Indy...the Remix

I'm heading back to Indianapolis for the US Grand Prix. 3rd year in a row, but I'll be doing the trip alone this year. My intrepid roadtrip companion is unable to attend as she has been roped into being a bridesmaid.

I'm thinking about taking Highway 71 to I-30 to I-40 to I-55 to I-70 as my route. I've never been through Missouri or Illinois before. I've always taken a more westerly route through Kentucky to get to Indy. So - I'm thinking about checking out the arch in St. Louis along the way. Any other suggestions?

I'm doing a one day drive to Indy on Friday and a one day drive back to Shreveport on Monday. The other route is 14 or so hours, so I'm thinking this should be about the same. Or am I completely off my rocker and should just go my normal route? This is going to be a sort of dry run for my Minnesota and take a left trip that I will also be doing on my own.

Laura

Are you sure the timing is accurate? How many miles?

Gosh, Laura, you've done enough roadtrips that you probably know your own stamina and abilities. I love a 14-hour driving day. But I wouldn't do it if I had to work the next day. When the road-adrenaline is gone, I crash.

I think seeing new roads is always the most fun choice, but I'm unsure if it's the best choice for you on this trip.

I've done this type of trip several times and been fine for work the next day. Not usually making it to Indiana, but just driving around Texas or Arkansas. I work as an accountant, so it's not like I'm operating heavy machinery.

I know the other route is about 14 hours after adding in stops and a short touristy side trip or two. Not sure about the mileage, though.

So, I'm not too worried about my stamina - If it gets bad, I'll just pull over and find a hotel or take a quick nap.

Laura

Give Jenson the raspberry for me and say hey to Lewis!

Oh, ooops, sorry... you were looking for constructive suggestions. Sorry, can't help there, don't do consructive!

I've washed all my Ferrari and Scott Speed gear, found my flag and am fully prepared to yell rude things at the FIA and Renault. So I think I prepared on that end. I got good practice yelling extremely rude things at the FIA a couple of years ago during the Michelin debacle.

So yeah - anyone have any Constructive help. :)

Suggestions that is. If this trip is going to serve as a dry run for the US-71 trip, then I'd recommend a different highway to start out on than US-71, Same feel, but a different road. US-79 cuts up across the southeastern corner of Arkansas and will get you to the Mississippi in a way that should be prescient of US-71. From West Memphis, US-61 will take you up the west bank of the Big Muddy, and although it will occasionally share alignment with I-55, it will also swing off into some great old river towns such as Cape Girardeau and Sainte Genevieve. Just south of St. Louis is a place that appeals to the geologist (and amateur paleontologist) in me, Mastodon State Historic Site. And of course, here's a golden oldie on things other than the arch in St. Louis.

Now the route as outlined above is over 850 miles, so certainly more than I'd attempt in a day, particularly if I planned on seeing anything along the way.

AZBuck

I love driving along 79 in Texas and Louisiana. It's a very nice road. This is looking more like it's going to be a speed run more than anything, unfortunately. So, I'll probably have to stick to interstates. I wish I could take some back roads, but with only 2 days off of work, I don't think that will work. Maybe next year since I can't seem to stay away from this race every summer. :)

So, how did the trip go? I just got back from the carnage that was Le Mans (the campground, as you will see, resembles a mix of Glastonbury, a gypsy encampment and the road to Basra...) Of course, as usual, I was cheering on the Corvettes (sadly the Brits beat em this time out) and managed to make some new friends - one from San Fran and one from Toronto. I love Le Mans!! Managed to catch the GP in a little bar - hope you enjoyed it as much as we did?!

I'm going to sit down and make a full report tonight. Lets see - highlights:

1. Seeing my cousin who I never ever get to see.

2. Learning that my upcoming trip is possible, I won't freak out on the road
alone.

3. Doing a minor Kurt Busch impression in the middle of Kentucky. I have
photos - sadly Laura versus the bug ended with a Nascar style wall rub.
Whoops!

4. Meeting some very nice, but deluded people from Holland that were rooting
for the Spykers.

5. Watching an absolutely fantastic race.

6. Getting insanely lost in Indianapolis after the race because the cops
shoved us all off into the middle of downtown no where near an interstate.

7. Laying out on the grass on Saturday in the hot sun (it was 95 degrees
there, but the humidity was only 28%, so not too bad) drinking Fosters and
laughing at Craig being at Le Mans in the cold and rain.

There's more, but that's the gist of it. I've got to get my pictures downloaded still and try to figure out what I was aiming for some times. I forgot just how large those cans of Fosters are at the F1 race.

Laura

Quote:

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Originally Posted by lhuff

laughing at Craig being at Le Mans in the cold and rain.

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That's harsh!! It was a bit of an arse though, I have to admit, I think I'll be spending my birthday weekend somewhere warmer next year. I saw at the start of the GP coverage that ambient temperature was 35c... I don't think it's been that hot in Europe all summer... :(

My seats were underneath some of the penthouse boxes and up high enough that I had a constant breeze, so Sunday was really nice. It got a little warm for me on Saturday when I was wandering aimlessly around the place, but overall it wasn't too bad.

I did get into a conversation with some people that were sitting around me about how miserable it looked at Le Mans. But they were talking about how utterly miserable the US Grand Prix was when they used to hold it in September.

Laura

2007 US Grand Prix Photos

More about the photos later.

I hit the road at 5:00 am on Friday and headed up Highway 71 to Texarkana where I took I-30 to I-40 to I-55- to I-70 and Indianapolis. In Arkansas I ran into the dumbest State Trooper ever. First, this guy dives out of the median with no warning, into the middle of traffic on I-30. Everyone had to dive out of his way. Then the guy finds his culprit and pulls the guy over on a bridge, so everyone had to dive around him again. What an idiot!!!

I hit Memphis around 11:00, stopped at the visitors center and made my way to Graceland, but there was a 1 hour wait and I just didn't have the time. Back on the road I got. Next stop was St. Louis at 5:00 where I visited the famous Arch and museum, but didn't have time to take the tram ride to the top. I pulled into Indianapolis at 10:00 after a large supper at a Bob Evans in Terre Haute (Bob is a US Grand Prix tradition for me - so I just had to stop there for supper). Around midnight my parents finally hunted down my poor cousin whom I was staying. Apparently they had some kind of panic attack and freaked out because I had turned my phone on to vibrate and didn't hear it in my exhaustion induced slumber.

Next morning - hit the Track for some racing. Had a wonderful time watching all the different kinds of cars and baking in the sun in a vain attempt to gain some color. Pretty much the same scenario for Sunday while I waited for the race. Several Foster's consumed along with lots of Goldfish crackers and tomatoes. I'm going to have to expand my food choices for next year. Not exactly a well balanced diet there.

On Sunday I watched Lewis Hamilton win his second Grand Prix and finally found my way back to my cousin's after the Indianapolis Police tried their best to get me and several other tourists lost in downtown Indy. For some reason, instead of guiding everyone to the Interstates whether they wanted to go there or not, they dumped us off in the middle of downtown along a street with no Interstate entraces. Instead you just kept passing under the interstates in some kind of version of Hell for racing fans. I finally joined a caravan with several other tourists and we wandered around until we found an entrance onto an Interstate.

I decided that my best bet for getting home before Midnight on Monday was to go ahead and head out on Sunday night. I made it to Elizabethtown, Kentucky at 10:00 and slept at a Comfort Inn. I was rather disappointed not to see Orlando Bloom or Kirsten Dunst. In case you haven't seen it yet- the movie Elizabethtown is a great Roadtrip Movie.

I headed out early on Monday morning. Somewhere between Elizabethtown and Bowling Green I noticed this annoying bug flying around my head and it kept sitting in the middle of my line of vision through the windshield. I attempted to kill and instead wound up whacking my car into a guardrail. Freaking out a little, I ceased my bug murdering, pulled the car over to the side of the interstate and surveyed the damage. Not too bad, not great, but not horrific either. The only real issues are that the seal on my passenger door isn't that great anymore and I seemed to have screwed up my cars compass. It thinks I'm always heading North now. Hmmm.

After that lovely awakening - I headed South (although the car swore I was driving north) into Tennessee where I decided that a nice long breakfast was needed. I stopped at a Flying J and just sat there for an hour sipping hot tea and eating an omelet while I let my breathing return to normal. The rest of the trip home was pretty uneventful except for the rain that I kept running in to.

Some thoughts from the road.

1. Leave the bugs in your car alone - Kurt Busch impressions are not pleasant

2. I must get a copy of Yo Yo Ma's recording of the Dvorak Cello concerto
with the New York Philharmonic - People thought I was nuts when I found
this on a station coming out of Memphis and starting conducting in my car.

3. I loved driving by myself, but 1,830 mile over two days and three hours
was a little much. I still have a cramp in my right calf from pressing down
the gas peddle. But It was still a lot of fun.

4. I realized, yet again, why I don't have a fancy car. People are always
asking me why I don't get a cool car since I like racing and driving so
much. The series of damages caused to my car over 4 summers of
roadtripping are evidence of why I drive a Taurus. Plus it's a really fast and
oddly indestructible car.

5. Musicals are a great way to stay awake - especially The Phantom of the
Opera and anything that includes Michael Ball.

Now I'm really getting excited for my Minnesota and turn left trip that starts on the 4th of July.

Laura

Glad that you enjoyed your trip, glad that you ran into the rain too (haha - serves you right for laughing at me!) but not glad you dinged the car. Ooops. What's the deal over there? Do you have to report that sort of thing? We are supposed to here but, let's be honest, unless the politzei happen to turn up, then most of us are just gonna get the hell out of there prompto!

I knew you'd enjoy travelling on your own, it's great isn't it? My next trip (the Bristol one) is with a mate but the one after that is definately going to be solo. I have a few ideas but was worrying maybe I was biting off more than I could chew with 4,500 miles... but 1,830 in two days is seriously worrying!!

Yeah, I probably should have done a smaller or at least more spread out trip for my first overnight solo roadtrip. But that just wouldn't be Laura. I always have to do to insane thing that always makes me look back and say "well, I survived that, so this should be a piece of cake".

About the "incident", I'm really not sure. I didn't damage the guardrail and only slightly damaged the car. US cops usually just want to know if there was blood involved. Also, I really didn't want this to get onto my insurance. Not fun when that happens. You want to know what's really sad? ... It was perfectly clear when I did that. By the time the rain hit I was hyper-aware of my surroundings.

You wanna know something even worse than dinging your own car? I almost totalled my old man's $150K motorhome halfway through France... :o Plodding along around 80mph and closing on some ridiculous 100 year old brown Citroen van thing. Looked in my mirror, three Ferraris racing up at stupid speed, indicated to let them know I needed to pull out, first one blew by but the second flashed his lights to let me out. As I started to pull out I looked forward again and, to my horror, I was closing on the van at a speed about 60mph faster than him and he was mere feet in front. I yanked the wheel to the left and, according to my mate who was following, I did everything but get 5 tonnes of motorhome onto two wheels!! I managed to miss him, and the armco, and decided to ignore those in the back who were whining about me not going fast enough after that. Come to think of it, they stopped whining after that anyway!

What's the point in the story? Simple... **** happens, don't worry about it, it just adds to the flavour of the story you tell your friends when you get back home :)

Either "stuff" just happens or you and I should not be allowed anywhere near motorized vehicles after attending races. :)

That is always possible. Either way, don't loose sleep over it! I've checked out your photos now and have uploaded a few of my own from Le Mans. I've got to be honest though and say it was a pretty poor effort this year... I took a total of 60 photos, as opposed to 600 last year!

Remind me never to let your friend Andy anywhere near me with a lighted match.

Other than the rather frightening pyro-maniac pictures you got some cool shots. I loved all the views of pit lane.

Laura