an 11 hour trip from here and think I will take lil Booger because I can. Don't expect it to be a relaxed highway cruzer but want to see how she does. Thanks for the heads up glad you managed to make the trip without any major incident and hope you had a nice visit with family. What transport is really all about...
karl
Hey Karl, don't know how long you'll be in Columbus but our next Ohio meet is on July 12th at smart center Easton and it would be great if you could drop by.
Nice writeup John. You got some nice shots of your trip, I really like your personalized plate!
Thanks; I'd take credit for the plate but I stole the idea from MISMART in Michigan.
Also realized I didn't mention the lack of cruise control in the first post; not a problem for the first several hours but along about hour 5 or 6 my foot was feeling pretty cramped. It helps to vary your throttle foot position, and get out of the car and walk around after about three hours of continuous driving.
Hey Karl, don't know how long you'll be in Columbus but our next Ohio meet is on July 12th at smart center Easton and it would be great if you could drop by.
We were about 30 miles from you when you were in New Iberia. Lafayette, although 4 hours from the nearest smart dealer (Houston), has at least 4 smarts in town already.
Hope you enjoyed your trip thru Louisiana. I have read that I-10 thru Louisiana has been voted the worse road in the United States. There are parts of it that definitely qualify!!
Hi Jim; I cut off I-10 on Hwy 90 to go around Lafayette. Wanted to re-visit New Iberia to check out Victor's restaurant, the unofficial home of Dave Robichaud, James Lee Burke's fictional detective. Unfortunately I timed it wrong and the place was closed. Did enjoy Avery Island and the short time in New Orleans (breakfast at the Cafe du Monde - cafe au lait and biengnets!!) Went to Jr High in Kenner and High School in Metairie so it's like going home when I visit.
Couple of other things left out of the original post:
DRLs; don't have 'em so traveled with the low beams on the whole trip, including in town. Have not done that since returning home and noticed a few instances of people "not seeing" (or ignoring) the smart so have gone back to using low beams all the time.
Speedometer is about 2-3 mph optimistic, based on my GPS readings. Of course, the GPS could be off also so I'll have to do a milepost check to really tell.
The car is as tall as it is wide. For it's size, it's pretty high profile. That means cross drafts are going to be an issue. I'm a bit surprised that a major bridge wouldn't post a wind warning for high profile and small vehicles. The Forth Bridge in Scotland issues warnings and even bans certain vehicles during bad weather conditions.
Well, the bridge itself doesn't issue the warnings, but you get it. If you have a major exposed span in your area, you can keep conditions in mind and decide what risks to take. If you're driving in less familiar territory, you don't always know what's coming.
When I picked up my car, the salesman pointed out the wipers and said they're the same as Mercedes uses on its other vehicles. The structure of the arms looks like the new RainX wipers that eliminate some of the pressure points and pretty much mold themselves to the windscreen. I got them for my other car and they worked very well as long as I had the car (basically until the Smart). So, your experience with the wipers in the rain was a direct benefit of Mercedes design.
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1976 Rover Mini
2003 Chevrolet Corvette Z06
2007 Mercedes-Benz E320 Bluetec (SOLD)
2009 smart Passion (Gone)
2011 smart Passion
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