Starting in mid-Jan I will be between jobs for the first time in 11 years, so I am doing a cross country road trip. 15k miles, 38 states (that number may increase, haven't finalized the list yet), 80+ planned stops, and somewhere between 28 and 35 days.
Won't be in non-continental states, will miss some of the northeast that I have already seen, and dodging Kansas, Nebraska, and Iowa (and maybe Mississippi and Alabama - haven't finalized everything yet).
I am seeing some well known tourist things, but a lot of it will also be seeing goofy non-standard things (potato museum in Idaho, ball of twine in MN, etc).

I swapped out my rotor wheels with some stock wheels (not sure the name) that I found on ebay. While getting installed, found out they had minor bends, so had those repaired, and then put on some Nokian winters (forget the exact model).
The new wheels also came with Michelin Super Sports, so I have my P-Zeros that it came with, the winters, and these SS as well.

I'm starting in Boston, then heading south, and will do the US clockwise. Getting a detail done in a few days, and then first service after that - then on the road.
I have a Passport (I forget the model, one of the new ones) radar detector, will use Waze on the iPhone, and have a Google tablet that talks to the car to get extra readouts (someone on here recommended that, as I was curious to get better temp data - haven't even installed it yet).

(there is a chance the trip will get delayed by a few weeks due to interviews, but definitely happening no matter what)




Winters and new wheels





Summers and rotor wheels (and an expertly placed finger photobomb)



So around Jan 16th, will be starting out. I will be posting to FB, Twitter, Instagram, here, and may have a Tumblr to write about things.

(I did reach out to Jag's social media division to see if they cared, and they were nice enough to write back and say something along the lines of "Stay safe and good luck" and they will retweet and the like.)

My first F-type blew up before it ever got to 4k miles, and this one is less than 3k now - so it will be interesting to see how it goes.
This trip will be a big factor in deciding if I go back to my R8, get a new P85D Tesla, or try out a Porsche.

 

Very cool. Not sure about a US tour in the winter, but here's hoping that you have decent weather. There's a lot of cool stuff out there to see!


Good thing you have the coupe. In the convertible, you could only take a toothbrush and a pair of underwear, which might not be enough for a month on the road.

 

Godspeed omgomg (no pun intended).

Happy New Year!
Jay

 

Can't wait to see the pictures! I would definitely run a dash cam. Another cool idea would be to copy Top Gears recent America drive and put state flags you visited on the side of the car (removable). They did a all 50 (well, still waiting on Hawaii) in the 2015 Mustang.

I wouldn't skip us southern states! If you are coming through Florida, just got to make sure you hit Pensacola and stay on I-10. Definitely get off at Gulf Shores to drive the coast when you get to Alabama and when you get to Mississippi, get off around Gulf Port and drive the coast where Cruisin and Scraping the Coast is held every year for thousands of cars!

If you want something fun to do here in Louisiana, we have one of the largest tracks (NOLA Raceway) and some other nice places to drive through. If you do decide to come down here and want some more stuff to hit be sure to ask!

 

Oh, that state flag idea is interesting - will have to look up where I can buy those.

I looked into setting up a GoPro, but their battery/memory would only last an hour or two, and I would rather spend longer stretches driving (3-4 hours) - not to mention that is a lot of battery/memory juggling to make sure is working each morning and charging each night (and offloading onto a laptop at night).
I may still do it, but undecided.
(already have a lot of gadgets in the car that I need to sort out mounting)

I was going to go through all of FL down to the Keys (I have been everywhere in FL except there), but decided instead to skip it and get 1400 miles I can use elsewhere (may dip down into it, but not really spending much time there).

Will definitely swing through New Orleans, and there is the Barber track complex in Alabama that I thought about visiting. My dad was at NASA in Huntsville for a few years working on space station stuff (a long time back), so am also debating driving up to visit that.

 

hmm - can't find removable state decals - maybe my Google skills are weak

 

If I wasn't so tied up in January I'd meet you in Southern Maine so that you can add 2 states to your intended 38. Short trip - fast times - to add 2 to your list. (But you already know that). Touch base on your actual depart date and who knows?

 

For the GoPro all you need is the Car Mount kit, the car charger (just keep it plugged in), and like a 64gb micro SD card. You can clear the memory when its full and don't have to worry about battery life. When you get to a cool city you could then mount it outside the vehicle and record driving through it and everyones faces in awe lol.

Don't know the prices of the track, but whats cool about NOLA Raceway is the just shy of a mile straightaway where you could open up the F-Type and see what it really can do in a place where you are actually supposed to! Its also one of the locations where the new Indy 500 is being held this spring. Do tell if you come, I want to see and hear an F-Type V8 full blast down around a track!

If you want space station stuff, right at the Mississippi/Louisiana border is the Nasa Stennis Center where they test the rocket engine and stuff and have a little museum.

 

I think I found where TG got theres from. They look to be the same size. They say non-permanent adhesive and great for cars. Visible, but not massive at 3.25"X5". Unfortunately its not going to be the cheapest order since they are $2.50 a piece. Still, would make for one hell of a cool talking piece and memory. I would email them and see if you can do a bundle deal for all 50. I would also get a pre-paid visa lol. Link- US State & Territory flag decals, made in the U.S.A.

 

I did the Level 1 and 2 Jag Performance school thing, so drove all of the R cars on the track (Monticello) - got the F-Type up just over 150mph IIRC - wasn't sure I could brake in time higher than that (just my own lack of skill/experience).

I am definitely going through New Orleans, so I will be sure to post up on here before I go through areas, so that if anyone wants to meet up and say hi they can.

And RickyJay52, I may add in a ME/NH/VT loop to start out the trip and then shoot down to Newport (RI) and then on to Mystic (CT) on the way to NYC - I will keep you posted.

(Probably already covered on here, but are you THE Ricky Jay? Or just a fan?)

I will post the tentative city/state list once it is more finalized - and then it may change due to interests/weather once out there.

The rough points I want to do/see, in rough order (some of these I have seen many times, some are new to me):
Standard Hotel / High Line (NYC)
Dogfish Brewery (more likely just their brew pub)
DC (family there)
mountains of VA (I grew up there and some family there)
Tail of the Dragon (family in NC)
Bourbon County
family in GA and FL
New Orleans/Coast/Refineries
Houston/Galveston (NASA sites where my dad worked are part of this)
San Antonio (river walk)
Austin (friends there)
Dallas (friends there)
Prada Marfa out in the western TX desert
White Sands NM and Roswell and the El Farol pub (math concept based around that)
along the eastern side of the Rockies in CO (friends and family along there)
SLC and Provo UT (and Sun Valley if the weather cooperates)
Grand Canyon
Stone brewery (San Diego - well, Escondito)
LA, maybe Getty, and Hearst
Vegas and the Hoover Dam
San Francisco (friends)
PCH and Monterrey
Redwoods
Seattle (friends)
Spokane and then down to Columbia River Gorge
Boise to Yellowstone to Mount Rushmore
Fargo and a ball of twine in Darwin MN
Chicago (the bean)
Amish country
NJ (family)
and home again

 

Perfect, I will email them, thanks!

And I will look into the GoPro and the like, thank you. I don't know how much external use of it I will do, but may mount between the seats.

Will have iPhone and mount, Passport radar detector on its mount, and a google tablet and its mount. Hope I don't kill my battery, lol.

Very curious what will go wrong on the trip - all part of the adventure.

 

Yes, the Ricky Jay reference has been dealt with here and no I'm not the Ricky Jay although I am a great fan of his. My daughter's nickname is Ricky and my name is Jay and - you might know, that Ricky Jay once had a Off-Broadway Show called "Ricky Jay and His 52 Assistants" - often use RickyJay52 as a moniker (but not for passwords ).

Stay in touch about your exciting trip (and good luck on the job front too)!

 

You got 2 batteries for a reason lol. They have seat mount and the like for the GoPro, if you have something you want to attach one to, they have an attachment to do so!

Looking at your tentative list, I would also recommend another detour in the North. Depending on how the weather is by this time, after Yellowstone, you DEFINITELY need to go north to Glacier National park. You will get to see some of the best scenery of your life and get to add another state (its right at the border of Montana. Been to both parks and Glacier>Yellowstone any day. Get some great car pics if you do end up there! If you hit Utah, be sure to see Arches National Park as well. Absolutely stunning.

 

Its the internet, you can be who ever you want!

 

Thanks for the tips re Glacier National Park and Arches - will add them to my list for up there.
The list there isn't complete, but is the big picture stuff.

And then obviously, if snowy roads that don't feel safe, may change up a lot of the north stuff.

 

So...tell us how you blew up an F-Type.

 

There is a thread on here somewhere that details it (and pics of it on the flatbed) - nothing that exciting. Was just driving along and it started to death rattle like it threw a rod (or was on its way). After some hassle and effort, got it flat bedded to the dealer where they swapped out parts on it (water pump and then supercharger) until declaring the engine required replacing. All covered under warranty, but I switched to the coupe.

 

Sounds fun. But I don't think the FType is a good extended road car. Can't recline the seats, lack of storage space, scrapes, etc. it'll be fun for certain sections but I'd try to get something like a M5 which is designed for such trips. Hope I'm wrong and you enjoy the trip. Keep us posted. On my bucket list to travel by car across the U.S.

 

Definitely get a GoPro or similar. The Garmin Virb is a GoPro clone that has a built in dash cam feature. It'll basically record in 10 min loops. But not sure if you can record while hooked into external USB power source.

 

I did a 3k mile trip in an R8 and it was great. Granted, this is ~5 times longer, so not quite the same. I could see the Ftype going either way - will find out.
If I was trying to do the trip in the best car for it, I would get another car - but I am doing it in the Ftype, because that is part of the adventure.

Bought a GoPRo Hero4 Black this morning, and the car charger, and the car kit (variety of mounts), and 3 of the fast 64gb cards.

Not sure how much video I will do (the unit is known to overheat after about an hour), but I will do a timelapse every 3 seconds and build a video out of all of those of the whole trip.