Reflections

I've had the shoe for more than a week now, and I can't get enough of it.  Excuses to drive it seem to come up spontaneously and at random.  Now that I've had time to digest this whole adventure, I thought I'd share one more post.

When Lewis & Clark headed west from St. Louis Missouri in 1804, it took them more than a year and a half to reach the Pacific Ocean.  And that was starting at the Mississippi River!  What would they think of me traveling from South Carolina to California in less than five hours, and driving back in three days?  Not that they would be able to fathom the likes of a jet airplane, let alone a Clownshoe.

I can’t imagine how someone could be so determined and brave to cross this land two hundred years ago.  Summiting a mountain pass and looking over hundreds of miles of plains just to see another mountain range off in the distance would be gut-wrenching when you didn’t know how far off the destination was.  I had that feeling of being the only person in the world when looking out over the expanses of the land and seeing not a hint of civilization.

Speaking of that, I now know what "range anxiety" feels like, and I wasn't driving an electric car!  When you set out in the desert, you want to be sure you have a full tank of gas just in case there are no gas stations ahead.  Of course I was never more than 30 or 40 miles from a gas station, but it felt like I was hundreds of miles from anything.  I filled up often.  I even stopped to top off with less than six gallons two times in a row.

My final top-off of many.

It’s pretty amazing what can be done today by a less than heroic, everyday person.  Highways have been constructed to connect big cities together.  Cars are safer and more reliable than ever.  Cellphones keep us within a minute’s reach of help.  GPS guides us towards our destination with accuracy of meters. 

All those capabilities are useless unless you actually create an opportunity for adventure.  My dad was one who would create those opportunities.  I remember he might go to a conference on the west coast, but take a few days to ski in Utah on the way.  I guess I’ve done the same in the past.  I visited Yosemite on a weekend before I had to report in for work out west.  I definitely don’t do it often enough.

We live in an amazing country.  Nearly any climate in the world can be found in the US.  You can meet all types of people, see so many things!  Many people, including myself, get caught up in everyday life, forget that it’s out there and don’t make the effort.  We don’t get outside our comfort zone.

Back to the birthplace of all Z3s.  Plant Spartanburg.

Would I do it again?  Absolutely!  I still plan to travel Route 66 someday.  Maybe my next car will be an M version of the Clownshoe that I can buy in California.  Prices are heading north quickly, so it may be out of the cards for me soon.  A new record price of $75,000 was set for a pristine eleven-thousand mile M-Coupe recently.

Every Clownshoe, and Z3 Roadster for that matter, was built in the Greer, South Carolina BMW plant, which is only a few miles from away from where I live.  The morning after I arrived home, I drove the car to the BMW Zentrum to take the requisite photo of this car coming back, full-circle, to its "place of birth".

Go make your own opportunity.  Write your own story.  Share it if you like.  Others may appreciate it and hopefully break out of their comfort zone too.

Day Four - Shreveport to Greenville: Home at last!

A lush green Louisiana highway

Another late morning, but that's okay.  Doing some quick calculations in my head, if I leave too early I'll hit Atlanta traffic.  That means I can partake in Holiday Inn Express' bountiful breakfast.  Heading out this morning, the sun is already up, at least partially.  Today is likely to be a wet one.  The rain is coming down hard in most of the Southeast, and I need to get into the heart of it.

A few hours of last night's drive were in the dark, so like Monday morning, I could not see my surroundings.  As I hit the highway this morning, I was greeted with a refreshing wash of green that I hadn't seen since I left Greenville.  The entire drive up until now was pretty much brown.

Like I said, back home, it's raining like cats and dogs.  My wife called when she was on her way back from the gym, and she actually had to reverse most of the way back up Lee Vauhgn road in Simpsonville because water was running over the top of the old bridge.  If you've driven this section between Woodruff Road and Anderson Ridge Road, you know this is extremely dangerous because the bridge is located immediately after a super-tight "S" curve.   If weather like this hits,  I plan to camp out and wait out the storm.

An interesting thing I saw in Louisiana today is the roadside cleanup is done by ATVs with garbage cans attached to the front.  These guys would drive along the side of the road with poles, picking up trash and depositing it into their receptacles.  It makes you wonder if the state invested in ATVs, or if these are people performing community service because everyone in Louisiana owns an ATV.  Sorry I didn't get a photo.  I was somewhat mesmerized by what I was seeing, and didn't grab the camera in time.

Crossing the Mississippi River

Driving in the east is much less mentally draining because the large cities are so much closer together.  You can set a small goal, hit the next city and move on.  After driving through Louisiana, the next big step is crossing the Mississippi.  The river was pretty high, but I still haven't hit any rain.

My conclusion after making my way through Mississippi is that the entire state is under construction.  With that, Mississippi drivers totally ignore the work zone speed limits.  Maybe I'm confused in that since there were no workers present, maybe it was not a work zone at the time.  There weren't any signs telling me otherwise, so I was very careful.

Chunky Mississippi?

You hear so much about the obesity epidemic in the US, especially in the south.  Mississippi has held the honor of most obese state in the nation on more than one occasion.  One suggestion:  Rename some of your towns.  Having a town called "Chunky" may be sending the wrong message!

I made it into Alabama and still no rain.  A quick look at the weather map, and it looks like I'm driving northeast just along the edge of the storm.  Once I hit Birmingham, I'll be heading due east, so that will drive me into the storm.

From here on, the drive gets pretty boring.  Driving past the Mercedes plant just north of Tuscaloosa, a little traffic in downtown Birmingham...until I hit Atlanta.  I never have taken a BMW CCA racing school, but it would definitely come in handy here.  The biggest issue is that rush hour is over, but there are still a bazillion cars on the road.  It's like a seventy mile per hour free-for-all.  Adrenaline was coursing through my body keeping my eyes in the mirrors and a death grip on the wheel.  It was actually kind of fun.  I made it through Atlanta and up into Lawrenceville in record time and was on track to be home a little before nine o'clock.

Traffic opening up in Atlanta

Then I saw brake lights.  Slow waaaay down, then stop.  Uh oh.  Emergency vehicles started rolling past on the shoulder.  I was sitting still for about 30 minutes, but I could see the flashing lights about a mile ahead.  I texted my wife to let her know I might be here a while.  Just as I did, I saw brake lights going on and off way up ahead.  Next thing I know, I'm moving.  I actually hit second gear!  They must have cleared the road because I'm not stopping.  I cleared the scene and was back up to seventy in no time with a clear road ahead!

As I came up on Greenville, I kept thinking that I couldn't believe this adventure was coming to an end.  I really didn't want to stop.  Sure, I was exhausted, but this was my adventure coming to a close.  I got off the highway and took Woodruff road home with the driver's window down.  The rumble of the exhaust at non-highway speeds... the popping and burbling when decelerating all sounded so sweet.  I made it home at around nine thirty, and believe it or not, I never hit any rain.

The adventure is over...this time.

Day Three - El Paso to Shreveport

Leaving El Paso

I had the exact opposite sleeping issue as the day before.  I actually overslept and woke up at four fifteen.  Sounds early, but don't forget, there's a two hour difference from my normal schedule.  Luckily, I wrote most everything in the blog post the night before.  By the time I hit the road, it was around six-thirty, but both the car and I had full bellies.  Considering the recent weather, getting off to a late start was not such a bad thing.  Day was breaking as I was leaving, so I had better visibility of the road in case there was any ice left on the surface.  It turns out the roads were fine, and I made my way back into the desert.

I never knew Texas had such mountains.  I've spent plenty of time in Texas for work, and all I remember is flat.  Dead flat in fact, other than Canyon, Texas.  The second biggest canyon in the US (Palo Duro Canyon) is in Canyon, and it is impressive.  The only thing is, it's not mountainous.  It's still dead flat, just with a big gaping gorge in it, cut by the Prairie Dog Town Fork of the Red River.

Amazing Striations from the Snow

Driving through the mountains of Southwest Texas is mighty impressive.  You don't get to stop and sightsee much, since the speed limit is eighty miles per hour, but the formations are big enough to see them for quite a while.  Every time I came around a corner or through a pass, I couldn't help but say "wow" over and over.  The drive from El Paso to the I-10/I-20 junction was full of surprises.

As I was eating breakfast at the hotel, I saw on the news that the I-10/I-20 junction had been shut down due to the snow the day before.  They also mentioned that the trucks parked along I-40 throughout the snowstorm on my originally planned route were just getting back on the road and causing traffic problems.  Again...glad I decided to stay south.

Partway down I-10 there was a point where the speed limit started dropping, and I thought I was in yet another construction zone.  There were cones everywhere diverting traffic off to what looked like a weigh station.  Since the highway runs right along the Mexican border, this was a border patrol stop.  Two officers and a canine were on duty.   They made the van in front of me stop to get a quick look in the windows before letting him pass.  They just waved me through.  I guess they figured you can't fit many Mexicans in a clownshoe.   Figuring they would not be amused,  I didn't take any pictures.

Just after I made my way onto the high plains, one of the first exits I came to was a ghost town.  It was one one of the eeriest things I've ever seen.  I didn't stop because I had already passed the exit.  As I was passing over the town, you could see that there was not a single car to be seen.  The town wasn't all that small either, so I wonder what made it fail?  It looked like there hadn't been any activity in this town for thirty or so years.  I'm kind of glad I didn't stop.  Who knows what's down there?

Thousands of Wind Turbines!

Remnants of the storm were apparent.  Dozens of vehicles were still abandoned alongside the road, though most of the snow had released them from its grip.  I saw snow along the roads for the first four to five hundred miles of the drive.  Even in the high plains around Midland, the side roads were covered in heavy slush.

As you drive into Midland, if the thousands of oil rigs don't give it away, the smell does.  The place just smells like money.  In the form of crude oil of course.  And just down the road in Sweetwater, a very different energy source; wind.  As you drive through here, there are turbines as far as the eye can see for miles and miles.  I can't fathom how much capital it took to erect all these things.  It has to be in the billions of dollars based on what I saw.  Since all the wind is here where nobody lives, and all the people are on the coasts, how do they get all that power out of here and to the people that can use it?  There were no power lines or distribution networks that I could see.  Hmmm, the conspiracy theorists must love this.

The rest of the trip wasn't that eventful.  Driving the plains of Texas is just flatness and white pickup trucks.  I guess since most people work in their trucks, and white reflects the heat, everybody drives white pickup trucks.  I hit Dallas at around rush hour and it wasn't horrific, then made it into Shreveport around eight-thirty PM.

Day Two - Loma Linda to El Paso

Exactly what I thought would happen did.  For those of you who know me well, you know I wake up at four o'clock every morning.  My body is so conditioned, it's nearly impossible for me to sleep past that time.  Now what do you suppose happens when I wake up in California?  Yep, you got it.  One o'clock in the morning.  Wide awake.  I forced myself to go back to sleep and managed two-fifteen, but that was it.

Really, it wasn't so bad because it allowed me the time to write yesterday's post.  Quite a bit transpired, and it took time to get it all straight.  Today, I won't need nearly as much time.  Why?  One word...desert.

I was on the road at a little after four local time, and it was obviously dark.  I spent a couple of hours driving east before there was even a hint of sun, so I was ignorant to my surroundings.  When the sun finally came up, I realized that I had been pretty much dumped out in the desert with absolutely nothing around except a few other cars.

All I could see to each side of me was sand, scrub and mountains.  I drove for a while with visions of Sam Kinison (if you remember his bit back in the eighties) screaming at the top of his lungs about the people who are starving because they live in the middle of the desert.  I guess I have a warped sense of humor.

At some point in high school, I think as a freshman, you take earth science.  Today could have been a topic for that class, because I learned today that there are many kinds of desert.  There's the sand and scrub like I described already.  There are sections with thousands of giant saguaro cacti.  There is a kind with giant round rocks piled up in bunches like they fell from the sky.  There is the canyon-y (I just made that up) cuts in the rock that show all the layers throughout the history of the earth.  There are also very cool passes that you wind through every once in a while.   Who knew?

I also learned that that the desert is very cold at night.  While I was out here driving through a twenty seven degree desert in Southern California, the air conditioning was on at my house in Upstate South Carolina.  Go figure.

Driving through the desert is actually enjoyable.  The scenery changes enough to make things interesting, and you just need to set the cruise control and tie a string to the steering wheel.  It's pretty easy.  I did manage to find one kitschy place to take a picture of my car.  By the way, I looked up the definition of kitschy: "something that appeals to popular or lowbrow taste and is often of poor quality".  Anyway, there were like five hundred billboards for this thing called "The Thing?" along the road for about a hundred miles.  When I finally got to Exit 322 (see, it worked.  The exit number is engrained in my brain for life).  I could see the building right at the end of the exit ramp, so I jumped off the highway and took a picture.

Not much else was exciting other than a few grass fires along the highway.  I did cross the continental divide, but it was pretty anti-climactic.  A small green sign flew by before I could take a picture of it.  I really didn't expect it there because it was on a huge flat plain.  I've stood on the continental divide in the Rockies, and it's quite an obvious feature.  Here, not so much.

I made it to El Paso Texas, which was my goal for the day.  Seven hundred fifty miles total.  There is quite a bit of snow here, so I sure am glad I decided not to take the northern route.  Tomorrow, my goal is Shreveport, LA.  Basically, I plan to cross Texas in a day.  Eight hundred and twenty three miles.  One third of the trip will be spent in a single state.  Yep, everything is bigger in Texas.

I'll keep my eye out for more kitsch.

Day One - Greenville to LA to Loma Linda

The flights went smoothly and I actually ended up in LA a bit early.  Gone are the days of first class upgrades.  I had been Platinum status on Delta for a few years and the perks were pretty good.  In my new job I don't travel as much, so I'm now, as the gentleman sitting next to me put it; "the lucky guy in the middle seat".  It actually wasn't horrible.

Descending into LA, I could see the mountains enclosing the city and wondered; "what did I just get myself into".  The rugged mountains looked like prison walls, not allowing escape in any direction.  Not only that, they just went on and on.  One behind the other, then another.  There was no end.  I honestly thought I had made a huge mistake.

Since I got in about forty five minutes early, Jordan was not there yet, so I waited for him to arrive.   I went outside to check out the weather,  Pretty nice I must say.  Probably in the sixties and sunny.  I do believe I heard more horn honks in the hour I was standing in the airport than my entire thirteen years in South Carolina.   Yes, It's a whole different place.

Jordan showed up in a nice Mercedes Coupe, and we headed back to West Hollywood.  We had a great conversation, and he's a great guy.   The weather is perfect in LA, but many other millions of people believe so too.  Even on a Sunday afternoon, they all seem to be on the roads.  Jordan says you get used to it, but I don't think I could deal with this every day.

Jordan didn't hesitate to let me know he thought I was crazy for heading cross country.  Of course I had no reason to believe he was wrong.  When we pulled into his parking garage in West Hollywood, I spied the shoe in the very end parking space, where it's tucked away unmolested.  We took a quick look at the car, then headed upstairs to start the paperwork.  We had all the right forms, so we grabbed the keys and I took her for a drive.

It was as nice as Wyatt had said.  The smooth and torquey three liter propelled the car with little effort in just about any gear.  The exhaust was not stock, but also not obnoxious.   Just enough to attract a little bit of attention, but not enough to annoy.  Cosmetically, the car was nearly perfect.  It had a layer of dust from sitting, but Jordan decided against washing it since I was about to put a three day layer of road grime and bugs on it.  Who knows, maybe the dust will become a protective cocoon, keeping the road grime from sticking to the paint.

After finalizing the transaction, I drove the car out of the garage, said farewell to Jordan, and started my insane journey back to South Carolina.  I managed to find "The Ten".  I never did understand why Freeways in California start with "The", like "The Four-Oh-Five" or "The Five".  I've never heard that anywhere else.

Once on the highway, the shoe drove "like buttah" as we might say back in New York".  Traffic was light, since I was heading away from the city.  Those daunting mountains were looming in the distance, taunting me as I drove towards them.  

My right knee started to hurt a little, so I hit the cruise control to give my leg a break.  Ummm, nothing.  Wait...what?  I tried over and over with no luck.  Oh boy, this was going to be a long trip.  My mind started racing.  I had visions of my right foot totally numb, and having knee surgery scheduled for the day I get back.  No, don't panic, I can find a dealer in Phoenix that can fix it.  In any case, this just won't do.  There isn't much you need on a cross country trip, but cruise control is one of them.

I pulled off in San Bernardino to get gas.  After filling up and getting on the highway, I tried the cruise control again.  This time it worked!  I heard a choir of angels singing as they took the throttle and regulated it to my desired speed.  What a relief!  All is now right with the world again.

I decided to call it a night, and found a Holiday Inn Express in Loma Linda.  Even though it's only six o'clock, my body says it's nine, and it's been a long day.

The Best Laid Plans

I've planned this trip for two weeks now.  The full Route 66 itinerary is laid out on the Roadtrippers web site.  Every day's travel, all the sights to see.  I've even gone on Google maps street view to see what the trip might look like in certain areas.  I've got this down.

Then the snow hit.  I'm sitting in the airport in Greenville writing this, and it's snowing like crazy out in New Mexico and Texas.  I-40 was closed between Tucson and Amarillo the last I checked.  By the time I get there, the snow will have stopped, but there's no telling the condition of the highways, let alone the side roads I planned to navigate.

My Route 66 adventure is not to be.  It looks like I'll be taking the southern route along I-10 instead.  I'm not a happy camper, but I guess the good news is, I plan to be home a day earlier.  Since I won't be stopping at cheesy souvenir stands, wigwam hotels, plastic dinosaurs, nor repurposed fiberglass Paul Bunyan statues, I'll just be heading down the long and boring interstate.  For me, a 12 hour day of driving is a piece of cake, so barring any unforeseen circumstances, three days it is.

Stay tuned, but I promise that this blog just took a turn towards snooze fest.

The Inspection

Now that I've committed to this clownshoe in West Hollywood, how do I know if it's all that it's cracked up to be?  This will be my 31st car as far as I can count, so stuff like this doesn't stress me out a whole lot.  I was searching the internet for independent shops to set up a PPI, when suddenly it dawned on me... a former local BMW CCA member Wyatt Gilbert moved out to LA a couple of years ago.  

I contacted Wyatt, and he was kind enough to offer to take a look at the car for me.   After talking to Wyatt for a bit, I realized he was absolutely the right guy for the job!  His BMW knowledge was much more than I expected.  He connected with Jordan, became my remote eyes and ears, and gave it the thumbs-up.

The road trip is on!

I'll be flying out to LAX on December 27th to pick up the car and start the journey back to South Carolina.