ChesapeakeTechie

After 33 years of waiting I’m finally in a position to buy my first 944. After searching for countless hours and talking with many folks on this forum and others, I’m hopeful I’ve found a great car that will provide many years of enjoyment, and that the previous owner can feel good about passing on.
As luck would have it, this car is on the completely opposite side of the country. The car is in the Bay area of California, and the destination will be the Washington DC metro area - almost 3000 miles away. So what’s one to do when faced with this issue? Plan a road trip to bring the car back east of course! One of my lifelong friends and I will be flying out making the trip back together. We’ll be sure and post pictures along the way!
Having never undertaken a road trip of this magnitude, I’d like to gather some advice and recommendations from the folks on the forum. A few areas that come to mind include:

1) Does the route make sense?
Dates: March 11th - 15th (estimated)
We’ll be heading down from the Bay area south to catch I-40 east. This will take us through Bakersfield, Flagstaff, Albuquerque, Amarillo, Oklahoma City, Little Rock, Memphis and Nashville. After that we’ll catch 81 North which will take us up through Blacksburg, Roanoke and up to the DC Metro area.

2) Lodging / Dining Recommendations
Any hotels / motels / AirBNB / Couch Surfing spots on that route that we should look at staying at?
Also looking for unique / great restaurants to try on the route.

3) Shop Recommendations / The Car
I’d be very interested in shop recommendations along the route. While crossing my fingers and preparing as best we can for no major issues, I think having a good list would be very helpful in case we need some assistance.

The car is a 1991 944 S2, with close to 200k miles and a good amount of recent maintenance:

-rebuilt top end and front end of engine 16 valve cylinder head with valve job, resurface, new seals
-fresh top end gasket set wide fire ring head gasket, new cam chain tensioner pads and chain. Sprockets on cams timed with dial indicator
-new water pump, belts and rollers. New spark plug wires and plugs, new filters and fresh oil change
-new K&N air filter and oem coolant expansion tank
-torque tube / clutch replacement in 2009

4) What to bring
Thanks to everyone who has made many useful suggestions so far. Here’s the list that we have come up with and are open to additional thoughts:

-Water (to drink and for the car)
-Food and Snacks
-Extra coolant
-Duct Tape
-Spare hose
-Spare DME Relay
-Spare DME (Thanks John Graves!!)
-Fix-A-Flat
-Porsche Toolkit / Extra tools
-Flashlight
-CB Radio / Ham radio
-GPS (iPad + 3 iPhones)
-Cell phones (3 iPhones, ATT & T-Mobile)

5) Attractions? Meet-ups?
While we’ll plan on making the trip back in 4-5 days, we’re looking forward to stoping off and doing some sightseeing along the way. Also, if anyone is local to the route and wants to meet up along the way, please let us know and we’d love to try and coordinate.

Thanks everyone and looking forward to the trip!

bkrantz

Congrats on the new car. I still have fond memories of my 87 944. We took a few extended road trips in it, including some with my infant daughter in a baby car seat mounted on the rear hump.

I like your adventure plan! Just a few thoughts:

Watch the weather. The stretch of I-40 across Arizona and New Mexico, and even Texas, crosses some high elevations. In March, snow is not uncommon, and I have been in blizzards during spring break drives crossing these areas. A 944, especially without snow tires, could be very exciting in winter weather.

Are you in a hurry? The interstates can be quick, but seldom provide any driving entertainment. And some locations near your route might be worth a once-in-a-lifetime detour. For example, the Grand Canyon is only 50 miles north of I-40. Again, just watch the weather.

Good places to stop and eat or sleep? Flagstaff has plenty of both, with lots of hotels and a great historic district with lots of places to eat. And Macy's coffee shop in the morning. Albuquerque is a big city, but you can have your pick of upscale (or downscale) New Mexican food (green chile!). In Amarillo, we found a convenient overnight spot: the Holiday Inn Express on Wolfin (exit 68A). There is a Texas Roadhouse and a Thai restaurant in adjacent buildings, as well as a cool coffee shop across the parking lot.

djantlive

I have yet to see a used car that is perfect at any price, even 6 figure ones. When driving a car long distance that you just bought, it is actually very risky. You could be stuck on the road.

I love the idea of a road trip and especially on a car that you just bought. However, you may want to have it shipped instead

Carrera51

Subscribed. I would love to make a trip like this.

ChesapeakeTechie

Thanks for the tip! I wasn't aware that I-40 got this type of winter weather and we'll certainly keep an eye on things. It looks like there are a few weather sites that give a good view of the weather along the route.

Not a huge hurry but we do want to try and make the trip in 5 days or so. We've both been to the Grand Canyon but would also like to stop at some other interesting places along the way.

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Thanks very much for those - we'll be sure to check them out!

bkrantz

Yeah, most of I-40 across Arizona and New Mexico is above 5000', and long stretches at or above 7000', so winter can last well into March (or later!).