Just hit the shelves!  Check out page 140 for an article on our journey!

 

 

Since our blog was published with each new post as the first thing you see on the blog, it also puts reading the trip in a “reverse chronological” style.  I have not yet figured out how to list the posts in ascending order yet, so to start from the beginning, you will have to click the “older posts” link at the bottom of each page (I think you have to hit it 3 times total to get to the beginning).  Then you have to read from the “bottom up.”  Not ideal.

Hopefully I can figure out how to use a plugin with our theme to get it reversed around!

Edit: Well looks like WordPress doesn’t think it is a blog if you post in ascending order (from the beginning), so we might be stuck.  If we purchased the blog software and did out own hosting, there is a way around it, so I don’t think we will go that far.

CLICK ON THE INDEX TAB ABOVE: 

What I did do though, was to created a table of contents where you can click on each post in order from the beginning of the trip….like reading chapters of a book.  When you are done reading that post, you can just navigate to the next (or previous) post from the bottom of the page by clicking on the link!  Essentially you can click on the first post, and then just keep clicking at the bottom of each post through the journey without having to return to the table of contents.

Departure Mileage: 91,196 5/22/10
Arrival Mileage: 94,133 5/29/10

Total Miles: 2,937 in a 43 year old car! the only time we opened the toolbox was to replace the plugs, and on the last couple days the starter solenoid overheated, so Karl came to rescue by jumping across the terminals with a screwdriver. New starter will be installed Monday – thanks O’Reilly Auto 🙂

Daily Miles:
Day 1 – 534
Day 2 – 451
Day 3 – we just drove around Santa Fe, NM
Day 4 – 244
Day 5 – 370
Day 6 – 444
Day 7 – 494
Day 8 – 400

Oil: who knows – a lot!  (Jim has trouble counting, but by my count, we were over 40 quarts of oil–Karl)

Fuel: too afraid to add that up. We avg between 12-14mpg, not bad considering the trunk would barely close and we had 5 people in the car.

Coolant: less than 1 gallon

other stuff: brake linings – definitely wore through some old material – the long downhill 8% grades in Utah and Colorado really worked the brakes hard – wish Ray Jones had ordered disc brakes instead of drums all the way around…lol

a/c: charged with r134 before we left, and it is still blowing cold. The interior is so large, that the system struggled to keep up when temps were above 90, but even the backseat was comfortable. Thanks Jim B!

People: 1 bottle of Smirnoff Orange Vodka, 1 bottle of Sailor Jerry, lots of beer, untold # bottles of Mateus, 1 pack frozen Snickers bars, 3lbs of Haribo Gummis, Jelly Bellys galore, 1 box of Ho-Ho’s, homemade trail mix (thanks Cheryl), 1 bottle of Tussin – haha Val

All in all, I think we made the right choice in the Cadillac Fleetwood Brougham. Wouldn’t have taken on this trip in anything less/smaller 🙂

Personal Encounters with law enforcement: none, a kcws record!

thanks to everyone, including everyone who followed our antics on line – Happy Memorial Day!

Jim

Sneaky truck cop as we left Garden City

Passing through Dodge City

Passing through Dodge City

Passing through Dodge City

Passing through Dodge City

Kinsley, KS “Midway USA” – midpoint between New York & San Francisco

Also Midway USA!

Stopping for lunch

After lunch in Hutchinson – almost home!

Pulling into the “Trucks” car wash stall to accommodate Dottie – she’s long!

Ah Kansas – need to wash off the bugs

Oh no they crossed the streams! ;0)

Success! She made it all the way home

Success – Dottie made it home! I’d like to take this opportunity to thank everyone that worked so hard to make this possible, both before and during the trip. Also thanks to all of you keeping up with us here from wherever you are – it was so fun to read the comments as we went along! Jim will be on here later posting stats collected on the trip, meanwhile here is my last set of photos. –Jessi :0)

Lunch at the Anchor Inn in Hutchinson – almost home!

Welcome to Spearville, KS – the land of a thousand windmills. So exciting! ;0)

Dotty’s – first oil check stop of the morning

Val is stoked about Sugar Wafers – other backseat passengers, not so much!

Driving through the snow caps!

Driving through the snow caps!

Dotty’s – a hotel this time

Into Royal Gorge we go!

Royal Gorge Toll Bridge

Royal Gorge Toll Bridge

Royal Gorge Toll Bridge

Royal Gorge Toll Bridge

Cool vintage vehicles

More coolness

Welcome to Canon City

Lunch Stop in Canon City

Red VW – BINGO!

No idea what Steve is pointing at

WTF?

Last View of the Rockies

Val’s new best friend

Demo Derby!

Jessi bored in the back seat

So… are we in KS or CO?

Urge to kill rising over slow internet connection

WTF?

On our way back to KS after this

From here on out its flat lands! Tonight we’ll be in Dodge City or Garden City, its all the same.

We did a fun cable car ride to the other side and back. The sign side soul-stirring, but the only thing stiring inside the cable car was the thick oder of tourists. Worth the punishment on the nose.

Leaving Grand Canyon

Navajo Code Talkers Exhibit at Burger Kimg in Kayenta

On our way into Monument Valley

The Wilens sleep through Monument Valley

Back in CO

Driver enjoying vista instead of road

Still not looking at the road…

Here’s what they’re looking at

Neither front seat occupant looking at the road…

Bedrock CO – very important gas stop!

Parking lot at Quality Inn in Montrose, CO – here for the night

Dinner was within walking distance but did not meet expectations.

Short walk home

1. Boy you got real purdy teeth

2. What is the tip? Don’t eat yellow snow!

3. Jim, did you use motor oil to get your hair that way?

4. Steve Nelson can’t pass me!!

5. Just say NO to the lemon ho hos

6. Steve says this gas pedal is like sticking your foot in warm pudding

7. That is the worst bromance I have ever seen.

Stop #1: in Mancos, CO

Stop #1: in Mancos, CO

Stop #1: in Mancos, CO

Stop #1: in Mancos, CO

Stop #1: in Mancos, CO

On the way to Four Corners Monument

On the way to Four Corners Monument

Four Corners

Four Corners

On the way to the Grand Canyon

On the way to the Grand Canyon

On the way to the Grand Canyon

Val gets bored in the front seat #1

Val gets bored in the front seat #2

Val gets bored in the front seat #3

Awesome road sign in Kayenta

Grand Canyon – Watchtower

View of Colorado River from Watchtower

At the Watchtower

Watchtower

At the Watchtower

Steve ALMOST gets left at the Grand Canyon

“Huh…” (Steve contemplates the expansiveness)

Waiting for sunset at Yaki Point

Waiting for sunset at Yaki Point

Waiting for sunset at Yaki Point

Waiting for sunset at Yaki Point

Waiting for sunset at Yaki Point

Dinner at “We Cook Pizza & Pasta”

Dinner at “We Cook Pizza & Pasta”

Restaurant Decor – must be about as old as the Caddy

Toasting successful trip to Grand Cayon with Apfelkorn!

Come on folks, click the comment link below and make us a caption for this picture!  Last we heard Lin and Cheryl were somewhere along hwy 54 in Texas.  PS…..the for sale sign isn’t for the bug……..
For Example:

“Lin is drinking the Mateus.  And that’s when the fight started……”

Closest we’ve come yet to running the tank completely dry…fancy, huh?

“…and we gonna do what they say can’t be done.” Actually we just did it by making it to the Grand Canyon. Now we’re going to do it again by getting back home!

She was a bit overheated after going through Monument Valley.

KCWS strikes again.

Val hiding behind the rock

Steve getting brave….

And braver…..

Val and I

Steve climbing back up after his fall down…….

Valerie at the first stop.

The gummies lead the way! That is, until they got hot and gooey.

Elk crossing

I can’t show you the next picture of the bear eating the truck as it was too graphic……

Cow crossing

People crossing?????

Cougar crossing……..

Val and I have taken over 600 pictures alone in the last couple of days, so it takes some time sifting through all of them to find some good ones to post.  There are a lot more to come in the future.

We left Durango, CO this morning en route to the Grand Canyon.

This afternoon we arrived at our destination!!!!!

12mpg average gasoline consumption:  $……who the hell knows.

50-75mp quart of oil consumption:  $100 in oil

A set of warped rotors/seized calipers on the support/tow vehicle:  $500+

2 extra fuel filters for the bug:  $12

8 spark plugs for the caddy:  $28

1 air filter for the caddy:  $15

Actually making it from Kansas to the Grand Canyon in a stinking 1967 Cadillac Fleetwood:  Priceless

Val riding the pony this morning……wish she would have had her cowboy hat.

Realizing that she shouldn’t be on the pony……

The cops after Val for sitting on the pony:

And again……

And again…..

And again……

By now we are feeling really safe…….

Until they saw us taking their pictures.

So they called for reinforcements.

If we can only make it to the border we will be safe!!!!!!

Wait a minute!!! What is this crap!

So we made our own four corners:

Finally at the Grand Canyon: Val and I

Steve

Lin and Cheryl

This is what we have been waiting for

And that was the last we saw of Steve

Val waiting for sunset on Yaki Point

The clouds rolled in and ruined the sunset. Val was pissed so she took it out on this poor defenseless rock.

…at the Grand Canyon.

We did it!!!!

This is a bathroom we found along the way. You may think it looks dirty or even unsafe. And you’d be right.

Closed!! Totally lame.

…but we just saw a sign that its closed for remodeling! Heads are gonna roll for this!!!

Who doesn’t like oversized Indian arrows and tee pees? Oddly enough not an Indian to be seen. Can’t imagine what happened to them.