Thomas Guide

I've been hit up several times for more info on how I organized and managed living out of my S2000 while on the road for 18 months. Two years ago I took a sabbatical for 1.5 years and drove around the country covering 30,000 miles and 18 states. I was a driving machine and averaging 400-500 miles a day and many times required high concentration driving through mountains, canyons, deserts, twisties... I canvassed most of western Wyoming in the triple digits, I was just hellbent on exploring and driving the car to the max at times. I decided to write a little bit about it, if you all like this I can write more about my life with the S...

Part I - Background and Planning

First though is to understand the setting and mindset which then explains the gear load. After many years in Los Angeles I was ready to leave, falling in love with Prescott, AZ while visiting friends several times a year. I found myself unemployed, single again, mysteriously overnight on the 'wrong' side of 40 and recovering from an illness... I was ready for a fresh start. I love driving the S, it's been my daily driver and only car since I pulled the plastic off the hood, rims and panels at the dealership in 2004 and I've done everything in this car from getting into a head on collision which totaled a Lexus 5 months later, to getting her fully restored and straight as an arrow (a whole 'nother massive story), followed by 2,500 miles of track time, another track wipe out, 1.5 years on the road covering 18 states and 30,000 miles, 3 relationships, 3 jobs, 3 different residences in 2 states (and a partridge in a pear tree...).

So I'm a S2000 enthusiast, (and OEM JDM purist junkie) I never get tired of driving her, I love a good road trip and the S is an absolute perfect fit for me. As I'm part of a loose knit club of car aficionados that would regularly tear up the Angeles Crest mountains on an early Sunday morning, I thought of taking it to a much grander scale. I've always wanted to hit the open road and try to get a taste of true 'freedom' in today's world. If my forefathers could manage traversing the Eastern European Steppes on a horse with a gun, gold and water in their saddle bags, surely I could do the same... with 240 horses?

In preparation I googled 'States with the best roads for sports cars' returning multiple lists from Car & Driver, Motor Trend and others. I spent over 3 months preparing for the trip, I purged my life of useless stuff, putting everything I owned into 4 categories: Keep, Selling, Donate or Throw away what I didn't need and then using Clutter.com to store what was left. What is it that we truly need? What do I, as a man, really need to survive? Can I survive without 'stuff' and 'things'? I was at a point in life to do just that. I figured that if I'm going to be on the road for so long, and I'm giving up my permanent residence I still needed a lifeline of sorts. I went through every item I owned, every scrap of paper, every small item down to pins and rubber bands was organized and packed off in one of the 4 categories. I got rid of 90% of my furniture, donated more then half my wardrobe, sold off countless electronics and gadgets, and gave the retired old man next door living on a very tight pension everything out of my kitchen and fridge (he was especially grateful for the bottles of tequila and vodka), and boxes of cleaning supplies that I could not store. Clutter barcodes your boxes, takes pictures of them and will actually send them to you or send items you need from those boxes. They store your junk on shrink wrapped palletes in a warehouse that no one has access to for security, and they pick up and deliver said junk to you, so it's incredibly safe, they have an insanely positive track record and I highly recommend them. (Come tax season I had them send a box of paperwork to a hotel and another time had them dig through a couple boxes for a hard drive and power cords). I then got a mailing address and box from a mail forwarding company that makes it look as if one has a residential address since it's not possible to register for car or health insurance without a permanent home address. The system needed to be gamed to think I had an address. I paid my DMV fees, taxes, car and health insurance the entire time. The mail service would periodically send my mail to where I instructed. A safety deposit box was setup at my bank and stored all the valuables I could find, including some of mom's recipes. Eventually the trip would end, and I would have to start over so I planned ahead for that by creating these 'layers'. In the end, my life was reduced to about 50 boxes, half of which are music and books, a leather couch and commanders chair, an oversized paintings and a couple hockey sticks.



In that time the car was thoroughly prepped, painstakingly going through a plethora of preventative maintenance in anticipation of the trip enlisting Tony Fuch from Mid-Valley Auto in Canogoa Park, CA to help. Although rarely posting before on S2ki, I've been on this site practically every day for now 15 years, and have learned quite a bit becoming knowledgable in my own right about these cars as a 'back seat mechanic', so being able to watch and direct the work I wanted done was priceless to me as I didn't have the garage or tools to do it on my own in L.A. (like I finally do now). Another reason to leave Cali, the cost to own a home with a garage is just so insane. To go over some of what was done in preperation: all the trunk liners were pulled making sure there were no leaks, compression checks, components replaced early: drive belt, spark plug plugs, oil/diff/tranny fluids, TCT, pads and rotors, a small bend in the front subframe that although didn't affect performance I went ahead and replaced that sucker just to be safe, burned bulbs in the dash, and a few aging intake hoses. Other preventative maintenance was done like Shinetsu'ing all the rubber parts, Modifry soft top straps, inspecting all the wheel bearings, cleaning the throttle body, replaced the Cat converter as it was going bad. West End Alignment, renowned in Los Angeles for their alignment and suspension work on sports cars, worked with me to make sure everything was spot on (it only took 9 visits to get the perfect setup I wanted for the road trip), and they do alignments the old school way... without machines. All of this reconfirmed that the rebuild from 2004 was still solid and her body was straight and true.



I actually didn't know where I would end up or for how long I would be on the road. But I wanted to plan in such a way as to be self sufficient as possible. I had friends and family in Arizona, Colorado and Michigan that I used as stepping stones on this trip, and of the 18 months on the road, I stayed with them for only 18 weeks, using hotels, Air BnB and VRBO for the rest. So as a car enthusiast, I wanted to drive the open roads, feel the wind in my hair, and not care about today, tomorrow or yesterday. Let me tell you that the first couple months it was scary. Like, holy shit I can't believe I have no place of my own, no job, and I can go where ever I want. Then it sunk in, holy shit, I can go where ever I want! And so I did...

Part II - Gear List

What exactly does a man need to be self sufficient on the road with such an extreme size and weight restriction the S imposes? I didn't want the car loaded with junk, so it was necessary to break everything down into easily found and accessed items. Using traditional travel items such as small luggage used for airline travel (with the little wheels) was not going to work because it takes up too much dead space. Space is a big issue, and I used all of it. Breaking the gear down into chunks is really helpful. I kept the spare tire and all the tools as they were very necessary, but I also purchased AAA Premium which will tow you 200 miles and is a great service to have, as they've brought out batteries and gas in the past.

Not knowing what kind of event I might need to attend and there was no flying back to get some clothes, (it's all boxed up and stored), there could be a spot interview or a funeral to attend... maybe a hot date (boom-boom chica-chica bow-wow!), a sporting event outside in the middle of winter...or summer. A plan was needed for every situation I could encounter without having to resort going to a Walmart every other day. Again the intent was not to live like a hobo out of the car with piles of trash and food wrappers everywhere. I wanted two weeks worth of clothes before needing a wash (flipping boxers inside out was not an option). But I also needed a slew of other products, such as extra contact lenses, a roll of TP, ATT cell phone booster, tools, oils and unique S2000 car items in case something goes wrong, maps, the list goes on and on. The purging of useless junk in my life help formulate what it was I truly needed, or what kind of creature comforts are worth it to pack, and what would need to be sacrificed due to the weight and space restrictions.

I ended up breaking everything down into a few areas in the trunk. The main bag had the bulk of the backup up clothing, jeans, tennis shoes, dress shoes, sweaters, socks, t-shirts, a poncho liner blanket which came in handy so many times. In the bottom and separate portion were extra items like a roll of cushy toilet paper, spare toiletries of my favorite stuffs, lotions, bar of soap, tooth paste, hair products, things that you don't need every day but eventually will run out of allowing for the big bag to stay in the car for long periods of time using the smaller bags for daily usage.

Next came the small bag that had 3 days of a change of clothes, the toiletries bag, maps, bottle of water and other small gear that will allow me to check into a hotel for a day or two without having to access the big bag. This daily bag might sit on the floor up front, so if I pull into a hotel for the night, I can just grab that and check in. No need to grab everything, no need to dig around for stuff every single time I stopped. A big key to the whole endeavor is to being organized, I personally don't have a junk drawer at home, and that mindset carried over to the trip. Overall when you start looking at the gear list it comes to: clothes, hygiene products, tools/car items and safety items.



Suit Bag:

A suit, several nice dress shirts and a tie was in a suit bag on wooden swivel hangar. The tip of the swivel hangar was placed just on the edge of the top of the seat right in the middle, where the leather meets the plastic, and then the seat was pushed back just far enough to keep the suit back in place without crushing it, but with enough force that if the hangar slipped off the seat top it wouldn't fall down and crumple everything inside.

Bug out Bag:

Then the all purpose / bug out bag. This idea I had from living in L.A. I prepared a couple of emergency bug out bags in the event of an earthquake or riots as I would need to quickly evacuate and have some kind of lifeline to staying alive. Looking at disasters like Hurricane Katrina, all social services completely collapsed within a couple days and you're on your own. In L.A. if there's an earthquake your place can get condemned with everything in it. (Special shout out to the Koreans and their epic defense of K-Town during the LA riots, which saved Hancock Park and Beverly Hills from the advancing zombie hordes.) So I planned my kit with the thought that I can survive a zombie apocalypse in Los Angeles, then I've covered almost all bases.

In this bag, there's a small first aid kit that has band aids, various pills and tablets like Aleve, Tums, some vitamins, (no room to take entire bottles), scissors, eye drops, iodine radiation tablets (hey, a nuclear zombie apocalypse is possible), combat tourniquet, combat bandage with blood coagulant, Neosporin, water purification tablets, emergency survival wrap blanket, tiny hand lotion bottle, dude wipes (yes, that's a thing, check it out), a couple of condoms, (in case I meet a nice zombie lady, hey, it's the 21st century, don't be bigots!) weather proof matches (actually used those twice). A few silver and gold coins in case I need more then an ATM daily limit allows, electrical tape gun cleaning kit, sunscreen, pack of playing cards, sewing kit, K-Bar machete type fireman's tool (this thing was so handy so many times), there was one full MRE, one change of undergarments (shirt, socks, boxers), hair product, safety glasses, bandana, rope, bottle of water, I can keep going... but it becomes personalized to what is important to you.



First aid kit:



Junk in the Trunk:

When you look in the bottom of the trunk where the jack is there's a ton of space for stuff, I put in a set of allen keys, screwdrivers, chem lights, gloves, zip ties, valve stem caps, various fender clips, tail and headlight bulbs, rechargeable batteries, oil/diff/tranny washers, dash bulbs, all kinds of small ticket items I might need to work on the car or other type of stuff. Also there is a solar powered radio, with a rechargeable battery and a hand crank with USB ports...so you can crank charge your cell phone in the event it dies. Also a roll of paper towel fits snugly and there was a bit of room to spare for a combat gauze/bandage.



More Junk in the Trunk:

Next is organizing it all, in the deep well I kept a couple bottles of motor oil, a bottle of differential and transmission fluid, two boxes with accessories with one containing an air pump, work gloves, and more small tools, duct tape, flashlight, Leatherman, Utility knife, zip lock baggies, a couple rolls of quarters for laundry. In the other small box was a dozen emergency water packets approved by the Coast Guard for long term storage (in the event I roll in the desert or off a cliff and need to survive), a couple boxes of 9mm ammo, and safety blanket. Next to the box was my 17" laptop bag with a 17" MacBook Pro fitting snugly. On the ledge just above the trunk cavity is a .30 mm ammo can with an assortment of rifle and pistol ammo. After these items were aligned, next came the big green bag put on top of it. That leaves the two sides to fit the bug out bag and back pack then topped off with my 16" AR15 riflebag (the rifle has the Magpul collapsable stock, and the bag fits up to 12 x 30 rd magazines. There's enough room there for dirty laundry, as I would just put that into a plastic bag to the side. Eventually I bought and kept a small bottle of laundry detergent in the gear. I do a lot of shooting, and it was fun to be able to go out into the desert and do so with friends, family or solo.







Part III – Car Care on the Road:

I had to replace the tires on the road after they wore out (Yokohama AD07). I had to get 4 oil changes and used S2ki.com as a resource when in those areas where to go for help. I patched the ragtop with some holes forming in the hemmed corners preemptively using Permatex and small paint brushes in Michigan. Had to replace both front liners in Prescott. Clutch pedal had to get tightened down on the North Rim of the Grand Canyon, the alignment got tweaked and had it adjusted in Denver, other then that these cars are solid if you take care of them. And I VTEC multiple times every hour...

Here's the part where many S owners will have nightmares over, how do you wash it on the road? Short answer: quarter car wash. Yeah, I'm that guy using a brush on the car, and a leather shammy to wipe it down. For me it was the driving experience, the paint is going to get chipped up, she’s already got battle scars from the racetrack, and I'm going to find myself in long stretches parked outside getting bombarded in hail storms, snow storms, dust storms, bug storms... trying to keep it clean would be madness, so I let it go, and at times went almost 2 months between washings. Pro tip on how to remove month old South Dakota grasshopper guts and blood from the hood... wet fabric softener sheets. Takes off any debris unlike anything I've ever found. Just cuts right through it with barely any pressure. So make sure you keep some fabric softer with you. In hindsight this is one area I didn't even try to work into but think it would have been possible with some kind of small bucket and other cleaning gear. But with what I already had in the trunk there wasn't much room as it was, maybe if you're not into guns and laptops more of those items could fit. I've always cared about the appearance, but I was way more into driving the S the way a high revving, 8,200 RPM redline screaming machine was meant to...at the limit.



Prized possessions on the road:

• Space age silicone spatula from OXO
• couple bottles of cooking spices (garlic and chili powder)
• 17" MacBook Pro and Allen & Heath headphones
• AAA maps, because YOU WILL lose phone service and your phone maps WILL be wrong at times
• K-Bar machete
• multi-ply plush toilet paper
• wine bottle opener
• Air pump connected to cigarette lighter
• pistol (pulled it twice, once on a coyote I thought was going to attack the cats of people who I was renting a cabin from for a week)
• a lead foot

Final Summary:

It comes down to what it is that you want out of the experience that will shape what and how you pack. Be smart, be organized, you really don't need much in life to get by. When you look around at what's in your house it's mostly useless and not necessary to live. Trying to go bohemian later in life is hard, compared to when you're 19 and more carefree but it can be done. When I finally moved into a 3 bedroom house after getting a job in Phoenix (remember I had a suit bag behind the passenger seat, so I interviewed while on the road), it was with what was in my trunk. The first night I slept on the floor since the mattress hadn't arrived yet, and I used that poncho liner as a blanket. I now cringe at the junk I have to buy again for the house, like a pair of shears for the trees or rug spot remover, extra towels for the guest bathroom... I yearn for a day when I can let go and hit the open road again with the S. Man and machine together as one, twisting and turning through America's most scenic roads, engaging in blissful VTEC euphoria across the caverns of space and time...

flakjdlfkamcpoajfiosh

Great write up ! Hat's off to you for having the balls to get up and go !

cgarrett23

I'm not a "reader" and I read it all, enjoyed it. Good for you taking on the adventure. I'd read more...

AZS2KDancer

cenix

A lot of credit to you and that sounds like an invaluable experience. Thanks for sharing! How much actual money was spent on the road during the 18 months?

Midnightdennis

This is amazing. More pictures please and any interesting stories on the journey itself?

vicrc

Awesome! Keep writing, I am enjoying your S2000 journey!

cosmomiller

Great write up. Keep going.

GuthNW

Great read! I'm hoping that you kept a journal of your travels while out on the road so that you can share more here.

braytonia

This is great! Only because you hear of people doing this in big SUVs with 4x4 capabilities but you did this in a 2 seater, 2wd convertible that barely has enough room for 2 people let alone gear to survive 18 months!! Huge props and would love to hear/ see more of your venture.