The Journey East
 

Good bye, car. You have served me well:

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...1&d=1378438427

(see this thread: https://www.miataturbo.net/cars-sale...ree-ish-74807/ )




Now, a public service announcement:

Silicon Valley sucks.

Seriously, the place just doesn't do it for me. It's hot, it's flat, the roads suck, everything seems old and run-down... Screw that. And, since this was my first exposure to northern Cali, I formed a pretty strongly prejudiced opinion of the area. There are a COUPLE of cool spots (eg: the Good Karma Vegan Cafe in San Jose), but for the most part, it's a shithole.

Well, it turns out that not ALL of NorCal sucks. Just the valley. (And probably the rest of the SF Bay Area.)

In fact, most of it fucking rocks. NOW I understand what Ken & Roberta Williams saw in this place:

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...1&d=1378438427

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...1&d=1378438427

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...1&d=1378438427

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...1&d=1378438427



Hello, Reno.


https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...1&d=1378438617


Saw a bunch of these:

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...1&d=1378438617

I'm trying to visualize how one of these would behave in reverse. I just can't see it.



Also, the Deeth Starr:

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...1&d=1378438617



Touchdown for the night is in Tooele, UT, a charming little town just outside of Salt Lake City.

Irony:

1: NASA nationals are apparently this week, and the hotel is filled with both racers and officials.

2: The hotel is owned by John Potter, owner of Magus Racing. His car is parked inside the hotel lobby:

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...1&d=1378444322

3: Points 1 and 2 are, to the best of my knowledge, unrelated and a complete coincidence.




Miles Traveled: 754
Fuel consumed: 52.2 gal
MPG: 14.4 (Wow!)

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...1&d=1378445958

Can you please tell us the back story to all this or is that another thread I missed? Seriously I'm so curious what you're doing recently. Makin serious moves

Also feel lost. Plus high five for Death Star references across threads. Also 14.4mpg?!? I get almost that in my '02 4.6L stroker, lifted Jeep. Is the throttle an only on switch?

Let me make this very clear:

FUCK

SILICON

VALLEY

This town fucking sucks, and so do the people in it. I grew up reading stories about how awesome life was in the valley / Berkeley / Livermore / etc., but the reality is that San Diego is much more awesome (and much cheaper.) Everyone up here is a hipster retard. (Except for that one hipster chick who.... nevermind. She wasn't a retard.)




I nearly ran off the road when I saw it.


I'm driving a heavily loaded Penske moving truck, built on a GMC 3500 (gasoline) chassis. 14.4 MPG is fucking AMAZING economy. (See my 2010 thread entitled "The Journey West" for comparison. Admittedly, I'm not towing a car this time.)

Ah. Well that's another story. Mirror shot looked like just a Chevy truck. Not a moving truck. 14.4 is awesome. If it isn't prying why the move? Other than the valley sucks. I'm always down for ditching a shitty situation, place, people, etc. Curious what greatness is underway.

Oh, so you simply hate the area and decided to ditch it. Gotcha. I was thinking you had some baller new job or something and "starting over". You gave away most your possessions after all lol

I wonder how quick Joe would get sick of Detroit.

I'm guessing less time than it takes to drive through it.

If you find yourself near Rochester (hint: it's several exits on the NYS Thruway) in your travels, I would be honored to buy you dinner/drinks.

I'd also offer a place to crash, but you'd have to be fairly desperate to want to do that.

FTFY.

I'm confused. Joe, what do you need in a city to make it awesome? More beige strip malls?

It wouldn't take much to get sick of Detroit - I lived there in "da hood" for far too many years. Left last year for ATL and haven't looked back.

Good luck on your quest Joe.

Based on previous posts, I assume you're heading for the glorious NY tri-state area. By comparison to SD, we have about 3 1/2 hours of good weather a year. The good news is you should arrive just in time for this year's last 45 minutes or so.

It really is a good place to live, so long as you can get past the hideous cost of living and frequent-mortal-danger part. I keep trying to slink away to rural Maine, but the city keeps puling me back.

If you land in Manhattan, I'll buy you a beer sometime when I'm in town.

Hahaha! Talk about setting the bar low... You can erase all doubt about how terrible Detroit is when Atlanta looks like a metropolitan paradise by comparison.


Señor Pérez - Good luck and godsspeed on your journey East. "El que lee mucho y anda mucho, ve mucho y sabe mucho."

Trust me, when your cars handling capabilities are tested by its abiliity to dodge potholes and/or drunk or drug-impaired drivers. When you have to plan your tire choices in the spring like a F1 team manager (hmmm, will it be dry-weather "slicks" (worn RS3's), "intermediates" (DD comp2's), or the "winters" (Blizzak's, if a freak ice-storm is predicted) today?). And freeway entrance/exit ramps are the curviest roads within 50 miles. Atlanta IS an urban paradise!! ;)

Comin' back to Cincy, are ya?

Yes. A Chevy truck that happens to be painted bright yellow and is fitted with a large box visible in the mirror, which has the phrase "9' HIGH" clearly printed on it.




That is correct.




I'm sick of it already.




Rochester is a little out of my way, and I've got a schedule to adhere to. But thanks.




A complete absence of beige strip malls, ideally.

Also, a complete absence of Payday-loan shops, rent-to-own stores, places that specialize in installing loud car stereos, stores with the name "discount" in them, and Hyper.




That's an interesting assumption. s or so.

I just signed a lease on a 1 bedroom apartment for $2,800 a month.

As for mortal danger, I guess...




Nope.




Hahaha.

Greetings from the bristling metropolis of Lexington, Nebraska. A couple of observations:

1: This entire place smells like cow shit.
2: It has forced me to reevaluate my interpretation of the phrase "hick town."
3: What the fuck is up with this ceaseless wind?


Some good driving roads getting here, though:

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...1&d=1378517917

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...1&d=1378517917

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...1&d=1378517917

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...1&d=1378517917


And I gotta tell ya, without the trailer and car hitched to the back, these gas-engined Penske trucks are actually pretty damn nice to drive! Not having all that dead mass on the bumper makes a huge difference not only in acceleration and hill-climbing, but in cornering stability and braking as well. Since I have the load extremely well-secured in the back, I've really been testing the limits of handling in this truck, and I am impressed. In the twistier sections, I was pulling away from passenger cars at a pretty fair clip.

It's kind of funny, actually. I almost never actually drive vehicles all the way at 10/10, but I feel like I'm actually doing that with this truck.



Now, this is interesting. I saw a BUNCH of these signs, about one every 20-40 miles. Apparently, I-80 gets shut down with sufficient regularity to merit permanently installed signs, as well as railroad-crossing-style barriers.

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...1&d=1378517949


Also, this guy:

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...1&d=1378517949


Oh, I almost forgot- there was this automated pancake-manufacturing machine:

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...1&d=1378517949

You just press the button, and a minute later a freshly-made pancake falls out the side. When I saw it, I thought "Hmm- I'll bet that machine consistently makes perfect pancakes." Turns out that it doesn't. The pancakes which it makes are consistently spongy, with one side consistently cooked properly, and the other side consistently sort of not quite burned, but definitely hard and cardboard-like.


I've had worse pancakes, and I've had better pancakes. If I were a statistician, I would declare it to be a .5PP (50th Percentile Pancake.)



Today's route:

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...1&d=1378517949

Miles traveled: 745
Fuel consumed: 52.8 gal
MPG: 14.11 (Consistency is very sexy to an engineer.)

When I moved to California, I took I-80 pretty much the whole way. I got stranded just outside of Cheyenne thanks to a freak snow storm when they shut down the interstate using the barriers you describe. Not fun.

When I moved back east I took I-70 most of the way and much prefered that route (except for Kansas). A bonus of I-70 is that you can stop by FMs shop for a place to stretch your legs and lay your tent out in their parking lot to dry it from last nights soaking rain.

If you're coming through central PA let me know.