Event Coverage UPDATED WITH PHOTOS! Going For Broke...50 day Cross-Country Road Trip Family Style

HOW DO YOU GET THAT TEEPEE PACKED UP WHEN YOU ARE READY TO GO IN THE MORNING

 

Two lanes through Utah! Can't beat the scenery!

 

Great scenery, thanks for sharing. I'm sure lots of HAMBers rooting for y'all to have a great and safe trip an hoping for no more breakdowns.

Gary

 

hate to say Indiana roads are better than Illinois ( 25 years of OTR driving ) , But more of the hoosier is better been seen off the superslab ( interstate ) and when I go to columbus I avoid indy like the plauge and shoot I-94 to INd 49 to valpo , to Us 30 to the fort ( ft wayne ) and go to the south side on I 69 and catch Us 33 and take that thru to marysville ( turf city USa home to Scotts turf) and then to columbus , lots of nice small towns and the distance is shorter ( time is shorter too ) and no big road back ups .and many neat things like neil armstrongs home town ( waunatwhat ever OHio No offence to Ohioians ) and their museum is right off the path . and when you come to Illinois and instead of paying the toll on I-88 when you go to naperville , get off at exit 44 and take US 30 across to US 34 ( which takes you into naperville) it will save you 5 bucks and many small towns to see . if your taking I-80 many members along that route .

 

another way to keep busy is to see if you can spot license plates from all 50 states. used to make our kids do it with a notebook.

 

didn't notice before, but love the grill. 60 Mercury??

 

That is a really good route to take - I live just a bit south of 33 and north of I-70 near the town of Urbana Ohio - I work over in Columbus (so if the OP has any issues on the trip - I'd gladly try and help if in the area). The town name you are looking for is Wapakoneta, but everyone shortens it to just Wapak. When coming down 33 get off on state route 68 South and drop down to Urbana and pull your vintage ride into the Crabil's Hamburger parking lot and get some vintage hamburgers! http://www.crabillshamburgers.com/

 

Are we there yet? Stay safe out there and have fun!

 

thanks thats the name of the town . also Bellefontaine has the first strip of concrete highway in the US they claim and its just north of Urbana on 68 . ( both nice towns used to deliver to a bunch of places down that way , too bad you cannot get into the Honda test facility ( old DOT test track) on US33 .

 

Lakeside Amusement Park Information
Lakeside Amusement Park
Located in Denver, Colorado, at I-70 and Sheridan, on a picturesque lake (with great mountain views), ...
‎Hours - ‎Prices - ‎Rides - ‎Major Rides when I lived in Denver I loved going here it was built in 1908 and hasn't changed alot the funhouse was the best giant spinning barrel roll but don't know if its still in there. It's like stepping into the past

 

Nice ! Waiting (im)patiently for more updates. Glad to see the car's working well.

 

The oldest concrete street is actually the one right by the courthouse downtown. They erected a statue of the guy that convinced them to build it right in the middle of it.

Bellefontaine also has the shortest street in America (It used to be in the World, but apparently someone built one 6' long....)

 

Day 1: Torrance to Las Vegas (290 Miles)
We left Torrance for Las Vegas at about 6:30am Friday morning.

Still smiling!
We knew it was going to be hot in Baker so we tried to beat the heat a little. I have decided to stick to 60mph max speed to try to save fuel. Our first stop was in Victorville to top off gas, eat at IHOP (first meal is a moral booster, it is not Peanut Butter and Jelly), and make sure we had enough ice water for the long trek across the surface of the sun. We made it to Baker, bought some Air Conditioning (Mexican Popcicles), put in another 4 gallons of fuel, and pointed the 60 Mercury grille towards the Las Vegas Strip.



About Primm Kenna beat Cormac at a game of Car Bingo (read more about that here: http://misspartymom.blogspot.com/) and it became apparent that we were all HOT!!!

(Side note, my Mom was supposed to join us for Vegas to celebrate her birthday, but last minute she couldn’t go, but we still got the room she booked at the Treasure Island. The rest of this trip is camping, motels, and friend’s houses.)

We got off the interstate to go to the hotel and I heard a strange squeak/maybe a grind coming from the rear end but it was also 110 degrees and we have no AC and at that point your mind starts playing all sorts of games on you. I thought it may just be a brake squeak or something and decided I would give the wagon a going over in the morning. We checked into our hotel, and immediately hit the pool. Cormac officially won for the first Cannon Ball of the trip! After a few hours at the Spring Break celebration, we hit the strip headed directly for the M&M World. Kenna was never allowed to go there as a kid, so she wanted to make sure our kids did (so far that is what they are calling the best part of the trip).


We made it back to our hotel around 10 and we all crashed!

 

THE BREAKDOWN HAPPENS!
Day 2: Las Vegas to St. George, Utah (125 miles)
Cormac and I woke up early and we went down to the parking lot so I could give the wagon a once over. I checked all the fluids, noticed there was a small transmission fluid leak, topped everything up, and crawled under to see if visually I could see anything amiss, and didn’t notice anything.

We then picked up breakfast, and hit the pool for a few more hours. At 1 we decided to head towards St George. After some PB&J in the Treasure Island parking lot, we jumped in to hit the road. The wagon fired right up, and driving through the hotel parking lot there was no more squeak coming from the rear. We jumed on the 15 north! Everything seemed normal, and I decided to top off on fuel in North Las Vegas before heading out. We exited the freeway , and about a half mile after we got off you could feel something let go in the driveline. I jumped out and immediately noticed the drivers side rear axle had walked out of the housing.



Luckily we had pulled over immediately when we heard the noise and my quarter panel didn’t get damaged. There was a 7/11 and McDonalds about 3 blocks away, so I sent the kids with Kenna to drink Slurpees and eat Happy Meals while I tried to figure out a game plan.

First thing I did was post a MayDay call on Instagram, the HAMB, and Facebook and I received a lot of calls. A friend of a friend of a friend (named Jeff) called and said he could help pick stuff up if I needed anything or the family needed a ride. Now here is where it gets interesting. On Kenna’s 3 block walk she saw a tire shop and who know why she walked up and asked if they could fix her car that was broken down. They said they only did tires but his dads did automotive repairs. I called and told them the deal, emphasizing 6 year old, 3 year old, hotter than the sun, stuck! They said to have it towed over. Now this was at 2:45pm DON’T GET ME STARTED ON THE FACT THE FLATBED DID NOT ARRIVE UNTIL 5pm!!! While I was waiting on the tow truck, I started trying to find a rear wheel bearing and race. I called Carquest and they told me there was only one in all of Vegas. So I decided to call Jeff back and ask if he could pick up the bearing and meet me at the shop I was getting towed to. Jeff was able to get the bearing and meet me at the car before the tow truck arrived. He then offered to drive the family back to the Treasure Island, where they used our old room key to sneak into the pool! Then Jeff came and met me at the shop. Jeff is the man, and I realized that when you are in these situations in a strange town just having someone with you makes it easier to handle the situation and figure out a solution, and it is much easier to chase down supplies. I owe Jeff a vegetarian buffet and a cold beer when he comes to the South Bay.


Now at this point I thought all GM axles had those c-clips holding the axles in. Thank you to the HAMB for letting me know it was a bolt in axle. When we got to the shop there were a lot of cars being worked on, and they told me they closed at 8. I pretty much at that point thought I was spending a few more days in Vegas to wait until Monday and then whatever parts we needed.. Jeff stayed with me the whole fiasco firing me up and said lets go get gear oil, RTV, and anything else we may need since every auto parts store will be closed by 8 on a Saturday. At 7 we got back to the shop, and they finally had the wagon on the lift. They had the axle pulled, but when they opened their axle puller it was missing the expanding piece that goes in the bearing to grab it. My heart sank and I thought I was out of luck. A dude left the shop, and no one looked at the wagon for about an hour until a dude returned with another puller set. At this point it when the story gets fun. It was now 7:45, this shop was supposed to close at 8, and they were working on other customers cars. Jeff and I just picked up tools and started wrenching and the owner and manager George were cool with it. Once George finished up his other customers car he joined us. We thrashed until 10pm! This shop rocks and if you live in North Las Vegas buy tires from these guys! They took care of me, stayed open until 10pm on a Saturday, and got my family back on the road!


If you see this guy at Born Free next week buy him a beer for me! He saved me tail!!!


George the manager who worked in the hottest humid weather to help get us back on the road.

Buy tires from these guys if you live in Vegas! Great customer service!


I headed back to pick up the family at Planet Hollywood at this point and Kenna said lets drive to St George in the night when its cooler since the kids will be sleeping and get the heck out of Vegas. We made it to St George around 2:45am, I saw a Walmart, so we pulled in behind a huge motor coach to look like we were with them and Kenna and I slept on the front seat while the kids slept on the back.

 

Day 3: St. George to Glendale, Utah through Zion National Park (80 miles)
We all slept in until about 8:30,went and bought supplies, cooked a little breakfast in the Walmart lot, and then the kids and I headed the Dinosaur Tracks museum in St George while Kenna updated her blog at the local golden arches.



The wagon likes 2 lane roads much better!

Zion is a pretty spectacular place.



Catching toads!

I guess Kenna didn't sleep to well in the front seat of the wagon the night before...







Zion was beautiful, but the campgrounds were all packed so we kept driving on towards Bryce Canyon and ended up finding a nice little RV Park/ Campground! Our campground even had horses that came right up to our camp! The kids loved it!

After setting up camp, we all hit the pool to cool down, showered, and then ate some dinner! Smores for dessert and it was off to bed.

 

Day 4: Glendale, Utah to Bryce Canyon (50 miles)

Day four was a nice short cruise on two lane roads to Bryce Canyon. We stopped at a little river off a dirt road somewhere off the road and Birdie showed her brother up catching 3 trout in 15 minutes! We ate lunch at the river and then headed towards Bryce. I call these short 50 miles days "morale boosters."







Now here is something funny. On this drive I started hearing what I thought was a noise coming from the wagon. It sounded like a rattle snake. It had no pattern or normal time when the noise happened, it just did. So when i pulled into Bryce Canyon City the local service station was cool enough to let me back the wagon up on their ramp and check the gear oil and feel around to see if anything felt hot. The rear was full, and nothing was hot, and the head mechanic did not think there was anything to worry about. So we went and checked into our Tipi and then took the shuttle into Bryce Canyon. On the bus Kenna and I both heard the same noise coming from the bus, and then it clicked. Either the bus had a bad rearend too or the noise was those stupid bugs that sound like rattlesnakes! We had a huge laugh and I breathed a sigh of relief.



Cormac and I stayed at the pool until 10pm with him mastering the Belly Flop!

If you are headed to Bryce Canyon Ruby's Inn and Campground is really nice with Tipi's, campsites, a heated pool, a great general store, and easy access to the shuttle to Bryce Canyon.

We are currently on day 7 in Nebraska hoping to make a college world series baseball game , and I will provide another update when we get to another place with wifi but right now the pool is calling! I hope you are enjoying the ride...

 

Looks like a great trip so far even considering the axle issue. That just makes for a better story to tell later. Thanks for taking time to post.

 

Inspiring! I'm trying to talk my wife into a trip like this using your pictures.

 

Yeeeewwwwww!!

 

Definitely enjoying the ride , definitely jealous

 

Neat thread! Would like to do a road trip in the 41 one of these days!

 

Lovin' the trip so far. I'm hoping to do a road trip when my car is done. Have fun, be safe.

Ryan.

 

Friggin awesome!! Safe travels O'Brien family!!

 

Just missed you at Ruby's Inn. Saw you out of the corner of my eye as you we passed each other.

 

You guys are the best. What a great adventure. Thanks for sharing it with us.

 

Very cool -- I hope you are enjoying your time in Omaha! If you need anything at all while you're here, please send me a PM with your phone number.

 

subscribed, just cause I thoroughly enjoyed the lone star trip. Thank You for taking the time to share. I wish you and your family a safe journey.

 

Great family trip they'll always remember! Have fun!

 

Kids Games: one long trip after the "slug bug" game of finding the nearly extinct VW Beetle got slow, we added in a new twist; kids competed for "UHaul & Ryder truck's" tallying. Kinda fun & unbelievable how high that count can get.

 

If/when you're through New Mexico on Rt66, a worthwhile stop in Santa Rosa is Rt 66 Auto Museum...Bozo (owner) has quite a collection. Can't miss the sign. My uncle built a couple of these