So this was going to be my 3rd trip in 3 months. First time was with truck and a U-Haul trailer. Winter so we took the I-5 Cali route in 2 days. Came back on 95 through NV up through Klamth Falls(Stopped for the night) to Eugene and in. Truck has a 6" lift and id a diesel so 75 to 80 and 15MPG is all you get at that speed.

This time I am taking the MINI back. It was just in the repair shop for 3 months getitng rebuilt after someone hit me in front of the front wheels from the side. I know ther eis only about 3 inches there at the front wheels where untouched. Spun the car around and I thought she was totated. At first they said 7K ya sure.
It was over 20K when they were all done. Motor came out and they had to remove and replace the engine rails. The shop had all the BMW required equipment. I was not going to find a replacement as I ordered this car from the factory. I was glad they decided to fix it. Came out great. My detail guy went over the car as he had to rewrap all the black and but the clear gard back on. Made out great as they have a new product that is crystal clear and no wrinkles. Looks way better over my black paint which showed all defects. Car I think is as good as new. My MINI shop (Fife) did the motor pul and reinstall. They made sure she was right.

So now the test- 1500 miles in 24 hours. Mapquest said 23 and 1/2 for the faster route i would be taking. Left My house at 3:30 AM in the rain. Head over the pass in mixed snow and rain but I knew it wouldn't be sticking. I am not carrying chains so I check my forecast and to be sure I didn't get stuck. Lots of hills and twist in the dark through Yakima. First fuel was just over the boarder in OR. Only got 26 MPG ouch but there where lots of hills but I was not pushing that hard. Next leg was to Boise and and I fueled up in Mountain Home ID. 27 MPG and I was pushing a little harder with lighter rain and daylight. MINI was running flawless. Next was TwinFalls and to Ely NV for a fill up. Ran even harder and now I got 28 MPG.

Next I left Ely and opted for the shorter route route on 318 instead of 93. It cuts 30 to 40 miles off plus i was hoping for less traffic. I probably had a little less traffic but there was still a ton plus trucks. 318 is closed twice a year for a race.
Silver State 1000 is one I believe. Great road and it has a 6 mile and 14 mile straightaway! You can see a long way in the desert. The MINI is perfect for pass
and a blast to catch the next car a mile or 2 ahead. Pushed really hard here and got lucky. 2 cops I saw already had people pulled over were sitting where I could see them. My biggest fear was meeting one head on at speed. Running no electronics and my GPS(New TomTom)died in the middle of NV never to recover. I went off memory at that point. Through Vegas and now it was getting dark again and I was getting a bit tired. Filled up in Kingman for the final push home. Hardest run with the highest top speed on several long streaches and got 29MPG. She likes to go fast in 6th.

Now open desert and 2 lanes back into AZ. I told myself I was going to slow it down. I the trip back in the truck running hard at night I came on a like truck that had been in a accident. A buddy hit a Mule dear doing 65MPH in the same truck an it only caused about 1K in damage this truck was totaled. I saw big ears and thought it was huge for a dear. It was a MULE! Open desert! Mental note to slow down at night. Well outside of LV I took some caffine and some 5hour which I never tried. Leaving Kingman I was wired and wide awake. My plan to go slow fell apart early. I was wired and running hard for home. I cracked up the Sat. Radio to max and I was rocking on the way to Scottsdale. Before Wickenburg I came up on a pack of outlaw bikers running hard but not harder than me. I had to slow and follow for a bit because with the colors they were flying I didn't think blowing by in the MINI was a smart move. Once through Wickenburg we headed south and they turned up the wick. They were now running pretty much wide open at night trhought the desert. I figured they were going to get the attention of any PO PO so I droppe din a 1/2 mile behind and and turned up the wick too! I could follow there lights ahead of me and the roar of the Harleys was sure to clear the road of any animals. After about 20 minutes some of the bikers couldn't keep up and started to fall behind. I started passing them in groups of 2's and 3's trying to stay with the lead pack. As time went on more got passed and I was just tailing the the 2 lead bikes who were haulling ***. Well I made real good time on that last streach. Finally towards 17 the bikers pulled off to wait for there buddies. I pulled over and they were a bit suprised to see it was a MINI that had been keeping up. They said they thought it was Vette or Porsche keeping pace. I rolled on as told them there buddies were about 30 minutes. 2 minutes later POPO was everywhere and had a different bunch of bikers pulled over. Made the trip in 20 hour's and 5 minutes shaving 3.5 hours of the Mapquest projected travel time. I averaged 75 MPH and that included 4 stops for Fuel-food and one road side Pee brake in the NV desert.

The MINI was beast on this trip. We let a couple of cars by only to pass them shortly later for getting hung up in traffic never to be seen again. No one got by the MINI and she was great drive at speed. She hides and blends into traffic well and the MINI Connected took care of the entertainment and tunes. The MINI was gone for 3 months getitng repaired and she back as good as new. Just turned 20K on her and she ready for some track days.

 

Pictures of the wreck and after please, loved the story it was great and glad to hear their another mini back on the road!!!

 

So I had to bring the Mini back to Seattle in June. I went through central NV all on 2 lane roads and did the trip and just over 18 hours. Not sure what I could drive that could do it faster. The Maserati would attract way to much attention on the fly. Passing in the MINI is nice and easy and quite. The Maserati over 85 would suck there doors off and scare the hell out of them.
No one is calling in that a MINI just blew there doors off. Hit a bird at a very high rate of speed and the motor picked up the vibration from it hitting the top of the wind screen. Motor reduced power and had to shut down and restart and then all was fine. Actually toke 3 bird hits in NV. One hood and 2 windscreen. Have film on the windscreen and hood so no damage. He MINI is just a beast on the open road. Fast, stealthy and excellent fro eating large tracks of highway and high speeds. I did the same route a few weeks later with rented Chrysler mini van and 2 cats and the wife. Still did it in 19 and 1/2 hours. Only and 1.5 hours behind the MINI and had nowhere near the top speed, corning or passing ability. Not to bad.
Wife did not like the route as I let her drive the mini van for two hours and she did great not giving back much time. The road is great but no margin for error in 95% of the route. It is 4 to 6 ft drop to the sage brush if you drop a tire off the road. No shoulders to speak of either but great wide open desert driving. I also bought the new Escort radar detector for this trip. Made for open driving mainly and very sensitive in town. It was a big help but false alarms tend to slow you down at time when there is no need.
I was hauling *** and I saw a Tahoe coming so I just had a feeling. I slowed it to about 80 when he hit the instant on. The just kept going as they give you lots of slack out in the desert. There are about 5 good route between PHX and Seattle. Would be a great start and stop for a new west coast cannonball run!

 

I do Van-tuckey to Phoenix Metro at least once a year to visit family, I grew up in the Valley of the Sun. My next trip will be next month, always down and dirty though, never a leisurely drive like I would like, but hey, I'm in my MINI and the whole way!!
My layover is usually in Valencia, CA by MapQuest standards -
15hr. 2min....!! Will probably end up there on the way down, but thinking on the way back I'll hit Patterson, CA (Mid Point) 10hrs. 36min...!!
Total Miles: 1370.33, 21hrs. 32min.

Last year Hubby and I took a 2wk Vacation did the Grand Canyon, sightseeing in Sedona (you have to see Sedona, if you haven't already), then when we had some free time when to Montezuma's Castle and Tuzigoot Natl. Monument, even that seemed like a whirlwind trip!!

 

I bet its a gorgeous drive! I do Seattle to Boise and back about once a month. I love driving the yakima valley area at night. Those twisties are so much fun, especially at night when there aren't a whole lot of other people to bother about.

 

3 weeks from today Molly and I will hit the open road for our WA to AZ Road Trip 2013, I've pretty much decided to stay in Paterson, CA both ways, it's mid-point and won't kill me...I've thought long and hard and yes I've driven the 13hrs. to Valencia, but this year I'm thinking it would be better to shut down after 9hrs. of driving.

 

Thanks for sharing own experience.

 

Just completed a reverse trip from Seattle to PHX in my Maserati GT Coupe. The goal was to beat my MINI time and frankly I didn't think it would be possible. I ran hard in the MINI and that car is way stealthier then the Maser. Also the Maser has a Larini exhaust that you can hear for miles. I ended up beating the MINI time by about 10 minutes. I got stopped in NV for 92 in a 70 but he wrote me for 80. I also had a 45 minute delay because of paving in NV that cost me a lot of time. The LV to PHX portion was also slow in the Maserati as I would not run as hard as I did in the MINI through the desert at night. In the MINI I was following outlaw bikers at very fast speeds. I figured there loud bikes would clear the way which they did and the cops and everyone else, lol. The Maserati actually clears animals well too. All I see is buts heading for deep cover as the exhaust is a bit loud. Was actually a trip of a life time. It was great the first time in the MINI but the Maserati was off the hook.

Started of in the rain pretty much until I got east of Mt Hood. Maserati ate up the freeway and I was 30 minutes ahead of my schedule at PDX. Made up another 30 minutes over my fast projected time running to Prineville. Left at 3AM so I beat all the early traffic at PDX and heading over the mountain. Was in the low 30's so I was a bit worried about ice and there was fresh snow on the sides of the road. Car was pretty load down with stuff too. Trunk was stuffed and the back seat was level with clothes.
Pretty much the most weight I have ever had in the car. You could feel she was running heavy but it kept the car sucked down to the road. Ran pretty hard as the light started to come up outside of Prineville but traffic started to pick up too. Maserati has little issues passing. MINI is excellent at passing also but more useful for passing one or two cars. The Maser can knock off a couple of semis and 5 cars very quickly. Where the MINI does not build the top end you tuck back in and wait. With the Maser you can just hold her to the floor and pass the rest of the line. Fueled in Prineville and got 17MPG but with the bigger tank about the same range as the Mini.

Outside of Prineville there is a great little short-cut rural road. Now I started to press harder with the lack of traffic. Terrific road with some nice corners. Now onto I believe
26 headed to Burns. Temperature drops to 32 and it starts to snow. I am running 100
and the desert has a couple inches of fresh snow. Nothing sticking to the roads but it is starting to stick to the road signs. Not good. I back down a bit and take a couple of pictures running at speed and the snow. In about 10 minutes it stops and sun comes out for good. Top off in Burns and head south out of town on a new road I had not run in the Mini. This remote road is so sweet. Smooth and lots of sweeping turns with great views and no traffic. It goes through Denio, NV and I highly recommend it. Maserati ate of this stretch of road. Lots of high speed cruising with no traffic and open road you can see for miles. lots of 120 to 130 cruising here. I also got a chance to open her up a couple of times on a few straight stretches that were 5+ miles long.
Dropped to 4th gear and let her go. 150 was my previous best as this requires a open road with no traffic and no place for other cars to enter or pull out in front of you. This was the place. She jumped to 140 and I shifted into 5th. Around 165 I shifted into 6th and she was still pulling hard. I looked at the GPS 173! I held her down a bit more and she hit 176 and was still pulling. Wow that was fast. If I took the weight out and pumped up the tires she might hit 190. Very impressive but I for that I would want a smoother road. This was the best portion of the trip.

I did get a ticket in NV south of Austin. I got her slowed down prior but not enough.
He came over a hill and there was no traffic in front of me to draw his radar signal.
He was nice and wrote me for 80 only a 90 dollar ticket. Delayed me about 10 to 15 minutes. Ran into chip and sealing on the ET highway which was a major delay. Lost at least 45 minutes here. I pretty much gave up trying to break 18 hours at this point.
LV had traffic and so did the rest of the run. I backed off a bit and set into more of a fast cruise then the previous scorched earth run. Really love these trips. Wife wants to sell the house up north but I am holding on as it means a few more trips.

The Mini and then the Maserati. Trips of a life time.

Repeated the same run the following week in a rented MINI van with the wife and 2 cats. Did it in 19.5 hours with the wife driving 3 hours of the trip. 95 was about as hard as you could safely push the Van. Not as much fun but it is a great drive.

 

Norman OK to Oak Harbor WA in a Hummer with a trailer 30.5 hours. Had to stop about every 200 miles for gas. I was wishing I was in the mini!