AMC Eagle Den Forum

Eagle Gallery => Eagle Road Trips => Topic started by: Prafeston on March 20, 2014, 11:06:53 PM

Title: Mission Impossible - The One Day Rental
Post by: Prafeston on March 20, 2014, 11:06:53 PM
About to go on a road trip this weekend with another forum member, amosende. He's more of a lurker, but he lives in the STL area and need his Eagle moved to Minnesota and on the way back he's gonna help me get my Eagle to Rolla. So unfortunately we won't ever be driving an Eagle, but hauling them. We are trying to do a quick trip in order to only pay for a one day/24hour rental fee on the trailer. Leave STL and pick up his Eagle and take it to Minnesota and then drive back down to KC to pick up my car and drop it off in Rolla in the middle of the night. 1,369 mile round trip in 24 hours. Can it be done? Should be fun! Wish us luck. The drive alone is almost 21 hours and we have to load and unload an Eagle 2 times. Not to mention taking turns driving and sleeping so we can get this done. I'll try to at least get some pics along the way. Possibly some video. Ready to have my car finally home!
Title: Re: Mission Impossible - The One Day Rental
Post by: MudPuppy on March 20, 2014, 11:14:33 PM
Seems impossible but should be fun trying at least and who knows it could possibly be possible  ;)
Can't wait to hear/see how it goes.
Good Luck!
Title: Re: Mission Impossible - The One Day Rental
Post by: matt1971 on March 20, 2014, 11:19:27 PM
Have a safe trip.
Title: Re: Mission Impossible - The One Day Rental
Post by: SpreadEagle on March 20, 2014, 11:53:20 PM
Yes, please be safe. Be a tight run but if you get enough sleep it can be done. Used to drive from KC to Kenora strait. Very long drive.  Make sure you keep your hubs cool. Being a rental if something breaks hopefully they'll take care of it.
Title: Re: Mission Impossible - The One Day Rental
Post by: Prafeston on March 21, 2014, 12:26:38 AM
Hopefully the rental company will be be a little lenient. :) I highly doubt we can do it in 24 hours. We'll have 4 car related stops, and possibly two other stops in KC. SpreadEagle will be hopefully giving us some stuff to take back to Pat in STL and I need my fiance to meet us so I can get my tools back that I left with her last time I was in KC. Plus however many Gas Station stops we need to make to fuel up. Which will likely be where we also get our food.
Title: Re: Mission Impossible - The One Day Rental
Post by: vangremlin on March 21, 2014, 08:56:28 AM
Good luck and be safe.  Bring plenty of Red Bull!!
Title: Re: Mission Impossible - The One Day Rental
Post by: Eagle Groupie on March 21, 2014, 09:13:57 AM
I used to drive solo between FL and PA a lot. About 1200 miles in about 18 hours, but that was in a car, not a truck towing something, and I was younger and tolerated caffeine and sleep deprivation better back then. Just be careful because it's possible for neither one of you to be awake enough to drive in the middle of the night. Good luck!
Title: Re: Mission Impossible - The One Day Rental
Post by: Prafeston on March 21, 2014, 11:51:34 AM
I'm a bit of a night owl and used to not sleeping much. I actually stay awake better when it's dark too than when the sun is shining in my eyes. Safety first though!
Title: Re: Mission Impossible - The One Day Rental
Post by: carnuck on March 21, 2014, 03:26:15 PM
Just an FYI, but most trailer rental "days" are 8 hours unless you take it overnight at closing time.
Title: Re: Mission Impossible - The One Day Rental
Post by: SpreadEagle on March 23, 2014, 12:17:35 PM
Just want to say that as of 2:30 this morning they were doing well. Not picked up Penny yet but I did get the fender handed over for Pat.

Can't wait for an update on how the rest of trip went..
Title: Re: Mission Impossible - The One Day Rental
Post by: carnuck on March 23, 2014, 12:49:24 PM
They posted that it's done and trailer was going back. Reminds me of last year when Max98059 and I drove down to Oakland, OR and came back in about 14 hours from North of Seattle. Would've been quicker but my Comanche's trans cooler was plugged (brand new rad) I hope to get the replacement trans in ASAP. 720 miles round trip.
Title: Re: Mission Impossible - The One Day Rental
Post by: vangremlin on March 23, 2014, 02:46:26 PM
Nice to hear they made it!
Title: Re: Mission Impossible - The One Day Rental
Post by: Prafeston on March 24, 2014, 12:01:04 AM
It wasn't completely smooth sailing, but nothing broke, both cars were transported to their new locations, and the trailer and truck were all returned without being charged extra! :) Bigger update with pics to come later.
Title: Re: Mission Impossible - The One Day Rental
Post by: Prafeston on March 24, 2014, 01:10:56 PM
Alright. So as planned I headed to STL on Friday and hung out with some college buddies. Saturday morning I met up with Andy and he had rented a Ford Expedition so he wouldn't be taxing the transmission on his truck plus we were able to maintain speeds much faster than we'd be doing if we were in his truck.

When I arrived I helped him load a few things into the truck and I loaded a few things of my own and we headed to Uhaul to pick up the trailer. We left Uhaul just after 10am.
(http://i776.photobucket.com/albums/yy46/Prafeston/20140322_100631_zpshvomyla4.jpg) (http://s776.photobucket.com/user/Prafeston/media/20140322_100631_zpshvomyla4.jpg.html)

Then we hopped on the road where we picked up his Eagle an hour or so north of St. Louis where he had it tucked away in storage.

Andy pulling his Iron Duke SX/4 Sport out of the storage unit.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Reb2UvTeAOM

And then loaded it on the Uhaul. Didn't take us but maybe 10 minutes top to get back on the road.
(http://i776.photobucket.com/albums/yy46/Prafeston/20140322_111103_zps9ydxruxu.jpg) (http://s776.photobucket.com/user/Prafeston/media/20140322_111103_zps9ydxruxu.jpg.html)

(http://i776.photobucket.com/albums/yy46/Prafeston/20140322_111815_zpstzh1qifi.jpg) (http://s776.photobucket.com/user/Prafeston/media/20140322_111815_zpstzh1qifi.jpg.html)

I took a nap not too long after this so I could make sure I was rested for my portion of the drive to Kansas City. Once we hit Minnesota though I took this picture of us in transit and the fertile farm land!
(http://i776.photobucket.com/albums/yy46/Prafeston/20140322_185543_zpsmi0gdxxj.jpg) (http://s776.photobucket.com/user/Prafeston/media/20140322_185543_zpsmi0gdxxj.jpg.html)

Around 7pm we got to the drop off point for his Eagle. Unloaded some things and were back on the road before 7:30.
(http://i776.photobucket.com/albums/yy46/Prafeston/20140322_193018_zpsmd71ufeo.jpg) (http://s776.photobucket.com/user/Prafeston/media/20140322_193018_zpsmd71ufeo.jpg.html)

Andy went ahead and drove for a bit more longer before I took over and drove for about 4 hours on the way to Kansas City. Andy has a bit more experience driving with a trailer than me so he did all the hauling with the Eagles loaded. I just relieved him briefly so he could get some rest for the drive to Rolla and then back to St. Louis. About an hour outside of Kansas City it started snowing on us though! It wasn't really sticking to the road at that point though and luckily Andy rented the top of the line Expedition with 4WD. On the way to get my Eagle we stopped to pick up a Fender for Pat and in the process managed to pull into the only Hotel that didn't have a looping/turn around lot and I had to back the trailer out! That was a pain and in the process Andy lost his credit card! We finally got out though and met Eric, SpreadEagle to snag the fender and then we were off to pick up the Penny.

By the time we got to my Eagle it was covered in about a half an inch of snow and the ratchets on the trailer were completely frozen. We had to hammer at them for awhile to loosen them up and get them to slide into position. After installing a fresh battery and cleaning off the windshield on the Eagle we got it all loaded up and were back on the road by just after 3am Sunday.
(http://i776.photobucket.com/albums/yy46/Prafeston/20140323_030510_zps2p8kfshj.jpg) (http://s776.photobucket.com/user/Prafeston/media/20140323_030510_zps2p8kfshj.jpg.html)

The drive through Kansas City was a little sketchy at times as the snow wasn't bad, but it did manage to freeze over the bridges and overpasses and we passed probably 20+ cars on the side of the road/median before we got out of town and the roads started clearing up. After that is pretty smooth sailing to Rolla where we dropped the car off at another shop for the meantime.

These pics were from after I returned to Rolla later Sunday night, but we dropped my car off in Rolla a little after 7am and got back on the road to STL.
(http://i776.photobucket.com/albums/yy46/Prafeston/20140323_190146_zpssq1ty4s4.jpg) (http://s776.photobucket.com/user/Prafeston/media/20140323_190146_zpssq1ty4s4.jpg.html)

(http://i776.photobucket.com/albums/yy46/Prafeston/20140323_190204_zps7syugkis.jpg) (http://s776.photobucket.com/user/Prafeston/media/20140323_190204_zps7syugkis.jpg.html)

At this point we were pretty much in the clear. Uhaul got returned a little after 9am. Then we took the Expedition to Andy's. Cleaned it out and had Pat meet us there to pick up his fender. After that we said goodbye and Andy took the Expedition to the car wash so it didn't look like we abused the crap out of it! As far as I know it was all returned before the 11am time limit he had to return it without being charged for a second day. So all and all it was a rather successful trip! Thank you again Andy for all the help! Thanks again for SpreadEagle for being willing to meet us at 2:30am so we could transport the fender. And thanks Pat for meeting us in STL so we didn't have to come to you. Oh and if you are wondering we stopped like a million times to fuel up. The Expedition was getting around 12mpg with the Eagles loaded. We only eat gas station food and used the restrooms during our fuel ups.

When I got back to STL I went to my old college roommates house and took a long nap before getting back on the road to go home to Rolla!

And then this morning I stopped by the shop Penny is at and got a VIN/Odometer verification and swung by the DMV so I could finally get the title in my name!
Title: Re: Mission Impossible - The One Day Rental
Post by: Billman on March 24, 2014, 03:32:38 PM
How far into Mn did you get?
Title: Re: Mission Impossible - The One Day Rental
Post by: eaglefreek on March 24, 2014, 03:36:44 PM
Good to hear it went mostly as planned. So you have another shop working on the Eagle?
Title: Re: Mission Impossible - The One Day Rental
Post by: Prafeston on March 24, 2014, 03:55:04 PM
How far into Mn did you get?

I think we were about 80 miles north of Iowa.

So you have another shop working on the Eagle?

Yeah, right now I have it at a shop in Rolla. An old HS friend owns the place and I trust him a lot more than the other shop. I'm not sure really what I'm going to do yet, but I'm gonna have them take a look at it and see what's up and give me some options. Apparently my dad might be selling of his house where I was planning on keeping it. It was the one that has a huge parking lot/driveway where at one time I had 3 Wagons parked on it. And my mom doesn't want it in her driveway and she too is considering selling her house...and I'm moving to Utah! So not sure what's gonna happen next.