S2000 East Coast Road Trip

I live and work in arguably the greatest city on earth so what more could I want? What could I possibly be day dreaming about when I'm sitting in the office and looking out the window? Well, as a car guy, I often dream of being on the open road, with the top down, rowing through the gears, hearing the rumble of the engine, the grunt of the exhaust, feeling every part of the road through all my senses. When I realized I had some time off left to burn before the end of the year, it was clear I needed to check another item off the bucket list...a real road trip in a S2000!

The Road Trip - 11/9/2015

Inspired by Top Gear specials, driven by my love for S2000s (and in small part, by insanity), I decided to come up with a week-long trip that would give me the maximum time on the road while letting me explore places I'd never been before. At first I wanted to go west, cross country to California, up the Pacific Coast Highway and back but with it being very late in the year and with limited vacation days left, it wasn't going to be doable so instead I decided south...as far south as I could go...would be the next best thing.

This trip, I put together thanks to some tips from friends, will take me south from NY through NJ, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, North and South Carolina, Georgia and finally Florida where my goal is to get to the southern most point of the United States in Key West. I'll then turn around, drive up north again making a quick stop at the Kennedy Space Center, then once I get to South Carolina start going north west back into Virginia right by the West Virginia border where I plan on driving the legendary Blue Ridge Parkway/Skyline Drive then back northeast home to the Big Apple. In total this trip is a little over 3000 miles and an estimated 47 hours of actual driving time over the course of 6 days giving myself ample time to stop and explore if I discover anything interesting and with only minimal night time driving. Unless I run into heavy rain, I also intend to make the entire drive with the top down regardless of temperature. "Top Down Always"...that's the roadster life!

Now, to be fair I've driven close to 3000 miles myself before towing Bumblestook from NY/NJ to Lincoln, Nebraska for the SCCA Solo National Championships and back but that's driving a super comfortable Touareg with all the amenities you'd expect from a luxury SUV.  In two of the three times I did that, I either had a passenger or a codriver with me that helped me pass the time. The longest I've ever driven a S2000 in a single day is a little over 5 hours when I bought Lupa in DC and drove her home early last year and my back wasn't all too happy with me afterwards. This trip is significantly longer. It'll just be me, my S2000 (well one of them) in full STR trim (yes, that includes driving on Bridgestone RE-71Rs), a duffel bag of clothes and the open road for almost a week. I raised the front driver side ride height a bit to get better clearance for road obstacles and dialed the Motons back a few clicks to avoid unnecessary roughness. I also packed a few tools, my racing jack, spare, tire repair kit, air pump, emergency LEDs, jump starter kit and oil just in case something happens in the middle of nowhere.

I'm looking forward to getting away from the hustle and bustle of city life and having plenty of time to be alone with my thoughts and enjoying every moment driving Shigeru Uehara's masterpiece, one of the finest examples of Japanese/Honda engineering, the Honda S2000. This is one of those trips where the destination doesn't matter so much because the experience alone, which I'm sure will include some moments of regret, choice words and yearning to see my chiropractor, is an adventure that I'll remember for years to come.

Onto Day 1...