Yesterday was actually the 1st day out, but it was a trip so short it barely registers as a road trip. It's when you have 3 or 4 of these short days that the journey truly becomes the destination.
I stopped overnight in Birmingham, AL for the commencement ceremony of my eldest nephew. Smart kid. He's going to work in Houston for a large IT company. He graduated a semester early. Rare not only for our time, but for our family.
As we'd planned lunch and other things, I set my sights on a short trip that would keep me close to my first stop, but not on the road much past sunset. I chose my current locale, Valdosta, GA.
And then there's the drive. Both yesterday and today, I found myself in that happy place I can only get when I am at the wheel of a Bimmer.
In preparation, I changed the steamroller rear style 87's wrapped in 315s to the road tripping square setup 87's. It's not as pretty as the 315's, what with the dash more of a deeper dish and those meaty things peeking over the rear flares, but I try not to think of it. At ~$200 less per tire, I will roll roadtripper rubber from now on.
Tactile. Yeah. That's the word. When you run 315's on this thing, the ass-end just seems sorta tactile. It's right there over your shoulder asking you to try again no matter how much you try to spin it around. And, when you take away a few inches of contact patch with 275's back there, it's there. I mean. It's *right* there. But just a 1/3 of a second less attitude.
This is also my 1st long term road test on the Zionsville. I work from home and see folks sometimes. My longest trip had probably been 30 minutes before this trip. She held steady at 215 degrees. Or thereabout. I guess. Unless my eyeballs got it wrong. I'm pretty sure tho. The more often I run this thing on the long hauls, the more confident I will become. But I do like that feeling of an aluminum radiator. Brings memories of the one in the E39.
Finally, that silly Android Radio and Waze, Waze, Waze. Around an hour or so outside of Birmingham, Waze pinged to let me know. We were in for some sh!t, and it was changing my route. Good enough, then. There were TWO accidents that shut down I-75 south of Atlanta. Waze sent me through an entire mess of back roads.
The process wasn't all nuts and berries. Waze didn't seem to want to get me too far away from the Interstate. It would try to send me back into a mess of traffic even before I could get *back* to the Interstate. I could fairly easily pinch and zoom to find alternate routes, but I would like Waze to understand that I'd rather cruise the country side than sit on the Interstate even if it takes a little longer.
And then finally, that feeling you only get in your E53 after you've spent more on maintenance than it would cost to buy another one.. Of course, I keep them maintained, but this road warrior has given it all back over so much time... and so very many miles.
