Driving 944 from Cali to Washington DC - Advice please!

[Scott Douglas]

The half tank of gas also forced me to stop more often which helped a lot re:staying fresh.
It's about 200 miles worth of driving in my car so worked out well for both purposes.

[GH85Carrera]

There are plenty of places to stop along I-40. Don't stop for gas just because you are down to half a tank. Even in Arizona, New Mexice and the Texas Panhandle there are plenty of truck stops and gas stations. In my 911 I have a 21 gallon tank and it will go 500 miles with no problem. I usually stop a lot more than than for pee breaks, and just to move around. I have done many 900 mile days by myself, only once with my wife in the car.

Once you get to Oklahoma and points further east the traffic starts to get heavy, and the gas stations are everywhere. If you are driven at 3:00 AM you might have more closed places. I try to avoid driving at night.

[cockerpunk]

i wouldn't worry, i've driven my turbo all around the country at this point. yes, it broke down, yes i fixed it on the side of the road many times. but these are simple cars, and provided no special part breaks, they are pretty simple fixes.







personally, thats half the fun of roadtripping with it.

as far as endurance, you can easily drive one for 1200+ miles in a day without too much trouble. very comfortable, very easy to drive. i think my longest day ever was 1600 miles.

[sammyg2]

My record straight through drive was from The jellystone lodge to Orange Ca stopping only for gas, food, and bathroom breaks.
1001.4 miles. 15 hours.

Second longest: Artesia New Mexico to Orange, 924.8 miles. 14 hours.

I wouldn't want to do either again.
Anything over 500 miles a day just turns into an uncomfortable chore.

[cockerpunk]

Originally Posted by sammyg2

My record straight through drive was from The jellystone lodge to Orange Ca stopping only for gas, food, and bathroom breaks.
1001.4 miles. 15 hours.

Second longest: Artesia New Mexico to Orange, 924.8 miles. 14 hours.

I wouldn't want to do either again.
Anything over 500 miles a day just turns into an uncomfortable chore.

when you are doing 90-100mph the miles go by pretty quick.

[red-beard]

My longest driving day was Ciudad Chihuahua to San Diego in one day.

1,562 km. I can't remember the exact time. We saved a bunch of cross border time by bypassing Juarez and going to Santa Rita. It was a LONG day!

[cockerpunk]

Originally Posted by Seahawk

So you drove 1600 miles at 95mph, which is 17 hours...add in four gas stops at 20 minute each: 1600 miles in just over 18 hours? Didn't happen.

Averaging 70MPH takes almost 23 hours to roll 1600 miles.

Averaging 65mph it takes over 15 hours to drive 1000 miles.

I have driven across the country, up and down, side to side over 25 times in the past 45 years. Averaging 70MPH over 23 hours is impossible without help.

considering it did ...

the west is a big place, with no one around.

[dewolf]

Driven a 944 from Brisbane to Adelaide (2100km) once in 38C most of the way. Sat on 110kmh when on the highway but once off the highway wound her up to 200kmh. No troubles at all. Driven a few from Sydney to Adelaide as well. Again, no issues. Still a very underrated Porsche.

[dewolf]

Originally Posted by sammyg2

Anything over 500 miles a day just turns into an uncomfortable chore.

You need a 928 then. One of the greatest long distant tourers ever built.

[pc100porsche]

A realy great thing to have is a 20' Yeti Cooler -- the soft sided zip top model -- sits real nice behind the passenger seat -- I've used one consistently for 20,000 miles of cross country road trips over the last 4 years -- a little spendy, but, Absolutely one of the best things I have ever bought

[ChesapeakeTeche]

Originally Posted by cockerpunk

i wouldn't worry, i've driven my turbo all around the country at this point. yes, it broke down, yes i fixed it on the side of the road many times. but these are simple cars, and provided no special part breaks, they are pretty simple fixes.

Lol - that's quite a few bugs!!

What broke?

[scottmandue]

Originally Posted by sammyg2

My record straight through drive was from The jellystone lodge to Orange Ca stopping only for gas, food, and bathroom breaks.
1001.4 miles. 15 hours.

Second longest: Artesia New Mexico to Orange, 924.8 miles. 14 hours.

I wouldn't want to do either again.
Anything over 500 miles a day just turns into an uncomfortable chore.

300 for me... and that is in a comfortable car!

But then I have collected my grumpy old man card.

[rockfan4]

The longest trip I've made in recent history was to pick up the racecar in 2011. I'm in WI, the car was in Salt Lake City. I got the seller to agree to meet me in Cheyenne, WY. Left Friday night after work, got home Sunday night.
Friday: La Crosse to Ames, IA - 245 miles
Saturday: Ames to Cheyenne, WY, then back to Ogallala NE - 834 miles
Sunday: Ogallala to La Crosse - 733 miles.

Bought another car in Springfield, MO, that was 629 miles each way, did that in two days.

I did both these trips in the middle of winter.

The last 944, I had shipped.
With age comes wisdom, or I just got sick of driving a pickup all day.

[cockerpunk]

Originally Posted by ChesapeakeTeche

Lol - that's quite a few bugs!!

What broke?

many things, ive taken 4 cross country road trips with the car, its the main point of the car now, so plenty of things.

burned up the front brakes on my way over the rockies once
blew a headgasket in the redwoods
cracked a coolant tank in colorado
overheating due to **** in the ac condenser in missoula
misfires due to all sorts of different problems
snapped a half shaft off its bolts in nevada (thankfully brought a spare with new bolts)
overheating just outside salt lake city
oil leaks
coolant leaks
power steering leaks
twisted the coolant bleed screw off once in a parkinglot of a NAPA
motor mounts went (did not replace them until i came home) on the latest trip

i mean yeah that seems like a long list, but total there is over 20,000 miles of road tripping on the car, so thats the kinda stuff that just going to go wrong on a 30 year old car while out there.

[ChesapeakeTeche]

We are thinking between the 2 drivers we can drive ~12-14 hours a day. If we can average 60mph that would allow us to cover over 700-800 miles per day. That should get us back in 4 days and we'll leave a bit of time for sightseeing etc.
We'll plan on heading south from the Bay Area on Friday afternoon (hopefully before traffic) and see how far down I-5 we can get before stopping for the night. We'll aim for Bakersfield or Barstow depending on timing.
On Saturday we'll try to get a few minutes at the Grand Canyon and then head to Albuquerque and make it at least that far.
On Sunday we'll try for Little Rock with a stop over in Oklahoma City to visit my uncle and some folks on the board who are in the area.
On Monday we'll head through Tennessee and Virginia and stop around Charlottesville, then on Tuesday we'll finish up the trip into Maryland.

Of course all of this is subject to change if we decide to do some more sightseeing along the way

[motion]

Originally Posted by Seahawk

I have driven across the country, up and down, side to side over 25 times in the past 45 years. Averaging 70MPH over 23 hours is impossible without help.

I've driven straight thru from SoCal to our shack in Montana numerous times. That's 1250 miles. I keep the cruise on 85-90, depending on the speed limit. A few stops for gas and Taco Bell drive thrus. I think my average is right around 70mph. Its pretty brutal, but I like to get it over with quickly.

[fastfredracing]

This is going to be an epic road trip ! Keep us updated please.
I bought a ratty, modded 951 in West Palm Beach, and drove it home 1000 miles .
Car had a fuel leak at the tank, and a down pipe leak, off the turbo.
Left West palm at about 6:30 pm, and really picked up the pace once the sun went down. That car gobbled up the miles effortlessly .
It was a pucker moment every time I let off the gas, and could see the flames coming from the exhaust, knowing I was leaking fuel 10 feet behind it. Kid said he had been driving it like that for months, so I just plowed on.
The only pit stop , was to peel off the ****ty faded purple window tint that I could not see out of .
Good luck! I love road tripping to pick up cars. It is like crack for me .

[asphaltgambler]

Well after reading all the replies, I can't believe no one has stated................Is it well prepared??

Swear - that joke never gets old, am not on the level of needing more cowbell!

[ChesapeakeTeche]

Any shops along I-40 that we should keep in our back pocket if needed anyone can recommend?

[ChesapeakeTeche]

We're heading out tomorrow morning for the Bay area to pick up the car. I'll keep the thread updated! Seems like a good plan to take the southern route as it looks like the northern areas have gotten a good amount of snow!

Thanks to everyone who is following and has touched base about the trip!