DC - Key West - Miami - Atlanta - DC (Long)
Thread Starter
Registered User
Joined: Jul 2001
Posts: 995
Likes: 0
From: Washington
Two weeks and 3,000 miles later, I have returned to the promised land. I have numerous pics that I will post in a few days.
DC - Key West: 12/21 - 12/22, Total Driving Time: ~20 hours
Route: I-95 to Florida Turnpike to Overseas Highway
Left about 7:30 pm and hit nasty traffic around Woodbridge. Bad traffic continued throughout evening until around midnight. At times, 95 was completely backed up with both lanes completely halted for 10 - 30 minute stints. Made it halfway through NC and pulled in for the night. Left the next morning by 7:30 am. The traffic was MUCH worse the next day, the 80 miles before before Savannah took about 2 hours. It was readily apparent that many people (including myself) elected no to fly this holiday season. The traffic only cleared out after Jacksonville. At that point it was smooth sailing. The radar detector (Passport 8500) worked great. I almost got nailed going 86 in 70. Florida is a very, very long state. Took Card Sound Road bypass -- feel like I am on the set of Miami Vice. Abandoned Air Force radar facilities and AT&T tropospheric transmitter sites there. At one point the road is about 11 miles long without a sinlge turn. Overseas highway is interesting at night. Hit about 135 on Seven Mile Bridge after the channel overpass. No place for cops to hide and you can see them coming for miles ahead with their headlights. Hit about 125 on the Bahia Honda bridge which is about 3.5 miles in length. Arrived in Key West about 1 am exhausted. Picked up some more rock chips on front bumper. With normal traffic volume I guesstimate one could drive from DC to KW in about 17.5 hours and make it to Miami in about 14.5 hours.
Key West: 12/22 - 12/28.
Had an awesome time with the family. VERY heavy security around the cruise ships. As many as 4 mega-liners may be tied up to pier in Key West at once. Armed National Guard troops with loaded M-16s patrolling loading areas. Coast Guard cutters and zodiac boats swarming around ships while tied at pier to prevent USS Cole reprise. Coast Guard cutters (with armed folks on deck) escorting ships out to open sea. Things are really different now. Weather was wonderful.
Fresh water is hard to come by in the Keys so washing cars are difficult. Found something called a "Wash n Go" which essentially rotates a larger wand around the car . Absolutely nothing touches your car besides water. It is wonderful. Large blower dries the car as you pull out.
Kew West - Miami: 12/28 - 12/29, Total Driving Time: ~ 3 hours
Overseas highway is beautiful during the day. Usual traffic volume on two lane road. Who cares with ocean on one side and bay on the other?
Miami: 12/29 - 12/30
Wife & I stayed with very close friend. Had a wonderful time. Once again I reaffirmed feeling that Miami is fun to visit, but would NEVER want to live there. Wanted to go stir up trouble at newly christened Elian Gonzalez museum but no one would come with me.
Miami - Atlanta: 12/30, Total Driving Time: ~ 10.5 hours
Route: I-95 to Florida Turnpike to I-75 to I-85
Left about 12:30 in the afternoon and got there about 10:30. Took about 10.5 hours. Nothing all that exciting. Vast fields of oranges and grapfruit. Saw a car blow up (literally) near Macon Georgia. One of those Chevy S-10 Xtreme pickups lost a fight with a semi. I was about 100 yards away. It happened at night, it was kinda surreal. At least one dead. Fuel tank must have went, I saw a line of lit gasoline running about 10yards behind the truck and on fire. Luckily the traffic backed off and took off on the exit ramp. Left before EMS/Police arrived.
Gas in Macon was really cheap. Paid $1.13 for Shell 93 octane. Gas in south is really, really cheap compared to here. Even in KW. No one is going to tell me that oil companies in the Mid-Atlantic/Northeast aren't gouging. The transportation costs to Kew West Florida must be very high in comparison, yet the prices are at leat 20 - 30 cents cheaper. You aren't going to tell me the tranportation costs or petrol products to the DC area are that high. Lowest for regular I saw was 91 cents/gallon.
Atlanta: 12/30 - 1/4
Had a fun time with the inlaws (really). They were great, New Years eve was fun. Had to wait out snow storm. Greater Atlanta got about 5 inches and was shut down. Had to stay an extra day because of weather.
Atlanta - Kent Island, MD - DC: 1/4, Total Driving Time: ~10 hours.
Route: I-85 to I-95 to Route 301 to Route 50 to Beltway and home
One of the scariest drives I have ever taken. A preface: I grew up in Upstate New York (the real upstate, near Syracuse) driving in snow, ice, and black ice. I have years of experience driving in marginal to relatively impossible conditions in all sorts of cars. Conditions aside, I have never been in a car which required so much attention and concentration. to keep it on the road. I'm not faulting the car, it wasn't designed for that. But it certainly did not inspire confidence, even for an experienced driver. The day was bright and beautiful. The snow was cleared from the road in GA and SC but there were occasional icy patches. In parts of NC (epecially north of Charlotte and right after Raleigh) it was really scary. Under every bridge (in the shade) it was slick ice. You could see the cars briefly slide and then hook up again on the dry pavement. I found that the faster I went though (while coasting the engine) the quicker I would regain traction. Basically the car would drift/slide right because of the camber. That's REAL fun when a truck is next to you. What's even better is when you pass through an area where there are trees shading the right lane. Multiple spots of ice and high slush along the lane's centerline. Along the road you could see folks returning to their stranded cars on foot or with tow truck/flatbed. Dozens. Once I hit the VA line it was great. VDOT did a really good job cleaning up the I-85. Took 301 from Richmond over the Potomac River Bridge avoiding Friday evening DC/Beltway/50 traffic. Beautiful ride. Went briefly to Eastern Shore to visit parents, have dinner, and got home around 10:00. Went to sleep in 2.81 seconds.
Almost got nailed going 91 in SC, he was using Ka-band instant on so the radar detector was useless. He picked up the pace car/Ford Expedition (nice size radar cross section!) instead. Gotta remember to stay at least a few hundred yards back.
Am in the office today trying to put life in order. Recieved fax from Herson's saying they're sorry but are not taking responsibility and I should have looked the car over better before I took it off the lot. Happy f&*(^ing New Year. I am now your worse nightmre. Fine. I'm going after them.
I hope to see you all all on the 19th, it will be a lot of fun:
https://www.s2ki.com/forums/showthread.php?...&threadid=40662
I am going to make an appointment at Jim Coleman to drop my car off next weekend. It needs oil change, fluid check, and tranny TSB. Does anyone else want to go? I would like to have a number of S2000 guys (and cars) with me when I present the idea of being a "Preferred S2000 Service Center" or whatever it is we decide to call it. I will post thread on this and we can discuss in greater detail.
Glad to be home, hope to see you all soon. Don't drive the car in snow or ice.
DC - Key West: 12/21 - 12/22, Total Driving Time: ~20 hours
Route: I-95 to Florida Turnpike to Overseas Highway
Left about 7:30 pm and hit nasty traffic around Woodbridge. Bad traffic continued throughout evening until around midnight. At times, 95 was completely backed up with both lanes completely halted for 10 - 30 minute stints. Made it halfway through NC and pulled in for the night. Left the next morning by 7:30 am. The traffic was MUCH worse the next day, the 80 miles before before Savannah took about 2 hours. It was readily apparent that many people (including myself) elected no to fly this holiday season. The traffic only cleared out after Jacksonville. At that point it was smooth sailing. The radar detector (Passport 8500) worked great. I almost got nailed going 86 in 70. Florida is a very, very long state. Took Card Sound Road bypass -- feel like I am on the set of Miami Vice. Abandoned Air Force radar facilities and AT&T tropospheric transmitter sites there. At one point the road is about 11 miles long without a sinlge turn. Overseas highway is interesting at night. Hit about 135 on Seven Mile Bridge after the channel overpass. No place for cops to hide and you can see them coming for miles ahead with their headlights. Hit about 125 on the Bahia Honda bridge which is about 3.5 miles in length. Arrived in Key West about 1 am exhausted. Picked up some more rock chips on front bumper. With normal traffic volume I guesstimate one could drive from DC to KW in about 17.5 hours and make it to Miami in about 14.5 hours.
Key West: 12/22 - 12/28.
Had an awesome time with the family. VERY heavy security around the cruise ships. As many as 4 mega-liners may be tied up to pier in Key West at once. Armed National Guard troops with loaded M-16s patrolling loading areas. Coast Guard cutters and zodiac boats swarming around ships while tied at pier to prevent USS Cole reprise. Coast Guard cutters (with armed folks on deck) escorting ships out to open sea. Things are really different now. Weather was wonderful.
Fresh water is hard to come by in the Keys so washing cars are difficult. Found something called a "Wash n Go" which essentially rotates a larger wand around the car . Absolutely nothing touches your car besides water. It is wonderful. Large blower dries the car as you pull out.
Kew West - Miami: 12/28 - 12/29, Total Driving Time: ~ 3 hours
Overseas highway is beautiful during the day. Usual traffic volume on two lane road. Who cares with ocean on one side and bay on the other?
Miami: 12/29 - 12/30
Wife & I stayed with very close friend. Had a wonderful time. Once again I reaffirmed feeling that Miami is fun to visit, but would NEVER want to live there. Wanted to go stir up trouble at newly christened Elian Gonzalez museum but no one would come with me.
Miami - Atlanta: 12/30, Total Driving Time: ~ 10.5 hours
Route: I-95 to Florida Turnpike to I-75 to I-85
Left about 12:30 in the afternoon and got there about 10:30. Took about 10.5 hours. Nothing all that exciting. Vast fields of oranges and grapfruit. Saw a car blow up (literally) near Macon Georgia. One of those Chevy S-10 Xtreme pickups lost a fight with a semi. I was about 100 yards away. It happened at night, it was kinda surreal. At least one dead. Fuel tank must have went, I saw a line of lit gasoline running about 10yards behind the truck and on fire. Luckily the traffic backed off and took off on the exit ramp. Left before EMS/Police arrived.
Gas in Macon was really cheap. Paid $1.13 for Shell 93 octane. Gas in south is really, really cheap compared to here. Even in KW. No one is going to tell me that oil companies in the Mid-Atlantic/Northeast aren't gouging. The transportation costs to Kew West Florida must be very high in comparison, yet the prices are at leat 20 - 30 cents cheaper. You aren't going to tell me the tranportation costs or petrol products to the DC area are that high. Lowest for regular I saw was 91 cents/gallon.
Atlanta: 12/30 - 1/4
Had a fun time with the inlaws (really). They were great, New Years eve was fun. Had to wait out snow storm. Greater Atlanta got about 5 inches and was shut down. Had to stay an extra day because of weather.
Atlanta - Kent Island, MD - DC: 1/4, Total Driving Time: ~10 hours.
Route: I-85 to I-95 to Route 301 to Route 50 to Beltway and home
One of the scariest drives I have ever taken. A preface: I grew up in Upstate New York (the real upstate, near Syracuse) driving in snow, ice, and black ice. I have years of experience driving in marginal to relatively impossible conditions in all sorts of cars. Conditions aside, I have never been in a car which required so much attention and concentration. to keep it on the road. I'm not faulting the car, it wasn't designed for that. But it certainly did not inspire confidence, even for an experienced driver. The day was bright and beautiful. The snow was cleared from the road in GA and SC but there were occasional icy patches. In parts of NC (epecially north of Charlotte and right after Raleigh) it was really scary. Under every bridge (in the shade) it was slick ice. You could see the cars briefly slide and then hook up again on the dry pavement. I found that the faster I went though (while coasting the engine) the quicker I would regain traction. Basically the car would drift/slide right because of the camber. That's REAL fun when a truck is next to you. What's even better is when you pass through an area where there are trees shading the right lane. Multiple spots of ice and high slush along the lane's centerline. Along the road you could see folks returning to their stranded cars on foot or with tow truck/flatbed. Dozens. Once I hit the VA line it was great. VDOT did a really good job cleaning up the I-85. Took 301 from Richmond over the Potomac River Bridge avoiding Friday evening DC/Beltway/50 traffic. Beautiful ride. Went briefly to Eastern Shore to visit parents, have dinner, and got home around 10:00. Went to sleep in 2.81 seconds.
Almost got nailed going 91 in SC, he was using Ka-band instant on so the radar detector was useless. He picked up the pace car/Ford Expedition (nice size radar cross section!) instead. Gotta remember to stay at least a few hundred yards back.
Am in the office today trying to put life in order. Recieved fax from Herson's saying they're sorry but are not taking responsibility and I should have looked the car over better before I took it off the lot. Happy f&*(^ing New Year. I am now your worse nightmre. Fine. I'm going after them.
I hope to see you all all on the 19th, it will be a lot of fun:
https://www.s2ki.com/forums/showthread.php?...&threadid=40662
I am going to make an appointment at Jim Coleman to drop my car off next weekend. It needs oil change, fluid check, and tranny TSB. Does anyone else want to go? I would like to have a number of S2000 guys (and cars) with me when I present the idea of being a "Preferred S2000 Service Center" or whatever it is we decide to call it. I will post thread on this and we can discuss in greater detail.
Glad to be home, hope to see you all soon. Don't drive the car in snow or ice.
Registered User
Joined: Oct 2001
Posts: 1,611
Likes: 0
From: Melbourne
Welcome back EJ! Sounds like you had a great trip! Fun driving and no tickets - can't beat that! Sorry you had to witness the car blow up, that would have really been very eery.
If you think gas is cheap in the South, you gotta check out the Gas stations near my house. For some really strange reason it is at least .40c cheaper per gallon that it is in Alexandria (where I work). A couple weeks ago I paid .93c per gallon for 93 Octane!!!
I think it's up to $1.06 now
I'll sign up to join you at the dealership sometime next week. I agree, if we can have a bunch of cars there that'll be great. Let's pack out their parking lot and grab the service manager's ear and tell him what we think
Again, welcome back
If you think gas is cheap in the South, you gotta check out the Gas stations near my house. For some really strange reason it is at least .40c cheaper per gallon that it is in Alexandria (where I work). A couple weeks ago I paid .93c per gallon for 93 Octane!!!
I think it's up to $1.06 now I'll sign up to join you at the dealership sometime next week. I agree, if we can have a bunch of cars there that'll be great. Let's pack out their parking lot and grab the service manager's ear and tell him what we think
Again, welcome back
Thread
Thread Starter
Forum
Replies
Last Post