakeTeche]

We'll pick the car up near Pleasanton, CA and then drive down towards Fullerton, CA. Most likely we'll start the drive south in CA on Friday night or early Saturday morning. My friend wants to visit a Jeep shop there. After that we'll plan to pick up I-40 to head east.
I've been to CA before so I'm not sure if we'll miss a ton of nice scenery driving at night partway to Fullerton? That would put us a few hours ahead on Saturday.
Thoughts appreciated!

[scottmandue]

Condoms! You are in a Porsche man!

You will be driving right past Vegas... if that is your sort of thing.

[red-beard]

Originally Posted by stomachmonkey

Before noon, drive towards the sun.

After noon, drive away from it.

You won't get anywhere that way

[Scott Douglas]

I'd suggest bringing a real camera along, not just a cell phone, but, that's just me.
If you change off drivers every 2-3 hours you'll stay a lot fresher.
Does the car have cruise control?
Best way to maintain a good avg speed over the course of a full day is to use it.
From where I sit, I don't think you'll have a lot of extra time for sightseeing but YMMV.
Look forward to reading about this adventure.

[scottmandue]

Originally Posted by Scott Douglas

If you change off drivers every 2-3 hours you'll stay a lot fresher.

From where I sit, I don't think you'll have a lot of extra time for sightseeing but YMMV.
Look forward to reading about this adventure.

My friend and I drove from Rouge river OR to Los Angeles in 11 hours doing the 2-3 hour hand off and we never got tired (but we were young pups back then.)

I also wish you well and don't want to be negative be you have "a long way to go and a short time to get there", it will be tough to find time to see the sites.

Heck, I could spend 5 days just driving from San Francisco to Los Angeles!

You have not mentioned highway 1 (Big Sur) > bridge out indefinitely, no go for the coastal route.

[vash]

Originally Posted by ChesapeakeTeche

We'll pick the car up near Pleasanton, CA and then drive down towards Fullerton, CA. Most likely we'll start the drive south in CA on Friday night or early Saturday morning. My friend wants to visit a Jeep shop there. After that we'll plan to pick up I-40 to head east.
I've been to CA before so I'm not sure if we'll miss a ton of nice scenery driving at night partway to Fullerton? That would put us a few hours ahead on Saturday.
Thoughts appreciated!

Pleasanton?

you're right there at the 5. 580 up the grade..hit 5 and throttle it down south. i vote you get the middle portion of CA over with ASAP. good luck bud.

[Seahawk]

Originally Posted by ChesapeakeTeche

I've been to CA before so I'm not sure if we'll miss a ton of nice scenery driving at night partway to Fullerton?

Originally Posted by vash

Pleasanton?

you're right there at the 5. 580 up the grade..hit 5 and throttle it down south. i vote you get the middle portion of CA over with ASAP. good luck bud.

If you've been to California before, I5 is the only answer.

[GH85Carrera]

Well for real fun drive go down the 405 through LA at 5:00 PM or so.

[scottmandue]

Originally Posted by Seahawk

If you've been to California before, I5 is the only answer.

If you are planing on the Pleasanton to Fullerton run at night I-5 will be the fastest... baring a pileup on the interstate (101 is prettier but not much to see in the dark)

[black_falcon]

I've owned my 944 for 14 years and they are rock solid and seriously dependable when properly maintained. Given the recent work, if a proper PPI was conducted with no major issues found, a cross country drive shouldn't bother it. Only time mine has left me stranded due to any fault of the car was a bad fuel pump.

Spare DME relay, tool kit, AAA, cell phone charger, contacts along the way, fix-a-flat, tool kit, and a camera to post up lots of pics along the way!

[matthewb0051]

When you get to Roanoke, get off I81 and get on 29 up thru Charlottesville. I-81 is the absolute worst and you will hate it. 29 is 4 lanes, divided, and around 60 mph, and the bonus no trucks! You can take 29 all the way to 66 around Dulles or get off somewhere along the way to make your way over to DC. Alternatively, you can get off 29 around Charlottesville and get on 15 up to Culpeper/Warrenton area.

Also, when out west look for alternatives to interstate. There are numerous highways that are 4 lane with little traffic and much better roads. The distances are the same point to point.

Do a search on the 911 Tech Forum for a guy that did the reverse trip in a 69T(?). He was a Navy dude leaving DC for Washington. As I recall, he did many miles off interstate.

[matthewb0051]

Found the thread:

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/porsche-911-technical-forum/644084-insane-road-trip-dc-seattle-january-69-911-a.html

[ChesapeakeTeche]

Thanks! I'll take a look at that thread!

[ChesapeakeTeche]

So it looks like we won't be heading as far south as planned, the Jeep shop is closed on Saturday, so we'll leave the Bay Area on Friday night and start heading down I-5 towards I-40. The Saturday we'll get up fairly early and continue driving.
We are thinking around 600 miles per day or ~10-12 hours of driving between the two of us.

Any good shop recommendations along the I-40 route or between the Bay Area and LA?

Thanks!

[Heel n Toe]

It goes without saying, but keep your eyes on the weather and plan ahead so you don't become one of those sad vehicles stranded in a blizzard for a coupla days... snow can hit you up pretty quick out there on the first part of your trip... especially in March.

The rest of the way too, for that matter... but out West, you may need to be prepared to assess the probability of bad stuff ahead of "finding yourself in the middle of it" and shelter in place for a bit, depending.

Have fun and hang loose... but not too loose.

[Scott Douglas]

It's still a little bit far off to gauge what the weather will be like. If you catch it between storms you'll be real lucky.
I'd suggest trying to coincide gas stops with driver's changes to save time.
When I went to KC Mo last June I tried to keep half a tank of gas in the car most of the time. Could have stretched it but why risk running out in the middle of nowhere when you don't know the gas stations well along the way. I know there's probably an ap for that, but I don't have a smart phone, and besides, it added to the sense of adventure.
Driving at night will be an adventure out west as deer are around, based on the signage I saw along the roads.
I'd suggest carrying enough snacks to make getting stuck bearable for a while. You just never know and it is still winter out here. In AZ you'll be 'at altitude' too, so be sure to bring your warm clothes.

This is going to be fun to follow.

[svandamme]

Originally Posted by vash

i know very little about the 944. is that year subjected to the failed coolant/oil "thing" that gets the two to mix?

To my knowledge, all 944's have the same oil/coolant heat exchanger..
It's not a particularlly failure prone thing, it occasionally happens, but that's not a big deal really, just means oil in yer coolant and a cheap (in parts) repair..

[GH85Carrera]

The forecast in Oklahoma has no real winter weather in the 10 day forecast. On one of my trips coming through Flagstaff it started snowing and traffic slowed to 10 mph for many miles. It was in the 90s when I went through Phoenix just a few hours before.

[ChesapeakeTeche]

Good thought about 1/2 tank of gas at all times. I'll start to map out the trip over the next couple days including gas and hotel availability. We're planning on bringing a couple blankets in case we need to sleep in the car one night for any reason.
Going to have the car PPI'd to make sure everything looks good for the trip. Tires are new and in good shape as well.