Topic: K-car Zig-zag, part one: Seattle to DC
I have a one-way ticket from DC (BWI) to Seattle (SEA) that lands on Thursday, July 25th, at 7:50PM. My sister can pick me up, drive me home, and I'll head out from there around 9PM.
Afterwards, the plan is as follows:
Friday:
~10AM Mountain, Yellowstone National Park (walk around for an hour or so - need ideas for scenic locations)
~8PM Mountain, Crazy Horse, Mt Rushmore (stay around until they light up the lights, take pictures)
Saturday:
~2AM Central, Sioux Falls, keep driving.
~5AM Central, Omaha - take a break, maybe a shower. Head out at 8AM unless behind schedule.
~10AM Central, Des Moines.
~Noon Central, Iowa City.
~4PM Central, Chicago. Stay around for a bit.
~9PM Eastern, Lansing, MI.
~11PM Eastern, Flint, MI (highly optional).
~Midnight - Detroit, MI.
Sunday:
4AM Eastern, Toronto, ON
6AM Eastern, Niagara Falls ON/NY
8AM Eastern, Buffalo, NY
6PM Eastern, Rockville, MD - done.
Please tell me if this plan has any gaping holes that I missed. I think that other than driving out of Chicago, I'll miss all the traffic. Timing is tight, but doable if you speed like crazy, and there are some points that can be skipped (the whole Niagara falls section if shit goes REALLY bad, and Lansing/Flint loop is entirely expendable if I can't make it to Toronto before sunrise).
Also, if anyone sees any places where it'd be worthy to make a stop, even to snap a couple pictures of the K, please let me know. I'm looking for the following: either scenic locations, recognizable places in major cities on the way, or famous and/or historical points of interest. Particular preference to points of automotive history, especially that of Chrysler, and ESPECIALLY that of bailout, K-car, Lee, and so on.
I have an excellent tentative co-driver, but I need to figure out how to get him from OAK to SEA and then from, say, DCA or BWI back to OAK, since he's a broke-ass biophysics grad student who's busy pushing the boundaries of science instead of raking in money like the rest of us. If anyone knows of dirt-cheap ways to fly him in/out, let me know.
Finally, points of assistance.
- I'm well-covered in MD - if the car breaks down within 4 hours away from Rockville, I have people who can pick me up, and I can tow the car home overnight with my own rig.
- I have a friend in Buffalo who can keep the car if it dies within a couple hours' worth of driving distance.
- tSoG for NY/PA section.
- Cabinboy/Racin_G73 for Chicago area
- dculberson in Ohio if we decide to can the Niagara Falls section.
- TeamPettyCash in Seattle proper
I have a desert to cross, so to speak, between Seattle and Chicago.
Let's see some comments!