Like a whole lot of other, and generally more important, events this year a couple of good road trips that my wife and I had planned were cancelled. One was a group tour of the Cascade Mtns. in Washington State and the other was just us on our more-or-less annual trip south to spend a few days on the Oregon coast. Maybe next year. We did get in one good some single day drives with our local Lotus club and also managed a four day group tour through BC (a couple of pics already in the Hagerty Lounge https://community.hagerty.com/t5/hagerty-lounge/when-driving-an-old-foreign-car/td-p/30216/page/2 ). The longer trips gave us a plan for a trip next spring – we stopped for lunch one day at a diner in Little Fort, BC (pop. approx. 350) where I had the best burger I’ve had in decades. It’s only about 4 ½ hours from home, so that’s not too far to drive for a good meal. Anyway, the point here is road trip cars. We are fortunate enough to have a choice but usually use one of two cars, both Lotus, for road trips. The primary road trip car is a 1997 Esprit V8. Great road trip car – comfortable, lots of power and enough luggage space for an extended trip. At the risk of a slightly less than tasteful comment, and one that shows my vintage, it is one of few mid-engine cars I’ve seen that pass the “Jimmy Hoffa” test. You could fit an adult person in the trunk. Jimmy's not, and never has been in here. But he could have fit. The second road trip car is a supercharged 2010 Elise. Just about as fast as the Esprit, at least to the point that they’ll be taking me away in cuffs, and surprisingly comfortable over distance. The trunk fails the Jimmy test but we can still cram a lot of stuff in there in small bags. A few years ago we used it to attend a wedding in San Francisco, about 1000 miles each way. Next April we’ll have to decide which one to take for a burger.
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