Car Trip In Winter

[ctrcbob]

What idiot (me) takes car trips in the WINTER? Well cold, but so far, not so bad.

Left Florida a couple weeks ago, about the time of the freezes, and went to my "3rd" home in Roswell. Weather was not too bad, other than the dust storm a few days ago, but then, it got COLD. Left Roswell yesterday when the temperature was 11F, and drove up to I-40, Clines Corners. Saw the temp drop down to 2F on US-285, but was up to 18F in Clines Corners. It had snowed a couple days before, and there was snow on the sides of roads all the way to Flagstaff, then South on I-17 where there was lots of snow until halfway to Phoenix, when no more snow. Phoenix is not exactly warm either. Frost on my car this morning and right now, it is only in the mid 40's. Leaving for San Diego via I-8 and/or I-10 in a few days, then back to Roswell via I-40 to Albuquerque then down to Ruidoso and Roswell, for a couple weeks. Should be back in Florida by the end of January. (got to do my taxes).

Now I know you guys are not going to believe this, but we left the Genesis at home, and took the Continental. Various reasons.
1. The Continental goes very good in the snow.
2. My wife does not like the rough ride of the Genesis.
3. I don't want to get salt on the Genesis.
4. The Continental has Mastercraft (brand) tires, which I love. I only wish that they made tires to fit the Genesis, but they dont. These tires cost half of what my Pirelli PZero Nero A/S tires cost, and the Mastercraft wear great.
I've used Mastercraft for years and neve a problem.

Gas milage is not quite as good as with the Genesis, but hey, we can't have everything.

So far, I have not seen but one Genesis on the road, and that was yesterday going South on I-17, tan (gold) color, with a small flying "H" Decal in the lower part of the rear window. Also "H" on the trunk, no Winged Emblem.
Also have only seen one Continental of the same generation as ours. Hey, these 98 thru 02 Continentals are getting old. Ours has 83,000 miles on it now, and is not driven very often anymore, except for this trip.

I check the site whenever I can. Hope I don't meet snow on I-40 in California when returning to New Mexico, but if I do, I'm ready. (Better snow car, new compression wipers, great tires, etc.)

Great to be retired (retarded) and able to travel.

 

[ctrcbob]

Here it is a couple weeks later. Still away from Florida. As mentioned above, only one Genesis seen to date, on I-17 Southbound from Flagstaff toward Phoenix. I guess all the Genesis' are in Florida, as I always see a lot of them there.

Saw snow on I-40 between Albuquerque and Flagstaff, and COLD on the road. As low as 2F. Last year when I would start the Genesis at anything between 11F and 25F, I would have a lot of "lifter" noise, until the oil would pump up. At 11F, it would take five minutes before the engine would quiet down. Starting the Lincoln at these temperatures, all is quiet, just as it should be. Just as I said before, as great as the Genesis is, it is not a great cold weather car.

Went to see the Elantra at Chapman Hyundai in Phoenix, but they did not have any. Later went to see it at Roswell Hyundai. They had a couple GLS's but did not have any of the upscale Limited's. I really want to see one with the built in Navi.

San Diego was great, and many changes since I took my professional training there before many of you were born. It snowed just two days before I was on I-15 just South of Barstow, where I picked up I-40 back to Albuquerque. Got lucky again missing snow.

Should be back in Florida very soon. Hope the Genesis starts after sitting for three or four weeks. I will be using it in May when I go up to Penfield, and later Lake George NY.
The snow up there "should" be melted by then. <grin>