July 1, 2007

Well was picked up by Robert early in the morning from the hotel. Went down to the bank, to start getting the money for the car. Lo and behold, the whole banks computer system shut down, IN MIDST of transaction! Sigh. Took 3 hours to straighten things out.

Went back to the dealership at 12pm to get the road trip started. There were a few issues at the dealership, which Robert took care of, but ended up leaving at about 3pm. Here is the car fully detailed:



Took couple of pics at the dealership, will upload later, but here is one for now:


The drive was uneventful, but fun. Maintained speed limit most of the way. NJ Turnpike and PA turnpike were nothing to write home about. Lots of people taking pics of the car while on the way. Worse part of the trip was the Turnpikes where you had to take the ticket. Had to open the door of the elise, reach out over the side sill and get the ticket. Was praying didn't get rear ended!

In NJ, this Lambo Murcie was doing 110mph, so snapped a pic while driving:


When got to the PA turnpike, a blue ferrari 550 came up, and we were playing back and forth.

Here is his pic


Nice guy. Then when I was 1 mile from Dougs house (fellow Elisetalk member), the whole turnpike shut down due to accident. Was in car for 35 minutes with engine turned off. So though the trip was uneventful, car perfomed great, AC was up to task, no issues, except for getting to Dougs one hour late.
Here are our cars together:




Then me/doug, and his friends decided to head into downtown Philly. We had food at the Continental, and drove around Kelly drive and Ben Franklink Parkway. It was fun:


Doug then offered for me to stay at his house, very generous of him, and I was going to take him up on his offer, but I met a old friend in downtown Philly, who then proceeded to take me to this lounge called Rouge. We hung out there till 2am, and then decided to get a hotel in downtown Philly. Stayed the night there.

July 2
My car was at Dougs house, and he came to pick me up today morning. We decided to go have Cheesesteak at GENOS. It was quite tasty.



Now we are back home. I had a little change in plans, and will be staying in Philly tonight night as well, and start in the morning on my western drive.

Next stop, Pittsburgh, Chicago....

LOTUSSPORT-sorry brother, but won't make it to Denver by Saturday, prior to your business trip.

 

One more thing. THe Elise navigation package is great. Robert at HRM wanted me to post a pic of it.

Here it is:

 

Holy S@#$%! Good luck on your journey!! You must be a sadist!! hehe.

 

It isn't as bad as you guys think. Just a little less luxurious than the S2000, not by much. I will have a Elise vs S2000 owners comparo when I get back.

Here is his blog elises07.blogspot.com

 

You should have gone to Tony Luke's! 25x better than Geno's.


Be safe!

 

Go on brotha....keep it going... maybe you can come down to Florida, I'll meet up with ya for an S2K comparo.... and for a couple of Pina Coladas with some sweet honeys from the Islands.!!!

 

Hey, cool...I did a cross country drive many years ago. I started off in Boston and did an oval loop across the entire USA. Was on the road for 3 weeks. Very memorable.

 

Awesome offer! But a little bit out of the way!! Next time

 

Very brave indeed I mean my ass hurts and i'm all stiff after 200km in an S2k, i can't imagine what's it like in an Elise Although maybe the roads are a bit smoother in US

 

Aug 2

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Well my Sheraton last night didn't have internet, so couldn't report back. Since I decided to stay in Philly one more night, Doug decided to take me on a run at Valley Forge National Park. We had a great time, driving around. It was a pleasure. Doug was very kind, and I forgot to mention, the day I arrived in Philly, he had made a run to the auto part store, and got me cleaners and such as