Roadtrip: San Francisco to Park City in a Lotus Elise.

I had finally negotiated a price and had bought my ticket.  I was flying to San Francisco to pick up my new to me 2005 Lotus Elise in my favorite color -- Laser Blue.  I caught a one-way flight from Salt Lake City, Utah to San Francisco with a brief layover in Phoenix, Arizona. 

It was simply love at first sight!  I met the current owner at his downtown SF condo and quickly completed all necessary paperwork, finally getting the keys to my new Elise.  After spending two days in San Francisco with my brother and sister-in-law, I headed out of San Francisco via I-80 early on Sunday, March 10, 2013....770 miles away from Park City, Utah.  I had to be at work first thing Monday morning so the journey would be done in a single day; not a bad thing with a new Lotus and hundreds of miles on open roads in Northern Nevada!

The Route:  I would be traversing Northern California, via I-80 through Sacramento, up Donner's Pass to Reno and then race across the vast northern Nevada desert into Utah to the Bonneville Salt Flats and onto Salt Lake City and Park City, Utah.

After leaving downtown San Francisco, I crossed the Bay Bridge, snapping a few shots on Treasure Island with the San Francisco skyline.  Because I left early on a Sunday, I was able to avoid all congestion and was quickly out of the Bay Area.  I made a quick pit stop for gas and a donut in Vacaville, California.  The Elise only has a 10 gallon gas tank so it's range in roughly 250 miles on the highway.  To be safe, I would fill up every 200 miles.  However in Nevada, I would need to fill up more often because the area is so remote.  I would end up filling up 6 times on the trip back to Park City.

I quickly reached Sacramento, California's state capital and continued to race toward Nevada.  I was now in new territory;  I had never driven this stretch of I-80 between Sacramento and Reno.  I-80 quickly rises out of the Central Sacramento Valley into the northern Sierra Nevada mountain range that lies on the California - Nevada border.  Long sweeping 80-90mph turns cover this section of I-80 making for a memorable journey.  Here I made my first friend - a mid 80s Porsche 911.  We continued powering up Donner's Pass before he exited off at Truckee, California.  I made a quick stop at the Donner's Pass rest area to catch a quick view of the amazing scenery.  It was only mid march so snow was still plentiful along the highway.



I quickly dropped down into the Reno valley and stopped for a quick bite at Qdoba.  This was the first time I realized how much attention was garnered by the bright blue Lotus.   I was quickly approached by several people in the restaurant asking what it was and if it was fast.  After a nicely portioned chicken burrito, I filled up the Lotus again and headed east into the Nevada desert. 




I was now in the open country of Northern Nevada.  There is literally nothing out here but long, straight roads.  I was lucky to have sunny skies the whole trip and moderate temperatures.  Air conditioning is not a strength of Lotus and mine is no different.  Thankfully temperature stayed in the mid 60s (unlike my summer trek across Nevada 5 months later).  As I inched across Nevada, I ran into a bit of bad luck, hitting a bird at 90 mph just outside Winnemucca, NV.  I was extremely lucky that the bird got caught in an air dam vent on my front bumper without causing any damage.  Using a napkin, I was able to pull the bird's remains out of the air dam grate.  Good thing I picked up that donut in Vacaville and grabbed some napkins!

I continued racing across the desert through Battle Mountain (town didn't match the name), Elko, Wells and finally to Wendover on the Nevada - Utah border.  This stretch was fairly uneventful other than countless downshifts into 4th gear and quick bursts up to 100mph!  And of course the tunnel just outside Carlin, Nevada.  The Lotus sounds amazing from a cam change at 6,000rpm to redline at 8,000rpm especially with an aftermarket Larini exhaust! 

Just a few miles east of Wendover is the Bonneville Salt Flats.  I was lucky to reach them just as the sun was setting and get some awesome photos of the Lotus on the salt flats.  Being that is was early March, most of the flats were covered in water except for a cool stretch on the western flats. 

I had just two hours left from Bonneville to Salt Lake City but unfortunately the sun had set and I had to dial down the speed.  The Lotus doesn't have the best headlights and hitting wildlife at 80mph would be disaster.  I finally reached home just after 9PM mountain time and carefully tucked away the new Lotus into my garage.  What a trip!  The Lotus was uncomfortable and loud but I couldn't have had a better trip.  I put just under 800 miles on it my first weekend and have continued driving it, amassing 15,000 miles on it in my first year of ownership!  It only had 27,000 miles when I bought it, now it has 42,000!

Check out my YouTube for videos of my Lotus:  youtube.com/TheStradman