I'm returning to SFO soon as my work assignment in HKG is over. As I will need a car to live in CA I decided to buy one sight unseen from the interwebs from a gentleman in PHL. Whilst I love flying and miles, I also love road trips and having been without a car for the last 11 months my intent is to drive it all the way home. I thought this would be an excellent way to do a Top Gear style challenge.

I figured that there would be a fair few TG aficionados on this forum that would enjoy following us across country so I apologise in advance for those that think Motorweek or Fifth Gear is proper automotive journalism and share my blog address...

http://www.theshortwayacross.com/

We will be blogging and posting videos from our journey to see if we can beat a radio controlled bus heading cross country via UPS ground.

[Information about specific charities for fund-raising deleted by Moderator per FT Rules.]

We hope to be amusing, and not run into too many problems on the way because any delay means my poor dog will be stuck on the tarmac at San Francisco airport as she arrives on the day we are due to arrive.

I hope this provides some entertainment for you all!

tony2x aka "fake Jeremy Clarkson"

PS. Apologies in advance for any 911 owners I offend, it's only a bit of fun.
PPS. Cocking about isn't something dirty.

That makes sense. I guess it's like the term "dicking around" that we use here in the US.

Love it! I shall be following

I'm just not comfortable with two men 'cocking about' in a car.. and what would the neighbors say?

Sounds like sooooo much fun.....at any speed!

But to drive cross-country east to west without following a good bit of Route 66 seems a waste.....but, on second thought, if you're driving a non-American car, then it doesn't make any difference

Will you be tracking your UPS package to see each morning whether it's ahead of you.....or not?

I'm a relatively new fan of Top Gear (on BBC America on cable), so the only mini-challenges I recall involve setting caravan-campers on fire.....

Two fine causes to support....enjoy!!!

I figured you have to be British, Canadian, or Australian. I'm I right? When I saw the subject, I figured that.

This link you provided sounds good to put in the trip reports section.

Gets my vote for thread title of the year!

So yes, we will be tracking the UPS package as we go. I am from London originally have been living in the US since 2005 (SFO) and spent the last 11 months in HKG on a work project. This is my new daily driver so the challenges will have to be non destructive. I don't see myself painting "Man love rules OK" on the side as we drive through Alabama like the TG boys did.

Mods - I'm happy for this to go into the Trip Reports forum if you feel that is the right place. We are collecting miles, just not airline ones (apart from on my credit card on fuel and food stops).

And hotels?

Sounds like it will be an adventurous trip for the OP. Would be looking foward to the OP's report and blogging. To be honest, if I were to do a cross country journey through the roads and highways, I'd much prefer to do it with a personal car or car rental as oppose to doing it with greyhound.

Your blog states that to beat UPS you will have to cover somewhere between 2800 and 3500 miles in four days. Assuming your BMW does not turn on you, and you can blog and post videos whilst in motion with an aircard rather than pulling over to find Internet cafes, this should be a toddle. Stranded after 9/11, two work colleagues and I covered 3000 transcon miles coast to coast in 45 hours flat. Just over two days; ten gas stops plus two sit-down restaurant meals. Not much cocking around going on actually. And this was in a crap 2001 Pontiac Bonneville from Avis.

The one advantage we might have had over you guys was the Bonneville's big back seat, good for sleeping. The back seat of a 3-series is no good for sleeping. Our driving system was: the wheelman drove until he couldn't keep his eyes open any longer, at which point he was relieved by the shotgun occupant / navigator, the sleeper was awakened and assumed shotgun, and the driver crawled into the back seat and passed out. This worked out fine and within three full rotations and change, we had rolled from the White House to Puget Sound.

Good luck. Post your progress.

Good luck and keep FT abreast of your cocking about....

And after all, do keep this in mind:

How hard can it be?

You poor thing, having to that in a Bonneville. I agree there is litle scope for cocking about if you have one of those things. I was tempted to do the aforementioned, and in fact the ante has been upped (see the new post for that) and we have less time now.

Looks like we'll be taking some snoozes in the back of my tiny BMW after all.

Let me get this rationale straight...

"Cocking around" and "dicking around" mean the same thing as "f-ing around"! Yet the first two are not dirty and the latter one is??

Hey, I grew up in Brooklyn, where everyone is bilingual: we speak English and Vulgarity. So I'm not offended by any of those terms. But they are ALL dirty, even if their meanings aren't!

Sounds like more fun than I had on my last transcon drive. Of course we stopped for sleep.