jay745
What Would Glenn Danzig Do
That's the dominos of Chicago pizza lol
6
The Ultimate "Driver's" Road Trip
- Thread starter Cole2999
- Start date
Cole2999
Autocross Champion
Day 11: The day I really fucking nearly ran out of gas with no cell service.
Back to driving today. Went from one of my lower mileage days yesterday (225) to one of my higher ones today (612).
I left my campsite, got some groceries, and set off for Devil's Backbone which... Well, it's curvy, but honestly I did not enjoy the drive. Road was so poorly leveled I was convinced I threw out my alignment again. I didn't do much time worrying about my alignment I didn't even pay attention to the drive.
Then is headed for Twisted Sisters, which I didn't have much hope for because every road this far has been similarly uneven. I was very surprised.
The Twisted Sisters start on the 337 with some beautiful, tall roads blasted through the top of a hill with rock walls on both sides. No pics, I was focused on the scenery. There were also some fun technical turns on a cliff face.
But 337 is just one of the three "sisters;" in fact, while she may have been the prettiest she lacked the personality, the crazy. That's where the 335 comes in.
Have you ever dated a crazy chick that is so wild in bed it's hard to leave her even though she'll ruin your life? Have you ever been on a wooden roller coaster and thought "I wish this was 70mph and I was in control?" That's what the 335 is. Holy shit this might be my favorite road I've driven this trip. When I say it's like a wooden roller coaster I mean it, and I'm upset I didn't record it. Starts out like 337 with some tall hills to deep drops, then almost immediately throws you into a 100ft tall steep, sweeping left-hander; I've never seen anything like this turn except on a roller coaster. Then it goes into tons of ups and downs, intermixed with sweeping turns and switchbacks. Taking those at 60+ mph was very controllable, but oh so crazy. Make sure there's no cars in front of you for this because you'll want an open road for that "front car of a coaster" feeling.
There's a third sister, 336, and from the map it looks similar to 335. Unfortunately, I had no service and my navigation got messed up so I wasn't certain where the turn was. It's also not easy to find when you're *ahem* walking a Cadillac ATS (not a V, obviously). Anyway, they pulled back about half a mile and we slowed down to a still fast speed, and I decided to turn around (which I knew I'd need to do at some point).
Now, there's something I've always wanted to do but never had the chance - and with view of a half mile in both directions and a guy I was just racing in full view, I decided to do an e-brake turn. Slowed down substantially, turn signal, drop to second, ripped the brake at about 30mph or less and came so close to a perfect turn, missed it by about 30° because I didn't want to fully commit. I know it's dumb, but it's always been a dream of mine to do it and no better time, y'know?
Anyway, I start headed back and almost immediately I hear "BING!" and think "oh shit I broke something." Nope, gas light. It relieved me for a second, then panicked me - the last gas station I saw was over 30 minutes away and I had no idea where I was, with no service to find a gas station. I knew there was a highway the way I was headed, so I set off that way.
15 minutes go by and still no sign of a town. Come to a fork at the highway, North or South. I was pretty confident I'd find a gas station either direction, but which one is closer? I chose South.
Rocksprings came into view 8 miles later, below empty.
I think I had a little less than a gallon of reserves left, and between that and the vapors I could probably go another 10-20 miles, but I've never tested my capacity below empty. I filled up 13.5 gallons, then another one in my gas can that I'd left empty for fears of gas vapors causing the cabin to reek. But, it's in my emergency tote and I can't smell it yet so we'll call it good
After that, I was done for the day, except for getting to my resting area. Now, among the list of roads @Mk6Autobahn recommended, he also recommended some cool sights to see, one of which was Davis Mountain, which was supposedly good for stargazing and camping. 2.5 hours of 90mph cruise control plus a half hour of pitch black back road bombing later, I finally reach Fort Davis, and climb higher. Unfortunately, camping seems to be reservations only, and there was nowhere around for me to go. I used freecampsites.net to find nearby camp sites, drive to one, and turned in for the night.
Gonna start including my drive map from Google timelines, and I'll go back and edit all my other posts to also include their respective days
For those curious, the 17 hours refers to the moment I started driving to the moment I stopped. I usually only stop to get/cook lunch and get gas. 17 hours is slightly higher than normal.
Jump to next day: day twelve
Back to driving today. Went from one of my lower mileage days yesterday (225) to one of my higher ones today (612).
I left my campsite, got some groceries, and set off for Devil's Backbone which... Well, it's curvy, but honestly I did not enjoy the drive. Road was so poorly leveled I was convinced I threw out my alignment again. I didn't do much time worrying about my alignment I didn't even pay attention to the drive.
Then is headed for Twisted Sisters, which I didn't have much hope for because every road this far has been similarly uneven. I was very surprised.
The Twisted Sisters start on the 337 with some beautiful, tall roads blasted through the top of a hill with rock walls on both sides. No pics, I was focused on the scenery. There were also some fun technical turns on a cliff face.
But 337 is just one of the three "sisters;" in fact, while she may have been the prettiest she lacked the personality, the crazy. That's where the 335 comes in.
Have you ever dated a crazy chick that is so wild in bed it's hard to leave her even though she'll ruin your life? Have you ever been on a wooden roller coaster and thought "I wish this was 70mph and I was in control?" That's what the 335 is. Holy shit this might be my favorite road I've driven this trip. When I say it's like a wooden roller coaster I mean it, and I'm upset I didn't record it. Starts out like 337 with some tall hills to deep drops, then almost immediately throws you into a 100ft tall steep, sweeping left-hander; I've never seen anything like this turn except on a roller coaster. Then it goes into tons of ups and downs, intermixed with sweeping turns and switchbacks. Taking those at 60+ mph was very controllable, but oh so crazy. Make sure there's no cars in front of you for this because you'll want an open road for that "front car of a coaster" feeling.
There's a third sister, 336, and from the map it looks similar to 335. Unfortunately, I had no service and my navigation got messed up so I wasn't certain where the turn was. It's also not easy to find when you're *ahem* walking a Cadillac ATS (not a V, obviously). Anyway, they pulled back about half a mile and we slowed down to a still fast speed, and I decided to turn around (which I knew I'd need to do at some point).
Now, there's something I've always wanted to do but never had the chance - and with view of a half mile in both directions and a guy I was just racing in full view, I decided to do an e-brake turn. Slowed down substantially, turn signal, drop to second, ripped the brake at about 30mph or less and came so close to a perfect turn, missed it by about 30° because I didn't want to fully commit. I know it's dumb, but it's always been a dream of mine to do it and no better time, y'know?
Anyway, I start headed back and almost immediately I hear "BING!" and think "oh shit I broke something." Nope, gas light. It relieved me for a second, then panicked me - the last gas station I saw was over 30 minutes away and I had no idea where I was, with no service to find a gas station. I knew there was a highway the way I was headed, so I set off that way.
15 minutes go by and still no sign of a town. Come to a fork at the highway, North or South. I was pretty confident I'd find a gas station either direction, but which one is closer? I chose South.
Rocksprings came into view 8 miles later, below empty.
I think I had a little less than a gallon of reserves left, and between that and the vapors I could probably go another 10-20 miles, but I've never tested my capacity below empty. I filled up 13.5 gallons, then another one in my gas can that I'd left empty for fears of gas vapors causing the cabin to reek. But, it's in my emergency tote and I can't smell it yet so we'll call it good
After that, I was done for the day, except for getting to my resting area. Now, among the list of roads @Mk6Autobahn recommended, he also recommended some cool sights to see, one of which was Davis Mountain, which was supposedly good for stargazing and camping. 2.5 hours of 90mph cruise control plus a half hour of pitch black back road bombing later, I finally reach Fort Davis, and climb higher. Unfortunately, camping seems to be reservations only, and there was nowhere around for me to go. I used freecampsites.net to find nearby camp sites, drive to one, and turned in for the night.
Gonna start including my drive map from Google timelines, and I'll go back and edit all my other posts to also include their respective days
For those curious, the 17 hours refers to the moment I started driving to the moment I stopped. I usually only stop to get/cook lunch and get gas. 17 hours is slightly higher than normal.
Jump to next day: day twelve
Last edited:
Cole2999
Autocross Champion
It's the only I'm keeping my sanity
I just went from 24/7 interaction with my girlfriend for over a month to minimal human interaction for just under a monthI want to piece it together after my trip to get a full map. I'm crossing myself multiple times now, each time in Colorado. Colorado is just gonna be one giant unintelligible mess of routes
Cole2999
Autocross Champion
Also I haven't mentioned it yet but I've been taking a picture of the gas pump every single time I fill up. I've forgotten to do so a handful of times, but I have a picture of my receipt with gallons, cost, and price, or I have my bank statements with a semi-accurate estimation of gallons and price.
I love love love statistics so you better believe I'll have tons of data after this trip.
I also want to do an in-depth review of each of these roads I've driven, down to excitement, gears used, technicality, traffic and traffic types, drive quality, and brake usage.
I love love love statistics so you better believe I'll have tons of data after this trip.
I also want to do an in-depth review of each of these roads I've driven, down to excitement, gears used, technicality, traffic and traffic types, drive quality, and brake usage.
torga
Autocross Champion
I'd highly recommend an auto expenses app. It's so handy for tracking fillups, making yourself reminders for maintenance, tracking any type of expense. I'm a big fan of Drivvo. But most of them give you all sorts of graphs and data sets. I input every auto expenditure into that app.
Mk6Autobahn
Autocross Champion
Sorry you had some troubles man, just glad you got to enjoy Twisted Sisters at least.
And as far as I know, most/all(?) national and state parks are closed or reservation only right now. I believe only local/municipal parks are freely open, but someone can verify. I should’ve still put a disclaimer though at least for TX, hope more open up for ya!
Stay safe out there.
And as far as I know, most/all(?) national and state parks are closed or reservation only right now. I believe only local/municipal parks are freely open, but someone can verify. I should’ve still put a disclaimer though at least for TX, hope more open up for ya!
Stay safe out there.
uglybastard
Autocross Champion
Cole2999
Autocross Champion
I feel like I'm playing a video game, driving around picking up parts to upgrade my car.
I have parts ready for pickup in Pueblo, CO, one in Vegas, soon to be some in San Francisco, and next week even more in Vegas.
Half of the parts were ordered through Uro Tuning with some phenomenal customer service because CTS wasn't happy delivering to a general delivery address. The other half through ECS, the second order of which is going to be later than anticipated because I'm dumb and got my dates mixed up.
I have parts ready for pickup in Pueblo, CO, one in Vegas, soon to be some in San Francisco, and next week even more in Vegas.
Half of the parts were ordered through Uro Tuning with some phenomenal customer service because CTS wasn't happy delivering to a general delivery address. The other half through ECS, the second order of which is going to be later than anticipated because I'm dumb and got my dates mixed up.
Cole2999
Autocross Champion
I was fine for the most part. I found a picnic area that offered free overnight parking. And I camped alongside lake Travis the first night.
Mk6Autobahn
Autocross Champion
Lake Travis is beautiful in the summer. Plus that’s where all the UT girls go.
FYI, there’s a certain cove on the water that you can pull up to via boat/jet ski and it’s a legal nude beach lmao... Just watch out for the creepy old dudes, I saw maybe 15-20 when I went.
torga
Autocross Champion
Hell yeah, Hippie Hollow! Drove down to Austin when I was still in DFW for a friend of a friend's birthday party, at Hippie Hollow. Damn good night.
Mk6Autobahn
Autocross Champion
That’s the one! Ironically I stumbled upon it on a boat with alllllll my family so I sadly didn’t get to uh...enjoy...long
I think I saw some serious contenders for my future wife there though...