Colorado Caravan to Black Rock City II

[illy dilly]

I'm good. But Stressed.
Need to get off the ePlaya and get back to work.
And on that note I'm glad we're doing well on planning our caravan!
I need to get a couple more members of my camp on board. Some folks are stubborn.... for no reason. Its frustrating.

We need to decide what hotel to book our rooms at for the night in West Wendover. I'm thinking cheap as possible.

[souldrifter]

Yes,things do seem to be coming together well.If it helps you any a 10am.departure on Sat.is np for us now.We're gonna go get Ultra on Fri.,so whatever you want to do on Sat.,we'll be ready.As far as a motel we're on the same page price wise.Just let me know what one.I'll do some research tonight.

[illy dilly]

I was gonna throw you my hotel idea on here, but then I'm starting to think it might be a little too "product placement" so I'm gonna PM you with what I think could work really well.
If anyone else would like to know my scheme feel free tohit me up!

[souldrifter]

What's the latest news Illy?

[illy dilly]

No news yet.
Still cat herding

[illy dilly]

Looks like a lot of the hotels are actually sold out. Kinda leaves slim pickens.

[Dr. Pyro]

Is the Sands in Reno sold out? We took down an entire floor.

[illy dilly]

I have no idea.
We're talking hotels in West Wendover, NV or Wendover, UT. A little over half way between Denver and BRC. But just far enough that when you wake up you can go get a killer breakfast buffet for cheap.

[souldrifter]

So what's the status of the caravan?

[illy dilly]

I'm thinking Quality Inn in Wendover, UT.
It is like 2.3mi from the Casinos, and a bit cheaper. I think after driving 1200 miles we can throw an extra 2 in there to get from the hotel to the casino for breakfast buffet.

We are all set time wise on our side. Everyone has been informed, or will be informed that we are leaving my sisters house at 9:30am. (knowing our crew we'll actually leave at 9:58). That will put us at WalMart at 10:30, we can all say hello, work out our "I need to get off at next exit" signal plan. Figure out what order we'll travel in.
And be on the road at 11am!
Will put us in West Wendover at about 11pm.
Check in,
Hit the hay,
Wake up,
Drive 2 miles to Casino,
STUFF OUR FACES!!!!

Though, the casino buffet is like $15. I bet there is a Denny's or something in Wendover that would have cheaper breakfast.

[souldrifter]

Very good.That all sounds good.On our end we're straight.We're driving to Steamboat Springs on fri.and picking up our 2 riders,so we'll be ready to go Sat.

I'm with you on breakfast,what would be ideal would be to find something suitable within walking distance of the motel.I'll check and see if they have vacancies,and what the rates are and all.Will get back with you to confirm this is the plan before I reserve anything.it's coming together

[illy dilly]

Im reserving our room at the Quality Inn right now.

[Cassidy]

Any word on if your Sunday-leaving folks want to caravan? We'll be driving a long passenger van this year and leaving Sunday early-ish headed up and around to I-80 in Wyoming.

[AntiM]

I'm thinking Quality Inn in Wendover, UT.
It is like 2.3mi from the Casinos, and a bit cheaper. I think after driving 1200 miles we can throw an extra 2 in there to get from the hotel to the casino for breakfast buffet.

We are all set time wise on our side. Everyone has been informed, or will be informed that we are leaving my sisters house at 9:30am. (knowing our crew we'll actually leave at 9:58). That will put us at WalMart at 10:30, we can all say hello, work out our "I need to get off at next exit" signal plan. Figure out what order we'll travel in.
And be on the road at 11am!
Will put us in West Wendover at about 11pm.
Check in,
Hit the hay,
Wake up,
Drive 2 miles to Casino,
STUFF OUR FACES!!!!

Though, the casino buffet is like $15. I bet there is a Denny's or something in Wendover that would have cheaper breakfast.

A lot of the casinos run a two for one on the buffets. I know Red Garter does for truckers. They have breakfast specials that are cheaper than any Dennys ($2.99), and last week they were doing free rooms on weeknights. A little sleazy, but hey, pretend you're in a bad movie.

There are no Dennys in Wendover. Seriously, google restaurants in Wendover, and you get fast food places and the truckstop.

[illy dilly]

A lot of the casinos run a two for one on the buffets. I know Red Garter does for truckers. They have breakfast specials that are cheaper than any Dennys ($2.99), and last week they were doing free rooms on weeknights. A little sleazy, but hey, pretend you're in a bad movie.

There are no Dennys in Wendover. Seriously, google restaurants in Wendover, and you get fast food places and the truckstop.

Nice!
AntiM, I was really hoping you would post here!
From what I saw on the Casino web sites it looked like weekend brunch was like $15 bucks. Does this sound accurate? Or do we need to get there earlier and hit Breakfast and not Brunch?
I'd really rather not spend $15 bucks for breakfast.

[AntiM]

They only do brunch on the weekends. The Peppermill/Rainbow/Montego Bay have the big fancy buffets and $15 sounds right. Red Garter is trashy, but filling. We had two for one because Larry has his CDL. I don't recall what they charged for the buffet $8? But you can order a super-cheap breakfast off their menu.
Otherwise you have Arbys, BK and a Mickey-D. Or go to Albertson's (Smith's??) grocery and buy pastries and fruit and juice. Good place for last minute booze.

[AntiM]

http://www.landracing.com/forum/index.php?topic=8437.25;wap2

[illy dilly]

Anti M, thanks for the heads up!
Always a help!

[illy dilly]

The CO caravan was a complete and utter fucking failure of epic proportions.

[Cassidy]

Dam, sad to hear that. We didn't get out of Ft. Collins till 2:30am on Sunday (technically, Monday morning) either. Ug.

[illy dilly]

Dam, sad to hear that. We didn't get out of Ft. Collins till 2:30am on Sunday (technically, Monday morning) either. Ug.

OMG thats fucking rough! You didn't even leave Denver tell after gates had opened? Holy shit, I would have blown a gasket and probably punched someone in the face! and then regretted it

We were supposed to meet Souldrifter, on Saturday, at wally world on Tower and I-70 at 10am, and leave there at 10:30am. One of our main drivers, who had the box truck, and 'heavy lifters' for the camp didn't even show up to HQ until 10:30am. Then we still had a few things to load into the box truck before we could go.
What we did not know and had to learn the hard way, if you're driving a vehicle that is likely to break down don't travel on Sunday as parts stores are not open. And if they are open, but don't have the part, they can't get it tell Monday morning anyway.
So for 2012, we think we're leaving Denver on Thursday.

[junglesmacks]

What we did not know and had to learn the hard way..

..is to never rely on anyone else but yourself.

[illy dilly]

What we did not know and had to learn the hard way..

..is to never rely on anyone else but yourself.

And rely on my self I did! I've never removed an entire Chassis Air Conditioning system from a car or truck, but I learned how in the Walmart parking lot!
It would be impossible to carry 1 of every spare part that could break in an 1989 Chevy Big Block. I'd have to tow a trailer of spare parts.... Or travel on Friday and Saturday so that I can get parts!

[Cassidy]

Maybe you've learned a valuable skill? But who wants to be learning HVAC crap when there's fun to be had!!

Our main delay was that the van we rented Saturday morning had such a f-ed up front end alignment problem that both front tires were worn almost bald two inches from the center. The tires looked brand new from the outside but when you squatted down to look at them from the front, you could see there was NO tread on the insides. ARRRRGH! I refused to drive 2000 miles with the wheels like that so I spent 3 hours (you're WELCOME Auto Integrity!!!) at Discount Tires. The whole frustration and stress slowed down the entire packing process beyond repair. It almost came to tears but didn't because we took a much-needed hot-tub break after finally getting packed and then a quick nap... so our Sunday morning take-off turned into Monday.

Luckily we had no more problems on the way there or back, except for the sideways misty rain, blinding white-out fog through construction over the mountains, insane-o wind on the plains, kamikazie bugs and animals and ridiculous rumble-strip-crossing, one-lane highway construction with the Big Trucks.... oh, and the 5 hour exodus, but everybody else going our way had that too, so that evens out. It rained like hell for the entire day when we got back, so unpacking playa-dusted everything in the rain was a bit messy, but that, too, turned out to be a pleasant change for my (by then) snake-like skin.

Also, I managed to see a double-rainbow at sunrise both on the way there AND on the way back. It just made things seem not so bad, in the quiet sunrise of the morning... And I also reflected on how bad things were last year... This was 10x better. So, you can imagine.

[junglesmacks]

FYI, tires that are worn only in the middle like that does not equal alignment problem.. that means that they have been over inflated and are ballooned out. All you needed to do was check the tire pressure..

Alignment will be either the vehicle pulling to one side, or one edge of the tire being worn from the toe in/out being out of adjustment.

The tires looked brand new from the outside but when you squatted down to look at them from the front, you could see there was NO tread on the insides.

[Cassidy]

Thanks, junglesmacks. Not being a "tire person" I really am just relaying what the Discount Tire guy said... I've had bubbles in my tire from a manufacturer defect before but never *anything* like that. The steering wheel jerked a good 2 inches back and forth when I got above 40mph (which I finally reached when I was about halfway home), so, either way, I wasn't having it! And they certainly should not have rented it in that condition. Good to know about overinflation, though.

We stopped to help a young couple that had a blowout on their trailer on the way home. Makes me wonder if there's a car-preparation/repair/resource thread about how to prepare and what to do when you're stranded in a fully-packed vehicle in the middle of Nowhere? Maybe there's something under Preparation...

{off to see}

[illy dilly]

Makes me wonder if there's a car-preparation/repair/resource thread about how to prepare and what to do when you're stranded in a fully-packed vehicle in the middle of Nowhere? Maybe there's something under Preparation...

{off to see}

There are quit a few threads on this.
And I always like to remind people of TIP #1: Don't pack all your shit on top or in front of your spare. Nothing sucks more than having to unpack everything on the side of the road just to get your spare tire or worse yet just the jack out of its compartment. If need be, take the tire, jack, and tools out of their hiding spot- then stuff some of your shit in its place, then repack the tire, jack and tools in an easy to access area.

Cassidy, ya know...
I was actually commenting the entire drive home, now nice the weather was. But we left BRC Sunday afternoon, slept at some rest stop between Fernley and Winnemuca, and really got on the road about 9am Monday morning.
I only had one bad gust of wind in Wyoming. Typically I80 through Wyoming is windy as hell! Though, we typically hit Wyoming in the late afternoon. This year I hit Wyoming about midnight.
Next year my plan is to get through Wyoming at night, all the truckers have stopped to sleep, there is less wind, and even when there was, it didn't matter because I had the whole road to my self.

[Cassidy]

Another tip, learned from those crazy kids... make sure you have a jack that will be able to lift your trailer up enough to change a tire, on the side of a slanted road, in the gravel. Their mini-suv jack barely lifted it up enough to be able to loosen the lugs. Luckily, we had a GINORmous jack for the 15-passenger van that, unluckily, was somewhat under everything else (2x4's, bikes, coolers), but at least was close to the back and not under the floormats or anything. I did check that before we left, that the spare tire was not stowed inside somewhere, knowing what a pita that would be. We earned their last, cold lemonade, in that heat... with a real nice EMT guy that had also stopped to help, but his jack was too small...

ha ha ha

sorry, emt guy,
it was funny.

[illy dilly]

Another tip, learned from those crazy kids... make sure you have a jack that will be able to lift your trailer up enough to change a tire, on the side of a slanted road, in the gravel. Their mini-suv jack barely lifted it up enough to be able to loosen the lugs.

Never thought of that!
Good tip!

Another one on a similar note "Is the jack strong enough to lift the vehicle with all sorts of stuff, beer, water, and gear inside?"