It was finally the day to kick off the road trip. Unfortunately, despite the very pleasant, warm weather last week, temps dropped abruptly over the weekend and I started my trip at 6:50am when it was 43F outside. As I mentioned in my previous post, the top was going to stay down regardless of temperature and so I bundled up, kicked up the heat to high and enjoyed the drive.
 |
| Starting the trip counter - 0.0 miles - 11/9/2015 |
|
|
The first leg of this trip would take me through NJ into Delaware, Maryland, Washington D.C., Virginia and finally making my first sleep stop in Fayetteville, North Carolina. Although it was cold, the sun was present through the first half of this leg but as I rolled into Maryland, I noticed the sun had disappeared and the cloud cover thickened. Little did I know, I was about to drive straight into a storm. I crossed the border from Maryland into Virginia and made a stop at the Virginia Welcome Center to stretch my legs and take care of other important business.
 |
| Virginia Welcome Center - 11/9/2015 |
 |
| Apparently Virginia is for lovers - 11/9/2015 |
As I was about to leave I noticed water droplets on the car. It looked like a mild drizzle and I wouldn't have to put the top up but the clouds were looking a bit too ominous so I hesitantly put the top up and was lucky that I did because the minute I merged onto the highway, I got hit hard with rain. This added quite a bit of action into this trip because Lupa did become a bit of a handful to keep straight. I would hit patches of standing water causing the diff to engage sending power to the wheel with grip causing the rear to step out a little (didn't help that I'm running very little rear toe for my autocross alignment). It wasn't horrible but you definitely couldn't be asleep at the wheel! Smooth inputs were necessary and quick reflexes were needed when she wanted to show you who was boss.
 |
| Damn rain - Virginia - 11/9/2015 |
The rain just kept getting worse and worse and eventually it was white out conditions but thankfully it was a weekday with very few cars/trucks on the road so it was easy to maintain a safe distance from potential hazards. I eventually made it to the North Carolina border where I was able to stretch a bit and see how soaked Lupa was.
 |
| Arrived in North Carolina soaked - 11/9/2015 |
Unfortunately the night before I had trouble sleeping so I was pretty tired and after being on the road for 11 hours already (including stops), I had to pull over at the last stop an hour shy of Fayetteville to get something to keep me awake. The darkness, cold and massive concentration needed to drive her in that rain had mentally drained me. Thankfully a quick dose of Monster Energy Drink gave me the final boost I needed.
 |
Re-energizing to complete this leg of the trip
North Carolina - 11/9/2015 |
For some reason I didn't look up what was around the motel to eat and I had assumed there would be nothing so I ended up eating dinner at this really empty Waffle House on the way there. It was "ok" but nothing to write home about (or take a picture of). Of course I realized as soon as I exited for the motel that I was surrounded by much better food options but I was already full so I ended up just resting.
 |
Corner spot and visible from my room of course
Fayetteville, NC - 11/9/2015 |
|
The good news is that despite being generally tired from needing sleep, my body feels fine and my back doesn't hurt which was my primary concern. I did stop every 1.5 hours or so to take a walk and stretch and I think that helped tremendously. Also, as a side note, the Mugen exhuast is by the far the most awesome exhaust ever made for this car. No drone, with just a nice soft rumble at cruising speeds but with a solid grunt when you step on it giving you a solid smirk after being reminded what you have under there. I could enjoy music when I wanted and even talk to my brother over bluetooth speaker phone with no issues. I used up about 2 full tanks of gas during this leg. Tomorrow is another long day but I'll be ending up in Florida and will be enjoying some warmth again. The weather looks decent too so hopefully I get to drive the whole way with the top down.
Onto Day 2...
