Going on a Journey

[yukondoit]

By the end of this week I'll be on my way tackling a 1,400 mile (1 way) trip to Birmingham, Alabama. Well be out the for 8 days total. Was wanting to know what to do to get my Kon in top condtion for this trip. Changing the oil this week, also air filter.

 

[Crazy Al]

Tire pressure, extra wiper fluid, and double check all brake lights and turn signals are working.

 

[BlackDenali]

Rent a car and keep your baby in the garage!

 

[Grocery Getter]

Unless you need your rig to tow/haul something I'd buy a plane ticket............

 

[Repo503]

forget a plane ticket who wants to go through security. Hit the road and don't forget the cell phone charger.

 

[TheFuzz]

We take the Yuke out to Cali every summer for vacation...not as far as what you're doing, but still a solid 2 day adventure over 1100 miles or so (we stop in Vegas for a night on our way out to break up the driving).

I always do the following to the truck before we go:

1. If it's been more than 2000 miles since the last oil change, then I'll change it early since we'd surpass the 3000 mile mark easily on the way out, and I'm **** about that shit.

2. Check all of the fluids. All of them. Brake, trans, power steering, coolant, everything. 99% of the time I don't have to touch anything, but I check just to be safe. Murphy is a *****.

3. Check the air filter.

4. Air up the tires to max safe pressure for better road mileage.

5. Put 3 containers of winshield washer fluid and 1 container of coolant in the cargo area with the luggage. I usually go through most of the washer fluid.

6. Thoroughly clean and Rain-X all of the windows. This makes driving through storms a hell of a lot less fatiguing on your eyes, and makes cleaning the bugs off a little easier, too.

7. Drop by the local dealership and have them do a quick safety inspection. They'll check over all of the major stuff and let you know if there are any issues. The dealership I use does this for me for free. YMMV.

On the day of the trip, we'll stop at Einstien Bros and get a ton of bagels and cream cheese for the road, buy a whole bunch of snacky foods, water and whatnot, and pack a cooler for the back seat. This keeps me, the wifey and the kids pretty happy until later into the evening, and cuts down on money and time spent getting meals.

Oh, and most importantly, we hook up the little mobile DVD player that we bought for the kids. It can be used by itself as a little mini-laptop sized flip up DVD player, but it comes with a second screen and mounts for the headrest posts, so each kiddo has their own screen to watch. It gets annoying listening to the Blues Clues/Lazytown/Dora DVD playing over and over, but it keeps the kids quiet...and thats a godsend. Best $100 I've ever spent at Target.

Good luck on the trip, be safe!

 

[CincinnatiZ]

also check the spare tire pressure and make sure u have a current insurance card. - Just to adding to the above list.

 

[Crazy Al]

Yuke2K it sounds like your kidletts need some headphones, lol.

 

[TheFuzz]

Haha yeah Al, they sure do. Problem is that they are 1 and 3...they aren't much about having stuff stuck to their heads, especially my 1 year old. We can usually get away with turning the DVD volume down and turning the stereo up in the front - it helps a little.

 

[yukondoit]

Lot of good advice guys, thanks. I've done the drive before but I wasn't driving my personal vehicle at the time. This time around its my baby so just want to make sure she performs like a champ throughout the trip. Flying would have been nice, but its an opportunity for me to spend time with my wife and daughter. No work for a week, can't beat that. I like the idea about RainX, good idea. Wednesday evening I'm going to get it ready, clean, and packed.
Return trip I'm driving through Tx, making a stop in Kileen. I got a buddy fixing to head over the middle east so I want to see him before he leaves. Its been 8 yrs since I've seen him, so It'll be cool to introduce him to my family and catch up on whatever.

 

[Bad bow tie]

I got to do this too. I'm beginning a 2,000 miles journey one way in mid August. Taking my dads Suburban K2500, so I'll be checking off all the stuff above as well.

Good luck on your voyage!

 

[Dynamo]

The past two summers my wife & I have taken the kids on road trips in our '03 Tahoe. It's a great family truckster. Last summer we drove from Austin, TX to Seattle, WA hitting Mount Rushmore on the way. The previous summer we drove from Austin to Boise, ID. All I did was to prepare was the commone stuff: changed oil, checked all fluids, belts, tire air pressure, etc. Our kids have Zunes that I loaded up with movies to keep them occupied. Anyway, our Tahoe had ~90K miles on it before we did the first roadtrip and it handled it without any problems.

One thing I would suggest is that if you have your vehicle serviced in preparation for the trip, do so at least a few days before the trip and not like the day before. This is so just in case any issues from the service crops up you'll discover it before you are on the road.

 

[yukondoit]

Sea foamed the Kon last night, smoked out the neighborhood. Checked the fluids, top off what I could, checked tire pressure, next is to get oil changed. Just got to clean it, inside and out, then point it east, put in drive, and go.

 

[TheFuzz]

Sounds like a plan, man. Good luck and be safe!

 

[yukondoit]

Thanks man. I'll try to keep the you all updated.

 

[Rollin Thunder]

Sea foamed the Kon last night, smoked out the neighborhood. Checked the fluids, top off what I could, checked tire pressure, next is to get oil changed. Just got to clean it, inside and out, then point it east, put in drive, and go.

hahaha, I wanna seafoam both my trucks at the same time just to smoke everything up.

 

[yukondoit]

Do it buddy. I did at night, had the neighbors come and scratch their heads tryin to figure where all that smoke was coming from. What made them worry more was there was fireworks going off, so I guess they thought it was a fire.