We had planned to leave Seattle for our cross-country drive Sunday afternoon, but getting 2 Miatas into–yes, into–our 24ft. U-haul proved to be a little more difficult than we thought. After trying a variety of methods, including using the ramps that came with our U-haul rig and a local corporation’s Miata-friendly loading dock, we bought 2 gigantic 4″x10″x16′ beams and fashioned makeshift ramps. Here’s a quick run-though of the rest of our attempts.

At first we couldn’t get the Miata to mount the beams (4 inches is a big step), so we extended the ramps using the ones that came with the trailer to ease out the transition. That worked well and I was able to drive the first Miata to the edge of the truck’s liftgate. At that point the front wheels fell off the end of the ramp, landing inside the truck but also causing the car to bottom out the frame rails on the ramps. It was stuck well enough that I could spin up the rear tires easily. This is disconcerting when in a car 3-feet in the air.

Our solution was to jack the front of the car up by the subframe, freeing it from the wooden ramps. Then, I slowly creeped the car forward while Henry steadied the jack. The car moved forward, fell off the end of the ramps, and landed fully inside the truck. The first one–the easy one–was done. On to the second one, which we would do in the dark.

The second one went up into the truck much more easily because we redesigned the ramps. Using bricks, we made the huge beams meet the platform of the truck exactly. The biggest problem though, was space: A Miata, stock, is 13′ long. The truck is 24. We removed the front and rear bumpers of both cars, the raised the front of the second Miata so that it hung over the trunk of the first. Then, we creeped the second one forward until it cleared the door of the cargo area. It fit–with about 3/4 of an inch to spare.

This took us about 7 hours–stressful hours–total, and we decided to shut down for the day.

This morning we made another visit to Home Depot and bought a hodgepodge of wood and gardening bricks to construct platforms for the front of the second Miata. After about an hour it was secure. Now we’re throwing the last few things into the truck. In an hour or so we should be on our way.

Pictures are coming, as are more details about the Miata adventure. But right now there isn’t quite time.

Clint and I went to a 2-day event at Watkins Glen with the SCDA last Monday and Tuesday. The weather was beautiful, and The Glen was amazing, as per usual. Below is a video I took of Clint tooling his Protege around the track. My Miata could lose him on the straights, but that is to be expected with 40 hp more. Clint hit 101 mph up the back straight, just a few MPH shy of the Miatas. In the corners, however, we were just about even, and I drive pretty well myself:

Yes, that is a Porsche 944 that we both pass. It caught up to us on the back straight but, once again, twice the horsepower will do that. Watch how even we all are through the chicane though. Proof once again that it is the driver, not the car. Read the rest of this entry »

Tomorrow Henry and I will leave Seattle for Boston. The trip will take one week. We’ll be posting regularly as we drive, treating you all to whatever weird happenings or strange things we see in the barren and bumbly lands of Colorado and Nebraska. We can’t make any promises though, as we’ll be at the mercy of whatever wireless internet is available.

I have no doubt that we’ll encounter some adventures along the way. We always do, even on much shorter road trips. So prepare yourselves. Our mad dash across the country begins in about 24 hours.