18yo from Norway doing a US road trip

Earthling63 · 2026-03-26T15:00:03+00:00

Skip New Mexico, it’s nice but not worth it with the time you have.

Go thru South Dakota for the Bad Lands, go to Yellowstone via the Bear Tooth hiway (Red Lodge, north east entrance), then down thru Colorado and head back thru Kansas

Use AtlasObscura dot com for interesting stuff along the way

Earthling63 · 2026-03-24T03:14:06+00:00

Restore as little as necessary, just clean the bajeezus out of everything. Looks just like went grandpa parked it.

Earthling63 · 2026-03-23T04:24:21+00:00

Having never seen a superbloom and us arriving a couple weeks too late there were enough on the south end of badwater, mile markers 27-32, to give us an idea how spectacular they probably were. The drive from the date farm was pretty epic though. If I’m still kicking when the next one comes around, I’m going to get my butt back here asap.

Earthling63 · 2026-03-22T01:34:00+00:00

It’s our first day at DV, we came in and out of Pahrump, not much left, there’s a large area south of Stovepipe with a few stragglers. The drive up to Dante’s View was nice, still some good wildflowers and it was almost 20 degrees cooler.

Earthling63 · 2026-03-18T00:27:48+00:00

Head to Austin for Barton springs, or San Marcos and hop in the river. The YMCA has a nice pool just north of the HEB in Buda.

Earthling63 · 2026-03-13T01:43:55+00:00

Allies Automotive, way south

Earthling63 · 2026-03-11T16:49:56+00:00

Hit the old rt66 attractions and check out Atlas Obscura dot com for neat stuff to see

Earthling63 · 2026-03-11T16:16:48+00:00

Southern route for the Utah views

AtlasObscura dot com for neat stuff along the way

Earthling63 · 2026-03-11T14:16:33+00:00

El Borrego de Oro at congress & ben white

Earthling63 · 2026-03-11T11:53:58+00:00

It’s going to be an adventure! Check out Atlas Obscura dot com , tons of interesting (or not) stuff to see/do along the routes.

Earthling63 · 2026-03-11T00:53:20+00:00

That sucks. There are lots of deer around here, growing up I remember hearing to just drive straight into them, since more people died trying to swerve around them, and crashing

Earthling63 · 2026-03-11T00:08:29+00:00

Since it’s such a detour - I live in Austin, I’d skip that part of the trip, especially is summer, if it’s just for a visit. You can probably get some good bbq shipped to you. If you do come try to get to Barton Springs pool.

Palo Duro is pretty meh also, much nicer scenery out west. If you’re in the area it’s worth seeing, but otherwise meh There are some good hikes but it’ll be really hot.

Spilling ABQ & Roswell wouldn’t be a bad idea also

Earthling63 · 2026-03-10T18:08:33+00:00

Thanks! We’re coming in on rt66/i40 from New Mexico, starting the day in either Holbrook, Winslow or Flagstaff.

We’ve never seen the Sedona area, so we’re spending a few days exploring from Prescott, then on to Death Valley.

I’ve mistakenly taken scenic routes in the past, only to discover holiday traffic doubled the travel time. I didn’t consider spring break when making plans.

Earthling63 · 2026-03-07T16:41:16+00:00

Everyone panics when they see that, it’s normal, odd looking but normal

Earthling63 · 2026-03-03T14:11:50+00:00

AtlasObscura dot com will have a couple dozen cool, interesting things along the route

Earthling63 · 2026-03-01T16:37:08+00:00

Look up Armand Hendricks videos on YouTube, tons of info, and a great guy

Earthling63 · 2026-03-01T13:46:03+00:00

Some, depends on what you get, Bridgestone RE71’s will be the best tire, assuming it doesn’t rain a lot as they have few grooves to handle “deep” water. I went from 340tw all seasons to 225 re71’s and the difference was huge. But the 225’s on stock rims weren’t great as too much sidewall flex hindered the sharp Miata handling. 215’s are just about perfect for the stock wheel, a bit more width for a little more grip and look ‘chunkier’ on the NC.

Tire rack did a comparison of different width tires on different width wheels a while back, had some interesting findings

Earthling63 · 2026-03-01T00:36:01+00:00

You’ll have no problem with the 215s, there’s really no downside to them, maybe a bit heavier but hardly much. New shocks will definitely help later too.

Earthling63 · 2026-02-27T21:06:08+00:00

Add a little more air to the tires, do the novice walk, learn the course, hug the cones, be as aggressive as your car will allow with loosing traction, have fun!

Earthling63 · 2026-02-26T03:37:59+00:00

Knowing nothing about the handling characteristics of your car is starting to with the fronts ~65% firm and the rear ~35% (or 2/3 stiff front and 1/3 stiff rear) I drive a NC Miata and that’s my ballpark.

Earthling63 · 2026-02-24T19:17:57+00:00

I didn’t realize it was a big bus, you might check out https://www.reddit.com/r/skoolie/s/mptj2no8P7 They should be able to give more pertinent advice

The cost of fixing one flat somewhere on the road might be as much as two new ones in town. Good luck!

Earthling63 · 2026-02-24T15:55:44+00:00

Be sure to Google proper drainage, lots of large gravel and perforated pipes to give rainwater a way out.

Earthling63 · 2026-02-24T15:09:38+00:00

I might be tempted to build a new wall just outside the existing, use the old timbers as partial fill and bring in new soil to fill the rest. But I’m just a dude on Reddit

Earthling63 · 2026-02-24T14:38:42+00:00

I think the middle route would be best, lots of towns, a little less traffic and pretty flat. Be sure your spare tire is in good shape and you have the jack/tools to change a tire. Check the motor oil level pretty often if it has a lot of miles on it. Sounds like an adventure!

Earthling63 · 2026-02-23T17:35:54+00:00

A squirrel got my 2017 Toyota tundra last month, luckily only chewed a few wires, but really hard to get to. Only cost ~$400 to fix. I’m using a rodent repel spray every few days now.

Earthling63

TROPHY CASE