Cuda Al’s Great Adventure

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Cuda Al

Cuda Al

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Joined
Oct 21, 2007
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Location
Lompoc, CA
Vacation time and for me that means Road Trip! In the past I have taken my truck or rented a car, this trip it will be with the Barracuda. So stay tuned and I’ll post updates from the road, no itinerary is being posted to keep it interesting.

Day One: 1:05 PM - 280 miles
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Loaded ready to go

Rolled out at 7:20 and just as I get going it starts raining, for the first 150 miles it it rained and as I passed through King City it stopped. I had a couple stops and detours for this leg but with the rain it wasn't worth it.
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Pit stop King City
I stopped for a gas at 208 miles with 18.24 MPG.

Just finished up lunch (Habit in San Mateo) and the weather is great.

Stay tuned.


Alan
 
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Still Day 1: 4:00 pm - 165/373 miles
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I Continued up the 101 to 380/280 and ultimately the 1, once I was on the 1 I didn't clear traffic till past Santa Rosa.
Gas stop, because of traffic, 14.95 MPG

Saw a little rain a few miles back but think I shoud have time for my next planed stop.


Alan
 
I'm jealous .....I have some vacation time starting Memorial day. ...I need to plan at LEAST a full day drive...even up to Solvang or something. ....

Jeff
 
Next time, plan a stop in San Jose. You went right by. Still room in the trunk for beer.
 
Have a GREAT time. I drove my car to a car show about 150 miles away last year, and it was a great time.
 
Day One: End of the day.

Born and raised in California, I have been just about everywhere, I cannot believe I have never been by Clear Lake. The road in was fun, I thought I'd have a chance to test out the newly installed sway bar and disc brakes, lots of twist and turns but narrow, I wanted to enjoy the view so I moved over to let cars go by.
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Just off the 101 heading to Clear Lake, no traffic so I just stopped to take this picture.

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Just past the summit, first look at the lake.

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Wrong time of day but a cool shot none the less.

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A couple more just because.

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At a rest stop north of Willits.

If it wasn't so late I would have done Avenue of the Giants (again). Initially I was going to stay in Garberville but there is only one (decent) place to stay and no good options on food. Had I stayed there I could have done the Redwoods tomorrow, good chance I'll take the car on a trip like this again.

It got dark pretty quick and I pushed through to Fortuna, I left my notes in the car so no miles or MPG

Overall the car did great, recent rebuild on the engine with enough shakedown miles (I hope).
Limited time with a fair amount of miles to cover so not a lot of room for different visits, I didn't even know what my route was going to be till Thursday.

Tomorrow is open, no set stops but I do have a destination.


Alan
 
Cuda Al said:
Day One: End of the day.

Born and raised in California, I have been just about everywhere, I cannot believe I have never been by Clear Lake. The road in was fun, I thought I'd have a chance to test out the newly installed sway bar and disc brakes, lots of twist and turns but narrow, I wanted to enjoy the view so I moved over to let cars go by.
View attachment 1715308327
Just off the 101 heading to Clear Lake, no traffic so I just stopped to take this picture.

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Just past the summit, first look at the lake.

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Wrong time of day but a cool shot none the less.

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A couple more just because.

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At a rest stop north of Willits.

If it wasn't so late I would have done Avenue of the Giants (again). Initially I was going to stay in Garberville but there is only one (decent) place to stay and no good options on food. Had I stayed there I could have done the Redwoods tomorrow, good chance I'll take the car on a trip like this again.

It got dark pretty quick and I pushed through to Fortuna, I left my notes in the car so no miles or MPG

Overall the car did great, recent rebuild on the engine with enough shakedown miles (I hope).
Limited time with a fair amount of miles to cover so not a lot of room for different visits, I didn't even know what my route was going to be till Thursday.

Tomorrow is open, no set stops but I do have a destination.


Alan
Click to expand...
Took the Coronet to Clear Lake 3 years ago. Memorable meal was at the Indian Casino. We stayed at the Featherbed Railroad B&B there. Thinking we saw horrendous fire damage in Middletown.
 
Day Two:

Tank 1: 208 miles - 18.24 MPG
Tank 2: 165 miles - 14.95 MPG (lots of traffic)
Tank 3: 150 miles - 16.12 MPG (15 miles of canyons and stop and go looking around lake)
523 miles with an overall average of 16.06 MPG
I have no functioning gas gauge so I'm short pitting (200 max)

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Ready to go, lost in the crowd.


Alan
 
Day Two:

Today I continued up the coast on 101, first stop was for gas in Crescent City 200 miles, 17.92 MPG.
After that I continued into Oregon to Brookings where I left the highway, the alternate was about 26 miles and took about an hour, all to void a half mile of gravel temporary roadway the diversion only added about 5 miles and 35 minutes. Recently a section of highway (about a 1/2 mile long) slipped a significant amount. Initially I started looking for a different route altogether like I-5 but the reports on the slide indicated there was a bypass. This bypass was narrow and lots of twist and turns, no trucks allowed.
No complaints here the drive was fun and once and awhile the vies were good.
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Because of this I missed some cool rock outcroppings along the coast (I have pictures there of the car from a trip in 2009)

Gas in Reedsport, 166 miles, 19.3 MPG
I continued through to Reedsport where I turned inland. The road along the Umpqua River was great, traffic wasn't too bad.
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One thing I will never get use to in Oregon are the funky passing zones that aren't really 3 lane but are.
At one time in California there were highways with three lanes, the center lane was for passing, well that didn't work.
This is basically the same but priority is given to one direction (generally the one going uphill).
I'm not grossing that yellow line, not going to happen.
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I got this picture at my destination for the night, quick stop tomorrow and on to my brothers house.
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Alan
 
Fun...I have been to some of these places on a road trip I took back in 2002....I’m from MN and I loved it. Headed west, stopped in Bonneville to see the flats, then headed to San Fransisco and took the costal hwy to Oregon. Crescent city was awesome...did you drive thru the giant redwoods there? Ave if the giants...we ran across the road and all of a sudden a car come flying out of nowhere and we ran like hell...my friend almost got hit and I’m prett sure the car flat spotted his tires skidding to a stop to avoid some MN boys want sting the road looking at the giants lol....Very cool....we also seen Cratar Lake and the chandelier drive thru Tree...loved it. My wife and I will be taking a road trip real soon, gonna see some of Route 66, then take the coastal hwy north so she can see the big trees and coast...gonna be a blast and I can’t wait! Won’t be in one of my old cars though, gonna take the new toy, Challenger T/A....still be fun though and can’t wait to put some miles on the car. BTW...the redwoods are the coolest thing I have ever seen in my life....pretty humbling to see something living so big and old like that....hope you have a good trip and that your beautiful Barracuda runs like a champ!!
 
Day three:

As eluded to in my previous post I ended up in Springfield Oregon with the idea to stop by with the Barracuda and see the shop get a shirt and maybe meet them. I stopped by last night with the idea of getting a picture of the car in an unobstructed parking lot. I get there and there was a black Challenger parked out front, I park, take a picture and sit there a minute, nothing, left. If somebody was there either they were busy or didn't notice (it was Sunday, after hours).
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This morning I went by and went inside, to my surprise Allysa was at the front desk. We chatted a little bit, got pictures and chatted some more. They were busy filming so the rest were not available as were shop tours.
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(Taken through window from the office)
Allysa was very nice to talk with and seamed to be glad somebody pulled her from what she was doing, apparently her mother normally handles the front office. She like the car, loved the color, surprised to hear I had just driven 1000 miles.

From there I hit the road towards my brothers in Astoria. From the point I left the hotel it was raining, much of this route is one I have taken in the past, I did take a little bypass to go through a small town I haven't seen.
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I needed to go over a couple passes before getting to my brothers place, on the way I passed the "Snow Zone Carry Chains" sign, uh oh, just a little residue show from a few days earlier.
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As I got closer to my brothers I hear the sound of a truck desielrate and i look in my mirror to see this truck a couple hundred yard back and closing, I find the first place to pull off and let him by, well timed he was never on my bumper and I didn't have to wait for him to pass, I couldn't keep up with him. Lots of tight (20-30 mph) turns that I didn't know.
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Got to my brothers place in one piece.
I'm not sure when my return trip is or what way I'll be going. I may take a day trip or two while here, my nieces and nephew want to go for a drive.

Alan
 
I love to get off the Interstates and visit the small towns along the way. Way less stress and you never know what you will see or who you will meet.
 
Trip over to Wildcat is a good day trip from Astoria. There’s another yard in the Vancouver area but they mostly have the old stuff. Vanessa at Wildcat aswell asEd, the owner are good people.
 
Your pix are invoking many fine memories. Wait till you see the bridge in Astoria! It is a monster. I used to lecture in Astoria once a year as a guest speaker for Oregon State. I have driven all over those roads! We lived in Corvallis /Eugene area.
 
Sublime one said:
Your pix are invoking many fine memories. Wait till you see the bridge in Astoria! It is a monster. I used to lecture in Astoria once a year as a guest speaker for Oregon State. I have driven all over those roads! We lived in Corvallis /Eugene area.
Click to expand...
Eugene is where I bought my 'Cuda.....awesome drive until I got part way in to California....but I drove here home 900 miles!

Jeff
 
Wow. Lucky Sunday! That trip is on my list. Frame that selfie, and next time grab a shave.
 
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