2006 Subaru Impreza WRX STI

2006 Subaru Impreza WRX STI, originally uploaded by istargazer.

It's been awhile since I took a picture of the STI. Here it is as of yesterday with its latest bobble: the Autospeed License Plate Trim.

Wall Drug Parking

Wall, South Dakota

On the road again....

We're back on the road today, leaving the DC area, leaving Maryland and encountering more toll roads....

Spotted! VW R32

R32Argent gave me a turn at the wheel of his Volkswagen R32 last night for "scenic route" trip to get some fuel. It took me a few minutes to get used to being in a small car again, but once I got comfortable it sure felt great to stretch my legs!

Ocean City, Maryland

Breakfast Time

Racecomp Engineering

Hey! Racecomp Engineering is in Elkridge, Maryland! They made it a breeze for me to pick up Ver.2 Yellow Springs for the STI. I can't wait to install them. I even got a couple of stickers :0)

Here's an extra picture because I missed yesterday....

National Air and Space Museum: Udvar-Hazy Center

The Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center, Chantilly, VA.

The infamous B-29 bomber, Enola Gay is on view here. Sixty-two years ago today, on August 6, 1945, this Martin-built B-29-MO dropped the first ever atomic weapon used in combat on Hiroshima, Japan.

Over 140,000 people, mostly civilians, were killed.

Find more information at The Official Homepage of the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum and take a virtual tour.

Traffic

Typical traffic on the I-270 outside Washington, DC.

Big Moose

The one on the right :rolleyes: !

Black River Falls, Wisconsin

Spotted! Two wheels + Open road = :0)

Near Chicago Junction, Wisconsin. I'm always surprised when I see riders in states without helmet laws.

Pennsylvania Turnpike

On the I-76 in Pennsylvania.

Sport Honda

Silver Spring, MD. I brought the Odyssey in for "Service B" on Tuesday.

Circuit City, Madison, Wisconsin

We stopped at this Circuit City in Madison earlier this week to buy a new camera: a Sony DSC-N2 which was highly rated in Consumer Reports July '07 issue. It was on clearance so in short supply. We ended up getting the demo model for $100 off Sony's current MSRP.

Garage mates ver. 1

This is the original, non-photochopped version of one of the pictures I posted yesterday.

Spotted! End War

Spotted this Toyota Prius on the I-90 near Lake Station, Indiana.

TGIF... TGIM? Spotted!

I'm falling behind in posting cars for TGIF so I'm going to change the focus a little while I'm on our road trip. Traveling the highways across the United States, I've seen a large variety of vehicles, some more interesting than others. Sometimes I'm not always quick enough to grab the camera and snap a shot, but I have gotten a few.

So for the next little while, TGIF will be supplemented with: "Spotted!"

Kwik-E-Mart #3 - Bladensburg, Maryland

We've been in the DC area for a few days now mostly running errands and getting some shopping done--so not much time for a lot of pics. On Saturday we went to our third Kwik-E-Mart. We made it just in time, because all the Kwik-E-Marts will be changed back to regular 7-Eleven stores at the end of the month.



Two garage-mates finally meet and go out to a few places together! Here's my R32Argent's VW R32 parked next to our Odyssey:



To get here to DC we had to drive through some thunder storms and torrential rain:

Kwik-E-Mart, Chicago, Illinois

We had two busy days of driving, so I'm behind a little. We didn't get to our hotel room until 10 PM last night because we made a couple of extra stops during the day, including this visit to the Kwik-E-Mart in Chicago.



TGIF will be posted tomorrow...does that make it TGIS?

Kum & Go

We stopped at this Cenex station in Rice Lake, Wisconsin for an emergency bathroom break. Luckily enough, it was the first gas station I found that carried NOS energy drink in a bottle.

Needless to say, I bought 3 bottles (and a bag of Wisconsin cheddar cheese curds to go with :0)

The Sleeping Giant on Lake Superior

As viewed from Chippewa Park, Thunder Bay, Ontario.

The Prospector Steak House

Thunder Bay, Ontario. We had dinner there on Saturday and it was delicious. I didn't realize there was a problem until after we got outside and were waiting on the sidewalk when the ambulance pulled up and attended to someone inside.

St. Andrews Church

Thunder Bay, Ontario.

Come as You Are

Uncle Frank's Supper Club has been closed for many years. (It was closed when we were here two years ago.) I like the way it looks like it belongs in another era.

TGIF: The 2007 Ford Shelby GT500

Spotted at the Ford dealership on Memorial Drive in Thunder Bay, On.


From the Auto Editors of Consumer Guide:

The 2007 Ford Shelby GT500
If classic Shelby Mustangs were liberally dosed with Vitamin HP, the '07 Shelby GT500 was a full-blown steroid case. Lurking within was a supercharged 5.4-liter twincam V-8, basically the 550-bhp Ford GT unit with a less-expensive Roots-type blower and milder tuning.

Milder? Not really. Rated horsepower was a thundering 500, torque a stump-pulling 480 pound-feet. This muscle was too much for any automatic on the Ford shelf, so the only transmission was a heavy-duty six-speed manual, familiar from recent Cobras and the race-winning FR500C Mustangs developed by Ford Racing. Thrust control also dictated a beefed-up suspension, big Brembo disc brakes with pizza-size 14-inch four-caliper rotors up front, and sticky high-performance tires sized at 255/45ZR18 up front and a massive 285/40ZR18 out back.

You can get more info from Ford's official site.

You can see a few more pictures of the Shelby GT500 in my Thunder Bay set on Flickr.

The view in New Salem

New Salem, North Dakota. It was quite windy that day because of the effects of a passing thunder storm the day before. The ripples in the grass below was caused by the wind blowing across the field making it look like ocean waves.

Odyssey In the Grass

Theodore Roosevelt National Park, North Dakota.

Detailed with Autoglym

Freshly washed and waxed in Thunder Bay, ON.

Come As You Are

Uncle Frank's Supper Club, Thunder Bay, ON.

World's Largest Buffalo

Here's two taken in Jamestown, ND to make up for yesterday:



World's Largest Buffalo, Jamestown, North Dakota. Actually, the world's largest buffalo, is really a bison.


Frontier Village, Jamestown, North Dakota

Big Sky Montana

At a rest stop along the I-94 in Montana.

TGIF: Truck and Tractor Pull

Sorry there's no specific car for today's TGIF, but I spotted this Subaru dealership on the way to our hotel in Detroit Lakes, Minnesota.

Bug Carnage

Somewhere in Montana.

Steele, North Dakota

I missed yesterday, so here are two pictures for today:


Lone Steer Motel located in Steele, North Dakota.


The World's Largest Sandhill Crane located next to the the Lone Steer Motel.

Both photos are geotagged and you can find them on this map.

Salem Sue: World's Largest Holstein Cow

New Salem, North Dakota.

Theodore Roosevelt National Park, North Dakota

Bison along the park road.

Big Timber, Montana

Big Timber, Montana

Road Trip Day 2: Spokane to Billings

We interupt this program....

...for an important update: We are on the road!

I'm on a trip across the continent going from Vancouver, Canada to Washington, D.C. and I'm using a GPS data logger to track our progress and geotag my photos.

That means instead of posting a daily picture of my STI, I'll be posting pictures of our 2006 Honda Odyssey Touring and a link to a Google map that shows where we traveled and some of the things we saw that day. To tell you the truth, the Odyssey is much more comfortable than the STI for long distance traveling! :0)

We started our journey today on 07-07-07 and here's a picture from this afternoon:



Day 1: Vancouver to Spokane

Alki 3 - Photo by GDB FAN (NASIOC)

Photo by GDB FAN (NASIOC)

TGIF: Mini Photoshoot - 14,500rpm redline + ZeroSports

Photo by RC0310 (NASIOC)
This is a picture for RC0310's Honda sport bike and Jal723's 2004 ZERO/SPORTS STi
World Rally Blue.

Alki 3 - Photo courtesy of Jal723 (NASIOC)

Photo by Jal723 (NASIOC)

Crusie to Alki 3 - Photo courtesy of Jal723 (NASIOC)

Photo by Jal723 (NASIOC)

Geotagging fun!

I bought a GPS data logger today (Sony GPS-CS1) and was testing it out. It allows me to embed GPS location data into my digital pictures and to automatically place them onto a map (in this case, Google Maps). Click here to see the results. It's pretty neat and I'm planning on using it during our road trip this summer.