$900? I have one word: raxles.com *NM*

that my Boxster is ready to pick up.

It was in for a torn CV boots. Do not know the cost of the CV joint clean/repack and new CV boots job. Oh, and the cost of replacing some hardware, fasteners.

I do know new replacement half-shafts are $900+ each so I went ahead and let the tech clean/repack the CV joints in the old ones. This is what he advised from the outset but I sort of like just replacing these especially with so many miles on them. But he said he'd inspect them carefully and if he found any reason to suspect one or more not suitable for reuse he'd let me know.

Anyhow, the car will be waiting for me when I get back.

Hehe. I'm a bit chicken and decided this trip to *not* drive across NV at night. One encounter with NV wildlife is one encounter too many. So instead of pressing on to Salt Lake City I stopped for the night (even thought it was still daylight no less) at Elko NV.

As soon as the sun is high in the sky I'll make my way out of NV and on into Utah and points east.

Oh wonder of wonders... gas prices are dropping! Paid $4.499/gallon in Livermore. Err, check that dropping comment, because I paid even more in Truckee: $4.699/gallon (omg) but things started looking up again cause in Mill Valley NV I paid just (just?) $4.199/gallon. I saw regular for under $4/gallon! First time I've seen gas that low for months.

I don't yet know the gas prices here in Elko cause I haven't bought gas yet. I won't fill up the gas tank until I'm ready to hit the road.

Sincerely,

MarcW.

...it had been a loooong time since I made that I-80 trip from SF. Wife and I decided to try to stay in Wendover and I was bowled over when we saw all the neon lights and casinos. The last time through all I saw were a few small time motels.

No more. I made ths trip in the Mustang ('96 GT) (not a Bullitt Mustang you lucky so and so) and I sold the Mustang in '01 after I bought the Camaro. So it has been over 10 years, at least 11 years since I've been this way.

Early on after I gave up I-80 I'd go south and then catch I-15 at Barstow and run up to LV and stop for the night, then I'd head on across a corner of AZ and into Utah up I-15 and catch I-70 and over. But more often and especially lately the last Oh I don't know how many trips I'd just get on I-40 at Barstow and hammer down.

Anyhow, I don't remember Wendover at all from my last time through it. I came through late at night and in a hurry (but not much of a hurry cause I got a speeding ticket somewhere out in NV (the court I paid the ticket too was located in Elko IIRC and I didn't want a 2nd ticket) to make Salt Lake City for the night. No more speeding tickets (though it was touch and go there for a few minutes after I got pulled over in WY but somehow managed to get off with a warning) but that was the trip when I awoke the next AM and walked out to the car I noticed a small puddle of anti-freeze/coolant under the front of the car. Had to get a new radiator installed at Salt Lake City Ford. Cost me a day and over $600, IIRC.

But you're right about Wendover now. More than a few nice casinos. I stopped at one -- can't remember the name now -- and had a lunch in the restaurant/buffet.

Even though it was daylight when I go to Wendover it kind of reminded me the 1st time I drove to LV and coming across I-15 and its nothingness to the state line. At first the glow in the night I attributed to LV having been there before (flying in) for business reasons remembering how bright the city was lit up.

But this glow was the tiny town of IIRC State Line. The casinos were built almost with one wall right on the line it seemed. And bright? Oh yeah. I had to laugh out loud at the contrast. But a few seconds at highway speeds and the glow was just a faint memory in the rear view mirror. There were plenty of more miles of driving through the inky blackness of the high desert night before I reached LV.

And is that road out of Wendover flat or what? Flat and straight. I don't think the altitude reading on my NAV unit wavered more than a foot (from 4202 feet above sea level) in miles and miles of driving. Had to fight temptation to put the pedal to the metal (it didn't help that Bonneville Salt Flats right outside of Wendover planted the seed of speed in my brain) and make some time between Wendover and Salt Lake City. No could do though, and remain out of jail. There were a couple of UHP cars 'hiding' in the heat shimmer. The V1 could 'see' them long before I could even see the road in the shimmer, let alone make out a car sitting on a crossover lying in wait.

Anyhow. made Lincoln NE last night and should be at my folks' place in a few hours. Oh, gas is up again! Think I paid just $3.819/gallon for 93 octane no less somewhere in WY (and just $4.24 for a gin and tonic at a restaurant) but last night filled up in a NE station and paid $4.399/gallon and only 91 octane at that.

Sincerely,

MarcW.

...twice, once in the Boxster near Laramie and that cost me $140....89 in a 75! That was in 2006. This year I got stopped in the Bullitt for 81 in a 75! I only got a warning. It seems WY is less tolerant of any MPH over the limit.

I measured the distance that I-80 does not turn out of Wendover and it was 41 miles before a slight left bend then MORE straight. I think the Salt flats were about 20 miles of that 41.

The state line is painted on the street in Wendover and it is really dark on the UT side...2 mini marts, a Quality Inn and one other fleabag motel.

Have a safe trip.