DC to OC, The Kizashi Way

[KuroNekko]

First, I want to thank everyone for the well wishes.
I made it to my destination of Irvine, California on Sunday morning at 2 AM. I was originally planning to post about my trip day by day with photos but the realities of driving cross-country in 3 days alone means there is really not much time other than to eat, sleep, and drive. However, I will be posting photos and retroactive day logs shortly now that I've rested and unloaded the car. I also did save a lot of dash camera footage from the state welcome signs and interesting scenery but my dash camera started acting up after a while so some desired clips appear to be missing. Regardless, I'm thinking about making a compilation video from some of the clips.

Side question, did you have your wheels refinished? They look a little darker than stock. If so, then what's the name of the color?

Yes, they were repainted by a body shop a while back when their detailer ruined the factory paint on the wheels during cleaning. They then accidentally painted them way darker than the stock color and was a bit worried when I came to pick up the car. I actually didn't mind, especially given the many coats of paint and the heavy clear coat on them. I also thought the more gunmetalish color looked nice on a black car like mine. The shop told me it was a custom blend of paint so I'm sure there is no product name.

[Speed_Racer]

Thanks for the deets. I'm trying to pick which color to paint mine when I decide to bite the bullet and have them refinished

[chazyouwin]

Had to relearn how to drive the Kiz painfully boringly, but three stars for me as I've only had one "event" of hard braking so far as the insurance carrier is tracking my driving. Imagine. The XL-7 pic by comparison is the driving record of our 20-year old son, which is probably what my Kiz driving would look like normally.

[KuroNekko]

Day One

I ended up leaving for the trip close to about 11 AM after loading the last of my stuff. I then went down to the local Gulf gas station and filled up the tank and reset the Kizashi's numerous digital counters for the trip. I planned to get a total trip MPG, total driven trip distance, and total trip average speed while logging each fill up with the Fuelly app on my phone. I had used the app every fill-up for a while until I had to switch phones. During that time, I missed a few fill-ups and when I went from an iPhone to an Android, I saw the vast difference between the iOS version of Fuelly vs. the Android. The Android version is hot garbage compared to the iOS version and is much harder to use. However, for the trip, I wanted to log the fuel economy so I used the frustrating app.

KIMG0797.JPG (298.37 KiB) Viewed 10220 times

KIMG0798.JPG (192.88 KiB) Viewed 10220 times

After topping off, I set out for the trip and took a route that pretty much cuts across the top of Maryland heading west into West Virginia. While the I-70 technically begins in Maryland close to Baltimore, I decided to take a more direct route that also avoided as many tolls as possible. I was on the I-70 for a little while in Maryland but got on the I-68 to go right through Maryland rather than north into Pennsylvania to avoid the Pennsylvania Turnpike's tolls as it runs towards Pittsburgh.
After a few hours in Maryland, I finally reached West Virginia and entered Morgantown on the I-68. I then headed north into Pennsylvania on the I-79 before catching the I-70 which I would stay on until it ended on the other side of the country in Utah. While in Pennsylvania, I stopped at a seemingly-normal rest stop. However, upon getting out and entering the visitor center, I became aware that it had a monument for miners who were trapped in a mining accident located directly below the rest stop. After a brief break here and a few photos, I headed out towards Ohio.

memorial.jpg (284.1 KiB) Viewed 10220 times

In PA.jpg (301.65 KiB) Viewed 10220 times

The I-70 had me re-enter West Virginia briefly and took me through the town of Wheeling, WV close to the border of Ohio. While driving through Ohio, I noticed a familiar vehicle profile in my side view mirror. A Kizashi! A red Kizashi Sport AWD drove past me. I was able to save the clip from the dash cam for a snapshot. I'm glad I did as it was the one and only other Kizashi I'd see on this entire trip. Interestingly, it had PA plates which goes to my theory that Kizashis are most popular in Pennsylvania. (I blurred the PA tags for the owner's privacy.)

red Kizashi.jpg (143.84 KiB) Viewed 10220 times

I continued on until stopping in a mountainous area to get some gas. For this segment, I had driven 340 miles and got 27 MPG. I was a bit surprised given the rather hilly terrain in MD, PA, WV, and OH but the speed limits were below 70 MPH. Despite the heavily-loaded vehicle plus the roof box, it returned rather good fuel economy. It's a thing us 6 speed manual owners seem to get.

From this point on, I wanted to put the miles in to make sure to get to my target destination of the St. Louis, MO area for the day. Speed limits also got higher to 70 MPH in Ohio and I was able to make it past the rest of Ohio and through Indiana. While in Indiana, I stopped again for gas in a city called Terre Haute which I recognized as the place forum member SX4rocious was from. At this gas stop, I logged 317 miles driven since last fill up with an MPG of 26.8. Again, not bad. I also checked the oil at this point and everything looked good. After I set off, I wasn't going to stop until it was quitting time for the day.

KIMG0807.JPG (221.55 KiB) Viewed 10220 times

I drove until Troy, Illinois where I found a Motel 6 with vacancies. At this point, it was around 11:30 PM or so and I was rather exhausted. However, Troy is not far from the Missouri border where St. Louis is located so I felt like I accomplished my goal for the day. Distance traveled was approximately 800 miles in 12 or so hours. States traveled amounted to 6 for that day (Maryland, West Virginia, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois). The map below isn't the exact route taken but is a good representation of Day One's travel.

Day One map.JPG (194.27 KiB) Viewed 10217 times

The Kizashi ran perfectly well and was surprisingly better at accelerating and cornering than I expected with the load, especially since it was as close to GVWR as it'll ever get. Everything from the tires to the engine, the Kizashi handled this leg of the trip admirably well and returned a respectable 27 MPG average.
Once at the Motel 6, I parked the car outside my room window and we both rested for the night.

[BLyons]

Had to relearn how to drive the Kiz painfully boringly, but three stars for me as I've only had one "event" of hard braking so far as the insurance carrier is tracking my driving. Imagine. The XL-7 pic by comparison is the driving record of our 20-year old son, which is probably what my Kiz driving would look like normally.

Good luck. I had one for 6 months. In that time I had one instance of sudden acceleration and around 15 of hard braking total, which was about 8x below average, and they raised my rates by 30%. Called and asked what that was about and they couldn't give me any answer, so I found a new insurance company and will never put another tracker in my car.

[Ronzuki]

That's not a shocking result of big brother watching every move. What else would you expect? The rates to go down?
I can't imagine ANYONE allowing anyone to put any type of tracking/monitoring device on their car for ANY reason.

[KuroNekko]

Day Two

Day Two consisted of driving across the middle of America through states I've never been in. Starting off in Troy, Illinois, I crossed into Missouri and St. Louis was right there to greet me. I drove past it and kept going until I needed to get gas again. I pulled off in a rather rural area and while I was pumping gas, walked around my Kizashi for a brief inspection of things. This is when I noticed that my driver side fog light lens was completely shattered out and the bulb was exposed. I had no idea that the vehicle was damaged or when it could have happened. When I looked back at a photo I took of the Kizashi in the morning outside the motel in Illinois (pictured below), I noticed that it was broken then. This means I must have sustained the damage back between Terre Haute, IN and Troy, IL. I drove this route at night and did recall some construction zones so I'm assuming some debris or a chunk of asphalt must have got kicked up by a car ahead of me and directly hit the fog light. Fortunately, the HID fog light bulb looked undamaged. At this gas station, I took the time to cover up the fog light by using Gorilla Duct Tape I always carry to completely mask the reflector and bulb to save it from further damage. After the patchwork, I was again on my way. I may have missed recording my fuel economy due to the repairs but my recollection was around 26 MPG for the segment.

In Troy, IN.jpg (324.94 KiB) Viewed 10144 times

KIMG0812.JPG (206.55 KiB) Viewed 10144 times

KIMG0814.JPG (261.6 KiB) Viewed 10144 times

Missouri proved to be a wide state and have flat terrain where the speed limit got higher to 75 MPH in the rural parts. This meant that the flow of traffic was faster and I set my cruise control to about 80 MPH for most of the time. Hours later, I arrived in Kansas City, MO and then crossed over the border into Kansas City, Kansas. I've heard a lot about driving through Kansas and its boredom, but I found it to be better than expected. It was very straight and flat, but the state had signs showing the relevance of certain small towns and references to the Wizard of Oz. I stopped at a small town called Abilene, Kansas for lunch and for gasoline. The town is rather small in a rural area but was the hometown of Dwight D. Eisenhower. Here, I logged my fuel economy after getting gas and noted 25 MPG. It's what I expected running the Kizashi at around 80 MPH for hours in what was a rather flat but windy place.
Kansas was also the widest state in my trip and it was sunset by the time I neared the Colorado border. Before leaving Kansas, I took a break at a rest stop and watched the sunset.

KIMG0823.JPG (121.76 KiB) Viewed 10144 times

After the sun had set, I drove on and entered Colorado. I guess my expectations got a reality check as I always imagined the Rockies there to greet you in Colorado. I blame the Coors Light commercials. However, coming from the east on the I-70, it's really like a continuation of Kansas for nearly half the state. The terrain looked and felt flat, but the elevation signs showed the increasing altitude. At a place called Flagler, Colorado, I stopped again for gas and to check the oil. Oil level was perfect and the car didn't have any extra damage. As I calculated fuel economy, I watched the girl at the pump next to me drive off with the pump nozzle still attached to her car. The hose at the pump detached immediately at the joint designed for this purpose. She embarrassingly tried to repair it but asked the gas station attendant for help. He was able to fix it within seconds. When I later bought some water and tea from him, he told me it happens much more frequently than you'd think.
Fuel economy for this segment was again 25 MPG given the 75 MPH speed limit and the winds. I also got 85 octane gasoline for the first time. The lower octane gasoline was available given the elevation of the area which was nearly 5000 ft.

I continued on towards Denver on flat roads until about 11 PM when I reached the city. I always imagined Denver in the mountains but the reality is that the mountains are on the western side of Denver and the city itself is more like in high elevation plains rather than in an alpine terrain. Hence, the city is wide and looked flat. Having reached my destination for the day, I looked around for a motel but ended up driving past through Denver into the Rockies. I then stopped to look up a motel and found a vacancy at an America's Best Value Inn in a mountain community called Georgetown, Colorado. By the time I was in my hotel room, it was close to midnight and I was exhausted.
Though I did some alpine driving to get from Denver to Georgetown, it was hard to see the surrounding terrain from the darkness of a mountain road at night. However, I knew I still had the bulk of the Rockies waiting for me the next day and I'd take it all in when the morning came for Day Three.

Day Two concluded with a 13+ hour drive to cover 900 miles from Troy, Illinois to Georgetown, Colorado. States driven included Illinois, Missouri, Kansas, and Colorado.

Day Two map.JPG (215.68 KiB) Viewed 10144 times

[chazyouwin]

Gorgeous sunset, too bad about the broken lens. This is a fascinating trip, very National Geographic. Can't wait for the next installment!

[krell]

Enjoying this ... fascinating trip my friend compare to my boring trip last week to Tampa Florida and SC back roads.

[LPSISRL]

I was in Colorado for the first time back in July and I had the same impressions. I flew into Denver and then drove to Steamboat Springs (a ski resort) about 3 hours away. I too always thought Denver in the mountains. But nope. You can see them from there. It is very different than the Blue Ridge. No foot hills at all. Flat and then boom! Mountains. And I mean mountains. I stayed in Frisco which is not far from Georgetown. In Georgetown there's a narrow gauge railroad that the wife and I rode. Too bad you were on a dash for the coast and didn't have a few extra hours to drive the Trail Ridge Road through Rocky Mountain National Park It's on the list of like top 10 best things to do in the US being the highest mountain pass in the US at over 12,000 feet.
You also went by Mount Evans, one the "Fourteeners" that boasts the highest paved road in the US at over 14,000 feet. "Paved road" however is subjective. Narrow, hairpin switchbacks, no curbs, shoulders or guard rails and sheer drops if you wander. Some of road bed is crumbling away at the sheer drops as well. There are claw marks on the rental car dash from my wife that were the result this white-knuckle excursion. Both would have been worth the extra time.