running the numbers

[iridium]

google tells me that Charleston to DC is a bit over 11 hours, which may be more than i can manage alone in one day. Charleston to Durham is pretty much on the way, and is ~6 hours. *sigh* i was hoping to borrow/rent a car and make it to Georgia, Asheville, & Durham between Saturday and Wednesday, then drive straight up to DC as soon as Matilda's ready, but doing all of that may be beyond my capabilities. i'll very likely go back out to Bowman/Peyton Ferry this weekend, and i might make it out to Asheville, but i'm not sure.

sholladay, you up for a visit sometime either this weekendish, early next week, or late next week? if Matilda's ready to go by the end of the workday on Wednesday, i may head out up the east coast on Thursday...

also, i need to check and see if a new/rebuilt engine requires any particular sort of care for breaking it in.

current extremely-tentative schedule:
today - 4/22 or 23: charleston
4/22-3 - 4/25: middle-of-nowhere, GA; maybe asheville
4/26: charleston
4/27: to durham
4/28: to DC
4/29: to NYC
4/30: in NYC
5/1: to boston
5/2 - 5/12-13: in boston (roast = 5/5-7)
5/13-16: boston to minneapolis-ish(not sure of route; might include syracuse, oberlin, ann arbor/ypsilanti, chicago; also tempted by niagara falls and little canadian highways)
5/17: house on the rock, minneapolis
5/18: to badlands
5/19: badlands (also: devil's tower, mt rushmore, what else?)
5/20: to yellowstone
5/21-22: yellowstone
5/23-25: to seattle (might shift this around to get up to Glacier NP, if it's open)
5/26-27: seattle
5/28: to portland
5/29-30: portland (might shift this to spend more time on the coast drive)
5/31-6/1: to oakland, as much of the coast drive as possible.
6/5: start work again

Comments

[coraline]

house on the rock is in wisconsin, about a 5-6 hour drive from minneapolis. i considered driving it when i went to minneapolis for fiddler's green but decided i wasn't safe to try driving that distance by myself.

[nacht_musik]

Looks like a rebuilt engine does indeed require special care to ensure a long life. Checking the oil frequently, having the oil changed at specific points, and a bunch of advice about avoiding constant RPMs and possibly about avoiding "long trips". I don't know if the "long trip" advice is more about the tendency on a long trip to have your engine RPMs stay at the same (lowish) levels for long periods of time, or about running your engine hot rather than cold; I'd suggest asking your mechanic.

I expect that instructions for such a big older-technology engine may differ some from the advice for current engines, but having googled for ["rebuilt engine" "break in" -motorcycle], here are some of the links: engines, motorcycle engines, and some random yahoos going on about engine break-in.

Regarding long trips, I take some encouragement from a comment made by some random yahoo in that last link, about how he did well "driving this way across Kansas for the first 500 miles - no normal driving, just repeated acceleration and coasting". (You should read the link for details...)

[jnbm.livejournal.com]

hey, you are going by me.. i'm between dc and baltimore and not far from 95 if thats how you are driving up...
if you have any extra time to kill my number is 410-980-6963

[sholladay.livejournal.com]

yes, please!

*heart*