In just under two weeks, I'll be abandoning my post as Jalopnik's Capitol Bureau Chief in D.C. to become Jalopnik's Chief Circuit of the Americas Press Car Crasher in Austin, Texas. And that will involve another road trip halfway across the country.
The last time I did this drive, my then-fiancee/now-wife and I rented a huge-ass moving truck with a 75 mph governor on it. That sucked. I'm never doing that again. This time we're hiring movers to ship our stuff and driving our own car to Texas separately.
That means I need to make sure our car, James Hunt the Mini Cooper S, is up for the 1,500 mile journey. I think that would make a good question of the day: How do you prep your car for a cross-country road trip?
James is running strong as normal so I'm not too worried, but there are the obvious things that need inspected before any drive. Tire tread, belts, fluid levels, things like that. A little preventative maintenance goes a long way in keeping you from breaking down by the side of the road and getting stuck in some horrible town in the Deep South where the residents are actually cannibals.
Stuff like that happens. People just don't talk about it.
Anyway, your turn. How do you prep a car for a long-distance journey?