[M3] Road trip!! Palm Springs > SF, the boring way

After class, we enjoyed dinner at 1501 Uptown Gastropub and watched UGA thump TCU in the college football title game. I spent the evening downloading photos, packing up, and preparing the route for the drive home.

Our grand ambitions for the return journey dimmed when we studied the forecast for Tuesday, which showed heavy rain everywhere between SF and Los Angeles. We decided it was wise to stick to the freeways and stay out of the wet as much as we could, but even then, we were bound to encounter heavy rain. California's roads, cars, and drivers are not equipped to deal with precipitation and I started to get nervous about the drive. My tires (Advan A052) are essentially autocross tires with very little in the way of water management. To add another concern, highway 5 can be icy over the Grapevine pass in the winter months. 

So with some trepidation, off we went on Tuesday morning. What began as a dry morning in Palm Springs quickly gave way to drizzle, full rain, and finally full deluge conditions. On reflection I think this is the most nerve-wracking piece of driving I've ever done. For one particular 15-minute stretch on 210 west the M3 was essentially aquaplaning continuously. Traffic, which was thick, slowed to 40mph and it was full-tilt wipers to deal with the rain and the spray from the other cars. I had to shut off the music and start talking aloud to steady my nerves: eyes high, relax the shoulders and arms, light controlled grip, maintain safe distance and don't make any sudden moves. The M3 skidded around in little fits and jerks. Kevin's car, eager to add to the excitement, had one of its headlamps go out.

Mercifully the weather broke, and shortly after we joined highway 5 north. I really do have to commend the A052s - for what they are, they did a surprisingly good job. I expected to hit a patch of wet pavement and pirouette into the center median, but instead it was mostly OK with some small pockets of "controllable" aquaplaning. If such a thing exists.

The opening 3-hour stretch was so fraught that I didn't dare take a photo of the conditions, or indeed do anything that required taking my hands off the controls. So our first photo of the actual drive is from our lunch stop in Wheeler Ridge.



The M3s drew attention from some tourists in their Pacifica rental.





From there we were graced with generally clear weather. I-5 was its usual terrible self with long lines of semis and longer lines of people who don't know that the left lane is for passing. The wet January made for uncharacteristic and lovely green scenery.



We made our final gas stop in Santa Nella, where CA-152 connects I-5 to the 101. With a little more than an hour left on the drive, I felt like a horse turning home for the stable, picking up pace.



These next three photos were taken in Gilroy. There is not supposed to be a lake here - this is flooding from the winter storms.





Triumph - at about 4.30p we returned to my house... where the power was out. We'd just finished gathering candles and headlamps when the power returned.

So - success!! With the motors switched off, we were right back where we started, but with 1250 new and exciting miles on the odometer, and a couple of very dirty cars.

The car performed extremely well - in fact I had no issues at all. For that I have to thank Josh Johnson of HMB Motorwerks in Sacramento, who built my motor, overhauled my entire rear subframe, and just generally takes wonderful care of my car. I drive my car is intended; that is, to redline once it's properly warmed up and the conditions are appropriate. On this trip the car handled that along with the long stretches of freeway on cruise-control, the aforementioned crazy weather conditions, and multiple stop-starts for photo ops. 

Old and specialty cars can be a hassle, but as they say 'the juice is worth the squeeze' and these cars bring richness and color to my life. Kevin is just one of the great and lasting friends I've met through E30 M3s, dating back to my first car in 2015. I could have made this trip solo - I did it last year - but it was so much more enjoyable doing it together with Kevin, who has become a great friend.



So - go drive your cars. Get the rock chips, it's worth it. Thanks for reading.

[Skyline] Road trip!!

I'm a fan of the classic American road trip. It's amazing that we have a vast network of roads and the ability to travel freely along them, across state lines if we wish. I didn't consider once shipping the car home from LA when it was ready; a relaxed run up the Highway 1 is achievable in a weekend, and the roads north of Los Angeles are so amazing that it would be a shame to miss them. I can't think of a better way to bond with a new vehicle. We'd done the same trip a few years before when I bought my 1971 BMW 2002. (or nearly, as the alternator died early on and the battery finally gave up 5 miles from home)

My wife and I met when we worked in Orange County, and we enjoy the beaches and the South Bay. So we made a plan: fly down Friday morning and retrieve the car; meets friends, visit the beach, and stay in the South Bay the first night; get up Saturday and run around the roads of Malibu, then make the ~3-hour run up PCH to Pismo Beach for the night; wake up late Sunday and take PCH all the way home through Big Sur.

The first night - parked under the Quality Inn & Suites Hermosa Beach.

In preparation for a ~400-mile drive with a 30 year-old JDM sports car, I brought and/or purchased the following upon arrival:

• Duct tape
• Zip ties
• Flashlights
• Basic screwdrivers and wrenches (7" is the maximum length for carry-ons with the TSA)
• 12v USB charger
• Bose Sound dock (you'll see)
• Spare oil
• Coolant
• MAF cleaner
• Rags
• Fix-a-flat
• The most important single item: AAA card.

The weather was excellent on Friday, if a bit cool for the beach, but Saturday and Sunday were looking pretty dicey. With rain in the cards starting around noon Saturday, I cajoled my wife into waking up early to get up to Malibu before it got wet.

Piuma Road.

David M. Brown Scenic Overlook

Original wheels. Hood 'S' badge removed, lower lip painted body color.

"Nissan" badge removed; slight drop on Tein coilovers. Kakimoto exhaust.

The roads were empty, pretty bizarre for mid-morning on a Saturday. The only other sports cars we encountered were three different 991 GT3s - and that was all. I guess no one was interested in driving the canyons with the threat of rain looming. We had a good run up and down Piuma road from the cost inland, but as soon as we turned onto Mulholland Highway things started looking very... charred.

The view from the top of "the Snake" on Mulholland.

Another angle from the top of the Snake. Utter destruction.

Malibu was absolutely destroyed. It felt like driving through a moonscape, with entire hillsides blackened and, in many places, nothing left of homes but a chimney. In some areas it still smelled as if a campfire were burning. As amazing as the extent of the damage was the seeming inconsistency of it; one home sat untouched 50 yards from a burned-out foundation. The photos above are from the top of the Snake, a famous and popular car hangout on Mulholland Highway. The bridge at the bottom of the hill, just past the Rock Store, was out, so the overlook was only accessible from the Kanan Road side.

Dang.

As we set off from the Snake, as if on cue, the rain began to fall. This was the physical damper to go along with the spiritual damper of seeing the fire damage. We followed Mulholland down to Highway 1, where I'd planned a special lunch stop before we got out of Malibu. The fish and chips was excellent.

To be honest, I don't even remember this scene from the movie.

It was a trial by fire for the lights, wipers, and HVAC systems as we started our drive up to Pismo Beach. It was absolutely chucking down and there was standing water on the road and generally terrible visibility. I am happy to report that the car did not miss a beat, and I was thankful that Top Rank had fitted new wipers to the car. 

Our command center, with the very latest in in-car entertainment.

Fuel stop #1 in Lompoc. This is where I learned that G&K fits a weird pump nozzle adapter into the fuel filler neck. We achieved 350km on 14 gallons of fuel, which figures to an unimpressive 15.5mpg. We'll just chalk that up to the canyon driving. I'm also just happy to have a car with a fuel capacity greater than 12 gallons...

The rest of the drive was soggy and uneventful, and we eventually found ourselves in a damp Pismo Beach. I had the best chowder of my life at the Splash Cafe, and then we closed things out with a milkshake at the Cool Cat Cafe.

Sunday morning brought in some sunny skies, and we were able to check out downtown Pismo and enjoy the famous cinnamon rolls for breakfast.

We ventured up highway 1 just a little bit further to Morro Bay, and stopped for a quick set of photos in front of their big rock.

Still searching for the bad angle on this car.

Unfortunately the weather to the north was nothing but rain, rain, and more rain. At this point I decided to call off the original plan, and not continue up PCH through the wonderful Big Sur. It's a shame to miss that ribbon of road, but I knew that it would end up being much worse to crawl along those cliffs in the rain behind a timid rental Mustang convertible than to cut our losses and zip up the 101. This was the "must choose" junction, as PCH north of Morro Bay doesn't have an inland escape route back to the 101 until you get all the way to Monterey.

Après moi, le déluge.

The next 4 hours or so were not glamorous, but we made good time in spite of the lousy weather and we were well ahead of the "return from LA" weekend traffic. We arrived home safely, and in daylight to boot.

So what of all my worries? As it turns out, none of them came to fruition. We didn't once have to reach for the bag of tools or spares that I'd packed. The car didn't miss a beat: we made great time, saw and ate some lovely things, and didn't have to speak with anyone from CHP or AAA! 

The car sat untouched in the driveway for the better part of an hour before I started swapping parts. More on that next time.