During my final thanksgiving at Purdue, Shoko (my lovely girlfriend), Min and I
decided to go to Florida Key West for a drive!
Yeah.. almost a 3000 mile drive give or take couple hundred.
Driving there was not so bad... a little noisy perhaps due to my exhaust being too loud
and in the beginning the endless famous corn field view didn't help with
falling asleep in the driving seat.
DAY 1
Not my picture but you get the point lol.. I feel like this all the time in Indiana
Our first stop was at a restaurant in Tennessee called Loveless Cafe.
They had one of the best American Home-cooked meal.
Their fried chicken and pulled pork was excellent!
However, the best was Banana Pudding Dessert! Definitely a MUST!
Loveless Cafe, Tennessee United States
Pulled Pork & Famous Corn Bread
After stuffing ourselves with some good home cooking, we continued our way towards Florida.
In our first day, we travelled 839.9km and took a break at Chattanooga.
Day 1 - West Lafayette to Chattanooga
DAY 2
Now it was time to reach our destination! Florida Key West!
We travelled 1267.7 km from Chattanooga to Florida Key West..
I almost broke my back doing so... don't get me wrong, those Recaro seats are comfortable but
traveling over 1000km puts a lot of stress on your back..
Recaro Seats on EVO X
We drove close to the start of 7 Mile Long Bridge and this is the layout from Trip Journal
Day 2 - Chattanooga to Miami
DAY 3
All the back breaking driving down to Miami was paid off when we went off to drive the
7 Mile Long Bridge in Key West.
Here is a little video of what my girlfriend took while we were driving across the bridge.
Hope you enjoy.
Driving 7 Mile Bridge (BGM - SPONGEBOB)
Having the ocean right next to you while you are driving is one of the BEST feeling!!
Speed Limit is 55mph all the way to Key West but my adrenaline was forcing me to push my Evo X.
In the end... I overtook couple cars and was satisfied.
While traveling the awesome scenery we stopped at Seafood Buffet at Whale Harbor.
During dinner time you can eat all you can eat Alaskan Crab Legs and shrimps.
However, comparing the price ($30 per person) with the quality of the food, I was not satisfied at all
due to the poor selection of sushi and the size of the alaskan crab legs...
they had barely no meat in them at all...
Whale Harbor Seafood Buffet - Key Largo
Inside Whale Harbor - Picture Includes Min
After dinner, we kept traveling and took some pictures of my Evo X with scenery.
Evo X - 7 Mile Bridge Key West
Evo X - Knights Key
From Miami to Key West we travelled 420.6km on day 3.
If you have never been here... you HAVE TO GO!!
Driving here is the BEST FEELING EVER!
Day 3 - Miami to Key West
DAY 4 & 5
After an awesome day at Key West it was time for us to go back to mundane university life at Indiana
so we packed our stuff and started our way back home.
However, my girlfriend wanted to introduce me to a place called
"Tail of the Dragon" in Smoky Mountains.
Tail of the Dragon - North Carolina & Tennessee
This place is a legend to those who love mountain side driving!
Before you even start with the tail of the dragon, just getting there was intense enough for all of us.
Around 100 miles of turns before the tail of the dragon made us really tired since most of the roads
getting there looked like this...............
Little slice of curve heaven!
Min who was sitting behind the car took a shot of us when we were taking a turn
and as you can see... our mighty mouse figure was getting effected by the intense g.
We really enjoyed the whole trip since it was focused mostly on driving.
If you love driving, I strongly recommend this trip route for experiencing both the ocean and the mountain side of traveling. You will LOVE IT!
First time I got this baby was around 2009 fall...
I was looking for a 2nd vehicle besides my Evo X to autocross with and I found her on craiglist.
Her right fender was completely torn apart and the right door had a huge dent in it.
It was obvious that she had an accident... a bad one too.
I went down to see the car and from the first look... I was not pleased.
It was worse then the picture and I was having second thoughts about buying the car.
But the moment I heard the car start... it purred like a kitten and when the gas was pushed... it was mean!
I REALLY liked it so I decided to purchase her.
She basically looked like this in the beginning..
Not Original Picture but very very close to mine
I was what you called a "noob" in the whole automobile world and to be honest I didn't know much about fixing cars let alone changing engine oil. I knew how to drive the car but mechanically...
lets just say CarX was right next to my house.
Around this time I made an autocross club in Purdue University called "Red Camber" and I decided to have the miata fixed by a club member who said he knew how to fix cars and had friends who could help
I paid around $800 and what I received from him was satisfactory...
Side Rear taped with Hood Scoop
Original Interior
Same spot left rear under door taped
Hood taped with carbon fiber vinyl
It was an ok job however for $800 some of my other members thought it was a crappy job
So feeling disappointed, I decided to learn it myself and fix the car as she deserves.
First I sanded her down for a different paint look.
First time sanding a car
Preparation for the miata took around 2 months because I never
sanded a car before and it was not an easy task.
However, after she was done, me and Chris (club member) decided to switch her suspension.
We went with the flying' miata stage 2 suspension.
Just before switching the suspension
Then the paint job came. Never painted anything in my whole life.. this was probably the biggest task
The steps I took involved after sanding was...
Clean Car -> Tape -> 1st Coat Prime -> 2nd light Coat Prime -> 3rd lighter coat prime ->
