(originally appeared Nov. 2014 at Edmunds.com)

Texas. The unending plains state. Vast. Huge. Maybe the only state in the nation more self-absorbed than California. It’s ironic that we’re here to pick up one of Audi’s most diminutive models in America.

We had two options: Wait several weeks for a truck to haul our new 2015 Audi A3 2.0T Quattro S Tronic long-termer back from Texas, or fly to Houston and ride it across the plains and southwest ourselves in a weekend. Around this office you only need the flimsiest of excuses for a road trip. Kurt Niebuhr and I raised our hands.

Continue reading “Audi Across the Southwest, Part One: Houston to Hollywood” →

(originally appeared May 2015 at Edmunds.com)

When we last left off, many months ago, we’d spent the day flying to Houston, retrieving our 2015 Audi A3 from the port and knocking out a photoshoot. The next day we awoke to dreary skies, intending to make Lubbock that night, and setting us up for a run through New Mexico, Tucson, and the last leg home.

Continue reading “Audi Across the Southwest, Part Two: Brisket, Barflies and the Long Road Home” →

(originally appeared October 2013 at Edmunds.com)

When it comes to straws, we drew the long ones. While our colleagues Ron and Phil did the actual hard work of ordering up our 2014 Corvette Stingray long-termer from a local dealer, Photo Editor Kurt Niebuhr and I got the cake assignment to go fetch the car. The purchase price included the $990 dealer option for Museum Delivery, which would send our car from the plant in Bowling Green, Kentucky, to the main lobby of the National Corvette Museum on the other side of the highway. From there, you pick it up and drive it away.

Kurt and I would only need to bring the Stingray home in one piece. But with 2,200 miles between Bowling Green and home, that wasn’t guaranteed.

Continue reading “Corvette Crossings Part 1: Signed, Sealed, Delivered” →

(originally appeared October 2013 at Edmunds.com)

Day One, Continued: Bowling Green to Nashville

The boss wants a burnout photo. The boss always wants a burnout photo. Since we like continued employment, we’re happy to oblige. Kurt’s more qualified to lay down good stripes than I. My burnout would end on the curb, or in this case, in the ditch. And anyway, with just 27 miles on the engine, I’m happy to let Kurt bear the burden of any piston rings that crumble out the exhaust. I take the camera instead.

Continue reading “Corvette Crossings Part 2: Workingman’s Blues” →

(originally appeared October 2013 at Edmunds.com)

Light rain is falling this morning in Nashville. Guess the Stingray is getting wet today.

Sleepy surf troubadour Jack Johnson’s tour buses are parked outside our hotel, so we pull the Corvette in front for some photos in the drizzle, then set a destination for Alabama in the nav system. I’ve convinced Kurt to make a 65-mile detour between here and Memphis to let me geek on a couple of legendary recording studios: Muscle Shoals Sound Studios and Fame. I promise great photo backgrounds.

Continue reading “Corvette Crossings Part 3: Muscle Shoals and Memphis Soul” →

(originally appeared October 2013 at Edmunds.com)

Day Three: Memphis > Arkansas > almost Oklahoma

A confession: We spent most of our cross-country road trip driving a four-cylinder Corvette.

That’s right: V4, baby, every day, most of the day. That should merit exclusion from any Corvette club with a shred of dignity.

Continue reading “Corvette Crossings Part 4: Tell Your Mama, Tell Your Pa” →

(originally appeared October 2013 at Edmunds.com)

Days Four & Five: Arkansas > New Mexico > California

Early breakfast in Arkansas and today’s goal is Santa Fe, New Mexico. At 842 miles, it’s ambitious. We leave early, pass through the rest of Arkansas and make our second fuel stop around mid-afternoon in Checotah, Oklahoma. Even here at the southern fringes of the prairies, you can feel the distance between horizons. The sky is massive out here.

Continue reading “Corvette Crossings Part 5: Rattles, Hums and America’s Road” →