DakotaMike
03-11-2013, 05:40 PM
My flight left Sioux Falls Friday at 7am, connecting through Minneapolis it put me in Tampa at 2:30pm. The guy I purchased the car from met me at the airport and we traveled the 20 mins back to his house to complete the paperwork. A 2003 XC70. Why did I buy a car in Florida? They are simply in better shape than in the MidWest and the retired owners take better care of them, like this one, all Volvo dealer service stamps. I had originally planned to have it shipped but once I got into the snakes nest that is the auto transport industry I decided to take a trip and go get it myself.
So I leave Tampa at 4pm Friday evening and head north on 75 up through Atlanta to TN. These cars are great freeway cruisers, so damn comfortable and I was getting around 23 ish mpg. I calculated the mpg at each stop instead of trusting the computer.
Once I got into TN I hit the sleet and snow, blowing snow that is. it wasn't bad until i got north of Nashville up towards the KY line. Taking it steady I was one of the few using the passing lane without any difficulty but it did slow my average speed. The snow turned to rain just south of St Louis and at daybreak and I pulled over for a nap. After about 3 hours and a quick drive through breakfast I checked all the fluids and headed through St Louis west to Kansas City. The car had been detailed before I picked it up but now it looked like it had been to Alaska and back. The trip north of KC on I29 was boring, but with an unknown car with over 100K on it I'll take boring all day long. It ran perfectly for pretty much 28 hours straight getting me home Saturday night. I appreciated the cars attributes the last 100 miles from Sioux City IA to Sioux Falls. Snow packed freeway with travel not advised, up here that means if you put it into the ditch they're not coming for you until the weather improves. I traveled with a Xterra and a 4runner, a steady 50mph, a very stable and reassuring ride from a great car. It was probably the first time the poor car had seen anything less than 32F or snow or ice as it had been in Florida from new. It probably hates me for bringing it to the frozen north.
1648 miles
So I leave Tampa at 4pm Friday evening and head north on 75 up through Atlanta to TN. These cars are great freeway cruisers, so damn comfortable and I was getting around 23 ish mpg. I calculated the mpg at each stop instead of trusting the computer.
Once I got into TN I hit the sleet and snow, blowing snow that is. it wasn't bad until i got north of Nashville up towards the KY line. Taking it steady I was one of the few using the passing lane without any difficulty but it did slow my average speed. The snow turned to rain just south of St Louis and at daybreak and I pulled over for a nap. After about 3 hours and a quick drive through breakfast I checked all the fluids and headed through St Louis west to Kansas City. The car had been detailed before I picked it up but now it looked like it had been to Alaska and back. The trip north of KC on I29 was boring, but with an unknown car with over 100K on it I'll take boring all day long. It ran perfectly for pretty much 28 hours straight getting me home Saturday night. I appreciated the cars attributes the last 100 miles from Sioux City IA to Sioux Falls. Snow packed freeway with travel not advised, up here that means if you put it into the ditch they're not coming for you until the weather improves. I traveled with a Xterra and a 4runner, a steady 50mph, a very stable and reassuring ride from a great car. It was probably the first time the poor car had seen anything less than 32F or snow or ice as it had been in Florida from new. It probably hates me for bringing it to the frozen north.
1648 miles