Awesome Route 66 Trip

[GoMangoBoys]

My wife and I recently completed an awesome Route 66 trip.  We drove from Ohio on Aug24 and started Route 66 on Aug 25 in Chicago.  We spent 3 weeks getting to the end on Sept12 in Santa Monica California.  We then went up the coast, hit a car show near Chico California and then went across Nevada and Idaho to get to Yellowstone, Grand Tetons.  Then across Wyoming to Devil's Tower and Mt Rushmore.  Then thru Sturgis to the Badlands, then Minnesota and home to Ohio.  We were gone 5 weeks and 7700+ miles.  We did it all in our 57 Chevy.  We had a few issues, but all were fairly small and we were very blessed in the circumstances of each problem.  We had a broken valve stem and consequently a flat tire outside of Phoenix. It happened in a gas station, in the shade on level concrete. I put the spare on and took it to a local tire shop where they fixed it in 10 minutes and for free.  I had a blown seal on the power steering gearbox on the way to Chico California. The car guy that I was going to see had a killer garage and a lift. After the car show the next day, we put it on his lift and tore off the bad steering box. The next day, he drove me 3 hours to Summit Racing in Reno for a new one, then drove me 3 hours back.  He then handed me tools until 10pm while I put it all back together. This was the first time that I had met this man.  He is a good guy with a 33 Plymouth that has 280,000 miles on it after he restored it.  I had a few other problems that were all very easy to resolve.  We were truly blessed.  I did see some cool e-bodies along the way.

[GoMangoBoys]

more pics

[cuda hunter]

Oh man that sounds fun! 
Wish I'd a known you were in Wyoming, I woulda drove up to the tower. 

That is awesome that a fella helped you get it together.

[Brads70]

Wow sounds like fun! A trip of a lifetime!

[b5cuda]

That's really cool and a major achievement, thanks for sharing! Got a question for you. Did you leave your car unattended for long in a public spaces, and did you do any anti-theft measures? I've done some shorter road trips with classic cars and always wonder about security.

[MEK-Dangerous]

Congratulations!

 That is a bucket list dream trip for many of us.    

[GoMangoBoys]

@b5cuda  I did leave the car parked unattended a lot.  I was not worried at all about it in most places.  In Chicago, I would have been worried but we were there at 7AM on a Sunday.  We took our pictures at the start sign, had breakfast and got the hell out of Chicago.  In St Louis, I was a bit worried when we left the car parked for our time at the Arch and the riverboat tour.  I parked on a busy street and there was a city employee monitoring for people who didn't pay to park, so I felt the car was OK.  I really only worried about it in California.  I spoke to some cops there at a restaurant about my concerns and they recommended "the club".  They said, yes, criminals learned to just cut the steering wheel to get around it, but they have found that it is still a good deterrent.  They said most crooks just move on to a car that they don't have to hassle with.  So, I went to the Autozone next to the restaurant and bought a club and used it in Cali for the rest of our trip.  I may be adding a secret kill switch to the ignition circuit on all of my classic cars.  That is what the cops in Cali said was the best thing to have.

[b5cuda]

Thanks for the reply. Great that you had no issues in your epic road trip! I wouldn't have thought the steering wheel club was all that great, maybe I should start using it again. I do have hidden kill switches on my cars, the hemi has a remote control cutoff for the fuel pump which I think is pretty helpful. 

[Katfish]

That's awesome, definitely want to do something like this once I retire next year.

[captcolour]

That's really cool and a major achievement, thanks for sharing! Got a question for you. Did you leave your car unattended for long in a public spaces, and did you do any anti-theft measures? I've done some shorter road trips with classic cars and always wonder about security.

It's a Chevy, who would want it!!!!!!!   

[captcolour]

@b5cuda  I did leave the car parked unattended a lot.  I was not worried at all about it in most places.  In Chicago, I would have been worried but we were there at 7AM on a Sunday.  We took our pictures at the start sign, had breakfast and got the hell out of Chicago.  In St Louis, I was a bit worried when we left the car parked for our time at the Arch and the riverboat tour.  I parked on a busy street and there was a city employee monitoring for people who didn't pay to park, so I felt the car was OK.  I really only worried about it in California.  I spoke to some cops there at a restaurant about my concerns and they recommended "the club".  They said, yes, criminals learned to just cut the steering wheel to get around it, but they have found that it is still a good deterrent.  They said most crooks just move on to a car that they don't have to hassle with.  So, I went to the Autozone next to the restaurant and bought a club and used it in Cali for the rest of our trip.  I may be adding a secret kill switch to the ignition circuit on all of my classic cars.  That is what the cops in Cali said was the best thing to have.

Awesome trip.  Congrats.  A club is a really good idea as a deterrent. I'd be worried overnight at each hotel parking lot.  Get much rain to deal with?

[Katfish]

As a follow up question, what are the top 10 tips and do different next time?

[blown motor]

As a follow up question, what are the top 10 tips and do different next time?

Great question!

[Cudajason]

Wow sounds like an amazing trip!  That is on my bucket list too!