Santa Cruz Ca. To Maine(Coast to Coast) 2014 LC stock. (1 Viewer)

[jsuthey]

Hey All, just wanted to post up from our trip back East. We just got back yesterday 11/2/21, we left on sat. 10/16/21.
We have been wanting to check out the Maine coast for years now and finally got the time off to go for it!

Our total round trip mileage was 7801 !!.
Highlights include 4 National parks in order ( Grand Teton, Yellowstone, Acadia & Arches in Moab! ) Even got to see Niagara Falls! Wow the 200 did great, So comfortable and powerful passing everybody but the gas ️ stations! The gas got cheaper as low as 3.02 $ a gallon !

I’ll post up a few pics of the highlights from Arches,Hands down Moab and the Arches National Park were our favorite!! We were there on Halloween night! Wish I had more time to explore there as we only had one day and night.

 

[jsuthey]

Here’s a few pics of Maine, the coast was amazing but we got there too late. We didn’t know how seasonal it was, some towns were shut down and so many restaurants and businesses were closed! But the tree peeping colors were super cool! I’ll add more later, Just wanted to post up some pics I have too many!

 

[bloc]

Awesome!

And I had no idea Maine shut down like that either. Great to know.

 

[PDoyle]

That water is cold too.

 

[hdj8081]

Nice pics! Great view! I did my florida trip from
Socal in july it was fun other than gas

 

[cboyd]

COVID has certainly meant that places have closed down earlier than usual. Staffing has been hard for seasonal businesses who rely on college students. Many coastal towns rely on foreign exchange students who weren’t allowed to enter this year. even places that don’t rely on students have reduced hours due to staffing.

We went to Acadia back in April, and really enjoyed the quiet. We were there so early that even the park entry booths were not staffed yet. Trust me you don’t wanna be there in the height of summer. It gets very busy

 

[jsuthey]

COVID has certainly meant that places have closed down earlier than usual. Staffing has been hard for seasonal businesses who rely on college students. Many coastal towns rely on foreign exchange students who weren’t allowed to enter this year. even places that don’t rely on students have reduced hours due to staffing.

We went to Acadia back in April, and really enjoyed the quiet. We were there so early that even the park entry booths were not staffed yet. Trust me you don’t wanna be there in the height of summer. It gets very busy

Cboyd, Hey yea nice that you got up to Acadia early. Since it was off season we rolled up there in the early afternoon w light rain. Not too crowded at all, we just did the loop road w a few stops and a tailgate lunch with beautiful views!! We ended up staying up at a nice place overlooking Bar Harbor up on the hill. Went into town for a nice dinner at a low key restaurant not right on the Main Street and it was good.
I get it now with the off-season help and all, some of the small port towns were really nice and quiet. Easy to park and walk around, we really enjoyed the Maine coast and avoided bigger cities like Portland and Bangor. We did end up going through Bangor on the way out, saw the Steven King house and surrounding neighborhoods. Very nice big homes, we wondered how warm they can keep them in winter months!
I wanted to check out going through the mountains around Bethel, Me. But was disappointed as we drove through nothing really open and not much options for a hotel! Ended up crossing over to Vermont then back over to West Lebanon,NH.
Then started off to upstate NY to Niagara Falls.
We just kept going on every night a different hotel! So much to see so little time but we made good progress and saw a lot of cool things.
I’ll try and post a few more pics of Maine coast. One hotel in Belfast was great the best ocean views!

 

[Otapnam]

Nice! What tires ya got on there? And how was the gas mileage?

 

[jsuthey]

Nice! What tires ya got on there? And how was the gas mileage?

Hey Otapnam, we are running BFG AT KO2’s 285/65-18’s on the stock wheels and yes running boards are still on!! It’s my wife’s DD and she actually likes them! I keep bugging her we need to take them off! So all stock 14 LC and just bumped up a size from factory tires.
Ok now time for the gas ️ pumping pain! Wow so I actually saved all the gas receipts I could and took cell pics of most all especially when it wouldn’t print one!
I have not done the exact math yet but here goes the basics:
7800 miles divided by a generous 15 mpg= 520 gallons x say an average of 4$=
$2018!!!
I am now curious how close this estimate is to actual numbers. The lowest gas I remember was lie $3.09/ gal.! Ca. Is way up there around $4.59 Or so.
Here’s our route with some of my chicken scratch, I lost track of the days because we stayed in a different place every night!

 

[Otapnam]

Hey Otapnam, we are running BFG AT KO2’s 285/65-18’s on the stock wheels and yes running boards are still on!! It’s my wife’s DD and she actually likes them! I keep bugging her we need to take them off! So all stock 14 LC and just bumped up a size from factory tires.
Ok now time for the gas ️ pumping pain! Wow so I actually saved all the gas receipts I could and took cell pics of most all especially when it wouldn’t print one!
I have not done the exact math yet but here goes the basics:
7800 miles divided by a generous 15 mpg= 520 gallons x say an average of 4$=
$2018!!!
I am now curious how close this estimate is to actual numbers. The lowest gas I remember was lie $3.09/ gal.! Ca. Is way up there around $4.59 Or so.
Here’s our route with some of my chicken scratch, I lost track of the days because we stayed in a different place every night!

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Awesome. We're about to install the same tires on my 2013 lx570 once everything comes in the mail - I actually scored the heritage wheels so I'm wondering if them being lighter will end up helping the mileage.

We just got the car so we haven't gotten any road trips in yet, so our first test will probably be Tahoe this winter

 

[jsuthey]

Here’s a few more pics of the 2nd morning after leaving Twin Falls, ID. Into Jackson, WY. Heading into Grand Teton Ntl. Park.& Yellowstone.

 

[jsuthey]

Here’s Grand Teton Ntl. Park early am. leaving Jackson. Wow we were blow away with the views and a some wildlife surprises. There are a number of dirt roads, We took a short one ending at a big lake w nobody around. We saw a big coyote running along the side of the trail, looked like a wolf! We couldn’t believe it but a park ranger in a suv came down and checked it out wile we were parked at the lake and turned around after a wave. We couldn’t help but think about all that happened recently with the Gabrielle Petito case. We are so sad for her family and loved ones, we knew we were close to where it happened.

 

[jsuthey]

Here’s a few of the locals! And into Yellowstone, We arrived at old faithful and prob only waited 15min for it to go off! Got the heck out of there as it was the most crowded area, we preferred the Tetons!