I can’t say I’ve been on many car adventures – in fact, I’d say I’ve only been on one proper adventure, but it was quite a doozy. Back in 2006, when I was running RC Car Action magazine, HPI launched its brand-new 1/5 scale gas-powered buggy, the Baja 5b.
This was literally a big deal because the car was enormous at nearly three feet long, and also a big deal because the 5b was the first 1/5 scale car to come from a “mainstream” hobby brand that was easy to find in hobby stores and arrived ready to run with the fit, finish, and performance expected of a big player like HPI was (at the time, anyway). Before the 5b arrived, large-scale RC was a tiny niche supported by just a few brands selling relatively crude cars that were hard to find and poorly supported by American hobby stores.
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Hoping for a huge hit with he car, HPI put together the first and, I believe, only big-time media press trip for the buggy. All the RC car magazines (remember magazines?) were invited to experience three days wheeling 2WD off-road buggies on the Baja peninsula, courtesy of Wide Open Baja. The two-seaters were still VW-powered then, as Wide Open had only just begun moving over to Subaru boxer power. But even with “only” the heartbeat of a bug, the lightweight two-seaters could really haul culo.
Two drivers were assigned to each buggy, and would trade places behind the wheel at each stop on the trip down the peninsula. I was paired with HPI’s Akira Kogawa, designer of not only the 5b but many other classic models. Speed was limited only by driver confidence and courage, unless someone had such an excess of either that they were slowed down by the guide driver. Going faster made the cars easier to drive, to a point, as greater speed helped the car skip over rough terrain and whoops whereas driving more cautiously would allow the wheels to fully dip into every depression and make for a much slower, rougher ride. It was a blast, but just three days of exciting off-roading, beautiful Mexican scenery, delicious food, and sketchy hotels wasn’t enough. I would have happily stayed a month.
So that’s my big car adventure. Tell me about the one’s you’ve been on, and the adventures to come.
Top graphic image: Wide Open Baja
RV related I have the 5B related cousin by King Motor, it’s actually fun and pretty tough, very old school rc you can buy new. Lord knows I have enough trophy truck rcs from the 1:10 Baja Rey to the 1:5 Losi 5T 2 stoke gas with bartelone exhaust… So on the trophy truck thing…
Anyhow, automotive adventure would be the Baja 500, if my body was in better shape…
Best actually driven? Weekend rental Merc C class convertible 2.0 up to the Black Forest in Germany and another weekend a day rental of a 911 99.2 from the Porsche museum and nice rip on the autobahn.
Sick week. It was supposed to happen this year, but got pushed back to next year.
In the ’80s driving an Alfa 33 rental all over Elba and a Citroen Visa in Portugal, plus lots of rentals in the US through the next few decades.
After retirement 11 years ago, we’ve driven to 41 states, including the Black Hills, the Natchez Trace, the Rockies, the Mojave Desert, Down East Maine, the entire Skyline Drive and Blue Ridge Parkway, and just recently the Cherohala Skyway. I still want to get to the Southwest.
We’re based in the Tampa Bay area.
Have done:
-big around-the-country road trip / exploration
-fly-and-drive from the west in an old car (multiple)
-road trips in third-world countries with bad roads
-more that I can’t think of
Would like to do:
-Hippo Charge or similar (I had the opportunity in 24, but could not get myself to southern Africa on short notice)
-drive to the arctic circle
-Maybe the Alcan 5000?
-Nurburgring
-more that I can’t think of
I have a long-standing dream of driving Route 66, preferably in a Corvette. (I live close to the Chicago endpoint.)
On a similar note, if I was diagnosed with cancer and given 6 months to live, I intend to do an eight-week-long roadtrip to visit every national park in the continental US.
Done: Eastern Europe, Turkey, Georgia, Azerbaijan.
Still to go: Mongolia, Kazachstan
Took my Corvette out to the Black Hills and had a lot of fun driving stuff like the Needles highway (although traffic is horrible on that road). There’s another great driving road between Custer State Park and Mount Rushmore that is at or near the top of the list of fun roads I’ve ever been on.
At some point I still need to road trip down to Bowling Green to visit the Corvette museum too.
Edit: Comment system ate part of my comment. :-/
Car adventures I’ve done:
Car adventures I’d like to do
I like paying attention to cars, but in terms of what I drive, I mostly drive the boring appliance. For me, my car adventures are more about the road trip than any specific twisty section. That said, my dream adventure would be coast to coast in a Miata. Probably camp along the way and pack very light, a bit more than backpacking style.
Good thing everyone learned their lesson from that and never repeated the mistake. Sigh.
The gen 2 Prius is great for camping. I took mine to a hippy commune (I’m not sure I’m even exaggerating) for the 2024 eclipse and it was great. Would have been a more comfortable drive if I’d realized the rear springs were broken before I bounced off the bump stops all the way down there, but it was still a blast. Driving through the Ozarks on the way back was quite a lot of fun too.
Come to think of it, that’s probably one of my top car adventures.
The most recent, and perhaps my most harebrained idea came in April of 2024. Having been laid off the Thursday before, I decided to drive 9 hours to Indiana to catch the total eclipse since I now had plenty of time on my hands. I couldn’t tempt anyone with the prospect of leaving central Maryland at 12 AM Monday, driving out to the Cardinal Greenway trail head in a little town called Gaston (north of Muncie), grabbing breakfast, napping in my Mazda3 until it was time for the big, celestial show, then grabbing a late lunch/early dinner before heading back. So I did it solo. 27 hours round trip (would have been closer to 25, except for construction delays on I-70 between Hagerstown and Fredneck, just one short hour from home…grr.). And, of course, it turned out I wasn’t the only one who had picked that particular spot for eclipse-peeping. Good thing I got there and parked 4 hours before showtime. The naps were interrupted because a family with kids parked next to me and the kids were being, well, kids. Oh well. After about an hour and a half of fitful rest, I pulled out my camp chair and set up shop next to a nice couple from Wisconsin who’d also driven down to be in the path of totality. I was exhausted when I got home, but I’d do it all over again in a heartbeat.
Other memorable trips:
Driving to Portland, ME in August, 2019 for work, arriving two days early and taking on a side-quest to drive the rented Altima up Mount Washington. I thought about slapping one of the bumper stickers on it, but I’m not sure Enterprise would have appreciated it. In retrospect, I should have hidden one under the spare tire. After finishing the work part of the trip, I drove up the coast to Lubec to hang out for a couple days, hitting up Margaret’s for a lobster roll on the way there. On the way home, I stopped in Meriden, CT for a steamed cheeseburger at Ted’s.
For my trip to Pennsic War in 2016, my mom offered up her 2005 Grand Caravan. So much easer to load in and load out than my 300m. While sitting in a field for a week, it apparently became home to some critter who was not kind to the spark plug wires. After about an hour of driving with a misfiring engine, I pulled into a rest area to find one of the spark plug wires was cut clean through. Of course it had to be the one that’s smack-dab in the middle of the rear bank. Found a nearby parts store, bought a new set of wires and replaced the cut one right there in the parking lot, burning my arm a little in the process. After I got home, and before returning the van to mom, I replaced the remaining wires and found that the insulation on the adjacent wire had been cut through as well, exposing the core. Stupid critters.
Work flew me to Indianapolis for training in 2013, but they got the dates wrong. As a result, I ended up being able to visit the Auburn, Cord, Duesenberg museum before flying home. When they sent me out for the next class, I had an extra couple days and got to tour Indianapolis Motor Speedway, visit the Indiana Transportation Museum (great for rail fans), and even catch my first-ever drive-in movie.
Driving to Pittsburgh Ren Fest in 2012, I took old Route 30 west from Breezewood, PA. Stopped for gas at Dunkle’s Gulf in Bedford and made an unplanned stop to check out the 9/11 memorial outside Shanksville.
Drove from Maryland to Key West in early March, 2005. Overseas Highway achievement unlocked. On the way down, we made an impromptu detour through the Art Deco district in Miasma and spent an hour on the beach. That made us really late arriving to our motel in Marathon. I forget the name of it, but it was adjacent to The Turtle Hospital (it’s no longer a motel and now houses staff and other hospital functions) and included a discount on admission. As a result, I learned about “bubble butt” syndrome — make sure safe search is on when you Google that. We also went swimming with dolphins at Theater of the Sea in Islamorada. Two notes on that: 1) When I booked the swim, I didn’t know my friend had a fear of water she couldn’t see the bottom of which made it an interesting experience for both of us, and 2) had I seen The Cove beforehand, I wouldn’t have booked the swim to begin with. Side note: When we left Maryland, it was bitter cold. By the time we got to the first rest area in NC, it was 60 degrees out. We promptly changed into t-shirts and shorts. After enjoying nearly a week of sunny, 80 degree days and ocean breezes, we headed up to her grandmother’s place near Orlando. When we hit the first rest area off the Florida Turnpike, it was overcast and 65. And we were freezing or butts off in t-shirts and shorts. I changed in the car while she sprinted off to change in the ladies’. Funny how quickly we acclimate.
Shortly after I bought my 300m, some friends and I road-tripped to the Detroit Auto Show. While in the city, we went to the MGM casino. They lost; I won. So that meant that the buffet was on me.
And if we go way back to the early 90’s, a friend and I drove from Blacksburg, VA to Owensboro, KY (by way of his sister’s place in Lexington) for the Stylin’ Concepts Sport Truck Nationals on a blisteringly hot summer day in my very un-air-conditioned 1985 Ford Escort. All in all a fun trip, except for one eye-wateringly pungent stretch of I-64 in Indiana that rolled past a rather large hog farm.
Anyway, enough rambling about my ramblings. If you made this far, congratulations! 😉
Most recent adventure was road tripping a new to me truck with my youngest kid. We flew out to Portland Oregon and drove back to Wisconsin. Was his first time on a plane, and driving through mountains. We stopped at Devils Tower and the corn palace, among other sights on the way home.
Another one about 20 years ago, had a friend that moved to Florida, so another friend and I took my truck and a U-Haul car trailer to bring his project car. Fiero he was putting a 350 into, lots of spare parts, loose engine, we drove 19 hours straight. Apologies to the farm house we needed to make a u turn in through their muddy front yard in the middle of the night, due to broken inertia brakes not letting us back up into the road.
The wife and I did Grayling Michigan to the Arctic Ocean at Tuktoyaktuk Northwest Territories this past summer in our Subaru Ascent, Driving the Dempster Highway was a fun time. We drove the north shore of Lake Superior on our way there and did Jasper and Banff on the way back. A month and a half and nearly 10,000 miles.
Flew in a helicopter from Juneau up onto the Mendenhall Glacier and mushed a dog sled around for about 50 minutes. That was pretty cool.
Driving around the Indianapolis Motor Speedway was fun, but not challenging as we weren’t allowed exceed 40 mph. Or pass the tour bus.
Got to ride with a police pursuit training instructor in his massive Chevy Caprice wagon. In that thing he was able to reel in everyone in the course in their Ford Crown Vic Interceptors. I suspect the wagon had some unobtanium in it but he was a very skilled driver. He let me do a lap in it and he had to keep goading into giving it more beans. I’d like to take a performance driving course someday but have more pressing responsibilities at the moment.
Winding my way west on Mattole Road between Highway 101 to Honeydew in CA with tires howling around most corners in my early 20s is probably the dumbest thing I ever did. Well, that and trying to get from Davis to Fort Bragg via 128 as fast as I felt I safely could on a Suzuki 550. But both got my heart pumping.
Driving around Dublin and points west in Ireland and then Sydney to Canberra, via Batemans Bay in Australia were nice trips but I never drive exuberantly with family in the car. Driving a RHD car on the “other” side of the road made it interesting but again, not particularly challenging.
Wife and I took a summer road trip up and down the East coast in our ’62 VW bus. Lots of little anecdotes there, but the big one was when we suffered catastrophic engine failure at the Tennessee-Virginia border and were rescued by a guy named “Tennessee Jed” and a professional Santa Claus, got ripped off on a replacement engine that also didn’t work, got our hotel room paid for by a bunch of impressed/sympathetic railroad workers after we swapped engines in the hotel parking lot while they ate dinner, got hassled by the cops due to the coincidental nearby occurrence of a major music festival, and were further rescued by a not totally sober local politician. Also, this was our honeymoon.
I have several like this…
Every time I get behind my wheel is a drive for adventure.
A handful of trips to the Dragon in 3 different cars, hope to take the GR Corolla this year. Did a little autocross event in a Lamborghini some time ago, hope to take a trip out west to do one of those Extreme Experiences some day. Maybe for 60th next year.
A friend let me drive a smaller semi truck around the parking grounds of an autocross one time, does that count?
And a few track days at Mid Ohio and Putnam Park in my old 500 Abarth. Again, hope to try the GR-C soon.
The One Lap of America is always a pretty fun adventure. ~3500 miles and 8 racetracks over 8 days, all on the same tires!
https://www.facebook.com/OneLap1M
In 2022 I moved to Japan to teach English. My schools were in some pretty small towns, so I was given a company car – a Daihatsu Mira e:S. After only a month or two, I gave it back to the company and bought a 1995 Suzuki Alto Works RS-Z.
It was my loyal companion throughout my Japanese adventure, and in August when school was out, a friend and I drove it some 1,300 miles from Okayama where we lived up to Fukushima for Ebisu Drift Matsuri, down to Mobara Twin Circuit in Chiba, through the Aqualine tunnel to Daikoku, up Hakone, and finally to its birthplace- the Suzuki HQ and museum in Hamamatsu. It never missed a beat during the 5 day road trip, and it carried two 6′ tall Americans in relative comfort the entire way. I made countless friends in my Alto, drove some of the best roads on the planet, loaded it full of furniture while helping a friend move, and even got invited to join a car club.
I had to sell it before I left, but it got bought and imported by a fellow Autopian who comes to visit and lets me drive it once a year.
Probably my top three, all car-buying:
I haven’t done anything to cool besides some wheeling in my FJ in some parks in Illinois and Indiana. Craziest thing and dumbest thing I have done was driving from Chicagoland and to Vegas and back non-stop over a weekend to pick up my now fiance’s dog and some furniture/personally belongings from her ex. I didn’t sleep at all heading out there and took a couple hours nap on the way back and let her drive so I probably was up for at least 30 hours straight. I also took the northern route there and the southern route home so I drove through like 11 states that weekend fun times.
As for future plans I still want to get out to Moab with my FJ though I might tow it out there with my D250 just to be safe incase anything breaks on a trail. I also plan to drive the FJ down to Florida later this year (her dad lives down there) and take it on the 81 mile jeep trail through the Ocala National Park.
Last thing I would want to do is a road trip around Europe that would start in Ireland and end in Poland but that is something that would cost an arm and leg and a lot of time off which I don’t have.
You could do Moab with the FJ without towing it. I have solo drove to Moab a few times with my jeep and was both careful and stuck to the easier trails to avoid too much damage. The rock rails and skid plates took some damage. The white rim road in Canyonalnds was my favorite trail.
I have done the Iceland Ring road, Driven a rental car in Florence and Pisa, Overlanded in much of the west and Loved the white rim road in Canyonlands but I feel I have not done that much.
I WANT to drive the North loop of the ring, Do the Baja 500 or 1000 in a class 11 bug, go watch or support the Dakar. The affordable and attainable: Barrow to Key West.
Unfortunately there are no roads that go to barrow. The farthest north you can drive is dead horse.
I should have checked. Good to know there is someone to fact check on here.
I’m looking at doing the same trip. There are short flights you can take from deadhorse to barrow. I’ve heard it’s a really cool place.
I buddy of mine did the drive last year. That is why I thought the drive was possible from his photos of the northern and southern most points.
You could do Key West to Tuktoyaktuk via the Dempster Highway, at least you can go right to the Arctic Ocean
Driving a 1960 Rambler Cross Country station wagon cross country to California and back…
https://itisgood.org/cross-country-ramblings/
Delivering a derelict 1964 IH Travelall deep in the boondocks of Kentucky…
https://itisgood.org/travails-with-a-travelall/
Racing a 1929 Model AA Ford lumber truck at the Newport Antique Car Hill Climb…
https://youtu.be/mO28TPAAi18
Driving my Crosley Speedster on a 1000-mile roadtrip…
https://www.facebook.com/share/1ApPV1oEhu/?
Thanks for these!
Top of the list are certainly my two BMW European Deliveries.
First time in 2011 for my beloved 328! wagon. Flew over with a friend, picked up the car in Munich, drove to Stuttgart to the Porsche and Mercedes-Benz Museums, then off to Berlin to see the city and more car stuff at Classic Remiss Berlin (though it was called something else then). Then a crazy overnight dash to Stockholm to meet up with two other friends and take the ferry overnight to Helsinki. In Finland, we all attended the Saab International Festival, and toured Finland for four days. Then back across to Sweden. Hit the Saab Museums in both Finland and Sweden, then down to Amsterdam where I dropped off the car for re-delivery and my friends flew home. I met up with a Dutch friend – we drove his Volvo down to Paris to meet up with another friend who flew in from the US to attend Ralph Lauren’s exhibition of his car collection at the Louvre. I took the train back to Amsterdam and flew home, they went on a tour of France and Switzerland. All this in about 2.5 weeks, about 3000 miles total.
Second time was in 2015 for my ’16 M235i. I took my mother, who had never been to Europe. Started the same, picked up the car in Munich (and got to do the factory tour that time, in addition to the BMW Museum), toured around Bavaria for a day including Crazy King Ludwig’s castle, then to Stuttgart. Met up with my Dutch friend and did the museums there again. Then we headed to Austria for a couple of days, then on to Hungary to visit my old college friend and his family for a week in Budapest. From there, a week in Italy. Bologna, Rome, Naples, and Genoa. Spent a day at Herculaneum and drove up Mt. Vesuvius. Oh, and both Ferrari Museums on the way to Rome. A friend from the US flew over and joined us in Italy for much of the week – her cousin works at the Vatican and got us in for a private tour – which was awesome! Then back across Switzerland over and through the Alps to France to spend a couple of days in Mulhouse, home of the Schlumpf Collection, the French National Railway Museum, and a fantastic zoo (all Mom for that one). Then across France to Paris for a few days, where I dropped off the car and we flew home. A very sobering part of the trip was my history buff mother wanting to visit Dachau, which is right outside Munich. I think visiting any of the concentration camps is something everyone should do once. ~4000 miles in 4.5 weeks.
I would LOVE to do that again, but BMW both doesn’t offer it anymore, and they don’t sell anything I want anymore. But my Dutch friend is a mechanic with lots of connections, so I have low-key considered doing it myself for a classic car of some kind with his help. Would be a really fun way to buy that nice Alfa Spider I would like to have.
For trips in the US, I think the highlight was my first work trip to Oregon 25 years ago. Flew into Portland and had to drive down to Coos Bay. Absolutely spectacular drive. Then to go back, I drove up the Oregon coast before cutting across to Portland. Even more spectacular.