Now thats a long trip! holy cow  

That trip was about 6 weeks long.  the funnest thing i've ever done.   I went to places with snow in the summer to warm beaches with lots of girls while i was single.  snuck into all inclusive clubs

I even went to eagle colorado which is now all publicized.  That trip was the ultimate.  And all it cost was rougly 2 thousand dollars in fuel and food.  The rest was made.  I stopped at truckstops with the quarter showers to clean up.  Everything was good.

Well, I'm here in Denver right now. I got to Albuquerque, NM, last Monday. Despite the weatherman's assurances, there has been virtually no snow. A little dusting that disappeared off the streets in no time. So I have not had a chance to see what the Tracker would do in snow. I have to head home Thursday, so I doubt I'll see anything serious. At least the sound deadener came before I left. I managed to get one layer on most of the engine side of the firewall, and it made at least some difference in the noise. I averaged about 30 mpg at a GPS-indicated speed of 65, then it dropped to about 28 as I went west and the wind got stronger. I put some 225-75's on in ABQ, replacing the idiot's 205-70 in front and 205-75s in the rear, which came on it when I bought it. That made the speedometer read true road speed instead of about 3 or 4 mph high. On the way up I-25 from ABQ to Denver I had the mother (OK maybe just the aunt) of tailwinds and I averaged 33 mpg on one tank. That's nice.

Anyway, sorry there's no off-roading or even snowy on-roading to report. But at least now I know the Tracker makes a perfectly fine long-distance tourer.

Great to hear that your first half
of the trip went well, hope your
return is as least as good + Snow

This is kind of sad. I went to a couple of Denver junkyards looking for some Sidekick parts. We found several Samurais there. At least a couple had very good bodies, although the engine/drivetrains were not complete. I don't know why they were junked. It wasn't hard to imagine taking them out and replacing the mechanicals, doing up the interior, and having a nice Sammy. There was a hardtop body that looked really good - no rust, few if any dings. Too bad.