1st road trip

[ritchie57]

I ordered my camaro June 12 and took delivery Aug 8. I couldn't wait to get to the dealership after tracking her all the way home. I was a little nervous about seeing her for the first time. What if I didn't like the color combination? I picked the ABM off of the color chart and the beige interior off of pics I found on the internet. But all was well when we arrived at the dealer. They were still putting the stripes on, and she was a little dirty, but she took my breath away.

The hubby and I decided to take a vacation after delivery, so to put a few miles on her before we hit the road we went to a cruise night every night. We put 500 miles on her the first week. And boy, does she get attention. A lot of people havent seen them up close and we were asked tons of questions.

Finally our first week of driving her was up and we hit the road. We had her washed and detailed (I purchased the ultimate protection show car kit and bucket from Zaino) she was looking slick. Unfortunately it was raining when we left and she was dirty from the get go. We hit some really heavy rain about an hour from home and could barely see out the windshield. We had a few scary moments, but the rain eased up a bit and we headed on to KY to visit family. She performed really well in the mountains, and boy does she love the curves.

We left KY to go to the Bristol Motor Speedway to see the truck race. She had a lot of fans there and hubby and I had a blast since it was our first visit to Bristol. Now, the tricky part, we had to find a hotel with parking that wouldn't make me loose sleep. We pulled into the parking lot of a Comfort Inn and right near the front door was a Dodge Challenger parked in a parallel spot with an empty spot right behind her. The camaro gods were looking down on us. I can't tell you how cool those two cars looked outside the door of the Comfort Inn.

The next day we drove along the Blue Ridge Parkway. But unfortunately, like every day of our vacation, it rained...The clouds blew in and we were driving in the clouds most of the time. I got a few pictures when it would clear a little bit, but for the most part, at all of the scenic outlooks we couldn't see a thing.

In the rain she handles really well. The parkway has lots of turns up and down the mountain and she never got out of shape or slid around. She had plenty of power and with the 6spd you have total control. The only problem we were having was seeing out the windshield. We were staring to realize that it was not just the heavy rain we were having problems with. I don't know if its the long flat shape of the windshield or what but even with the wipers on high you cant see well.

Now for the best part of the trip, The Tail of the Dragon. The dragon has 318 curves in an 11 mile stretch of road though the mountains. The scenery is beautiful. But you won't be have time to look, because you will be up on the wheel. This is the road you need to take your camaro to if you are ever in the area. You really get to experience what this camaro was built to do. I can't explain it, you just have to do it yourself. But I must say, I love my camaro more now than ever.... If you do visit the dragon please be respectful to the other drivers and motorcyclists. They have numerous accidents on this road so be safe. Another cool thing about the dragon, they have spots where photographers sit and take pictures of you going by. You can go online a few days after your trip and check out your pictures and purchase then if you like.

All in all we had a great trip. It did rain every day, but we always found a place to wash her in the morning. (Good thing I brought my Zaino bucket). She performed well above our expectations. For two people she had plenty of room for all of our things. The only complaints I have other than the visibility issues (which I think I'm going to try rain-x) is the sun visors are really too small to do any good, make sure you have sunglasses. And the passenger seat is too low, wish it had an adjustment. Otherwise, the seats are very comfortable, and the heated option was very much appreciated by my husband. On Star was great for getting directions, the turn by turn makes it very easy to find your destination. The telephone calls we made from the car with our free 30 minutes was super convenient. I don't think I would use the phone around town very much, but on a long trip it was great. We already have XM in our other car and we love it, especially when traveling then you don't have to search for new stations when you get out of range. The usb for the ipod was awsome. You can control your ipod through the radio. A couple of times we had a problem with switching back to the ipod from XM. Its like the system wouldnt read the ipod. I dont know is it was user error or something with the car. I'll have to see over time. The only other thing is the nose of the car takes a beating on the road. We were going to install the 3m bra before leaving but decided to wait and see and now I have some nicks. So we may install that at a later date.

2400 miles in two weeks, what a trip........

[RR]

very nice. You are so lucky, i ordered my camaro on june 15th and im still at 1100.

[Dan3]

When I ordered from the internet color swatches, I thought ABM looked really "girly." Having seen all the member pics and seeing one in person this weekend I have to admit its a really pretty car. Gratz!

[colemanvoice]

Congrats. Nice pics and story, sorry 'bout the rain though. I heard about The Tail of the Dragon for the first time from a co-worker just a couple of weeks ago. I'll have to check that out.

[Jamie Mac]

Sounds like a great trip! So where is this tail of the dragon?

[ritchie57]

Tail of the Dragon is on route 129 outside of Maryville TN and runs 11 miles across the border to NC. Check it out online, theres a lot of info.

[cschmidt1956]

My wife and myself made almost the same trip last year in our then new 08 Saturn Astra XR-3. It was the BEST Car trip we've ever had and the most FUN I've ever had driving on public roads at near or slightly over the speed limit.

In my new job, I don't have vacation yet. But I just can't wait to take my 2LT/RS back down there again!

Great write up!