Can my 1973 crew cab do a 4,000 mile road trip?

[D-Day]

The answer is yes. I got back last Saturday night from an 8 day, 11 state, 4,000 mile trip with friends.

In order...Ohio, Kentucky, Tennessee, Georgia, back through said states to Ohio, over to Pennsylvania (stayed in Philly 3 nights and days; popped over to New Jersey for a visit in Atlantic City), down through Delaware and Maryland, Virginia, dropped a friend off in North Carolina, headed back up through Virginia, West Virginia, back into Ohio to drop a friend off at Columbus airport, then home.

The plan was to have two friends bus into a nearby city via Greyhound, where I'd pick them up (Toledo), and we'd head to Centralia, PA to check out the underground coal fires, making about 2 stops in between then. Light driving, really. Then afterwards, we'd spend the last few days in Philadelphia, PA.

Well, plans changed. On the day before we were supposed to leave, my friend coming from Florida got stranded in Atlanta due to a winter storm up north. Greyhound sucks, and they didn't wanna go any further north. So, he stayed the night there until Friday, the day we were supposed to leave at like 7am (they were to both get in around 6am). Then he told me they didn't even know if they'd even have buses going out that evening, which would totally screw the trip up for everybody involved.

My friend from Vermont, however, was on time. Other friend was 632 miles away in Atlanta with no immediate plans for getting up here. He said he was thinking about just heading back to Florida and calling it off.

This was around 9:30am, and I had been up since 3:38am, and driving since 6:30am; in between showing my other friend my hometown and doing stuff like that. So I turn to her while we're idling down my hometown streets, "F--k it, wanna go to Atlanta?"

And so, it was decided. The trip already took a turn for the longer. I stopped by my house and grabbed some stuff, but not all my clothes, because they weren't dry yet and not packed. I'd pick them up on the way back.

So off we went. I drove down to Atlanta from Bowling Green, OH (after picking my friend up in Toledo, OH earlier that morning), got my friend, and made it as far back as Heiskell, TN that night. I'd been driving for over 16 hours and 800 miles on 5 1/2 hours sleep. Woke up at 3:38am, finally got off the road around 11:40pm. It was getting borderline dangerous, I was close to falling asleep.

So, wake up around 9am Saturday morning, and start heading for Centralia area. Skipping stopping in Cleveland because we were behind schedule. I stopped by my house, grabbed the rest of my stuff, threw it in the truck and we headed onward; making a brief stop in my hometown to take a breather and gas up around 5-6pm. Then we drove to Grove City, PA where we stopped for the night and met up with another friend. Already a hefty first driving day, the route from Heiskell, TN to Grove City PA from 9am to 12-1am was another 647 miles at least.

The next day we headed to Centralia, checked stuff out, then headed to Philly later that day and checked into a hotel about 11:41pm that night. I'm not sure how many miles I drove that day, but imagine from the west side of the PA border to the east. Plus some local driving around Centralia.

Then spent 3 nights and days in Philly - it was hilarious to see valet trying to park my crew cab in their parking garage. It was infamously known by all involved; the door man, the parking garage guys, desk clerks...you could hear it rumbling down the streets whenever they'd bring it up. It sounded as loud as a bus, with the exhaust cackling off the high city buildings. Tuesday we popped over to Atlantic City, New Jersey for a gander. Jersey sucks. Sorry, but it sucked.

Anyway, my friend from Vermont/Montreal was to depart Tuesday night via Greyhound to visit her brother in North Carolina before she went back to Montreal (school break). We didn't want the trip to end, so she extended her ticket to Wednesday night. Well, Wednesday came, and I didn't wanna leave her at some dirty bus depot...so I said...wanna go to Carolina? And so it was decided on a whim yet again, to drive another 450 miles. Out we went.

Got down to Elon, North Carolina around 12-1am that night after leaving Philly about 4pm and combating multiple city rush hour traffic. We hung around there a day or two, finally departed, and me and my friend headed back to Columbus, Ohio.

He got screwed by Greyhound, so he was gonna fly back from Columbus, a place on my way home. So, another 470 miles to there by way of Virginia, West Virginia, and Ohio. We stay the night there, then we meet up with another friend about 80 miles away, then drive back to Columbus so he can fly out. We say goodbye, then I head for home; the final 113 miles.

During the entire time, my truck had not one problem. I gave him some oil and trans fluid to stay topped off. Hardly used any water in the radiator. I was doing a lot of mountain driving too. I sped across all 11 states, cruising at 85-90mph was not uncommon; sometimes 100mph on declines in TN, PA, Virginia, West Virginia, etc. Anywhere with huge declines. I was carving corners at 85mph on wet West Virginia highways at night; my truck held steady and even.

By the grace of God, I managed to not get any speeding tickets (unless a camera caught me somewhere, but this was mostly rural, desolate highways; but I'm yet to be aware of it). I sped like a demon possessed, I made time everywhere we had a destination. I was sailing by cars and slicing through the traffic; my 35 year old truck leaving the most modern of cars behind in our wake. My truck and I were on a mission.


"We're on a mission from God."
-- Blues Brothers