I didn’t go anywhere this weekend but so far had dinner and drinks at a friend’s house down the street and then hosted a BBQ at our house last night. I’m not sure what’s on the agenda for tonight but am glad I don’t have to drive anywhere on Monday, all the beers tend catch up with me. (For all of you in other parts of the world, this is Labor Day Weekend in the U.S. and Labour Day Weekend with a “u” in Canada and many (but sadly nowhere near all) people have Monday off.) Anyway, enough about me, you’re probably sitting somewhere and contemplating getting home tomorrow night…so, where’d you go for the long weekend and what are you driving? Bonus points if you took a camper somewhere and double bonus points if the camper van above is your JDM diesel stickshift camper with Texas plates that I’ve been seeing around Laramie, WY for more than a year now…
I’m staying home this weekend as We just got back from a week in Lake Tahoe. I hadn’t been up there for almost ten years. Last time the Wife and I cruised up in my ’96 Mustang GT convertible, I just relaxed and cruised up Highway 50 through the mountains with the top down. We repeated the trip this time and there was over 210,000 miles on the clock! My Wife is into her artsy crafts, and packs tons of projects that she works on while we are there. My rear seat held a big ice chest and a couple of suitcases and soft bags. The trunk and backseat were completely full. If we take the truck she would want to buy furniture or other goodies at antique and swap meets.
Now that I’ve mellowed out with age I just enjoy cruising with the top down, appreciating the scenery and I let all the hot shoes pass! The old Mustang is a relaxed cruiser. We’ve had a busy Summer. In June we took our Oregon coast trip in my F150. The beginning of August we took our old Explorer out to Indio. When I get my old Jag XJ6 squared away again, it will be time to hit the road in that. Safe and enjoyable travels to you all!
Went mid week, weather was better ….
The old vanagon Syncro is still pulling us up the steep and bumpy on Vancouver island 🙂
Yeah one day I’ll fix the body, but for now it’s quite liberating not to worry about the branches scratching the sides .
Pic…
Canadians are also enjoying Labour Day tomorrow!
Cheers,
Tony
Thanks, I amended the text to add the day with a u for u.
We’re enjoying a quiet weekend at home — it’s been a few years since we’ve traveled over the Labor Day weekend, partly because traffic is so bad here on the East Coast that it’s often more hassle than it’s worth.
But last week we took our Sedona on a (short for us) 1,200 mi. round trip up to Massachusetts. For us, that was our end-of-summer trip.
Other than driving to a town an hour away for dinner Friday night we have pretty much stayed home this weekend. One of the (many) advantages of retirement is the ability to travel at off peak times. Typically we will take a spring vacation in early April, after most schools have spring break and before the schools are out, much less stressful that way. For the past several years we have had a family get together, usually in late October, with my siblings, their spouses and my nearly 90 year old aunt. These are held somewhere within a short drive of her home in Tallahassee; although my cousin does the actual driving we don’t want her to have to spend all day in the car.
I went to Upstate New York for a few restful days, specifically the Capital Region – Albany/Schenectady/Troy. I drove up in my 1993 Volvo 240 wagon with the M47 gearbox.
Upstate New York is a fabulous place with lots of things to do.
“Upstate New York is a fabulous place with lots of things to do.” I know, if they’d only picture them all on a license plate or something… 🙂
Where am I going? To the pet store for cat food. To the grocery store for people food.
That wasn’t the plan, but…I’m not going anyplace far or fancy; can’t do much anyway due to an injury which has me on disability for some weeks and which has affected my gas pedal foot so that I can only drive one car, wearing the immobilizing boot. That’s the PT Cruiser since its seat is higher than the others’. But the weather at home is warm and clear and there is deadheading to do on the flower garden, which I can do sitting down. And I can still grill or barbecue.
I can’t climb ladders, though which is a shame because the pears are ripening. I already got what I could reach.
I can feel your pain regarding the boot. I had to wear one for 8 weeks several years ago and it was a pain. Fortunately it was on the left foot so my driving wasn’t affected but walking was something else. Parking was catch as catch can for the job I had then, we had flexible working hours so it was the people who went in at 6:00 who got all the close spots. When I arrived at 7:30 the closest spots were 3 or 4 blocks away from my entrance, not really very far at all if you have regular shoes on both feet but a major undertaking with the boot. It was especially bad with snow and ice on the ground, there were a couple of days I decided it wasn’t worth the effort and just called in and took a vacation day.
Yesterday, I drove from LA to Las Vegas to pick up a fuel tank. The junkyards in LA are full of fuel tanks, but they drill holes in them to drain the gas.
Tomorrow I’ll be driving out to Riverside in the TSX for a family Barbecue..
To work… Friday, Saturday, Sunday, and Monday of this weekend while everyone else on the South Shore is away and NOT shopping for cars. And because my pay is commission-based and not hourly, I don’t get paid any more for being here on a Sunday or holiday… in fact, I don’t get paid for physically being at work at all. I may be just as slight bit bitter at the moment.
Okay, rant is over 🙂
Well, I’ve been to the neighboring town of Wardsville as that is where Mrs. Jason Jr took us for her driving lesson. We will be heading out again in a short bit so who knows where we will land.
We took the VW Passat. Our last actual trip was last weekend when we took the F-150 to my oft mentioned Cape Girardeau to visit my parents in their new home.
I spent this weekend with my friends in High Tatras, the Slovakia’s tallest mountain range. We took a nice 9 km hike with a 1000m change of altitude. Since we had a holiday, too (75th anniversary of the Slovak National Uprising), the mountains were quite crowded. But the hike was still very enjoyable. I really recommend all the visitors of Slovakia to take a walk in our mountains.
The trusty steed that drove us there was a Škoda Octavia with even more trustworthy 1.9 TDI engine. My friend managed to achieve at least 58 MPG for the whole 600 kilometres we drove. Even the AC was on for a majority of the time. It was a very enjoyable time spent together. But the seats in Octavia were not enjoyable at all. They gave me back pain and I was glad for every ability to stretch out.
Funny thing was that I got pulled over by the police in July. The family asked me to drive their guests home from their daughter’s wedding. In the end, as we (wedding parents, my friend and his girlfriend) were one town away from their home, I was thinking about a routine control – alcohol test and so on. But the police officer told me that the vehicle has expired technical and emission inspection date – it was only three days street illegal. As my friend’s dad used other cars and this was lent to the bride, he has forgotten about the inspection. Anyway, he managed to make a good deal about the ticket – from 160€ for each of the expired inspections to only a 10€ ticket.
The Tatra’s In a Škoda is pretty exotic for us Americans, though perhaps not quite as special as the Tatra’s in a Tatra.
+87!
When I put the zip code of High Tatras municipality into Bazoš (our craigslist), two rear-engined Tatras 603 and 613 were for sale there! So I immediately thought of the ‘nomen omen’ saying.
This one, waiting for renovation, could find a new owner in exchange for 17 500 euros.
Yesterday we drove to Paulina Lake in our Mazda CX-5 (not yet a CC, but when you only have one car..) Tomorrow we are going to Klamath Falls to bike rail trails and visit Train Mountain, a community built around a shared miniature railway where each house has its own rail spur.
Not really a full holiday weekend, but I drove a couple of hours to go to an old friend’s birthday party on Saturday. To save a bit on fuel, I took my wife’s Golf; while there I reconnected with an old friend who has bought a Lotus 7 (real thing, not replica) and an RHD Radford Mini https://www.curbsideclassic.com/automotive-histories/automotive-history-radford-and-wood-picket-minis-when-ultra-luxury-minis-were-hot/ since I last saw him; and got a brief ride in the birthday celebrant’s new Tesla. Oh, and I saw an immaculate “square” (‘81-‘89) Lincoln Town Car on the drive up. And a downsized B Body on the drive home, but really nothing else remotely CC-worthy. I guess folks don’t want to take their nice cars on crowded holiday freeways.
Dropped our son Derek off at the University of Waterloo to start first year. Took the 2015 Caravan.
It was a great minivan day, they were everywhere.
Hey, congratulations! Good job starting to empty out the nest! Mrs DougD must be fretting….
Nah, we’re not fretting at all. He did a gap year after high school running outdoor education at a young person’s camp 4 hours north of us.
So it’s an hour even to get to his new place, we’re like “woohoo, this is totally close now” and his roommates seem like nice guys..
Congrats! Great family photo!
Congrats to the Ds! There is nothing like a minivan for moving kids to/from college/university.
Waterloo looks like a great place and a reasonable distance from you. Close enough but not too close – for both student and parents. Best wishes for him!
No travel for us – son and grandkids drove up, and local son and wife came over Sunday afternoon. I did use both the NH Boomer 8N (picking up rocks where I had an old barn foundation removed) and 1950 8N (discing after rock picking) yesterday. Grandson (who’s 4-½) used his pedal 8N with wagon to carry the hot dogs and fixings out to the fire pit yesterday evening!
My wife and I drove up north of Toronto to stay the night with friends (hot tub, barbecue, and cold beer) and came back this afternoon. We have the week off and we’ll be heading up to the Bruce Peninsula to travel around and do some photography. I picked up a rental car yesterday (a Subaru Impreza) and so far I like it. I’ve never had a Subaru before – I usually get Toyotas, Nissans and the like and it’s always great to get something different. We’re looking forward to a relaxing and enjoyable week.
It’s been a few beers since I’ve taken a road trip, but my trusty 5.0L Ranger has a knack for heading to the central Oregon coast. With no cruise control. Or A/C. Just roll the windows down and stand on the loud pedal. Goes plenty fast to overcome it’s own aerodynamic issues and ventilate the cab. Those in fly over states can hate me now.
Nowhere. I have always made it a point not to drive anywhere on a three day weekend ever since the 70s in San Diego. Today, with the Bay Area pretty much destroyed over the last 10 years, one would have to be masochistic to get on a Bay Area highway.
Took me 40 minutes to go about 3 miles on southbound 880/17 in Los Gatos going home. My clutch leg got some overdue exercise, given that 95% of my driving in the last 5 years has been two-pedal. From my friend’s house in the Oakland Hills, including cold start and the in-town section to get to the freeway, up to the Los Gatos slowdown, I averaged 57 mph and 48 mpg (US) in the 1.8T gasoline Golf. By the end of that 3 mile slowdown, my averages had dropped to 30 mph and 35 mpg. A good argument for EV or even hybrid. But still much better than my Tacoma would have done.
These are the current two in service, and were used to pop out for dinner with friends over the week-end. I wanted to go to Auburn for the swap meet, but spent any discretionary funds on the latest victim in the junkyard shown below.
This is the ’80 CDV taken in the local junkyard. Both rear and front chrome is nice, and the interior door panels are intact and in the same colour as my ’81. I have to run down after the week-end to get the parts in my tin can shown below.
This is my tin can, which will take the 6 foot bumpers if the middle seats are folded upward, with a few inches to spare. I really am not a minivan sort, but they are damned practical!
I always loved those alloy wheels that came on early NS Caravan/Grand Caravan Sport and LE models!
It looks like you found a nice one. Those are starting to get scarce in the midwestern US, but are still found occasionally. There is a lot I still miss about my 99 T&C. I have said many times that if I could get my Sedona’s powertrain in a 3rd gen Chrysler minivan body it would be the best minivan ever.
JP
These are very rare around here. I toured three of my favourite junkyards, and there are a ton of the next generation available (they seem more rusty than this one), and all I came across was this one below. I was even more amazed to count 10+ of the Chev Malibu (2008-12) version, which is the newest car in my fleet. None of the 10 in the yard looked wrecked either.
Next up for my Ranger8? Stand alone EFI to replace my Holley 4180. I now have figured out how to make it work with my factory dual fuel tanks. Stay tuned
Start of Spring, and Fathers’ Day Down Under. Passengered in the ASX into town to a lovely shared breakfast with my son and his family (waffles, french toast, muffins w/egg and bacon, pastries, donuts, etc), then church and home. Son had to go off to work at noon (locomotive mechanic) and it was the only time we could all get together. Afternoon nap, watched some documentaries on the telly, browsed at the new books I was given and ate chocolate!
Bar hopping in Eastern Virginia aboard my Harley-Davidson Electra Glide. Monday is the final Richmond Flying Squirrels baseball game.
Saturday was glorious: sunny, temp in the mid 70s and low humidity. Hopped in the trusty VW Jetta wagon and drove up to the Renfaire in Holly.
I work 6 days a week. A Federal holiday gives me an actual two day weekend. Praise be. We bought a gently used 2018 Ford Taurus Limited back in the spring. It’s a sweet ride. A little heavy on technology but my tech savy wife usually drives it and if I drive it she’s with me to operate the tech stuff so that I don’t crash trying to change the temp or the radio. Works for us. Today I cooked her breakfast and then we took the Taurus to the Maine coast for a nice seafood lunch- supper. Weather was store bought perfect. We had a nice drive through some country side that many people plan vacations around. Yes it is that nice! We had a very nice day, just the kind that makes being married so good. Back home now, lounging in my robe after a hot shower, enjoying a healthy snort of Bulliet’s Rye Whiskey. It’s been a great day, and I have tomorrow off too! Life is good!
Stayed home, however there were a few cruising opportunities!
Friday was the last day of summer hours at my company, so I drove the Mustang to work with the intention of taking the scenic route home… good thing too, as someone driving an 18 wheeler full of pineapples thought it would be great fun to flip his truck over just north of Howard County Maryland, closing my main route home (I-95). Not smart on a holiday getaway day.
I anticipated an easy traffic day, being able to leave at lunchtime and all… yeah, how’d that work out for me?
The rest has been pleasant enough, though. I washed up and drove the Civic down to Annapolis to have dinner with my stepson and our granddaughter for his birthday, but that restaurant had a 2.5 hour wait, so a scenic drive over to Crofton to a nice Sushi Bar is where we ended up. Since my wife was with me, I behaved and got better than 40 MPG!
Today, it was back in the Mustang for a leisurely cruise to Harford County and back (like the poster above and his ‘96 Mustang, I try to take it easy on the old girl anymore. Took my dog Molly with me, as this is her favorite car.
I also took my wife’s Lancer out to put some air in the tires and grab us some breakfast this morning.
Tomorrow, we’re going to my parents’ house for dinner, but I haven’t decided yet which vehicle in the fleet I want to take.
Safe travels everyone!
Went to a wedding…
No travel for me. A perfect 3 day weekend is one spent at home doing not much of anything.
There will be efforts made later today to resuscitate a shine on the Honda Fit.
“No travel for me. A perfect 3 day weekend is one spent at home doing not much of anything.” I pretty much stayed at home too, but still enjoyed my time off of work. I did a few more things with my ’05 Astro & the S10 Trailer on Saturday and attended a family reunion around 1 pm yesterday. Rewired the trailer connector on the S10 Trailer (wiring harness was old & about to fall apart) & got better safety chains for it so they no longer dragged on the ground when going up & down driveway slopes. Next thing on the agenda is getting a full-size spare tire for the Astro as I plan on driving it to Edisto Beach in 2 weeks, but Herlong Chevrolet is closed right now so I might could do it later this week. It currently still has only a temporary tire & I wouldn’t trust it for the trip if I ended up with a flat. I did the same thing with my Ranger last year. Finally got to use the Ranger’s spare last week when the right rear tire got a leak in it (it’s a “deer hoof” rim from an older Ranger/Explorer I got from Pull-a-Part). Definitely stands out but not like the even fancier rims from newer Rangers would.
Went to a friend’s wedding in upstate New York and then a side trip to Long Island in my ’84 Delta 88. 1100 miles round trip.
Just to Albuquerque and back about a 300 mile round trip.
We stayed overnight to best be able to take advantage of some of the shorter Sunday hours of places like Costco.
Drove my 2018 TourX.
Flew to Illinois to visit my grandparents. While there I went through some of their old pictures, which may be featured in upcoming CC posts.
Ferry from Vancouver to North Vancouver for a barbecue. 🙂
I didn’t go anywhere in the weekend (which was a normal weekend here in New Zealand anyway), but do I get triple points that my parents previously owned a very similar 1990 Nissan Caravan DX?
I took the ProMaster to Grand Manan Island, New Brunswick. The van has 4,000 miles on it and has been on seven ferries, all in NB.
Just got back from a trip out to visit my wife’s relatives in Massillon Ohio. Longest road trip yet (4 and a half hours) with our 4 month old son, took the Town&Country. Baby did great, in part thanks to the van. These truly are engineered precisely for this: gobbling up American interstate with a family on board. Got great MPG considering our speeds, an indicated 28mpg (27 in reality in my experience) while maintaining 76-77mph where appropriate, under the watchful eye of Ohio’s finest. Easy for wife to feed and to change our little guy in the back.
Home for the weekend preparing for our annual camping trip to the upper Kern River in the Southern Sierra Nevada mountains of California. Been doing this trip the week after Labor Day for decades now.
Cars & Coffee in Dayton on Saturday, followed by a relaxed Labor Day breakfast in Xenia, OH. Perfect day for a country drive in the Amazon…
Went back to Salt Lake City for the first time in 8 years. Nothing changed, haha
Went in my brother’s Westfalia VW van. Still runs good with nearly 190k miles.
I went with you too, mister! Don’t forget that!