I've been meaning to post a greeting for the past few days since I purchased a 2005 Ti MSM from one of the forum members here. Being that I'm from Toronto Ontario Canada and the car was in Austin Texas, I thought it would make for a fun adventure and roadtrip to fly down and drive it back. The journey isn't quite over yet but it has so far served its purpose of creating a deep bond between car and driver through shared hardship and trials. Forgive the length of this post but for me this was an epic adventure.
Day 1 and 2: Austin TXWaking up at 2AM, a good friend drove me from TO to Buffalo Intl Airport. After a stop-off at US Customs to declare the monies and a quick Tim Horton's coffee break I arrived in good time for my 6:30AM flight to Charlotte and then to Austin with a slight 1H delay. The seller and forum member hweelies kindly met me at the airport and promptly took me for some fun canyon driving along 2222 and Limecreek Rd. This is the first MSM I've driven and I was instantly impressed with the MSM's agility, lightness, good power and, in the right hands, its ability to rotate with throttle.
Hweelies is a fantastic guy who went well beyond expectations in preparing the car for my arrival. That alone was well worth traveling to TX but he also introduced me to a few of his close friends including the owner of Velocity Adventures -
http://velocityadventurestexas.com/. And he was able to get me on the track at the top-notch facility of Harris Hill Road -
http://harrishillroad.com/. The owner Bo is a super-friendly gentleman with a willing smile and a passion for motorsports. That track is incredible and my few parade laps were over far too soon
Since I am driving from sunny Austin all the way north to Canada I thought it prudent to purchase a set of winter tires and rims which would prove invaluable for the rest of the journey.
Day 3: Austin TX to Jackson MSWaking on Day 3 I was so excited to begin the 2000 mile road-trip. I promptly dropped the top, stopped at the Rise and Shine Bakery on my way back to Limecreek Rd and took about 10 runs of that awesome awesome road. You Austin-ers are so lucky! I even saw a family of deer run across the road eliciting a shout of "Deer!"
The next 9 hours would have been extremely boring if it wasn't for the fact that this was my first top-down drive. Maybe 550 miles on the interstate at 90mph isn't the best cruise but it was fun none-the-less for a convertible noobie. The car ran like a champ, although displaying the 70mph shimmy that is commonly attributed to wheel balance.
Day 4: Jackson MS to Birmingham AL to Chattanooga TNFrom Jackson I took a 4H drive to Birmingham Intl to pick up mrs.clumzy and we proceeded to drive top-down towards Chattanooga. Our open-air experience was cut short immediately by rain and cold weather but we managed to make it there in good time. We stayed at the lovely Sheraton Read House hotel in this quaint town and ate at Sticky Fingers, which was just okay.
Day 5: Slaying a DragonThe weather on the drive to Tellico Plains grew steadily colder and more overcast as we progressed, while the terrain became more hilly. Snow flurries were present but no accumulation. After a brief stop in town, which is about as mountain rural as you can imagine, we made a B-line to the Cherohalo Skyway towards Robbinsville NC. As we climbed the road twisted around the mountain like a serpent perched on a rocky ledge, providing gorgeous vistas of the Smokey Mountains. The snow continued to fall at a furious pace but as Canadians we were unperturbed. "We've driven in much worse", we said.
10 miles into the Cherohalo Skyway and at over 4000ft elevation we approached a bend in the road and sign indicating a 9% downhill grade. As we rounded the corner we saw 4x4s and vehicles parked along the sides of the road and a gentleman was waving his arms over his head at us as we slowly descended the hill and pulled up beside him. In his southern twangy accent he said, "Now you're stuck". He explained that most of the 4x4s were trying to get up the hill and were having a tough time of it as the road was a white sheet of ice. A moment of panic gripped my wife and I as we pondered whether to turn around and head back or continue on into the unknown weather and road conditions. We quickly realized that we couldn't ascend the hill and decided to soldier onward. With weird side-ways glances and snickering from the 4x4 driving locals we drove on in our tough little roadster.
30 miles or so of white-knuckled driving through white-out conditions and unplowed roads brought us to the relatively peaceful town of Robbinsville at about 4PM. The snow hadn't hit this area and I insisted we brave the 11 miles and 318 curves (which isn't necessarily accurate). It was time to "slay the dragon" .. or at least taunt it from a distance and run-away before it noticed us.
The first half of our westward run was astonishing. The road winds viciously around the mountain and through the woods, hammering you with turn after turn after turn of driving delights. It is pure driving candy for the soul. Then night fell. Delight turned to fear as we emerged near Calderwood Lake and turned around in utter darkness. As we couldn't see anything outside the cone of our headlamps, which seemed like pin-pricks of light in a vast sea of blackness, fear turned to terror . We were acutely aware that potential head-on collision death awaited to the left (even in utter darkness we weren't the only fools on the Dragon) and painful cliff-falling/tree-smashing death awaited on the right. With my nerves frayed we rolled back into Robbinsville around 7PM. The Dragon had thoroughly kicked my ass.
Thankfully the drive to Winston-Salem NC was much less eventful other than being quite long and boring.
To Be Continued ....
