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Originally Posted by cjm41
Alright so I arrived in San Diego on Sunday night. I'm thinking of doing a blog post at some point where I'll get into more detail but here are a few key takeaways:
1. The car is pretty damn amazing on the highway for long distances. Really had more of a touring car than a balls-out sports car feel after 12+ hours behind the wheel at a time.
2. Maintained a pace of about 80-90 MPH most of the way, did about 20-21 MPG.
3. Only put a half quart of oil in, and that was about 300 miles into the trip. Car never asked for oil again, and I monitored because after a while I was wondering what the hell I bought $80 worth of oil for before hitting the road.
4. Ran the car on a stock tune from Topeka to Las Vegas because I didn't have a 91 map with me. Alex sent one my way Saturday and I eventually flashed back to a stage II 91 map in Las Vegas. I bought the car tuned and all I can say is, if you haven't bought a tune, do it. Big difference. It was like driving a different car.
5. The new PS4Ss were clutch. I got stuck in some pretty rough weather in Kansas and was able to keep my 80-90 pace with no worries. My Hankooks would have had me doing 60-70 max. I also came into a turn a little quicker than I should have in the Rockies and the Michelins probably saved me and made me feel like I was actually glued to the road.
6. Took some road damage in Kansas that left paint chips on my doors and had a truck tire flung up at me in Colorado that left a nice scuff on my front bumper. Other than that, just a lot of dead bugs.
7. Utah is shockingly beautiful. Good to know if I ever decide to become Mormon.
8. I won a TireRack photo contest.
9. Pretty sure I was almost serial killed at a gas station in the middle of the night in the middle of nowhere Colorado. We were desperate for gas with my gas gauge going from almost half to almost empty in 20-30 miles or so. We got off the highway and drove a mile or two to a gas station down an unlit road at 3AM that was on Google maps but not indicated on any sign on the highway. The station was closed but the pumps were on so I filled up, snapped a few pics for Instagram, got back in the car. My passenger and I were taking a 5-10 mins to get our bearings and plan the next hour or two to Denver, book a hotel, etc.
I see a car pull in which seemed odd, it pulled off to the side of the gas station in the dark, I didn't think much of it, I didn't say anything to my passenger, but I locked the doors and went back to Instagram. She kept looking for a hotel. About 5 minutes later I hear footsteps right outside my car getting closer, I look in my rear view and side mirrors and don't see anything, but I put the car in gear and roll off, figure safer to assess from 100 feet away. I turn to my passenger and ask "did you hear that" and she was like "the footsteps, yes, I was just about to say that it was weird because there was clearly nobody around" — as she's confirming what I thought I heard I continued rolling out of the gas station onto the dark road and I'm scanning the gas station and see NOBODY. I do see the car parked in the dark on the side of the building.
I'm convinced when I pulled off whoever it was ducked behind a gas pump. Whether we were going to get robbed, or become someone's dinner in rural Colorado while they wore our skin for the next month, I don't know. But the entire thing felt extremely eerie and my passenger and I talked about it for about 30 minutes and we both agreed something felt off about it, and we are NOT the types of people to get worked up or make something out of nothing.
All in all, the trip was awesome and I'm so glad I did it. I'd do it again in a heartbeat and would encourage anyone thinking of doing it to just do it.
Here are a couple pics from the trip:
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Jeez, your Colorado story gave me the shivers. Glad you didn't have to face Hannibal lectors out in the wood. Do you have any pictures of the fuel station by any chance?
You never know what might come your way along with these long trips - the reason we made it a point not to drive after 8 PM when we were doing our trip from Madison (WI) to Las Vegas.
Glad you completed the trip
