Wife and I got home last night. We had a great time. Went from St John's Nfld as far west as Fort Wayne Indiana. Travelled through the Maritime Provinces ( including PEI) , Quebec and Ontario. In the United States; Indiana , Ohio, Pennsylvania , New York, Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine. Some final statistics:

Total distance covered in almost 4 weeks : 9711 km ( 6034 mi ) Oil consumed: between 0.5 - 0.75 L. Coolant consumed : zero (despite many days of 32+ c temperatures) Average fuel economy ( from trip computer ) 8.5L/100km (33 mpg imp , 27 mpg US ) . Avg speed 82 kph ( 51mph )

Had a wheel bearing fail in New England that caused bit of inconvenience but can't complain for a 14+ year old car with 201,500 km on it. The wife absolutely loves the Jag and I can say without doubt that it is the best long distance cruiser I have ever driven. New England back roads wit the top down is hard to beat

 

That was an epic!

 

Sounds like you had an awesome trip Barry_Tucker, except for the wheel bearing hiccup, it sounds as your car performed exceptionally! After living in Westchester county N.Y. for about 4 years, I became enthralled with travel up the coast into Connecticut and beyond. I returned to Atlanta with the desire to return to the east coast and explore further. Thanks for sharing your adventure with us, as it has inspired me to plan that New England bound trip in my XKR in the next couple of years. Your experience just goes to show the incredible GT capabilities of our cars. Thanks again.

Cheers, happy motoring, BK

 

glad that you had a nice trip. this is what these cars are made for.

any chance that you would share your routing information. this trip is a goal of mine now that the legs are trustworthy again.

 

I will be happy to , as best I can When on a driving vacation,my wife and I are very "relaxed" about routing. We generally head in a general direction with very vague goals and when 6:00 pm or so gets close then we look for a local hotel and restaurant. I usually stay clear of freeways/motorways and stick to two lane roads because they provide ( IMO ) much better scenery and take you right through towns. If we see something that we like , we stop and have a look. When in the United States I always make it a point to visit the tourist information centre near the state borders. They often have books of hotel coupons that can net you very good rates. As an example , we got a coupon for the Grand Hotel in North Conway ,New Hampshire for $89/night. The regular rate was $130.

On this trip, when we left New England to go to my cousin's place in Ohio we did take the motorway for part of the trip.

If you have any questions about any particular area/region I would be happy to tell you anything I know. We can correspond here or privately....your choice

 

thanks, i often hack the routing software to stay off the "preferred" roads and interstates. often in the US i plan the route and print paper maps using the original US highways that were bypassed by our interstate roads. a little historical research and often one can find the original country roads.

 

I didn't do anything as elaborate as that We just headed in the general direction of "town X" and avoided the motorways. If the tourist brochure of the particular state/province said that "route X is a scenic drive" or if there was a park we would drive that way. Got lost a lot , had lots of fun. I can tell you that US Route 1 in Northern Maine is not worth driving......nothing to see and the road is in poor shape. Once you get south of Calais Maine it gets much nicer.

 

Sounds like you had a great time Barry. I think I have driven all the highways you were on just not all in the same trip!

We use a GPS when we travel but add to the list of avoidances, highways and toll roads. Driving the two lane roads is much more pleasant and you really get to see the country.

 

We use a GPS when we need to find a specific location or get "un-lost"

 

That's incredible. Makes me wonder what the highest mileage X100 is out there...hoping to pass ~200,000 miles or ~330,000km in mine someday. They really do like to be driven.

I picked mine up from Chicago and drove it back to MA after it had been sitting basically unused for 6 months. Really rough in the beginning but gobbled up the miles once we got to Indiana. Where I also got pulled over for 85 in a 70. The cop thought the car was super cool so he let me go. Great guy.

 

Always great to see another Warren Zevon fan. Since he died in September 2003, every time I eat a sandwich I think of his very emotional final appearance on David Letterman. His 1976 self-titled album is one of my very favorites and remains in heavy rotation on my massive home audio system....

Yes indeed, enjoy every sandwich....

 

That sounds awesome.