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*** I reposted the same thing but with lots of pics and vids. it's way too much work to do it over again, so you will just have to click on the LINK***Well, we made the long long long trek down to WA and OR the last week or so. Driving from Anchorage to Puyallup and then to Portland. The total trip down was just over 2500 miles down and about 2800 miles back (you will see why later). In my infinite wisdom, I decided we would drive down this time vs fly down. I wanted to take the opportunity to also have the car tuned while in the area (PNW). We started off on the typical Alaskan-Canada Hwy (Alcan) and made it to Whitehorse, YT the first night. a solid 700 miles of driving. taking Derek's advice, we decided to drive down via the Cassiar Highway through BC on the second day and I decided that we would stop in Prince George, exactly 1001 miles in ONE DAY. Let's just say.... NOT happy times. The Milepost said it was 95% paved, but realistically it was 50% paved as a good 5% of the road was extremely loose gravel (you know, the big (removed) rocks kind) and the other 45% was more like a patched up pot holed infested tarmac, hardly pavement. 450 miles of this crap.... the first 200 was spent between this tarmac junk and gravel up and down winding hills and mountains. Sure the scenery was beautiful, but I live in Alaska where my daily drive consists of the same wildlife and mountains. Once we reached about the halfway point, we see brand new pavement! I thought we died and went to heaven! now, if the highway had been paved like this the entire way, or just started and ended with it, life would have been fantastic and quite enjoyable. it was winding, twisting, craziness driven at 80 mph around hair pin turns and curves. (removed)! it was a beautiful and glorious road. however, it still did not make up for the hell of the first half of the road. 17.5 hrs of solid non-stop driving we finally made it to Prince George, BC.The following day, after such a hellish day of driving, we slept in and had some lunch before heading out for the final day. We drove from Prince George to Puyallup, WA, about 700 miles. Because of the late start, it was much later arrival than originally anticipated, and again, drove through some mountains to Hope where we intersected the Trans Canada Hwy 1. I can't tell you how tired or sick of driving I was by the time we reached Puyallup, WA.We took a breather the next day and went to the local dealer to get the oil changed. we walked around the lot, looked at the 08 Spec B and hubby's twin STI. I wanted to check out the Saturn dealer to see if they had any Sky's so I could drool more and convince hubby as to why i needed one. They had one but it was being delivered to the owner. Still, I got some pictures, drooled more, and even convinced hubby that they really aren't so bad and quite "mean" looking vs the Solstice. For the price, not bad at all. Next we went to the Mazda dealership I had stopped in last Nov while visiting. I wanted to test drive the Mazdaspeed 3 but they didn't get one in til the next day after I got back. They actually had one on the lot and I harassed one of the salesman to let me take it for a drive. WOW! very very impressive and quite fun. Honestly, if AWD wasn't necessary, I would consider this for the next vehicle, price point is excellent and the performance and handling was great! $24K MSRP?? nice! Phil also drove the car, but much more agressively than I (it was rush hour and i didn't want to actually buy the car that day... no matter, that didn't stop him). But alas, he was equally impressed with it, quite different feeling from our AWD turbos. Instead of feeling pushed, you felt PULLED. We got back to the dealer and picked up my car, then headed back home for visiting with relatives.Wednesday we got up and headed off to Portland to Rallitek for my front skidplate and install, then on to PDX Tuning for my dyno tune. I had been waiting to do this for awhile and was quite excited. On the way there, my CEL comes on and I flash some wierd code. Never had that one before.... great. We get the hotel, check in, get some lunch then head to Rallitek. By this time, it was already 3:30 pm. It didn't take long for the skidplate, however it was about 4:40 pm or so before we got out the door from talking with Chris and Mark. We hit traffic all the way til we got to PDX about 5:50 pm. The car was hot and screaming at me, CEL flashing, etc. We get the code cleared out and the car on the dyno. I dump in my Torco mixture and we wait for Jarrad to get ready for the tune. He was doing a wiring install that was running behind (and we were behind anyways). I met up with one of the other Legacy members who bought my S-Tech springs and got a chance to chat for a bit. It was interesting watching them hook everything up for the tune and the car harnessed on the dyno and fans going. it was insanely hot in the shop, 86 degrees, record temps outside for Portland this time of year.Jarrad starts the tune and doing some pulls. You can hear the car screaming at me, giving me the finger because it's so freaking hot and it wants its beautiful 60 degree happy temps and dense cool air. I look at the dyno, it reads really low (or to me) 228 whp. that can't be right... Jarrad confirms it's correct and he just wants to get a few base lines to know where to start. He says we should be up to about 250-260 or so by the end of the tune, so he hopes if all things go well. Of course, they didn't. after about 30 mins or so, we see some smoke coming off the intercooler and some wierd sounds. I'm freaking out! holy crap!! then some banging, however it turned out the ginormous fan on top of the intercooler to help cool it took a dump and one of the fan blades decided to eat itself and detonate on the car. *phew* but not so good for the fan since it was dead. My car, being extremely unhappy with me continued to give me the big finger. I had exhaust codes, tranny codes, and whatever else it wanted to throw at me. Most of all, it would NOT boost at more than 17 psi vs 21 psi here. That's a lot of power that we could not tap into. Jarrad was still able to do the tune, but being able to actually see the power capabilities of my car was just not in the cards. We got it up to 238 whp boosting at 16 psi but the car just didn't want to go any more. Jarrad decided to stop beating on the car since we did have to drive it back. he also reminded me that the dyno's don't like 5eats so numbers will always seem low... Of course, if we had an awd dyno in AK, with the cooler and denser air, no humidity and back to happy times, I would imagine to see the car boost back at 21 psi (which it did on the way back home as we got closer and cooler temps through the mtns) and have a hell of a lot more power. I wouldn't be surprised to see a good 20 whp difference between our temps/air here than there (at least on that day). Jarrad said I should have easily done 250/260 on his low reading dyno, and if up here, probably another 20 whp, then add another 20 whp because the dyno doesn't like to read the auto 5EAT tranny well, I'd be just about my 300 whp goal. But alas, that is speculation. However, I'm going to go with that since he tunes these cars on a daily basis. So, though we got the tune done and the car pulls rather well, I was quite disappointed to not be able to see what it could do for power. Back to the (removed) dyno and I suppose I won't ever know unless we get an AWD dyno here.so lessons learned about dyno tuning: don't drive your car 2500 miles in 4 days, sit in stop and go traffic for 3 hrs prior to the tune, then slap the car on the dyno in record breaking hot temps, expect the car to actually PERFORM well, and then get mad when it doesn't. To do it again, I should have driving to
Portland the previous day and let the car sit for the day to keep the engine temps low.after the tune, we got a ride in Jarrad's 450 whp LGT. holy crap! wow! ya, it pulls. then took mine out for a spin around the block.. it surprisingly didn't seem so quick or pull as hard as it used to. LOLWe drove back to Puyallup the next day and I then got ready for the wedding festivities (why we were actually there). I took my mom out shopping and running some errands in the afternoon so Phil could do some checking on the car and making sure everything was fine. Later that evening, I drove up to Lynnwood to pick up my best friend at her hotel and stopped by the mall to take some pics of the Clearwire Kiosk (work related) then to Renton to see the bride to be. After our little party and pow wow, drove her back to Lynnwood and back home. It was another long day of driving and stops and starts.Friday was the bridal shower in Renton so I drove my mom in her (new to her) 05 Cadillac STS sedan. also, WOW. the car wanted to go with just a slight touch of the gas. beautiful car no doubt. We then stopped in at Southcenter for more kiosk pics. After finishing that up, I met Phil back at the house to pick him up and head to Seattle for rehearsal and dinner. Again, another long driving day, almost 150 miles.Saturday was the wedding so I was up at the (removed) crack of dawn and heading to our 6:00 am hair appointment. On the way, I see one of Seattle's finest and don't think anything of it. Sure enough, there go the lights and he pulls me over. It's 5:50 am and I am half awake. He informs me it's his "nice guy stop of the day" and wanted to give me a warning that the rear license cover is tinted and therefore illegal. OK, but I'm from Alaska, so sure. He bids me farewell and away I go. As soon as I get there, I go out and take off the cover. Whatever. We get our hair done, makeup and all the other fun things that come along with being in the wedding party. We arrive at the location and prepare to get ready more. as always, the bride looked gorgeous! We were just there to make her look better. It was a nice wedding, extremely hot and we were outdoors. With a strapless dress, we all got sunburned standing out in the sun (imagine that). It was a great time, I got to see my two best friends, one of whom I haven't seen since my own wedding almost 3 years ago and the other in April. We got home surprisingly early, and had my best friend and my brother come over for dinner. We got the car ready to go, hotels booked and itinerary for the drive back ready to go.We decided to go back up the Alcan the entire way vs the Cassiar. Even though it was longer distance, it was a shorter drive due to straighter and more paved roads. So the next morning, we got up early and got on the road by 9 am. First stop was Dawson Creek, BC, mile 0 of the Alaska Hwy, 883 miles from Puyallup. Next day we drove to Whitehorse again, 864 miles approx. Then the third day we made our way back home to Anchorage and finished off the 700 miles. We drove just under 6000 miles in 10 days and killed my warranty just after crossing the Alaska border.

good story, hope. and being that i'm the first one to reply, i'll guess i was the only one that had the patience to read it all. glad the wedding went well, and you enjoyed your trip(for the most part). i was the best man in my friend's wedding up in indiana on memorial day weekend. i miss it there too damn much. i can't wait to move back to the midwesthave you noticed a good difference in your car's performance since the tune??

well sounds like a lot of driving... One thing I miss about the states is going to visit my grandma in wyoming and getting to drive next to those beautiful mountains. A couple christmas's ago I drove 5700 in 15 days but I was all by myself.

Flying sure would have been faster, but it sounds like you would have been short a great life experience, you also learned that the shortest road isn't always the quickest. You'll soon forget the bad parts and focus on the friends and family you got to see. Flying has an impersonal arrival, nothing like crossing a stateline with the horn blarring. I enjoyed reading the story and would like to drive the Alcan umong many roads. Thanx for posting

i've driven this road several times since 1992 when we first came to AK. i just didn't remember it being that long. LOL. it was extremely expensive with the gas prices, and though I was getting good gas mileage for me, it was still only 24 mpg vs when we drove up Mav's Vibe in 05, we were getting about 38 mpg! HUGE difference. plus, the gas prices were much less. One tank cost me $93!!! that's INSANE!

how did you fit $93 of gas in your tank?

Quote, originally posted by drunkenmaxx »how did you fit $93 of gas in your tank?Yeah thats what I'm trying to figure out... its roughly 3.2 litres to a gal right? and its a 13 gal tank. Say it was roughly $2 per litre... that works out to be about $83 for a full tank and we never let the tank get below 1/4...and thats calculated with canadian dollors in mind but she told me that was $93 american...

i have a 17 gallon tank, and even if i paid $4 a gallon, it would still only be $68. maybe she bought some "novelties" in the gas station bathroom?

going back thru the receipts, it was for a Chevron in Canada. but I see the $93 authorization fell off and it posted for $48.73 plus conversion fees. maybe they authorize over the amount when you swipe the card like they do here, but there were very few pay at the pumps. i have a 15 gal tank. i have filled up the car over 14 gals before. I believe, $1.44/ltr was the most expensive we paid in Canada and $3.60/gal in Glennallen.

well that seems more like it. cause I was going to say, I looked at the pump every time and saw large amounts for trucks and motor homes.

Great travelogue, Hope! I LIKE driving too, but 6000 miles in 10 days is way more than I'd ever attempt. Well, maybe if it was a Cannonball Baker Sea-to-Shining-Sea and return trip across the lower 48!Link to Cannonball Baker history --> http://www.edmunds.com/insidel...17576

Quote, originally posted by AKLGT »i've driven this road several times since 1992 when we first came to AK. i just didn't remember it being that long. LOL. One thing I've noticed, long drives seem to get longer as you get older.I want to do that drive someday, sounds like fun. But I will take more time.

Oh and I thought it was dawson creek we stopped the first night on the way back.

ya, it was dawson creek, not beaver creek. but i typed that late at night after a 12 hr shift working... so you can write it next time. *sheesh**edit* fixed now... :rolleyes:

i don't wanna waitfor our lives to be over...

Quote, originally posted by drunkenmaxx »i don't wanna waitfor our lives to be over...LMAOwhatever. we just spent 10 days solid driving in a car... to only go back to work the next morning and work a full 12 hr shifts for the next 2 weeks. i think that's the most time we've ever spent at one time together. haven't even unpacked the car yet.

Quote, originally posted by drunkenmaxx »i don't wanna waitfor our lives to be over...Drunken your hilarious.Did the tune help any since you got back to the cooler temps.

i don't know. i don't have it on the car right now. it was my race tune. so i have to d/l it from the PC to the AP so I can load it on the car before this weekend.

Quote, originally posted by AKLGT »ya, it was dawson creek, not beaver creek. but i typed that late at night after a 12 hr shift working... so you can write it next time. *sheesh**edit* fixed now... :rolleyes:what ever, I was simply asking since I know there is a large wooden beaver but thought we were at dawson creek. and no I don't need to write the next one, you didn't need to write this big one after a 12 hour shift.

Doh! we forgot to get a pic of the giant BEAVER!!!! you should have reminded me!

it's a trap, i am not biting!

i think i have a pic from 2005 when we drove thru... now i'm gonna have to look. I found it!

I just posted the link to pics and vids up top.

that was one big beaver.

man some of the scenery up there is beautiful. saw the crack in your windshield too. ouch.i read that you guys know ppl down in vegas. i go there all the time(my gf lives there in case you didn't know), and i'm plannin on movin there. you guys should let me know when you're going, and i could let you guys feel what it's like to shift a silver GT again, although it's nothin compared to what your subies have. then if i ever make it to AK, i could just sit in the passenger seat of your subies while you guys try to break my neck and give me a facelift at WOT btw, is mav done with his break-in yet??