S2K - Seattle to LA
Los Angeles, CA - 1,355 miles of coastline. A year ago, Sara got into her oceanography PhD program at LSU, and so it was time to start planning the move from the Northwest to the South. Sara moved first and started getting settled, but since I still had a decent design job and a condo to rent out in Seattle, my move was delayed a little. By the end of 2019, I got my ducks in a basket (that’s how it goes right?) and we started planning the move. Instead of taking a diagonal route through Utah and Colorado like the previous year, we agreed this was the best opportunity to finally drive Highway 101 down the West Coast. So with our possessions crammed into a shipping container and my 1993 NA Miata finally sold, we set out.
To set a baseline, my 2005 Honda S2000 is a pretty basic specimen. I’m the third owner, It’s been garaged it’s whole life and the only modification it had when I received it was an Alpine stereo that was top-shelf back in 2008. Since purchasing, I added a new soft top, clutch and AP1 flywheel, Fortune Auto 500 coilovers, and Toyo Proxes4 tires on the original wheels for our trip. This is no dedicated track car, and by no means were we sacrificing much to make the drive in this car.
Day one’s itinerary had us racing down I-5 to Portland; a familiar drive for most Seattlites. The Wilson River Highway pass from Portland to Tilamook (yes, the cheese place) was a different story however. It’s the first time I’d driven the S2K in snow. While slightly terrifying, this first day of snow and rain had some great roads, and we knew that weather would only get better as we traveled.
Southern Oregon’s coast and Northern California’s red woods gave us rain on day two. Racing through the misty forest environment was equally exciting to the Oregon’s snowy pass, and provided it’s own thrills in the form of standing water and tree-debris. Through all of this, the Toyo all seasons managed incredibly well. They were very confident in wet conditions while still feeling decently responsive with the semi-stiff settings on the coilovers. the Fortune Auto 500s themselves are an awesome product for casual drivers like myself. With a lot of the alignment functions on the chassis itself, FA’s S2000 coilover kits have not changed dramatically since the 2000s. My 7th gen model did include FA’s new shocks with thicker shafts, awesome clamping collars, and their new generation of springs. Mounting components specific to the S2000 remain the familiar and high quality green anodized aluminum.
Day three took us through San Francisco and the Golden Gate Bridge on our way to Santa Cruz. I can’t express just how much I love that part of California; just South of the Bay. Weather’s amazing, the coast is beautiful, and you’re outside of the metropolitan chaos. Also Highway 101 and Highway 1 between Santa Cruz and Los Angeles is easily the best part of the drive. It was dry, winding, and with plenty of elevation changes as you race along the ocean-side cliff. Eight straight hours of carving up corners. It' doesn’t get much better. Life will throw big changes your way whether you’re ready or not. The real skill is finding opportunities to make memories when these changes show up. Leaving Seattle was difficult, but without moving, Sara and I would have missed out on an amazing road-trip.
