My Spyder should be delivered to the dealer in Oklahoma City mid April if things stay on plan so sometime between late April and very early May I'm driving it home! I love road trips and I can't think of a better way to bond with a car than a 2500 mile adventure. Route feedback or any local tips are appreciated!

The Car
Details are already in this thread (https://rennlist.com/forums/718-gts-...der-build.html) and here is the build - PMATEQZ3 (http://www.porsche-code.com/PMATEQZ3)


The Trip
A work in progress but here is the Roadtrippers link if interested. The dealer is in Oklahoma City and I'm in Seattle. I was tempted to plan a route through Colorado/Utah/Idaho but from everyone that I know local to those parts, the best driving roads will not be fully open or enjoyable in a rwd convertible sports car on summer tires. Also, I have beautiful mountain roads around Seattle and I've never spent much time in the Southwest US. My plan is to take a big portion of historic Route 66 and then head up the coast from California all the way home. Roughly 2580 miles in 7 days of driving. I'm going solo unless we get the in-laws to watch the kids and for me it will be about driving and car photography. Where I actually stop each day could change but this is the tentative plan under review.

(Updated 3/3 based on all of the great feedback and insights from all of you and removed the mostly useless photos)

Day 0 - Fly to Oklahoma City, ideally red-eye in hopes of an empty plane.
Day 1 - Collect the car and put as many miles behind me as possible so I can add more interesting stops later in the trip. Hoping to make it at least 430 miles to Santa Rosa NM and find at a clean motel.
Day 2 - Drive 470 miles to Sedona. This gives me a beautiful location to enjoy and scenic photo ops on the way. I40 to 89A into Sedona.
Day 3 - Drive 400 miles to Death Valley. Staying in the park at the Furnace Creek Inn, now called The Oasis at Death Valley. Looking forward to evening and sunrise photos in the area.
Day 4 - Drive 477 miles to Santa Cruz to meet old friends that own a brew pub there. Since PCH is a mess leading up to Big Sur at the moment, my plan is to take 5 to 198 to 25 which I've heard from many folks is an even better Porsche road. Also hoping to make the time to drive SR58 which I hear is a lot of fun.
Day 5 - Drive ~ 430 miles to Eureka or thereabouts. I was planning on Mattole Rd but heard it is pretty rough. I’ll stick to the coastal route for the view.
Day 6 - Head 425 miles to Cannon Beach, Oregon.
Day 7 - Drive the remaining 210 miles home and introduce the now fully broken in Spyder to the family.

I'm considering this a scouting trip for future road trips because I won't have a ton of time to explore. That's okay though because if I have too much fun, my wife will kill me for doing it solo! I was tempted, and I'm still considering adding a day and making a trip through Death Valley. That being said, the main purpose for going is to drive the car and get some cool photographs.

I've even found a highly recommended ppf installer near the dealer (Superior Concepts) that has been well reviewed by a number of folks I trust so I will likely have that work done before the trip starts. Full wrap and ceramic should help make cleaning it up along the route much easier.

Again, route tips are much appreciated but I'm not really open to considering the mountain routes that I originally wanted to take given the unpredictability of the weather.

 

Looks like a grand idea to me!. I hope you take photos along the way, and post them in this thread. They’re fun to follow, and there’s a really killer example linked to another forum in this thread. I’ve driven your 7-home route a few times and it is a nice road.

 

Day 3 I would drive longer and go through Death Valley. Day 5 I would drive shorter. This summer I drove from Salt Lake City to Los Angeles to Mendocino back to SLC in my Spyder. I drove from Carmel to Mendocino in a day and that was plenty long. For reference I drove from SLC to LA in one day and Mendocino to SLC in one day and while long they were tolerable. I’d take your time on the PCH and make long fast miles through the desert. Also driving Death Valley is amazing and much better than Bakersfield.

 

Great advice and you touched on two points that I'm the most torn with. My original route went through Death Valley but the overall trip was getting long. Still, I think that if I added 1 day to the trip, I could add Death Valley and shorten day 5...killing two birds with one stone.

 

I bought a ‘93 Caterham HPC set up for track use on Bring a Trailer last summer. 218hp pushing 1,380 pounds. Car was in Salt Lake City and I’m in Atlanta. I drove it home via a very circuitous route. Total was 5,100 miles over 20 days. I went SLC>Moab>Bryce Canyon>Grand Canyon>Palm Springs>Santa Barbara>PCH>Sonoma>Joshua Tree>Scottsdale>Roswell>Marfa>Austin>Mississippi>Atlanta.

Looking at your route, I would skip Arizona and go through Southern Utah. It’s the most amazing place I’ve been. I would also go through Death Valley. (I couldn’t with eight gallons of usable fuel capacity.) Then I would head south and visit Palm Springs and Joshua Tree before turning north.

If you haven’t visited the Southwest, build in more days. There’s so much to see I wish I had.

 

Thanks for the suggestions and that must have been one hell of an epic road trip! With a wife and two young kids at home, I can’t really stretch this beyond the week. I’m treating this like a scouting trip for future trips with the family.

 

You mentioned that you're not particularly interested in driving through Los Angeles. Any particular reason why? How about San Diego? There's lots to hate about SoCal but there is also lots to love about SoCal. You mentioned that you've never spent much time in the Southwest. This would be a great opportunity to scout the area and come back with your family. Don't know how young your kids are but my 3 kids are 13 and under so there are lots to do with young kids in SoCal, especially on a nice summer night...and even spring night.

Other thoughts that others have mentioned that I'll echo and add to...
1. How about swinging by Vegas. My wife and I love Vegas so if we can fit in a Vegas trip anywhere, we're doing it.
2. Death Valley has some fun driving roads and it won't be too hot but it will be warm to mild hot. Again, a good scouting opportunity to come back with your family and do a Darth Vally/ Vegas trip.
3. Palm Springs/Joshua Tree. I've actually never been to Joshua Tree but we've talked about it a few times. Will try and get out there when my car arrives.
4. As far as visiting SoCal, there are tons of great places along the shoreline/highway 1 to visit with a brand new Spyder on a Spring/early summer night. You can still drive your Spyder up PCH. I know others have mentioned there's a part of PCH that's washed out up north but you're missing a great drive in a brand new Spyder. There are ways around the wash out and I wouldn't cut out the entire drive from Los Angeles because of the wash out in NorCal.
5. Driving on the 5 North can be a bit boring but it's an easy drive in Central Cali as it's very straight for many miles. I've never been on 198 nor 25 so can't comment on those roads.

 

Sorry, that was a little misleading or unclear. I like LA and love Southern California. With the constraints of time on this trip and my desire to stop in Santa Cruz to see friends, I had to cut it short in a few places.

My wife really wants to explore Southern California and PCH and my plan for next year is to ship the car down to San Diego, for us to fly down there and then spend a few weeks driving back. May do it in reverse and drive down and ship it back...game day decision. We could drive both ways but I want to go slow and stay multiple nights in most places so a one way makes that easier. She even has family in LA that we see so I’m saving major exploration of that area for when she joins me.

I’ve never been on any of those roads so open to all feedback and insight.

 

Looks amazing. Do post pics here. Are you getting PPF prior to trip (Ah, just saw you are in original post)? Also, you may want to get the car aligned at the dealer as my GT4 was way off on its stock alignment (since you are driving 2,500 miles out of the box in a week). The car will settle after a couple thousand miles, but in the meantime... My SA says he is going to get me a PCNA email hotline to attempt to get Porsche to pay the $200 since it was so far off... If you have it done at the dealer or during PDI before delivery you might save yourself some troubles... good luck and enjoy the trip!

 

With time limitations, I’d go farther north through Southern Utah to reduce the miles and see Southern Utah by skipping SoCal. Your route drives past but skips the things to see there so why bother? That’d give you fewer miles and better scenery. Weather and road condition may limit you though.

Although I spent 20 days driving through the Southwest I strongly considered having my new GTS delivered to PECLA so I could do it all again. Ironic because I live eight miles from PECATL.

 

As a truck driver and small trucking company owner for almost 30 years I could give you tons of tips on routing. Also live in OKC so if you need tips on good restaurants or pubs I’ll try to help. I would literally plan 2 routes and adjust with the weather. I-40 you’re close to a lot without actually seeing anything. If I was looking for scenery and had the time I’d probably go I-70 over to Denver as fast as I could so as not to go to sleep at the wheel. Flat and boring. Denver to I-15 in UT is one of the most beautiful roads in the country although not the most fun in a truck. You could run back down though Death Valley or go up across 80 into CA and not be horribly out of the way to your friends in Santa Cruz. Sorry I’m just not a fan of I-40. Other than getting there fast it sucks. Drove it to CA every week for 9 years. I’d love to see that ride if I’m in town. My avatar pic was taken in Big Sur during Monterey Car Week ‘18.

 

Wow what a great way to break her in. Looking forward to seeing her locally.

 

I drove Virginia to San Diego to get to my first duty station in the USMC. I took some time and saw a lot of interesting stuff. Four years later when I drove back I did it as fast as possible to get it over with, enjoy the drive. One place I have always wanted to see up close is Bryce Canyon in Utah. It looks beautiful when you fly over it. Maybe you could drive through there?

 

I went through Bryce Canyon area on my drive. The car bounced the cellphone out on the road in that area so I didn’t see the canyon and continued on my way. The thing I will say about Bryce Canyon is that it is very, very remote. The photos of the place are amazing and, although I drove 5,100 miles, I’m not sure I would drive back to see it. Also, it’s very National Park with nothing but National Park type facilities and activities.

 

You're the man Jeff. That's going to be an epic road trip.

I'm a regular at Death Valley and have spent weeks there doing photography but 95% of the trails are dirt so you won't see most of it in a Spyder. There are some superb paved roads though, they do rent Jeeps and there's even a golf course.

I would try putting the Spyder top up and down a few times at the dealer as when new it can be hard to activate the latch. Some have had their cars towed to a dealer because they couldn't get it closed.