My Cross Country expedition: Oregon to Indianapolis

[goin440]

I’ve been lurking for a long time, even posting a couple times in the non-car related forums. One thing I’ve enjoyed on Vortex is the travel stories people post. The journeys to pick up a car or travel from one side of the country and back home, however harrowing the feat. I’ve always admired the fantasy of it, thinking to myself how awesome it would be to do such a thing. Judging the comments people post in those threads I think I’m not the only one who enjoys the read. Well, I finally did it, so here’s another story for your enjoyment.

The Plan:

• Fly in to Eugene, Oregon from Indianapolis, Indiana.
• Buy and load a car up with as much spares as it could carry.
• Load a “truck” up with the rest of the spares.
• Unload the truck for crate packaging and freight (a lot of spares).
• Record the trip using two gopros, a cheap digital camera, a cheap video camera, and 64GB total storage to work with.
• Sight seeing as time allowed.
• All this and including arriving back at home in Indy in 4 days.

2498mi or 1day, 19hrs according to google. Did I mention, in a 1967 Volvo 122s Amazon with approx 300,000mi already on it?

Photos and video to follow.

[GolfVIDriver]

Uh, yeah, I'm in for this.

[DUBLUV401]

[WakusPakus]

[dmonday]

I don't believe any of this.....






I kid. I'm one of your brothers....you used my gopros.

[rpmk4]

Glad to see you are going to post this.

[Heffernan]

[wabbitGTl]

A trip I've always wanted to take. for a fellow Indy native

[goin440]

So Wednesday was a travel day, arriving in Oregon at 12:30am. The PO, is an absolutely cool guy. He picked us (brother and I) up from the airport in the Volvo and then we proceeded to test drive about the outskirts of Eugene until 2am Pacific - which thanks to jet lag was 5am eastern, but adrenaline and excitement overpowered the exhaustion. Saw a couple of deer, which made the heart pound and the need to sleep subside. The PO invited us to stay the evening (er, morning) in his house and made us breakfast when we got up. He also borrowed a friends "truck" to help us get stuff to freight. Stand up guy, I can't thank him enough for his hospitality.

This is how Thursday morning went:

Pulled the car out of the garage

hood works

PO on left, brother middle, me on right

Trunk's packed LOL

Loading up the "truck" - its a diesel

Mmmm, 1000lbs

Departure to for crate/freight

taillights work

signals work

Eugene

[bbk]

Subcribed.
Sounds interesting.

[EUROBORA8V]

Very cool!

[titleist1976]

That's an awesome little car! Congrats! I always contemplate driving something back from wherever one of my business trips takes me.

[classicjetta]

In for updates

[WAR_GTI]

Ahw damn....if I would of seen this earlier I would of offered you guys cheap eats and spirits at my bar here in Eugene

[LG6R]

I'll be watching this. I love roadtrips (if you couldn't tell by my signature). Looking forward to seeing how it all went.

[Numbersix]

In for updates. My first car was a '71 142E and I put a lot of road trip miles on it. They are very good road cars (the 122S has a very similar drivetrain to the 142). No reason that car can't make the trip if well cared-for; just need to watch the coolant temps and fluid levels, etc.

Hope it has an O/D--it'll make for much more comfortable freeway cruising.

[rs4-380]

I hate you.
(I want that Amazon).

[VWDugan]

in for updates...cause i wanna see it when you get back to indy

[Big_Bird]

*watching*

[rpmk4]

can't wait to this in person. it looked pretty sweet cruising through town the other day

[Kameirocco]

made the drive from portland to cincy and back a few years ago, the drive is fairly dull, but the experence both times way made up for it. i just hope you don't take the hwy through wyoming... you'll go bonkers... lol

[goin440]

Ahw damn....if I would of seen this earlier I would of offered you guys cheap eats and spirits at my bar here in Eugene

That would have been awesome. Unfortunately, we had to leave the same day we arrived to meet our destination deadline.

Hope it has an O/D--it'll make for much more comfortable freeway cruising.

'75 B20F (decked head and street cam) and O/D. Cruised nicely at 65-70mph.

can't wait to this in person. it looked pretty sweet cruising through town the other day

We need to do a drive down to Madison again. I took Corey in the MINI before selling it (and funding this purchase) and found another route with more curves that was a lot of fun.

i just hope you don't take the hwy through wyoming... you'll go bonkers... lol

Hit I-84 in Ontario, OR from Hwy 20/26 so got to see a lot of OR back country. Looking at the map, I wish now I hit northern Hwy 26 rather than southern Hwy 20. The national forests I went through had amazing views and Hwy 26 would have added two more to the list. Spent the night in Burns and encountered Wyoming at night, Day3 - more on that later.

[goin440]

Finishing off the morning of Day1 here, dropping stuff off for freight.


Have to give a shout out to Specialty Crate and Pallet of Eugene, OR for the help with packaging and freight. The beautiful crate arrived at work yesterday.

I have to splice some video now to continue. Will post again soon.

[3Letter]

Subscribed

[goin440]

After dropping freight off this was the plan:


To Florence on 126, then North on the 101 to Newport before turning back East to Indianapolis. I planed a stop (B) at Haceta Head Lighthouse along the way.

This was my first time using a gopro. While I did some testing before the trip I was unfamiliar with the interface. So I missed catching 126 into Florence (which was a beautiful drive) and then part of the trip North on 101. It appears I had it on single picture mode so only have the start. I've got 101 footage I'll post so no worries, it just does't fit in the timeline up to this point.

Leaving the gas station to start the Westward journey (camera start)

The parking lot bushes at McD's, Florence (camera stop)

Back on the road again North on 101, Florence (camera start)

First coastal lookout point (camera stop)

Can't really see in this pic but there were deer wading in the wave break.

Good shot of the dunes in this area.

Can almost make out Hawaii on the horizon, srsly

Creepy truck, where's your people?

I think this one is a couple corners further North.

[classicjetta]

[Numbersix]

Isn't the central OR coast a beautiful drive?

Can't wait to see/hear more.

[goin440]

Isn't the central OR coast a beautiful drive?

Yes. Wish I stopped more, wish I had more time. I now want to take the family out since pics don't do it justice.

[goin440]

Next stop was arrival at Haceta Head. The lighthouse was under construction so thought beachside was better for parking

Below shot of the bridge after the tunnel

“Mine, mine, mine, mine” –

Southerly shot of the coast from the northern section of beach.
Brand new batteries failed here - “Keep going..” my !@*%^

Who you sneaking up on, kitty? Purrrrr

Love the iron work

These rocks are lost in a sea of sand

I thought these peaks looked like they came out of a PBS documentary

Spelunking

Then escaping the bears in the caves

[Fettes Brot]

[Shtbox]

cross country? you still need another ~700 miles and ~13 hours of driving to be considered cross country

[goin440]

cross country? you still need another ~700 miles and ~13 hours of driving to be considered cross country

I was emailed this today 48-10. On a scooter

[goin440]

These are googled images of the Haceta Head area. Much better quality than mine.

[goin440]

My video (#1) from Haceta Head, this one pans around to show the area with sounds of the ambiance.

[rpmk4]