Liftedwrx
New member
Went back to South Carolina for 2 more weeks for hopefully the last time this year. When I flew home the following Friday we were off to Colorado to pick up a car. My girlfriend bought a little keychain of a yellow Honda CVCC back in August because she wanted me to paint my CVCC yellow as it is her favorite color. Ended up going with a silver color, but about 2 months after she got the keychain we found a yellow one for sale out in Colorado that is the same car. She ended up buying it and we scheduled a trip out to Colorado where we would spend a night camping out in the Buena Vista area then go pick the car up in Colorado Springs before heading back home. So when I flew in Friday morning we packed up the ambi and hit the road for Colorado. We made it to about North Platte before we were both tired and ready to pull over for the night, so we spent the night at a rest stop. The next morning I was up very early and hit the road while she continued to sleep in the back. Shortly before making it to Keenesburg, CO the heat stopped working in the ambi and eventually the coolant temps started to rise. So I pulled over in Keenesburg at a gas station to check it out. Found a coolant hose to be sliced and leaking. It was on the top/front of the engine right below the hot side intercooler pipe and it went to the degas bottle. Ended up having to take the intake and intercooler pipe out to be able to get my hands in there. Once it was off I was able to walk to a NAPA nearby and get a new hose, clamp, and coolant. Got everything put back together, bled the system and we were back on the road. Our plan was to go straight to Leadville and hang out there for a few hours before going to find a place to camp for the night in Buena Vista. Once we got to Leadville it was around 2 or 3 pm so we lost a few hours due to the roadside repairs I had to do earlier. Still got to walk around Leadville for a bit and grab a bite to eat before we left to Buena Vista as we could see the sun was about to start going down. We actually decided to stay about 20 minutes past BV off of 270 by Browns Creek Trailhead. When we got onto 270 the view was amazing and we decided to pull over and get a picture, in doing so I accidentally backed up into a very deep ditch and got us stuck... My girlfriend went over to the nearby farm to see if they had any equipment and a strap to pull us out while I waited with the ambi in case someone happened to drive by with a strap. About 20 minutes later she shows up with 3 guys and their truck. We loaded a bunch of rocks under the tires that were just hanging out in the ditch, jacked up the back of the ambi that was stuck in the ground and hooked up the strap. With a soft little pull to the right we were out of the ditch and back onto the road. By now the sun was basically down and it was starting to get really dark, so we continued up 270 to find a camp site. The dirt roads up there were not very good with lots of washboards so we took it very slowly, after driving on these roads for about another 20 minutes we found a good flat spot to park and set up for the night. It was a great spot to watch the stars and spend the night. The next morning we got up early to watch the sunrise and noticed the snow storm that was in the forecast was coming in fast, so we quickly packed up and hit the road to Colorado Springs. On the trip down into Colorado Springs it really started snowing and we were seeing lots of accidents because the roads were very slick, we were even having lots of issues trying to slow down and stop. Once we sort of got out of the mountains and into the city it wasn't quite as bad and we had no issues driving around, so we got the dolly and went to pick up the car. Unfortunately our buddy who picked up the car for us a few weeks ago was out at breakfast so we had to load everything up ourselves. The car itself was very light but trying to push it slightly up hill onto a tow dolly was very tricky, eventually we got it onto the dolly and strapped down, lifted the spare engine that came with it into the back of the ambi and we were back on the road towards Minnesota. Once we got on the freeway the conditions got worse again and it was very slippery with lots of snow falling. Google maps had us take a different way home than I usually take because they had closed I-76/I-80 due to the snow. So we took I-70 and highways to make it to Kearney. The drive took a long time as we were doing between 50 and 60 the whole way there. So we spent the night at a hotel in Kearney so we could shower and have a good nights sleep before driving the final leg of the trip the next day. We woke up to about 3 or 4 inches of fresh snow on the ground and very dead batteries in the ambi... Our jump pack also turned out to be low on juice so I had to get the generator out and plug it into the shore power for a few minutes to let it charge the batteries. Eventually she fired up and we were able to get back on the road. The rest of the trip back went very smoothly with no issues, and we were able to pull into my shop around 5:30 pm. Got everything unloaded and parked the new CVCC next to our other old Honda's. The ambi and CVCC definitely need a wash after that trip as they both are disgusting and covered in road salt/sand. But overall it was a successful trip and we can't wait to start working on the CVCC.
