Road trip!
So I haven't written a real journal entry in a month. It's like me at work "slack slack slack.....WORKWORKWORK". All the sudden the posts come flooding out. I've actually been meaning to write about this upcoming road trip for a while, since it's awesome.
I've had this amazing convertible for about a month and a half. It is impossible to drive the thing in the sunshine without grinning from ear to ear by the time I get back to work. I also made it all pretty. I have a new hobby: car detailing. I read all these BMW forums and get cool ideas for minor mods (because I am useless when it comes to the innards of cars) like installing an armrest and seat belt pads that say Roadster. I also fell into the world of detailing, and have since acquired many products to help me do a good job. Particularly, this stuff called Zaino. It is so fabulous, and has made the bimmer very very shiny and well-protected from water. I also really like Raggtopp. It does a great job cleaning and protecting the soft-top...after applying the protectant, it beads water so much better than before. I also bought a portable detailing vacuum. This is quickly becoming an expensive hobby! I refuse to let a commercial wash touch this car though. What's the point of having a baby if you aren't a little OCD about it? I noticed a door ding this morning and got very annoyed. I am nowhere near as bad as some of the people! A good thing about this new hobby is it is getting me to take better care of our other cars. This weekend I am planning to detail the SUV and the Accord if I have time. At least the interiors...I spent a year and a half "living" in the SUV and it is definitely the worse for wear. Spilled food, dirt...there are all kinds of scratches in the paint, plus I knocked off someone's side mirror so that left paint marks which my mechanic sort of clayed off. I want to see if I can get some more of it off though. I should really get some polish but I want to see how well the Zaino Z5 can fill in the marks first...it doesn't have to be perfect, just better than it looks now. The Z3 has bitchy wheels to detail that I haven't gotten around to really working on yet.
So, uh, back to the title of the post. Road trip. Last year we went to San Francisco over Memorial Day and had such a good time we decided to go somewhere again this year. This time it's to New Orleans, via Nashville on the way there and Hot Springs and St. Louis on the way back. Beads, here I come! I made a deal with the boy that I get to earn beads if he's allowed to give them out. Only he has this crazy idea that I will earn the beads that he gives out. I don't think so! He's like "hey, you like to look too..." which is true. We're taking the Z3 on this trip...somehow, we will fit our stuff in the itty bitty trunk. I think it involves me not bringing 5 pairs of shoes like I usually do. :( I also bought a garment bag that hangs behind the seat on the headrest, so any clothes on hangers can go in there.
We leave next Thursday morning. Spending that night in Nashville. I want to go to the Wildhorse Saloon again - I went once with my sister but she was underage so we couldn't stay late. Good live music, line dancing...it's owned by Gaylord Entertainment (that name still makes me giggle), the Nashville corporate behemoth, but it's still a fun place so we'll forgive them that. I did most of our hotel reservations on Hotwire and got good deals. In Nashville we're staying at the downtown Holiday Inn Express. Free continental breakfast and parking, walking distance from the bars, yay! Nashville is such a great place to just wander around downtown. Almost every bar has some country hopeful playing inside...it's really good bang for your buck. Plus cheesy souvenir shops, how can you go wrong?
We leave Nashville the next morning and head for New Orleans via the Natchez Trace Parkway to Jackson and then I-55. The Natchez Trace is supposed to be a great convertible drive. No trucks. Slow speed limit (50 mph) but my friend from Nashville says you can go up to 70. We're borrowing the boy's dad's radar detector so that should help my leadfoot. Hopefully we'll have time to stop and see some things, but that is a long day of driving. Thankfully we have all day on Saturday in New Orleans so we just have to arrive in time to party on Friday night. I want to do the typical tourist stuff...French Quarter, beignets, cemeteries, streetcars, beads, gambling...bring on the debauchery! We're staying in the New Orleans Sheraton on Canal Street, just outside the French Quarter.
We leave New Orleans Sunday morning and head for Hot Springs. We drive to Alexandria on the interstate and then take US highways up to AR Rte. 7 - it's supposed to be very scenic. We're staying at the cutest little B&B in Hot Springs (beware the music on the site) in the Barrett-Browning room. This place gets excellent reviews from everyone, and I'm very excited to stay there. Then we drive through the Ozarks on 7 again...yay, mountain-like scenery! Stop in Branson, then head for St. Louis. There we're staying at the Sheraton City Center. This was the only hotel that wouldn't put down my request for a king size non-smoking room, so that was kind of disappointing. I'm hoping that since it's Monday night we won't have any problems getting one.
The next day we do the Meeting of the Great Rivers scenic drive which sounds pretty, with ferries. Then it's time to head home. We travel so well together that I think we'll have a great time. Probably will be exhausted by the time we get back, but I am all about getting out and doing things while I'm young.
I've had this amazing convertible for about a month and a half. It is impossible to drive the thing in the sunshine without grinning from ear to ear by the time I get back to work. I also made it all pretty. I have a new hobby: car detailing. I read all these BMW forums and get cool ideas for minor mods (because I am useless when it comes to the innards of cars) like installing an armrest and seat belt pads that say Roadster. I also fell into the world of detailing, and have since acquired many products to help me do a good job. Particularly, this stuff called Zaino. It is so fabulous, and has made the bimmer very very shiny and well-protected from water. I also really like Raggtopp. It does a great job cleaning and protecting the soft-top...after applying the protectant, it beads water so much better than before. I also bought a portable detailing vacuum. This is quickly becoming an expensive hobby! I refuse to let a commercial wash touch this car though. What's the point of having a baby if you aren't a little OCD about it? I noticed a door ding this morning and got very annoyed. I am nowhere near as bad as some of the people! A good thing about this new hobby is it is getting me to take better care of our other cars. This weekend I am planning to detail the SUV and the Accord if I have time. At least the interiors...I spent a year and a half "living" in the SUV and it is definitely the worse for wear. Spilled food, dirt...there are all kinds of scratches in the paint, plus I knocked off someone's side mirror so that left paint marks which my mechanic sort of clayed off. I want to see if I can get some more of it off though. I should really get some polish but I want to see how well the Zaino Z5 can fill in the marks first...it doesn't have to be perfect, just better than it looks now. The Z3 has bitchy wheels to detail that I haven't gotten around to really working on yet.
So, uh, back to the title of the post. Road trip. Last year we went to San Francisco over Memorial Day and had such a good time we decided to go somewhere again this year. This time it's to New Orleans, via Nashville on the way there and Hot Springs and St. Louis on the way back. Beads, here I come! I made a deal with the boy that I get to earn beads if he's allowed to give them out. Only he has this crazy idea that I will earn the beads that he gives out. I don't think so! He's like "hey, you like to look too..." which is true. We're taking the Z3 on this trip...somehow, we will fit our stuff in the itty bitty trunk. I think it involves me not bringing 5 pairs of shoes like I usually do. :( I also bought a garment bag that hangs behind the seat on the headrest, so any clothes on hangers can go in there.
We leave next Thursday morning. Spending that night in Nashville. I want to go to the Wildhorse Saloon again - I went once with my sister but she was underage so we couldn't stay late. Good live music, line dancing...it's owned by Gaylord Entertainment (that name still makes me giggle), the Nashville corporate behemoth, but it's still a fun place so we'll forgive them that. I did most of our hotel reservations on Hotwire and got good deals. In Nashville we're staying at the downtown Holiday Inn Express. Free continental breakfast and parking, walking distance from the bars, yay! Nashville is such a great place to just wander around downtown. Almost every bar has some country hopeful playing inside...it's really good bang for your buck. Plus cheesy souvenir shops, how can you go wrong?
We leave Nashville the next morning and head for New Orleans via the Natchez Trace Parkway to Jackson and then I-55. The Natchez Trace is supposed to be a great convertible drive. No trucks. Slow speed limit (50 mph) but my friend from Nashville says you can go up to 70. We're borrowing the boy's dad's radar detector so that should help my leadfoot. Hopefully we'll have time to stop and see some things, but that is a long day of driving. Thankfully we have all day on Saturday in New Orleans so we just have to arrive in time to party on Friday night. I want to do the typical tourist stuff...French Quarter, beignets, cemeteries, streetcars, beads, gambling...bring on the debauchery! We're staying in the New Orleans Sheraton on Canal Street, just outside the French Quarter.
We leave New Orleans Sunday morning and head for Hot Springs. We drive to Alexandria on the interstate and then take US highways up to AR Rte. 7 - it's supposed to be very scenic. We're staying at the cutest little B&B in Hot Springs (beware the music on the site) in the Barrett-Browning room. This place gets excellent reviews from everyone, and I'm very excited to stay there. Then we drive through the Ozarks on 7 again...yay, mountain-like scenery! Stop in Branson, then head for St. Louis. There we're staying at the Sheraton City Center. This was the only hotel that wouldn't put down my request for a king size non-smoking room, so that was kind of disappointing. I'm hoping that since it's Monday night we won't have any problems getting one.
The next day we do the Meeting of the Great Rivers scenic drive which sounds pretty, with ferries. Then it's time to head home. We travel so well together that I think we'll have a great time. Probably will be exhausted by the time we get back, but I am all about getting out and doing things while I'm young.