Popped My Road Trip Cherry
11-14-2013, 04:14 AM
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Popped My Road Trip Cherry
I bought the S as a fun DD, and as such it would also be used for the semi-frequent jaunts out of town. I have already done several day trips to OK, but being 4-5 hours each way I don't consider these a proper road trip. I'm also a proud member of the "only stops are for fuel and emergencies" club.
Now on to the trip. The plan was TX to VA and back over a 3 day weekend. I've done this drive a few times, and it is 1362 miles door to door. Google maps says it takes 20ish hours, I generally do it in 17-18 depending upon weather. The route was I-30 from Dallas to I-40 to 85 to 58, then the mess of 664/464/264 until my ultimate destination in Chesapeake. Drive up, attend an event, hang out, sleep, drive back, have a day to chill and recuperate becore returning to work...or so was the plan.
Honestly the drive up was uneventful. I had the oil changed and one of the Honda techs at the dealer in Richardson drive the S to make sure everything was copasetic. Initially I was concerned that I only got 310 miles out of my 1st tank of gas, but then I realized that A) I had reset the odometer at home, but had filled up prior to leaving work and getting the oil changed, and B)I let Honda set my tire pressure, so I bumped it up to 44 psi all around. I subsequently got 380-390 miles from the following tanks, being less at than an 1/8 when refuelling. The temps ranged from the mid 50's down to 28(according to the dash thermometer). I was determined to go through the mountains around Asheville top down, regardless of the temps. An outstanding experience, though not without some cost. Due to the temps, the top incurred a small tear on the rear passenger side either while lowering or raising. If I didn't point it out to you, then you wouldn't notice it, but I know it's there and it is bugging the hell out of me. I'm going to put a small patch on the inside, and replace it with a cloth top in the spring. I made it to VA without incident, then got picked out of a group of cars (I was 3rd of 4 cars) and ticketed by an unmarked car. Definitely planning to fight this as he said the speed limit was 55, when in fact it was 60, and said that I had been travelling much faster (72 in a 55) than we were actually travelling. Rio Yellow and out of state plates FTL. lol I also found it weird that they require you or your lawyer to appear before the judge to request deferred disposition, AND recommend two lawyers to you. Anyone else smell something fishy??
Anyway, made the trip in 18.5 hours, found a car wash(thank you google maps), and enjoyed my day there. I was planning to return to TX late Sunday evening, but the lack of sleep (Fri morning through early Sunday evening) caught up to me, and I didn't awake until latw Mon morning. Oh well, I decided to enjoy Veterans Day in VA and head back that evening.
The return trip made me wish I had never driven, and thankful that the S (or I) didn't incur any injuries.
Deer season and an incoming artic front. Could you ask for a more detestable combination. Let me tell you, I have a very healthy fear of deer and armadillos. I've seen the damage both of the critters cause to vehicles having lived in places where both are prevalent. I just simply forgot about them. I don't hunt, primarily because I don't have any friends or living family members that hunt, and I didn't see a single one on the way up. Zero, zip, zilch, nada. That seriously changed o the way back. As far as the weather, I checked the radar and weather forecast multiple times before leaving. No precipitation was expected anywhere until long after I had passed through, but nature is a B.
After fueling up and saying my goodbyes, I hit the road about 7pm. It was cool and crisp, and since I had added some lucas to my fuel, the S was running perfectly. I hit 58 and see my 1st sign for deer. I think "no big deal", since they were nonexistent on the way up, but move to the inside lane and start using my highbeams just to be on the safe side. Immediately see a deer off the side of the road. Great. So all of the deer that I didn't see previously must have had an orgy, then invited all of their friends and family to party by the side of the road. The 1st deer was the last single (living) deer I saw. They started appearing in pairs and groups. At one point I rounded a curve and lit up a field and there were a dozen or more of those f@#kers standing there stsring at me. If I had a grenade and a pickup I could have eaten well until next summer. Needless to say, I started doing 5-10 UNDER the limit and using the brights at every opportunity. I've had my S for less than 2 months, and I feel that I got lucky in obtaining an unmolested, low mileage example in one of the two colors I coveted, and I was going to be damned it some overgrown (but tasty) critter is going to take it away from me...so I drove like a grandma with cataracts. This worked out well, because I made it to NC without incident. Enjoyed the mountains (top up this time), and hit TN.
I figure TN is the penance for all of the bad stuff I've ever done in my life. Somewhere between the TN line and Knoxville it begins to mist. The kind that's so slow that even having your wipers on the slowest intermediate setting was too fast. And people were burning stuff. I don't know what or why, but I thought at one point I was driving into fog, but upon entering it all I could smell was the smoke, heavy and dense, made worse by the humidity. Suddenly the mountains aren't fun any more. Oil/chemical/moisture slick roads, tires that don't like lateral g's in the wet, random heavy smokiness...and then the deer. The f@#king deer. Please note that I did not see a single live deer in all of TN, but plenty of the aftermath of semi vs deer.
Rounded a corner not too far from Knoxville and there was a HUGE carcass laying perpendicular across the lane. I swerved, but still clipped it - THUMP..thunkthunk...thump. I pulled off at the next exit to check the damage. A little blood up front and on the rocker panel, and the wheel wells, muffler and undercarriage looked like a crime scene, but I didn't spin and there was no body damage. Hooray Hankooks for not killing me!
Continued on past Knoxville and on to Nashville, with the temps getting colder, the mist turning to spit, and the carcasses continuing to be prevalent. I mainly stayed in the left lane with my brights(when appropriate) to try and mitigate the possibility of another encroachment with a deer. Well, that didn't work out too well either. About 1/2 way into passing a semi there's a small carcass in the road, laying perpendicular in the lane, just like the last. Fortunately this one seems to be pretty mutilated, and since I have no room to the right, and going left is going to result in another passenger side impact I just try to straddle the remnants...and it almost worked. Caught the passenger side muffler with a resounding thud. Pulled off just before Nashville and checked for damage. More crime scene material, but not physical damage. Thank god I'm not lowered yet, and don't have a lip or diffuser. I'm even more thankful when a Sprinter pulls into the station. He's missing his driver's side headlight and his grill, his fender is pushed into his wheelwell, and his door has a huge dent. As much of a crime scene as my underside looks, his white van is painted in deer. Count my blessings ane continue. Heading into Nashville and the spit has dimished back to a mist. I guess someone was having a very bad very early morning because they had the whole westbound section of 40 shut down and were detouring traffic. Thank goodness for GPS. Get back to the Interstate and after a bit without any dead deer I'm beginning to let my guard down and pick up speed. Big mistake. Carcass in the right lane so I swerve left. Apparently this was the romeo and juliet...or thelma and louise of deer as there was another carcass in the left lane. Straddle it and hear nothing from the underside. Thank god.
I get well past the other side of Nashville headed towards Memphis and it actually begins to rain. I'm actually cool with that because I figure it will wash off some of the deer remnants. Get into cruise mode at about 80 and try to relax. Shortly thereafter I see a pair of blue HIDs coming up on me pretty quickly. No big deal. I figure they'll pass and I can have a rabbit to Memphis, or as far as they're going. Well, it seems they had other plans. Now I'm all for following at a respectful distance, and I'm not opposed to a run if the conditions are right, but it's very early, I'm mentally tired, it's raining, and you're an asshole with HIDs in halogen reflectors. I want no part of you. I just want you to go away. What I don't want is for you to sit 3 feet off my bumper for the next 20 miles because I won't race you in the rain, in a bright yellow car with out of state plates. Fortunately a couple semis unwittingly came to my rescue. Whoever you are tandem ODU freight and independent driver with the nice blue rig, sorry I cut you off. I passed both trucks on the right as they swung out to pass a slower rig. A huge no-no, but I couldn't stand being blinded any more, and I knew that he wouldn't make it. I got in front of the trucks and kept on it, trying to out as much distance between me and those lights as possible. It's about 5am, I'm about 90 minutes from Memphis, I'm exhausted, it's raining, I'm barely 1/2 way home, and I'm powering away from a really bright set of headlights attached to an inconsiderate tailgater. I figure someone figured I deserved a slight break because I flew by a highway patrol car parked beneath an underpass, and they didn't budge. Honestly thought I was going to jail in some podunk town in TN. So I slowed waaay down and tried to keep mr blue HIDs on the horizon. He definitely made an effort to catch up, but since cops were becoming more prevalent it just wasn't possible. Then I started seeing the dead deer again. I figured that I had used up all of my luck, so I pulled into a rest area and decided to wait for sunrise.
I don't know if any of you have attempted to sleep in your S, but I'm 6'2"/245, and it was in the upper 30's when I tried to do this. If you are tired enough, then you can make anything work...although this is very high on my list of "ok I've done that, let's never try that again". I figure that sunrise would be in less than 2 hours, and I didn't want to go through Memphis at rush hour so I decided that getting started between 830 & 9 would be ideal. A short nap and many squats and jumping jacks later I was back on the road.
The rest of my trip was downright uneventful. I was never so happy to be i Arkansas, or to see a speed limit sign say 75 once I got into TX. I pulled up to my house exactly 24 hours after I left VA. The S performed flawlessly throughout. The passenger speaker that I thought may have been blown seems to just be rattling in the door occasionally, so I can easily secure that. There were a few periods of chatter from the rear between 75-85. Haven't experienced ths5 before and I'm not sure if it was road vibration, possibly the driveshaft, or the infamous cup pitting issue. It hasn't returned since I've been back. I'm going to have my wheels balanced and an alignment done this weekend, and if that doesn't correct it, swap the cv cups.
I would definitely declare using the S as a long distance cruiser a success. Yeah, my heels and right ankle became really sore(I don't use cruise control, ever), and I missed the ability to recline my seat(especially after the 10 hour mark), but it is everything that I expected and asked it to be. Next up - Seattle and Vancouver.
Now on to the trip. The plan was TX to VA and back over a 3 day weekend. I've done this drive a few times, and it is 1362 miles door to door. Google maps says it takes 20ish hours, I generally do it in 17-18 depending upon weather. The route was I-30 from Dallas to I-40 to 85 to 58, then the mess of 664/464/264 until my ultimate destination in Chesapeake. Drive up, attend an event, hang out, sleep, drive back, have a day to chill and recuperate becore returning to work...or so was the plan.
Honestly the drive up was uneventful. I had the oil changed and one of the Honda techs at the dealer in Richardson drive the S to make sure everything was copasetic. Initially I was concerned that I only got 310 miles out of my 1st tank of gas, but then I realized that A) I had reset the odometer at home, but had filled up prior to leaving work and getting the oil changed, and B)I let Honda set my tire pressure, so I bumped it up to 44 psi all around. I subsequently got 380-390 miles from the following tanks, being less at than an 1/8 when refuelling. The temps ranged from the mid 50's down to 28(according to the dash thermometer). I was determined to go through the mountains around Asheville top down, regardless of the temps. An outstanding experience, though not without some cost. Due to the temps, the top incurred a small tear on the rear passenger side either while lowering or raising. If I didn't point it out to you, then you wouldn't notice it, but I know it's there and it is bugging the hell out of me. I'm going to put a small patch on the inside, and replace it with a cloth top in the spring. I made it to VA without incident, then got picked out of a group of cars (I was 3rd of 4 cars) and ticketed by an unmarked car. Definitely planning to fight this as he said the speed limit was 55, when in fact it was 60, and said that I had been travelling much faster (72 in a 55) than we were actually travelling. Rio Yellow and out of state plates FTL. lol I also found it weird that they require you or your lawyer to appear before the judge to request deferred disposition, AND recommend two lawyers to you. Anyone else smell something fishy??
Anyway, made the trip in 18.5 hours, found a car wash(thank you google maps), and enjoyed my day there. I was planning to return to TX late Sunday evening, but the lack of sleep (Fri morning through early Sunday evening) caught up to me, and I didn't awake until latw Mon morning. Oh well, I decided to enjoy Veterans Day in VA and head back that evening.
The return trip made me wish I had never driven, and thankful that the S (or I) didn't incur any injuries.
Deer season and an incoming artic front. Could you ask for a more detestable combination. Let me tell you, I have a very healthy fear of deer and armadillos. I've seen the damage both of the critters cause to vehicles having lived in places where both are prevalent. I just simply forgot about them. I don't hunt, primarily because I don't have any friends or living family members that hunt, and I didn't see a single one on the way up. Zero, zip, zilch, nada. That seriously changed o the way back. As far as the weather, I checked the radar and weather forecast multiple times before leaving. No precipitation was expected anywhere until long after I had passed through, but nature is a B.
After fueling up and saying my goodbyes, I hit the road about 7pm. It was cool and crisp, and since I had added some lucas to my fuel, the S was running perfectly. I hit 58 and see my 1st sign for deer. I think "no big deal", since they were nonexistent on the way up, but move to the inside lane and start using my highbeams just to be on the safe side. Immediately see a deer off the side of the road. Great. So all of the deer that I didn't see previously must have had an orgy, then invited all of their friends and family to party by the side of the road. The 1st deer was the last single (living) deer I saw. They started appearing in pairs and groups. At one point I rounded a curve and lit up a field and there were a dozen or more of those f@#kers standing there stsring at me. If I had a grenade and a pickup I could have eaten well until next summer. Needless to say, I started doing 5-10 UNDER the limit and using the brights at every opportunity. I've had my S for less than 2 months, and I feel that I got lucky in obtaining an unmolested, low mileage example in one of the two colors I coveted, and I was going to be damned it some overgrown (but tasty) critter is going to take it away from me...so I drove like a grandma with cataracts. This worked out well, because I made it to NC without incident. Enjoyed the mountains (top up this time), and hit TN.
I figure TN is the penance for all of the bad stuff I've ever done in my life. Somewhere between the TN line and Knoxville it begins to mist. The kind that's so slow that even having your wipers on the slowest intermediate setting was too fast. And people were burning stuff. I don't know what or why, but I thought at one point I was driving into fog, but upon entering it all I could smell was the smoke, heavy and dense, made worse by the humidity. Suddenly the mountains aren't fun any more. Oil/chemical/moisture slick roads, tires that don't like lateral g's in the wet, random heavy smokiness...and then the deer. The f@#king deer. Please note that I did not see a single live deer in all of TN, but plenty of the aftermath of semi vs deer.
Rounded a corner not too far from Knoxville and there was a HUGE carcass laying perpendicular across the lane. I swerved, but still clipped it - THUMP..thunkthunk...thump. I pulled off at the next exit to check the damage. A little blood up front and on the rocker panel, and the wheel wells, muffler and undercarriage looked like a crime scene, but I didn't spin and there was no body damage. Hooray Hankooks for not killing me!
Continued on past Knoxville and on to Nashville, with the temps getting colder, the mist turning to spit, and the carcasses continuing to be prevalent. I mainly stayed in the left lane with my brights(when appropriate) to try and mitigate the possibility of another encroachment with a deer. Well, that didn't work out too well either. About 1/2 way into passing a semi there's a small carcass in the road, laying perpendicular in the lane, just like the last. Fortunately this one seems to be pretty mutilated, and since I have no room to the right, and going left is going to result in another passenger side impact I just try to straddle the remnants...and it almost worked. Caught the passenger side muffler with a resounding thud. Pulled off just before Nashville and checked for damage. More crime scene material, but not physical damage. Thank god I'm not lowered yet, and don't have a lip or diffuser. I'm even more thankful when a Sprinter pulls into the station. He's missing his driver's side headlight and his grill, his fender is pushed into his wheelwell, and his door has a huge dent. As much of a crime scene as my underside looks, his white van is painted in deer. Count my blessings ane continue. Heading into Nashville and the spit has dimished back to a mist. I guess someone was having a very bad very early morning because they had the whole westbound section of 40 shut down and were detouring traffic. Thank goodness for GPS. Get back to the Interstate and after a bit without any dead deer I'm beginning to let my guard down and pick up speed. Big mistake. Carcass in the right lane so I swerve left. Apparently this was the romeo and juliet...or thelma and louise of deer as there was another carcass in the left lane. Straddle it and hear nothing from the underside. Thank god.
I get well past the other side of Nashville headed towards Memphis and it actually begins to rain. I'm actually cool with that because I figure it will wash off some of the deer remnants. Get into cruise mode at about 80 and try to relax. Shortly thereafter I see a pair of blue HIDs coming up on me pretty quickly. No big deal. I figure they'll pass and I can have a rabbit to Memphis, or as far as they're going. Well, it seems they had other plans. Now I'm all for following at a respectful distance, and I'm not opposed to a run if the conditions are right, but it's very early, I'm mentally tired, it's raining, and you're an asshole with HIDs in halogen reflectors. I want no part of you. I just want you to go away. What I don't want is for you to sit 3 feet off my bumper for the next 20 miles because I won't race you in the rain, in a bright yellow car with out of state plates. Fortunately a couple semis unwittingly came to my rescue. Whoever you are tandem ODU freight and independent driver with the nice blue rig, sorry I cut you off. I passed both trucks on the right as they swung out to pass a slower rig. A huge no-no, but I couldn't stand being blinded any more, and I knew that he wouldn't make it. I got in front of the trucks and kept on it, trying to out as much distance between me and those lights as possible. It's about 5am, I'm about 90 minutes from Memphis, I'm exhausted, it's raining, I'm barely 1/2 way home, and I'm powering away from a really bright set of headlights attached to an inconsiderate tailgater. I figure someone figured I deserved a slight break because I flew by a highway patrol car parked beneath an underpass, and they didn't budge. Honestly thought I was going to jail in some podunk town in TN. So I slowed waaay down and tried to keep mr blue HIDs on the horizon. He definitely made an effort to catch up, but since cops were becoming more prevalent it just wasn't possible. Then I started seeing the dead deer again. I figured that I had used up all of my luck, so I pulled into a rest area and decided to wait for sunrise.
I don't know if any of you have attempted to sleep in your S, but I'm 6'2"/245, and it was in the upper 30's when I tried to do this. If you are tired enough, then you can make anything work...although this is very high on my list of "ok I've done that, let's never try that again". I figure that sunrise would be in less than 2 hours, and I didn't want to go through Memphis at rush hour so I decided that getting started between 830 & 9 would be ideal. A short nap and many squats and jumping jacks later I was back on the road.
The rest of my trip was downright uneventful. I was never so happy to be i Arkansas, or to see a speed limit sign say 75 once I got into TX. I pulled up to my house exactly 24 hours after I left VA. The S performed flawlessly throughout. The passenger speaker that I thought may have been blown seems to just be rattling in the door occasionally, so I can easily secure that. There were a few periods of chatter from the rear between 75-85. Haven't experienced ths5 before and I'm not sure if it was road vibration, possibly the driveshaft, or the infamous cup pitting issue. It hasn't returned since I've been back. I'm going to have my wheels balanced and an alignment done this weekend, and if that doesn't correct it, swap the cv cups.
I would definitely declare using the S as a long distance cruiser a success. Yeah, my heels and right ankle became really sore(I don't use cruise control, ever), and I missed the ability to recline my seat(especially after the 10 hour mark), but it is everything that I expected and asked it to be. Next up - Seattle and Vancouver.
11-14-2013, 06:43 AM
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Thanks for the story; pics would have been nice too. Comments:
I hope the car wash was the kind you do yourself. Lots of threads on damage even the "brushless" ones do.
You don't hunt. Maybe you will now. Deer are nothing but rats with hooves. For every deer "harvested" mean less of the carnage you saw on the road that kills or maims a person and damages a car.
Lots of threads on top tears. May not have been from the temp. Could be a sharp edge on the tubes.
Nice write up though.
I hope the car wash was the kind you do yourself. Lots of threads on damage even the "brushless" ones do.
You don't hunt. Maybe you will now. Deer are nothing but rats with hooves. For every deer "harvested" mean less of the carnage you saw on the road that kills or maims a person and damages a car.
Lots of threads on top tears. May not have been from the temp. Could be a sharp edge on the tubes.
Nice write up though.
11-14-2013, 09:22 AM
#4
I've slept in my car.. Passenger seat with the all the way forward, and the recliner maxed. Good story though, I was expecting something like a crash, those are often too common to read about here.
11-14-2013, 09:55 AM
#5
I hope you let some of that air out of your tires, I run mine(oversize tires) at 27 cold. At 44 you are going to wear out the very middle of the tire and the outside tread will look like new.
ROD
ROD
11-14-2013, 11:02 AM
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11-14-2013, 11:11 PM
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LOL, yeah, sorry about the lack of pics. It was a trip I've made in different vehicles, so nothing was new(to me) except for the experience of driving it in the S. I bought this car to have a more pure driving experience (not quite brave enough for top "always" down, but I'm working on it), and to have fun while I expand my skills. I will make sure to take PLENTY of pic when I drive to Seattle for NYE. Can't wait! I'm planning to stay in Vegas the 1st night, then take 2 days to drive up the coast.
I always use self wash. In VA I used Freedom Car Wash at Independence & Holland since I was meeting up only a couple miles from there. Here at home there is one near my house, and another near my sister that I like. After I get the front bumper touched up, I may treat the S to a full detail by Scottwax for Christmas before hitting the road for Seattle...or definitely upon returning.
I have nothing against hunting, but it is one of those pursuits that requires a partner or two, and at present I have noone in my circle. The person I went with as a kid is dead, and honestly I don't trust my extended family alone in the woods with firearms. My Dad goes boar hunting every once in a while, but considering the fact that he is blind in one eye, I'd rather not go with him either.
A crash would have been horrific. Yeah, everything except for our life can be replaced, but dammit I just got the car. lol I may try out the passenger seat next time I have a long wait for someone. Thanks for the idea!
Oh yeah, I definitely let air out when I got there and when I returned home. I just like to run my tires at 44 cold when I'm going to be travelling - especially in this instance since the temps and road were so cold. Even initially inflated to 44, they had diminished to 41.5 by the time I got there. They were all sitting at 43 when I lowered them back home. For daily use I typically run them between 34 & 36 cold.
I've slept in the hatch of my eclipse with the back seats down and various other cars, but nothing beats the seats of my SC4. With the bottom of the rear bench pulled up you can go almost horizontal. Turn on the seat heater and that's all she wrote.
VA to UT, NICE! If I could figure out the sleeping portion (some sort of trunk mounted collapsible pup tent) I'd love to take off a month in late spring or early fall and just drive.
I always use self wash. In VA I used Freedom Car Wash at Independence & Holland since I was meeting up only a couple miles from there. Here at home there is one near my house, and another near my sister that I like. After I get the front bumper touched up, I may treat the S to a full detail by Scottwax for Christmas before hitting the road for Seattle...or definitely upon returning.
I have nothing against hunting, but it is one of those pursuits that requires a partner or two, and at present I have noone in my circle. The person I went with as a kid is dead, and honestly I don't trust my extended family alone in the woods with firearms. My Dad goes boar hunting every once in a while, but considering the fact that he is blind in one eye, I'd rather not go with him either.
A crash would have been horrific. Yeah, everything except for our life can be replaced, but dammit I just got the car. lol I may try out the passenger seat next time I have a long wait for someone. Thanks for the idea!
Oh yeah, I definitely let air out when I got there and when I returned home. I just like to run my tires at 44 cold when I'm going to be travelling - especially in this instance since the temps and road were so cold. Even initially inflated to 44, they had diminished to 41.5 by the time I got there. They were all sitting at 43 when I lowered them back home. For daily use I typically run them between 34 & 36 cold.
I've slept in the hatch of my eclipse with the back seats down and various other cars, but nothing beats the seats of my SC4. With the bottom of the rear bench pulled up you can go almost horizontal. Turn on the seat heater and that's all she wrote.
VA to UT, NICE! If I could figure out the sleeping portion (some sort of trunk mounted collapsible pup tent) I'd love to take off a month in late spring or early fall and just drive.
11-15-2013, 07:17 AM
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I will make sure to take PLENTY of pic when I drive to Seattle for NYE. Can't wait! I'm planning to stay in Vegas the 1st night, then take 2 days to drive up the coast.
honestly I don't trust my extended family alone in the woods with firearms. My Dad goes boar hunting every once in a while, but considering the fact that he is blind in one eye, I'd rather not go with him either.
VA to UT, NICE! If I could figure out the sleeping portion (some sort of trunk mounted collapsible pup tent) I'd love to take off a month in late spring or early fall and just drive.
honestly I don't trust my extended family alone in the woods with firearms. My Dad goes boar hunting every once in a while, but considering the fact that he is blind in one eye, I'd rather not go with him either.
VA to UT, NICE! If I could figure out the sleeping portion (some sort of trunk mounted collapsible pup tent) I'd love to take off a month in late spring or early fall and just drive.
I would rather go hunting with Dick Cheney than go for a drive with a Kennedy.
Screw the sleeping in car with the S. Get a little tent and a down bag and camp.