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I made over 20 east/west trips from '74-99, and all but a few were in old, greater than 200k mi Volvo's. Began in '74 with an MB 230 that kept me on my toes with repairs, and did most of these trips in a 68 144 that ended with 480k miles on it.
I made a checklist for everything on the car, from brakes to tune, to fluids,torqued the suspension, almost never took the car on a trip like this without doing a complete stage 1 tune & maintence, even if I had done it 6 mos earlier.
I never carried spares of anything except an oil filter, drain pan & some tools.
I changed my oil every 2k behind an autoparts store where I could dump it. The Volvos never broke down, the MB did, a lot.
After a few of these trips, I found out where every Volvo dealer was in the major cities, just in case, but never used them except for oil changes and a broken fog lamp. Keep a copy of the IPD catalog with you, as they can Fed-X parts overnight.
Enjoy the ride.
My favorite sections are the CA North Coast, Mendocino to Coos Bay, to Grants Pass, Oregon, and the St Highway that cuts across Wyoming fron Jackson to the Black Hills, SD. The area in Montana around Glacier Ntn'l Park, Kalispel is nice, but would find winter there still. More southern routes that are nice are US 40 from Park City, UT to Steamboat Springs, CO, still in time for cold & snow, though.
If you want to go from Monterey, CA to Portland Ore in 1 day, I would suggest that you take the road to Watsonville, 152 through Gilroy all the way to I5. If you go up to Santa Cruz, and then through the Bay area, you won't even get to Red Bluff in 1 day. BTW, the road from Watsonville 152 is a nice ride, especially in the early morning. Lot of twisties throught the redwoods.
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