Howdy Folks:
I just wanted to share my recent 2000+ mile road trip to the Adirondacks. (PICS at bottom if you want to skip the write-up)
· Friday I77N to Fancy Gap Va. Got on the Blue Ridge Parkway North. Breakfast at mm176 Mabry Mill. Continued N to mm0, then got gas and lunch at Waynesboro Va. Went back to mm0 and continued north on Skyland Drive (Seniors $10 lifetime vehicle charge) for its entirety. (A total of 305 miles of a limited access twisting mountain road with a speed limit of 35-45mph speed limits) We spent the night at Harrisburg PA.
· Saturday I81-I88-I87- then 9-73 scenic byway to Lake Placid NY Spent Sat, Sun, & Mon nights there overlooking Mirror Lake
· Sunday Visitied High Peaks Gorge and drove the Veterans Toll Road ($16) to the top of Whiteface Mtn (Warning: this 5 mile road can wipe out your undercarriage, several times I had to swerve to the oncoming lane)
· Tues, we headed up to Plattsburgh NY to visit my brother on Lake Champlain
· Thursday, Left Plattsburg along the Lakes and Locks byway along the shores of Lake Champlain to Lake George NY. Then we hit the interstates to Reading PA where we spent the night.
· Friday, Hit the back roads of Lancaster County PA to checkout the Amish lifestyle and the covered bridges. My understanding is that the Amish do not allow ownership of motor vehicles. I saw at least one very nice multi-story house with a horse drawn carriage in the garage. After 50+ miles of back roads, we spent the night in York PA.
· Saturday, we took the highways and interstates home
Maybe of some interest for some:
· The Jag ran without incident (I was a lot more confident this trip than last years)
· I have been running 87 octane /up to 10% ethanol for almost 2 yr without any noticeable difference
· Highway mpg up to 23.9 (based on pump gallon reading)
· I question the accuracy of my trip computer gallons used (I will do further investigation, can this be recalibrated?)
· I purchased a Slime 2X Heavy Duty tire inflator that I really like, (see pic at bottom) (It is not a plastic take forever toy and out of the case will fit in the tire well)
Lastly, I updated my tool kit from last years Key West Fla trip:
· soft cloth bags (socks)
· metric wrench set,
· 1/4" Drive ratchet metric socket set, extensions and "Torx"set
· adjustable wrench
· duct tape,
· tie-wraps,
· some mechanic's wire,
· long nose, channel lock, and vise grip pliers
· ELM 327 / Android Torque Code reader
· Can of sensor cleaner
· Small but complete changeable head screw driver set
· Spare fuse of each size
· Microfibre cloths
· Squirt bottle of quick detailer turtle wax
· windex
· flashlight , headlight
· Plywood jack up pad
· tire plug kit
· portable air compressor /tire gauge /tire depth gauge
· multimeter.
· torque wrench
· Jumper cables
· AA & AAA Batteries
· Previous wiper blades
· Bungees
· Safety Glasses

 

Awesome! Looks like a great trip. I just picked up my '01 XK8 in Annapolis a few weeks ago and drove it back to the Chicago area. I had the tensioners done 2 days before I left and the trip was perfect. It took 2 days for the smile to wear off. I love your kit idea's. Thanks for that. Jac

 

Great pictures. Great memories.

 

I thought I was the only one that traveled with a cleaning kit. Well, close to your 'detailer spray' anyway, i put my sponge, soap, chamois, and detaler spray, plus a ton of microfiber cloths into my bucket, and jam it into the boot somewhere.

 

Great trip and pics. Makes a change from reading about broken Jaguars.

Did you get a puncture or is pic 17 only to illustrate the Slime 2X Inflator?

Graham

 

Jac:
I have to give credit to the members suggestions for last years trip. (I also forgot to list magnetic and pincher flex part retrievers)

 

GGG:
No Puncture
Yes, I did want to show the inflator off, but I really did top all tires off, an ~8-10 sec. burst bled back with my digital gauge, maybe because the temperature was colder

 

Dr. D thanks for sharing, although a couple of questions/comments....

Any sightings of the Lake Champlain monster (Champ), for those not in the know: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Champ_(cryptozoology)

Secondly, I believe you need to stop in at the cafepress store here and pick up a new Jaguarforums baseball cap, really a Benz hat in a Jaguar(?)

Glad to see that you had a great trip!

 

Checking the Slime website for the spec, it looks a good piece of kit and better than anything I can find over here.

Graham

 

Sounds like a great time. And it's nice to read about an enjoyable and trouble free experience with a Jaguar.

Thanks for sharing.

 

Very nice trip and beautiful pictures. Thanks for sharing.

 

In the pic below, could that strange thing about 6 boat lengths to the right of those distant vessels be Champ?

Just checking to see how observant you all are with the cap>> Actually I do have a couple of 722.6 MB trannies >>I think my wife is waiting for the embroidered version cap to come out.

 

duplicate

 

Dr. D, RE: Post #6 you are a man of honor giving credit where it is due. The reality on this forum is that even re-posting some things with a recent "spin" on them is helpful as so much has already been figured out by these Jaguar-Geniuses already. Reminders or recent applications of "old" idea's are welcome by me. With my "new" car I am finding that everytime I think I am onto something cool or some "unpaved" ground, someone has been there. It will be hard to give more than take from this site at this point but I will keep trying!

 

Nice pics Dr. D, I too carry my detail spray and microfibre cloths, I like to get the bugs off before they start bonding! I also carry a large soft bathroom towel for wiping down after a car wash. Of course I have the requisite flat cap and driving gloves in the glove box, used to wear pilots goggles in my old TR3, but it had aero screens. Might look a bit silly in the XKR, however I have noticed that when you really start to push along with the top down you do get a surprising amount of " amorphus debris" flying about!