Modern hire car horrors - Page 12

leggy · 05-04-15, 04:54 PM

Sorry, bit busy right now vorsprung durch technik

(over to you John!

)

Hanuman · 05-04-15, 05:26 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by leggy

Sorry, bit busy right now...

Pictures! We do like pictures

F6RTY · 06-04-15, 03:39 AM

Drove the 210 miles from Williams to Monument Valley. Refuelled at Kayenta about twenty miles short of the Valley and achieved 33 miles to the Imperial gallon. From a 5.7 Litre!! That did involve virtually exclusive use of cruise control which is of course possible out here due to the lack of traffic.

Once at the Valley we did a guided tour which involves covering a route out of bounds to the self-drive route. Our vehicle was a complete piece of junk Chevy truck and you had to hang on for grim death at times. Our Navajo guide was very good and gave us the history or folklore about various sites.

At the hotel now and looking forward to sunrise as our room looks right down the valley!

Some photos:

At the State line:

Monument Valley:

Find Emily at the bottom to judge the scale:

Alan

leggy · 06-04-15, 10:35 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by The Real MSH!

Pictures! We do like pictures

Sorry The Real MSH!, don't do selfies and my album is full anyway.

leggy · 06-04-15, 10:52 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by F6RTY

Drove the 210 miles from Williams to Monument Valley.... Alan

Bit

You were on a train to Grand Canyon the last time you updated, were you able to take the car with you on said train? or did you park up at the train station and then return for the car by train before driving the 210 miles?

Other than the fuel consumption, how's the exchange R/T holding up to all of this driving? and how the hell are you holding up? (must be pretty tiring the amount of miles you've covered!

) Have you come across any Bates style Motels yet?

Loving that third photo BTW - the way in which you've captured everything around the tree is quite mesmerizing/stunning to say the least.

I'd still like to see a few photos of the old American cars though please?

F6RTY · 06-04-15, 01:46 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by leggy

Bit

You were on a train to Grand Canyon the last time you updated, were you able to take the car with you on said train? or did you park up at the train station and then return for the car by train before driving the 210 miles?

Other than the fuel consumption, how's the exchange R/T holding up to all of this driving? and how the hell are you holding up? (must be pretty tiring the amount of miles you've covered!

) Have you come across any Bates style Motels yet?

Loving that third photo BTW - the way in which you've captured everything around the tree is quite mesmerizing/stunning to say the least.

I'd still like to see a few photos of the old American cars though please?

No, car stays at the station. The train is a round trip. The car seems to be going okay but it seems like I'm driving on eggshells all the time because of what happened earlier.

Once out of the city, driving is dead easy. It's a completely different world to driving back home. Even single carriageway roads are wide and where we are there are reasonably few cars about. Therefore I spend as much time looking around me as where I'm going! Very few old cars out here at the moment as it's very much 4x4 country. Tonight we will be in Gallup, New Mexico and back on Route 66 so should have more joy then.

So far our hotels have been pretty good but it will be interesting to see if the decor has changed since last time at our hotel in Flagstaff. Very '70's!

Alan

F6RTY · 07-04-15, 04:08 AM

Left Monument Valley to visit Four Corners Monument. This is the intersection point of Utah, Colorado, New Mexico & Arizona. Then on to Gallup. Roads virtually empty and lack of sleep from the previous night was catching up on me so stopped for a kip.

My mileage estimation was wrong and it was another 200+ mile trip.

Tomorrow we leave for Flagstaff via various old Route 66 towns and trading posts doing as little of I 40 as possible. Also a visit to Meteor Crater.

Photos:

Alan

F6RTY · 08-04-15, 05:21 AM

Departed Gallup this morning with maps and my trusty EZ 66 guide in hand to cover as much of the old road as possible as far as Flagstaff. I think we did a good job and even did some dead end sections until it got too rough to continue. Found a couple of old abandoned bridges from former alignments in Sanders and Two Guns. Involved some walking over rough ground off road. The gas station and long abandoned village at Two Guns was rumoured to be fenced off and private but I managed to drive most of the way to the bridge.

Stopped at the Jack Rabbit Trading Post on a long and very rough section. The gift shop was large but the solitary person running the shop said she sees few people. A car pulled in with three Irish guys who were doing the whole route and they loved the R/T.

Went to Winslow like last time and stood 'On the Corner' as you feel compelled to do! Lots of others doing the same thing so the whole '66 concept is obviously working. Stopped at the Dome at Meteor City but it is now heavily vandalised, then on to Meteor Crater as Emily wanted to see it again. The wind was really bad and one of the higher viewing platforms was closed.

Then to Two Guns and Twin Arrows (also in a complete mess, but the Arrows are still okay) before landing in Flagstaff.

Tea was an excessive burger meal at the Galaxy Diner. I can hardly stand now.

Tomorrow we will venture down to do scenic drives around Sedona.

Old truck and Galaxie near Lupton:

Old girder bridge at Sanders from an old alignment of '66:

Wigwam Motel, Holbrook:

R/T on a dead end section, hence the ability to park it in the middle of the road:

Jack Rabbit Trading Post sign.

Me & Emily 'Standin' on a Corner' in Winslow, Arizona:

Old '66 bridge at Two Guns:

R/T at Twin Arrows Trading Post:

Galaxy Diner, Flagstaff:

Alan

leggy · 08-04-15, 04:38 PM

I'm surprised that you can stand at all F6RTY what with all of the driving that you've been doing. There's no way that I could have driven day-in day-out for as long as you have in either of the cars that I hired, so you must have chosen your hire car/s well.

How many miles would you say that you've covered so far?

F6RTY · 09-04-15, 12:40 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by leggy

I'm surprised that you can stand at all F6RTY what with all of the driving that you've been doing. There's no way that I could have driven day-in day-out for as long as you have in either of the cars that I hired, so you must have chosen your hire car/s well.

How many miles would you say that you've covered so far?

In all fairness the Challenger isn't a bad drive for a 'muscle' car. It's a bit of a Goldilocks car in so far as it's not too hard yet not too soft so that it wallows into corners etc. Today, we've been down to Sedona. It drops about two thousand feet from Flagstaff therefore there are a couple of sections with some steep and sharp switchbacks. Had I not had traffic in front I could have steamed up there no problem.

My Mustang at home on the other hand is rock hard and you feel every bump. However it does handle but only in the dry!

I think I put about 350 miles on the first car before it died and so far I done 1100 miles in this one. There's probably another 500 to do.

Photos in a bit!

Alan

05-04-15, 04:54 PM	#111
leggy Senior Member Join Date: Nov 2014 Posts: 1,650	Sorry, bit busy right now vorsprung durch technik (over to you John! )

06-04-15, 03:39 AM	#113
F6RTY Grown up member Classic Audi Club Member Join Date: Sep 2013 Location: Stroud, Gloucestershire Posts: 190	Drove the 210 miles from Williams to Monument Valley. Refuelled at Kayenta about twenty miles short of the Valley and achieved 33 miles to the Imperial gallon. From a 5.7 Litre!! That did involve virtually exclusive use of cruise control which is of course possible out here due to the lack of traffic. Once at the Valley we did a guided tour which involves covering a route out of bounds to the self-drive route. Our vehicle was a complete piece of junk Chevy truck and you had to hang on for grim death at times. Our Navajo guide was very good and gave us the history or folklore about various sites. At the hotel now and looking forward to sunrise as our room looks right down the valley! Some photos: At the State line: Monument Valley: Find Emily at the bottom to judge the scale: Alan

07-04-15, 04:08 AM	#117
F6RTY Grown up member Classic Audi Club Member Join Date: Sep 2013 Location: Stroud, Gloucestershire Posts: 190	Left Monument Valley to visit Four Corners Monument. This is the intersection point of Utah, Colorado, New Mexico & Arizona. Then on to Gallup. Roads virtually empty and lack of sleep from the previous night was catching up on me so stopped for a kip. My mileage estimation was wrong and it was another 200+ mile trip. Tomorrow we leave for Flagstaff via various old Route 66 towns and trading posts doing as little of I 40 as possible. Also a visit to Meteor Crater. Photos: Alan

08-04-15, 05:21 AM	#118
F6RTY Grown up member Classic Audi Club Member Join Date: Sep 2013 Location: Stroud, Gloucestershire Posts: 190	Departed Gallup this morning with maps and my trusty EZ 66 guide in hand to cover as much of the old road as possible as far as Flagstaff. I think we did a good job and even did some dead end sections until it got too rough to continue. Found a couple of old abandoned bridges from former alignments in Sanders and Two Guns. Involved some walking over rough ground off road. The gas station and long abandoned village at Two Guns was rumoured to be fenced off and private but I managed to drive most of the way to the bridge. Stopped at the Jack Rabbit Trading Post on a long and very rough section. The gift shop was large but the solitary person running the shop said she sees few people. A car pulled in with three Irish guys who were doing the whole route and they loved the R/T. Went to Winslow like last time and stood 'On the Corner' as you feel compelled to do! Lots of others doing the same thing so the whole '66 concept is obviously working. Stopped at the Dome at Meteor City but it is now heavily vandalised, then on to Meteor Crater as Emily wanted to see it again. The wind was really bad and one of the higher viewing platforms was closed. Then to Two Guns and Twin Arrows (also in a complete mess, but the Arrows are still okay) before landing in Flagstaff. Tea was an excessive burger meal at the Galaxy Diner. I can hardly stand now. Tomorrow we will venture down to do scenic drives around Sedona. Old truck and Galaxie near Lupton: Old girder bridge at Sanders from an old alignment of '66: Wigwam Motel, Holbrook: R/T on a dead end section, hence the ability to park it in the middle of the road: Jack Rabbit Trading Post sign. Me & Emily 'Standin' on a Corner' in Winslow, Arizona: Old '66 bridge at Two Guns: R/T at Twin Arrows Trading Post: Galaxy Diner, Flagstaff: Alan

08-04-15, 04:38 PM	#119
leggy Senior Member Join Date: Nov 2014 Posts: 1,650	I'm surprised that you can stand at all F6RTY what with all of the driving that you've been doing. There's no way that I could have driven day-in day-out for as long as you have in either of the cars that I hired, so you must have chosen your hire car/s well. How many miles would you say that you've covered so far?