Road trip! Or as you’re more likely to say and/or hear it, “Rooooaaaaad triiiip!” As a car person, I’m comfortable saying we all long for the pleasures of a well-executed long-distance automobile journey, but one needn’t be a car person to appreciate the lure of the open road and the untold adventures that might be experienced between A and a distant B. Moving through time and space from a beginning to an end is the essence of storytelling, and who doesn’t love the feeling of living a story? It’s no wonder film and TV are rife with road trip riffs.Â
No doubt each of us has our own vision of the ideal road trip (not The Hitcher, I’m guessing), and that’s the topic of today’s Autopian Asks. What does your perfect road trip look like? Where are you going? How will you get there? How long is your ideal journey–and in what vehicle would you like to pile those miles? Or maybe you’re lucky enough to have already experienced some great road trip adventures–tell us about those!
To the comments!
Top shot main image: merla/adobe.stock.com
Movie poster images (clockwise from top left): Dreamworks; Warner Bros.; Universal; HBO Pictures; Searchlight Pictures
In 2015 & 2016 I did two 5000+ mile roadtrips in my 2013 Focus ST. The first one was Detroit to Grand Canyon NP and the second was Detroit to Seattle. I visited almost 20 National Park Properties along the way. The scenes were breathtaking and my Focus ST ran flawlessly, on 87 octane even. The Rocky Mountains of I70 through Glenwood Canyon was so much fun that I turned around to run it again. Route 9 driving into Zion was beautiful. The backroads of Arizona were fun. The views of Going to the Sun Road was otherworldly and visiting the Bonneville Salt Flats was a check off the bucket list. The only area that induced anxiety was driving across Montana on a two lane road with the 12.4 gallon tank in the Focus. Interstate cruising was easy and stress free. I would do those trips in that car again in a heartbeat, even with almost 300k on the odometer.
Second response: MY JSW TDI is by conventional standards the most comfortable road trip vehicle I own, and certainly the most efficient. But my 911 (‘0 SC Targa) is my favorite of all my cars, just for the sheer joy I get out of driving it. Truly, there is never a bad mile in that car. Immediately after getting back from my west coast trip, I left in it for a rally I do every June near Pittsburgh, this year in the Alleghenies. Even the Ohio Turnpike isn’t boring in that car. Despite the wind noise (top on or off), a dialed-in driving position, Recaros and hands-free high speed stability make it perfectly comfortable for even the longest days. On Sunday I spent six hours doing 70-90 on the Ohio and Indiana turnpikes with the top off, loved every minute of it, and even got 24mpg doing so. I’ve driven it on road trips to Michigan, Atlanta, Colorado, West Virginia, Pennsylvania, etc. and I never, ever get tired of it.
My sweetie and I had a planned trip to Bellingham, WA a couple of weekends ago to spend several days visiting good friends. Fresh off the regret of passing up a beautful Bavaria (a car I’d wanted for ages) that I was given first dibs on, and with old BMWs still on the brain, I bought a hot-rodded E12 in Berkeley. Two weeks ago I flew out to San Francisco a couple of days early and picked it up to drive it up the Pacific Coast Highway and 101. I had time to get as far as the Oregon coast southwest of Portland before I had to head over the Coast Range to spend the night with a friend near Portland and then hit I-5 to Bellingham. In 1998 I took a monthlong, 10,000 mile road tripthrough the west (from Atlanta) in my Sentra SE-R in between engineering school and art school and missed my chance to take the PCH from the Bay Area to LA; ever since then I’d been wanting to make up for that mistake by driving it. The trip was fantastic, and everything I’d hoped it would be except for not as long as I’d have liked. My favorite stretch was the last part of US1 from Ft. Bragg to Leggett – the wild north coast that looks exactly like what you imagine for the first ~25 miles, followed by another 25 miles of continuous twisties (insert multiple high-fives here) through old forests until you arrive at Leggett. It was glorious. I didn’t have a ton of time, but I had enough time to stop when I wanted to just to say to myself (ref. Vonnegut) “If this isn’t nice, what is?”, admire the view, sketch, go for a short hike in the redwoods, etc. I paid for it with a 1AM arrival in Portland, but it was worth it. I left the car with my friends in Bellingham, and at the beginning of July we’re flying out to road trip it home to Chicago via Glacier National Park (another place I’ve wanted to visit for years) and whatever else strikes us in the 8 days that we’ll have.
A couple of photos: https://imgur.io/a/CIAFp5K
I would do a fly-and-drive in a fun old car every year if I could. The last time I did one was in 2017, when I bought my Saab SPG in Vancouver and drove it home to Chicago. The BMW is ostensibly supposed to replace the Saab, though I might find it hard to let go of. Even if I pass the BMW on sooner rather than later and keep the Saab, I will have had great experiences in it, which will be enough.
Bought a classic Mini Clubman Estate from a guy in Baltimore, flew in, paid for it and headed west to KC. 2 days, 1100 miles in a classic Mini at 60-65 mph, early March. Positives – no bugs and light traffic. Negatives – classic Mini at 65 mph – for hours!!!! Since then it’s been all over the country…..
Best trip was to pickup a boat in Charleston from Puget Sound. Volvo S60. Left Thursday evening, picked up boat, Robalo R180, Monday noon, back home Thursday PM. Mileage going East 27, West 15. Best book on tape, Area 51, Annie Jacobson.