The Drive To Atlanta
 

Just wondering what percentage are driving to Atlanta themselves. Informal Poll: What kinda car and when are you leaving and where from? Include pics of the car!

Re: The Drive To Atlanta
 

Wednesday morning at 6am in the Deejmobile, 1997 Dodge Avenger, modifyed by previous owner to equal ES edition :D (minus moonroof and spoiler..oh well)

Re: The Drive To Atlanta
 

Tuesday 3pm 2003 Sport Trac

Re: The Drive To Atlanta
 

Tuesday, 3am, Detroit, some large seniors bus.

Re: The Drive To Atlanta
 

Tuesday, 5am, Monroe MI, CHarter Bus

Re: The Drive To Atlanta
 

Wednesday, ??:?? AM, Charter bus

Re: The Drive To Atlanta
 

tuesday 3pm o ya i am going with ultimatep o mad road trip in the sport trac....to bad he spent all his money on his air tools, so he couldnt get the chip so we can only average about 100mph

Re: The Drive To Atlanta
 

I need to start a foundation "Super-chip-for-UlTiMaTeP Fund" Help the needy speeders!

Re: The Drive To Atlanta
 

Me and a few other of my teamates will be leavin tuesday followin Ultimate P in an acurra ( or a 1999 intrepid ) we'll be leavin tuesday around 3pm

Re: The Drive To Atlanta
 

Students, teachers, mentors, and parents of team 648 are leaving tuesday at 9 pm from Davenport, Iowa.

Now the engineers and their spouses are leaving sometime Wednesday on an airplane. BTW they are probably flying FIRST class.

Re: The Drive To Atlanta
 

Been there, done that.
SLOW DOWN.

A truck does not handle well at those speeds. Some cars can do that. Some can not. A SportTrac was not designed with those speeds in mind. EMS does not like calls where they have to scrape their patients off the road.


That said, I'm travling on some Boeing product leaving Thursday am early.

Wetzel

Re: The Drive To Atlanta
 

Yeah lol Ryan.. the sports trac.. not a good idea.. now if we were in the intrepid or the mags accura heh.. well we'd be setting landspeed records or something

:-)

3 hours to atlanta from Ft. Lauderdale :-)

All joking aside.. Everyone be safe in their journey's not just to nationals, but everywhere.. we don't want to hear sad news of wrecks at nationals.. it will kinda through the whole mood off

Dan

Re: The Drive To Atlanta
 

Time: 6am
Method: Midnight Sun bus
Leaving From: Plantation, Florida (Motorola, located at Sunrise and University)



Many stops in between, hope we'll see some teams at the rest stops. It always scares the casual family road trippers when teams converge at a rest stop.

Sigmcats: "Heeey, its 408!! What's up TICKS!"
Roboticks: "SOAP GUYS!!!"
Meanwhile, causal family road trippers: "stay back little johnny"

Re: The Drive To Atlanta
 

dibs on the robot.




hehe, naaah, be safe everyone. And if your traveling by bus, watch to make sure you keep the bus driver awake. we had an incident of that once...

Re: The Drive To Atlanta
 

As I remember Mags car is the one that slid on that turn into boardwalk not mine :) It handles better than most "trucks" also, but I am not stupid and I do realize its not a dragster

Re: The Drive To Atlanta
 

Team 11 will be driving down all the way from jesey on a charter bus....we just made a trip to south carolina for the palmetto regional...and two weeks before palmetto we drove down to chesepeake...but that was not nearly as bad as the ride down to palmetto and not nearly as bad as the ride is gonna be to atlanta....we have spend soooo much time on busses lately :ahh:

Re: The Drive To Atlanta
 

No joke man, I'm doing it. (Well... from Boca at least.) Audi A4. Y'all haven't seen me drive stick before, have ya? :: passes the other 710ers in a laughing frenzy of joy:: I'm leaving Wednesday at around 4 pm, so I should get to Atlanta in time for dinner. :)

Re: The Drive To Atlanta
 

32 foot Bounder motor home pulling a 14 foot team trailer. 6MPG if we're lucky!

Re: The Drive To Atlanta
 

A few of us from 1083 are rollin to atlanta in my 1999 Nissan Quest SE. It looks like this but wont be sportin the 212's but it does have 2 10's in the back ;)

Re: The Drive To Atlanta
 

team 384, will be riding down there on tuesday night on a bus..
i, myself will be Riding/driving on sparky 5.0 (our bot) all the way down there.. lol just kidding..

-Rhaisa

Re: The Drive To Atlanta
 

date :Tuesday 6:30pm est
from : Local PD (closests and biggest place near team "leader/nazi woman's" house)
In : A Peter-Pan Tour bus (i just love the name =P)

Re: The Drive To Atlanta
 

thats the way to do it! what year?

Re: The Drive To Atlanta
 

Wednesday, 7 pm.
Charter bus.
Curled up into the fetal position, and failing at my attempts to get to sleep.

Re: The Drive To Atlanta
 

we are leaving on wednesday an 5 in the freakin morning.....definitely not sleepin the night before

Re: The Drive To Atlanta
 

Tuesday, 10pm, Charter Bus with Deep Run (1086)

Re: The Drive To Atlanta
 

Is this a racing minivan? Maybe I should put numbers on my '89 turbo 5-speed Caravan.

Re: The Drive To Atlanta
 

Those of you that are bussing long distance, I am curious as to why. Was is a safety thing with the school district (yes, I know airplanes are safer than busses), or a cost issue?

I know that when we did the math on traveling from Massachusetts to Atlanta, it was significantly cheaper to fly than to bus.

Re: The Drive To Atlanta
 

I know at least for my team, that since we won the Palmetto regional and had one week to make arrangements, that to fly from New Jersey to Atlanta would cost approx $800 for plane and hotel. Thats a pretty hefty sum to come up with in a week. Instead we decided to take a coach bus down. While it will be an 17-20 hours bus ride :eek: :mad: :( , the cost was lowered the nicer sum of $355. This also allowed for more members to accompany the team to Nationals.

Re: The Drive To Atlanta
 

I think for our team (233) from florida it was cheaper to just bus and it sounded like fun. I'm looking forward to spending 8 hours on a bus with a bunch of pink people. What could be better than sitting next to someone who has pink hair, a pink face, a pink hat, a pink shirt, pink pants, pink shoes, and pink anything else you can think of ;) . Pink is the best color of all, by far. Seriously though, chillin on a bus is way cooler than a plane cuz u can actually stand up and not get yelled at by a flight attendant, not to mention we can watch anime the whole way there on the tv screens. The airlines usually don't play anime on a trip from orlando to atlanta, at least from my experience.

btw, good call on the racing minivan Kit :D I think the caravan would make a great racecar if u put 233 all over it. :cool:

Re: The Drive To Atlanta
 

We will be leaving Killeen, Texas at 7 pm Tuesday for a 20 hour bus ride to Atlanta on a 40 passanger bus with only 14 people.

Re: The Drive To Atlanta
 

We will be flying from Az. I so wish we could go by bus though. We could have so much more fun but our school says if you go more then 300 miles you must fly to that destination. So we must fly. We could be out of school for so much time it would be great. My parents left today with all the equipment that we will need. We could not take it on the airplane and so some how we needed it to get there. So they are driving. It is 1800 miles from here to Atlanta. I so wish I could be with them but I have to go to school because of a stupid reason. See all you guys there. Keep safe and have fun.

Re: The Drive To Atlanta
 

Buses will be more fun. Its was cheaper for my team to go on the bus also, but then again it is only a 6 hour drive.

Re: The Drive To Atlanta
 

Also, we are only little past the "break even on time" distance, when you consider time to the airport, check-in time, wait at the gate, boarding, the flight itself, taxi to the gate, bagage collection, wait for transportation to the hotel, etc. The bus trip should be about 8 hours. When you add it all up, flying would be maybe 5 hours. If I were making the Space Coast to Atlanta trip by myself, I'd almost definitely drive, while if I'm going from here to my my "old" home in Indiana, I fly unless I need to get a car or lots of stuff from one place to the other. Flying is MUCH quicker for the FL to IN trip which is about a 17 hour drive, even with only minimal break time.

Re: The Drive To Atlanta
 

We are flying down there, I thought it would be cheaper to drive, but then again, I'm only an ignorant programmer who doesn't know all of the logistics of what is cheaper and what isn't. For us, I think the Car trip would have been around 12 hours (ball-park estimate) and the plane ride is only like 2 hours or less. The negative part is that we have to be at school and ready to go at 5:30 AM Wednesday.

BTW: If I was drivin, it would only take 10 hours :D

Re: The Drive To Atlanta
 

Yes from Florida it is def cheaper to bus. Airfares from florida were starting at 200 a person, so we opted to bus, but then a few students are driving so we can have cars to go out i am leaving with ultimatep at 130 today to head up to gainsville we are spending the night there and leaving there and going to atlanta and hopefully be there about 130 tommorow and i think we are giong to go to the coke musuem. The rest of our team that are taken the vans we rented leave tommorow at 5 am..o well sucks for them

Mapquest said it will take 10 hours and 27 min to get from Ft. lauderdale Fl to Atlanta so we are planning to make it in 8

Re: The Drive To Atlanta
 

I leave wednesday 6am for a probably 26hr drive via SEGWAY ;)







actually we leave wednesday same time we fly out of Indy.

Re: The Drive To Atlanta
 

Cost, hands down. We flew the past two years after 9-11, but due to costs, we chose to drive down. Also, Deep Run got in touch with us and now we have a full bus, so everyone pays less! HURAH!

Re: The Drive To Atlanta
 

Pay less is a good thing, and riding on the bus should be fun with everyone, but I know I'm going to be sleeping most of our trip, either that or sitting watching DVDs on my computer. Bus trips are usually fun, and on the way back home, it will probably be silent... or the occasional snore.
ivey

Re: The Drive To Atlanta
 

I was wondering if anyone had any cool ideas of stuff to do on the bus that would make it even more fun (This goes for all teams since some of you have much longer trips than team 233). I figured that 99 bottles of (insert drink of choice) on the wall wouldn't work for 8 hrs straight. So...if anyone has any suggestions, put them up here quick, before we leave tommorrow morning!

See you guys there! :cool:

Re: The Drive To Atlanta
 

The HOT team (67) is taking a charter bus down to HOTlanta(it's actually a legit nickname!)
We'll be leaving the Milford GM Proving Grounds at midnight on tuesday and arrive in atlanta around 2 in the afternoon Wedesday.
The reason for the departure time being so late is so the students will sleep through the night, lol ;) But anyway, there is a DVD player built in to the bus, so we'll be watching movies on the way there and back.

-Pat McCarthy
HOT Team Webmaster

Re: The Drive To Atlanta
 

I am HOT alumni.. me and my friend Josh are leaving at 3am thursday morning. We are taking a 2002 impala. Should be able to get there with in 10 hours from Michigan, that's if all goes well. See everyone down there

Re: The Drive To Atlanta
 

I'll be pimping my Black 2003 Pontiac Sunfire from Raleigh NC leaving somewhere around 12:30 Wednesday. My team is leaving via short bus (go 900) around 10 am (last I heard). So all things considered I should beat them by a cool hour :D , but seriously, everybody be careful, especially around Atlanta which is well known as one of the worst speed traps on the east coast. See everybody there.

Re: The Drive To Atlanta
 

Well depending on the nature of our Charter Bus we might end up playing some Video games... cause I mean nothing passes time better have a tournament with everyone on the team... and thats our idea. Were esitmating a good 1/2 day on the bus so we need all the entertainment we can get!

Re: The Drive To Atlanta
 

Team 476 ground crew leaves today around 4 pm with many pit stops between here and Atlanta pulling the 476 trailer full of stuff.
Honk if you see us on the interstate.
The rest of the wimps on the team are flying out tonight.
Should be about 15 hour drive from the cultural center of the universe here in beautiful Northern Oklahoma.
Ken

Re: The Drive To Atlanta
 

well we have made it on the first leg of our trip 5 hours, being pulled over once (91 in a 70 i guess is bad) and two stops later we aer in gainsville and we are going the rest of the way tommorow

Re: The Drive To Atlanta
 

Team 364 is taking a charter bus out of Gulfport. 6 and a half hours. not bad.
Just wandering, what does your team do on long road trips to get ready for competition and just for fun?

Re: The Drive To Atlanta
 

Well we have made it to atlanta. Its the most confusing city in the world. Alll the one way rodes the bad traffice and there was a copy every mile on 75 it was horrible

Re: The Drive To Atlanta
 

Some of you may have seen this cruizin south....



I know Ryan Saw me, for like 2 seconds just cause traffic slowed him down, man they go fast on 710.

Re: The Drive To Atlanta
 

Why were you going south?...shouldn't you have been heading north, or were you bringing your equipment directly from another competition?

Do you not have a radar detector? I do believe that either Virginia is the only state left that has a ban on the great things or there is one other state. If I lived anywhere else, I would probably already have one, and I may get one when I go off to college in PA, but for now, I just watch out and have been good enough to avoid any police confrontation so far!

It is too bad that I wasn't going to Atlanta...I could be pimping my hot ride:
1968 Dodge Dart

Re: The Drive To Atlanta
 

Nice ride!

It was for the ride home after nats, i didnt think a new thread was nessesary. No i dont have a radar detector, but i just didnt want to go any faster not safe with an old trailer witha big expesive robot in it.

Re: The Drive To Atlanta
 

yes we have a radar and a jammer but it doesnt help when its on mute, we were in a city and forgot to turn it off mute

Re: The Drive To Atlanta
 

le beast averaged around 90 MPH the way back... And this time we made sure the volume on the detector was full tilt

We had 2 detectors, but the one that was up on the dashboard had the volume turned off (thank you ryan) during our stop in fort pierce (cut over to 75) and i opened her up once I got on, and was doing about 97-98 for about 5 minutes and then saw some cute little blue lights come from the other direction and do a U turn through the median and start following me, she clocked me at 91, and legally I coulda been dragged off to jail, but she was nice enough to let me go. (luckily I ripped down the jammer/detector down before she saw it)

Re: The Drive To Atlanta
 

18 hours from Rhode Island to Atlanta certainly brought the team closer. Driving nonstop and changing bus drivers in Virginia, we left Tuesday night at 7pm and arrived in Atlanta around 1pm the next day. On Saturday we left soon after closing ceremonies, about 7:30pm, and got back into Rhode Island around 1:30pm the next day. A long trip that I would have gladly replaced with a plane ride.

We took a Peter Pan chater bus that was as uncomfortable on the way down as it was on the way back. In total, seven movies, roughly 2000 miles, and stops in Virginia, New Jersey, and North Carolina made for an interesting journery. The worst part though, for everyone, especially me, was trying to get sleep. Those seats were sooo uncomfortable.

It was an experience though that I won't forget. I had a chance to take a 2.5 hour direct flight, but for some insane reason I didn't. I recall seeing some buses from Canada, did some teams really drive that far? They deserve an award. Any longer and I would have gone insane! :ahh:

-TD

Re: The Drive To Atlanta
 

The reason tom could not sleep is because he kept trying to snuggle with me hahah. Actually it was a fun bus ride. How else can you watch the ENTIRE star wars triology in one sitting

Re: The Drive To Atlanta
 

and you also got to hear Dave Ferreira recite every line! :D But anyway...the bus ride wasn't too bad. It might've been better if Rick didn't borrow my "pillow" (sweatshirt) on the way back, but I didn't expect to get much sleep anyway. I hope 121 flies next year.

Re: The Drive To Atlanta
 

The trilogy was quite amusing...it didn't end until I think 2am. Anyways, Rick can't say much because he took up his seat and half of mine and I was nearly sitting in the aisle. Rob and some certain other hooligans had TWO seats all to themselves and I was stuck with Rick. That lack of sleep lead to 14 hours of nap time that night (and meetings missed back at school). Maybe next year when we fly I can shove him out on to the aisleway :) .

Re: The Drive To Atlanta
 

Hey guys, give the bus some credit. The money that we saved by taking the bus allowed us to go to three events. What would yu rather do, take a flight to nationals, or only have the opportunity to attend 2 events? I personally relish the opportunity to destroy my gpa by skipping school for three events. I am willing to spend some time on the bus and be able to go to nationals.

And I don't understand why you couldnt sleep Tom, Ricksta should make a very comfortable pillow :D

Rob

Re: The Drive To Atlanta
 

Wait... saved money = three events... ok. Team 240: bus must = saved money, 2 events? Ok where'd the PR department put the money cause its sure not on our robot. What I'm getting a 50% raise! w00t! Ya theres a reason why I don't do much of the math on the robot...

Re: The Drive To Atlanta
 

[Sarcasm]Oh, I enjoyed the 20 hour or so bus ride from Rhode Island to Atlanta and the 20 hour or so bus ride back! Being crammed in a seat with nothing to do except play gameboy and listen to music was the best part! I hope our team takes the bus again next year :) [/Sarcasm]

Re: The Drive To Atlanta
 

108 went for the Indiana Jones Trilogy

...and true lies, and lord of the rings, and air force one...

Good times :D