[iridge]

615 miles in one day.

Short Story:
I picked up my Exige in Mentor, OH at sunrise and drove south through the Appalachian mountains all day.

Longer Version:
Before this, I had about 1 hour and 30 miles of time in a Lotus while test driving one from the local dealer. I had been searching ebay and this site for about a year looking for the right car because I'm just too cheap to buy it new. My wife finally got tired of seeing cars on my computer screen and told me to just buy the dam thing and get it over with. After a bit of procrastination, which cost me dearly and pissed off a nice couple in NJ that I had to outbid at the last second, I was finally a Lotus owner. But how to get it from there to here?

Well, A but more back story if you are still reading this. 2 years ago I had open heart surgery to repair my mitral valve. I was 38 at the time. The during the recovery time I got a good feel for what old age will be like. Having to take breaks while walking up 1 flight of stairs. Sleeping all day. Unable to lift my 4 year old daughter. You get the picture. After 2 years, I am pretty well recovered and much stronger (from the exercise and diet change) that I had been. So what does this have to do with a long drive? My 2 year anniversary party was in a few days, and everyone wanted me to have my present for the party, but no delivery companies could pick it up and get it here in that tight time frame… Once again, NOT hitting the buy-it-now moments after the wife said 'get it!' had bitten me in the ass.

I worked over a few options for delivery, but nothing panned out. So I just hopped on a plane 1 way to Cleveland with the intent of driving it down. Remember, I have about 30 miles of drive time in a Lotus (a 2005 Elise), so I was a bit scared taking on this drive. I was also a bit sick about buying my first car over the internet. Generally, I was close to puking the whole flight and cab ride to the hotel.

After looking over the Exige and filling out the paperwork, I went back to the hotel to try to sleep. Ya right! Sleep at a time like this? Ok, so I got up about 5:00 and ate a small breakfast, and meet up with the seller at sunrise because I knew it would take every bit of sunlight in the day to get home, an I did not want to drive at night in a car I was not quite comfortable in.

I fell into the car and slipped in my Led Zeppelin favorites CD, hooked up the nav system (Thanks Steve! I would still be lost in West Virginia without it) and started. I was soon struck with how stiff the track pack is by comparison to the Elise I had driven, and I started to worry about making the whole trip in one day. But then I turned onto the onramp and accelerated (quickly) to highway speeds…. Begin "%#*^ eating grin" stage of the journey.

Pretty soon I was over the state line and into West Virginia. Now they may be the butt of a few red-neck jokes (and that is from someone living in South Carolina), but I must commend the wonderful citizens of the state for putting together a beautiful road (smooth and twisty), and a very liberal speed limit. This is the stage of the trip where I lost any hint of "I'm gona puke" feelings I was having, and forgot that music was even playing. The car fit me like a glove! It was also Fall, and the colors were at peak. I did force myself to slow down and check out the beautiful views, but I found myself returning to staring at the road and focusing on the turns rather then the colors.

My friends and family kept calling me to check in on how I was doing... Because I had made a big deal about how hard it was going to be to drive that far in a track pack equipped car. But I kept reporting back that everything was just fine, and tried to explain the huge grin I had on my face, but I don't think that came over the phone too well.... what with the engine noise and all.

After stopping for gas the first time, I figured out the sequence of buttons to hit on the remote that will set off the car alarm, and noted that I should never do that again. Then on the second stop for gas, deep in the hills of the Appalachian mountains, I emptied a jiffy-lube. Every employee and customer came over to the gas station with cell phones clicking away asking the "what is that", "who make a lotus". "what does that cost"… I looked at it as the hazing anyone gets when joining a fraternity. Then I also got the fart can thunderbird wanting to race me. I tell you all this because I'm the kind of guy that does not seek attention. I like to fly under the radar. Was the fact that I just bought a red-neck magnet (Krypton Green at that) getting me down? Nope… Same $#% eating grin! Was the stiff suspension getting to my back? Nope… Loving every twist, turn, bump, and the few stoplights were pure joy.

Anyway, I was so infected with the dreaded Lotus 'gotta have it' disease that I stopped for fuel and piss breaks only.

I made it home in time for dinner, and then strongly considered turning back to do it again the next day.