Roadtrip . M5 up Pikes Peak. Completed it M8

[Matty]

5 hours ago, hairnet said:

so much twang it broke

 

Twat 😛

[hairnet]

will be hurrying past tomorrow not stopping till broughton or skipton

[motorpunk]

4 or 5 or 6 hours of this. It’s mind-bending. It doesn’t matter if you do 55mph, or 150mph, it’s all the same. Colorado plains and into Kansas. 2 more hours to tonight’s murder motel. M5 has been incredible. It’s bonkers fast, relatively discrete, comfortable and well-kitted out.  

[comfortablynumb]

Did it take you less than 10 minutes to get up there? 😁

[N Dentressangle]

7 hours ago, motorpunk said:

4 or 5 or 6 hours of this. It’s mind-bending. It doesn’t matter if you do 55mph, or 150mph, it’s all the same. Colorado plains and into Kansas. 2 more hours to tonight’s murder motel. M5 has been incredible. It’s bonkers fast, relatively discrete, comfortable and well-kitted out.  

That's often been my impression of the USA from channels like VGG.

There's a fuck of a lot of it, but much of it is the same as the last 100 miles you drove through. A bit like northern France.

[R Lutz]

On 24/05/2025 at 01:02, motorpunk said:

 

[motorpunk]

Kansas backroads, there’s been a massive storm as trees down and power lines down and floods and stuff. 

[motorpunk]

5 hours ago, N Dentressangle said:

much of it is the same as the last 100 miles you drove through. A bit like northern France.

I remember as a kid going to Skegness, and you get past Boston and get all excited about the seaside, then it feels like a billion years of flat landscape and vegetables and nothingness, even though it’s only about 10 miles. Kansas is like that but FOREVER….

[garethj]

A friend did a road trip in the US and took a photo of the satnav screen - In 200 miles take the next left 😳

[Schaefft]

Yeah, it's easy to forget/not know but as soon as you are in any major city in the Midwest it'll probably take you 1.5/2h just to see anything else. It's basically that city or a day trip to anything that's not said city.

[comfortablynumb]

A mate and his family went to Canada, drove between cities, must have been very similar, miles & miles of long straight roads, so boring he went to sleep a couple of times, but since there wasn't anything to hit, someone would wake him up and get him to drive back onto the road....😱

[Matty]

2 hours ago, garethj said:

A friend did a road trip in the US and took a photo of the satnav screen - In 200 miles take the next left 😳

Going to Inverness from ours was a bit like that.

"At the next roundabout take the first left and join the A whatever. Follow the road ahead for 120 miles" 😅

[Wibble]

At least my Skoda sat nav would be more realistic there, “ stay on this road for, a long time”

[motorpunk]

West Kansas is shite. Driving at massive speeds to make it go away. Zero traffic. Zero houses. Nothing but fields and straight roads. I nearly crashed when a slight bend appeared as I’d forgotten how to steer.

[motorpunk]

Crap local attraction. Small Statue of Thingummy.

[motorpunk]

Also - send (a seemingly optimistic) $2800 to me for this shite.

[robt100]

7 minutes ago, motorpunk said:

Zero traffic. Zero houses. Nothing but fields and straight roads. I nearly crashed when a slight bend appeared as I’d forgotten how to steer.

Reminds me a bit of driving from Adelaide to Melbourne, we overtook a lorry at Tailem Bend, and didn't see another vehicle, person or animal for another 2hrs!

[garethj]

1 hour ago, motorpunk said:

Crap local attraction. Small Statue of Thingummy.

Christ, it looks like that dreadful waxworks museum in Great Yarmouth has branched out 😳

[Matty]

12 minutes ago, garethj said:

Christ, it looks like that dreadful waxworks museum in Great Yarmouth has branched out 😳

Looks vaguely like Thatcher at a toga party

[motorpunk]

18 minutes ago, Matty said:

Looks vaguely like Thatcher at a toga party

I thought it looked like Thatcher. 😂

[High Jetter]

1 hour ago, motorpunk said:

I thought it looked like Thatcher. 😂

I'd suggest a therapist 🤣

[Matty]

28 minutes ago, High Jetter said:

I'd suggest a therapist 🤣

Assuming you know a therapist that looks like Margaret 😁

[lesapandre]

4 hours ago, motorpunk said:

Crap local attraction. Small Statue of Thingummy.

[Dippy]

Really enjoying reading about your road trip, brings back memories of my roadtrip over there. 
 

Im hoping to do another in a couple of years, I loved staying in the £30 a night motels (this was 10 years ago so probably much more now) and filling the tank of my rented Challenger every day for £40. I did find the police to be very serious when pulling you over for speeding and got one warning and a huge fine for doing 80MPH on a deserted highway.

Keep the posts coming as it looks like great fun (except Kansas).

[motorpunk]

Well we ran out of time today and hit Des Moines which is really pretty. Found a cool old gas station too. Random order of pics below. Tomorrow we have about 5 hours of driving and a plane to catch

[N Dentressangle]

Have you read The Lost Continent by Bill Bryson?

So much of your experiences are echoed in it, and phrases from the book keep coming to mind.

His first travelogue, and I'd say his best.

[reb]

7 hours ago, N Dentressangle said:

Have you read The Lost Continent by Bill Bryson?

So much of your experiences are echoed in it, and phrases from the book keep coming to mind.

His first travelogue, and I'd say his best.

"I come from Des Moines, somebody had to"

[motorpunk]

13 minutes ago, reb said:

"I come from Des Moines, somebody had to"

It’s a really nice place!

[motorpunk]

Am jet lagged, knackered, and hugely confused by the road signs…

[hairnet]

20 hours ago, motorpunk said:

Also - send (a seemingly optimistic) $2800 to me for this shite.

ooftt hnnnng at the front

omfg from there