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Sounds like it was an awesome family trip, and lots of great memories for the kiddies. I'd love to take a trip like that--one day. When you're old and bald I'm sure the kids--now adults--will remind you what a fun trip it was. Good for you, and good for them. Keep up the good work--and the memories Mike33929 miles
What a killer family road trip to North Carolina in the Burb!!
Always reminds me of growing up in Seattle and my parents taking us all over the Pacific Northwest and many of the National Parks from Yellowstone, Grand Teton, Glacier National to the Redwoods and everywhere in between. Bench vinyl seats and floors, 3 boys in the 2nd row and mom's hand swatting at us misbehaving behind her. lol
Happy to be able to recreate this with my family in new locations and the ride, comfort and features make it a whole lot more enjoyable. Not only what comes with the LTZ, but also some of the mods.
I'll waffle a bit, but since it's my build thread...I'll allow it.
Here are the hard details from the DIC.
31995 start miles
33929 end miles
1934.7 miles trip total
17.7 mpg
Fuel used 109.2 gallons
Cruise control was set at 75mph on the motorways and then uneven speeds on the curvy roads and in town.
89 octane ranged from $2.30 to $2.95 back home and even in Maggie Valley I found a differential of almost $0.25 between the center of town and a few miles to the east. The east station was closer to the BBQ joint so the extra miles driven were okay. Was good BBQ too and popular since they were out of ribs, brisket and collard greens by the time we got there.
I watched the transmission temperature like a hawk the entire trip as we left sea level in Florida and headed up 95 to 26 and west on 40 and 19 to Maggie Valley. We made our way up to 6,053 feet at the Richland Balsam Overlook, which is the highest point on the Blue Ridge Parkway between Asheville and Maggie Valley.
Temps ranged from 120F-200F depending on location and hill grade. We saw air temperatures between 29F and 85F.
Nothing new to anybody on this forum, but just to make note for a truck that has never been out of Florida, at altitude or in the cold.
I made sure the washer fluid reservoir had some orange Rain X for the colder temperatures. It helped keep the windshield clean and repel the rain much better. Even though we did not see the deep freeze temperatures from the weeks before.
Of course, I just had new tires put on and an alignment done the week before, so the truck was as mechanically ready for the trip as it could be and it performed excellent.
As noted before, a couple of messages came up on the DIC that I would never have seen without this type of trip.
The Black Bear tune sure made the shifts sweet and stepping on it made the long body come to life. As much as you can do to the land yacht of course. lol
I did notice a few times on cruise control that the AirAid MIT did drone a bit while it was trying to get back to speed. That was kind of annoying, so I would just kick it up to the set speed and it went away. But it did sound pretty throaty when stomping down on the pedal though.
Now I can truly understand how dim the OEM headlights are. On those dark, country/mountain roads, the forward throw and brightness is virtually non-existent. The LED fog/driving lights helped a bit, but the illumination is of course more focused down in front. I mostly kept those on to let the other drivers see me. I hate the disparity between the yellow halogens and white LEDS. No retro will be happening.
I noticed that all my Esky rack end caps had ever so slightly lifted at the ends, so they got a tap to reseat.
Heated seats and hotter temperatures for everyone else and a cooled seat and cooler air for me was a winner. The space with the 3rd row laid down was irreplaceable for the road trip. We always manage to pack too much just in case, but better to have options and nobody was without leg room or a place to rest their head.
Got home Sunday evening, unloaded the truck and fired up the hose within 15 minutes as a serious bath was needed. I had to leave the next day at 0400 so I wasn't leaving the Burb a road trip mess. I washed every section twice, sprayed off the undercarriage, scrubbed the tires, rinsed off the floor mats and gave the carpet a quick vacuum and even quicker interior wipe down. Not perfect but good enough to be the shiniest at school drop off on Tuesday!! Nobody would expect anything less and 2 of my neighbors made comment as such.
The long body is due for a paint detail along with the overspray on the Tahoe. Not to be ignored, I took the Tahoe for a run down the road to pick up some dinner for the family. Man I love that truck. Still the most comfortable seats of all 3 generations IMHO. My kids say so!
Alright enough text, here are some pics of the long body on the road trip. Only because it is some different scenery that I cannot duplicate in Florida.
View attachment 216838
Maggie Valley, NC
View attachment 216839
Man you got to match the word SUBURBAN on both sides or pull the one side off. That drives me nuts when you post pics.
Sounds like it was an awesome family trip, and lots of great memories for the kiddies. I'd love to take a trip like that--one day. When you're old and bald I'm sure the kids--now adults--will remind you what a fun trip it was. Good for you, and good for them. Keep up the good work--and the memories Mike
