Off to Virginia for two months!

"Wrong Wheel Drive (41%)" (rduncan5678)
03/20/2016 at 23:07 • Filed to: None

In the morning I am heading down to Norfolk, VA where I will be living until the end of May. Nice early start to some summer top-down weather for me! I’ve done this drive a few times in various rental cars but it’s nice to be taking my car with me this time. The Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel should be fun with the top down. I’m also already signed up for my first autocross of the season next weekend with the Tidewater Sports Car Club. I am excited to try out my new tires and coilovers. Hoping I don’t have too much rubbing in the hard turns and that I don’t immediately long for upgraded sway bars. Anyways, if any Southern Virginia Oppos are down to meetup at some point while I am down there, I am totally game for that!

Also, managed to do some paintwork to make my car look less terrible. Needs more work but it’s getting there. Plus a good clay and wax is due in the near future.

DISCUSSION (31)

Chuckles > Wrong Wheel Drive (41%)
03/20/2016 at 23:16

Enjoy it! I’ve had my Miata on the bridge-tunnel a few times with the top down. It’s quite nice. The first time it was cloudy and looked like it might rain any minute but I took a chance anyway. I went in a tunnel and when I came out of the other side it was raining pretty good.

ttyymmnn > Wrong Wheel Drive (41%)
03/20/2016 at 23:18

I lived in Norfolk from ‘76-’89. My parents still live there (in Ghent). I miss it, though it’s a very different place than when I lived there. What I miss mostly is being so close to the water.

Konstant > Wrong Wheel Drive (41%)
03/20/2016 at 23:23

Don’t speed in VA! If they accuse you of going 30 over the limit (or over 80) it’s reckless driving, a misdemeanor, just like DUI. You need a lawyer, etc.

interstate366, now In The Industry > Wrong Wheel Drive (41%)
03/20/2016 at 23:26

I’m about 90 minutes away from Norfolk, in the Richmond-Petersburg area. I’ll probably head down that way once or twice in that timeframe. Suffolk and points west have some great back roads. Route 5 between Williamsburg and Richmond is a great road, too.

PorkchoPlissken > Wrong Wheel Drive (41%)
03/20/2016 at 23:40

Those are good lookin wheels

jvirgs drives a Subaru > Wrong Wheel Drive (41%)
03/20/2016 at 23:41

We should totally do a Virginia oppo meetup

Expo2k > Wrong Wheel Drive (41%)
03/20/2016 at 23:49

I moved to NoVA last summer, but I lived there from ‘12-15. I hated the random 2" high bumps on 64 and 264. I was wishing for my stock sway bars again the first time I came out of the HRBT!

If I went back, the first thing I would do is get a Jojo cheesesteak from No Forks in VA Beach, the best sandwich I’ve ever had.

AM3R shamefully returns > Expo2k
03/21/2016 at 00:05

Hey I'm in NoVa too! Centreville/Fairfax area.

AM3R shamefully returns > jvirgs drives a Subaru
03/21/2016 at 00:06

Definitely.

AM3R shamefully returns > Konstant
03/21/2016 at 00:06

20 over the limit.

Conan > Wrong Wheel Drive (41%)
03/21/2016 at 00:39

I’m a bit farish away in Farmville but nice to know more folks are in the area.

Expo2k > AM3R shamefully returns
03/21/2016 at 02:33

I’m in Dulles/Sterling.

Expo2k > jvirgs drives a Subaru
03/21/2016 at 02:36

Totally, and at Katie’s Cars and Coffee in Great Falls... I hear it’s pretty spectacular.

Bourbon&JellyBeans > Wrong Wheel Drive (41%)
03/21/2016 at 07:20

Last summer, I was pulled over by a Fairfax County cop who’d been doing radar at the bottom of a hill. As I came over the crest of the hill, I slammed on the breaks (this was very early in the morning...just me and him) but it was too late. Immediately pulled me over...I knew I was screwed ‘cause I was a Marylander getting pulled over in Virginia. He comes up to the window and tells me that I’d been going 79 in a 55 (again, this wasn’t what I’d consider dangerous because I was on an empty highway early on a Friday morning). I shit myself because I know that, in VA, that’s reckless driving. I think, “Holy hell this guy can arrest me now.” He goes back to the police car to do his thing and another cop shows up. I’m thinking that I’m toast. He comes back to the car, tells me that he *could* have given me reckless driving but didn’t because I was being cooperative, and gives me a speeding ticket instead. In VA, the tickets don’t have dollar amounts on them at all. You actually have to call the courthouse and ask them how much you owe (seems like a potential rip-off to me, but hey). I call a few days later and they tell me it’ll be a cool $205.00. I was kinda pissed because I’d just gotten a $250 parking ticket in DC the month before, but I was just happy not to have to get a lawyer!

TL;DR - do NOT speed in VA...and if you do, make sure it is under 20mph+

interstate366, now In The Industry > jvirgs drives a Subaru
03/21/2016 at 07:21

I’m down

Wrong Wheel Drive (41%) > jvirgs drives a Subaru
03/21/2016 at 08:23

Just let me know when! Especially if it involves food!

Wrong Wheel Drive (41%) > Chuckles
03/21/2016 at 08:26

Wouldn’t be the first time I’ve driven top down in rain. One time it was raining so hard that the inside of my windshield was wet from water running over the edge of the windshield. I was dryish though since I was driving fast enough on the highway. It was bad though, I really thought I would hit traffic and get soaked. But overall I learned that top down in torrential down pouring can work out alright.

Wrong Wheel Drive (41%) > interstate366, now In The Industry
03/21/2016 at 08:27

Excellent, I'm definitely looking for some sweet back roads. I'll be sure to head over to the BRP at some point but that is at least 3 hours out to the nearest point. I'll check out Route 5 for sure!

Wrong Wheel Drive (41%) > ttyymmnn
03/21/2016 at 08:28

Well yeah close to water is nice I suppose but that is essentially the same as home in NJ for me lol. What is different about Norfolk now versus the past though? Just curious!

Wrong Wheel Drive (41%) > Expo2k
03/21/2016 at 08:29

No Forks. Ive definitely heard of that from coworkers! I'll be sure to go there more than once.

Wrong Wheel Drive (41%) > Expo2k
03/21/2016 at 08:30

When is the next one?

ttyymmnn > Wrong Wheel Drive (41%)
03/21/2016 at 09:34

The size, the growth, the construction. I went to the first Harborfest. Now there are so many people going to that festival that you can’t move, and I’d probably not bother going. Fantomworks over on Hampton Blvd was still a bread factory. ODU hadn’t begun to expand into Lambert’s Point and across the street, pushing out the affordable homes. Traffic was bad, but not horrible. But that sort of growth is going on everywhere. I’m in Austin now, and it’s the fifth fastest growing city in the country. It’s easy to be nostalgic about places from your past, especially when that was where you lived in junior high and high school, learned to drive, learned to love, had some great times. But change is inevitable, and you can never really ever go home again. Hell, the city may well be under water in 20-30 years.

AM3R shamefully returns > Expo2k
03/21/2016 at 11:53

Cool, not too far away. I have a good Indy in sterling I go to every once and a while.

Wrong Wheel Drive (41%) > Bourbon&JellyBeans
03/21/2016 at 19:39

Haha its pretty difficult to end up speeding in a Miata but yeah I am pretty aware of the whole reckless driving thing in VA. So I will be avoiding more than 5 to 10 over. Especially with my out of state plates, I will probably keep it to right at the speed limit most of the time and be that annoying guy in the right lane.

Bourbon&JellyBeans > Wrong Wheel Drive (41%)
03/21/2016 at 20:12

Lol wise decision! The happy ending of my story was that I didn’t get any point since they didn’t transfer. I think the Maryland MVA is keen to how dumb Virginia’s driving laws are. I called to make sure they wouldn’t transfer and the lady on the phone basically said, “oh you got the ticket in Virginia? Yeah, no points. Have a good day.”

Wrong Wheel Drive (41%) > Bourbon&JellyBeans
03/21/2016 at 21:24

Any other dumb laws I should know about?

Scimitar7 > Wrong Wheel Drive (41%)
03/26/2016 at 08:08

Welcome!

You’ve already figured out the first rule of Hampton Roads (avoid the HRBT), you’ll soon learn the second (avoiding potholes takes mad skill) and third (driving around here sucks in general). Good luck with Tidewater SCC; I tried to get involved with them when I first moved here in ‘06, and everyone I talked to was a bit of a douche. I’ve heard rumors that they’ve changed, but I’ve pretty much shunned any organized clubs from my life, so YMMV. Not much to say other than that - best of luck!

Wrong Wheel Drive (41%) > Scimitar7
03/26/2016 at 08:11

Huh, yeah I hope they are better people than that! I’ve always run into the friendliest people at autox events. But either way, I can enjoy it just the same without talking to anyone else lol.

Yeah, I play a lot of ultimate frisbee and there was a solid group right on the other side only 25 minutes away without traffic. Figured it couldn't be that bad. Took about an hour to get there!

Scimitar7 > Wrong Wheel Drive (41%)
03/26/2016 at 08:19

I hear ya! My wife works in Virginia Beach and we live in Newport News; a lot of times, Waze will just say “screw it, take the Monitor-Merrimac”. It’s about 10 miles longer, but depending on traffic it can be 15 minutes faster. Gotta love it

Wrong Wheel Drive (41%) > Scimitar7
03/26/2016 at 18:21

Is that 664 through downtown?

Scimitar7 > Wrong Wheel Drive (41%)
03/27/2016 at 19:44

Yup