PSA: Iris Is A Road Trip Warrior

[Taylor Martin]

7 hours in the car today, 3.5 hours each way, and over 300 miles to go to a wedding in South Florida. Granted, there were more people there than I would've liked, but it was outdoors and my mask never left my face... even though some of the people around me believe this whole thing a hoax... I'll be staying inside for the next two weeks, as will my two roomies. Seeing nobody, and going nowhere (getting tested is possible, but pointless, since you have to show symptoms in order to get a rapid test, and in 7-9 days we'll likely know if we have COVID from the symptoms anyways. I'll likely get one on the 10th or 12th so that I can have the results before I leave on the 19th to 22nd).

The venue was a hunting camp well of the beaten path, with unpathed roads and dusty trails.

And Iris took it like a friggin champ!

She has more dust and dirt on her now than most truck owners do in the entire course of owning their vehicles (it was even dustier, but it rained a little on the way back). I'll hose her down tomorrow, cause right now I'm a little spent, but her 16-gallon tank and wonderful handling in highway conditions made the trip a breeze. Besides, the grit and grime adds character, as to the various dings and dents she's had for a while.

I love my car, and I love driving it.

But that being said, I hope none of us get sick, even in the slightest, otherwise my Christmas plans will get axed completely which would be a real bombshell to end 2020 on... a real sad bombshell. All I want for Christmas is to go home.

Here's my Cowboy formal attire, which was the dress code for the event. It's the first time I've worn jeans in a while and I have to say I don't remember them being this comfy.

Now, if you'd excuse me, I'm going to hull up in my apartment and stress until I either 1.) show symptoms or 2.) get a negative test, which I'll get closer to Christmas... gulp...

Take care folks.

[jminer]

These wagons are awesome road trip machines, my Sportwagen TDI is the same.

Hope you stay healthy, this shit is serious.

[Taylor Martin]

@jminer Saw your post lugging furniture on top of it. I don't think I'll ever own a car without roof racks again (at least not a daily. They're too useful not to have).

[DipodomysDeserti]

@taylor-martin People dressing up as cowboys in Florida don’t get to make fun of clean truck owners ; )

[spacekraken]

@taylor-martin Nice! My i-named wagon Indie says hi to Iris haha

Sounds like a good adventure, nice drive, and kudos for staying safe-hope things go well!

[Taylor Martin]

@spacekraken Indie looks well equipped for the snow. I miss the cold, but it was a nice cool night tonight so it wasn't miserable.

Lots of Sportwagons... er... Sportwagens on the site haha. Sick foglights by the way, they look real sharp.

[Taylor Martin]

@dipodomysdeserti Hey say what you want, but I looked and felt damn good in that hat haha.

Still, I feel like owning a big truck should be used to move big things and, if it's tall enough, go in the dirt. My little wagon does all that on a consistent basis, stuffing the trunk and tackling some dirty roads... though maybe I'm a bit too into wagons

[spacekraken]

@taylor-martin Haha I try! Took me a while to get used to snow and I love it now.

Thanks on the fogs! Not bad for $20 bulbs at all, looks cool and better visibility. And I actually use the first spelling even though it's wrong... I guess either is wrong since it's an alltrack but it's just "the wagon" in the family.

[jminer]

@taylor-martin said in PSA: Iris Is A Road Trip Warrior:

@jminer Saw your post lugging furniture on top of it. I don't think I'll ever own a car without roof racks again (at least not a daily. They're too useful not to have).

I kayak a fair bit so roof racks are one of the first things to go on a car after I acquire it. Everything before this one had a naked roof so I’d moved a set of Yakima Q towers I bought in something like 2005 from vehicle to vehicle but this one had side rails. So I had to buy a new Yakima set - I wasn’t sure about these timberlines as they mount via rubber straps but they’ve been on there almost 2 years and haven’t budged. I doubt they’ll last 15 years like the last set did, but they’re good enough.

[Taylor Martin]

@spacekraken Hard to tell the Alltrack and the Sportwagen apart from the front, or in general. I use Sportwagen when talking about VW cause it sounds the most German. After all, it's Volkswagen, not Volkswagon.

[spacekraken]

@taylor-martin It's the same car, just a little lift kit and standard AWD on the alltracks haha!

@jminer which yakima one did you end up with and how loud is it? Gotta look into those soon...

[DipodomysDeserti]

@taylor-martin I agree

[jminer]

@spacekraken said in PSA: Iris Is A Road Trip Warrior:

@jminer which yakima one did you end up with and how loud is it? Gotta look into those soon...

I went with the timberline towers and the corebar steel rails. They're aero so way quieter than the old round bars. Honestly between the good insulation and the quieter bars I don't hear them at all, even on long highway stretches.

I will say they're not as strong as the old round bars though, one of mine has a tiny kink in it that I don't know how it put there. Also a little harder to tie down to, but that's just the difference between something round and oval. That being said they're still strong and I'd recommend them.

[spacekraken]

@jminer Noted, thanks much for the info!

[Taylor Martin]

@dipodomysdeserti That's the way to do it (Money for nothing get your kicks for free).