Cross-country drive

My original goal for the S30 project was to prep it for a cross-country drive to move back to New England.  That’s gone way over the time budget I had set aside for it, so I’m driving another 240z that I’ll pick up in Arizona.  I’ll be flying to Tucson, AZ on March 29th and driving that Z to New Hampshire.

Planning the drive

The plan is to drive directly from Arizona to NH, with 6 nights of sleep along the way.

Drive it

All told, I’m looking at just under 3,000 miles of driving.  I don’t have a co-driver, and only have a few places planned out to stop in along the way.

Day 1 is going to be action-packed.  Be at the airport at 6am to catch a flight through Salt Lake City, then to Tucson.  I’ll have a ride waiting for me at the airport, and we’ll ride back to the 240z I’m purchasing for the trip on the other side of town.  I’ll get my new tires mounted up, run a quick shakedown drive, and head East toward Dallas.  If everything goes according to plan, I should be able to leave Mar 29th and knock off ~300mi to El Paso, TX to sleep at The Gardner Hotel (really more of a hostel than hotel, from what I gather).  If it’s more expensive than I’d like, I may just spend the night in my car.

Day 2 needs to start fairly early so I can cover 650 miles or so to Dallas.  Hopefully I’ll be there in time for dinner, and will be meeting up with a couple friends to go out for some juicy Texas burgers.

Another early start for Day 3 and another 650 miles (~10 hours of driving) lands me somewhere in the Nashville area, where I don’t know where I’ll actually sleep.

Day 4 brings me to the Atlantic coast, where I’d like to stop by Virginia Beach and make some long-overdue visits with friends and family.

Day 5 ends up in the New Jersey area, where I hope to be able to meet a few forum-friends from Ratsun.net

Finally, Day 6 should complete my required driving and I’ll be back in the proper woods.

A note on gasoline.  It’s going to be one of my primary expenses, and the car I’m purchasing isn’t exactly the most efficient machine on the face of the planet.  With the carburetors it has in it, I expect to get between 15-20mpg for the duration of the trip.  With the 15-gallon fuel tank, I should be refilling the tank about twice a day.  All told, I’ll burn off somewhere around 150-200 miles of gasoline, and assuming fuel prices stay right around $3USD/Gallon, I shouldn’t need to spend more than $600 on fuel.

Film it

Ideally, I’d like to get ahold of a pair of digital camcorders to mount in the car and film the whole trip.  If I can come up with the cash, I’ll just buy a couple.  I’d prefer to borrow them, though.  If you or anyone you know would like to donate a digital camcorder for a week, let me know!

I’m going through quite a few states there, and if I happen to be passing through yours I’d love to meet whatever car clubs/groups you have and go for a group ride as I head through.  Feel free to contact me with the area you’re in, where you’d like to meet, and contact information.