Roadtrip!!!! Georgia to California in 2 1/2 days

[X000000101]

Best of luck on your journey, Randy! Looking forward to reading/seeing the travel log.

Dave

[Highlander]

Randy, for a pretty drive eading out west from 129:

from the north side of 129, take the foothills parkway north to hwy 321 west

from the south side of 129, continue south into robbinsville and take hwy 143 (cherahala skyway) into TN. It becomes TN hwy 165, then turn north on Hwy 360 if time is not an issue:

[LotusLust]

to the best of my knowledge the foothills parkway between US 129 and US 321 is still closed and requires using an interesting twisty detour. the cherohala is a fabulous drive and i highly endorse using it. and if you drive both the tail of the dragon and the cherohala the rest of your journey will be boring!

[Highlander]

Originally posted by LotusLust
to the best of my knowledge the foothills parkway between US 129 and US 321 is still closed and requires using an interesting twisty detour. the cherohala is a fabulous drive and i highly endorse using it. and if you drive both the tail of the dragon and the cherohala the rest of your journey will be boring!

The foothills parkway re-opened a couple of weeks ago. I was on it last Saturday and it was BEAUTIFUL!

[Gromit]

Originally posted by Randy Chase
And people think that sitting 16 hours a day in front of a computer isn't a good work out?

Erm .. you're getting a work out in front of a computer ? Is your wife in 1280x1024 in 32bit colour ?

May I ask about how switching your car works ? Will you still be buying from Symbolic or directly from Lotus ?

Sounds like you've got a fun trip ahead of you. You have to try to get into Austin to have dinner. So far, Austin is second only to San Francisco in the food dept. 'Specially if you go to the Salt Lick for some ribs

EDIT - My car question sounds like I'm asking so I could do the same. I understand it's a one off, I'm just interested in how that works. Never heard of it happening before ...

[MikeAR303]

I could see how this might upset someone... but you do deserve some type of reward for running the message board that serves as pretty much the only source of info for deposit holders and owners.

Also, it will be interesting for everyone to see how things go during your trip. Particularly those of us who opted to go with the LSS

[jdl8r]

I will be doing a very similar trip in the fall [or at least I hope in the fall]... I'm guessing my Elise will arrive at Valenti in late October/early November. Now the fun part... Getting it to Socal!

I was going to plan a week? Depending on the weather, I was thinking of a northern route, over the great-lakes... But may end up settling for a quick approach to SD...

[Ground Loop]

Originally posted by Randy Chase
No problem Gromit. I have been very concerned before I posted that some people would be upset because there was some "special deal" or think they could also do something, or whatever.

Are you kidding?! If Lotus took a vote here, I think you'd get a FREE car. Not to mention the SCCA exposure and promotion they get.

IMO... a number of us are (understandably) a little frustrated about not having our cars..specially when we see other people getting theirs. And the emotion gets misdirected, until our own car arrives.

Here's the truth.. if I'm frustrated about anything it's that Lotus/LCU seems able to keep you (and only you) fully informed of where your car is, how long it might take, what's shipping now, what delays are encountered, pretty much exactly the info I wish I had and simply can't get. Lately it seems only some of it you can share, like it's some national security secret which port just filled a warehouse or what part is delayed..

Why on earth can't Lotus keep everyone informed? It's somewhat comforting that they have demonstrated it is possible. I'm just jealous of your schedule updates, I guess.

Anyway, don't let this hijack your roadtrip thread.

And get a GPS so you never have to ask "Did I miss the turnoff?" It lets you enjoy the driving more if you know that the next intersection is 17.7 miles ahead. I could never go back to paper maps.

[Gromit]

Originally posted by Randy Chase
No problem Gromit. I have been very concerned before I posted that some people would be upset because there was some "special deal" or think they could also do something, or whatever. IMO... a number of us are (understandably) a little frustrated about not having our cars..specially when we see other people getting theirs. And the emotion gets misdirected, until our own car arrives.

But I am glad to see nobody seems upset that Lotus did this. In the end, it's only a manipulation of time. My original car was scheduled to ship out on July 26th. That became more of a problem when it became apparent that it was taking longer than expected to get cars into port and through distribution.

Lotus USA made the deal with Symbolic, and Symbolic was happy to do it. They don't lose anything from doing it. I still am buying the car through Symbolic.

P.S. Wife is mainly grayscale.

Well .. at least she's not ascii ..

I doubt there's anyone on the board that doesn't think you deserve what Lotus has done. Also, it's not as if you're jumping the line.

Before you start the trip, you need to mount a video camera and gps on the car

[DCNSX]

Randy- Looks like a great trip. You'll have a blast- stick to those back roads as much as possible.

PS- Saw a photo of you and the MR2 on Doug Hayashi's Pulp Racing website. So... you ARE addicted to the "go-fast crack pipe" like the rest of us.

[Randy Chase]

Originally posted by DCNSX

PS- Saw a photo of you and the MR2 on Doug Hayashi's Pulp Racing website. So... you ARE addicted to the "go-fast crack pipe" like the rest of us.

LOL

Yeah, not a good racing trip that event with the car breaking. I truly regret not being able to prove how well I could have driven that car against the expensive factory sponsored cars.

Doug and I discussed the Elise that day, he is really interested in one. Maybe we will do some track event together in the future. A good guy.

There will be a camera running on this trip. Still thinking about the GPS. I will have my laptop, but it does mean bringing an inverter for power. And a aux power splitter cable.

[Ground Loop]

I'm guessing you're pretty handy with a soldering iron, or have lab-elves that are..

Rig up a custom power cable -- much nicer. I did this for travel and it cut down on the redundant plugs.

One lighter plug, then branch out into a 12vDC/DC adapter for the laptop, plugs for the GPS, radar detector, etc. "Hydra Cable!" Packs smaller, and it's easier to take out of the car.

[adamant]

Randy, What color/options did you get with this car?

[Randy Chase]

The car I ordered is Saffron Yellow, Sport Package, Black Touring Package. Starshield film. No hardtop. I love the way the car looks with it, but I doubt I would use it much here in SoCal, and I might look to aftermarket (Sector111) options.

[LotusLust]

Originally posted by Highlander
The foothills parkway re-opened a couple of weeks ago. I was on it last Saturday and it was BEAUTIFUL!

good info as i am planning a jaunt over three in the next month. makes life a lot easier for those staying in townsend,TN

[Highlander]

Originally posted by LotusLust
good info as i am planning a jaunt over three in the next month. makes life a lot easier for those staying in townsend,TN

Next month there's an s2000 meet up there -- the Dragonball Run. It's sept 11-12th and we should have about 75 cars or so. The good news is that the bikers know we're coming and tend to stay away. The bad news it that the cops know we're coming and tend to camp out and wait for us.

[Randy Chase]

Originally posted by Highlander
DANG!! I just looked at your plan. I have business out in Crossville TN this weekend and I am driving home on Monday. I was planning on hitting the Dragon on Monday afternoon anyway and would love to get a chance to say hi. I'll PM my cell number if you don't mind a drooling visitor in a Honda.

Do that. It is looking like there will be three Elises at the Dragon on Monday afternoon.

[Highlander]

Originally posted by Randy Chase
Do that. It is looking like there will be three Elises at the Dragon on Monday afternoon.

+ an s2000. I'll email killboy and make sure he has a photographer out there. If you're not familiar, check out www.killboy.com!

[LotusLust]

highlander, the last time i was at the dragon with all you s2k boys the place was a cop zoo. there were more tn state trooper cars, blount county tn sherriff's dept cars and even a freakin helicopter flapping around. the reason? well, because your pals post the date on one of the dragon web sites in advance. the day before your gang arrived i was able to do several high speed runs and there was little to no trraffic. but as soon as the weekend rolled around it was like a parking lot up there. and some of those guys cannot drive for crap! the only good run i had saturday morning was the one that ended just as the cop parade went past the overlook- following the one good s2k driver i could not catch in my lowely spyder. he knew i was trying too...and was pouring it on. it made for one of the best runs i have had up there. so thanks for the heads up on when not to go up there!

[Highlander]

Originally posted by LotusLust
highlander, the last time i was at the dragon with all you s2k boys the place was a cop zoo. there were more tn state trooper cars, blount county tn sherriff's dept cars and even a freakin helicopter flapping around. the reason? so thanks for the heads up on when not to go up there!

Actually, the large cop presence was due a fatality on the Dragon the weekend before we went up there. We had close to 90 cars last spring though, with lots of first-timers. We don't do any more promotion of our events than any other group, but you're right -- it was crazy last spring. At one point, there were 8 cruisers, 2 motorcycle cops and a helicopter there. We had a great time up until about noon, then I split off and hit the skyway and other roads with some of the other non-newbies. In the 6 event's I've been to with the s2k group, this was the first time we ever seen cops up there. [last hijack post, I promise!]