The Friday before Memorial Day is National Road Trip Day in the US. In Japan today, May 26, also happens to be the anniversary of the opening of the Tomei Expressway, a famed route heading from Tokyo to points west. One of the reasons we love cars today is spending formative, pre-flatscreen years on extended interstate drives. I hope to instill that love in my son as well, so selfishly I’m also looking for ideas when asking:
What’s your most memorable road trip?
The most entertaining comment by next week will receive a prize. Scroll down to see the winner of last week’s QotW, “What’s your best/worst dealership story?“.
We suspect that when most JNC readers step foot in a dealership it’s more to visit the parts counter than to buy a new car, but we still got some entertaining answers.
Dealers get a bad rap and it’s often deserved, like whenb r100guy got the hard sell for a Toyota Tiara with a repeat transmission issue. Sadly, there are also many stories like speedie‘s, whom we applaud for sticking to his policy of not leaving cars overnight. We sort of expect BMW dealers like the one that StreetSpirit encountered for being snobby, but a Dodge dealer ignoring JJ shopping for a Ram?
Luckily not all dealers are bad. We wish all dealers were as great the one daniel got his Isuzu pickup from. And not all luxury car dealers have to be snobs. Taylor C.‘s kids had a pretty great time a a Lexus dealer, as did JJ‘s at a Porsche store. We’d love to visit the Honda showroom StreetSpirit mentioned, owned by two brothers real life named Bert and Ernie, and more should have as generous a return policy as the Mitsubishi one Ian G.‘s brother “rented” an Evo from.
Whether good or bad, when a dealer mistakenly lists a truck way below market value as they did in Joe Musashi‘s story, the buyer wins. However, this week’s winner was W. Mac, whose tale of an Integra GS-R test drive have us a good laugh:
I typically avoid dealerships… but once, while I was still in my early twenties, a local Toyota dealer had listed a 2001 Integra GSR for sale at a low price but just at the top of my spending limit.
I arrived with my wife to test drive the car during some nasty PNW weather. Red, lowered, leather seats and manual. Everything I was looking for… the salesman handed me the keys and we took off on a sprint down a few miles of local highway. traffic was kind of heavy, and the rain and hail were pounding the windshield. But that didn’t stop me from giving her the beans! She drove and sounded perfect…and about the time I decided to take it easy I glanced over to the salesman in the passenger seat who was white-knuckle gripping the handle on the door. I somewhat apologized and asked if he didn’t mind me driving so hard in such nasty weather. His response was not expected and has my wife and I still telling this story years later as she was in the back seat the whole time:
“it’s OK. I do C*caine sometimes.”
The drive back to the dealership was silent.
We laughed as soon as we were back in our own car and headed home. Needless to say, we did not end up with the GSR. I spent the next decade driving Mitsubishi. But that will stick with me for years.
(Sidenote, I ended up working at that dealership for a time years later and I told this story to sales reps who could tell me exactly who that was..)
Omedetou, your comment has earned you a set of decals from the JNC Shop!
My wife and I had decided to go on vacation from where we were in Chicago to visit my parents in Daytona Beach area in Florida. Since we had been just married in The Philippines about a year ago, my family had never met her as yet (BTW, we just celebrated our 35th anniversary). So we loaded up the ’83 Renault Fuego (a heckova sports GT, especially on a trip like this) and, began our journey. After an incredible leg down to Tennessee (about 780 miles) we stopped off for the night. The Renault electrics, it WAS a French car after all, were acting queasy but, we rolled on. We were on the outskirts of St. Augustine and, it was darkening when the lights began to fail! Still trying to make it, we managed to draft a helpful trucker , calling him on the CB radio (remember those?) and he was our “lights” until I could feel the car dying. We managed to get off an exit and pulled over while still exiting. There we were … stuck on the looping exit in a car that died. Fortunately, we were off the road onto the shoulder and, the lights of a motel were in walking distance. Sympathetically, the motel owner gave us a decent discount (I was a vet and it helped) and, after calling my folks up and explaining what happened, we spent the night. I managed to get a jump somehow, and we drove on to Edgewater where my parents lived. The car died in their driveway. We had had the Fuego checked out by friends who owned a import car auto repair shop. The shop owner was aghast as she had instructed the mechanic who worked on it to insure it was right for the road. My stepfather, a retired mechanic and Ford service manager, ascertained the alternator was shot. Fortunately, my friends overnighted another one gratis (we brought back the old one so they could rebuild it) and, after paying for installation, the car was repaired. However that wasn’t the end of the road trip foibles! After a pleasant visit as my wife had not met my parents, we drove back to Chicago. On the way back, we were on the outskirts of Chicago in a a BLINDIND rainstorm so intense I swear I saw a trout swimming by the car. We could barely see the road it was so bad. It took an 18-wheeler passing us in the next lane, missing the car by inches for us to stop for the night. I called in work the next morning and, took an extra day of leave from my government job. The Fuego, with all of its problems, proved to be a pretty tough and safe car, once the electrics were sorted out. Unfortunately, this car finally died of other ailments and, we managed to get ANOTHER Renault, an R-5 hatchback … whose RF wheel proceeded to fall off after a highspeed run to Great Lakes Naval Station. It was then I swore off French cars … and switched to an Alfa Romeo Milano but, that’s a story for another time.
Driving from Toronto to Florida in our 2001 Civic with no radio and no AC.
A guy we knew that worked at a Chrysler dealership fixed the radio a year later.
Back when I lived in Japan, I had all August off since I worked in the public schools, so I decided to go on a road trip with another teacher friend. We piled into my 1995 Suzuki Alto Works RS-Z, and made the long drive from Okayama up to Fukushima prefecture- about 14 hours total and god knows how many hundreds of dollard in tolls.
The next day we went to Summer Drift Matsuri at Ebisu circuit- that was my first time there and my first time seeing drifting in person. We didn’t stay for both days though, because the following day we headed down the coast to Chiba, where we caught a D1 divisional event at Mobara Circuit, and stayed at a cool guesthouse on the beach.
After that we drove through the Aqualine tunnel and made a stop at Daikoku, before going along the Shonan coast to Hakone. Our final day was spent driving back home, with a mid-afternoon stop in Hamamatsu for the Suzuki museum, which was coincidentally the birthplace of the Alto Works we were driving.
Speaking of the Alto Works, I had just bought it the month before and I hadn’t driven it further than Okayama prefecture until then. It made the trip flawlessly though, carrying two 6′ Americans half the length of Japan in actually pretty decent comfort. I knocked out quite a few things on my bucket list on that trip, and even though I had to sell the car before I left the country, a friend of mine bought it and it lives only a few hours away now.
The most memorable road trip for me was a trip on Christmas Eve to Chicago from Philly. There were many moments during that trip which are easily in the top 10 moments of my life so far. My friend and I decided to drive his 5 speed manual EH Civic LX that had 180k miles on it. He didn’t think much of the Civic but I knew how special Hondas were during that time. Anyway, it was 6 months after the first Fast and Furious was released and a few months after the first Burnout game was released. NOS and adrenaline ran through my veins, hahaha. The game introduced me to “slipstreaming/drafting” and the movie cemented the EH Civic coupe as a cool car. I get that the Civic LX sedan wasn’t the coolest one but it was related to one, lol.
We didn’t plan the trip to specifically fulfill my irresponsible desires. However, halfway during the trip, my friend decided to take the passenger seat while I took the driver’s seat. He eventually fell asleep and while driving I met a Civic EK. Not sure how it started, but we both ended up racing each other for a LONG time. With no one on the stupidly straight road besides us and good weather conditions (surprisingly), it was one of the most adrenaline filled drives I have ever taken. The best part was drafting behind another vehicle at triple digit speeds IN REAL LIFE, which proved to be a sensation MUCH better than even skydiving. Also, experiencing VTEC AGAIN and AGAIN and AGAIN while racing was nothing short of ecstatic for me.
Besides being adrenaline filled, this trip also had one of the funniest moments. When my friend (who wears glasses) woke up in the passenger seat after a nap (without his glasses) and couldn’t see the speedometer needle from his seat, he initially thought it was because he didn’t have his glasses on. After putting them on, he realized he GENUINELY couldn’t see the needle and asked, “What the heck is going on? Is the gauge not working?”. I told him to look to his right and he ended up doing a quick check on his seat belt and grabbed the door handle. He realized what was ACTUALLY going on, hahaha. We were racing. He couldn’t see the needle because it was all the way on the bottom right of the gauge.
As I said, the drafting and rolling starts at highway speeds went on for some time. Surprisingly, our older Civic somehow always managed to pull away. At a toll booth, the other driver and us rolled down our windows and had a friendly exchange. He couldn’t believe his newer Civic couldn’t keep up with ours since we both had 2 people in the cars and not much else. We both wished each other well and went our separate ways. Thankfully, nothing unfortunate happened and my friend had a newfound respect for his beater. We still have a laugh reminiscing about this trip.
Long post:
Since college I learned to appreciate some quiet time by myself where I can do some soul searching. Therefore when it was time for me to move across the country in September 2017, I took the opportunity to make it a road trip. My family would stay in CA a few extra months while I got acclimated and scoped out our future home in MA.
I had done a cross-country roadtrip with my friends in the past, but I wanted to do one on my own. Being that this move was a big lifestyle change, the solo trip was the perfect opportunity for me to cleanse my mind and start getting into the new chapter. I had the perfect car for it, my (then) 2011 VW Jetta TDi Sportwagen with 6-speed manual and panoramic moonroof. I chose my route based on places I wanted to see, people I wanted to visit, and states I wanted to set foot on; this occurrence probably wouldn’t happen again for a long time, and therefore I was going to maximize it.
I left the SF Bay Area Friday morning and took US-50 into the Sierra, passing through Tahoe and then into Carson City to get lunch with my old roommate from grad school. Afterwards I continued on US-50, dubbed “The Loneliest Road in America.” I was averaging 80-85MPH, and at times wouldn’t see a car for over 15 minutes. The road was straight as can be, cutting through Nevada’s Great Basin. The passing of a few weathered houses here and there made me ponder these inhabitants’ lifestyles, so remote and far from civilization. I stopped by Middlegate, where the famous Shoe Tree was. There was a bar, and it would’ve been memorable to have a burger in the middle of Nevada (especially when the owner claimed it as the best burgers around, not surprisingly), but I just took some pics and continued through the barren landscape.
The sun was setting behind me and I decided to hit 120MPH on the straight, and eventually I arrived into the town of Ely. I had a rib eye at the Cellblock Steakhouse. The few motels in Ely were also packed with a lot of super cars for the annual Silver State Classic Challenge, the fastest road race in the world. I came across a Vector W8, that was a treat. I fueled up before spending the night at a KOA outside of town, just absorbing the fact I was in Eastern Nevada.
The muted TDi clatter broke the early morning silence as I did some quick peripheral checks before hitting the road. I stopped on the side of the road about ten minutes later to a completely desolate and still surrounding. No power lines, no wind, no life, the landscape was completely motionless and quiet. So quiet that my ears were ringing. It felt somewhat eerie to be this alone, and what would happen if I was stranded. Many “what if’s” started conjuring, but it was time to continue. I passed by a random taxidermy business, Great Basin National Park, before hitting the Utah border.
The western Utah landscape was also pretty barren with a straight road to fast track the distances. The road passed through towns, and I saw pickup baseball games at the park, Mom and Pop general stores, and very quiet streets with a single blinking red traffic light at the intersection. The pace was definitely different than the Bay Area. I was put back into “reality as I briefly got onto I-15 and its 80MPH speed limit. The GPS then directed me to the beginning of I-70 near Salina, where a road sign warned me of “No Roadside Services next 110 miles.” This concept was injecting all these second thoughts on whether or not I’d “make it.” A quick fuel calculation revealed I still about 400 miles in the tank, and I steadily continued. The passing scenery changed from rock / mountain formations, plateaus, and flats, to huge roadside canyons like Devil’s Canyon. I started driving into the San Rafael Swell, and it was massively mind-blowing to drive through the canyon floors, see the cliffs on both sides, and see how nature created all this. I stopped by Arches National Park to further enjoy the formations, before getting back onto I-70.
Utah gave way to Colorado and I stopped by the Flyin’ Miata headquarters for a quick selfie (it’s closed on Saturdays). Into Colorado I drove through the next marvel, the Glenwood Canyon. I-70 Westbound partially stacks on Eastbound as the two directions snake through the canyon floor, and it is truly a sight to see. Moonroof wide open, the other cars and I slow it down to enjoy that late summer breeze. Prior to entering the Johnson Tunnels, I stopped by Kerma TDI, but realized it was more so an LLC address. The grade into Johnson Tunnel was pretty steep, along with the high elevation folks were definitely slower. However, the turbodiesel never broke a sweat and lugged over the pass. I eventually exited the Johnson Tunnel into a steady downgrade, right into Denver Metro. I spent the next two days hanging out with some friends.
The trip was barely halfway through, and I had many more miles to cover. I left my friends’ place in Castle Rock and continued eastbound, still descending in elevation. Looking in the rearview, I can see the natural transition of mountains turning into the start of the Great Plains. I drove into Kansas (just to say I did), had lunch at a Chinese buffet (the owners were originally from Brooklyn), and then headed north into Nebraska. The quiet scenery and surroundings resumed, and at this rest stop, it felt so peaceful with the fields gently swaying from the breeze in the background.
Having left I-80 back in Sacramento, I met up with it in Nebraska again, and stopped by the I-80 Archway monument, before straightshooting into Des Moines’ Americana Steakhouse and then to Hampton Inn for the night. That was a 700+ miles trip that day.
The next day’s drive wasn’t as long, but was going to be more of the straight roads through lots of fields on I-80. I stopped by the World’s Largest Truck stop, Iowa 80, and fueled up with the big rigs. I crossed the Mississippi River and went into Illinois, driving along the south shore of Lake Michigan. This was a huge transportation artery, and I couldn’t help but notice semis outnumbering cars at one point. I continued without stopping, as the urban landscape didn’t really give me any safe / worthwhile opportunities to stop and sightsee. I stopped in Ann Arbor for the evening and immersed with the local UofM crowd; I ate hearty meal before crashing at another Hampton Inn.
My final leg of the trip was from Ann Arbor into Boston Metro. I decided to take a ½ hour detour and drive into Canada, just for the heck of it. I made sure I fueled up before heading into Canada, as prices were substantially higher. The Eastern Canadian landscape was much greener, compared to the factories and such that I passed through in London, Ontario. I stopped by Niagara Falls for a few pictures and a quick lunch before coming back into Upstate New York. The rolling hills started appearing, with hints of fall colors showing up in the horizon as I got onto I-90, and I started to collect all the changes in surroundings I’ve been driving through the past five days. It’s honestly awesome thinking how I drove from concrete jungle, into mountains, then out into a desert, and next onto gnarly rock formations, which led me to the Rockies, and down into the Plains.
As I entered Massachusetts and I-90 became what’s known as MassPike, I took one more selfie with the Welcome sign and the JSW in the background, a gentle reminder that I’ve reached the homestretch. Massachusetts is pretty small, and within 2 hours I was coming off the Pike inside Boston Metro.
Most of us fly when going cross-country, and it completely makes sense. I have a cousin who told me he found absolutely no interest nor appeal in traveling within the U.S. I might have agreed back then, but this road trip presented me a completely different view (literally and figuratively) of my country, one where I had more time to absorb compared to peering out the window of, say, seat 26F. The JSW gobbled up the miles with complete ease, and I averaged 40MPG the entire trip. I often think back on this drive and how ~4000 miles might seem a lot, yet passed by quickly. I think about how we tend to root ourselves in one place of residence and subconsciously fail to realize how much this country has to offer in terms of new opportunities. Sure, it might be a change in lifestyle, but change is not bad.