Road Trip: Chicago, IL to Daytona Beach, Florida. Fun Fun.

[DUI Elite]

Weapon of choice - 9500ix (all I have in my arsenal for now. I need to save for more toys )

On the Way to Florida
Only got 3 to 5 alerts the entire way, all were legitimate. Best one was a 2.2 mile Ka Alert in Hills. Another was a 1.7 mile K Alert in an area with plenty of trees. All of the alerts were at least .75 miles in advance of passing the shooting LEO so I'm glad. I'm honestly LOVING how well my 9500ix is breaking in. Its exceeding all my initial expectations (especially after all the tough love this forum has for it lol).

Side Comment: Florida State Police are some sneeky bastards lol. They have some of the highest enforced highways I've seen the entire trip - not necessarily scanning but I'm guessing waiting for the right person to I/Own. They even have the most number of "bald" crown vics and impalas i've ever seen. (No light bar on roof). EDIT: Slicktops (thanks protias) They also pick very interesting hiding spots (under unlit overpasses; ditches; rest area parking lots etc) - making use of their dark front and rear panels.

On that note however, I'm deeply jealous of the 70 mph speed limit Florida drivers have, and the fact most of the public is sane enough to cruise at 80 without being complete idiots.

(another) Side Comment: I-95 is one of the most irritating highways to travel on to get to Florida. Countless soccer mom vans or Chevy Suburbans live in the left lane because they're too scared that if they ACTUALLY LET PEOPLE PASS, they won't be able to get back into the left lane. Safe to say, I irritated the hell out of some people for sneeking in to pass their slow *ss.

I had my Father's Audi Q5 (who's water pump decided to implode (factory defect lol I wasn't THAT hard on it) - Had a rental Audi A4 2.0T that I attempted to beat on. I'll post pics when I get back to Chicago)

Either way, just felt like posting the experiece as its the first road trip I've had with the 9500ix. I'll edit this comment with info about the drive back. Wish me luck guys, drive safe!

edit: btw, idk if this is the right section. I put it in regional because I was gonna talk about experience in each state, but I guess Real Experience might be a more suitable section. If necessary, feel free to move it Mods. Thanks in advance

[protias]

The "bald" CVs are called slicktops.

[declansdad]

You think I95 is bad in FL, then you don't want to travel from Richmond, VA to NYC....just brutal.

Thanks for sharing your experiences; I'll come back to this post in February before I head on down to FL.

Michael

[Hunter]

thankx for sharing this.

[DUI Elite]

The "bald" CVs are called slicktops.

Fixed. Thanks man, couldnt think of the word at the moment.

You think I95 is bad in FL, then you don't want to travel from Richmond, VA to NYC....just brutal.

Thanks for sharing your experiences; I'll come back to this post in February before I head on down to FL.

Michael

Ohhhhh I believe it. I understand being a tourist and not knowing where your going and all, but dont block traffic. Be confused in the right lane please I was in stop and go traffic for 45 min on 95 South FOR GAPERS DELAY (watching the remains of an accident of some sort on the other side of the road). I was beyond amazed. It was like people never saw a car smack a sign (it was a mile marker sign if you care lol).

I always enjoyed reading other peoples experiences so I thought I'd join the cool kids. Time to finally enjoy the weather

[switch626]

The Gapers delay doesn't surprise me at all. I once knew a guy who did an experiment on I-95 here. On a day when traffic was moving nicely, he pulled over, got out and raised his hood (as if he was having trouble. Sure enough, instant traffic jam!

He then put his hood down and procedded down the off ramp.

I enjoy listening to the truckers on the CB when they see this stuff. Their comments are often very entertaining. At the same time, they are reassuring that it isn't that way everywhere.

[gyrate]

After some germans got "expired" at a rest stop years ago, FHP is stationed at like 90% of the rest stops after hours. It used to be 10pm but some are there earlier or all the time now. They are NOT interested in you, regardless if their radar is on

FHP directly gets money into their pension funds from citations. They are literally working for themselves. That's why they are all over.

Although take a trip down US1 into the keys. 1 troop car for every other car on the road.

[Event Horizon]

Although take a trip down US1 into the keys. 1 troop car for every other car on the road.

X2 on that. Had so much fun owning them with the V1 some time ago I went down there. So many radar enforcement traps.

[DUI Elite]

Got back last night - the trip back was significantly smoother avoiding 95. I took 75 up through Atlanta and went through Tennessee to go up the Illinois side. On the way back, had 7 legitimate alerts - all from Tennessee to about Central Illinois. Nothing beyond that. There was one nasty truck fire for those on 75 south that proved to affect 75 north drivers as well but nothing out of the expected. I forgot to mention, on the way down, theres one unmarked slicktop dark blue crown vic that runs I/O outside of Indianapolis. Idk who it is, but I believe its the same officer because I ran into him twice. (I was in Indianapolis a while back and saw him on the way then too...)

Enough with the boring shizz. On with the pictures

ON THE WAY
the Smokey Mountains. Kinda cool to see Quattro work its magic in all the mountain snow.


I-95 South. Everyone parked for at least a half hour because of gapers delay. Idk how it was even possible.



1st day out, was on the way to the Daytona race track to see what all the buzz is about, and I see "Turn Off Engine! Check Coolant Level!" Come from the On board Computer of the Audi -_-

[IMG][/IMG]

Pulled into a Popeyes right away and let it cool. Reservoir was completely empty. Checked the upper radiator hose - system didn't feel like it had any pressure so I knew I had a leak somewhere.



Had it towed to the Audi dealer in Orlando (50 miles away). Thank god for free road side assistance / new car warranty. Turns out it was a factory defect with the water pump. It pushed itself out of the housing after the plastic impellor pooped out I got an aluminum replacement



the rental car! 2011 Audi A4 2.0T


pretty peppy, but nothing crazy. I only had it for about a day. Got my father's Q5 back and went on with the vacationing.

One very cool thing - Daytona Beach Patrol lets people drive their car on the beach for free (in winter)







My favorite

[Event Horizon]

Beautiful Audi's!!! and I LOVE the rental car :-)