The Restoration of a HZJ73V-MES...

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Kudos to you. 6000 miles ... you, your Cruiser and your bride. That alone is grounds for success. A few years ago, my bride and I drove the Blue Ridge Parkway and Skyline Drive in my BJ70. We were sightseeing and let it take 10 days. Being in the 70 with me for 10 days, exceeded her tolerance levels and was looking at booking a flight home. In the end, she toughed it out. What we covered was just a taste of what you and your bride.

Congratulations on a great trip on multiple scores
 
We ended up having a great trip after 27 days on the road we still weren't ready to come home. We packed a lot in, burning man, the shining hotel, Telluride film festival, countless state and national parks, spas, hot springs...

The HZJ73 was good size to travel in for us, cruises at low 70s on the highway. Honestly got better milage after we got out of the southeast and started bounces over mountain ranges of the west. At high altitude 8K plus if you keep it above 2,600rpms it doesn't smoke like most complain about. I think we were close to cracking 12k on some of the mountain passes in the San Juan Mountains. The HZJ73 with everything in proper working order and bunch of sound proofing it's honestly not bad to DD or travel in If you have realistic expectations. What does happen on long stretches of highway is getting stuck behind someone moving slower than you and the traffic in the left lane moving 80plus. I don't mind hitting 80 in it but I don't keep it there long.

Game changer for us on this trip was having an electric cooler, not hunting for ice every few days was really nice. The second was tint, the ac blows ice cool in it but you would still get bothered by the sun blaring down on you. It also gave us some privacy since everyone likes to look into the truck when being on the highway.

Truck stayed cool even in the 112 degree heat in death valley, that being said.... I will say visiting death valley in the summer time was actually great. Highly recommended. We explored the valley floor in the mornings and camped at 8000ft of elevation at night overlooking the valley. Only one other person in the campground, I guess most people are afraid of visiting in the summer months, at that elevation it was only in the 70s.

Useless musings from the road...
*I liked Toiga Pass in Yosemite better than the valley itself if I'm honest.
*Nevada is the most desolate, "hills have eyes" people state we drove through.
*East Colorado to Florida sucks, it just does. Nothing but churches and fast food.
*Utah is gorgeous
*Lake Tahoe, hang at the nudest beaches = no kids
*California has the best old school signs and vintage stuff sitting around in small little towns.
*The washer fluid reservoir is not large enough for the amount of bugs you kill with an almost flat windshield.
*Having just destination points and time for just accepting what the road had to offer was great

Traveling in an older truck with in my opinion the perfect amount of tech made it feel like a real old school road trip. It felt like we traveled back in time a bit when we were on the open road with no one in sight behind or in front of us.

Downey sounds like a good trip, Ive traveled that a bunch in the 70 series. I have family up north so when I go visit I just get on Blue Ridge / Skyline Drive. Anything is better than a 1000 miles on I-95 :steer:
 
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We ended up having a great trip after 27 days on the road we still weren't ready to come home. We packed a lot in, burning man, the shining hotel, Telluride film festival, countless state and national parks, spas, hot springs...

The HZJ73 was good size to travel in for us, cruises at low 70s on the highway. Honestly got better milage after we got out of the southeast and started bounces over mountain ranges of the west. At high altitude 8K plus if you keep it above 2,600rpms it doesn't smoke like most complain about. I think we were close to cracking 12k on some of the mountain passes in the San Juan Mountains. The HZJ73 with everything in proper working order and bunch of sound proofing it's honestly not bad to DD or travel in If you have realistic expectations. What does happen on long stretches of highway is getting stuck behind someone moving slower than you and the traffic in the left lane moving 80plus. I don't mind hitting 80 in it but I don't keep it there long.

Game changer for us on this trip was having an electric cooler, not hunting for ice every few days was really nice. The second was tint, the ac blows ice cool in it but you would still get bothered by the sun blaring down on you. It also gave us some privacy since everyone likes to look into the truck when being on the highway.

Truck stayed cool even in the 112 degree heat in death valley, that being said.... I will say visiting death valley in the summer time was actually great. Highly recommended. We explored the valley floor in the mornings and camped at 8000ft of elevation at night overlooking the valley. Only one other person in the campground, I guess most people are afraid of visiting in the summer months, at that elevation it was only in the 70s.

Useless musings from the road...
*I liked Toiga Pass in Yosemite better than the valley itself if I'm honest.
*Nevada is the most desolate, "hills have eyes" people state we drove through.
*East Colorado to Florida sucks, it just does. Nothing but churches and fast food.
*Utah is gorgeous
*Lake Tahoe, hang at the nudest beaches = no kids
*California has the best old school signs and vintage stuff sitting around in small little towns.
*The washer fluid reservoir is not large enough for the amount of bugs you kill with an almost flat windshield.
*Having just destination points and time for just accepting what the road had to offer was great

Traveling in an older truck with in my opinion the perfect amount of tech made it feel like a real old school road trip. It felt like we traveled back in time a bit when we were on the open road with no one in site behind or in front of us.

Downey sounds like a good trip, Ive traveled that a bunch in the 70 series. I have family up north so when I go visit I just get on Blue Ridge / Skyline Drive. Anything is better than a 1000 miles on I-95 :steer:
Every thing in this^^^

especially:
*East Colorado to Florida sucks, it just does. Nothing but churches and fast food.
and
Anything is better than a 1000 miles on I-95 :steer:
except anything is better than 10 miles on I-95

Looks like a great "trip" thanks for the ride along
 
Awesome sauce. We don't often do travel trips in our 70 series but when we do it's great for all of the reasons that you explain and show so well. Thanks for sharing!
 
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