Supergoat Garage

My favorite part of buying a new-to-me car is its first road trip. Well probably not the cars first road trip as it has 140k, but it was my first proper road trip in it. Just a quick two-day jaunt through the great state of South Carolina. I went from Summerville, SC to Charlotte, NC and back which is a bit over 400 miles round trip. If you are unfamiliar with Summerville, it’s a few miles northwest of Charleston. The drive takes about 3 hours on the interstate. It’s noticeably longer taking back roads which is what I did on the way back.

The journey began like many of them do when you’re a car person. A wash! It has been a few..er..several weeks since the car last had a bath, so I gave it a very good scrub down. Two full washes, a clay bar and just some quick spray wax. I want to do an actual wax application on it but for right now the spray wax will work for this trip. It shined up great, aside from the half-ass painted OEM wheels that I still need to find a solution for courtesy of the previous owner. I also took the time to top off my oil, coolant and brake fluid. None of them really needed it but I felt better checking it and adding a small drop or two for good measure. I also made sure I had my emergency air pump and flat repair kit just in case.

The reason for the trip was I was going to a KoRn concert. I’ve seen them before, but they were also touring with Gojira and Spiritbox. Two bands I have not seen before. I’m a big fan of Spiritbox so I jumped at the opportunity to see them live. I know relatively little about Gojira other than they played at the Olympic opening ceremony and sounded great. I was excited to see them too and hopefully find a new-to-me band to listen to.

I was going with a group from my work and would be following them up. They would be riding in a Chevrolet Silverado. I of course offered for someone to ride with me, but no one wanted to be crammed into a Miata for three hours other than me. Their loss as it was quite comfortable, but I also get it. It can feel cramped with two people in it. I could have crammed into the truck with them so we could only take one car, but I decided to grab a room in Charlotte for after the concert instead of driving back like they were. I also didn’t want to pass up the chance to take this car on my first road trip with it.

My plan was to follow them up so we could arrive as a group which would see us taking I-26 to I-77 to get there. However, the next day I was going to take back roads all the way back. It would add over an hour to the trip. I was hopeful it would be worth it and would find out in about 24 hours. I was excited.

The drive up was pretty uneventful. Interstate for hours with a pit stop at Chick-fil-a. As I was riding solo, I listened to a podcast that lasted almost the entire trip. As I got closer to the venue I turned on some music to get in the mood. We arrived a bit early, still had about an hour before gates opened so we did a quick trip through the local Wal-Mart just to kill time and then got appetizers at a bar. Once it was time we went to find parking.

The plan was to just park in the free parking area that is included with our concert ticket but first the people I was with pulled into a parking lot that advertised event parking. I figured they wanted to park here instead, which seemed like a good idea as it would be much easier to leave the event from the off-lot parking area than from the venue itself with it’s one road in and out. While they were talking to the attendant, I looked down to get my wallet and grab cash. I looked up and it was my turn. I reluctantly gave the guy $25 and pulled into a spot. While that was $25 more than the free spot we planned on, it was $50 cheaper than the VIP parking the venue advertised and would be even quicker to exit so I figured why not.

I get out of my car and see the Silverado with my friends in it driving off. They opted not to pay $25 and instead park in the free lot. Apparently when I was looking down getting my cash and assuming they were paying, they were actually asking where the free lot was and then left. Communication. It’s a wonderful thing. I will give them credit that they realized this before pulling out and one of the guys hopped out to walk up with me so I wasn’t walking alone which was nice. But you want to know what else would be nice? Having my $25 back. Oh well, it’s done, and I’m parked. On to the concert!

We bought lawn tickets as they were cheap and we planned this trip on a bit of a whim. We got there early enough though to be able to find some really close seats, and by “seats” I mean a close patch of grass. But it was our grass. As we were there to see KoRn we decided to get festive and wear corn related gear. One of the guys I was with also brought and actual ear of corn. This proved to be very popular, we had people asking us to pose with them and take our picture all night. I can’t tell you how many people have a picture of me and I have no idea who they are.

Spiritbox was up first. That’s the band I was really there to see. They put on a great 30min set that felt too short. But the half hour they did play was fantastic. Very tight, sounded great. I loved every song. Up next was Gojira. It took about 45min or so between Spiritbox and Gojira and I didn’t really know why at first. Obviously, they have to set the stage for the next band, but they were moving fast and it seemed like it was taking forever. But once the curtain was up and they hit the stage it was apparants. Lots of pyrotechnics, huge screens and a great light show accompanied a very heavy, hour long set of music. I mentioned before I didn’t really know much about Gojira before this but I did recognize a few songs, one of which was the one they played for the Olympics.

Next up was KoRn with a massive 18 song set that went fairly quick as a lot of their songs they played were shorter. But one of the showstoppers was “Blind” where the mosh pit went absolutely bonkers. Thankfully by this time I had moved back some. The mosh pit started small during Spiritbox, got noticeably bigger during Gojira and by the time they were done it had nearly engulfed where we were sitting. A few of my friends joined in, while me and another guy decided it was time to move. I’m not against a mosh pit, but at 43 I think my time in those are done. So I watched the rest of Gojira and all of KoRn from a safer distance.

When it was time to leave the group decided to try and find a Waffle House, but I was exhausted. I made the long walk back to my car. Their plan was to grab a late meal and then drive 3 hours back to Charleston, it was after 11pm at this point so I was feeling pretty good about my decision to get a room.

Thankfully the hotel I stayed at offered mobile check-in and mobile key so was able to show up around 11:30ish and head straight to my room. I had a king suite and was excited to get to bed. First impression was a bit of a letdown as it smelled faintly of cigarettes. But it was late, and I was ready to lie down so I just dealt with it. I cranked the AC down to 60 because I could, got ready for bed, and watched a YouTube video to wind down.

My plan was to wake up at 6am and hit the road. That plan was slightly derailed as the group texted at 3am to let me know they were safe. It took me a bit to fall back asleep and I overslept a bit. I got up a little past 7, showered and got back to my car at 7:30. First thing I did was set google maps to my home and select “Avoid Highways”. This immediately bumped my travel time from an estimated 3hrs and 20min to 4hrs and 30min. I had the day off and was ready to just settle into a long drive.

I pulled out and drove through some main Charlotte roads. I forget the names but one took me right past Charlotte Speedway and the ZMax Dragstrip. After half an hour of Charlotte traffic, which was fairly light in general, I was firmly on the lesser traveled B-Roads. Top was down, music was up, and I was cruising.

Country roads in North and South Carolina seem to mainly go by some farmland and trees or brush. I probably should have expected that being raised in SC but I never really explored back roads very often here. Where I lived, I mainly used the interstate to go places. I’ve always lived in or just outside of the bigger cities. So this wasn’t a surprise, but it was a very nice change of pace.

The pictures above do a good job of encapsulating the typical scenery I encountered on the trip. Besides trees and landscapes, I also drove through a few small towns. Very small towns. Towns where the one traffic light stereotype holds true. But whether the towns had just one light, two lights or only a stop sign they all shared something in common. Dollar Stores. And not just one. They all had a Family Dollar, Dollar General and Dollar Tree. Where there was one, there was all, and they were already packed with people very early in the morning. I saw more dollar stores than I did McDonalds. It was an interesting juxtaposition seeing old, run down but still operating automotive repair centers and trailer parks right next to a Family Dollar that looks like it was just built. Clean, bright, pristine. In these towns, the dollar store was king. Or at least that was the perception. I wish I had taken a picture or two, that would have made my point easier to make. But I was too busy trying to spot them while driving to also reach for my phone.

About halfway through the trip my low tire pressure light came on. My first reaction was “What did I run over?”. I don’t remember hitting anything or running over anything suspect and the car was driving fine. However, I still wanted to check and I was currently on a state road with nowhere to safely pull off. I carried on. I came to a small town and felt some relief that there would be a gas station to stop at and check my tires. My luck, however, proved otherwise. It would seem that the section of road I was on was residential only. About 15 miles later I did encounter another town with a gas station that seemed safe enough, so I pull in. None of my tires were obviously low and I didn’t have a tire pressure gauge on me, at least not one that worked, so I didn’t know which tire would be low. The gauge on my pump was wildly inaccurate. I didn’t want to be stopped long as I was having fun on my drive so I added air to all four tires. Just about 60 seconds of air or so each so I knew that they all got some extra air. At this point I forgot that the car has a tire light reset button so when I got back in and it was still on, I gave a light sigh. But again, the tires did not look low, and they all just got a quick injection of air so I got on with my journey.

As I was getting to within 80 miles of my house I turned onto a road and saw that the next road it wanted me to turn on was I-95. I guess when I turned off the car and then back on while filling my tires the “avoid highways” option got reset. I went back in and set it. Boom, 15 minutes added back to my commute. But worth it.

The rest of my drive back was much of the same. Great scenery, good roads and beautiful weather. Most of the roads I was on were state roads and highways that were relatively straight but way more interesting to drive than the interstate. The Miata did not go to waste though. When Google Maps wanted me to go to another state highway, the way to it usually consisted of turning off my current straight highway and onto some curvy roads cutting through the woods. 55mph speed limit and all on route to the next longer straight highway. The Tail of the Dragon it was not but compared to I-77 or I-26 I may as well have been on the Nürburgring!

My journey began at 7:30am in the morning and I was getting lunch a mile from my house around 11:40am. I had beaten the initial estimated time of 4hrs and 30min by a few. My goal was to be back home by 10 but oversleeping did not help my cause. I pulled into my garage, McDonalds in hand and turned off the car. I sat there for a minute. Reflecting on my trip. The car was faultless. The low tire pressure was my fault for not checking before I left on the trip.

From the moment I left my house until now, it never put a foot wrong. That should be the minimal expectation for any car really, but with 140k miles on the clock I was expecting a strange noise or something to pop up on a longer trip, but the Miata wouldn’t do it. It just pressed on, happy and eager. Asking for more. The concert was great. Spending time with friends was fantastic. The trip down the back roads of NC and SC was unforgettable. But the time spent with the Miata and building that bond between driver and car was priceless.

I drive this car every week. My daily driver is a BMW 335 that has been the very definition of comfortable and reliable, but it’s not as fun as the Miata. So even though it’s the “fun” car it picks up daily driver duties on occasion too. From day one it has always felt like my car. We had bonded already from all the work I have put into it, but this trip was the first time I felt like the car also had my back. I’ve spent a lot of time and money to bring this higher mileage car back from the disaster the previous owner left it in. I still have more to do too. But for the first time I felt like the car was telling me “Thank you”. Oh yea, I also properly filled the tires and reset the light.

Thank you for reading. I’ll see you in the next one.