When are we leaving? How are we getting there? Where are we staying? When are we coming back? Who is watching the cats and house? What are we going to do there? What are we going to bring?
As we prepare to hit the road in our old Suburban for a drive over the potentially snowy mountain passes and put another 600-700 miles on the 215k+ miles it already has on it, part of our travel preparation included taking care of a few "maintenance" items.
First up...so exciting...fill up the gas tank! Woohoo!
Our Suburban is a 1996 and it literally has a 44 gallon tank. Do the math on that... $3+ per gallon X 44 gallons = $132. Luckily I had a bit of gas in the beastie already, but it still wasn't a cheap visit to the Fred Meyer Fuel Station.
Yes, that says 31 gallons for $98.50. The good news? Gas prices have dropped from nearly $4 a gallon a few weeks ago to only $3.17 a gallon. When you buy 30+ gallons...those pennies add up! The bad news? We will have to fill up again to make it home.
The combination of huge gas tank and lots of miles is one of the reasons we don't drive the Suburban on many long trips anymore. We find that with gas prices what they are renting a cheap economy car for a weekend or few days is actually less money. This trip though, due to the length of days and the potential weather, we are using the 'burb.
Next on the list of to-do items...an oil change! This is some exciting stuff, I know! Trust me, I was thrilled at the many opportunities my errands provided me to play jewel star and peruse facebook and twitter.
I stopped in at the local Pennzoil 10 Minute Oil Change and the nice technicians there changed the oil (using a high mileage-heavier weight motor oil), checked the air filter, brake fluid, transmission fluid, wiper fluid, radiator fluid and made sure there was plenty of air in all the tires. There was a bit of a wait (more jewel star opportunity for me!), I guess other people are getting prepared for traveling, too!
One nice thing about the Pennzoil here in Medford is that with every oil change you get a free car wash at Crater Car Wash right next door!
That was the next item on my list: run the 'burb through the car wash. There is nothing worse (okay there is lots of stuff worse) than heading out for a road trip in a dirty car. I figured I was there...it was free..the 'burb was dirty...might as well.
Here are some fun pictures:
A full tank of gas, a fresh bunch of oil, and a clean burbie...we are ready to go! At least as far as the transportation is concerned.
How much is gas in your neck of the woods? Do you change the oil and wash the car yourself?
I wash MY car myself, but the 'burb is hugemongous and it goes through the el machino car wash.
PS...you can find reviews of all of these businesses plus many other reviews on my Yelp page.
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