Recently got a promotion at work that required relocating to Silicon Valley. The company was willing to pay for the move, BUT were only willing to ship ONE CAR. I asked how much it would cost to ship an additional car, and got quotes of anywhere from $2000-3000.
So, drive the Fiero, or the less than a year old car with 5000 miles on it?
Hmm... I've been burned on the Fiero breaking down on a 10 hour drive from New Jersey to Traverse City, so...
I planned the trip to California out on the family computer
35 hours, split into 4 days: Canton MI to Omaha, NE: Omaha to Rock Springs, Wyoming: Wyoming to Reno, Nevada: And finally, Reno to Fremont, California. 10 hours a day for 3 days, and an easy 4 hours the final day. (Or so I thought)
I've driven I-80 from Maumee, Ohio to the east coast in New Jersey, so I felt it would be appropriate to take I-80 the other way. So the journey started.
-Day 1-Canton Michigan to Omaha, Nebraska
Drove two miles to work
Reset the trip odometer to zero to record my mileage for the expense report, and to see what kind of fuel mileage the car would get. Left Canton MI at 10:30 AM EST
Drove down to Maumee, and got onto I-80, and I
thought you could just keep going straight, you know, just follow the signs. Took a wrong turn somewhere around Chicago...
That only added several hours to an already long day. Pulled into the Candlewood Suites hotel in Omaha at 11:30 PM CST.
-Day 2-Next day, the most boring, god awful drive ever. For those who've never been, Nebraska has two things: dirt, and wind. And that's all you ever see.
FUN FACT: nobody in Nebraska outside of Omaha seems to carry high octane gasoline. So I had to run the car on non-premium fuel for the first time ever, and turn off the boost, which made merging onto the freeway with the short on-ramps real fun.
Once you hit Wyoming, you start to feel like you're actually out west, and there are some nice sights, and interesting rock formations.
Finally got to the next hotel, the Holiday Inn Express in Rock Springs, Wyoming, at roughly 8:30 PM mountain time (MT).
-Day 3-The next day, Rock Springs, Wyoming to Reno, Nevada. THIS was the interesting part of the drive. Salt Lake City, Utah, is basically next to a cliff face, and you spend a great deal of time driving down some massive hills and steep winding roads. All the time you spend driving uphill across several states, you spend plummeting down in this area. At the bottom, once you get out of town, is the great salt lake. This is quite a sight. Even more impressive, is one of the longest straight roads in the world, across the Bonneville Salt Flats. 50 miles long, across absolutely nothing.
At the end, just before the Nevada border, is a sign pointing to the right, to Bonneville Speedway. It wasn't what I expected. You turn down the road, drive for about 3 miles, and it just suddenly ends
The salt is an interesting surface to drive on, not what I expected. It's like soft cement
This time of the year, much of the surface is flooded, but there are still some dry areas you can drive on.
Crossed the Nevada border, and drove to Reno, and the world's worst Holiday Inn.
-Day 4-Started out fine, got in the car, started driving, and suddenly the TPMS light came on. Pulled over into a gas station, checked the tire pressures, and they were all 2 psi down at worst. Figured it was possibly the spare, or just a fluke, and kept driving.
It kept getting colder and colder. Eventually there was snow. And more snow. And it was snowing. There was obviously several fresh inches of snow. Driving through the snow covered mountains, on more 5% grades, over black ice, with semi trucks doing 20mph with the hazards on, many pulling over to put chains on.
I pulled over to fill up on gas. At what turned out to be 'Donner Pass'. Not a good sign... Checked the tire pressures again, no change after half an hour. So I decided to go for it.
Passed snowplows, people who pulled over, a two-car wreck, and made it out. As quickly as it appeared, as you descend in elevation the snow vanishes, and the temperature rises quickly. Before I knew it, it was 66 F and sunny. What a weird climate...
Drove to the end of I-80 in San Francisco, and south to the finish line in Fremont.
Total distance: 2500.6 miles. Spent just under $400 in gasoline, and $100 in food.
Once the Fiero was delivered, I drove it over there for a photo-op. I've been driving it every few days. There are quite a few car guys there, and they like the car
I-80 across Nebraska IS one boring drive...but you're following the Platte River the whole way across, so you're right in the bottom of the river valley. If you'd gone North of the Interstate, there are some interesting highways to drive, and it isn't as flat as the Interstate would make you believe. Anyway, congrats on the new job...I see it's in Fremont. I also live in Fremont...but in Nebraska, not California....
