Cross country Road Trip in our new Z! KC to Californa. No Interstates!

[Jah_Happy]

Photos are awesome, appreciate you sharing your journey!

 

[jayhawk70]

Day 4 and 5: all the way home

Day 4 was a long one: Ouray, Colorado to Carson City, NV. 852 miles. 14 hours trip time, 13 hours driving time.

Left Ouray at 6AM to beat tourist traffic out of town. Highway 50 joins up with I70 in Grand Junction, CO.

US 50 is co-resident with Interstate70 from Grand Junction to its terminus in central Utah. It is a beautiful gently winding super highway through the colorful rocky terrain of eastern Utah. Very little traffic as it ends in the middle of nowhere, Utah. Still felt the need when passing what few cars or trucks on this road to um, launch HARD! More catapult shots… Wheee!

Speed limit was 80MPH. Passed one of those curve ahead signs that recommend 75MPH! (Did not get a photo)

Highway 50 leaves I70 in central Utah and heads due west, becoming the Loneliest Road in America. (officially called that in Nevada)

Very Empty! A few years ago I drove it with my son and one stretch of 180 miles we saw 3 cars. This time we probably had about 10 cars per 100 miles. Make sure you have a good air pump and a full tire sealant canister in you new Z. (Or a spare tire from a 370Z, which fits just fine in the new 2023 Z.)

Services (Gas) are non existent for the 184 miles between Delta UT and Ely, NV. (there was a gas station at the Nevada border, but it appeared to be closed as we sped by.

Got into our intended destination of Ely, NV with so much daylight left (the day before the Summer Solstice) that after a scenic stop at the Nevada Northern Railroad museum, we pressed on.



Then, west of Ely, we started running into swarms of "mormon crickets" crossing the road. (https://www.msn.com/en-us/kids/anim...-swarms-of-smelly-mormon-crickets/ar-AA1cUXMp)
Our wide angle dash cam couldn't get a good photo, so I've included a news photo of what we were up against. (Another challenge for the PPF...)

Passed by the Fallon Naval Air Station where the Navy’s Top Gun school is now located. As we passed through the bombing ranges in the area, we carefully watched for Navy attack aircraft dropping practice bombs. Fortunately, there did not appear any planes in the air, so the PPF was not challenged.

Stopped for the night in Carson City and crashed immediately.


Day 4 stats: 852 miles in 14 hours. (13 hours driving time) Trip average up to 29 something.

Day 5: Carson City, NV to home in the SF Bay area. The Terminus of US Highway 50 is in Sacramento, 3073 miles from its other end in Ocean City, MD)

Lake Tahoe. At the Cave Rock boat ramp in Nevada, looking west.

Final stats: 2070 miles. Trip mpg average: 30 mpg (some sources indicate the Z’s computer is a couple of miles per gallon optimistic. I did not check against miles and gallons pumped) Average speed 44 mph. (this was not the Cannonball Baker Sea to Shining Sea Memorial Trophy Dash).

Manual Reset 2 was set in Kansas City.

Lots of bugs, on the front of the Z where we had the PPF. Some mormon crickets included...

Cleaned up beautifully with some proper car wash solution and a microfiber cloth.

The Xpel PPF took on miles of dirt highway, 2000+ miles of bugs, rocks, and dirt and remains beautiful. I'm impressed.

So now the new Z is with its great, great, great, great grandfather. Both purchased new 50 years apart. Taking both to ZCON.

 

[Z06fan]

Thanks for sharing the journey!

 

[Jagman2000]

I came back to see how your trip was going and it was great to tag along. Thanks for the recaps and pics - what fun. And your Z pictured in most all pics - good to see you are keeping it clean along the way - ha ha / sounds like something I would do...snickers

 

[TKAZ]

What a great thread. The folks at ZCON are gonna love this.

 

[jayhawk70]

Afterword: While putting together this story for an 240Z focused website, I added a photo taken in 1974 of my 240Z at a stop in Utah while traveling from KC to California. This photo was digitized from a 35mm slide - my photographic medium of choice back then. I did not remember exactly where in Utah that was, just that it looked like Utah to me.

Then I noticed a similarity with the profile of the cliffs in the cliff above the 240Z in the earlier photo and of the cliff on the right in the photo below! Could they be at the same location?

Using the geotag info in the new Z photo, identified the location as the Black Dragon Canyon View Point on US 50. Google Street View then showed this image from that View Point.

I unknowingly took a photo of my new 2023 Z and my 1973 240Z at the exact same place, 49 years apart! Wow, history repeats!

 

[Trackaholic]

Great thread! Love the Zs! I bought my GT350 in Oklahoma and drove it back to CA with my dad. It was an amazing journey and I see that yours was similarly fantastic. Thanks for sharing it.

-T

 

[trackratZ]

Awesome share and great pics! Keep them coming. How's the reaction of the public seeing the new Z?

Hope to meet up with you on Sat, I'll be there with my '73 at the show.

 

[Jah_Happy]

Awesome share and great pics! Keep them coming. How's the reaction of the public seeing the new Z?

Hope to meet up with you on Sat, I'll be there with my '73 at the show.

I cant say for sure but Id imagine the reaction is overwhelmingly positive. At least it has been for me. People seem to love the Z in person which makes sense because it really does have a presence up close. Thank god because the online reception is the opposite when I post on IG and reddit lol.

 

[Houston.RZ34]

This thread is beautiful.

 

[trackratZ]

I cant say for sure but Id imagine the reaction is overwhelmingly positive. At least it has been for me. People seem to love the Z in person which makes sense because it really does have a presence up close. Thank god because the online reception is the opposite when I post on IG and reddit lol.

It's pretty exclusive right now, maybe ever, to see a rolling new Z on the road, nice work! Keep the pics coming on your way here. I've always wanted to do the 'buy-road trip' experience, on my bucket list, just not sure now for what car LOL.

 

[jayhawk70]

Drove the new Z to ZCON and back. Drove US 101 on the coast from San Francisco Bay area to LA as we are so done with I-5 and its 80mph bumper to bumper traffic. Takes an hour or more longer, but that is a small price to pay to avoid I-5.

ZCON was a blast. Hope it comes to the left coast again soon. I really want to try the autocross in the new Z.


Our new Z with a couple of Proto Specs during a stop at the Crystal Lake Cafe on the Mr. K's Fun Run up Glendora Mountain Road. (the "GMR" to the locals) Great twisty sports car road.

Some of the Zs on the fun run.

 

[Dot’s son]

Awesome thread

 

[trackratZ]

What a trip! Great pics! So has the Z lived up as far as reliability, no squeaks rattles? Respectable mpg also. Makes me look forward to a buy-road trip home, capturing these types of memories.

 

[jayhawk70]

What a trip! Great pics! So has the Z lived up as far as reliability, no squeaks rattles? Respectable mpg also. Makes me look forward to a buy-road trip home, capturing these types of memories.

The new Z has been rock solid. No odd noises (except when we forget to release the emergency brake...

I have not paid much attention to the in town/city milage, but seems to be in the high 20s, at least as measured by the car's computer. I need to start logging the milage by gas stop gallons and odometer milage to see how accurate the car's computer is. I suspect it is a little optmistic.