S2KGuy
Senior Member
- Joined
- Nov 5, 2018
- Threads
- 24
- Messages
- 72
- Reaction score
- 45
- Location
- Utah
- Vehicle(s)
- 2021 Honda Civic Sport Hatch 6MT
- Thread starter
- #1
Just wanted to post a quick report of my epic car pickup trip.
I flew from Salt Lake City to Cleveland Friday night. Ganley Honda, where I got the car, is very close to the airport which was convenient. I stayed the night nearby and then on Saturday morning the salesperson from Ganley picked me up at the hotel.
Everything went smoothly at the dealership and all the people I dealt with were friendly and helpful (PM me if you want the names of anybody there as a referral). I was done with everything and on the road by about 11 AM.
Since the temperatures were low and all I had were the stock wheels/tires I opted to take a very southernly route back to Salt Lake City. Normally you would take the "high" route via I-80 and go across Iowa, Nebraska, and Wyoming, but that looked like it was going to be very cold and potentially snowy. The "middle" route would take me on I-70 through Missouri, Kansas, and Colorado. That route seemed a little better but I-70 west of Denver is very mountainous (as in, 11,000 feet high mountainous) and had snow in the forecast.
The route I ended up taking was Cleveland - Columbus - Indianapolis - St. Louis - Springfield - Tulsa - Oklahoma City - Amarillo - Albuquerque - and then cut diagonally through the Four Corners up to Salt Lake City.
I got to Oklahoma City on Saturday around 1 AM local time (about 15 hours of driving) and spent the night, then made it all the way to Salt Lake City on Sunday, into Monday, leaving around 10 AM and arriving at 3 AM local time (18 hours driving).
Weather was cold but clear for the most part. I did encounter some fairly heavy snowfall about an hour or two east of Albuquerque but luckily it wasn't sticking. That was actually the only time the entire trip the the car got snowed/rained on. That combined with the cold temperatures (meaning no bugs!) kept the car surprisingly clean. The lower half has some various streaks and dirt from the road, but the whole top half looks like it was just washed still.
I did have a near miss (near hit?) with a cow somewhere in the middle of nowhere in the far southwest corner of Colorado. It's an open range area there, which, if you aren't familiar with that sign, means that the cows can roam freely across the roads. For some reason one of them was awake and starting to cross the road around midnight when I went by. Luckily I saw the cow head and eyeball coming out of the dark with enough time to move over a little and avoid any cow impact.
One thing I noticed is that the car seems to need a lot more frequent gas stops than I'm used to (or at least it tells you it does). It seems like the low fuel light comes on when there's 2 gallons or more in the tank as every time I stopped for gas the car only took 10 to 10.5 gallons and I had driven 10-15 miles beyond when the fuel light came on.
I started with a full tank and immediately filled the car up as soon as I got back so I could see the total fuel used and MPG. Total miles were 2232 using 83.919 gallons, equating to 26.6 MPG which seems a little low for all highway on that long of a trip but I guess we'll see how it does in the future.
My winter wheels and tires arrived Monday and I promptly installed them the same day. Now I feel better about driving the car in the cold temperatures that we have right now and hopefully it will do well in the snow later.
I've attached a few photos from the dealership delivery, some gas stations, and some other various boring things... I didn't stop anywhere exciting since I was on a mission to get back before any snow crossed the route so there aren't any super pictures. Hopefully you will get a kick out of my "Championship White Castle" shot! Total Honda nerd inside joke!
I flew from Salt Lake City to Cleveland Friday night. Ganley Honda, where I got the car, is very close to the airport which was convenient. I stayed the night nearby and then on Saturday morning the salesperson from Ganley picked me up at the hotel.
Everything went smoothly at the dealership and all the people I dealt with were friendly and helpful (PM me if you want the names of anybody there as a referral). I was done with everything and on the road by about 11 AM.
Since the temperatures were low and all I had were the stock wheels/tires I opted to take a very southernly route back to Salt Lake City. Normally you would take the "high" route via I-80 and go across Iowa, Nebraska, and Wyoming, but that looked like it was going to be very cold and potentially snowy. The "middle" route would take me on I-70 through Missouri, Kansas, and Colorado. That route seemed a little better but I-70 west of Denver is very mountainous (as in, 11,000 feet high mountainous) and had snow in the forecast.
The route I ended up taking was Cleveland - Columbus - Indianapolis - St. Louis - Springfield - Tulsa - Oklahoma City - Amarillo - Albuquerque - and then cut diagonally through the Four Corners up to Salt Lake City.
I got to Oklahoma City on Saturday around 1 AM local time (about 15 hours of driving) and spent the night, then made it all the way to Salt Lake City on Sunday, into Monday, leaving around 10 AM and arriving at 3 AM local time (18 hours driving).
Weather was cold but clear for the most part. I did encounter some fairly heavy snowfall about an hour or two east of Albuquerque but luckily it wasn't sticking. That was actually the only time the entire trip the the car got snowed/rained on. That combined with the cold temperatures (meaning no bugs!) kept the car surprisingly clean. The lower half has some various streaks and dirt from the road, but the whole top half looks like it was just washed still.
I did have a near miss (near hit?) with a cow somewhere in the middle of nowhere in the far southwest corner of Colorado. It's an open range area there, which, if you aren't familiar with that sign, means that the cows can roam freely across the roads. For some reason one of them was awake and starting to cross the road around midnight when I went by. Luckily I saw the cow head and eyeball coming out of the dark with enough time to move over a little and avoid any cow impact.
One thing I noticed is that the car seems to need a lot more frequent gas stops than I'm used to (or at least it tells you it does). It seems like the low fuel light comes on when there's 2 gallons or more in the tank as every time I stopped for gas the car only took 10 to 10.5 gallons and I had driven 10-15 miles beyond when the fuel light came on.
I started with a full tank and immediately filled the car up as soon as I got back so I could see the total fuel used and MPG. Total miles were 2232 using 83.919 gallons, equating to 26.6 MPG which seems a little low for all highway on that long of a trip but I guess we'll see how it does in the future.
My winter wheels and tires arrived Monday and I promptly installed them the same day. Now I feel better about driving the car in the cold temperatures that we have right now and hopefully it will do well in the snow later.
I've attached a few photos from the dealership delivery, some gas stations, and some other various boring things... I didn't stop anywhere exciting since I was on a mission to get back before any snow crossed the route so there aren't any super pictures. Hopefully you will get a kick out of my "Championship White Castle" shot! Total Honda nerd inside joke!
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