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Laundry Day
Posted on March 21st, 2009 No commentsI was not planning on taking a drive this weekend, so far as to tell people at work that I was just going to stay home, but I found myself drawn to the G8 GT. I knew I was going to head to my parent’s house for laundry/dinner, so I figured I’d take the long way.
Total Distance: 112 miles
Driving Time: 4 hours 26 minI figured that I would stick to the local curvy roads today and not do anything too extreme. As I was starting out I noticed a few nice BMW and Mercs leaving Hooters, but no one was headed my way. At this point it started to sprinkle. I hadn’t even thought to check the weather, but who cares… I’m not a witch!
In general, nothing too crazy. I had to deal with some traffic on Foothill Rd, so decided to just enjoy the drive. I wish I could have had some more fun towards the Sunol end of the road, but there is always next time. I really think in the summer this road would be a great place to think about some car-to-car photos… there are lots of trees that hang over the road.
I was going to Livermore to do laundry, but rather than take Hwy-84 (which is no longer an exciting drive), I headed north to Highland Rd. While driving through Pleasanton wasn’t too thrilling, Highland Rd. is a fun stretch that I am driving more and more.
So I stopped at the Parent’s place and threw in my laundry. While I waited for the wash cycle to finish I took the time to eat some lunch (potatoes with chili). It was a nice little pit-stop.
Once the clothes were in the dryer, I headed out towards the hills East of Livermore. Once I turned onto Cross Rd. I found myself stuck behind a STUDENT DRIVER! Ok, I understand you are a student driver… but the speed limit was 45mph and you were taking corners at less than 30mph! I guess this was as good a place as any to learn to drive… something other than a straight shot with little other traffic… but come on, just pull over and let me go. I’m sure I was making him nervous, but maybe that’s what the instructor wanted… the student driver to deal with ‘distractions’ behind them.
At N. Flynn Rd. I was able to get some free road, and it was very fun. At the 90deg left from South to North Flynn Rd. I decided to try out the Manual Shift mode. I’m constantly surprised when I look at the gear indicator (in sports mode) and see that I’m running in 5th or 6th gear when going 30-50mph… I’d really figure I should be in 3rd or 4th gear. The nice thing about the G8’s power is that acceleration is quick even while in a high gear, but I digress. So I decided to manually downshift into the corner. I figured that the corner would be taken nicely in 2nd gear, and I was right! Coming out of the corner I rolled into the throttle a little too quickly and the rear end started to slide side-to-side under power. It was really fun, and the G8 GT was quite stable/controllable… even when getting squirrely.
After going up the Altamont Pass I headed out into the central valley. The weather was raining on-and-off, but I was having fun and didn’t need to be home for a few hours. I went down to to Corral Hollow and returned to Livermore. There was a VW behind me most of the way, and I’m sure both of us were having some fun. Once to Carnegie Park we got stuck behind some slow moving cars/trucks. There is a really nice (steep) climb and decent, but I’ve not yet been able to get through this area with clear road ahead. Maybe next time…
I still had some time to drive, so decided to head towards Wente Winery. The road was clear, but doesn’t really go anywhere… just an out-and-back. After swinging by Sycamore Grove I headed home to get my laundry and have some dinner. I was really surprised to see how dirty my car was after the drive, but at least it’s raining.
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