Visit to Arkansas via Indianapolis and Knoxville

[RichHelms 1]

I am planning a trip to Bentonville, Arkansas in my smart cabrio.

Tentative plans have me driving:

Sept 25 - Toronto to Indianapolis

Sept 26 - Indy to Bentonville

Sept 30 - Bentonville to Knoxville

Oct 1 - Knoxville to Toronto

Should be interesting.

[100MPGUS 0]

I am planning a trip to Bentonville, Arkansas in my smart cabrio.

Tentative plans have me driving:

Sept 25 - Toronto to Indianapolis

Sept 26 - Indy to Bentonville

Sept 30 - Bentonville to Knoxville

Oct 1 - Knoxville to Toronto

Should be interesting.

I am not near any of those places but I am sure it would be interesting. Is this a road trip or a work related?

[RichHelms 1]

Work. If you are familiar with Bentonville you can guess why

[Commander Cody 1]

Walmart's a tough negotiator - good luck! Show them your Smart first - that will soften them up. Maybe even they'll beg for mercy,

Commander Cody

[RichHelms 1]

The deal is done. Just going down for a technical meeting. I just like to drive in my smart.

The trip is about 3,600 kilometers (2,200 miles) and should cost me about $108 US at $3 per gallon of diesel

Now where can you have that much fun for $108? :-)

[RichHelms 1]

Here is the current plan

Sunday Sept 25, drive Toronto to Indianapolis

Monday Sept 26, drive Indy to Bentonville, AR

Friday Sept 30, drive Bentonville, AR to either Knoxville, TN or back to Indy

Sat Oct 1, drive back to Toronto

The trip is 1,900 kms (1,200 miles) each way so this will be my longest trip in the smart.

Indy is the natural half way point and the most direct way from where I live.

[RichHelms 1]

I am leaving Sunday morning (Sept 25) for the drive. I will go via Sarnia and loop on 69 around Detroit and down into Indianapolis. Sunday evening is visiting family. Sunday night I am booked into the Days Inn in Plainfield, Indiana.

I bought a small gas can to carry an extra 1.25 gallons of diesel in case I have problems finding a station on the way. I doubt it but just in case. That will give me another 130k range in a pinch.

My route is all planned on MS Streets and Trips 2005 with the GPS. I have done several trips with S&T now. The only problem I find is reading the screen in bright sun.

[100MPGUS 0]

I am leaving Sunday morning (Sept 25) for the drive. I will go via Sarnia and loop on 69 around Detroit and down into Indianapolis. Sunday evening is visiting family. Sunday night I am booked into the Days Inn in Plainfield, Indiana.

I bought a small gas can to carry an extra 1.25 gallons of diesel in case I have problems finding a station on the way. I doubt it but just in case. That will give me another 130k range in a pinch.

My route is all planned on MS Streets and Trips 2005 with the GPS. I have done several trips with S&T now. The only problem I find is reading the screen in bright sun.

That is a great program. I was traveling across country in a motorhome towing a trailer with my motorcycle on it. Coming into amarillo,tx the axel broke on the trailer. It was the day after thanksgiving! and I typed in trailer repairs in the search window and low and behold, 500 feet up the road, I got my trailer fixed THAT day and was on my way! I wouldnt leave home without it.

[RichHelms 1]

Now that is information in a system. I am impressed.

I like having the system on and showing where I am. Sometime I am going to get one of the laptop setups so that you can hold the laptop in place with a hood so that reading is easy. It was one of the advantages of the old B&W laptops. The monochrome LCD display could always be read.

[RichHelms 1]

On Sunday I drove from Toronto to Indianapolis. The trip was pretty uneventful until I hit Indy. I drove into the Rita storm. It was just a violent rain and wind by this point but I kept having to swerve to avoid deep puddles. Actually I was impressed how well the smart worked in the bad weather. With all of the glass, I could see and I didn't have a long hood to see over.

My favorite incident of the day was two truck drivers in Indiana. I had pulled in to fill up and there was 1 diesel pump. They put in 70 gallons, I put in 4. We had a great laugh. I shot an interesting picture parked by a tractor trailer carrying a large piece of construction machine. I could of parked in its bucket. I will post the pictures later

Sunday - 950 kms in about 10 hours

Monday I drove from Indy to Bentonville Arkansas. Driving through St. Louis was interesting. I have never seen the arch. I wish I had the time to park there for a shot. Mind you I think you could park a tractor trailer there and it would look tiny. The drive is a combination of plains and mountains. I have never driven this area of the country.

Monday - 950 kms in about 10 hours

Today was meetings in Bentonville. I have gotten a wonderful reception to the smart. One restaurant owner came over to tell he in all of his years he has never had so many questions about a car in their parking lot.

One of the people in the meeting when he heard I drove a small car down, opened up his PC to show a picture of his wife by the tiniest car he had ever seen. It was a red smart coupe taking in South Africa. He was so surprised to hear one was out front.

Two gentleman in a van stopped us last night to ask about the smart. They kept trying to get us to talk and finally approached us when we parked at a book store. Just facinated by the car.

Usual questions but no negative comments at all. Having a blast.

Friday I am driving Knoxville, TN. That will be about 1,200 kms in one day. That will be a long day.

[RichHelms 1]

When I wrote the last append, I was running from memory. My notes tell me

Sunday - Toronto to Indianapolis - 988 kms in about 11hours

Monday - Indy to Bentonville, Arkansas - 909 kms in about 10 hours

Tomorrow (Friday) I am driving Bentonville to Knoxville, TN - 1,160 kms

Saturday Knoxville to Toronto - 1,244 kms

Driving around Bentonville has been a blast. Other than one laugh, the response has been very positive. Some people knew the car from Europe trips. Just finishing up packing. I should be on the road by 5:00 am at the lastest. 4:30 am is my goal

[smartzuuk 167]

Awesome stuff Rich - I look forward to seeing a few pictures. If possible, I would like to include your trip report (summarized) in a post on my site.

[RichHelms 1]

I made it back. My total including side trips was 4,430 kms in 7 days. I am working on a report on the trip. What a blast. Yesterday was a killer at over 1,240 kms. I have some good pix and several observations to tell. Just catching up on email and such.

[smartzuuk 167]

Wow - that's a huge day of driving. My worst was Atikokan, ON from 11 am on a Sunday through Swift Current, SK at 4 pm on the the next day... with just 4 hours sleep in the car. 1434 kms - but it seemed like a lot more...

[RichHelms 1]

I have done 1,450 kms in one day when I visited my son in Raleigh, NC but I don't usually like that distance. I find by 900ish I am ready for the drive to end. I could understand a bit of how you would feel doing distance every day for weeks on end. Mine was only 2 days at the start, 3 days there in meetings then 2 days back.

My MP3 player was the key to surviving the drive. I listened to Harry Potter for much of the trip. I have all 6 audio books. They range from 12 hours for book 1 to 26.4 hours for book 5. Book 6 is back to 18.5 hours. These sure make the time go fast.

Two things that were interesting on the trip were the Elvis Presley Welcome Center in Memphis and the Kudzu vines in Tennessee. Kudzu is a vine that was brought over from Japan in the late 1800's for a show. It grows like mad in the south and smothers forests. If it was red, I would swear I was looking at a scene from War of the Worlds.

[firebladetoronto 0]

Very Cool

I am actually heading down to Knoxville on Wednesday...going to take the smart on the DRAGON!!

www.tailofthedragon.com

It is basically a bike and sports car mecca. 318 turns in 11 miles, in the great smokey mountains....would be interesting to see how the smart will do...

I am also getting a buddy to trailer my bike down, so I can have fun on that too....

I will post pics....

[Commander Cody 1]

Note to Firebladetoronto.- the unbelievable ride you are writing about could be the infamous "Tail of the Dragon". Go to the website for Deal's Gap. Unfortunately for the Commander - I tried to become airborne off the Blue Ridge Pky. near Asheville, NC. on my new Harley. Had to hang up my boots after that.

Commander Cody

[smart142 605]

Have fun on the Dragon! I saw a friends video of the road and it was all twists and turns. Just try to avoid ending up on the tree of shame.

We navigated some twisty roads on the Niagara cruise and the smart performed very well. Do tell us if you see any yellow flashing lights indicating the ESP working. Enjoy! You should get an interesting reception from the Americans.

[firebladetoronto 0]

Have fun on the Dragon! I saw a friends video of the road and it was all twists and turns. Just try to avoid ending up on the tree of shame.

We navigated some twisty roads on the Niagara cruise and the smart performed very well. Do tell us if you see any yellow flashing lights indicating the ESP working. Enjoy! You should get an interesting reception from the Americans.

I know the tree...luckily have managed to stay away from it (knock on wood). I lived in Knoxville for 3 years, and used to ride the dragon on my sport bike every weekend....I get yellow warning light here in Toronto...hehehe

[firebladetoronto 0]

Here are some shots of me at the gap on my bike....

http://www.photoreflect.com/scripts/prsm.d...48&adjust=1

http://www.photoreflect.com/scripts/prsm.d...53&adjust=1

http://www.photoreflect.com/scripts/prsm.d...48&adjust=1

http://www.photoreflect.com/scripts/prsm.d...65&adjust=1

http://www.photoreflect.com/scripts/prsm.d...65&adjust=1

http://www.photoreflect.com/scripts/prsm.d...61&adjust=1

[smartzuuk 167]

I can vision a smartour into the US in the future... I am inspired.

My car has 43,000 kms on it, and everything checked out okay when I took it to Eddy on Monday, just a bit of wear on the rear right tire (it's wearing even - but being the power wheel, it is worn the most - only 15-20 k left, at most )

All this to say I have no fear of a breakdown at all. After what my car has been through and done, I'd drive it to Florida in a heartbeat - just make sure I have the oil and filter with me.

[mkt 0]

come on down... see if you can get a discount parking in the theme parks cos you can fit 2 Smarts in one parking spot or go to Miami and look at the sunburned grey market Smarts we have

Diesel is looking at just under USD$3/gallon in Orlando right now (what is that in CAD$/liter... 93-94 cents I think)