What a great start to this trip across our country. There are a vast number of auto dealers on the West Coast who could learn a thing or two from dealers here in the South. I am talking about how they do business and treat customers; fantastic! I am going to refrain from showing pictures of the sales person and the dealership as it would give away the car…..tune in tomorrow for that.  

Larry Clayton from the dealership picked me up this morning after a nice leisurely breakfast at the “DOWNTOWN” Marriot…Larry is a very likeable guy…I am sure he does well there. As we walked into the dealership he asked if I wanted a coffee, handed me the keys to the “car” as I had asked to take a look at it. It was parked up-front, detailed, fueled and ready to go. I’ll give you this much….It is Black…it was detailed VERY well.

Happy with the car, I was introduced to Tracy; I think she is either the finance manager or office manager. She had all of the paperwork ready to go…no bullshit, no sell you this, sell you that…just done and ready to sign. Nice! I then met Jeff Davis the used car manager and who I had worked with and then of course, Dee. Dee had spent a great deal of time answering emails and getting everything done….Thanks Dee!! What a great bunch of people….THIS is what dealerships should be like. I am however, going to have to learn a new language; Southern. DAMN!

What I had expected to be a 3 hour ordeal (it would have been in California) ended up being about twenty minutes. Larry walked out to the car with me and started showing me how things worked….he was just so darn nice and helpful.

A hearty hand shake and I was on my way. A quick seven miles and onto I- 40 west…hammer down…well Cruise on at 68mph…the Troopers are not all that nice I hear and I did not want to find out. The car does everything remarkably well. It is very comfortable and has about every option known to man: Nav, premium sound, heated and cooled seats, Sat radio, Leather, and a couple of others that would give it away…so, Steve…your gonna have to do some guessing….still…love you too bro!  I took a number of shots from the car while driving…. I had to crop a few..just for my buddy Steve

My planned destination for the day was to be Tulsa…maybe, I was going to take it easy and enjoy the drive. Just west of  Asheville North Carolina I- 40 was closed due to a rock slide and I was forced to take a detour through the Smokies. I stopped at a little corner store and asked the nice lady for directions…she said something in a language that I am certain is from some distant continent but handed me directions that she had already copied; she had been asked before. North on the 24 to the 209 West and through Hot Springs and then into Tennessee. What a drive - a fantastic stretch of asphalt that ribbons itself through the mountains, down into valleys and back up again. I wish it was perhaps a month later and a little more green, but, still just beautiful in the late winter months. Traffic…none existent. In over 3 hours of driving I may have seen three cars- maybe. Wonderful thing that rock slide J Driving through Newport Tennessee I found where all the people who are in those Wall Mart photos come from…every friggin one one of them!

The car handled all of this remarkably well. Steering feel was far better than expected, brake modulation and pedal feel a bit soft though not terrible and a boat load of grunt; impressive grunt! Fantastic seats!  All in all pretty impressive and actually fun at times….FAR better than what I had expected….I could actually warm up to this thing.

Back on I-40 it started to piss a little rain and it was beginning to get dark, so I stopped and got something to eat at Donna’s Diner. I was hoping for one of those Diner, Drive-in and Dives kind of meals…you know; greasy spoon great like the T.V show….nope….Donna’s pretty much sucks.

Bedding down at the (I am sure, one-time) world renowned Alpine Lodge in Cookeville TN. It is quite…..