| Author | Message | ||
| Tim (Timkar)
Rating: N/A |
Well, almost a month after my original post, I have just about purchased the MC9 in San Diego. Inspection report was good and I am flying down next wednesday to check it myself. If everything goes ok, I've got an appointment with MCI in Los Alamitos for lube service and filter changes first thing Thursday morning. All required paperwork has been sent to US customs and I am hoping to be back at the border in Blaine, Washington before 3 pm on friday. (Vehicle export group doesn't work the weekend and Monday Feb 21 is a holiday)My plan is to run I-5 all the way up, with my son and I sharing the driving. Any suggestions as to fuel stops along the way (including filling up in San Diego) would be appreciated. I've checked Pilot and Flying J websites, but they don't seem to be available along I-5. Thanks...Tim | ||
| Doug Wotring
Rating: N/A |
flying J on the 5 in bakersfield and up around sacramento | ||
| TWODOGS (Twodogs)
Rating: N/A |
that's a l o n g drive......I'd fly.....can't take turns comeing back...two vehicles | ||
| Jeff Pritchard (Jeffpritchard)
Rating: N/A |
Hi Tim, I haven't been following your posts on this topic, so forgive me for asking a stupid question that was probably answered a month ago. You say San Diego, but you also mention US customs. Are you buying it in SD from a TJ merchant? Just confused about the customs vs. San Diego thing. Just seems like if you are buying it "in San Diego", customs would not be interested. I live in SD, so understanding this might be relevant to me one of these days when I start shopping. thanks, jp | ||
| Marc Bourget Rating: N/A |
Tim, Take 99 it will save you about 23 miles over I-5 and you can plan on visiting with RJ Long in Fresno, Me in Stockton and a bunch more that will weigh in behind me. Several Flying Js and other stops on 99, More resources if you have troubles. I-5 is almost a mandantory tow. 99 gives plenty of options. We can exchange Ph# on MSN I think Tim's working on the Norther US Border, not the Southern. Onward and Upward | ||
| Tim (Timkar)
Rating: N/A |
Hi JP, I'm bringing it back to Canada, so after buying it in SD, running back up the coast,I have to go through the US customs export procedure as well as the Canadian import. Red Tape... Hi Doug..Thanks for the Sacramento info, I'll top off the tank there. | ||
| Michael Lewis (Puffbus)
Rating: N/A |
Tim, I can't believe that you are considering a solo 1300+ mile trip with the goal of leaving SD some time on Thursday and arriving before 3PM at Blaine, WA. It just can't be done. Having grown up in the Sacto Valley and currently living in Seattle, the other considerations, especially for those advising to run 99, is the Tule Fog this time of year. 100+ car collisions are not unheard of on the old 99 and unless they have improved it and the frontage roads, I would not choose that route. I-5 is a boring rut of a highway, but once over the pass, you can run. Expect some 100 mile intervals between fuel, but little more. Invest in a good Cobra CB and get it mounted before you leave. Those truckers (usually Chan19) will help you more than you can imagine. Having said all that, best of luck, and if you need a place to stop in Seattle, email me offline and we will exchange phone numbers. I have room for another 9 or two. Michael Lewis Seattle | ||
| c gull
Rating: N/A |
chepst fuel in sac. is at jahant truck stop on 99 just north of lodi airport 2-7-05 was 204 saem at mack road and stockton blvd of ramp except the food is much better at mr perrys both smal truck stops easy on and off and i would look at the map agen la can be real slow travlin i run back and forth from yuma to sac. and i avoid down town LA and its outskirts if posible carl sacramento mci5a 4104 | ||
| Marc Bourget Rating: N/A |
We've had very few days of tule fog this year. Most of time can still avg. 50 MPH, but only if wide awake! I've driven I-5 and 99 to LA and back over 300 times in the past 25years, many of these in the fog. Seen fog both roads. Tim breaks down on 99 and access to help is much easier and company better! 1300 miles roughly equates to 26 hours, doable with team driving but a chore! Denny's at Waterloo Rd (SR-88 @ 99) and I'll buy coffee and desert regardless of the hour, just call! | ||
| RJ Long (Rjlong)
Rating: N/A |
Tim - Reality check time: 1. MCI Los Alamitos. Even if you're the first one into the shop at 8 am, you'll be VERY lucky to get out before noon. More realistically around 3 pm or so. And what if they find something that really needs attention??? What are your contingency plans? 2. Los Angeles traffic. Regardless whether it's I-5, I-405 or I-605, starting about 2:30 or so in the afternoon, the freeways become giant parking lots. You'll be lucky to average 10 mph during this time. And if there's an accident somewhere north of you, plan on being parked for awhile. 3. The Grapevine (I-5 over the Tehacapis) This is a 6% grade, and unless your MC-9 is one of the rare ones equipped with an 8V92, plan on 30 - 35 mph up the steeper grades. (Shameless plug: Read my comments about shifting on this site, in the "Articles of Interest" link off the main page.) Pay close attention to the temp gauge (and tach, if equipped) while climbing. Once you've crested the hill just N of Gorman, watch your downhill speed closely, this is also a 6% grade. CHP loves to nail heavy equipment hurtling down the hill - especially right at the bottom! If equipped, use the jakes!! 4. 99 vs I-5 thru the southern central CA valley. I agree with Marc - far more services available (including bus companies) should you have a problem. We're past the major fog season for this year - it's usually Dec & Jan - but it can sometimes re-occur, especially after a hard rain. My suggestion would be take 99 from the I-5/99 split just north of Laval Rd after you come off the Grapevine, all the way to Stockton, then jump on the Hiway 4 connector over to I-5 and continue north from there. (Marc would have to drive a little further to visit, but he's capable. . .  ) There is a very reasonably-priced truck stop on the north end of Fresno at the Herndon Exit, frequently the lowest diesel price in the valley. Drop me a note privately, and I'll check out their fuel prices for you before you leave SD. Click on my name above to reach me. If I'm available, I'll buy the Pepsis if you stop in Fresno for fuel. . . 5. Fuel Range: MC-9s have either 144 or 179 gallon fuel tanks. Tank size will be listed on a plaque above the switches on the driver's left, or inside the fuel door. If it's the 179 configuration, the extra 35 gallons are in a tank in the front baggage bin. Figure your mileage conservatively at 5 mpg overall, with a 25 gallon reserve. That equates to either 600 or 750 miles on a tank before it's time to refuel. DON'T PUSH IT - refuel before reprime!! 6. It's seven hours actual running time between San Diego and Fresno in a bus, traffic permitting. BTDTTM. It's another 5 - 6 hrs to Redding, at the north end of the valley, before you start climbing the Siskiyous. By this time, the big black dogs will start coming out to play, so be careful. 7. My daughter lives in Kelowna, BC. Takes 24 hours actual driving time from Fresno. Youngsters do it in two, twelve-hour DAYS. Parents in three, eight-hour days. YMMV. 8. NB on I-5 approaching Blaine, take the "Truck Crossing" exit, which is about 2-3 miles south of town. More geared to commercial stuff, less 4-wheeler traffic. Should expedite your crossing. Watch carefully, it comes up w/o any warning, almost. 9. Seriously, seriously, seriously, consider taking your time and enjoying the journey home. Take an extra day off, and use that to cross the border, so any snafus can be handled w/o the ". . .we're closing now, can't help you anymore today, come back Tuesday. . ." risk you're now attempting. 10. Just think. If you take your time, you can visit with me in Fresno, Marc in Stockton, Carl in Sacratomato, Henry of CJ in Oregon, and Michael in Seattle - five fellow busnuts at a minimum, and maybe more after they read this thread over the next couple of days. Much more fun than blinders on a horse goin' like ABOOH!! FWIW, & have a safe trip with your new toy! RJ PD4106-2784 Fresno CA | ||
| RJ Long (Rjlong)
Rating: N/A |
Addendum - The "Truck Crossing" off-ramp coming into Blaine is exit #275. RJ | ||
| Phil Dumpster Rating: N/A |
When in Oregon, remember that the speed limit for busses is 55 miles per hour for all 308 miles of Interstate 5. I bring this up because Oregon has been in a recession for the past 3 years and a number of smaller governmental entities have taken to ticketing speeders on Interstate 5, most notably Coburg just north of Eugene. They recently annexed the land straddling Interstate 5 primarily so they could conduct "emphasis patrols" in that corridor. Fuel prices in Oregon are generally much cheaper than California. Oregon also has no sales tax. Depending on what time you come through the Portland area, you may want to use Interstate 205 instead of Interstate 5 to bypass the city. Interstate 5 is only 2 lanes wide through a short section in Downtown Portland and is a nightmare during the evening rush hour. Cheapest diesel in the Northwest is at the Troutdale Flying J at $2.04 a gallon cash price without PUC permit. Next cheapest is the Fife Flying J at $2.13 a gallon. Average price everywhere else around here is $2.30 to $2.40 a gallon. Troutdale is 17 miles east of Portland on Interstate 84. If you come through Seattle during the weekend, post a note here if you want me to join you and other local bus owners somewhere for food and conversation. The Thads diner at the Fife Flying J serves trucker food but done really well. Lastly, take RJ's advice about allowing more time for the trip as a given. Assuming you get out of San Diego at 3pm, 24 hours to Blaine is an extraordinarily tight schedule. You'd have to average almost 60 miles per hour from start to finish. Given the terrain and the need to stop for fuel every 500 miles, not to mention traffic congestion, even with two drivers and never shutting off the engine, you'd be lucky to be able to manage that.. It's 1377 miles from San Diego to the Blaine truck crossing. About 400 of that is a grade of some sort. Hat's are off to you if you can do it, but it wouldn't be a pleasant ride. The fuel burn would also be something else. Perhaps there is some place you can park the bus in Seattle or Blaine over the remainder of the weekend, and take it over the border during business hours later in the week. | ||
| FAST FRED Rating: N/A |
When you get the unit on a lift for the lube job, have the slack adjusters done too. Good brakes is good fun on the Calif hills. FAST FRED | ||
| Marc Bourget Rating: N/A |
Add a friendly visit to So Oregon Diesel while you're passing thru! You'll probably want to return to Ore in July for Bus'nUSA 2005! RJ, I live 1/2 mile East of I-5 between it and 99 off the Country Club exit (NB). The shop is 1/2 mile West off Waterloo @ 99. Tim, This is a time to explore and familiarize yourself with your bus. Lots of funny noises and things happening that,if unknown and unexplored, lead to stress and "missing" tattletales about what's going on. Also leads to additional tiredness and lack of concentration. All of the above can be ingredients of a recipe for misfortune. Planning some addn't trip time is a "Good Thing" to plagarize our incarcerated doyon of style. It's "doable", (serious) maybe, I forgot the traffic/grade conditions reported above, but leaving San Diego North can be a real hassel unless you leave early. I-5 NB continuously drops lanes, stacking 15-20 mph traffic at best, which makes the trip from SD to Oceanside hours longer in worse case scenarios. There's ways thru LA, like 57 N to 210 W over the "top" of LA but you can run into significant delays at the various Fwy interchanges, 22, 91, 60, 10 & 134, IIRC) On good days I-5 to the top of the grade north of Castaic is 1:05, I've been stuck with 2:20+ on many occasions. Friday's being worse due to commuter "flight". On reflection, 26 hrs is unrealistic (wish it weren't so, Joe!) Take care and consider RJ's recommendation. | ||
| Leslie Robinson (Lesrmc9)
Rating: N/A |
Hi Tim sounds like you live in BC, where?? I'm in Langley near the Lanlgey Hospital Les R | ||
| TWODOGS (Twodogs)
Rating: N/A |
truck stop in Redding....best coconut cream pie in the U.S. | ||
| Ron Walker (Prevost82)
Rating: N/A |
Hi Tim… I ran the same trip as you, last fall. I live in Merritt. I picked the bus up at Anaheim and left around 7pm stopped for sleep on the north side of Sacramento (in a Denny's parking lot) around 2am. Up at 7am the next day, had breakfast and had to stop at a flying J to change a tire. Was on the road heading north around 10am and hit Blaine around 9pm. Got a room and hit the truck crossing the next morning at 8am. It took a while to figure out how to get into the US customs (you’re going the wrong way to traffic flow) I had to run over curbs, plants and shrubs, to get that 40 ft'r around some of the tight 90deg corners, meant for car's, the custom agents mouths drop open and stood there dumb-founded as they watch in amazement at what I was doing …but hey, it was the agents that told me to bring it in that way LOL.... some eng'r had his head up his #*s when he designed that layout...he forgot to make provisions for large vehicles having to enter from the south into the US customs area. It took around 3 hrs to clear both customs…the Canadian one took the longest. As Phil said Oregon has the cheapest fuel …really good prices as soon as you get out of California Good luck…make sure you have a spare tire or casing …get BCAA RV road assistance before you leave….and have a great ride home Ron | ||
| Ken Turner (Pipesusmc)
Rating: N/A |
Tim..If you miss the boat ..I am at exit 212 ( go west to Stanwood ) on I.5 plenty of room here.... Only a little over an hour to the border.. Good luck... TAKE IT EASY. 360-629-4308 | ||
| Don Fairchild Rating: N/A |
Tim, Rand Mcnally makes a Los Angeles & Vicinity freeway map. Find one if you can, it really helps when traffic is backed up. From los Alamitos you might think about taking the 605 to the 210 to the 5. If you go the 210 when you get to Pasadena Stay in your right hand lane the off ramp comes up real quick. When you get to Bakersfield there is a truck stop at Buck owens Blvd and a flying J north of town at kimberlina road. If you need help Between Bakersfield and los Angeles call me at 661 301 4648. Good luck with your trip. I have made the trip from Bakersfield to Langley 3 times a year some times more for the last 5 years. I go from here to Medford Oregon spend the night and from there to langley get in around 3pm Don |