I'm not the kind of guy who doesn't
like to get back to nature. I'm willing to flirt with the great
outdoors to a limited extent and under very specific conditions.
After asking my first (and key) question, “What is the bear
situation?” I am ready to embark into the wilderness, if satisfied
with the answer.
 |
| Yep, this is roughing it. |
Although not new, there is a trending
experience for the tenderfoot who believes roughing it is using
hotel-supplied shampoo. It's called “glamping.” Pseudo camping,
really, it involves upscale camping with most – if not all – the
modern conveniences. My 79-year-old sister just spent a night or two
being pampered glamping in the New Mexico mountains for her 59th
wedding anniversary. How rugged could the experience possibly be,
right? Right.
So, I didn't hesitate a second when
Subaru reached out with its invite to the media launch of its
redesigned 2018 Crosstrek. The catch: Accommodations would be tents
in the tradition of glamping. Although I don't consider glamping much
of a draw, it is certainly different as auto-media events go.
Typically we are housed in four-star resorts or hotels where staff
fall all over themselves meeting our every need. While glamping might
not be an enticement, it certainly offered a refreshing experience.
Moreover, I found myself seduced by the
location: the Black Hills of South Dakota. After nearly 30 years of
attending carmaker media events, which overlapped 10 years of
traveling with the TV travel series “Discover America,” I had
only ever been to S. Dakota once. I've been to Alaska half a dozen
times and Hawaii with at least equal frequency. When would I ever get
to S.D. again? Additionally, Subaru tossed around the name Deadwood,
as well as Mount Rushmore. I was hooked.
In fact, I was so eager to go, I opted
to take a sabbatical from my annual Keys trip to attend. As things
developed, I felt compelled to accept an assignment from a client to
attend a Hyundai event backing up to Subaru. Now I wasn't simply
talking three days off for Subaru, but a total of five days. I wasn't
happy about the development – well, other than ultimately making
some money for the Hyundai portion of the trip – but it is what it
is. I had been committed to the Subaru trip for weeks, and I never
say, no, to a client. I was sad to see my Keys trip slowly evaporate,
but work is work.
I'm one of those people who tends to
over pack a bit for just about any trip. I was totally overwhelmed
when faced with packing for three totally different kinds of trips in
three diverse locations. I had to pack for the laid-back Fla. Keys,
glamping in the wilderness of S.D. and the business-casual event in
San Diego. I also had to drag along all my video gear for
just3thingsvideo.com. Decisions had to be made and compromises
forged.
Early Monday morning I drove the two
hours from Islamorada in the Keys to the Fort Lauderdale airport for
an 8:30 a.m. flight. I flew from Fort Lauderdale to Atlanta, Atlanta
to Salt Lake City and Salt Lake City to Rapid City, S. Dakota. Yep,
Delta doesn't regularly fly into Aspen, Colorado and never flies into
Santa Barbara, Calif., but it does have regular flights into and out
of Rapid City, S.D. Who knew?
Upon landing in Rapid City, I was
whisked by car the 50-or-so miles to the campsite just outside of
Deadwood. In the early planning stages of this trip, I was optimistic
that I might be able to line up an on-camera interview or two in
Deadwood as travel segments for just3things. These hopes were soon
dashed, though, when I realized I wouldn't have a lot of free time.
Also, I couldn't find anyone associated with Deadwood to help with
the endeavor. In fact, Deadwood was one uber-size disappointment.
Deadwood from the TV series of the same name is long gone. A couple
of big fires over the years took out the original buildings. A
Tombstone experience it's not. The oldest building on its “historic”
Main Street is from the early 1900s. It is shoehorned among casinos
and T-shirt shops. Disappointed!
 |
| The morning after the "big" storm. |
Our campground consisted of about 40
guest tents, a registration/logistics tent, a kitchen tent and a
large common tent with sofas, chairs and a couple of big flat-screen
TVs. There were also trailers housing bathrooms and showers. An
open-air dinning area projected the misplaced optimism of the event
planners that we would be greeted with blue skies. Although we were
never rained on at meal time, storms pounded us both nights I was
there. So severe was the storm the second night, a few people
bordered on hysterical. After nearly 25 years in South Florida and
riding out several hurricanes, I didn't see what all the hubbub was
about. I finally got to the place where I didn't even take my pool
furniture inside for a category 1 hurricane. But, for the
uninitiated, it was a closer brush with nature than they wanted.
Having contributed heavily to the past
several years of Subaru sales growth, Crosstrek is an important
vehicle for this Japanese brand. Totally redesigned, the 2018
Crosstrek is the second Subaru to ride on the brand's new Global
platform that increases crash-energy absorption by 40 percent. The
152-horsepower 2-liter Boxer 4-cylinder engine is 80 percent new and
26 pounds lighter than the previous powerplant.
Either a 6-speed manual (standard in
the base and Premium grades) or a CVT (available in Premium and
standard in Limited trim) distribute engine power to all wheels.
Active
Torque Vectoring,
first introduced on the WRX and WRX STI, is now standard on all trim
levels. The government puts fuel economy for the manual at 23 miles
per gallon city/29 mpg highway/25 mpg combined. Those numbers
increase to 27 mpg city/33 mpg highway/29 mpg combined for the CVT.
Subaru stretched the wheelbase more
than 1 inch, translating into that much extra rear-seat legroom.
Among some of the higher-tech goodies are Subaru STARLINK multimedia
interface with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto,
and available EyeSight driver-assist technology with adaptive cruise
control, automatic emergency braking, lane departure warning, lane
keep assist, blind spot detection, lane change assist and rear
cross-traffic alert.
Subaru
laid out a rather extensive drive route that included a large
percentage of dirt and gravel roads. Its X-Mode helps on
ultra-slippery surfaces at slower speeds and 8.7-in of road
clearance provides some piece of mind over rock-strewn roadways. We
found Crosstrek to be surprisingly quiet and quite comfy on paved
surfaces. Off pavement, it was stable and well planted. Power is a
bit lacking and a CVT, while delivering impressive fuel economy,
doesn't squeeze the most out of the four-banger's 152 ponies. The
manual delivers the more satisfying drive from a performance
perspective.
There's
nothing like an early morning stroll in the wilderness, coffee in
hand, watching the sunrise. It was a nice contrast with sitting on
the dock, glass of wine in hand watching the Keys sunset. Don't feel
too sorry for the lost days of my Keys vacation. I've already booked
flight back in August.
The
road goes on forever and the party never ends.
No comments:
Post a Comment