Montreal to Key West to Blue Ridge Parkway to Montreal

[clopi2000]

I decided to go on a road trip (alone) because I was bored and wanted to escape from the snowy Montreal. December 22 was a good "weather window", so I packed a few clothes and hit the road.

[clopi2000]

Out of the cellar

[clopi2000]

I went through the Adirondaks in a rush, bypassed NewYork, bypassed Philadelphia, and landed in Dover. Dover, humm. Either I missed something, or Target is the place to hangout.

[clopi2000]

I left early and crossed Delaware in a flash. I could not take pictures of the Chesapeake bay bridge because there was a severe downpour, and I had my hands full keeping the car on the road. I ride on almost new AD07's (I mean they were almost new at that time...). I spent 1 hour in rainy Virginia Beach then hit the highways south, to reach Savannah early in the evening. Driving a Lotus Elise on I-95 is not actually driving , it's battling your way through a herd of two-stories high SUVs, randomly changing lanes and speed all the time. (See "On highway lane madness" below). I found a place to stay in the historic district of Savannah, went to a great wine bar, and crashed in bed. Take my word, battling on highways is way more exhausting than spirited driving on backroads.

[clopi2000]

Here in Canada, if you pass a car using the right lane on a two-lane highway (two lanes in each direction), you're either driving like a maniac, or passing your uncle from Georgia who was stuck in the left lane doing 45 for the last 20 minutes. During my roadtrip in the USA, I did it 500 times. Because I had no choice. And I must say it is way less confortable to ride a highway doing this all the time. Did you guys had to take driving lessons before you got your driver's license? Here's what I learned in mine:

When you're cruising on the highway, use the right lane.
If you want to pass a car, do so, then pull back in the right lane.
Simple, isn't it ?

But there's more:
Change lane when you are ready. Don't pull up in the left lane 3 miles in advance because you think you might pass a car before the end of the week.
Look in the mirror before doing a lane change. There might be someone faster than you coming.
Use your flasher. Extensive use of flashers won't affect your gas mileage.
While passing a car, if you get the feeling that it might take 45 minutes because both your cruise controls are set 0.00009785 mph apart, you can gently accelerate, pass the car and pull back in the right lane.

On three-lane highways (three lanes in each direction), it's more or less the same, except in urban areas, where it can be anything, but then everyone is expecting that.

But, I also found out that all this erratic driving was sometimes caused by me: people want to look at the car, and they want to drive along with you !

[clopi2000]

Savannah. I took a two hours walk in the historic district, snapped a few pictures, got the car washed, and then, remembering all the fun I had on I-95, decided to give it another shot. A few hours of highway madness later, I parked the car on a beach at Daytona and took some time to rest, watching the waves crash in the sand. There were a few souls in town, but not that many. I wasn't sure of what to do next, so I grabbed the GPS, and scrolled all the way down. Key West. Allright. Key West it would be. Back on the I-95, as the sun set, I found a couple of "friends", a 350Z and a pumped up Chrysler 300, and we took turns "rabitting" in front, really speeding on empty stretches of highway, and battling as a team to pass by the herds. Around 7:30PM, I landed in downtown Miami. I had a hard time finding an open coffee shop. Then I snapped a pic of the blue "Christmas tree". It was kind of hot for a December 24, so I took the top off, and slowly rode route 1, Lennon on the radio. At 11pm, on december 24, I saw two men fishing on a small beach, sitting on coolers, and I said to myself: Thank God, I'm not the only one not wanting to be at a family party with kids screaming and running all over the place. I finally reached Keywest, found a motel room, and, after a short night walk on the beach, I crashed in bed, a can of Corona in hand. I could have got the blues, but I exchanged a few heartwarming text messages with someone really special, way up there in Canada.

[clopi2000]

A few more pics

[clopi2000]

I listen to my iPod everyday in my car (via the Alpine unit). But on a roadtrip, listening to local radio makes the experience much more immersive. So I heard it all: classic rock (excellent in most states), pop, deathmetal, country when there was nothing else, talk radio with "She stole my boyfriend" open lines, and even a little bit of "Praise The Lord" (You can't get speeding tickets while listening to that, Jesus is on your side)

[clopi2000]

God it's not easy to eat well in the US, when you don't know the places. Big cities all have excellent restaurants, but what about smalltown USA ? Even when you avoid the obvious and omnipresent fast-food, "family restaurants" and the other street corner restaurant all serve the same crap. I've been to Europe a few times, and over there, the smallest food joint in the smallest lost village serves great food, fresh, and cheap. So I decided not to eat at all. Typically, around 11:00 AM, I would stop at Waffle house or Dennys, order two eggs, ham and replace the hash browns, pancakes, waffles, biscuits or else crap with sliced tomatoes, and that was it. The rest of the day I would sip on water and Red Bull, and have a beer before going to bed. I lost 10 pounds in 7 days.

[clopi2000]

Daytona beach: Ahhh, the joys of powersliding in the sand

[clopi2000]

Miami Christmas tree.

[clopi2000]

To be in Key West and not take a fishing trip or something is kind of awkward (See "On roadtrips" below). I crisscrossed the city from beach to beach, and left at noon to head North (no choice !). I decided to stop at Orlando, I still don't know why. I got a ridiculous sunburn in the face.

[clopi2000]

I have my own idea of what a roadtrip is, and I did follow my instinct.
Being alone helps. No arguments, no boring conversations, no heavy silence, no nothing. It's just you and the road.
You should not be visiting or trying to see things that are supposed to be great. Just ride and open your eyes: treasures will unfold every minute. You'll see real places, real people, and small things that are the essence of happiness.
Everytime I felt like all this was not reasonable, or thinking of what might happen (Get rear ended, robbed, vandalized in a crappy motel parking, starve to death, rack up too many miles on highways), I heard the voice of Jeremy Clarkson (testing the Gallardo Spyder): "I don't caaaare! I've got 93 million miles of headroom, I've got red seats, and listen to this: WOT !"

[clopi2000]

After checking the weather at the hotel, I decided to head to Virginia to ride the Blue Ridge Parkway. So that day would be dedicated to get as close as possible to Virginia, without using the I-95. I went a little west, had a bite in a Tallahassee suburb, and rode some state highways, country roads, and even some great backroads (Eatonton, anyone ?). I liked it so much I turned off the GPS and got lost ! For the first time since the beginning of the trip, the car came alive, eating curves and roaring past log trucks at WOT. Because I got a little carried away I had to stop a little far from the BR Parkway, but hey, it's a road trip after all. On the 20 East, I almost ran out of gas. The exits are very far apart, and some are not even lighted, it's deep wood down there. At some point, I had absolutely no bars left on the indicator, and decided to tailgate a big truck that was doing 55, thinking stupid things like would the car run on a mix of windshield washer and Red Bull ? Anyways I got drafted to the next exit, and put some gas in the Elise.

[clopi2000]

Did I feel cramped inside my little Elise, driving for hours and hours ? Not at all. But boy, did the car felt squeezed in the I-95 traffic. Sometimes I had to "escape", zoom out of the bunch of cars I was driving within, just because I was afraid of being squashed between a Navigator and an Expedition.

[clopi2000]

Blue Ridge Parkway day. Since I was a little far from my destination, I woke up early and cleared the highway stuff before noon. At 12:30 I was in Riner, had something to eat, checked all fluid levels, secured everything in the cockpit, and did my entry on the Blue Ridge parkway most southern part. It was about 43 degrees out there, light gray clouds, and... not a living soul in sight.

[clopi2000]

I spent about 1 hour joyfully warming the tires, eating curve after curve, grinning like an idiot. I passed two cars and crossed a few others, but I can say there was nobody on the Blue Ridge Parway on December 27. So I decided to switch the engine soundtrack from "growl" to "scream". I gave it the beans, keeping it on second cam all the time, braking real hard just before the curves, back on the power in the bends, touching imaginary apex, but never crossing the yellow line.

Now, for the kids who are reading this: Is-the-Blue-Ridge-Parkway-a-racetrack, Yes or No ?

Noooooooooooohhh.

You are right. But I wasn't aware at that moment.

After a great series of bends, 3rd gear, brake, 2nd gear, back on the power, 3rd gear, the curve opened a little, just like this:

[clopi2000]

So I shifted to fourth gear, and WOT. The landscape went a little blurred, and each time I hit a small bump the rear left end of the car would dip in, and the suspension crawl out, God I love that feeling. Then, halfway through the curve....

[TheViper]

Thank you for giving us such an intuitive report on your adventure, it is much appreciated. Wish you could have stopped by, I would have enjoyed meeting you.

[ace10]

Originally Posted by clopi2000

....Then, halfway through the curve....

then halfway through the curve...................


you ran into a deer?
saw god?
got pulled over by the park service ranger?
picked up jessica simpson who was hitchhiking?
looked to your right and was awestruck by the beauty of the shenandoah valley here in virginia?