A '77 Maverick Does Route 66

Thanks for posting this awesome write up. I also nominate for best thread 2015.

This needs to be in the magazine.

Now, someone in LA needs to buy it and drive it back. If Nixon wouldn't approve, at least Kerouac would.

Good stuff. Thank you.

Thanks for taking me along on your adventure. Been a while since I had one of my own.

Awesome story, love it. Are you posting it anywhere else? This would make a great magazine article!

How'd you plan the route? It seems there is no easy button for a Route 66 excursion.

Thanks for taking the time to write this. I really mean it, you put a lot of effort into writing this for our enjoyment. I realize that and found it to be excellent.

I also want these words to serve as further encouragement since I see that you had GoPros on the car. I'll soak up any more that you can offer!

Kudos on the adventure and the fantastic job documenting it.

I'm not sure how I missed this before today - but it was a great read. Thanks. Post up a link to the video when it's ready.

Mazda 787b said: Awesome story, love it. Are you posting it anywhere else? This would make a great magazine article! How'd you plan the route? It seems there is no easy button for a Route 66 excursion.

It's only posted here, but it's being shared by a bunch of people via Facebook- of course, I'd be more than happy to polish it up a bit if someone wanted to post it somewhere more "formal".

I didn't do much planning for the trip, but Masterchef plotted the entire thing on google maps. We primarily went off of a map pack like this one, which also had the fun side effect of occasionally getting us lost since the way the directions are written is pretty much crap.

JohnRW1621 said: I also want these words to serve as further encouragement since I see that you had GoPros on the car.

Masterchef will eventually be cutting together a movie/video series/something from all the GoPro footage. I have no idea what the timeline for editing all that is going to be, but I think it might be a little while.

Thank you, everyone, for all the praise! I actually really enjoyed writing this, and I didn't expect so many people to be interested, but, um... hey GRM? I'm going to be looking for a new job in a few months

irish44j wrote: Wasn't there someone on here who did a cross-country trip on a dual-sport bike with a similar write-up?

I believe that was "Skierd" (sp?) but I can't find the post. There are lots of "trip reports" on ADVrider, many of which are far more impressive than this one.

¯\_(ツ)_/¯ wrote:

irish44j wrote: Wasn't there someone on here who did a cross-country trip on a dual-sport bike with a similar write-up?

I believe that was "Skierd" (sp?) but I can't find the post. There are lots of "trip reports" on ADVrider, many of which are far more impressive than this one.

Yep, it was Skierd. Here is the thread

And of course, hot linked for your viewing pleasure.

I really enjoyed that. Thanks for making my week. I can't wait to see the movie version!

Great trip, great writeup. 1977 was my year of birth, so I have to approve of the car. :-) I had a neighbor who had one of these, when I was growing up. Grey 4 door, black vinyl top. He used to put asphalt sealant on the vinyl top every year. It must have weighed an extra 5 pounds each year.

Awesome writeup! I've been dreaming of a similar trip forever.

And what becomes of the car now? Project, flip and repeat or...?

Loved being able to take the trip without leaving home. SWMBO and I discussed a similar trip, but her concerns made it degenerate into flying to Chicago, buying a CarMax Miata, and driving to Santa Monica. The girl does worry about my mechanical abilities and the open West. My dream is documented in the thread. Just not by me.

I have something that I want to leave you as inspiration:

A guy named Vermin and his bike named Cak.

The Bike: Honda Pacific Coast. In his words, "It was Honda's answer to a question no one in the 1990s was asking."

The trip:

The first summer, he rode from Detroit to San Diego with his son and flew home.
http://cackchronicles.com/rides/zen/

The second summer, he flies back to SD and takes bike to Alaska with his daughter.
http://cackchronicles.com/rides/grapes-of-rat/

I dont have a link for the third instalment but it seemed that Vermin was not going to get back to Alaska for the bike so he announces his plans to sell the bike. The ADV board rallies and feels that he really should continue on this monumental bike, so... The board members shuttle the bike back to him. Each person taking a turn at ridding the bike back to his doorstep.

In the fourth episode, Vermin then takes the bike to Mexico.
http://cackchronicles.com/rides/age-against-the-machine/

So, with all that said, here is just a rough idea. It would be cool if you could sell the Maverick to someone who would take it on an adventure and then maybe that person sells it to someone who then takes it elsewhere on another adventure.

I know this will sound redundant, but great idea, great journey, and great write up and photos. This was definitely more of a journey than simply a vacation or trip. Excellent and thank you. I thoroughly enjoyed it. I wish I'd done something like that when I was your age ... but by comparison it would've had to have been a vehicle from the early 1930s. Anyway, I agree with East Coast Mojo and others, this is easily the best thread of the year. And unlike the Amy thread, I even offered it to my wife to read. She's up for doing that kind of a road trip but in something bullet proof reliable.

As somebody else said, please submit your story for publication in GRM (or maybe better yet, CMS).

great read. also great photos. i right click save-as'd many of them.

Consider this the trailer.

I had a friend in high school with a Maverick, it had the same color interior...and actually the exterior was also the same shade of green. What I remember most about it was that the rear floorboards were just a piece of 1/2" plywood roughly cut to size and set over the hole. The fun thing to do was lift them up at highway speeds and drop random crap through the hole, then see how/where it came bouncing out... Yeah, dumb kids.

Hope your friend doesn't mind but every time I read the name masterchef it was replaced with Master Chief.

The_Jed wrote: Hope your friend doesn't mind but every time I read the name masterchef it was replaced with Master Chief.

Glad I wasn't the only one!

your friend is excitable. made me laugh.

Thanks, everybody, for the kind words. I can't wait to cut this thing together! If somebody wants to fund me quitting both my jobs, I can have it done for you in a week