slomove

Latest Participant Update. Removed the "maybe", itinerary not changed: Tour Start Sat, 7/9/2011 Jackson, WY Ranch Inn 45 E. Pearl, Jackson, WY 83001 800-348-5599 $105.00 Sun, 7/10/2011 Jackson, WY - Thermopolis, SD 247 miles Grand Teton, Shoshone Res., Wind River Canyon Roundtop Mountain Motel 412 N. 6th St. Thermopolis, WY 82443 1-800-584-9126 $79.00 Mon, 7/11/2011 Thermopolis, SD - Newcastle, WY 269 miles Southern Bighorn Mountains, Thunder Basin Grassland Pines Motel 248 East Wentworth, Newcastle, Wyoming 1-800-946-4334 $78 Tue,7/12/2011 Newcastle, WY - Custer, SD 50 miles Jewel Cave Nat. Monument, Crazy Horse Monument Rocket Motel 211 Mt. Rushmore Road, Custer, SD 605- 673-4401 $79.00 Wed, 7/13/2011Custer, SD - Custer, SD 149 miles, Hill City loop, 1880 Steam Train Rocket Motel $79.00 Thu, 7/14/2011 Custer, SD - Custer, SD 120 miles Southern Black Hills, Wind Cave N.P. Rocket Motel $79.00 Fri, 7/15/2011 Custer, SD no driving Laundry, car care, town visit Rocket Motel $79.00 Sat, 7/16/2011 Custer, SD - Custer, SD 198 miles Mt. Rushmore, Norbeck Scenic Drive Rocket Motel $79.00 Sun, 7/17/2011 Custer, SD - Deadwood, SD 266 miles Badlands National Park Cedar Wood Inn 103 Charles Street, Deadwood, SD 57732 800-841-0127 $120.00 Mon, 7/18/2011 Deadwood, SD - Hulett, WY 146 miles Sturgis, Spearfish Canyon, Sundance, Devil's Tower N.M. Best Western Devils Tower Inn 229 Highway 24, Hulett, Wyoming 82720 307-467-5747 $104.39 Tue, 7/19/2011 Hulett, WY - Dayton, WY 280 miles, Little Bighorn Battlefield Nat. Memorial Elk View Inn, 27 miles west of Dayton, WY on Hwy14, 307-461-4168, $69 Wed, 7/20/2011 Dayton, WY - RedLodge, MT 212 miles Northern Bighorn Mtns, Chief Joseph Hwy., Beartooth down Yodeler Motel 601 S Broadway, Red Lodge, MT 59068 866-446-1435 $125.00 Thu, 7/21/2011 RedLodge, MT - Jackson, WY 225 miles Beartooth up, Yellowstone, Teton N.P. Ranch Inn 45 E. Pearl, Jackson, WY 83001 800-348-5599 $105.00 Tour End Tourers: Gert B. SoCal, Birkin (hotels reserved) Dion D. SoCal, Locost (hotels reserved) Randall Z. SoCal, Birkin (hotels reserved) Bill G. NorCal, Stalker (hotels reserved) Skip C. / Tom M. Colorado, sharing a Caterham and a truck (hotels reserved, Newcastle-Red Lodge) Lancylad Alberta, Westfield (hotels reserved, Black Hills only) Bob S. Colorado, Caterham (hotels reserved, Black Hills only) Derek W. Colorado, Lotus (hotels reserved, Black Hills only) Stewart G. Alberta, Stalker (hotels reserved, Black Hills only) Herb Utah, Birkin (camping, Jackson to Black Hills)

That has been around forever in Garmin GPS even before the Nuvi times. I have used it extensively to plan all my Seven tours including this year's Black Hills tour. However, Garmin decided to leave the route load feature out of the lower cost Nuvi devices, probably for marketing reasons and making them useless for me. Also PC software did not come with the package, you had to separately request it. I have not looked if the newer low-cost Nuvis still have this limitation; they come out with new models all the time. You need to check the specification having at least 10 or more "routes" and in the past that meant you could create them on the PC and download to the GPS.

We are going to stay at the best Western Landmark Inn in Park City Friday night, because we want to be in Jackson by noon. But that is not exactly close to you, I guess.

I have a preliminary answer from our friends that it should be possible at their place or their neighbor's. But she is still checking with them. I gave them the size info "about an F150 with a 16' flatbed" and hope that is not too far off.

Whatever it is I would need to let Bill G. know. AFAIK he is going to need trailer space too and he is not often here on this board.

There are 2 RV rental places in Jackson who might do that? I will also write our friends tonight where we are going to store our trailer if there is more space in the neighborhood (8 miles north near the airport).

For the folks new to long distance touring in a Seven, here my personal checklist for some items to consider. Obviously if everything goes alright you don't need all this junk, but many items don't really take much space. I just like to be as self-sufficient as possible. As the passenger seat is occupied, I have a luggage tray in the back of the car so that I can pack all that. The clothes, laptop and the like go into watertight roll-top duffels like this one. Very handy.

The tongue load will also depend on the tow car. 600 and 750 lbs may be good for a serious truck and a big trailer but my Hyundai or e.g. a Volvo wagon could not handle that even if rated for the tow weight. I read somewhere about 10-12% of laden trailer weight would be optimal for the tongue so I keep it at 300 pounds and never had fishtailing.

No idea about the Beartooth Hwy which is really high up but probably well maintained. There was ample snow at the side of the road when we were there 2 years ago but perfect road conditions. But I returned today from a trip to Europe and had a chance to check out the Bighorn Mountains from above. Some snow patches at higher altitudes but nothing contiguous and I would guess the roads are well open. Black Hills is not that high altitude, anyway and we have another 2 weeks to go. Hey, it is Summer, after all.

Very Cool! I am wondering if we would get a discount ;-)

Thanks! That was a good idea. If I should lose or break my GPS I would have to rely on memory. And I am losing that, too :willy_nilly:

I have live axle on my Birkin and did not find this an issue on the road and even less on the track with good shocks and some setting experimentation. Actually I find it a pretty well behaved ride. It takes a pretty rough road in a curve to get it hopping and the few time I drove a DeDion Caterham I did not notice much of a difference. I would check the springs and shocks.

No idea about racing seats but while you are at it, you may want to get a taller roll bar (or lower your butt with the new seat). FWIW I have the Roadster7 seats from Cobra, UK. Nice comfy seats that look good in a Seven with excellent side support but a bit on the heavy side and rather expensive with shipping. There are probably other reasonable options.

For the skin I would consider 5052 alloy. Rather corrosion resistand and formable. For the floor it does not matter, you can use the cheaper 6061. I have not measured the thickness but estimate the skin of my Birkin to be maybe 30 or 40 mil?

Sorry to say but that is totally unpredictable. Many time noise induced tinnitus goes away after hours or days but sometimes it just stays. I have a tinnitus in my right ear for the last 20 years. Fortunately not too bad and often I just don't think about it. But it never goes away and so far there is no cure only some "best practices". And yes, there is an app for that... Good luck that it just goes away!

Ahem, blush, I am honored. But I would like to respectfully decline the nomination. I guess I am a bit out of the way which makes it not so practical and not much of a club function guy anyway. Actually the folks who know how unorganized I am would probably not want to see me in the function of a secretary, anyway :smilielol5: I am happy to serve as the unofficial tour organizer :seeya:

I fabricated new wings stays last year and used 1.5" thick pieces of lumber (a.k.a. 2x4) as spacer on the tire to cut and tack weld the tubes in place. Works pretty well. You can probable go 1" depending on the side overhang. If it gets too tight you won't get the wheel out from under the wing. Or you must provide for an easy method of removing the wing but that would be a pain in the arse.

For the folks who do the whole tour: We may already meet at the hotel but otherwise we have planned a tour start dinner Saturday 7/9 at 7pm at the Snake River Brewing Company. It is only 2 blocks or so from the hotel. For all others joining en route, please just call me when you arrive (numbers were e-mailed).

Well, I would be wondering if the train restrooms have a holding tank or just dump on the track :puke:

I looked up where to find gas stations on the way so that we don't run out on the longer distances. There are two places with convenience/feed store gas pumps, I am not sure about. If they don't have gas the longest distance would be about 140 miles. Not sure if we have a 10 mpg Crossflow car among the tourers but I will carry spare 2 gallons just in case.... A-Jackson to Dubois 84.8 mi B-Dubois to Lander 73.9 mi C-Lander to Riverton 28.0 mi D-Riverton to Shoshoni 20.1 mi E-Shoshoni to Thermopolis 32.3 mi F-Thermopolis to Worland 32.7 mi G-Worland to Ten Sleep 27.0 mi H-Ten Sleep to Buffalo 63.5 mi I-Buffalo to Kaycee 46.2 mi J-Kaycee to Wright 84.0 mi K-Wright to Newcastle 72.4 mi L-Newcastle to Custer 36.4 mi M-Custer to Hermosa 26.5 mi N-Hermosa to Scenic 77.7 mi (questionable) O-Scenic to Wall 66.9 mi P-Wall to Rapid City 55.5 mi Q-Rapid City to Deadwood 43.3 mi R-Deadwood to Sturgis 13.2 mi S-Sturgis to Spearfish 18.8 mi T-Spearfish to Sundance 72.9 mi U-Sundance to Hulett 36.2 mi V-Hulett to Alzada 31.8 mi (questionable) W-Alzada to Ashland 102 mi X-Ashland to Battlefield 62.0 mi Y-Battlefield to Ranchester 55.1 mi Z-Ranchester to Lovell 104 mi ZA-Lovell to Powell 21.8 mi ZB-Powell to Cody 24.1 mi ZC-Cody to Red Lodge 113 mi ZD-Red Lodge to Cooke City 63.6 mi ZE-Cooke City to Yellowstone Canyon 51.0 mi ZF-Yellowstone Canyon to Yellowstone Fishing Bridge 15.5 mi ZG-Yellowstone Fishing Bridge to Jackson 100 mi

Well, better now than in 5 weeks. At least you don't seem to have the ignition lock on the steering column :jester:

I have a good used Zetec ZX1 in the shed just in case mine gives up (knock on wood). When I got it from the junk yard I took it completely apart to the last bolt and washer, blasted the outside crap and rust off, power washed and dried as good as possible, covered everything generously with thick oil and packaged in neatly labeled Ziploc bags, or for the bigger parts in heavy duty trash bags. Was a good weekend's work, though. If I ever need it I can pick the required parts or rebuild an entire engine from it.

Cool. The more the merrier and, since this is a self-organized tour you are welcome to join at any time. Looking forward to meeting you there! I would appreciate if you could PM your cell number and email. I want to distribute a list to the participants, just in case somebody needs help or similar.

Is there a place with information and updates or where one could sign up?

We could confirm the limitations of the stock intake in a local dyno shootout. See below, the yellow line for Stan's ZX3, even with larger 65mm single throttle body. Pretty good low end torque but runs out of steam around 5500 rpm. Not that this was a slow car by any means, or maybe even superior for road driving. (Disclaimer: Randall's Athens' and Justins' engine were not measured on the same dyno, thus the comparison may be off). http://lh5.ggpht.com/_242PlvPtVpE/SxMlkjN3VsI/AAAAAAAAA3Q/Zoe4cHf82co/AllDynoResults.jpg