OP here again. We took wife's '18 Pacifica Touring L Plus from our home in the Twin Cites to the Golden Retriever National Competition at Purina Farms just outside of St. Louis, MO. We compete in AKC Scent Work, a canine sport where the judge hides the end of a Q-tip sprinkled with an essential oil like birch and each dog is challenged to find it. Our two dogs did quite well with a bunch for first and second places. Actually, my wife did the handling while I volunteered with a judge in a different class.
After the show we wondered where to next. After just coming off hosting a Scent Work show for our local club (exhausting work), we decided to have some fun. I had always wanted to see Devils Tower in Wyoming, so off we went.
Driving there meant we needed to go through Rapid City, SD. Couldn't resist vising Mount Rushmore again.
If you look closely you can see the sculptures in the background upper left along the designated pet visiting area:
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We arrived at Devils Tower National Monument early the next morning while there was still lots of parking available. Managed to find a shady spot for the dogs while we went through the Visitor Center. We learned of a challenging 2.8 mile dirt trail around the outside perimeter of the monolith that promised spectacular views, so we returned to the car and draped it with Aluminet shade cloth to reflect the sun that was surely to come around the Tower and blanket the car. We also turned on the portable Ryobi fans for each dog, put the silver windshield shade on the dash, and lowered the windows quite a bit. The cooling jackets we have for them were not needed here. The temperature was in the upper 60s when we left, but we knew it would be in the mid-70s when we returned. The dogs were nice and comfortable the entire time we were gone.
As promised by the park ranger, the hike along Red Beds Trail was spectacular. And it was indeed challenging at times. It included a total elevation change of 470 feet. Along the way we spotted these flags posted by Indians. They revere this sacred area. You can see the tower off through the trees in the background:
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We spent the night in Cody, Wy. Early the next day we entered into Yellowstone National Park (with our senior lifetime National Park passes we scored years ago before the price jumped to $80) and drove the Grand Loop Road. Much of the road is at 8,000+ feet and there are lots of twists and turns, but the Pacifica handled it all quite well. In fact, I have always been impressed with its handling. Made lots of stops to see the various attractions, and sometimes we were stopped by certain wildlife on the road:
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We made a couple of other stops at various landmarks along our trip home. In all we covered 3,380 miles and the gas mileage display showed 30.2 mpg as we pulled into our garage. The van turned over 70,000 on the odometer somewhere in Wyoming.
In summary, the Pacifica performed flawlessly. I checked fluids every night after a long day's drive and everything was fine. The dogs love this van, and so do we! Wonderful ride. The adaptive cruise control is a wonderful feature and I hope never to own another vehicle without it. I also love how the transmission stays in the same gear for a long time when going up long inclines on the freeway.
A wonderfully fabulous road cruiser!
