Driving through the heat!

[Mountainhwy4]

We've officially started our journey from CA to FL in our homebuilt, and we're stopped in Fresno for a couple days with the girlfriend's family. Our plan from here was to leave tomorrow relatively early, get up to Tehachapi and camp at the Tehachapi Mountain Park campground, then the next day drive through to Needles/Lake Havasu area and spend a night there somewhere, then the next day drive up to Flagstaff.

It's pretty darn hot right now (understatement), and while we were originally planning on doing some hiking in Tehachapi and perhaps Mojave area I believe that plan is shot. We're now thinking of leaving EARLY Wednesday morning and drive to Barstow, stay in a hotel, then leave EARLY Thursday and get to Flagstaff.

The grades up to Tehachapi and after the Colorado up to Flag will probably be taxing on my '07 Subaru Outback, and we were wondering if there were alternative routes up to Flag that might be a little better on my car in the heat. I know, I know, we have to get up to that 7000' elevation either way but if there were a less stressful journey we could make that would be ideal! And yes, our decision to leave for Florida at the beginning of August may be a bit foolish but that's when the timing worked out so what can you do?

-Lawrence & Andrea

[Tomterrific]

Drive at a slower speed as wind resistance goes up twice as fast as speed.
Turn off the A.C. when you Subi kicks down A gear and labors.
You may want to change to a heavier grade of synthetic motor oil. My truck has a car engine. Specs 0w-20 for cars, 5w-30 for trucks.
Transmission cooler?
Early starts?,
Obvious stuff.
Tt

[pchast]

How do you feel about driving at night when its cooler?

[Shadow Catcher]

With our Outback I went with 60/40 antifreeze mix, Amsoil, and an Ultraguage which let me know the actual engine temp. There were a number of time headed over Tioga (10,000') and points east, where we opened the windows and turned the heater on high.

[pchast]

I've had the transmission fluid changed every 25000 in my outback.
The Car runs 10 to 15 degrees cooler each time they do it.