Picks & Nits from Recent RoadTrip...
 

1700+ mile run south from the Mtn to FlawRaDuh & back.

Took the X instead of theCEO's CR-V, though the X still has her 17" winter wheels and snow tars on. :tsk:
(CR-V has a crossthreaded/seized lugnut from recent frt end alingment; long stupid story).

-Overall mpg of 20.1 which reflects 90% of trip mileage at Very High highway speeds courtesy of theMissus's complete disregard for posted limits, :D (High speed and that suckey 5th gear, non-OD trans ratio=crummy mileage; what were the Teutons thinking?)
-Gas prices are kooky: ranged from 2.03 to 2.39/gal for prem.
-Coolant consumption was about Zero for a freaking change; maybe the undiagnosed porosity is plugged up, now? :confused:
-Used a Qt+ of earl. (Again, those manual trans/non-OD highway rpms are wearing me, the motor and stuff, out.)
-The dreaded, oft posted gremlins are back in the mode of pass mirror dipping, seat mem doing it's own thing, doors self-locking, etc. Irregular and inconsistent and not worth having the idiot Stlr try to diagnose or "fix".
-The high speed/Very hard braking steer wheel wiggle is back, on occasion. Could Some fooking Stlr find the cause and fix it while still under Warr and Ext Maint? :confused:
-A couple of truck tar recap tread dodges and a few high speed braking/manuverings continue to show the adroitness of this vehicle. No Vette or M3, but the sucka handles and brakes.
-A new wind whistle from upper driver side windshield. :(
-I wave at X5s, (and some X3s); few wave back. Must be too corny.
-Life is hard enough; good golf at first time courses is very difficult for this beginner.
-The "seasonal starter shack" has block walls up. :thumbup:
Good to be back on Mtn and see some topography/views.
BR, md

In my Wrangler, I wave at every other Wrangler I see, and most wave back. I haven't had the cajones to wave at other X's. Maybe this could start something!?

I'm tellin ya, md - the problem is the front suspension. If you get the control arms, ball joints and stabilizer links replaced the front end will feel just like new and the vibration you are feeling when braking will be gone. If I'm wrong then dinner is on me :thumbup:

Great recap of the trip, as expected. Glad to have you back!!

Good read, MD. Those winter tars must have taken a beating from 1700+ miles of asphalt.


As for waving I don't usually initiate the waving to other X drivers since 80% of them don't bother waving back anyway.

I notice that they DO glance over to see what you have in your X5, but you're right, never wave or smile back. Some also tried to race their 3.0 or 4.4 with mine :)

I do find myself glancing into the interior to see if they have nav or not. :eek:

In Chicago it seemed like there were so many X5's around that I would have been waving to every 4th or 5th vehicle. Back here in Motown, though, they are much less common (thank goodness)

Me too :D

I always, and still do, look over at the wheels and tires. Had a little case of wheel/tire envy. I still look over at them now, though instead of looking down to see them, where it's obvious, I kinda look right over now.

"-A new wind whistle from upper driver side windshield. "

I get that too. Anyone else? I THINK the side mirror is the culprit, but not clear....

Hmmm, everytime you take a roadtrip, we move to another internet forum. :dunno: Hopefully, we stay here!!

Welcome back!! :D

I get that wind noise and it seems to come from the driver's side window down around the mirror. Maybe the wind slippin through the space between the mirror and the mount?

I tried hard, but really couldn't pinpoint this new wind noise; def. left side and high up the windshield. I've had them before, but this sucker was new and a distinct whistle: only at 50+ and sorta went away at 85+.
Weird. I can live w/it, as the lil'3.0 is revving so freaking high at "cruise speed" w/the poorly geared 5th that the engine sound is like white noise.

Could it be the front windshield wipers? Digi had a post on RF about this, and all you've gotta do is lift up the driver's side wiper and drop it. And that should fix the whistling noise (???).

Anyone tried this trick?

IFly: I tried that at a gas stop, while cleaning the windshield. No work. The weird thing is this new shrill whistle jes'came on, during this trip and was intermittent at that: with cars/trucks in front, no cars in front,etc.
No biggie...the least of my worries. BR,md

Depending on the mood I'm in, I am sometimes more courteous to other BMW drivers, X5s in particular... Even now. There are too many 3ers out there :p .. I also park next to other BMWs, unless they've gone out of their way to park away from other people (in which case I leave them alone)...

Hey MD
 

Where again (approx) is your place going to be in FL? I'm pretty familiar with the east coast, and went down with a buddy a couple of weeks ago to do some exploring of the Gulf side (on a couple of beat up Harley rentals!). From Venice down to Marco. Traffic was total gridlock. Next trip I want to see from Venice up to St. Pete.

I also want to find some rivers that run inland a ways. Preferably where there is blue claw crabbing....

Sigh, this happens to me every winter.
;)

Dan: the seasonal starter shack is in Naples, way up on the north edge of Collier county; not old Naples, not Port Royal, not Grey Oaks or Tuscany, et al.
A middle class dev. wedged in between Quail and Quail West, but not even close, $-wise.
Yeah, I know Naples/Bonita Springs/Marco is crowded and full of really ol'dudes in 6 figure cars that have not seen 80 mph on the interstate. But, it's an experiment for us and at the price level we pre-bought at, a year ago, it's doing better than most of my portfolio. :D

The main attractions were: I wanted Zone 10A or 10B for temps, (tired of 57 fooking winters), and theCEO's ol'man lives there 6+ months/yr.

Hey, we are on the 2nd hole of a golf course and I don't "need" to get out and drive around there, much. It, Naples, does have a decent symphony, ballet and art museum, all of which we enjoy doing regularly and we don't have to engage in the really big buck charity circuit and foofoo resturant scene. If we don't like it, for whatever reasons, we can waddle somewhere else. It's making dough in the meantime.

FLA has to be one of most boring and metro-crowded eastern states for M'cycling; not sure I'm gonna take any of mine down.

Everyone's got their own bag...
Time will tell, but I look forward to getting outta Dodge and off this Mtn next winter. BR, md

Plenty of really nice rivers around. Ft Myers and Bradenton have em, as do some other places. Lots of places to explore between Venice and St Pete. I don't know if I'd ride a bike though. With MD on that one. That's why they make boats - so you don't have to ride a bike. ;)

Well I thought Naples was really nice David. I can see why you'd stick your foot in the water there - and being on the course is great. I can see why wherever you bought in the area the value would be doing well.

And both you and YJ are right about the bikes. Something about getting out of town and on to a couple of bikes in the sun sounded like a good idea though - and all in all it was. Man, there were a lot of people on Harleys who had trailered them down to N. Florida, then took off riding south. I missed my VFR.

Anyhow, look forward for helpful hints for my next gulf coast getaway. (So where can you catch the blue claw crabs there Michael?! River life is good.) Still might try a bike again. This time I've got a line on some FJ1300's which would be perfect. Or better yet, maybe drive my boat down in November and bring her back in April.
:)

When you get closer to coming down, let me know more what you're after, and I'll try to give you some pointers. The West Coast, if I may say so, is a pretty cool place to explore. I'll have to check into the crabbing thing for you. It seems to me that they are about everywhere, and I never knew that it took any special talent or location to get them. Maybe it does, I'll find out. If you come by water, I can give you some pointers there too, and would be glad to oblige. Maybe we'll splash a little fish blood on our boats (or just mine) while you're here. We can show MD there's more to Florida life than golf (egads - sacrilege I'm sure).

YJ: I used to do some deep water stuff off the Joisey coast, ca. mid-late '70s: many shark trips w/a friend, (back when we didn't know the poor damn sharks are Not the enemy!), including some overnight runs to the Balt. Canyon for white marlin,etc.

I agree w/you on "more than golf" and I am looking forward to jes' "being" in zone 10B as opposed to agZone 5 or 6.

Me&theBoss love to Scuba, though the Gulf is so-so, but Crystal River is a day trip, (one of the great fresh water drift dives in US,imo.), and some of the liveaboards we've been on go out of FtLaud. Yeah, lots to do. I feel like a kid again. Lots of new flora and fauna to learn. Not wishing my life away, but with 2" of white stuff here this am, I can hardly wait to spend next "winter" in southern FLA.
BR,David

Sounds like another fun trip md. 1700 miles!!!! :driver:
Welcome back.

You're the man. On this coast, you have to go 100 miles out to get to marlin country, and I'm range limited with gas engines way before that. If I can convince the fam that diesel engines are more important than a game room addition to the house, I'll upgrade this year.

I'm afraid, though, we'll have to adjust our offshore expectations for another year or 2. Once you're out of cell phone range, though, it's all good (no clients, no employees, no solicitors....). Only my wife has the number to the sat phone, and she wouldn't call unless it were life threatening.

Whew, tough sell!

My Balt.Canyon experiences were mostly good: decent overnight chugs on my bud's boat,(twin diesels, capn'lisc.), to near mill pond conditions w/a slight roll. Marlin was v.exciting but a Lot of time/money put in, to hook one. The long run back to Brielle,NJ was always a trial w/the off shore afternoon winds and big fooking waves. Alas, I was a much younger man then. Not sure I'd do it today in that 40ish foot boat.

Hey, buy those FLA Lotto tix; you might hit. The gov't bastards are misusing the dough neway. The schools get screwed from what I have been reading.
BR,D

Oh god, don't get me started. 3 kids in public school here, which was excellent when I attended, and has started to slide of late. I've actually been seriously considering a run for School Board. It seems to me that you be required to have kids in the system to be on the Board, but that ain't the case.

Anyways, I'm getting out now before this gets to be a very long, underappreciated post. I'll end it by saying you sure have picked up alot here in a short time. :thumbup:

edit: I came very close to a trade about a month ago. I don't think that, prior to that, the fam really thought I would do it. They've become a bit more militant about the home addition since. :)