3,750 miles in my NC

[rudedog]

Don't know if this approprate here but thought I'd throw in my two cents about my 2009 NC that replaced the '92 NA Red Baron on my road trip. Warning, no spelz cherk! Couldn't get it to download.

The first leg was July 28, top up with the air conditioner on from The Colony up that boring straight road to North Platte, Nebraska 766 miles later. Two stops for gas.
I was pulling a very small two wheel trailer I bought at Northern and put together with a streamlined cartop carrier bolted to it that I got cheap off Craig's List. Yes, the wife and lot's of clothes for two weeks.
1. Beowulf didn't even feel like she knew it was there.
2. I was constantly driving 2-3 MPH over the limit and no more as I did not want ANY tickets on straight roads. Curvey ones OK, but not straight!
3. Beowulf returned a little over 31 MPG on this leg.
4. The 2009 is so so much quiter, the radio is great, all those storage areas come in handy, and the air conditioner is fantastic. I knew all of this from the last six months of ownership but it really stood out now.

The second leg was top down for the rest of the trip as the temperature was lower and down right nice most of the time.
Up through Wounded Kneee to see the site and then on to Mount Rushmore.
Great canyons and finally mountains.
Rushmore was great and Highway 16A (Norbert Highway) with the thre tunnels framing Rushmore was driven three times in two days plus trips to see Crazy Horse, Needles Highway, and Custer State Park.
Let me say that a Miata comes into it's own on these roads but better was to come.

Then to the Buffalo Jump historic dig and then to Sundance, Wyoming and The devil's Tower.
Gave me goose bumps and we hiked the 10.3 mile trail around it. No flying saucers or aliens but what a site.
Then a great loop through canyons north, east, and finally west back to Sundance for the night.
1. Wish we had these sites and roads here

Early morning and south out of Sundance through rolling hills to Denver, across I70 to Grand Junction, south to Montrose and on to Ouray which sits at the north end of the Million Dollar Highway.
We have been to Ouray several times and love it but doing this topless made it more spectaculiar.
For the next nine days we went driving around almost every day across the Million Dollar Highway to Silverton and/or Durango or north and up Highway 141 that I found on a motorcycle trip on 2001. This canyon reminds me of the scene in Star wars 4 (Chapter 1) where the kid is racing through the canyon. I had told my wife about it but she wasn't excited about driving fifty miles to get to the start of the 129 miles going away frm where we were. But as soon as we entered the canyon I head the trusty Canon D30 firing away and two days leter she asked if we could do it again. If you are ever in the area don't miss it. I think we may have driven the Million Dollar Highway five or six times. Sometimes just the twenty seven miles to Silverton and turned around.

Again, a Miata is so happy on the Million Dollar Highway with shear cliffs and no guard rails and we were cooking!
1. Wish we had all of these roads and weather here
It was about 76 degrees in the middle of the day and 51-52 in the mornings. We would have breakfast and leave with a long sleeve or jacket on and play on the roads. It was fantastic.
Throw in a jeep rental and off roading for good measure.

We finally left and crossed the Million Dollar Highway for the last time and on south through New Mexico, east to Amirillo, and then south on Highway 287 home. 1,130 miles stright through. Left at 7:00 AM and pulled back in front of the house in The Colony thirteen hours later. All topless with the air on the lower vests during mid-day.

Summary:
1. I owned the Red Baron for nine years and still love it.
2. I had to move it when I bought Beowulf ( a 2009) in February.
3. Beowulf does have some body lean the Red Bron didn't have but on the highway roads it is not excessive. If it is your probably pushing too hard!
4. I will go ahead and install Flying Miata sways this winter anyway.
5. As above, the radio, comfort, and air are so much better.
6. 3,750 plus miles and Beowulf returned 32.4 MPG for the total trip. Amazing. And pulling a trailer, although it is super light.
7. The added torque of this motor is so worth while on the mountain passes and pulling the car out of curves to keep the rear end planted..
8. I miss the Red Baron but one of my motorcycle buddies in Arkansasa is enjoying her and I absolutely love this NC model.
9. I love red and got many complimets on Beowulf.
10. I hope that whenever Mazda does the ND it is as much improved.

[Nails]

Nice write up. Congrats on a wonderful trip. I've seen most of the places you mentioned but haven't done the Million Dollar Highway yet.

[bnordin]

Nice trip. I did a trip to North Carolina in the Spring and would love to hit the road again. Blue Ridge Mountains are worth the trip.

[rudedog]

Thanks to my trusty Canon 30D we returned with 762 shots on the trip.
One thing I forgot is that the 2009's brakes are out of this world both in stopping and control.
I love this car.

[VFR750]

Nice sounding trip. My wife and I did a 3,000 miles trip to / around the Smokies a few years ago, there is a thread on here somewhere. Had the top down everyday........

[GregW]

Sounds like a nice trip. I went on a trip thanksgiving 2011. 3450 miles in 8 days. Unfortunately it was in our Honda Odyssey with 4 kids. 8 states, 2 countries, 6 people, one minivan... One DVD player. Lol. Omaha, Chicago, Detroit, Toronto, Toledo, Indianapolis, st Louis, home.

[motorollow]

Mount Rushmore is a pretty cool place to visit. I thought we would spend just a couple hours there and go on. We ended up spending the whole day. It was extra special because we were there on July 4 and there were military bands playing in the amplitheater.

[ptech]

Found this million dollar highway pic on wikipedia. That's a scary lookin' road.