ROAD TRIP: CA to TX!
 

Anyone have any tips for me? I'm taking my baby from Cali to Texas... would appreciate any tips or advice.. :Freak_ani

Yeah: helicopter tour of the Grand Canyon, if you've never done it.

Go to Houston and not Dallas.

I was also looking for tips on the drive.. not places to go hehe.. never done a long one like this before... :)

Not sure what kind of tips you're looking for. Bring plenty of 5w20 because you may have trouble finding it on the road. Don't try to drive when you're tired (duh). Don't pick up hitch-hikers. If you happen to go to the four-corners, don't expect to find any kind of lodging or gas (after 6pm) or anything. Toads.

four corners? you mean UT, CO, AZ, NM right? sorry.. :P

what's that about toads haha

Right, the place where they all come together, and you can get on your hands and knees and be in four states at once. I got stranded there once on a motorcycle trip, just about out of gas. No place to buy gas, no motel or anything to stay for the night. I ended up trying to sleep on a wet picnic bench, until a cop woke me up and wanted me out of his town. I explained my situation, asked him where a motel was, he informed me the nearest one was fifty miles away, in CO. He proceeded to wake up the owner of the gas station where I was, and get him to sell me gas so I could be on my way. So my toads comment was about the populace of that stupid town, which has a significant tourist attraction right in their midst, but can't be bothered to actually have any travelers' services. I traveled across the entire country, and that was the ONLY place I couldn't find a place for the night. I'm still pissed off about it, almost seven years later (can you tell?)

That's a pretty cool story :) I'm glad it didn't turn into some New Mexico Chainsaw Massacre or something ;)

If you're going to have a co-pilot who you'll let drive your car, I found it worked well when driving from OH - CA to switch drivers at every stop for gas. Then it doesn't get so monotonous.

Where are you driving from and to? I assume you're in the military. My guess is Killeen or San Antonio. Head to Vegas for a couple days of RR, Flagstaff, Albuquerque, Dallas, destination. Bring a gas container just in case.

Be a little paranoid about fuel consumption! I don't know about the stretches between CA and TX but I did the drive from VA to CA and there were areas that I didn't know when the next gas station was going to pop up and I was down to less than 1/8 of a tank! Also at times I came off the freeway to find some gas stations only had 87 and 89 octane gas (fortunately I did find 93 at the next exit). Oh and what everybody else said, be safe!

I did the oppsite drive, from GA to TX. The 8 is a really comfortable car for long trips, turn on the cruise, grab a bunch of cd's, and for gods sake watch your gas gauge. I must have filled up 7 or 8 times.

Im doing a drive from San Diego to Seattle the end of March, I look forward to spending quality time with my baby(Rx-8). To give you some suggestions, this is what I've done to get ready for my little trip: I already bought a few quarts of 5w-20, Im gonna do my first service maintainece on my car next week, make sure to check your tires for the right pressure.

...the other way around.

As beloved as the RX 8 is, it's major handicap is a rather limited touring range. Just plan you fuel stops ahead of time.

I have heard that turning off DSC and holding it down until the squiggly car lights up in the tach, will get you slightly better mileage. I did this on a recent trip and got an actual 20 mpg. This included doing the last 30 miles or so in the "neutron dance" mode ( 90-100mph+). I didn't want to be late to funeral of a former work colleague.

I wouldn't sweat the fuel thing *too* much. Again, I crossed the country on a motorcycle, whose range was 150 miles on a *good* day , and the only place I couldn't get gas was at the 4 corners. Granted, at that point I went up into colorado, so I can't speak for new mexico or texas, but I'd say you need to pay attention and be a little careful, but I wouldn't worry too much about it. I wouldn't turn the DSC off. Just take advantage of gas opportunities as they pop up, rather than waiting until you're almost bone dry.

Avoid the route going down I-10 from El Paso, Tx to San Antonio/Austin/Etc. El Paso to Austin is about 8 hours of pure nothing. There's no good radio station between the two places, except if you like Tejano. There's also nothing to look at. I've done this route twice, going from Austin to San Francisco.
It takes about the same time from Austin to El Paso as it does El Paso to LA.

Hehe, yep. I've driven this way also. If you like to visit national parks though, Big Bend is on the way. Half the trip from eastern/southern Texas to California is Texas.

Well, one of the reasons I want to buy an RX-8 is that it's been too long since I got to drive a sports car, so I'm assuming you want some routes to drive.

How much time do you have for driving? There's a couple of nice routes in Arizona with many twisties, for example, but each one uses up time. Just driving on I 40 or I 10 across the map is efficient, but boring. Say you want to have some twisty roads on the way, there's a few good ones in Arizona, some in New Mexico and Texas as well. If you just want to hit half a day or so of some twisty, leave Phoenix going east through Globe to Safford, then to Duncan and pick up I 10 near the New Mexico border.

Or take I 10 all the way to New Mexico, get off at Las Cruces and take US 70 to White Sands, then through Alamogordo and up to Cloudcroft. There's about 60 miles of two-lane twisties before you hit the flatland, and you can turn right at Carlsbad, drive to Pecos and pick up I 20 to Dallas. That detour would add about half a day to the trip.

If you want to spend a day on some pretty nifty roads that use the first three gears a lot, take I 40 to Flagstaff and take the very nice hairpin-filled road to Sedona, down to the valley, up to Jerome, over to Prescott and then 4-lane down to Phoenix. It would probably use a day by itself, though you can get onto I 10 in Phoenix.

Or take I 40 to Holbrook, south to ShowLow, through the White Mountains to Springerville, then on to Reserve, New Mexico. From there you can go East through Apache Creek, through the Very Large Array radiotelescope and pick up I-25 north to I 40, or south to I 10, or go on east through the Sacramento mountains to Roswell. You can cut south to I 20 via Carlsbad and Pecos. Again, you will consume a day doing this, maybe more. Could be too much time used up on a cross country trip.

You have to cross Texas somehow, if you don't want to just blast through on I 20 or I 10, or the panhandle on I 40, there's a road that takes off from I 10 near Van Horn that routes down through Valentine, Marfa, Alpine, across the northern edge of Big Bend and down to the Rio Grande. Some twisties, and landscape worth looking at. The MacDonald Observatory sometimes has tours, too. It isn't as fast as I 10, and there's no radio out there to speak of AND be sure to fill up in Alpine before you go further East, as well as topping up in Sanderson. The gas stations along that route really are few and far between. The drive from the Rio Grande valley to San Antonio can be nice, if you look for the squigglies on the map.

In fact, the hill country north of San Antonio, west of I 35 and east of I 10 has a whole bunch of fun roads to drive, just don't plan to get anywhere too fast. You can also pick up I 10 in San Antonio and make miles.

I can't offer any information east of Texas, except to note that there is a loop through New Orleans of I 10 that gets you into and out of the city.

I'll second that. Did that run on the motorcycle, there are some outstanding roads there.

I drove from South Carolina to SoCal last Oct and it was Hell. You are going to drive the worst part of the trip. The scenery never changes. Do take some oil with you. also you will get TPMS alarms when going up and down on muntains because the change in ambient temps. My car drove perfect, even fuel consomption. I would fill up in the AM after breakfast then I be stoping for lunch whne I be on empty again the stop for dinner and sleep on my next empty tank. That yield me to drive 550-600 miles a day. I made the trip in 3 days. Make sure you have AAA or something because you will be in the middle of the ass hole of the earth. I took I-20 to I-10. There is a segment of the I-10, I think after Palm Springs and the state line that you will not be able to get gas for about 150 miles. There will be signs to let you know about this. Then take some padding for your knees, like the mazda speed one. Because they be in pain from the sitting angle. That drove me nuts.

I recommend that you NOT try to do 550-600 miles a day, unless time pressures really force you to. Enjoy the trip, take in the scenery, stop for serendipity, check out the more fun back roads. Find a pace that works for you.

Exactly..... :bowdown: