Reno, NV to Middleton, WI. 2000miles. I did it in 3 days taking it pretty easy. Here's the synopsis.

The Mission
I mentioned last week in my birthday post that I was going to Reno to pick up a new (used) Arrr. 1998 #55. Mission complete. The last time I bought a 98 Arrr I hit a deer on the way home. I made it back deer free.

The Trip
Friday November 1 - the flight. I was a little late getting to the airport for my 6:50am flight, but the Madison airport only has 5 gates, so checking in and getting through security doesn't take long. I had a connecting flight in Minneapolis which made for a short first leg, 45minutes in the air. I did a little bit of work since I was playing hooky. I've made that flight probably 20 times in the last 2 years. Nothing eventful. I had enough time between flights to get my third cup of coffee. The flight from MSP to Reno was pretty fun. I got a window seat so I could try and follow our route on a map as we flew across the country. It was pretty cool, using larger bodies of water and interstates as my landmarks I was able to trace our flight path the entire time. The only downside was a cramp in my neck from looking left for 3 hours The guy selling the car met me at the airport with a big "R" sign. I checked the car out, drove it around, and then we made the deal. After that I started on my drive...

The Drive
I planned on taking my time during this trip. Since I had never driven west of CO, except for rental cars in Seattle and San Fran, I thought it would be fun to take an extra day or two and do some sight seeing and mountain driving My original plan was to head east to UT and then north through WY and MT so I could check out Yellowstone. The plane ride offered me a great view of those two states (WY/MT) which were mostly white with snow... I opted for my secondary route which took me through Denver and then straight back through NE and IA (I-70).

I spent the week prior to the trip reading up on Nevada and decided to take Hwy 50 across the state rather than I-80. Hwy 50 is known as "The Lonliest Road in America" and in addition to miles of open Hwy it offers an amazing variety of terrain.

The first day was great. About 20 miles outside of Carson City civilization goes away and there is nothing. No towns. No people. No cars. No Cops! I was able to buzz along saftley at 90 - 100mph. I stopped to see two landmarks on the route Sand Mountain and the Shoe Tree. I took pictures but not with a digi cam. I'll get the prints scanned and post them up. The first night I stopped and stayed in Ely - an interesting little town on the far west side of the state. It seemed really late but it was only 6:30pm! I had some dinner, a few beers, and then hit the slot machines at the "Ramada". On my 3 quarter I hit the 7's and won $25. I had one more beer and called it a night. Happy to win a little gas money I was exhausted and fell asleep about 10minutes after laying down. I woke up at 3:30 am and started driving.

By the time the sun came up I was in Utah. I must say that the canyons in western Utah were amazing. So vast and so untouched. I stopped a bunch of times just to look at different views. I saw a ton of mountain bikes on top of cars going down to Moab... I was jelous knowing that I had another 20 hours of seat time in front of me, but happy becuase it was all time in the Arrr. On funny thing happened in UT. I was motoring along at 95 or so and the silver Audi comes blasting by me... Normally I would have given chase, but I decided not to and just enjoy the views. About 20miles up the road he got tagged by a Slowmaro Copper.

Colorado was not so fun. I've been to CO many times so the scenery wasn't new to me. It was snowing and wet. The Arrr got really dirty really fast. Oh well. Grand Junction was pretty cool and so were the roads about 20miles outside of Vail. I made it all the way to North Platte, NE, got some Chinese food for dinner and crashed.

I was up and out of the hotel at 7:00am this morning (Sunday). The ride across NE and IA is not very interesting at all. Once you get to Cedar Rapids and head north on Hwy 151 it is pretty nice. Rolling hills, colorful trees, and twisty roads. I got home today around 5:30pm.

The Music
Unlike all of my other cars, this one actually has a radio and CD player I asked a couple of weeks ago for suggestions on CD's. I bought 7 the day before my trip... Green Day, Incubus, Mos Def, Jurassic 5, Tom Petty, Orb, and Beck. They were all very enjoyable. I also bought a collection of Sci-Fi radio shows on CD. It was something Ray Bradbury put together - 60 radio shows from the 50's. I really had fun listening to those at night. It made the time go by quickly. So thanks for the suggestions. Out of all of them I think I liked Jurassic 5 and Orb the best.

The Car.
Super duper clean 98. It's had a little body work done, but the thing looks totally mint. A couple of strange things... It has an S80 gearbox with an LSD, but the gearing is defineatley from an LS???? I didn't even notice until I decided to let her rip in Colorado getting on the freeway. Can you say 100mph in 3rd gear.... I think I'll probably buy a new JDM ITR box and put the that one in my hatchcrap---> LS gearing with 9500rpm redline and 200+whp - sounds like fun Other quirky things: The dome light doesn't work, the shift boot rattles, the rear plastic panels need to be replaced. The seats, door panels, headliner, and dash are all in great shape.

All in all it was a fun trip. It would have been 10 times better 4 or 5 weeks ago, but I'm not complaining. Afterall I did make it through IA without hitting a deer

Pictures up soon.

Ausmith



[Modified by Ausmith, 1:09 PM 11/4/2002]

 

what a long drive!



enjoy your new car!

 

Sounded like a fun trip.

 

Nice sit back have a and relax. Glad your back in the team

 

welcome back to team CW

100 in 3rd

 

Datz kewl... Road Tripping in a newly bought R.

 

Home, Home On the Range...where the deer and.....oh wait, bad topic.....!
Just kidding bro..glad it was a safe trip, good luck with the car.

LSR

 

A memorable first drive for a memorable car. Congrats

JN who remembers quite well the first drive with the Arrr....

 

we want pics.. hosted the we todd way.

 

100 in third

 

No deer. No combines. Congrats on your new R.

 

I take it you regretted selling the King car?

How can the new car even compare?

 

Wow, what a way to break her in! Congrats on rejoining the "R club"

Yeah, Im curious too, how this one compares to the King car?

 

Wow, you drove all that way by yourself.

 

Very fun and interesting read. Glad you made it home A-oK!

 

Sounds like an awesome trip, I hope you took lots of pics along the way.

 

Congrats on anotheer CW, and thank you very much for the story!! Makes me want to do a road trip!!!

 

Ironic that you hit a deer on the return from your first R purchase....Wayne (C-MugenR) hit a deer on the way home from buying his as well.

Even on H-T it is a small world.

 

Road trips in the R

 

I also like doing road trips in the R its nice when on the open road.
I'm sure you had some fun.
Get some of those pics up soon.

Good review of your trip

 

 

Get ahold of Mike and let's go driving somewhere!

I remember picking mine up in July.... blazing home through Chicago (from Indianapolis) at 85-95 mph on 294 with surprisingly little traffic for a Saturday evening.

 

Sounds like a nice trip.
Interesting gearing situation!

 

You need one of these LS gearboxes for your Pssssst Project.

How does it compare to the King Arrrr? It's hard to say at this point. I had a set of race wheels and tires in the back during the drive so I couldn't really go nuts on the brakes and in the turns. The Mugen Arrr has a much broader power band, more low end and mid-range. The ride quality is the same. Brake pedal feel is much better in the Mugen mobile, probably due to the stainless lines and better pads. That's all I know right now. I'm going to get it cleaned up today and run over to King to drop some parts off - for da craper.

 

Any time.... As long as Mike takes off his Orange wing