pinebaron

Please read: need advice
I will/may be driving from Marlton NJ to Everett/Seattle WA in a couple of weeks, some 2862 miles and looking for local road conditions for my lowered rear wheel drive car.

A move from Marlton NJ to Blaine WA has been on the cards for a while and we put our home on the market a few weeks ago, no offers yet. I considered shipping my Benz and two SUVs during actual move (following home sale) however decided against the idea since there are no direct shippers from NJ to WA and reports of cars getting damaged. Cars are mostly dumped on the train from Philadelphia or Petersburg to Spokane and then shipped by truck to another part of WA, in fact many hops. My beautiful and spotless car is lowered and useless on most ramps. My wife and I intended to drive our SUVs towing the Benz on a rented or bought new car trailer and we were so looking forward to the adventure, we love long drives; we once drove all the way from London U.K. to New Delhi India (I drove all the way 9873 miles door to door) hence long distance driving is a passion. The drive plan to WA may have to change; your biggest/baddest software company in Redmond/Seattle are desperately in need of my consulting services and want me to help them, like starting yesterday. Since I'll be there for several months and in need of local transport, I intend to temporarily rent an apartment about about an hour out of Seattle to the north than our final destination Blaine WA after the move; thought why not just drive the Benz there. This drive will take me through several northern states PA, IL, WI, MN, ND, MO, ID and WA
Basically I-90, I-94 then back to I-90 all the way.

Any Gotchas, advise do's and don'ts, road conditions, especially if there is any snow will be most appreciated. I'll drive virtually non-stop only stopping for a couple of hours kip every now and then and ton's of coffee stops.

Wodeshed

That's snow country all the way across. Be a miracle if you didn't hit something.

I've gotta believe that frost heaves may also be an issue, especially after this winter and taking into account budget shortfalls in rust belt states.

Wodeshed

By "hit something" I mean a snow storm, by the way.

cetialpha5

I would think that in a couple of weeks the snow storms should be over. Don't know about conditions in those states, but around here after the tough winter we had, there's lots of potholes. I think it's just a matter of time before I hit a good one and pop a tire or rim.

pinebaron

I thought I-90 and I-94 were major highways and should/would not have potholes. Anyone have first hand information about potholes or snow conditions on that route? Worst come to worst I'll just drive my Ford Expedition and tow the Benz on a trailer; that would be one less car to transport.

Backyard Buddy

I think you'll be fine weather-wise in a couple of weeks, Mid-Western states especially. If you leave Jersey early in the AM, that could put you in Cleveland, OH by dinner time. Some killer restaurants in that area off of I-90. Shoot me a message if interested. But, you definitely should take some time to visit the Badlands in South Dakota. One of the most beautiful and peaceful areas.

pinebaron

Thank you. This is crazy times for me at the moment and torn between several priorities, home sale, business sale, work contracts on both coasts and a very tense wife; it is almost like bringing my work life out to my home life.

I wish I had the luxury of time to visit the Badlands in South Dakota. Ideally I'd rather not drive at all at this time, what with the home up for sale and showings in progress however it seems imminent I'll have to drive out on 4/24 Friday evening. I am no longer tense, however excited about the drive since I subsequently decided to drive my Ford Expedition towing the Benz loaded on a UHaul car trailer. Best of all, the tow will save putting 3000 miles on the Benz, with additional savings on wear and tear, suspension, tires, paintwork and what not.

pinebaron

Change of towing plans; I'll be driving the Benz all the way; just need to be really careful, what else. My old reliable Ford Exp is a 1999 and may not manage a 4000lb tow all the way across 3000 miles especially uphill climbs etc.

Unless something happens, I plan to leave NJ on 4/24 Friday evening and aim to be in Bothell WA on Monday 4/27 and start assignment on 4/29. It is an absolute shame this one way trip will be a mad dash, with zero sightseeing or anything.

Question: At this time of the year, should I follow I-90 Coast to Coast or I-90 then branch off mid-way to I-94 then back to I-90? Would love to hear from members residing near/in the I-90/I-94 corridor with information on actual/current and expected weather and road conditions etc. all of next week.

Wish me luck with this move and my new assignment.

rediesel

Good luck with your new job. I'm sure you will be fine driving the benz - long distance is a thing of beauty in the diesel. Interstates are generally in good condition.

Perhaps you should get a hitch on the Benz and tow the Ford

pinebaron

That would be a funny sight and with 500ftlb of tweaked up torque it is even possible.

Hotsauce55

pinebaron

Thank You. Yes Sir. That was heck of a journey and I'm writing a book about it. Born and raised in London, I always loved foreign cars, Japanese and especially American cars and my favourite was a 1968 Black Ford Mustang Convertable I paid GPB190 for. Anyway, soon after I finished my second college degree in London, I married my sweetheart on 7/1/1978 the day after last day in college. A month later I discovered, two rival countries (India and one of it's neighbors) decided to open it's borders and I started planning this crazy and daring London UK to New Delhi India journey. At that time I owned two Fords (been a Ford fan all my life) the 1968 Mustang I mentioned and a 1968 Cortina estate. The Mustang was out of the question and the Cortina was just not large enough to carry my entire household, basically all my worldly possessions. I sold the Mustang and traded my Cortina for a 1969 Australian Ford Fairmont XT Stationwagon with a 302 v8 engine. I should start a blog about the adventure but to cut a long story short, we, my new wife and a buddy, embarked on this adventure on Sunday 10/1/1978. Drove to port of Felixstowe on the East cost, took the Ferry to Ostend in Belgium then drove through Germany, Switzerland, Liechtenstein, Austria, Yoguslavia (by the coast), Bulgaria, Turkey, Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan and on to New Delhi India arriving there at 3am on 10/30/1978 having driven for 21 of 30 days, almost 100% at night (yeah that's the funny part) and no one, absolutley no one was informed of this adventure since everyone felt we were out of our minds.

Not to bore you with details but that was the precise time, Iran was in turmoil with the Shah just being overthrown and our Russian friends were getting into Afganistan. We were totally oblivious to any danger, the evolving war we drove through, yet emerged unscathed at the end of this amazing adventure. We stayed in New Delhi for six months, drove to Kathmandu in Nepal for a week then on to Calcutta and left the car there for shipment to Bristol, UK. I had to abandon an idea to continue the drive on to Hongkong in the East due to extreme dangers in countries enroute.

Crazy huh?

Backyard Buddy

Good luck on your new assignment. Let us know when you finish the book. Sounds like a fascinating read!

Wodeshed

In the news today is a report of a 70 car pileup on I-80 due to an April blizzard in Wyoming.

http://tinyurl.com/qa8fd5y

pinebaron

Wow! I-80 in Wyoming is about 200 miles south of my planned route. I'll be following I-90/I-94 and hope it is better up north.

The Thomas J

I would love to see that!
The Chevy guys would to you!

pinebaron

UPDATE:
So I left NJ at 8am on Saturday, car stuffed with all my gear including 5 bowling *****, ball spinner, enough clothes to last me a year and so much stuff but the car looked fine. 1st 400 miles I averaged 78mph, then non-stop up to several miles west of Chicago where I took a break for maybe an hour and a half. Then driving (speeding) late at night through Wisconsin, I got pulled over doing 84 in a 65 zone and I must have slowed down that moment; did not argue and paid $251 fine on the spot. Thereafter I stuck around the speed limit all the way to within 100 miles of Seattle. Still driving with no events through rest of Wisconsin, Minnesotal, then very early on Sunday morning while driving through North Dakota, rear left tire shredded at 8K miles. I realize my lowered car has negative camber due to 275 tires and that was partly responsible. In hindsite I should have replaced rears with brand new tires. Drove on the donut to Fargo. Could not locate 275x30x19, settled for Firestone 265x35x19. Had to raise my Bilstein rear suspension by almost 7/8" (maximum left) fortunately was carrying tools as usual. Nevertheless those got me on my way all the way through Mountana till around 65 miles from Spokane, still in Mountana, I noticed some foggy stuff in the rear view, like thin smoke; was another two minutes before I realized it was my car that was smoking. Fortunately was les than a 1/4 mile from an exit, parked, opened the hood and I see smoke evaporating off the exhaust. Checked oil and it was showing full. Reached out under the car next to exhaust and it was all wet with what appeared to be tranmission fluid. Oh boy I thought perhaps I bust the transmission but the car had been driving fine, no codes nothing, In any case hit the button, Mbrace responded, sent a tow truck, and informed MB at Spokane to expect me. Arrived at the dealership around 10 or 11 local. They got to it almost right away while I was kept busy with usual coffee and snacks. The tech declared a serious leak however could not isolate the problem. He completely cleaned entire area, took it for a test drive then immediately identified cause as an improperly installed tx pan gasket. How the heck? Realized I had tx flushed around 6 months ago at Cherry Hill MB and they did not precisely install the pan/gasket, hence the leak suddenly developed on the long drive, hot transmission. Firestone tires installed in ND were already toast. In any case the only tires available were Cooper tires 275x30x19. Tech did complete wheel alignment (taking advantage of the now rear raised) and aligned to almost perfection. almost 500 miles later, at my destination, checked tires and absolutely perfect. Oh yeah, also cracked the windshield on bottom left portion. All in all, 4 tires, 1 tx pan gasket, wheel alignment plus a windshield later, I am still happy with the way she handled; last hundred miles was insane driving but thought of it as the home stretch and let loose, can't say how much . All in all a piece of cake (I can say that now).

Staying in a georgeous cottage some 11 miles north of Redmond, WA, 20 minutes drive (where my client is); this location will be home through end of June.

Had a great first day at work. Set up the tower computer and large monitor this evening, all of which I had in the car apart from laptops, Ipads etc. Nothing better than working off a decent computer.

samaritrey

Wow sounds like you had a great adventure! Good to hear your alignment is in spec now as that was crazy fast tire wear glad my car is stock I have personally put 29K on the tires on my car and they probably have a total of 35-40k on them. That said My driving style has been killing them and they will need to be replaced very soon.

GL with the new job hope the cottage has some good internet!!

Wodeshed

Cool story man! Congratulations on a safe trip.

pinebaron

Thanks. Internet is tolerable at this cottage, not quite the commercial fios speed I have in NJ. Not directly related, today we received an offer on our home in NJ. Offer is lower than desired, however I accepted just to close the deal; too many jokers and a total lack of serious buyers in our area. The negative part (some would think it is positive) is buyer insists on closing on 5/29. Once contracts are signed and confirmed, I'll have to lease/rent a large home in a matter of days, to accommodate our home contents. The rental will be home for some 12-18 months while we build a new home.

pinebaron

Thanks