Cool trip! You were very close to my place.Monteagle mountain is a blast when you drive the old road.
Did A Little 1700 Mile Drive Last Weekend
Last Saturday and Sunday (1/31 and 2/1) the wife and I loaded up Sterling and did an impromptu 1703.2 mile "Just For The Hell Of It" drive, and the car did NOT disappoint.
We left out of New Bern early Sat morning, headed west on US-70 until Goldsboro, then grabbed I-795 north to I-95, on up to Richmond Virginia.
From there we headed west on I-64 to the West Virginia Turnpike, up through Charleston WV. West Virginia, especially on the Tpke has some of the most spectacular views on the Interstate system east of the Rockies.
From Charleston we headed west on I-64 through Kentucky to just south of Louisville, where we grabbed I-265 down to I-65 and on down to Nashville. I hadn't been on that section of I-65 since I moved to the east coast back in '91, and it sure looks different than what I remembered.
We chilled out for the night at the Days Inn on the Briley Parkway near Opryland in Nashville.
The next morning, instead of heading straight back to New Bern I decided that I wanted to re-live childhood memories by jumpin on I-24 south out of Nashville and over the Monteagle Grade (not too far from Heavy Metal's neck of the woods, if I had known that before the trip I would have had to drop in on a brother to say hi!), then continued on south to Chattanooga.
From there we hit I-75 back towards Knoxville, but then I made a snap decision to jump off the Interstate and head east through Maryville on US-321, then grabbed US-441 up into Gatlinburg-Pigeon Forge to eat some lunch. From there we went through the Smokey Mountains National Park on 441 (I should have checked the weather, there was snow and ice up at the 5000+ foot level-the car took it like a champ).
Once on the other side we hit US-19/US-23 up through Maggie Valley and on through Lake Junaluska where we jumped back on I-40 for the final 6.5 hours back to New Bern.
The car did everything I asked of it from beginning to end. I was not even the slightest bit tired or sore after driving over 1700 miles in 25 hrs and 48 minutes spread over the 2 days. Coming down out of the mountains re-affirmed the choice for the manual transmission (as if I needed re-affirmation, LOL).
The car averaged 24.470 MPG for the whole trip (70.747 gallons of 93 octane go-go juice consumed over the whole 1731.2 miles from the pre-trip fuel up to the back home top-off). I could have gotten better, I wasn't exactly letting the grass grow under the Pirelli's for most of the trip. The car did get 27.160 MPG for the final fuel run from Asheville to New Bern. That is down some from Kona's best coming back from Asheville under similar speeds/conditions so I guess the 2012 does get a little better gas mileage than the 2014.
I guess a good blow-out was what my car was needing because my bone stock exhaust on my now (as of 2/3/2015) one year old car is sounding every bit as good as my wife's 3 year old car, and both sound pretty darned good to me!
Late next month we are going to take Kona out on a slightly different trip, I have some more counties to clinch so I can say I have been to all 100 counties in North Carolina (here is my lifetime map of all the counties I have been through):
http://www.mob-rule.com/user-gifs/slorydn1.gif
Y'all might want to give that mapping site a try. You might be very surprised to see how much (or how little) of this country y'all have been to! I know I was when I first mapped it out.
I wish I had pictures for ya' but I had a case of CRS and forgot the good camera, and I was too busy driving to snap some with the cell phone, and my wife was to busy looking around to think of taking any. I promise I will try to not have CRS the next trip so I can have some pics for y'all.
SO, have any of you had any recent mid-winter road trips in your Mustang's that you'd like to share?
We left out of New Bern early Sat morning, headed west on US-70 until Goldsboro, then grabbed I-795 north to I-95, on up to Richmond Virginia.
From there we headed west on I-64 to the West Virginia Turnpike, up through Charleston WV. West Virginia, especially on the Tpke has some of the most spectacular views on the Interstate system east of the Rockies.
From Charleston we headed west on I-64 through Kentucky to just south of Louisville, where we grabbed I-265 down to I-65 and on down to Nashville. I hadn't been on that section of I-65 since I moved to the east coast back in '91, and it sure looks different than what I remembered.
We chilled out for the night at the Days Inn on the Briley Parkway near Opryland in Nashville.
The next morning, instead of heading straight back to New Bern I decided that I wanted to re-live childhood memories by jumpin on I-24 south out of Nashville and over the Monteagle Grade (not too far from Heavy Metal's neck of the woods, if I had known that before the trip I would have had to drop in on a brother to say hi!), then continued on south to Chattanooga.
From there we hit I-75 back towards Knoxville, but then I made a snap decision to jump off the Interstate and head east through Maryville on US-321, then grabbed US-441 up into Gatlinburg-Pigeon Forge to eat some lunch. From there we went through the Smokey Mountains National Park on 441 (I should have checked the weather, there was snow and ice up at the 5000+ foot level-the car took it like a champ).
Once on the other side we hit US-19/US-23 up through Maggie Valley and on through Lake Junaluska where we jumped back on I-40 for the final 6.5 hours back to New Bern.
The car did everything I asked of it from beginning to end. I was not even the slightest bit tired or sore after driving over 1700 miles in 25 hrs and 48 minutes spread over the 2 days. Coming down out of the mountains re-affirmed the choice for the manual transmission (as if I needed re-affirmation, LOL).
The car averaged 24.470 MPG for the whole trip (70.747 gallons of 93 octane go-go juice consumed over the whole 1731.2 miles from the pre-trip fuel up to the back home top-off). I could have gotten better, I wasn't exactly letting the grass grow under the Pirelli's for most of the trip. The car did get 27.160 MPG for the final fuel run from Asheville to New Bern. That is down some from Kona's best coming back from Asheville under similar speeds/conditions so I guess the 2012 does get a little better gas mileage than the 2014.
I guess a good blow-out was what my car was needing because my bone stock exhaust on my now (as of 2/3/2015) one year old car is sounding every bit as good as my wife's 3 year old car, and both sound pretty darned good to me!
Late next month we are going to take Kona out on a slightly different trip, I have some more counties to clinch so I can say I have been to all 100 counties in North Carolina (here is my lifetime map of all the counties I have been through):
http://www.mob-rule.com/user-gifs/slorydn1.gif
Y'all might want to give that mapping site a try. You might be very surprised to see how much (or how little) of this country y'all have been to! I know I was when I first mapped it out.
I wish I had pictures for ya' but I had a case of CRS and forgot the good camera, and I was too busy driving to snap some with the cell phone, and my wife was to busy looking around to think of taking any. I promise I will try to not have CRS the next trip so I can have some pics for y'all.
SO, have any of you had any recent mid-winter road trips in your Mustang's that you'd like to share?
1 - 11 of 11 Posts
Yeah it was lots of fun. Next time I'm out that way I gonna hafta try the old road out. I still can't get over the fact that on a clear day one can see clear back to Manchester from I-24 when climbing Monteagle heading south bound. I'll prolly be back out that way late summer sometime (after we do the 600+ miles of Skyline Drive/Blue Ridge Parkway/Smoky Mountains Parkway from end to end).Cool trip! You were very close to my place.Monteagle mountain is a blast when you drive the old road.
Soooooo jealous. Although I'd have needed Monday off before I'd be ready to go back to work. I drive for a living and some down time is needed.
I've got no Mustang road trip story to add but man.........you got me thinkin.
I've got no Mustang road trip story to add but man.........you got me thinkin.
Sounds like a great trip. I made a similar one last year that included a run down the Tail of the Dragon. My trip was about 3400 miles and I averaged 23mpg with a best of 27mpg coming out of VA into PA. You are inspiring me to plan another one.
Looking at the weather map,above where I live in S/W Florida,I think I will stay down here in this area for my winter road trips. LOL.
glad you had a nice ride but, why not 1/2 that distance on back roads instead of interstates? For what is called a muscle/pony car these things do rather well on the twisties even better considering the axle of the older era cars.
Wow! Sounds awesome! I do a lot of "Just for the heck of it" drives in my 2013 Mustang GT as well. 1700 miles is quite a long one.
It's interesting to me that there are a lot of people like us that just NEED to get in our Ponies and DRIVE.. It's like our Cars call to us!
And then there are the rest out there that don't even care about driving and having that freedom to explore the countryside in their cars. I NEED that time in my GT. It's like therapy to me. Cranking up the tunes (when wife is not there) and just not thinking of all the cares in this life. I would do that even even when I did not have a Mustang BUT it is SO GREAT that I have one. Makes it way better for me.
It's interesting to me that there are a lot of people like us that just NEED to get in our Ponies and DRIVE.. It's like our Cars call to us!
And then there are the rest out there that don't even care about driving and having that freedom to explore the countryside in their cars. I NEED that time in my GT. It's like therapy to me. Cranking up the tunes (when wife is not there) and just not thinking of all the cares in this life. I would do that even even when I did not have a Mustang BUT it is SO GREAT that I have one. Makes it way better for me.
Nice! I'm looking forward to taking the cover off of mine... maybe in March? April? We just got another foot of snow today. I'm envious!
Pete
Pete
I was making the change from days to nites so I didn't have to work until Monday night which made the trip possible.Soooooo jealous. Although I'd have needed Monday off before I'd be ready to go back to work. I drive for a living and some down time is needed.
I've got no Mustang road trip story to add but man.........you got me thinkin.
Agreed, that's why I made the snap decision to jump off 75 and head through the Smoky Mountains National Park. I have done the back road trips a few times since we got both Mustangs, and you are right they are a blast on the twisty mountain roads. :bigthumbsupglad you had a nice ride but, why not 1/2 that distance on back roads instead of interstates? For what is called a muscle/pony car these things do rather well on the twisties even better considering the axle of the older era cars.
My original aim for this trip was to cover as much ground as possible in two days so that's why the original plan was to stay on the Interstates. For my summer trip I plan on doing nothing but back roads except for the trip up to the north end of Skyline Drive in Virginia.
Next months trip will be a mixture, I need to make time to get to the SW part of NC to hit Clay and Cherokee counties, and then I will be taking US-321 from Johnson City TN into the NW corner of NC (Ashe County) and then will do US-158 all the way across the north border counties of NC to Roanoke Rapids to clinch the rest of the counties in my state.
Funny you mention that, I was reading back through some old threads right before Christmas and I want to say it was your thread about your trip that inspired me to get my butt back out on the road instead of watching another meaningless Super Bowl. :bounce2:Sounds like a great trip. I made a similar one last year that included a run down the Tail of the Dragon. My trip was about 3400 miles and I averaged 23mpg with a best of 27mpg coming out of VA into PA. You are inspiring me to plan another one.
Sounds like a nice little get away.
I would love to do something like that, but the weather is just too unpredictable up here this time of the year.
I would love to do something like that, but the weather is just too unpredictable up here this time of the year.
1 - 11 of 11 Posts
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