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[blues brothers] We are on a mission[/blues brothers]
Am I nuts? The journey starts Sunday.
I appreciate your feedback about roads once you understand my general plans. The map is not done yet.
This may explain some odd questions I have posed on the forums. I did not want to go public until it was certain that I was going and it was a concrete plan. This is why I needed to know if the car was waxed at the dealership... because I had a 2500 mile trip home. And why I needed to know how to mount a V1 BEFORE I had the car.
Thanks to my trip sponsors, specially Sector111, and special thanks to Transio for being able to put together a nice web site on very short notice (this all happened in a short time).
Randy, are you really going to take smaller roads for first 600 miles due to break in???...Im curious cause I was planning on driving my car a thousand miles home after delivery but I wasnt planning on taking no damn streets or even hwys...I need freeways cause Im too impatient and lazy!......you really think driving the first 600 miles on freeway would be detrimental to engine??
No way your gonna make it from the gap to Austin in one day. You'll have to drive pretty far after the gap.
And you'll definitely need a GPS if you want to make it on time, it'll be much more convienent on unkown roads and it will give you estimates. I know, I just drove from San Francisco to DC in 5 days. I had a $100 USB (from Best Buy) that connected to my laptop. Worked perfect, escpecially when there was massive backups or when I wanted to see where a road went.
Thanks. I might be able to drive longer than others, but it will depend on the average speed I can do in the Elise. I am concerned I will do a slower speed because it will draw attention (tickets) and if I am off the main freeways.
Normally I drive an average of 70-75mph (including fuel and pit stops) and can drive 1000-1100 miles in one day. I figure if I really tried, I could make it across in 3 days. BONZAI!!!!
But maybe not this time.
I can stop north of Austin and try to get into Austin sometime early Wednesday. Damn... the trip is getting longer.
Maybe I can make it from Austin to San Diego in under 2 days.
Normally I drive an average of 70-75mph (including fuel and pit stops) and can drive 1000-1100 miles in one day. I figure if I really tried, I could make it across in 3 days. BONZAI!!!!
But maybe not this time.
I can stop north of Austin and try to get into Austin sometime early Wednesday. Damn... the trip is getting longer.
Maybe I can make it from Austin to San Diego in under 2 days.
Randy, I think you can do it in one day if you wanted. I drove a Chevy Blazer (smaller S-10 style) from LA to San Antonio in one day. (Granted it was a very long day!)
I agree that GPS is helpful and, in my case, really made for relaxed long-distance cruising. I never worried where I was or how far I was from the next town (gas source, nature break and another source of caffeine!) If you don't have your own, I am happy to loan my my Magellan Roadmate 700.
Randy,
Don't think that you can do deals gap to Austin Tx in one day, 129 is a secondary road, not including gap, I doubt you'll average more than 45 miles an hour. You'd really have to hit interstate I think to have any chance of that.
OOPs, just checked your link, I thought you were talking about leaving LCU doing the GAP and getting to austin same day. Hitting Austin on the 17th would be doable the way you have it planned.
Chris
Randy,
I live between Atl and deals gap. I picked up my Elise 5 days ago! I think what you are doing is awesome! You guys will have to come about 1/2 mile from my house to get to the gap (if you are taking route 129 Georgia to 64 west (n.c.) so if I can help in any way, please feel free to ask. Heck, Ill drive up to deals gap with you (excuse to get outta work). I've got a friend who owns a company called Lamin-x. (www.lamin-x.com) and I can work something out so he gets you some protection for your headlights/front turn indicators for the trip. (maybe put a link on your website?) The plastic lens of these lights are going to be very prone to pitting and this stuff is awesome! Let me know what I can do to help.
Dan Parker
What a cool idea! Long ago I drove cross country with my Dad. We still remember the great time we had. At the Time GE wanted me to drive 400 miles a day from NJ to CA. So we made it from NJ to Colorado by day two and then coasted. We stopped to enjoy all the sights out west. GE was cool about my expense account since the average *did* hit ~400 even though some days only had like 50-60 miles logged in... About 4-5 months later, I bought my first Lotus, a Europa.
DANG!! I just looked at your plan. I have business out in Crossville TN this weekend and I am driving home on Monday. I was planning on hitting the Dragon on Monday afternoon anyway and would love to get a chance to say hi. I'll PM my cell number if you don't mind a drooling visitor in a Honda.
What fun. I did LA to Indy in 4 days in a Miata in 94 and then Indy to San Diego in the same Miata in 3 days in 96. There is really nothing quite like seeing the country this way.
I am envious!!
I did 200 miles yesterday in the elise, on everything from very twisties to freeway.
At the end of it my ass was beginning to suffer, and by far the worst roads are concrete freeways. The constant bobbing motion over the stabs can be tiring after 10 minutes.
Randy, for a pretty drive eading out west from 129:
from the north side of 129, take the foothills parkway north to hwy 321 west
from the south side of 129, continue south into robbinsville and take hwy 143 (cherahala skyway) into TN. It becomes TN hwy 165, then turn north on Hwy 360 if time is not an issue:
to the best of my knowledge the foothills parkway between US 129 and US 321 is still closed and requires using an interesting twisty detour. the cherohala is a fabulous drive and i highly endorse using it. and if you drive both the tail of the dragon and the cherohala the rest of your journey will be boring!
to the best of my knowledge the foothills parkway between US 129 and US 321 is still closed and requires using an interesting twisty detour. the cherohala is a fabulous drive and i highly endorse using it. and if you drive both the tail of the dragon and the cherohala the rest of your journey will be boring!
Erm .. you're getting a work out in front of a computer ? Is your wife in 1280x1024 in 32bit colour ?
May I ask about how switching your car works ? Will you still be buying from Symbolic or directly from Lotus ?
Sounds like you've got a fun trip ahead of you. You have to try to get into Austin to have dinner. So far, Austin is second only to San Francisco in the food dept. 'Specially if you go to the Salt Lick for some ribs
EDIT - My car question sounds like I'm asking so I could do the same. I understand it's a one off, I'm just interested in how that works. Never heard of it happening before ...
I could see how this might upset someone... but you do deserve some type of reward for running the message board that serves as pretty much the only source of info for deposit holders and owners.
Also, it will be interesting for everyone to see how things go during your trip. Particularly those of us who opted to go with the LSS
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