$800 car road trip?!??

tntmo

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That car will likely be able to take your granddaughter on a road trip. Traveling can be done safely, even in this day and age. Have fun and make some memories.
 

Checkswrecks

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I've deleted more posts in this thread than any in recent memory. We mods try real hard to NOT delete there's always a fine balance between people saying the forum is over moderated and others saying it's turned into a free-for-all shit show. But in the end, we do need to make a call.

Our ongoing bottom line is that if you don't want your post deleted then either hold your tongue if you know it'll be provocative or don't throw shade at another member.
There's also an old bit that you won't change anybody's basic tastes or values by arguing for yours.
 

Dirt_Dad

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Mak10 - absolutely, positively do it. Her life will soon be so busy that it could be difficult, if not impossible to get out with this kind of daddy/daughter time. If the car has an unlikely breakdown it will only reinforce this bonding experience for both of you. That's not a bad thing.
 

Don in Lodi

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Only two things come to mind; timing chain or belt engine, and tires. Chain, go for it. Belt up to date, go for it. Good date on the tires, 50% tread left? Check fluid levels and leave tomorrow.
 

blitz11

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Hmmmm. I had a similar plan involving a 1992 Volvo 740 wagon with 340K miles, a trailer, my GG dirt bike and my 690 duke. Road trip to see my daughter in NM, to ride with her, and help her with her truck. I've had the volvo 26 years, and it is in good mechanical condition (daily driver), but at 340K, no one ever knows. My plan ('Rona-dependent; thinking May timeframe, so we'll see what the infection / death rates are, and what's up with the vaccine) is that if he volvo blows up, i trace it for a new vehicle to tow my toys back home.

When we ride, we camp, use grocery stores, and restaurants, and avoid people - that was before the 'Rona. We'll do the same if we do this. It may not happen, but it's sort of like the lottery. Sort of fun to plan if it DOES happen.
 
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ballisticexchris

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Just be aware that all National Parks in the United States are packed to capacity. As you can see Big Bend has no more campgrounds available. The park's primitive backcountry campsites are also filled to capacity. If you camp in parking lots or along park roadsides you will be cited.

Basin Road. Chisos Basin Road, River Road, and Old Maverick Road are all closed at this time. The only way in right now is via Basin Jucinto. If you attempt Pine Canyon or Juniper Canyon roads you will dead end into a very crowded trailhead. Even the less popular Mules Ear Viewpoint is bumper to bumper.

Don't bother with social distancing. No one else is. Strangers are crowding around and sleeping on rocks. Yep sounds like an adventure of a lifetime!!

These are three actual random photos of what it looks like in the park:





D4B68829-45A2-48E1-9F98-DDD1E69E5DA9_4_5005_c.jpegBoqBedding_PanoramaM.jpgC8669860-5B97-4A32-90DB-A0CD29E145F0_4_5005_c.jpeg


Sounds like saying "don't do it" is frowned upon here. Do what you want. Good luck.
I'm not afraid to say it. I'm only pointing out the obvious and not burying my head in the sand. This year has had record crowds at National Parks and camping/RV sales. You cannot even go off grid without it being crowded.

Maybe after a few of them lose some friends and close family members to this preventable disease they may look at this idiotic behavior in a different way. If I can save just one life by showing how stupid and dangerous it is to travel for pleasure then it is worth it to me to have everyone else dislike me or be mad at what I say.
 

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Sierra1

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. . . . I always thought that deep down, Americans were better than this.
That's the problem. . . . we were. Now. . . . were something else. . . . not for the better.

. . . . Holy cow, some of you need to go to West Texas to understand it's not that hard to stay away from people in Big Bend NP. :p Or along the way.
Absolutely, way out in west Texas, don't pass a gas station once you get around half a tank. And, yeah, it's not like the west half of the US is packed with people.

My only hesitation would be a 25 year old car with over 100,000 miles. But, it is a Toyota. A friend of mine has a Corolla with 299,999+ miles. It's unknown how many actual miles are on it. . . . Toyota odometers only go to 299,999. Still drives it to work; 80mi round trip.
 
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ballisticexchris

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Yes being a Toyota I'm willing to bet it will run like a top for the whole trip. My moms Camry went over 300,000 miles. And maybe not even going to Big Bend should be considered. Texas is wide open and beautiful country. I may have misspoke on off grid travel in Texas. California is packed even in the desert. I remember West Texas being a lot less crowded when traveling to a funeral in August.

Mark you have options and please I beg you to be safe as possible with your loved one when you do travel.
 

blitz11

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Here's a view of my reality. I teach the mechanical engineering capstone class at Montana State. We're in "hybrid" mode. Big classes are taught online. Labs, small groups, office hours are done "in person", or as i like to call it, "mask-to-mask."

i lecture once per week. This is online. Last semester, i had 6 design groups i advised. We would meet in a classroom designed for 35 students which now have a maximum capacity of 8. I would meet with each group once per week. We'd keep our distance, and would be masked the entire time.

I also have an "open door" policy - if i am in my office, my door is open, and i offer advice/programming help, etc. My office is pretty big, so i leave the window open (and with the door open, decent airflow), and allow students to work at a desk which is about 8 feet from my desk so i can offer advice/help when needed. I will probably have 6 groups again this semester.

I had one 'Rona test this fall. Negative 'cause i had my "wellness check" and they offered the test. I am pretty healthy ("run" 40 miles per week, cycle back/forth to campus (7 miles each way) every day) which means very little apparently, except that I am outside, so i am not vitamin D deficient. I will also be 60 years old in 3 months, so that puts me at a higher risk. it is what it is.

My point to all of this is that if you are disciplined, follow CDC guidelines, and avoid those who don't, you'll probably (yes, probably) be OK. There is a risk, but i do what i can to mitigate it. Outside of the university, i pretty much stay home ALL the time except if i have to go to the HW store (emergency). Otherwise, i order online. I am dong a full restore of my 2002 GG this winter, and i can source all of the parts w/o seeing anyone.

I have empathy for the students who are studying difficult subjects AND dealing with the 'Rona. It's a b!tch, and i see WAY more mental health issues now than i did a year ago. I am doing what I can to help them out, and am able to protect myself as well. So far, so good.

Everyone has to make their own decision. My priority is to not infect anyone. I don't see older folks, and so my risk of exposing high-risk people is very low. My wife is ok with how this is going - she knows the students need help now more than ever.

For what it's worth, we ride dirt bikes in National forests. we can ride all day and maybe see three/four people. I live about 90 miles from Yellowstone, and have NO desire to go there.
 

RCinNC

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I crossed Texas last January coming from Arizona. There were plenty of places out in West Texas where you'd have to import people just so you could socially distance.
 

RCinNC

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Lest my post be taken as some sort of minimization of the virus threat, it wasn't. My girlfriend is in health care and spends every workday in a hospital flooded with virus patients in varying degrees of misery, and they aren't all elderly people. There are plenty of patients my age or younger. Anyone who minimizes just how bad this can be if you contract it should have to spend an afternoon in a Covid ward watching forty patients trying to breathe on ventilators. It's not a mythical boogeyman, and it sure as hell isn't the flu.

But you can minimize risk, and there are acceptable risks in between "never leave your house under any circumstance" and "let's all go to a standing room only convention celebrating the open mouth kiss". I'd feel it was a perfectly acceptable risk to take my daughter on a dad/daughter camping road trip in rural Texas, as long as the campsites I was using weren't also being used for a local Burning Man festival, but I'd recoil from going to an indoor Christmas family gathering with 25 relatives all laughing, talking, coughing and breathing in my face.
 

Dons 1911

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Dirt_Dad said it perfectly about her life soon to be too busy for something like this. My daughter turned 30 a few months ago. I'd have loved to do something like this with her.

I still ride every day that it's not icy up here in north Idaho. Just returned from a 150 mile loop with my son on our bikes. We stay way away from other folks and wear masks when we have to be near them. We can still ride responsibly.

I rode Big Bend last January after spending a few days in Death Valley. I plan on going back this spring on my way to Alabama. I had a blast in Big Bend, camped near the Terlingua Ghost Town and did I say I had a blast! Neil Peart died a couple days before I got there, so I took this picture on the Old Maverick Road, kind of a personal tribute to the Ghost Rider. Great book by the way!
Go With God Neil Peart.JPG

I say do it Mak10! Just be safe and smart! Great memories for both of ya!
 

VRODE

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As has been stated, soon she’ll be busy with life. Take the road trip. The car seems ok (don’t know if you’ll need snow tires). Have a safe trip, it’s sure to be an adventure!
 

bigbob

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Do it. Going to a grocery store in Idaho or along the route is the same. Pay for gas at the pump is the same . Enjoy it. Wish I could have done it with my daughter.
 

lddave

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Wife and I were in the Big Bend area mid December. Observatory is closed to the public, drugstore in Fort Davis was open . Alpine is taking cover serious mask, and sanitizer . A few restaurants in the area closed , business as usual mostly. Big Bend park was crowded but it usually is that time of year. I say go but make reservations and practice the same covid precautions there as you would at home.
 

HeliMark

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A Toyota with 142,000 miles wouldn't give me a moment's concern unless it was already exhibiting some weird problems.
My daughter has a Toyota Corolla with about that mileage, she has been to Virginia, than to California with it. I went through it, changed the oil, good rad and tranny fluid, tires, and off she went. Still runs great.
 
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