From Oklahoma my '76 LE wannabe took me first to northern Alabama, then to the Mississippi Gulf coast. Second only to the giant redwoods, these Live Oaks are magnificent. This is only medium sized but was a good backdrop.

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East of New Orleans I got into some showers.


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Then west of Beaumont, Texas it was time for gas and dinner.


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The next morning another stop for gas and sunrise just west of Boerne.


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Love it. More Pixs!

Driving west along I-10 I saw "miles and miles of Texas" and finally found some green at a rest stop.


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Texas is 880 miles border to border along I-10

Finally made it to Phoenix. You don't find saguaro cactus many other places.

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I left PHX Christmas day after watching the "winter storm Goliath" warnings. Here is north Arizona with the beginnings of storm clouds way out there.


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I ran into bad roads along I-40 around Gallup. Traffic crawled past a series of 5 wrecks. It was stop and go for 90 minutes.

But hey, I made it safe and sound @70-75 mph most of the way, 3900 miles @ 33.7 average MPG. I built the engine 2+ years ago now and have 40k miles on it. Len Hoffman did my heads and decked the case, Raby 9550 cam kit, AA piston assy's. Nothing like driving your own work. What a trip.


Hope everybody had a Merry Christmas.


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Great pics and great story! Thanks for sharing!

Wow. Did you do this by yourself? Impressive. Merry Christmas.

Tony

Nothing beats a good road trip- good that everything went well!

Great pictures.

Dave

Thanks for sharing. Looks like a fun trip.

great!! how may days/weeks did you spread that trip?

Ten days, seven on the road. Great fun. Solo is the only way.

And now, heeeeeeeeeeeere's Goliath!

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Nice trip, great pics! I'm seeing right now how Texas is getting pummeled. Nothing like that here.

Very impressed with your fuel economy; what induction system are you using?

Stock D-Jet. Flat top pistons maybe bumped compression up a bit but I didn't do the measurements.... relying on beginner's luck. Fuel mileage is usually 35 on the road but I did a lot of miles @ 80+ across Texas and ran into headwinds for more than a few hours. Oil temps rarely got over 190 (winter time) and head temps were steady 325-350F...a few minutes @375 while climbing mountains out of Phoenix. Used about 3 qts of oil in 4k+ miles.

Fantastic. With my 2056, same cam, I'm getting 24 on the road topless. Doesn't seem to matter much if I drive it harder, mpg is about the same. It also looks that your fuel gauge doesn't go all the way to the top like mine, if you reset the trip meter when filling up.

Dig the creamsicle and associated backdated BUBs.

Love road trips!

What a trip! As European, it's hard to imagine the size of the US. I always love the way you guys approach long distance traveling. Far more relaxed than we.

Menno

Being from CT, I do like the placement of your speedometer needle...

Great pics, I 'll be in Phoenix in March. Last time I was there it snowed...

Rick, I believe that is the largest understatement I have ever heard! Nice trip guy. Glad that it went well. It's a long day when you travel across Texas.

You and Sandy are the King and Queen of road trips!

Most excellent!!

Dang, you were within about 2 miles of my house on I-10 just leaving Tucson for PHX.

Is yours carb-ed or FI-ed? I've wanted carbs just because they are cool looking but I have plenty of power for what I do with the stock FI set up. It does hiccup now and then while cruising around 3000RPM and the idle is steady....well, about half the time. Been very happy with the MPG.

The original gas sending unit died and I replaced it. The new one showed full at fill-ups for about a month, now only occasionally. Its accurate after about 80 miles.

And my speedo reads optimistic even with stock sized tires. Reading 78 ( @3100 ) is actually 70 mph by the GPS. That's fast enough when I have a camera in my hand.

I sure wished you would have stopped by the house here in Boerne. We could have had a good visit.

What gearing are you running in the transmission? Looks to be around 3200 RPM at 80MPH in the pics.

Stock ( '76 car) transmission. GPS showed 70 mph @3100 rpm.