Page eleven: "Super SC2 Vacation/Cruise"

11/09/2008- This page is made for my nice cruise photographs, and I have about 20 or so covering the 'Super SC2 Vacation/Cruise". In case you don't know, I am a generation Y guy that grew up with everything being 'Super' (like 90% of the things for the Super Nintendo), so it just kind of...stuck, so when I am describing everything about this era of a car, I tend to call it 'super', just a note.

All of these photographs below were taken on one day,10/23/2008, from sunrise to nightfall. I drove to the Kancamagus Highway that connects Lincoln to Conway, New Hampshire, and then I took route 93 southbound all the way down to Hampton/Seabrook beach to have some fun. The scenery was dazzling, and I put on 279 miles throughout this run. Needless to say, I was amazed with the fuel economy results. I got 35.98 Miles Per Gallon (MPG), and it was much higher than I thought. According to www.fueleconomy.gov, my fuel mileage is supposed to be 21-29 MPG, but my true highway miles per gallon was pretty much 36. I drove with the cruise control on most of the time, and I maintained a pretty low 55-58 miles per hour, which at this car's era, is the speed where it gets the highest miles per gallon. I checked the oil level, and after about 3.5 or so hours of solid driving for 2 days (the first day photos are not on here, because it was at night and nowhere, pretty much), and it didn't drop even the slghtest bit. I hear a lot of these older 1991-1994 Saturn DOHC motors start to burn oil at this age, but I am very proud of this car not being part of that large bunch. It goes to show that if you change the oil and filter and perform lots of easy maintainence will get you many miles of trouble-free fun. Anyway, here's the photographs:

 (Left)- one of my favorite photos, taken on the first rest stop, overlooking Lincoln N.H. (Right)- starting to climb the White Mountains and getting to a higher altitude.

(Left and Right)- both taken on the second rest stop, more like photo stop. I took some pictures of the view and the SC2. The view was really nice.

(Left and Right)- Starting to take some large bends to go around some really high mountains. Mount Washington (The highest peak in New Hampshire) is not far away from where I was at that time.

(Left)- Since it was my first time there, I took my time, and luckily, there was noone else on the road on that day, so it was pretty much just me and the SC2 on that 35 mile or so highway. I had a very curious and yet cautious look when I was in this photo. (Right)- the car had been driven for a while, and the temperature gauge still was reading pretty much a cold temperature.

(Left)- the fall foliage was really nice, taken out of my sunroof. (Right)- there's no doubt that this highway is one of the fall highlights featured on many travel programs and magazines. This Highway is actually New England's only National Forest Scenic Byway, and it rises nearly 3000 feet in elevation.

(Left)- the SC2's last photo stop for this highway, it still looks good. (Right)- Near a riverbank on the last stop, can you find the SC2? I know, it's not that difficult, but it's still fun.

(Left)- You know, I never thought I would be able to get the SC2 looking good again, but I was wrong. It looks good in that photo. (Right)- On route 93, after like another hour or so of driving, I was nearing the beach.

(Left)- Just hit 127,000 miles on the odometer. Note the coolant gauge, it still wasn't reading the normal temperature (exactly on the 1/4 notch), even after being driven for 2 hours straight. Then again, it was cool outside. I might have to cover part of the radiator so the car can be able to warm up in the winter when the snow falls. Maybe, maybe not. (Right)- I got a good shot of an orange colored hill from the leaves on the trees on route 93.

(Left)- on a bridge, near the beach/coastline. (Right)- On the bridge between Locke and Beckmans point, crossing into Seabrook on the coast.

(Left)- Driving home after some fun in the sun, on Ocean Blvd, next to the beach at night. Note the nice looking C5 Corvette in front of me. I bet that car would be a fun one to drive. (Right)- Still behind the C5 Corvette, making a left onto Route 101 westbound, to head back home.

(Left)- After stopping at Reeds Ferry School and fueling up, I headed home. In the garage, I cleaned up this car in a short time. Throughout the whole trip, I had my mountain bike in my trunk. That's right, I have found a way to get the bike into the trunk of the car without folding the rear seats. That really made things much better. Man, I love this car, so cool. You don't even need a bike rack on a typical SUV, but then again, if I were treating this car like an SUV (which I do not, I would off road in it if it were one), it would need 4 wheel drive, which I really don't need. (Right)- The SC2 is always ready for another run/cruise whenever I am. Those power belts are cool.

Anyway, I hope sometime next year I would go on the same route, only do it in the Summer when it is hotter outside, and then I can have some real fun on my mountain bike. Because it was only 38 degrees F outside on that trip, It would be too cool to go and ride my bike for a few hours. Yeah, I've riden on my mountain bike in -10 degrees F, but that was near home and not for a long time. Next time, I will go when it is hotter out. I got to see some nice fall colors/foliage, though, which was great timing on my part. I hope next year's trip would be even more fun!

Hope you enjoyed the photos as much as I did in stopping the car to take most of them.