The Ultimate "Driver's" Road Trip

[Phur]

We stayed the night in Scranton Pennsylvania on our way to Maine. I was never so eager to leave a place in my whole adult life. The roads and construction in Scranton is the by far the worst I have ever seen. Luckily it was before I lowered my car. It felt like you should have a rock crawler setup just to get around.

 

[Phur]

The tunnel of trees would have been more impressive before all of the insane scale of the scenery out west. That kind of stuff throws off your calibration for a while.

 

[Cole2999]

I've been through Scranton with my mom once on our way to a family reunion. Couldn't leave fast enough. We probably just found the bad part, though.

 

[Cole2999]

And it probably would have; probably a combination of that, my desire to be home, and me dealing with my GPS

 

[Phur]

I definitely agree that it would be better in the fall, though too.

 

[Cole2999]

Day 28: the home stretch

Woke up with the knowledge I only had 10 hours till home got on the road early.
Didn't get any pics today. Didn't do much of anything today. Just drove, excited as hell.
Met up with the Golf R owner peddling steering parts. Bought the inner and outer tie rods, and also a set of ball joints. I want to replace all my hubs and bearings but that's just too much money, and he didn't have any anyway.
4 hours till home. Of all the places I've been on this trip, this felt the most unreal.
2 hours from home. By now I was within driving range. My GF regularly drives to visit her parents here, and I've been on this route.
1 hour. Un. Real.
30 minutes away I stopped at my old job and said hi to everyone. Down the road I passed my friend's work and saw his car, so I stopped in and talked for a while.
This last stretch is usually awful, and I've driven it (literally) thousands of times - like I said, I used to work over here. But it went by in what felt like 5 minutes. I'm sure that I've gained a super power during this trip, and that's the ability to perceive long drives as short ones.
That's the whole story. The end of my road trip. But anticlimactic for my taste but

I'll be doing a bunch more with this trip, including an analysis of my gas mileage/cost/usage, total miles driven, talking in depth about my favorite roads, and doing a damage report on my vehicle. All the repairs, though, are going to be in my build thread, linked below. I figure those aren't necessarily related to the trip.

 

[jay745]

The has been fun, opportunity of a lifetime that not many get to experience. I enjoyed following your journey

 

[1ashchuckton]

Welcome home.....

 

[1ashchuckton]

I have always loved to travel. Even after the best trip ever it has felt so good to be back home sleeping in my own bed. That being said I'm overdue for a road trip. Maybe a week in the Smokies would scratch the itch. Oh man skateboarding in my GTI.

That may be your fault Cole.

 

[Cole2999]

Got my parts and I'm so excited. Still missing my rotors (back order for another week) and my exhaust (back order for 3 weeks). I got a little hookup from UroTuning with a sticker pack and a really cool shirt, too!

Honestly the Smokies were one of my favorite parts. Even if you weren't driving hard it was nice just cruising through.

Also: I'm not liable for any self-inflicted injuries or damage from attempting to replicate my adventures. These actions were performed by a professional dumbass on an open course.

 

[uglybastard]

So you're syaying DON'T 50/50 our cars on windy roads?

 

[1ashchuckton]

Honestly the Smokies were one of my favorite parts. Even if you weren't driving hard it was nice just cruising through.

Also: I'm not liable for any self-inflicted injuries or damage from attempting to replicate my adventures. These actions were performed by a professional dumbass on an open course.

No worries about self induced injuries. I learned long ago that my dumbarse shenanigans belong on a rally stage or a race track. Hit the track or rally stage & you will find you have little use for skateboarding on the public roads.

I do drive hard enough to have fun, but that's about 7/10's these days.

 

[Cole2999]

So you're syaying DON'T 50/50 our cars on windy roads?

Oh you can. Just don't look at me when you do.

No worries about self induced injuries. I learned long ago that my dumbarse shenanigans belong on a rally stage or a race track. Hit the track or rally stage & you will find you have little use for skateboarding on the public roads.

I do drive hard enough to have fun, but that's about 7/10's these days.

Yeah, I chilled out the rest of the trip, and I still had fun.

 

[alpha3]

Well done, young sir! Epic voyage, I must say, and one I'm sure you'll remember forever. Very entertaining as well, with some of your Keystone-Kops like (mis)adventures. (I know you're too young to know about them, but 'google' it ) And those photos all along the way......REALLY beautiful, most of them.

You did worry us a bit I think, at various stages, but you came out of the rough patches more or less in one piece, welcome home.

Hmmmm....I didn't see a new tensioner in all those new parts on the floor. Don't forget about that tensioner.........

 

[Cole2999]

Well done, young sir! Epic voyage, I must say, and one I'm sure you'll remember forever. Very entertaining as well, with some of your Keystone-Kops like (mis)adventures. (I know you're too young to know about them, but 'google' it ) And those photos all along the way......REALLY beautiful, most of them.

You did worry us a bit I think, at various stages, but you came out of the rough patches more or less in one piece, welcome home.

Hmmmm....I didn't see a new tensioner in all those new parts on the floor. Don't forget about that tensioner.........

It's there! I promise.

Everything circled is being used in the tensioner swap, and the left circle is the tensioner + hardware, sealant, and gasket.
I'm dumb, not stupid
Also what do you do if you break the little plastic set key for aligning your shifter? The thing that looks like a right angle Allen key?

No, I wasn't trying to shift it with it engaged. I think I accidentally pushed they linkage, or it just broke from wear. Regardless of how, it's now broken I eyeballed, checked, adjusted, checked, and adjusted again until I got the shifter aligned, but I now have no way to center the transmission.

In other news, I installed the solid shifter bracket.