I’m in Crescent City, CA tonight. I picked up the car from Brammo this morning. At the start of this trip, the odometer read 7740 miles. It is now at 7987 miles.

Thursday I’ll be heading up the coast on 101 toward Washington State. I don’t know where I’ll stop for the night – this trip is a bit less formally structured than my previous one.

My Atom has been visiting Brammo since July for some work (mostly needed because of New Jersey’s liberal supply of potholes). I’ll be picking the Atom up September 5th, and if all goes well, I’ll be heading cross-country again. The plan is to go north from Brammo this time, up 101 to the top of Washington State, then across into Canada for a bit, then back into the US, stopping at Yellowstone. After that, it is pretty much a straight shot back home with as many miles per day as possible, so I have time to get some work done before AtomFest.

You can check out a Google Map of the planned route here.

I’ll continue to add pictures to the site, as well as keeping you posted on the status of the car’s permanent registration.

Today I took the car around NYC to show it off, and get one last day of driving in before the temporary plates expired.

The Holland Tunnel, heading toward NYC:

Greenwich St, looking south at the new 7 WTC:

An amused mounted officer, who said she thought she had the coolest ride in the city, until she saw my Atom:

The Empire State Building:

Macy’s department store:

An amused onlooker in front of the Empire State Building:

Apparently, the large crowd the Atom drew was creating a “security incident” by blocking the sidewalk, so I was informed I had to leave:

So I pulled the Atom over a few blocks south of Grand Central and started up again:

Times Square:

A sightseeing bus in the mirror:

More interested onlookers:

After this, I drove my car to my BMW dealership (BMW of Bayside) where productivity ground to a halt as everyone emptied out of the shop to see the Atom:

My business partner, Bob Tinkelman:

Bob’s friend Suad takes the Atom around the block:

Here’s the end, 7006 miles in 42 days. About 90 of those miles are from the factory checking the car out before I picked it up:

Tomorrow, September 12th, I’ll be making the final scheduled appearances of the trip. The public appearance is at the Empire State Building on 34th St. at approximately 1:30 to 1:50 PM. I’ll also be in various places in Queens and Westchester later on – drop me an email if you’d like the locations and times of these non-public appearances.

I spent the weekend at my friend HJ’s place in the Poconos, winding down from the trip. Here’s a picture of HJ in the Atom:

I spent an unproductive few days at the DMV office in Rio Grande. Despite having all the paperwork they said I’d need, when I showed up they said I needed another form, in original only, sent from Brammo in Oregon. Once I got that form, they said they didn’t think they could process the paperwork at that location, but that they needed to talk to someone in the main DMV office who they couldn’t locate. Rather than continue to hang around that DMV office, I decided to move along and deal with the paperwork at another office at a later date.

The trip is winding down – I’ll be heading into NJ on Tuesday via the auto ferry, and then stopping at my garage for a day or two before I bring the car to NYC for its official arrival in front of the Empire State Building. Look for a summary post after that’s done.

In the meantime, I’m in Lewes, DE and having a good time. The car has now been on beaches of both the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. Here’s some shots from today:

Look how small the Atom is compared to other cars in the parking lot:

The view from my hotel room’s balcony:

I posted a reminder about seeing the Atom on various car boards I frequent, and Clyde of Team WTF?! suggested I drop by the SCCA autocross at FedEx Field. Apparently he posted on some other boards that I’d be bringing the Atom, as a large crowd of folks came to see it.

Despite a number of requests for me to take the car out for a run, I declined. It turns out that my tires and my insurance both only last a month or so, and it is pretty close to the end for both of them. [I’ll be ordering new tires when I get back, and I already have a replacement insurance policy in force, but I didn’t want to tempt fate.]

I let a bunch of folks sit in it (to see if they fit comfortably). C’mon guys (and gals!), let’s get some Atom orders in!

Update: This visit was posted to the Team WTF?! site:

I drove through Washington, DC on my way to Delaware. I figured I’d see some of the sights and it would be worth the extra travel time. I was wrong.

We really should do something about it, lest we give the wrong impression to foreign tourists. The roads are in terrible shape (at least in New York City, when there’s a chunk of road missing, it is because some utility work is going on – in Washington, DC there are chasms in the road for no apparent purpose). The signage is confusing / nonexistant (who would ever put exits in tunnels and then put the labels on the exits 1/4 mile past where the road splits)? The traffic signals seem to be timed to catch you at every light. Did I mention the signage is terrible? I would up getting a scenic tour of the Union Station parking garage due to the signs.

Fortunately, all the locals were friendly and were glad to help me “get the hell out of here”.