And Away We Go... - Smart Car of America Forums : Smart Car Forum

The Rigger · 07-03-2009, 09:02 PM

They say a journey of a thousand miles begins with the first step. In my case, it'll be 4,000 miles, give or take...

The bags are packed, the Cabrio is loaded, and tomorrow at oh-dark-thirty we're rolling out of the driveway in central Michigan, bound for Dallas. A couple of weeks there for work on my show, then it's eastward to visit my wife in the Florida Gulf Coast by way of some friends near Talladega, and after a week or so in FL, head back home by the first week in August, to fly to Japan and rejoin my tour.

It'll be fun to finally get to spend some Quality Time with the car. We'll see how she fares in the cross-country adventure. No doubt there'll be some road-photos going up in my gallery (or my SmugMug galleries) as the trip progresses.

Y'all have a happy and safe holiday weekend; don't blow up anything that doesn't deserve to be blown up.

John_H · 07-03-2009, 09:08 PM

Prosperous travels, Rigger.

mvaldes · 07-03-2009, 09:18 PM

Best wishes for a safe and enjoyable trip

Padawan · 07-03-2009, 09:19 PM

Have an enjoyable, and most importantly, safe trip.

Godspeed.

Suze · 07-03-2009, 09:27 PM

Have a blast, Rigger !! I loved every day of my 24-day, 5600+ mile smart journey. I like to call it a long drive in a short car.

piglith · 07-03-2009, 09:37 PM

May the force be with you!

Kermit · 07-04-2009, 06:21 AM

Can't wait for the road photos. If you make it by here (Air Force armament museum) there's some good photo ops with the planes. Let me know and I might be able to get you out on the grass to go right beside the planes. If you try it on your own, beware of the sprinkler heads and groundskeepers.

psychobeth · 07-04-2009, 07:02 AM

Hey, Rigger, come by and see me for coffee - I'll buy!!

Have a safe trip and expect to use the AC when you get here. Temps are running well over 100...

The Rigger · 07-04-2009, 08:31 PM

Made it as far as Jackson, TN before having to lie down. Heavy weather blowing in - green skies, lotsa nifty-cool lightning & thunder heading in from points west. After twelve-plus hours of driving, on top of not sleeping worth a tinker's damn last night, this is as far as I go...

It rained from just north of Ft. Wayne, IN all the way south to just north of Bowling Green, KY. Rained some more from Nashville, TN all the way out here, at times quite heavy.

The car was *flawless*. Poised, solid, stayed planted to the pavement. She loves to go straight, contrary to what some detractors think. Even passing Big Trucks, she almost had to be forced to deviate from a straight path. Rock-solid, even with the OEM tires and wheels. I couldn't be more pleased.

First tankful: Lansing to Fishers, IN (jus outside of Indy), 288.7 miles on 7.511 gallons, or 38.437mpg. Second tankful: Fishers, IN to Bucksnort, TN (no, really), 294.1 miles on 7.824 gallons, or 37.589mpg. Not too bad, considering the cruise control was usually set at about 75mph, and the GPS is showing an average speed of 68.3mph, with a high of 78.3mph...

(if you happen to be a State Trooper from MI, IN, KY, or TN, I did not write the preceding paragraph; it must have been someone else. There's no one here but us chickens. No, really.)

Speaking of troopers, the V1 flushed quite a few out, on the way down I-69 and I-65. We've discussed the fact that large cars, pickup trucks, and SUVs just can't stand to be passed by a ForTwo before. I discovered that it's ginormous fun to pass one when the radar detector's just beginning to chirp on the Ka band, then watch the driver have a testosterone overdose, slam the gas pedal to the floor in order to show me who's the boss, and promptly get nailed for speeding by The State's Finest while I cruise on by at a modest 4-5mph over. Must have tagged a half-dozen goobers with that trick, easy. (no; I'm not evil, I'm just drawn this way. Really.)

Got a few photo-ops in, including a couple for a friend of mine who *loves* his Jim Beam outside of the Jim Beam Distillery near Lebanon Junction, KY and one at the Corvette Museum at Bowling Green, just to prove I was there. Photos will go up in a gallery somewhere later tomorrow or next week; I'm too thrashed to do it tonight.

Had a wunnerful dinner with an old friend of mine at Jack's BBQ on Trinity Lane in NashVegas.

People in Bucksnort, TN must think a smart ForTwo is a UFO... I whipped into the Shell station there to fuel up, and a gal comes running across the road from the trucker's CB shop yelling, "MISTER!! HEY MISTER!! My manager wants to know if you'd mind stopping over there when you're done gettin' gas; he's powerful curious about your car..." That wound up costing me a half-hour, but it was worth every second of it.

Okay. Time to have one last smoke and then pass out. I'll be up at the crack of my butt tomorrow for breakfast at an Awful House ~3 miles down I-40, then onward to Dallas (and hopefully a car wash).

Kermit · 07-04-2009, 08:54 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by The Rigger

...................We've discussed the fact that large cars, pickup trucks, and SUVs just can't stand to be passed by a ForTwo before. I discovered that it's ginormous fun to pass one when the radar detector's just beginning to chirp on the Ka band, then watch the driver have a testosterone overdose, slam the gas pedal to the floor in order to show me who's the boss, and promptly get nailed for speeding by The State's Finest while I cruise on by at a modest 4-5mph over. Must have tagged a half-dozen goobers with that trick, easy. (no; I'm not evil, I'm just drawn this way. Really.)

We must be cut from the same cloth....I would have done the same thing.

I love to do "set ups" that way.

Went out to dinner tonight in a different town than usual tonight - they flocked to the car with questions as soon as we got out much like you just described.

Sounds like you're having a blast.