A new phase has begun!! Get Out And Ride with Tippy, Puc and Trooper!!!

[cowpuc]

There is no place on earth more worthy of breaking in a new vehicle to new adventure than the Rocky Mountain National Park in the Colorado Rocky Mountains and no place better to begin the adventure than the Grand Lodge wayyyyyy up there in those awesome mountains!!!

[cowpuc]

Who would have ever thought that an electric car could have so much fun playing with a couple of old bikers like Tip and I!!

 

[cowpuc]

Neither pictures nor video do this mommy Moose and her new born calve justice!! Something's in life just require being there to really get the full effect but hey,, ya cant say the three of us didnt try!!!

 

[cowpuc]

Ya learn something new everyday when hanging out with adventurers like Tip and Trooper.. I never even knew they allowed Elk Hunting inside the National Park much less that they had rules like explained on this sign!!

 

[Kretz]

Nice videos Puc thanks for sharing!

It's absolutely wonderful to see our wildlife, we sat in our kitchen just a few nights ago watching a huge black bear feeding on our apple tree. (& he's most welcome!) That Moose did look to be a fair distance away so all the looky-loos probably didn't scare it. But please remember that we can scare animals with our mere presence.

I saw a story recently where a Moose, exhausted from it's swim across a lake was then scared back into the water by a mob of tourists taking photos.... It drowned!

Please be aware when viewing wildlife & do responsibly & from a distance. Thank You

[cowpuc]

We were amazed to find how effective Troopers cruise control worked even at speeds well below 20 mph!! This and his "Hill Assist" came in extremely handy for watching for wild life on the back roads of the Rocky Mountain N.P.!!

 

[cowpuc]

I think this great big beautiful Rocky Mountain N.P. Bull Elk really appreciated Troopers silence and stealthiness and he was not afraid to tell us all about it!! THANK YOU for the AWESOME greeting Mr. Elk!!

 

[cowpuc]

To many people the idea of two retired people camping out in the back of a Hybrid Car probably sounds pretty out there but to my wife - Tippy, and I, our newly discovered 60 mile per gallon Micro Motor Home, mountain climbing Hyundai Ionic Hybrid is a God send and an answer to prayer! We come from a fairly steady diet of tent camping while criss crossing the country on a touring motorcycle (subscribe and check out some of our motorcycle touring vids) so for us, life on the road of adventure with Trooper could not be better, a DEFINITE step up in the realm of camping opportunities and a means to keep us out on the road - making new memories together!!!

 

[cowpuc]

Tip and I have ridden "50" (aka = "The Loneliest Highway In America") in its entirety from Ocean City MD to Sacramento CA by motorcycle and were thrilled to share some of it with Trooper on several occasions. Towns along 50's path like Austin are absolute treasure troves of American history!!

 

[cowpuc]

THERE"S SILVER IN THEM THERE HILL'S!!!! Unfortunately the two brothers who made the discovery that made Virginia City famous and brought wealth to so many never got to enjoy the fruit of their labor.

 

[cowpuc]

TURN UP YOUR VOLUME RIGHT AT THE START AND YOU CAN BRIEFLY HEAR ONE!!!! He only sang his song briefly but,,, THAT'S IT!! Do you remember that bird's song??? Because of all the Cowboy shows I watched as a child, that birds song is embedded in my minds eye FOREVER!!!!!! What is that??

 

[Kretz]

You sure do seem to be enjoying yourselves & seeing some sights. Good on you both.... livin' life to the full! :banana:Absolutely wonderful. Pleased your "new" micro camper is working well for you, you might want to share your exploits with Hyundai, who knows you may get a sponsorship deal! LOL

Keep up the good work!

[cowpuc]

You sure do seem to be enjoying yourselves & seeing some sights. Good on you both.... livin' life to the full! :banana:Absolutely wonderful. Pleased your "new" micro camper is working well for you, you might want to your exploits with Hyundai, who knows you may get a sponsorship deal! LOL

Keep up the good work!

 

Back at cha Kretz!!!!! "Trooper" our brand new Hyundai Ioniq Micro Motor Home/Sports car/mountain goat now has just under 10,000 miles on him in less than 3 weeks!! One of the HUGE things that I am still in shock with is traveling over 600 miles on less than 10 gallons of gas - thing is INCREDIBLE!! There are other things I still dont get,,, Troopers little motor has a compression ratio of over 13:1 but is spected at 87 octane that he LOVES!! The ability to sleep during the day when my cancer fatique hits was imparitive for keeping us CTFW and we were THRILLED to find this capibility but WOWZY WOW WOW WOW -finding it in a vehicle that Tip could drive while I sleep PLUS getting this kind of MPG is just mind boggling!!

Hyundai DEFINITELY has my :thumbsup::thumbsup: on this one so far!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Kretz]

Those 'lectric veee-hicles are expensive! :mo money:but maybe when you factor in running costs, maybe not that bad!

Up here one of those would cost $38,600 plus taxes of 12%. Not sure what Gov't incentives are on offer at the moment.

[Graywulf]

Amazing trip guys, I'm kinda envious {just a little} coz I luvs road trips. Leccy vehicles are still very much 'infancy' here. Major cities are about it for any real level of support though. Most of NZ would be like travelling the 'deep south' for the type of towns/services. Moose we dun have, or bears, or snakes, or cougars {apart from the woman type} or mountain lions. But we has lotsa dangerous Possum's {get as big as a cat}

 

Next new vehicle Puc, come on over to Godzone, South Island is THE greatest riding/driving you can have.

[dogman]

Puc, a great adventure you and Tip are on. Great that you are loving your new electric Hyundai. I'm amazed that you can lay down in the back.

As you say, keep on riding.

[cowpuc]

Those 'lectric veee-hicles are expensive! :mo money:but maybe when you factor in running costs, maybe not that bad!

Up here one of those would cost $38,600 plus taxes of 12%. Not sure what Gov't incentives are on offer at the moment.

 

So here's basically how it all works,,, at least it still does around here brother... After doing the research,, taking the physical measurements so I knew Trooper could easily sleep two and double checking my data concerning warranties (the Hyundai has some remarkable factory warranty stats like 10 year/100k on drive train and life time on the battery = NOT the typical Extended Warranty nonsense either,, this is ACTUAL factory warranty) and doing pricing,, I grabbed a handful of 100 dollar bills to produce the feeding frenzy scent needed to get the wheels moving and went shopping.. As I had advised many people buying new scoots,, I also waited till I knew the new models would be on their way to the dealerships so we would be dealing on a new "left over" 2018 and also for the last week of the month knowing the sales persons would be anxious to meet quotas.. Worked great!!

After a good full day of cross shopping for the bid process (gathering quotes) I produced exactly the color and car we wanted being shipped to the dealership we wanted (I LOVE staying local so I can develop a good, regular relationship with a dealership right out my back door).. In the end, thru a little bit of hard work,,, spending time saving up the cash and NEVER considering or mentioning a "trade in" in the process and CONSTANTLY reminding those sales people that we were talking CASH = we got the exact car we wanted for just under 19 grand !!

[cowpuc]

Puc, a great adventure you and Tip are on. Great that you are loving your new electric Hyundai. I'm amazed that you can lay down in the back.

As you say, keep on riding.

 

I know what cha mean Dave, my current need to sleep at any given moment has really put a crimp in our life style concerning bike touring so you can imagine my when I found the "Prius Camping" video's on YouTube a few months ago that started this long process!! I was shocked to learn that the Ioniq actually has more space in the back PLUS it also operates it AC off the battery pack so the internal temps can be controlled endlessly over night too = just like a full sized motorhome only LOTS cheaper!! We spent a couple nights down in Organ Pipe Cactus N.P. with night tempts in the 100's and inside tempts at 70 (SLEPT LIKE A BABY ) and can verify that two nights of AC cost less than 1 gallon of gas = INCREDIBLE!!!

Now,, instead of:cry: over the prospects of our touring days being cut short,, we are about all the places we want to go/see that we were limited to because of Jeff and his Wisconsin White Washer and other weather concerns... You should have seen us LAUGHING at a HUGE Rocky Mountain Thunder Storm up at 9000 feet in 36 degree tempts = I am sure the other tourist thought we were crazy....... Look out Alaska!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[cowpuc]

For us gear heads, there is something very special about doing the very 1st oil change of a brand new vehicle. Trooper came from the new car dealership with a free 1st oil change offer but, being 3k miles from Betten Baker Hyundai in Muskegon at the time that his oil change need presented itself eliminated that option (I would have done it myself anyway - it's a guy thing,,,,, sort of like asking those fine people at the Dealership to leave Troopers stickers on so I could remove them LOL). All went well and Trooper came thru it all like a trooper!!!

 

[Kretz]

$19,000!!!!!!!!!!! That's around $25-$26k here, That's unbelievable, like I said I priced it up here & they are $36k plus! Next time I go car shopping I'm taking you with me! Well dealt Puc!

[cowpuc]

While I was shopping at Walmart in Galt California for some 0w20 Full Synthetic Oil for Trooper,, some low life was outside working on sneaking inside of him!! If it weren't for the fact that my wife had called me and asked me to jump back in Trooper to bring her some baby formula for our newly born grandson, those nasty bad guys may have gotten away with something! THANKFULLY all the damage that was done was some scraping on the paint to the little cover that hides Troopers emergency door lock!!

 

[Kretz]

So sorry to hear that! There are scumbags all over the place. Wouldn't it be nice if we could give these lowlifes what they truly deserve!

You are correct they just don't care, no respect for anyone or anything! & the law (Ha! Ha!) says the poor soles were so disadvantaged growing up & that's why they need to take your stuff. I really makes me mad!

Edited September 27, 2018 by Kretz

[dogman]

I know what cha mean Dave, my current need to sleep at any given moment has really put a crimp in our life style concerning bike touring so you can imagine my when I found the "Prius Camping" video's on YouTube a few months ago that started this long process!! I was shocked to learn that the Ioniq actually has more space in the back PLUS it also operates it AC off the battery pack so the internal temps can be controlled endlessly over night too = just like a full sized motorhome only LOTS cheaper!! We spent a couple nights down in Organ Pipe Cactus N.P. with night tempts in the 100's and inside tempts at 70 (SLEPT LIKE A BABY ) and can verify that two nights of AC cost less than 1 gallon of gas = INCREDIBLE!!!

Now,, instead of:cry: over the prospects of our touring days being cut short,, we are about all the places we want to go/see that we were limited to because of Jeff and his Wisconsin White Washer and other weather concerns... You should have seen us LAUGHING at a HUGE Rocky Mountain Thunder Storm up at 9000 feet in 36 degree tempts = I am sure the other tourist thought we were crazy....... Look out Alaska!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

That is fantastic. I had no idea the car is so versatile. I'm glad you are able to keep up your adventures and this car allows you to do it in comfort.

Keep enjoying and fighting as you always do.

[dogman]

Sorry to hear some low life tried to break into your car. Glad to hear they where unsuccessful and they didn't damage the car other then what they popped off the door handle.

[cowpuc]

Having discovered this knarly, switchback infested, no guard rail cliff hanging endless hairpin turning, bicycle trail width in spots, +50 mile pathway thru the Redwoods roadway that runs eastwardly from Stewarts Point CA on Hwy 1 over to Gyserville, many years ago,, it was a very seldom occasion that we made the trip to the west coast on our touring bike that we didn't take the time to ride this trail that embarasses the likes of "The Tail Of The Dragon" just one more time and our initial voyage in that direction with our new Sports Car named Trooper played out no differently!! Trooper did just SUPER in this environment and his Sport Mode was a blast here!! We have shared the secret of Skaggs Springs Road with many touring riders in the past and now eagerly expand the encouragement to "Get Out And Ride" that trail with our fellow Micro Motor Home travelers too!!