Trip of a Lifetime!

[ryanprins13]

So next summer (2017) I am taking 3 months off work and my wife, 2 kids and I are going to do a cross-Canada tour in my festiva pulling a trailer. The kids will be 4 and 2 years old then, so it should be interesting. A cross-Canada trip in a festiva pulling a trailer to sleep in is something I have wanted to do for a very long time, even before i had my drivers license or knew festivas existed it was something i wished I could do in some kind of vehicle. Then when I bought the festiva my brother and i planned to build a trailer and tour the northwest territories, Yukon and Alaska in the winter, but that never materialized... When I got married I talked to my wife about it and she was interested, sounded fun to her-while we were on our honeymoon, which was a road trip in the festiva through the rockies... But life got in the way right after trying to make a living and then we had 2 kids and I realized that its now or never. We wouldn't fit 3 kids in car seats in a festiva comfortably for that distance and the body of my festiva is very close to the end of its life. There is no way it would last until the kids are out of the house and by then we would probably be too old to want to do something crazy like this. I asked my boss if I could have the time off back in December 2015 thinking he would say no and we could stop thinking and dreaming about it and move on. It took him 3 months to decide but he said we could in April here. I was very surprised and happy about it but that news came right after finding out our youngest son needed open heart surgery as soon as possible. We were insanely busy with that, he had the surgery may 9 and is recovering well, but that took a lot of time away from planning this trip and everything else. So now i am super behind in everything around the home as well as work since I had to take a week off to be in the hospital with him. My plan had been to plan everything for the trip as far as the car build, trailer build, where we would go and what we needed to all buy in the spring here. Have that done by the end of may, then buy a trailer and build it over the summer, then fix the car up over the winter, then take it all out for a test run to the mountains may long weekend 2017. However because of the surgery I am not very far along with planning. I was going to do a lot of research and figure out as much as I could before doing this write-up and talking about it to avoid unnecessary questions, but its hard to buy stuff and ask questions without mentioning what I am doing. I also am running low on time. I am not worried about making the car ready for the trip, I am familiar with working on cars. I worked as a mechanic for a year but the garages in town were all super slow, so I switched to autobody. Did that for a bunch of years and got a couple tickets and now I work in a designing and prototyping shop with access to lathes, knee mill, cnc router, presses, urethane and silicon as well as 3-d printers if need be. I do all the work on my car except wheel alignments which I hope to change soon. Anyway, what I am not familiar with or comfortable doing is trailer building. That is what i need to to do first as I can work on the car and leave it at my shop rolling it in and out if need be in the winter, but I want to build the trailer at home in the summer while its warm and light out. I have no garage at home or pavement, Just a lawn and dirt driveway and work is an hour away. I also do not make or have a lot of money, this will take all the savings I was putting towards building an addition on our tiny old 845 sq ft house for having all the kids my wife wants... Anyhow, I need to do this on a tightish budget which is easy for the car because everything is cheap for it and I know about this forum and where to get parts cheaper. The trailer and supplies for the trip are different though. Thats looking expensive and I am not so knowledgeable about that kind of thing or where to buy stuff cheaper. So I am going to start this thread about the trip itself, a thread about the car and another thread about the trailer. I am hoping for lots of help and suggestions and I am sorry for not having the time to figure more out before asking questions-I really honestly was planning to. There were lots of good deals on trailers in the winter, now everyone is selling used ones for the price of new unfortunately. Bad timing for me I suppose. I will try and keep this thread about the trip itself and just discuss what I am doing with the car and trailer on the other threads which are linked at the end here. I do know that the festiva can pull and stop the trailer I plan to build-just figure i should get that out of the way and said.

We plan to do a trial Trip with our whole setup may long weekend next year out to the rockies. There is a very mountainous route that i plan to give it a workout through to test cooling system, brakes and power up hills. Then while camping we will see if we need to buy more stuff or if what we brought and built was adequate. Then were thinking to leave on the trip in the middle of June 2017 and be back middle of september. We live in central Alberta ( I work in the capital city which is Edmonton) and our general plan so far is to head into central B.C where my wife and I used to live, do some visiting, then head to the queen charlotte islands. Then up to the Yukon to see whats up there. I plan to get my passport and we will check out Alaska, then back through the Yukon and into the northwest territories. Check out northern alberta which I haven't seen much of, northern saskatchewan and manitoba. I have a lot of relatives in ontario we want to visit and i think it would be cool to check out detroit-motor city! Then we will burn across quebec real quick and check out newfoundland, nova scotia, PeI and all them. Then back checking out different routes than we took on the way there. Then we will head across the southern halves of the provinces, check out vancouver island, then head north up through the interior of B.C and back into alberta and home. We know a few people we want to visit in north central B.C, a couple around vancouver, some near calgary, one person in saskatchewan, one in manitoba, a bunch in Guelph ontario, but no one anywhere else. Its a ways off yet but would any festiva owners be interested in a visit from us while we are on this trip? Would be nice to see some other festivas and meet some festiva owners. I would (like to) think that some people would like to check out our setup when this is done too. No need to or pressure to put us up for the night or anything fancy, we will be sleeping in our trailer and its an unfortunately fast paced trip but indoor showers would be appreciated! I haven't met too many festiva owners and I like seeing what others have done. On this forum there does not seem to be a way to just search who is all from Canada or a particular province or state. Is there a way to find out who all the members from Canada are? I know some members here are rarely on the forum, or perhaps no longer are at all and I wouldn't mind sending them a pm or contacting them some other way later on here to see if they are interested in meeting up with us on our trip. I will probably have to check out the facebook page too.

We haven't made plans yet of what we want to see, but would like to visit museums, war history places over on the east coast, halifax explosion site, B.C rainforests, mining history up north... Both I and my wife like history, especially of Canada, so that will be a lot of our stops and sight seeing. There should be a fair bit along the coast of B.C too. I like hiking and scenery, mountains, trees, rivers and all that much more than open prairie and cities. Should visit the parliament buildings. Then we obviously need some stops for the kids to enjoy and have a good time playing-splash parks, swimming pools, playgrounds and such. Our current plan is to homeschool our kids and I would kind of like to visit historical areas of Canada, take a lot of pictures and use that in their schooling years down the road here. Should make Canadian history more interesting for them anyway. Also I want to take scenic highways and roads, not the main ones where you don't see anything. I don't mind driving on gravel but I don't know how well my trailer will take that or how the car will handle towing on gravel. Ill have my tire chains, long tow ropes and a come-along for exploring in the territories and up north but i think i will mostly stick to pavement in the southern parts of the provinces. So any suggestions of what we should see, what routes we should take would be very appreciated!

[ryanprins13]

Then the other things I have to look into is where to camp at night, where gas stations are up north, where to get water and where we can use public or friends showers. Campsites get expensive when you do it every night for 90 days. I plan to have the trailer set up so we can all sleep in it if we need to but have a quick pop up tent for us and the kids for sleeping outside. So I think we could use truck stops to sleep if we needed to some nights? Also in less populated areas I may just pull off the road somewhere for a night. Can anyone give suggestions of good cheap places to camp in an enclosed trailer? We will be spending some nights at campsites, I just don't want to do it every night. Then depending on how I build the trailer I may be down to 30mpg which leaves me with a range of a mere 370km on a tank. I hope to get 40mpg but I think I need at least 1 gerry can anyway. I believe i will get myself a card-lock card. I will have to look and see what the most common ones are across Canada and maybe get a couple. Biggest problem is water. I cannot let the trailer get too heavy. I figure keeping 3 days of drinking water which would be about 21 liters or 46 pounds. That's fine, its the showering. Were going to have a propane heated shower setup we can attach to the side of the trailer with a little pop up enclosure. We are all used to long showers unfortunately, but an 8 min shower for me, 10 for my wife and 10 for both kids total is about 115 liters- or 250 pounds. If we shower 3 times a week that's 850 pounds of water a week! So we have to shower for less time (going from 28 min down to 21 makes it 190 pounds-86L- of water), but because of the weight of the trailer already from everything else we need to bring as well as the trailer itself I think I need to travel with empty water jugs for showering and fill them up right before we want to shower. So I will just bring a couple empty jugs totaling 100-120 liters and fill them up somewhere when we want to shower and go drive somewhere else close by where we can shower. So, can anyone tell me good places to fill up big water jugs while traveling for free? Where do truckers get water? Are there public showers in some places and where? We plan to go swimming a bunch so we can use showers at pools, but you always have to pay admition before using the showers. We will probably end up spending a couple nights in a hotel over the course of the 3 months for a break, but not many as the idea with the trailer is to not do that... Other than pools are there places to shower that are cheaper than a hotel? We have a few friends we can visit along the way where we can shower, but as mentioned, not very many.

I have a very bad habit of eating tons while I drive, mostly to stay awake but I do it all the time on long trips. I need suggestions of what to do to stay awake and healthy snack stuff to eat so I wont get as fat on this 3 month trip. I haven't figured out where to put our bikes yet, but we plan to bring them. We plan to do a bunch of biking and hiking to get exercise as well as sightsee on this trip. Also planning to bring an inflatable boat and perhaps an electric motor for it. I was going to make a receiver on the front bumper and put the bike rack there but realized I wouldn't be able to see through 3 bikes while driving very well... Getting attachments to put my civic roof rack on the festiva would work for the bikes but make a lot of wind drag. But more on that in the trailer thread. I need to get a lot more fit before this trip, probably start jogging or something, so I am able to gain some weight without getting too big while driving for 3 months.

On the car I plan to install a/c, get some cooled seat covers and gel cushions for my wife. There are online threads about cooling for kids car seats but I will see how good the a/c is first, hopefully don't need that. Gonna tint the back windows (illegal to do the fronts and i will be a cop magnet on this trip i am sure). Install a 2500 watt dc to ac inverter in the car, run ac and dc power to the trailer. Have a good camera and videocamera as well as a small laptop to transfer photos too. Perhaps a gps as google maps on our phones uses a lot of data. Tons of maps but I will do all the driving and will have to spend a fair bit of time beforehand teaching my wife to read maps... Might get a cell phone booster antennae, perhaps a handheld 2-way radio as cb's are obsolete here i think. Gonna put sound deadener in the car and make sure the exhaust is quiet. Have tons of spare parts along and tools to change stuff, ill make a list in the car thread. I have a good stereo, but bad speakers, have to fix that.

For the trailer I am thinking a 5 ft by 10ft, build sides and a roof so its as high as the roofline of the festiva, then have it split in the middle and lift up to be a hight we can stand up in it. Kids and us should be able to sleep in it if need be, but preferably they would be in a tent just outside. More on that in the trailer thread, this is just an overview. Want to keep the trailer 1500-1700 pounds. Have a powered cooler in there as well as a regular one with icepacks we can swap out with the powered cooler. Or just 2 powered coolers. The problem with powered coolers is they are generally smaller and the larger ones are terribly un-useful shapes. A/C and D/C power to the trailer, have a second battery in the trailer. Sleeping on an air mattress, have a 12volt air pump. Portable shower setup with 12v pump, propane heater and showerhead. Shower flows 0.5-1.3gpm depending on pressure, temperature is supposed to be 80-150f. Cook on a propane campstove, have a 25 pound bottle as well as 3 or so 1 pound ones with the fitting to fill them from the big one. Have pots and pans and kettle, one set of cutlery, dishwashing pan but use paper and plastic plates as much as possible to cut down on dishes. Plan to eat either on the side of the road or at playgrounds and stuff where there are picnic tables. Most people would probably eat out a lot on a trip like this but we can't really afford to and aren't used to it. We eat out like 5 times a year including fast food. Clothes for my wife and I wont take too much space, but kids make cloths dirty fast and I plan to visit a laundromat once a week.

So, suggestions on quick meals, meals that don't require a lot of prep time, easy stuff to make with camping gear in a hurry...? Supper we can take some time with generally, but I'm hoping to have quick breakfasts and lunches. My wife is lactose intolerant, cant eat much processed sugar, grease or any beans. So that limits a lot of what we can eat as a family and means theres a lot of doubles with the food as in lactose free milk, cheese... ect as well as the regular stuff for me and the kids. A 2 year old can eat most solid food but we still have to plan stuff a bit for him. I am sure there are some things he can't/won't eat and most stuff probably still will have to be cut up for him. Probably won't be too great with a fork or spoon but we don't have time to make separate meals for everyone We will stop at grocery stores every couple days to pick up food to keep in the coolers, but cant take anything frozen of course. For drinking were going to get a big brita pitcher and filter the water we get, hopefully we don't get sick. Thanks for any suggestions on that

We plan to cover over 30,000km (19,000 miles). I did a quick route on google maps and added 1,000km to it I think. Could end up being more, probably not less though. We have to plan our route a lot better yet. I have taken several long trips before through mountains before and wrote down my average speed including fuel stops. From that I expect to be able to average 85km/hr not including stops for gas and eating breaks and stops for the kids. Eastern Canada, the islands, and southern Ontario will probably be slower, but thats a basic average. So depending on how long we go and what day we leave on its 13-14 sundays, probably do 98 days in total. Sundays will probably be a lazier day, try to plan to visit people we know then, do some sightseeing, find a church... Probably have 20 other days with no driving significant distance, plus 14 sundays leave us with 64 days to do the driving which is 485km/day @ 85km/hr= 5hrs and 40 minutes of driving on those days. Don't have to do that each time of course, could do one day of just driving and another only go 2 or 3 hours. I figure a nice day just driving and no sightseeing but normal meals still, not super rushed but not lazing along we could do 9 hours of driving in- about 785km. So one day like that and the next day only 185km or 2hrs of driving is needed to keep the average. A day driving real hard, eating meals on the go and only necessary breaks for the kids would be almost 11 hours and 910km, or 970km if i drive faster; but thats not really the point of this trip. The point is more to see stuff and explore, see what Canada is like and enjoy ourselves. I like long trips in the festiva, I enjoy it a lot actually. Its unfortunate that my wife wont be able to do any of the driving, but thats just the way it is. It will take time out of those days to shop for groceries, wash laundry once a week and shower a couple times a week. Because we are only taking 3 months for this trip (I still want to be able to come back to a job) a lot of our sightseeing will be out the window of the car. We will stop a lot, but this will be a faster paced trip than I think is ideal.

[ryanprins13]

So, here is a list of supplies I am looking at buying. If you happen to live within a few hours of us or are going to Westiva and want to sell me something on this list that would be cool!

* a 5x10 trailer
* 12v water pump capable of 40-100 psi http://www.ebay.ca/itm/12V-100PSI-4L...wAAOSweW5VJ2gY
* propane camping shower unit http://www.ebay.ca/itm/Best-Portable...oAAOSwve5XNuNP
* pop up privacy tent for showering http://www.ebay.ca/itm/Portable-Pop-...IAAOSwll1WuowO
* powered coolers. Large ones like 40 quarts or bigger http://www.ebay.ca/itm/45-Qt-Thermoe...cAAOSwd4tUEUSo
* queen or double extra tall super comefy air mattress. havent decided on width yet
* a foam or gel mattress topper for it
* 12v air mattress pump
* tent for the kids that is very quick to set up and take down
* 12v motor for an inflatable boat
* folding chairs
* water storage jugs for the showers. Not sure yet if I will look for the type that mounts under the trailer.

Link to my trailer thread : http://www.fordfestiva.com/forums/sh...d=1#post717250

[TominMO]

Motor swap? Brake swap? That's the first thing I would be thinking about. IDK how your car is set up now. Also make sure the cooling system is in top shape, and new struts would be nice too. A full Festiva pulling even an empty 300-lb trailer, not to mention all the stuff you plan to bring, plus the extra wind resistance of the body you will build onto it, means you gotta take the motor, trans and especially the brakes into consideration. And good tires.

Edit: I read thru your trailer build thread too, and saw your pics. So you have 115 HP. Do you really have stock brakes and tires?! Are you actually planning to drive, with your family, for 19,000 miles with that setup, and a trailer weighing as much as the car? There is absolutely no margin for error for any emergency maneuvering or stopping! Even with upgraded brakes, I would not risk my family on this trip. Driving even a mile with them in it would make me nervous/hyper-alert.

[ryanprins13]

here is the link to my car build thread. Didn't get it posted quick enough to add to the original post here http://www.fordfestiva.com/forums/sh...d=1#post717257

[TominMO]

So rather than reading 100 lines of text--do you have stock brakes and skinny tires?

[ryanprins13]

Motor swap? Brake swap? That's the first thing I would be thinking about. IDK how your car is set up now. Also make sure the cooling system is in top shape, and new struts would be nice too. A full Festiva pulling even an empty 300-lb trailer, not to mention all the stuff you plan to bring, plus the extra wind resistance of the body you will build onto it, means you gotta take the motor, trans and especially the brakes into consideration. And good tires.

Edit: I read thru your trailer build thread too, and saw your pics. So you have 115 HP. Do you really have stock brakes and tires?! Are you actually planning to drive, with your family, for 19,000 miles with that setup, and a trailer weighing as much as the car? There is absolutely no margin for error for any emergency maneuvering or stopping! Even with upgraded brakes, I would not risk my family on this trip. Driving even a mile with them in it would make me nervous/hyper-alert.

So rather than reading 100 lines of text--do you have stock brakes and skinny tires?

Check out the thread for the car. Photobucket works super slow on my computer so it took forever to get it up. I have 63 hp or less, yes I am planning to do that and I believe there is a lot of margin for error. I have towed a lot with this car and other vehicles, I do not believe this to be a huge deal. Do I have to pay attention? Of course, you always do. For stuff about tires check out the thread on the car, I have a few questions about them.
Thanks

[TominMO]

Some recommendations came to mind:
1. To reduce trailered weight, try to minimize what you are bringing; for example, do you really need bicycles? Hiking is plenty of exercise. Are there other non-essential heavy things you could do without, like the boat/motor? If two people slept in the car, you would only need one tent. Stuff like that.
2. Are your mileage/driving time calculations based on pulling a 1-ton trailer, and terrain? If not, I'd add 50% to the planned time. I think you will get to know 1st and 2nd gear very well. I hope you will not encounter long steep grades; 63 HP, low torque and a clutch designed for this car may not cut it. More reason to cut weight.
3. Powered coolers: what will power them? Festiva alternators barely power the car itself, with lights, A/C or heater, and radio. Non-powered ones are far cheaper, and good ones can keep things cold with ice for days. You could even go with the super-light disposable styrofoam type.

I think your plans will evolve over the course of time, as you think about what you plan to actually accomplish on the trip, and the practical considerations.

[bhazard]

I think you're nuts

[TominMO]

I think you're nuts

And to whom are you addressing that bit of wisdom, sir? hmmmmmm

[bhazard]

The OP

[TominMO]

Trial trip is a very good idea. I would further suggest a one-day pre-trial trip, with just you and the full weight load you plan to carry, to check out the physical practicality. That may (or may not) lead to further refinement, for the trial trip.

You say the body is near the end of its life. That translates to me as structurally unsound (rust). Do you plan on augmenting it for the trip, or do you think it is sound enough to do what you plan to put it through? Even more reason for the pre-trial trip.

As far as sleeping in the car--are you aware of the rear seat trick? Two adults can sleep quite comfortably in a Festiva if you have the 88-89 front seatbacks, with removable headrests. Do the rear seat trick, then move the front seats all the way forward, and recline the seatbacks all the way flat. About 6'6" of sleeping space! Or just do the rear seat trick (see post #16), and let the small kids sleep there.

[fastivaca]

Ryan, I think you are off to a good start by asking for advice.

I couple of things I would highly recommend are the Aspire brake upgrade and a B6 swap. Those changes on our car made our road trips much more enjoyable. A few people thought we were crazy taking five in a Festiva across the continent!

[ryanprins13]

Some recommendations came to mind:
1. To reduce trailered weight, try to minimize what you are bringing; for example, do you really need bicycles? Hiking is plenty of exercise. Are there other non-essential heavy things you could do without, like the boat/motor? If two people slept in the car, you would only need one tent. Stuff like that.
2. Are your mileage/driving time calculations based on pulling a 1-ton trailer, and terrain? If not, I'd add 50% to the planned time. I think you will get to know 1st and 2nd gear very well. I hope you will not encounter long steep grades; 63 HP, low torque and a clutch designed for this car may not cut it. More reason to cut weight.
3. Powered coolers: what will power them? Festiva alternators barely power the car itself, with lights, A/C or heater, and radio. Non-powered ones are far cheaper, and good ones can keep things cold with ice for days. You could even go with the super-light disposable styrofoam type.

I think your plans will evolve over the course of time, as you think about what you plan to actually accomplish on the trip, and the practical considerations.

1. Yes, I will have to accommodate what we bring and how I build the trailer to what I can tow. What I listed are things I really want to bring. I thought it best to wait until purchasing a trailer so I know its weight and coming up with a better trailer build plan before deciding what to bring and what not to. Hiking is good exersice but if you want to cover any distance with small kids bikes are a lot easier. We enjoy parking the car and biking through tourist towns or down trails. You see a lot more than you would in the car or walking. However the bikes are the most difficult part to fit into the plan right now, they may not end up coming. The boat and the motor could also be done without but they really aren't that heavy. boat, oars and lifejackets are 32 pounds I think and the motor is pretty light too. If I can do this without the extra battery because of not taking the boat it may be worth it. There are a lot of beautiful lakes and we were hoping to explore a bunch, but again, I will get the trailer first, then look at this kind of stuff.
I am aware of the rear seat trick, I have slept in the car before and find it pretty decent. However using a roofrack instead of a trailer and taking everything out of the car including the carseats would be impractical. Leaving your young kids outside the car in a tent (or in the car if we are in a tent) would be frowned upon by anyone who saw it and the last thing we need is our kids taken away when we are a few thousand miles from home. All of us staying in a tent would also not work so well, we have tried it before and setup and packing up take a ton of time and if the tent gets wet or its raining it is pretty miserable.

2. We moved a farming operation 1400km through the rockies, so I am familiar with how it takes longer. The rockies will be slower, southern ontario, pei, new brunswick and that area too. The praries will be faster, lots of open road with moderate hills in the north and b.c that should be around this average.

3. I mentioned how much power they take and what will power them in the original posts. A powered cooler draws less power than one headlight. They don't run the whole time either. I thought about ice and regular coolers, but this is 3 months, lifting the full cooler out and draining it every 2 days would not be fun, you always have to worry about buying ice on time, and worst of all your food is always soaked. I have used styrofoam coolers before but would not trust them to stand up on a trip like this without leaking all over our stuff. Also no drains, you have to dump them.

Yes, I am sure my plans will change a lot.

I think you're nuts

And to whom are you addressing that bit of wisdom, sir? hmmmmmm

touchy are we? lol.
I have thought about this for some time as has my wife. Neither of us are unreasonable people. We both think this can be done and will be enjoyable. I detailed my plans as best I could and asked for help for what I am unsure of. I am open to criticism, open to changing my plans, but so far its been just ,your crazy' or 'I didn't read what you wrote but this this and this are an issue and your irresponsible' even though I talked about those particular things and they are either fine or will be taken care of. Like I said, I am open to criticism, but at least state a reason for it and why you think I am wrong. Just saying that the car doesnt have enough power or brakes when I have tried it and think it does doesn't change my mind, there has to be a reason.

Trial trip is a very good idea. I would further suggest a one-day pre-trial trip, with just you and the full weight load you plan to carry, to check out the physical practicality. That may (or may not) lead to further refinement, for the trial trip.

You say the body is near the end of its life. That translates to me as structurally unsound (rust). Do you plan on augmenting it for the trip, or do you think it is sound enough to do what you plan to put it through? Even more reason for the pre-trial trip.

As far as sleeping in the car--are you aware of the rear seat trick? Two adults can sleep quite comfortably in a Festiva if you have the 88-89 front seatbacks, with removable headrests. Do the rear seat trick, then move the front seats all the way forward, and recline the seatbacks all the way flat. About 6'6" of sleeping space! Or just do the rear seat trick (see post #16), and let the small kids sleep there.

I didn't get into the order I was going to do things too much. I plan to replace the thermostat on the car and test out the cooling system this summer. A bunch of other stuff will be done by fall including the hitch installation. I should have this trailer made up well enough by fall to try out at full weight. I am looking for trailers that I can easily attach an axle with brakes to if I need to. I had talked to a member here about a custom intake manifold 10 months ago or so, I was thinking of talking to him about making it again if I found the power to be slightly insufficient. Then I met someone who will sell me a B6 in very good condition at the end of summer, was a good deal and I plan to drive festivas later on in life as well. Might do some ice racing in the future, who knows. If power is lacking that bad I will install the B6.
This setup will be fine and satisfy what I want for this trip. Right now I believe the B3 and brakes it has to be fine. If by talking to people and trying the setup out this summer or fall I find out that they aren't then I will upgrade the brakes and/or put the b6 in. Thats not an issue. I am not into replacing or upgrading things just because. It seems everyone just upgrades the brakes to race because they think they have to, has anyone tried it with stock brakes? I probably wouldn't myself, but racing is a lot harder on brakes than towing.

As for the body- what I meant by the end of its life is that it will only look respectable for another 2 or 3 years and after probably 5 or 6 the rust would be bad enough that there would be no reason to not buy another $300 festiva and put my engine and trans in it. I have had transmission fluid leaks on and off for 6 or 7 years. Mostly on. Theres a couple reasons why I didn't fix it even though I wanted to, but what that has done is coat the entire underside of the car in oil for the last & or so years. So between the pinch welds all the way back to the rear bumper is in pretty decent shape. I judge where the rear axle bolts to the body to be fine. Where the rust is is in the rocker panels and rear wheel wells as they were not coated in oil. My rear steel bumper is not bad but has a bunch of surface rust. I just purchased a new one which will be shipped here shortly. Then I will buy or make some kind of tow hitch that uses the rear tow hooks, the rear bumper and the spare tire pan. Where it attaches to the bumper will be not only to the bottom but I will also weld it to the front face of the bumper (that faces the driver).

Ryan, I think you are off to a good start by asking for advice.

I couple of things I would highly recommend are the Aspire brake upgrade and a B6 swap. Those changes on our car made our road trips much more enjoyable. A few people thought we were crazy taking five in a Festiva across the continent!

Alright, your trip sounds interesting and I know you have done a pile of road trips and had your kids traveling in the car. I should read some of your blogs about what you have done. I sent you a message.

I am trying to concentrate more on the trailer build right now. However if someone has a suggestion on how to do this with a smaller trailer, a lighter one or no trailer at all I am all ears. My wife and I have done a 12 day camping road trip in the festiva, we have camped several times for long weekends or 4 days with the kids using our civic sedan and I do not see how it would be feasible to do this trip in an enjoyable way with no trailer. I do not think an 8ft trailer would work either, but like I said, I am all ears for practical ideas. I appreciate the suggestions of non powered coolers, sleeping in the car, leaving the bikes at home and so on. I do not think some of those suggestions would work but I appreciate them and any more. Just keeping in mind that we have 2 kids with us, one will be 2 and the other 4 and both in carseats.
Thanks!

[Advancedynamix]

I can vouch that Ian's family felt safe and surprisingly comfortable driving/riding thousands of miles (that's even more Kilometers, lol) in the Festiva. I met them on a couple of their furthest points along 2 journeys. An inspiring family to say the least.
Ryan, I admire you and your wife's desire to take this journey. I have faith in your ability to provide a safe journey for your family. I've also seen high mileage, stock festivas do amazing things, and I have crossed North America 7 times in 3 different festivas myself. Please keep this thread updated with your progress. I'm looking forward to following along.