Travelling with yer Dak...

From: Tony Mastres (mastres@id.ucsb.edu)
Date: Tue Nov 04 1997 - 10:25:41 EST


> The subject of a rather long cross-country trip was presented to me
>yesterday (actually, Calgary to Mexico!) and the subject of driving was
>mentioned. I was wondering how many people have made some long distance
>trips in their Dak's, and what sort of experiences they may have had
>(preferably with their Dak's). Normally that's a trip that I would fly
>for, but a drive across the continental U.S. would make for an interesting
>experience in the Dak, though I'd be kinda leery about heading into Mexico
>with it. So, once again, does anyone have any long distance experiences
>with their trucks?
>

You betcha' I did a 1200 mile trek from So. Cal to No. Cal and back in June
that included a bunch of mountain driving and I just returned from a 2000
mi. trip to and through southern Utah and northern Arizona. I have to say
my Dak is incredibly comfortable on long trips and I have few complaints
about any aspects of driving with it on long trips. I have the V-6 and 98%
of the time it has plenty of power but fully loaded and going up the
mountains the V-8 would be better. I get pretty good mileage on the Hwy (
about 20mpg ) that translates to about 350-360 miles on a tank ( from full
till the light comes on which leaves about 4 gal in the tank) On the No.
Cal trip I put the Dak through a particularly arduous test. I drove up into
Sequoia Nat Park from the town of Visalia, climbing about 6000+ feet in not
too many miles of road. I don't remember the distance but basically you're
on switchbacks and steep inclines all the way. On top of that it was 95=BA
degrees F. at the bottom. I passed several vehicles whose cooling systems
couldn't handle it but the Dak Temp guage stayed in its normal position the
whole time!!

My only trepidation about your trip would be actually driving a shiny new
truck in Mexico. You diddn't say where in Mexico but I've been there enough
so that I'm always very cautious. Always buy Mexico insurance before you
go there,I don't know about Canada but most US insurers won't cover you in
Mexico. Remember also that Mexico is a third-world country and many of the
luxuries ( such as shiny new trucks ) aren't very prevalent in poorer
border towns like Tijuana, Mexicali, Calexico etc.. and Gringos ( white
people ) aren't especially well liked there. Don't get me wrong most of the
time you wont have any trouble but if you do don't expect the benefit of
the doubt. Anyway enough about that. Hope I helped

+=3D+=3D+=3D+=3D+=3D+=3D+=3D+=3D+=3D+=3D+=3D+=3D+=3D+=3D+=3D+=3D+=3D+=3D+=3D=
+=3D+=3D+=3D+=3D+=3D+=3D+=3D+=3D+=3D+=3D+=3D+=3D+=3D+=3D+
+ +
+ Tony Mastres, Photographer, Instructional Development +
+ +
+ University of California @ Santa Barbara +
+ +
+ +
+ __ +
+ []_.-' (Q,___\ +
+ *********`(o) >>>}__(o)s> +
+ +
+=3D+=3D+=3D+=3D+=3D+=3D+=3D+=3D+=3D+=3D+=3D+=3D+=3D+=3D+=3D+=3D+=3D+=3D+=3D=
+=3D+=3D+=3D+=3D+=3D+=3D+=3D+=3D+=3D+=3D+=3D+=3D+=3D+=3D+

                       =20



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