Well, I finally completed my trip. Lupa and I drove a total of 3,137.6 miles over the course of 6 days covering 9 states and a tiny stint in Washinton D.C. all with the top down except for that one day of heavy rain. I'm not sure what I expected from this trip. Part of me thought I wouldn't be able to make it and I'd have to turn back at some point from back pain or something. It's not because driving to Florida and back is particularly hard. Lots of people do it all the time, especially old people that go back and forth apparently, but driving a S2000, in particular, a STR prepped S2000 is a different story. The only thing that bothered me was the lack of sleep and the ever changing weather since I had vowed to drive top down in all but heavy rain. The hot and humid days in Florida were brutal but so were the really cold days when I got back north. Leaving Charlottesville, Virginia this morning at 38F just as the sun was rising with the top down had me questioning my sanity for example.
Final fill up for this trip - NJ - 11/14/2015
I'm really happy how well this trip went. Lupa is prepped for SCCA's STR autocross class which stands for Street Touring Roadster and a 3000+ mile road trip definitely puts the "street" and "touring" into context and of course she is a "roadster". She's such an amazing car to drive. She puts up a fight and can get it done when she's being raced but on the street she's refined like a lady with a tiny bit of attitude on the side to keep you in check.
Back into NYC via the GWB - 11/14/2015
I got to see some parts of the country I hadn't yet seen. It was interesting. I didn't really hate any of it in a way that would prevent me from passing through again in the future but then there were places like the Shenandoah Valley that I know for sure I want to come back to every year. There really isn't anything special about this trip if you look at it on paper. Sure I drove 3138 miles and sure I drove it solo but so have plenty of other people in other cars. The difference for me is like having fat-free, sugar-free, vanilla ice cream in a cup versus a hazelnut ice cream with brownie bits, nuts, chocolate syrup in a chocolate dipped waffle cone. Sure, both will get you a sweet tooth fix but only one will really make you feel like to lived a little.
Finally done, 3137.6 miles later - New York - 11/14/2015
More importantly, this trip helped clear my mind, put things into perspective and inspired me. I can honestly say after this trip that "I lived" and that is an appropriate segue into the video I put together to capture the essence of this trip. It's been quite a while since I did a video project. I've been utterly uninspired recently to put this kind of effort into anything but for this trip it seemed fun, exciting and natural and it was near and dear to my heart which didn't make it any easier to create but it did make the entire process that much more enjoyable.
S2000 East Coast Tour 2015 Video
Photo/Video Equipment
iPhone 5S
GoPro Hero 3 Plus
Canon 5D MK2 with 24-70L
Audio Equipment
Azden SMX-10 mic and of course built-in mics in the video equipment
Edited with
Final Cut Pro X on 13" Macbook Pro (Late 2013 Retina)
Music
"I lived" by One Republic
Sound bites
Shigeru Uehara, lead designer and "father" of the S2000 and NSX - S2K home coming 2015 and S2000 EuroMeet 2014
Jeremy Clarkson - Interview by Eric Bana in "Love the Beast"
