Moving this larger collection of pics out of my Member's Journal as it fits better in this forum. The end goal of this trip was to attend a wedding at a buffalo ranch in the Black Hills of South Dakota. We made a road trip vacation out of it by keeping each leg relatively short and planning a unique activity at each waypoint. Roughly, one day was planned around each of the following locations, with an exception to the Badlands (2 days) and the Black Hills (3 days).
Waypoints:
Start: Southern VT > Bradford, PA > Oberlin, OH > Mishawaka, IN > Cedar Rapids, IA > Wall,SD > Custer, SD > Brewster, NE > Kansas City, MO > St Louis, MO > Colombus, OH > Pittsburgh, PA > Binghamton, NY > END: Southern VT
Highlights:
World's Largest Truck Stop
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Badlands
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More Badlands
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Black Hills
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Scenic Black Hills Barn
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More Black Hills (bonus confused GPS)
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You Don't See This Back East
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Black Hills Stage Rally - this would be a 25mph road back east, tops
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Obligatory Mount Rushmore
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Farm Truck
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BUFFALO
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Theme of the Drive
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Note for a little background on the car:
After 2017's road trip to Colorado went off with mostly success, we decided to it again in the Forester. At this point the car's history was catching up with it - there was a decent knock logged at high RPM that I mitigated in the AccessPort by shifting the timing a few degrees, and it was burning enough oil I had to top off fairly regularly. I had everything for a swap lined up & this was going to be the final event before the teardown. I was fairly confident the car would be fine, so long as I kept up on the oil and went easy on the throttle. Upping the ante was a real nicely cast concrete bench we offered to bring with us as we were the only car of 2 making the trek that had space for it (this was a wedding gift from one family to the other). Not sure how heavy it was, but it gave about an inch of "rake" to the suspension for the duration of the trip out there. Probably did the clutch and engine no favors!
Waypoints:
Start: Southern VT > Bradford, PA > Oberlin, OH > Mishawaka, IN > Cedar Rapids, IA > Wall,SD > Custer, SD > Brewster, NE > Kansas City, MO > St Louis, MO > Colombus, OH > Pittsburgh, PA > Binghamton, NY > END: Southern VT
Highlights:
World's Largest Truck Stop
Badlands
More Badlands
Black Hills
Scenic Black Hills Barn
More Black Hills (bonus confused GPS)
You Don't See This Back East
Black Hills Stage Rally - this would be a 25mph road back east, tops
Obligatory Mount Rushmore
Farm Truck
BUFFALO
Theme of the Drive
Note for a little background on the car:
After 2017's road trip to Colorado went off with mostly success, we decided to it again in the Forester. At this point the car's history was catching up with it - there was a decent knock logged at high RPM that I mitigated in the AccessPort by shifting the timing a few degrees, and it was burning enough oil I had to top off fairly regularly. I had everything for a swap lined up & this was going to be the final event before the teardown. I was fairly confident the car would be fine, so long as I kept up on the oil and went easy on the throttle. Upping the ante was a real nicely cast concrete bench we offered to bring with us as we were the only car of 2 making the trek that had space for it (this was a wedding gift from one family to the other). Not sure how heavy it was, but it gave about an inch of "rake" to the suspension for the duration of the trip out there. Probably did the clutch and engine no favors!
