NSX to the Arctic Circle: Johnny Lange In Studio
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Car
Ford Mustang
The Ford Mustang is a famous sports car that started being sold in the 1960s. It's loved for its speed and cool looks, and many people talk about it because it's a classic American car that represents fun and adventure.
Term
rolled over 200,000 miles
When a car rolls over 200,000 miles, it means it has been driven for a long time, and the odometer shows that number. Some cars can still work well even after driving that much, depending on how they were maintained.
Car
Acura NSX
The Acura NSX is a really fast and fancy sports car that was first made in the 1990s. It's special because it combines luxury with great performance, and many car lovers admire it for how well it drives.
Car
Honda Integra
The Honda Integra is a small car known for being fun to drive and easy to modify. Many people enjoy customizing it to make it faster or look cooler.
Concept
NSXpo
NSXpo is a special event for people who own or love the Acura NSX. It's a chance for them to meet, show off their cars, and have fun together.
Car
Acura Legend
The Acura Legend is a comfortable and reliable luxury car made by Acura, which is a division of Honda. It was popular in the late 80s and early 90s.
Term
Dalton Highway
The Dalton Highway is a tough road in Alaska that can be very difficult to drive on because of its bad conditions. It's known for beautiful views and is used by large trucks.
Car
NSX
The Honda NSX is a fast sports car that was first made in the 1990s. It has a unique engine placement and is known for its speed and handling.
Car
Honda Crv
The Honda CR-V is a popular SUV that is great for families. It has a lot of space inside and is known for being dependable.
Car
Subaru WRX
The Subaru WRX is a fast car that is great for driving on different types of roads. It's known for being good in bad weather because it has all-wheel drive, which helps it grip the road better.
Car
Honda S2000
The Honda S2000 is a small sports car that has two seats and is known for being really fun to drive. It was made from the late 1990s to the late 2000s, and many people love it because it feels great on the road.
Car
Toyota Tundra
The Toyota Tundra is a big truck that many people use for work or outdoor activities. It's known for being tough and able to handle rough terrain.
Car
Porsche 911
The Porsche 911 is a famous sports car that many people love for its speed and style. The 1996 version is part of a series known for being very well-made and fun to drive.
Car
Honda Integra Type R
The Honda Integra Type R is a sportier version of the Honda Integra, made for better performance and handling. It's loved by car fans for being fun to drive.
Car
Honda Civic
The Honda Civic Type R is a faster and sportier version of the regular Honda Civic. It has a powerful engine and special features for better driving performance.
Term
clutch pedal
The clutch pedal is what you press to change gears in a car with a manual transmission. If it makes noise or feels weird, it might mean something is wrong with it.
Term
oil change
An oil change is when you replace the old oil in your car with new oil. This helps keep the engine working well and prevents damage.
Part
clutch slave
The clutch slave is a part that helps control the clutch in a car, allowing the driver to change gears smoothly. It works with another part called the master cylinder.
Part
bell housing
The bell housing is a part of the car that covers the area where the clutch and transmission meet. It helps protect these parts from dirt and damage.
Term
silicone spray
Silicone spray is a type of lubricant that helps make parts move more easily and protects them from wear and tear. It's often used on things like rubber and plastic.
Part
input shaft
The input shaft is a part of the car's transmission. It helps move power from the engine to the transmission, and if it's dirty or damaged, it can cause problems when driving.
Car
Ford Ranger
The Ford Ranger is a smaller pickup truck that people use for work and everyday driving. It's known for being tough and useful, which is why many people like to talk about it when discussing trucks.
Term
Starlink
Starlink is a service that provides internet access using satellites in space. It helps people get online, especially in places where regular internet isn't available or is very slow.
Car
Toyota Supra
The MK4 Supra is a popular sports car made by Toyota in the 1990s. It's famous for being fast and can be modified to go even faster, making it a favorite among car fans.
Concept
Monterey Car Week
Monterey Car Week is a big event in California where car lovers come together to show off and admire cars. There are car shows and auctions during this week.
Brand
Porsche
Porsche is a well-known car brand from Germany that makes fast and luxurious sports cars. They are famous for models like the Porsche 911.
Brand
Lamborghini
Lamborghini is a luxury car brand from Italy that makes very fast and stylish sports cars. They are known for their eye-catching designs and powerful performance.
Brand
Ferrari
Ferrari is a famous Italian car brand known for making very fast and expensive sports cars. They are often seen in races and are admired for their design and performance.
Term
supercar
A supercar is a very fast and expensive sports car. These cars are built for performance and often have special features that make them stand out.
LIVE
This is Hard Park and brought to you by Wright Honda and Wright Toyota Arascasta Arizona.
You may have heard a story about an NSX owner driving around, went down to Key West, Florida,
went up through Alaska to the Arctic Circle and his tour around the United States. That person is
Johnny Lang and Johnny Lang joins me in studio today after this word from Arcus Foundry,
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trial today by using code hardpark at getsparkforge.ai and stop letting yesterday's tech eat tomorrow's
profits. Johnny Lang, welcome to hard parking, welcome back. Thank you. First, first time in
the studio. Do you remember the last time? I think, how many times have you been on the show? Do
you know? I was going to look it up, I got lazy. I think twice, I think. I think one of the times
I was in a closet. Yeah, probably. Those people who are new to the podcast, when I was first starting
out, when I traveled, Palm Springs, I was staying at a golf course and I was recording because I
used to record all these segments from the hotel room. Looking for guests, fun guests. I fell in
love with you because your voice. Thanks. And I called you from a closet because something was
going on out there and I needed a space that was sound dampened, but it still sounded like shit
because I didn't really understand how to edit properly. And I took pity on you. If my friend's
doing a podcast in a closet, I should probably just be on it. Absolutely, I appreciate it,
but you've avoided me ever since on the podcast, not in life. I love you. You're one of my favorite
people in this world. You said you don't believe in coincidences. We're going to talk about that
because you just, I kind of talked about you a little bit because you did the road trip. You
know, started it in Asheville, went down to Key West, the southernmost point of the United States,
up through Alaska, the Arctic Circle-ish, sort of, yes and no, right? Still yes, yeah. Back down
through NSXpo and then you're doing this big tour around the U.S. and visiting a lot of your
friends and some enemies, people you've promised time with like me. So here you are. Suck it up
and deal with it. But before we, before I continue to ramble, I've decided, so you bought me this
or you got this for me. Yeah, it was a gift to me, so I gifted it to you. And I thank you because
you don't drink. Nope. And then I was like, what are we going to do? But it's, yeah, it's my friend's
company out of Colorado, so. Is it still around? I don't know. I don't think so. Okay, yeah. So what
I'm holding here is, this is from Black Cherry Distillery, which is from or used to be from a
place in Colorado certified organic by Oregon TILF. But this is the Unicorn Riot Organic Vodka.
And you could tell by the colors it's friendly and I'm friendly because of this. I'm friendly too.
Yeah, this is back at a time when it was okay to like non-politically like rainbows and colors.
But you've gave this to me in 2022. In 2022, and I'm going to crack this bottle for the first
time ever. And it's got like this Denver horse, I'm assuming. Well, it's a unicorn.
Unicorn, yes. It's got this arm. Well, before you could become a unicorn, you have to have
genetic for a horse, right? Start as a Mustang. Yeah, this is a bionic unicorn. And I'm going to
open it up for the first time. Probably three years, yep. Smells like vodka. So, you know,
we're off to a good start. I'm sure it's probably going to taste like vodka, too. I'm going to put
it in my great lakes cup here. Here we go. And you are drinking some fine cola. I'm drinking
a carbonated beverage. We're not. Yeah, that's right. You're drinking a carbonated beverage that
you wanted to take without ice, room temperature. And I said, no, you're not doing this. Nope,
not an animal. But can we, can we cheers that? We can. Yep. Thank you. Thank you. Yep. And I also
don't trust you. So I gave you a plastic cup. Good. Don't trust me. Yep.
Yep.
Probably tastes like vodka. How'd you know? Yeah. You know what? It tastes like organic
vodka. Good. Good. So it's not the worst vodka I've had. So I appreciate it. Good. All right.
Yeah. Thank you. It's also not the best. Yeah. Yeah. Well, like that one without saying.
So officially, yeah, kind of tell the people who are new to you because there are going to be some
people new to you who you are a little bit because I think nobody really knows anyway.
Including myself. So my name is John Lang and I live in Asheville, North Carolina,
Western part of the state, 40 years old. And I've been passionately involved in the NSX community
for probably about 11 years now. And one of my favorite things to do is just driving NSX around.
And so that's what I've done. The majority of the past 11 years and every year seems to get a
little bit more wild. How do we meet? Do you remember? Because I don't. I was trying to think
about that. I know we had exchanged some conversation on like the forum online.
But I think we met because what was your screen name TJ or something like that or
teach? Teach. Yeah. And so we had correspondents there. But I think the actual first time I
met you was in 2017 at Road America in Wisconsin. Okay. NSX Bow. Yeah. Because wasn't your NSX
black? Yeah. I was driving a black one at the time. And I think Acura did a story on you.
Yeah. They did a small little feature on me because I'd done, you know, a drive up there and the car
was a high mileage too, I think probably. It's interesting. Actually, I look back on some records
on this trip and I ran over 200,000 on that trip, I think as well. Good Lord. Yeah. So it's like that
car rolled over 200. And then on this current trip, my white NSX, I rolled over 200 as well.
So. And you were just saying downstairs at dinner, just on this trip, you've rolled 17,000 miles.
Yeah. I'm over 17. Over 17. Yeah. It's going to be probably cumulative total three months
since I left Asheville. But in those three months, there's probably going to be about 17 or 18 days
if I had to ballpark it that I didn't drive the NSX. I went to left Asheville and then I went to
Florida and then I came back to Asheville for nine days. And then after an S expo, I left my NSX
in Portland and flew back to North Carolina for eight days. So roughly about that that I haven't
driven. So it'll be about a two and a half month drive for the NSX. So I'm trying to think of, okay,
how do I remember you? I do remember Wisconsin. I remember you as a guy that had a bunch of spare
parts in your car in case somebody broke down, which I thought was awesome. And I think someone
did break down on one of the cruises. I mean, it's definitely happened. I can't remember all the
times that it has, but it definitely does happen. I remember you as one of the first people, if not
the first person that I had communications with that dealt in crypto. Yeah, I remember that. I'm
like, what is this crazy stuff? And I mean, you and rest in peace, Chris Cut, you know, two of my
friends that that's all you guys seem to dealt with is crypto. And you drive a lot like Tyson,
you drive a lot, but in a way it's different because you do a lot of camping. For this trip
specifically, why? Why this trip? Well, first and foremost, I kind of build my yearly schedule
around NSXpo. So NSXpo being my man, it's the one of the one of the two things every year I
circle on my calendar. Yeah, so it's like I kind of start from there and build outward and
NSXpo being in Seattle, Tacoma area. Obviously, that's what I'm doing, but then I had
thoughts of, okay, I'm driving out there, what else? And like I mentioned at dinner is I've
driven NSX across the Mexican border and driven around Mexico and NSX. So naturally, I thought
I should go to Canada and then things creeped on and I thought I should probably drive to Alaska.
And then if I'm going to go to Alaska, I should consider the Arctic Circle. And then if I'm
considering the Arctic Circle, then I could leave Asheville, North Carolina and just drive, you know,
the three, four hours to like Charleston, South Carolina and start on the Atlantic.
But then I started thinking more that I'm really going to do the trip. I should drive from where
I live like, you know, 1200 miles down to Key West and start in Key West. So that's basically
what I did. And then I decided, you know, I'd go from Key West to the Arctic Circle and then back.
So my kind of ballpark estimation when I first left the trip was about 21 or 22,000 miles total
for this. And so I'm at 17 and change now and I'm in Phoenix. So I probably have another 4,000 left
to go. So I'll be pretty close to what I was guessing I'd be doing. What are some of the crazy
stuff that you go? What are some of the crazy things you've gone through and kind of what do
you do along? Like how do you plan out this trip? Because you're very calculated. You typically know
it's not okay, well, tomorrow I'm going to get up and figure out what I'm going to do. I just know
I need to be in Salt Lake by tomorrow night. Like you're very regimented with your schedule. Like
how do you figure that out? Yeah. And is that just a part of your heart coding?
To a degree, right? I think logistically, I've got stuff swirling in my brain all the time about
where I need to be at what certain times and, you know, who's available to meet up at these places.
I do have some flexibility though, you know, and that's like part of the whole thing is to be able
to kind of, you know, float for lack of a better term to make, make somebody's interaction or meet
up happen. But overall, you know, like when I left Asheville after Key West, you know, I did
have a number of about 280 miles a day that I had to drive. So I had to have things set up for that
way. But typically what I would plan is just I do a lot of times staring at maps and just
trying to crunch numbers in my head and figure out, you know, okay, I'm going to be spending the
night in this city. What are my options for the next cities to get to in the daytime?
And then what are my options to camp or lodging or whatever around those places, you know? So it's
like, I try and typically think I don't want to drive at night and look for campsites, although
it happens inevitably, but I try and basically start as early as possible and maximize daytime
so I can find a campsite before it gets truly dark. But now with the time change happening and,
you know, everything, it's getting harder and harder where I'm looking for campsites in the dark.
So, yeah, I mean, I don't know. There's some, you know, time frames of where I want to be at
what certain places and there's obviously some audibles, you know, if somebody throws me out
an opportunity, I'm going to make something happen to possibly take advantage of that opportunity.
When did you first start just getting in a car and driving? And what was there something like
what happened? Well, my first car was an Integra when I was 16. So pretty much from then on,
it just snowballed and started going to Honda Tech meets when Honda Tech was still around.
And Honda Tech. Yep, just connected with people on there and
bouncing around kind of the Southeast and then just networking a little bit more and more and then
probably like for a period of maybe at least five years from my like late teens through
early 20s, I wasn't really even doing anything with cars. Like I didn't even have anything fun or
nothing. And then kind of just slowly started getting back into it, got another Integra,
and then just one thing led to another and 2015, I bought my first NSX. And then from there,
you know, everything continually snowballed to where I'm at now.
So the obvious question that people are going to be asking themselves as they watch this or
listen to this is, doesn't this guy have a job? No, I don't. So yeah, I mean, pretty much I don't
have really any commitments, you know, no significant other and no children and no pets.
So I also have a pretty minimal overhead as far as my life goes. So I don't really have to worry
about anything that can't take care of itself. So I take care of what needs to be done. And then I
go off and have some fun and kind of rinse and repeat. I've always referred to you as Nomadic
Johnny or Johnny the Nomad. But I do know you have a house. I do know you have a home. I do
know you work on, I mean, when do you have time to work on cars? Because you build NSXs.
Yeah, for sure. I'm the only one that works on any of my cars, you know, so everything,
all the cars, it's always me. I would like to say winter times is when I get a lot of
accomplished, but usually I'm also easily distracted during winter just as well as summer. So
I just try and make it happen the best I can and usually procrastination plays a factor. So,
you know, it's like crunch time, crunch time, crunch time, and this NSXpo is no exception,
but everything usually falls into place at the last minute. And so I have some work to do before
next year, you know, I got about, we got about a year before NSXpo next year. So I got some surprises
I'm working on, but nothing quite as wild as this current adventure that I'm on.
Best NSXpo ever?
This past year?
Yeah.
Or just generally?
I would say this past year. Like, what did you think of this Seattle one?
I mean, it was fantastic. I really enjoyed it. I think locations were awesome, you know,
basically scheduling was awesome. Like, I don't really think I have any hard critiques of it at
all, you know, I think everything went off really, really well. And the only regret I have of every
NSXpo is I wish there was more time, you know, because I reflect back after NSXpo that I'm like,
oh, this person, I got to spend like 13 minutes with them and I've been waiting to see them for
five years. But it's the same old story at every NSXpo.
You said some stuff that I think people are going to want to double click into
as far as finding a campground because you are nomadic, Johnny, you are the guy that drives his
NSX literally everywhere. White NSX, white wheels can't miss it, but you're not going to find it
in front of, you know, Renaissance or the Ritz Carlton, you're not going to find it in front
of the days in, you're going to, if you find it, it's going to be at a campground possibly. Like,
that's, that's one of the many things that make you unique and different, not only just your
appearance. It's like, if I'm looking, if I'm trying to pick the guy in the room that's driving
the NSX, I probably wouldn't pick you. I don't know, I'd probably pick someone who looks like me.
You know, but where does that, how are you able to be all of that in the same package of this
person that you are? Because that's a lot, right? Yeah. Well, I mean, like, where's your truck?
Yeah. I mean, I do have a truck, I have two trucks, and I've got an adventure van as well, but
the adventure is always leaning into the NSX because there's something incredibly special
about that car. So it motivates me to want to continue doing adventures with it because of
what the car means to me and what the car means to other people. And so, you know, like,
I guess, you know, finding that whole balance between trying to camp and explore and travel
can be pretty difficult sometimes, right? For most people, but for me, like, I just usually
reflect back onto that every single night, it's going to be okay, you know, and I haven't been,
you know, skunked out of a campsite yet. But it takes some, sometimes some creative engineering
on my end to figure out where I'm going to go, you know, and like, there's always curveballs
that come up to me, you know, like on this trip, probably the more funny curve as I
time in a campsite somewhere in Canada and I roll in at dusk and this campground is closed
due to a migratory woodpecker. And so, you know, I had to basically, at this point,
it's getting dark and I have to go figure out, you know, within an hour, what are my other options?
And I found something, but overall, like, you know, sometimes it's easier than others to try
and figure out where I'm going to go. And another NSX owner in LA actually asked me, like, why,
why camp, you know, like so often. And for me, like, it's, it's a bit twofold. Number one would
be like, it's just a huge part of who I am, you know, I really enjoy nature and I really enjoy,
like, I guess, the disconnect from technology and society. But I'm also extremely extroverted
sometimes and I like to be in society. So disconnecting is big, but also to like,
budget wise is a factor, but also logistic wise is the biggest factor, you know, like
a good example would be, you know, like a ski slope. So if you want to be the first guy
on the ski slope in the morning, and you're staying an hour away in the hotel, the guy who's
camping out in the parking lot of the ski slope is going to be the one who gets the first tracks.
And so for me, I'm logistically trying to stage myself where I need to be to, like,
be the first one at the trailhead or be the first one on, you know, this incredible road
at sunrise so I can get a clean run on it, you know, and that means more to me than, you know,
like, trying to be comfortable in a bed for one night. You have the trucks, you have the travel van,
and you've taken some amazing photos of just your car. You showed us some amazing photos
downstairs. Like, I have nothing to, to one up your trip to Banff, nothing because those photos and
that, that's like, it's on my wife writing it down. We're not going to go probably because
I would love to go, but I know that person.
Hey, well, I'll keep harassing you guys.
You keep harassing because, you know, we do, we love the outdoors and I'm not really, I mean,
you're a hiker and you're a speed hiker essentially, but you're taking your car and I think it's,
it's awesome and it kind of builds to it. You don't believe in coincidences,
like the universe brings people together. You know, tell us some of those stories on your trip.
Yeah, I mean, there's just been a lot, like it's honestly,
kind of overwhelming at times because, you know, like how wild things can truly unfold and
some of the, I guess, better quick examples I could give out is, you know, like there's a.
You can take your time too.
Yeah, yeah.
You're stuck here.
No, I know. Yeah, for sure. But just trying to rattle through like the highlight reel of the,
the top numbers and so I guess things would probably really start getting serendipitous would be
in Fairbanks, Alaska. So I had just gotten off the Dalton Highway, which is about 80 to 90 miles
north of Fairbanks and I had driven the NSX to the Arctic Circle and I spent the night in the
Arctic Circle by myself.
And what, hold on, what's that like though? Because I haven't looked it up or anything,
but when I hear the Arctic Circle and I don't know what comes out of my elf.
Yeah, I mean.
Santa Claus, like I don't know, the Northern Lights.
No, what's that like?
Pretty much all of that. But ultimately, you know, there's a couple of different access
points and I guess to kind of give some context to the trip in the Arctic Circle is another,
you know, local Phoenix owner is Tyson Hugie and you know Tyson.
So Tyson drove his Acura legend to the Arctic Circle and I had gotten, you know,
a pretty heavy dose of inspiration from him doing that.
And I was probably honestly, like the first time I met Tyson, I asked him if an NSX could do it.
And he said yes. And so, you know, that was probably 2016. I remember asking Tyson that.
And so from then in my mind, it was a bit of a scratch, but you know, there's,
there's two different accesses to get to the Arctic Circle kind of north of Fairbanks.
And the main one is going to be on the Dalton Highway, which is considered, you know,
one of the more extreme roads in the continent, just due to its proximity to safety and road
condition and all that. And so the Arctic Circle is 115 miles one way up on the Dalton.
And so that's basically what I did. And for that 115 miles, it's, you know,
there's lots of video and footage online, but there's rocks that will puncture your tires,
rocks that will end your oil pan, you know, potholes that will end your car,
tire rut tracks that would like swallow the NSX if I chose the wrong rut track.
And just overall opportunity for disaster a lot, especially in a lowered sports car on summer tires.
So there's a small window that's on my beer. Yeah, basically, there's a small window to kind
of run this at best conditions, you know, August, early September, and then, you know,
the snow moves in. And so, uh, yeah, I just sent it and I went and made it 115 miles. And
for that 115 miles, I really don't feel like I'm blinked, you know, because it was who
there's possibility everywhere for trouble. So I had extreme amount of focus to make that happen.
And in ideal world, my goal would have been to drive to Dead Horse Prudhoe Bay,
which is the actual end of the road at the Arctic Ocean. And so from that would have been
like an additional probably close to 280 more miles, one way from where I was at and doing
the math, you know, that'd be about 10 hours each way. And I just realized that, you know,
it wasn't worth the risk to continue, you know, and especially to I had weather moving in with,
if you get caught on rains up there, you can also be hosed. So I just made decision to,
you know, loop back around. So successfully, I made it on and off the Dalton, no damage.
I get off the Dalton highway and my dad calls me and I kind of like broke concentration and
hit a massive dip. And I knew I hit quite hard. And I get back to Fairbanks and I go to Fairbanks
and I noticed that I'd rip my front lip off, but I basically go straight to an REI, which is basically
like a camping store. And so I go to an REI and a problem with tent camping is when your tent gets
full of condensation, most every morning, I have to pack it up and it goes in the trunk all day.
So usually I find having to stop at lunch break and I'll kind of spread my stuff out to dry it out
a little bit more. A little stink, yeah. Yeah, for sure. And so I end up going to a REI and I got
all my stuff strung across the parking lot and looking like a hobo. And I'm just cooking oatmeal
behind my NSX for lunch and a guy comes in and a CRV. And I can tell he wants to talk to me as
he drives across the parking lot. So we ended up chatting for about 20 minutes and he said he
runs a Facebook group in Alaska and asked to take pictures of my car. And I said, yeah, that's fine.
So we took pictures. A car was still super filthy. I say goodbye and I leave and I go across the street
and wash my car off. And then I basically go to leave Fairbanks. And so I leave Fairbanks
and I'm driving towards Denali and my phone starts getting messages on Instagram
of people saying, come to the meet in Fairbanks tonight. Come to the meet in Fairbanks tonight.
And I already left with no design on coming back. But some other NSX friends have told me that I've
been posted on this Facebook group. And so it kind of went somewhat viral in Alaska of people
seeing my car. And so I go to Denali National Park and camp out there for about three days.
And then I had to Anchorage and spend the night in Girdwood at a little hostel. In the next morning,
I had a little time to kill. So I pull into a Walmart in Anchorage. And as I pull into a Walmart,
there's a kid in a pickup truck pulls in behind me and I can tell he wants to talk to me.
And he opens with, you were just on the Dalton Highway in Alaska.
I say, yep. And so we talked for about 15 minutes. Super nice guy. And I go inside Walmart,
shop for 15 or 20 minutes. I'd go outside of Walmart. And there's a bug IWRX sitting next to
my car. And I know that they want to talk to me. So they're a couple. They saw my story online,
wanted to take pictures with me, talk to them. Sounds like not a lot of activity going on up
there. You were the activity. I mean, to a degree, right? So we got two people that have caught me,
you know, in the wild, I guess. And so I leave there and I have, I'm trying to kill time this day.
So I go take a drive down to Seward. And on the way down to Seward, it's a really epic road.
And I'm probably left the Walmart for maybe 10 or 15 minutes. And this couple is flagging me down,
taking pictures. So we pull into a gas station. They had seen me online, wanted to chat me up.
Super nice. And so I go in the gas station. And as I'm entering the gas station, I hear the
cashier telling a person at the gas station, yeah, I seen that dude online. He just drove from Key West
to Dead Horse, Alaska. And I yelled across the gas station. I didn't make it all the way to Dead
Horse. I had to stop at the Arctic Circle. And I ended up talking to him for about five minutes.
Then I leave. And there's another fella standing next to my car that wants to talk to me. He didn't
see the post online. He just wanted to talk to me about the car, which talked to him for 10 minutes.
And so all these interactions were like, within an hour, you know, and for me, it was kind of
cool. And Alaska really cannot go anywhere. And people are picking me out. And Alaska is a massive
state. But for some reason, you know, there was a microscope on me and the NSX in Alaska. And
everybody wanted to reach out and talk to me. So just thought that was really cool. You know, like
the Alaska car scene is actually really neat. There's Anchorage has got a pretty eclectic car
scene. So I seen a number of cars when I was up there, but it also makes sense because, you know,
between Fairbanks and Anchorage, most of the population in Alaska is concentrated in those
areas. So that's why everybody was seeing me and, you know, the Facebook group has a lot of followers
and they're condensed in those two cities. So that was probably like the coolest, biggest one as far
as like most bang for the buck as quickly as possible. But lots of little ones, you know, along
the way as well, where people were picking me out from, you know, I had gone to Pemberton,
which is a little bit north of Whistler. And I had driven in, there was a really incredible road,
I believe it was Highway 99 that looped in there is one of the better roads I'd driven on the trip.
And I was trying to camp in a campground in Pemberton and campground was full. And so I've
called an audible and found another campground like 13 miles away. And it was incredible spot
camped out there for the night. And the next morning I went on a hike first thing in the morning.
And then I go to eat some breakfast at a bakery. And side note, I forgot to pre-curse with this,
is that about a month prior to this, a guy that I didn't know on Instagram had sent me a message
saying, if you come to Pemberton, let me know.
Now, did he know that maybe you were going to do a trip at some point or that was just random?
No, he saw me on the trip. Okay. Yeah, like he had seen me on the trip. And this was also like,
I guess, another side note is there's a fine balance I have between like posting current
status of me. And I really don't post very often. Yeah, I don't post very often. I rarely post a
current status of where I am, what I'm doing. And it's like, different reasons at different times
for that. But you know, like he had seen me on this trip and knew that I was making moves. And
there's a duality behind that because there's times where it actually hurts me that I don't post
currently. I had multiple NSX owners and S2000 owners in Calgary and Edmonton that wanted me
to come by there. I mean, Warren was going to throw an NSX gathering in Edmonton for me,
but I had already passed through because he didn't find out until I passed through until later. So,
you know, like there's kind of that like I could connect more, but I also choose sometimes to
kind of move a bit stealthy around and also sporadically too. So he had seen me making my moves
and ultimately said if you come through Pemberton, let me know. So I find this other campsite, I go
hiking in the morning, I go to bakery, I get some breakfast and I leave the bakery. And when I leave
the bakery, I turn on the main road and I pass a white tundra within like two or three minutes
on the main track. And it's a super small town, nothing happened in here. And the tundra
hybrides me. So I put my seatbelt on and I slow down because I think there's a police up ahead
and my phone dings. And it's this guy on Instagram that says, dude, that was you.
So I turned back around or I said, I'm turning back around. Let's meet at the industrial park. So
I pull back in there and it's him and his buddy. They both have pickup trucks and they're both
going dirt bike riding. But this guy Dan is an Englishman who's lived in Pemberton for like 18
years. And when he lived in England, he used to have a 96. It's not spa yellow. They call it yellow,
right? It's technically spa yellow, but they have another name for it in England. And so he had a
yellow NSX. He had Integra Type R. He had Civic Type Rs. He was hyper knowledgeable about Hondas,
organized the NSX club Nuremberg meetup and just blown away to see me, right? And I was
blown away to see him. And so he starts pouring over details about my car that only NSX owners
would know. And I'm feeling like an idiot because I had wished I told him, you know, like,
dude, I remember you sent me the message, but I totally spaced on reaching out to you. And I
about drove through this middle of nowhere town without reaching out to you. And so we agreed to
do dinner that night. And I went over and hung out at his house for dinner. And would you guys have,
do you remember? Well, actually, he offered to cook me grilled cheese and I denied because I
stopped and got Thai on the way there from a Thai place that I wanted to try. So we were supposed
fancy though. Hey, come by the house, man. I'll hook up with some grilled cheese.
I know, I know. Well, just any, as you know, I was saying earlier, any home cooked meals welcome,
but there was a Thai place that was really high, highly reviewed. So it's funny because I say dinner,
but I actually like punted his dinner so I could try the Thai place, which was phenomenal Thai
in the middle of random Pemberton. Now, hold on, I have a feeling that grilled cheese isn't going
to be very filling anyway. Like you could probably find room for a grilled cheese after the fact.
Fair enough, but we did have tea and biscuits. Oh, yeah. So that's,
as a true Englishman, he put the kettle on. So, and I mean, last little fun side note of this story
is, you know, so I'm hanging out at his house and we're hanging out drinking tea and he basically
says, let me wash your car. And I say, okay, because I can just tell what it means to him. So
we get a bucket and go upstairs and I meet his girlfriend for the first time and he
starts filling up some hot water in the sink and his girlfriend's like, what are you doing?
And he said, I'm washing a car and she says, my car says, no, this guy's the guy that I just met.
So this rando and it cracked me up because it's like, she's probably like, what, what,
what are you doing? Yeah. And so we wash the car and hung out the homeless guy over there.
Yeah, basically. Yeah. And, you know, and they hadn't been dating long enough where, you know,
she'd never seen an NSX or experienced that connection, but I could just tell like,
how much it meant to Dan, you know, it's a true connection with this car. And like,
the NSX is a magnet as far as energy goes, you know, and like me and the NSX, it's magnetic of what
unfolds. And this was a great example of it because I almost fumbled and the universe prevented,
you know, us from not crossing paths, which was really, really cool.
And then, you know, a pile of other of these stories, you know, along the way, right? Like
little interactions, bigger interactions. I mean, just as recently of last week, when I was in
Encinitas, California, I went out with a couple NSX owners for the day and we stopped to go get
something to eat. And we had about five guys standing around my car and a guy walks up and
instantly goes, you're the guy who just drove to Alaska, weren't you? You know, and called me out
in Encinitas. And I'm like, yeah, I'm still on the trip, right? You know, two months later. But
I guess there's a degree of like virleness that's going on. You know, there's a couple little
journalism pieces that came out of me, but between Instagram and that, you know, enough
people caught traction to understand what I was doing and what I did. But,
yeah, I just can't get enough of driving the car, man, because all these things continue to
keep unfolding, which are really, really cool, fun stories. You have any, like, close calls?
Because it's just you out there with the car. You know, are you almost out of gas or did you just
get, you ran over something and the service station closes? Like, do you have any of those
those strange roadside emergencies that you just happened to get lucky?
I guess I forgot to elaborate the when I hit that bump when I got off the Dalton Highway,
which is kind of funny because you lost your lip. Yeah, I lost the front lip. So, which,
you know, that was almost to be expected when I left that I would lose that. So that would be
about the, you know, unexpected damage story. The kind of weird close calls is, you know,
so I didn't bring any gas on the Dalton Highway. I just went with a full tank of gas, which, like,
Tyson and most everybody else that the way they have to approach it is gas up in Fairbanks,
go to the Arctic Circle, and then go north of the Arctic Circle by about another 40 miles to the
one gas stop, then turn back around and go back to Fairbanks. The first gen SX has an 18 and a
gallon gas tank. So I didn't bring any spare gas cans. And I have a six-speed transmission
conversion in my car. But I just told myself I have to trust the math. And I knew it was going to be,
you know, about 420 miles round trip. That's a lot. And I, but I knew by the math the NSX could do
it because I've driven so much, right? And I know what the math is. And yeah, there was this,
I'd be lying if I didn't think about it. You know, like, I wished I had brought five gallons with
me at a couple of points. But I told myself I had to continue to trust the math. And it allowed me
to make it there and back. The other damage issue was the first day in Saskatchewan, Canada, across
the border. And because I like to camp so much, and I'm also kind of stubborn on, like, I would
prefer free campsites as opposed to, like, state or national parks where you have to pay, you know,
10 or 20 bucks. I didn't even think about that. Yeah. And it's like, I'm not opposed to paying
10 or $20, but also to, like, I think the bigger reason why I prefer the campsites away from
the parks, right, is because I would prefer to just be camping by myself. You know, it's less
about the money and more about, like, I just like to be away from everybody. Because there's other
things, you still have neighbors, you're at 311 and you have 312 and they've got a full RV and then
you have whatever, right? Yeah. And it's like, you know, depending on the campground, some have
closer proximity to the others or you can hear somebody roll over and they're sleeping back.
But ultimately, so I went on this search for this free campsite and I drove
like the siltiest, sandiest, dustiest road one could imagine for about two hours before I found
this campsite. And I got turned around and GPS was sending me all sorts of ways and I found it
and it was awesome and it worked out great. But then I noticed the following day that
I had a squeak when I pushed in my clutch pedal. And then I noticed that pedal pressure
was like vague or grabby or sticky. And so I quite wasn't unsure what was going on,
I knew something wasn't happy. And so I needed to get an oil change in Canada on the way to Alaska.
And so I had just found the town and basically went to four different
oil, quick lube shops. Were people afraid to touch the car?
Well, no, I mean, I think people were afraid to take my proposal and my proposal was
nobody touches the car but me. And so I've got my own oil and I've got my own filter in the car
and ultimately I want to pay somebody to let me change my own oil because I don't trust anybody
to work on the car with very rare exception of other NSX owners. Hey, no judgment people
into different things. You're into paying people to watch you change oil.
Well, that too, but I mean, I'm also happy to pay a valet to let me park my own car,
which I've done a number of times just because I don't want anybody touching the car. And
ultimately I found it took me about four shops, but with the help of a local Canadian guy that
kind of took me under his wing, we found a fourth shop that agreed to let me pay $50,
let me change my own oil. So I did and I got down in the pit and when I did that,
the other big reason I wanted to do that is I took the dust boot cover off the bell housing
where the clutch slave meets the transmission fork and it was like somebody coughed dust
out of the bell housing and all the contact points were just caked in dust. So I soaked
what I could in silicone spray and the pedal pressure got better and the squeak went away for
a little bit, but it's ultimately ended up coming back. And so what's what's happened is
basically there's got some debris on a metal collar around the input shaft of the transmission
to throw up air and rides on. And it's just not fun in first gear, but I'm just going to keep
sending it, you know, the clutch isn't slipping and I have all the new parts back home. If I need
to go get them to me, but right now I'm just going to go 5,000 miles continue, you know.
So between those two bets, those were like the damage side of the story. I mean, granted,
a ton of rock chips and, you know, dust and dirt and stuff like that, but those were the two bets.
And I met a photographer in Canada and he actually kind of jokingly called me out that
I messed up my transmission because I'm too stubborn to pay for a hotel.
Yeah. Come on. Which is partially true though. I mean, it's like, I ultimately, you know,
if I would have paid the $100 and stayed in a hotel that night, none of this transmission
issue would exist. But ultimately to... But it could have been the next road.
Yeah, it could have. Yeah, anything can happen at any time. So it is what it is. So I mean,
those were damage, you know, issues as far as like, like spooky, unusual, weird, awkward stuff,
you know, like two major events, I guess, or not major, but two events. And the first one would be
was I was in North Dakota and I had new rear tires shipped to basically the last biggest town I could
find in North Dakota, which was Mano, North Dakota. So I knew rear shipped to there so I could
ensure that when I crossed the border into Canada, all the way to NS Expo, I would have tires,
because NSX likes to eat rear tires and I want to brand new ones. So ship tires to a tire shop there.
The night prior I stayed and it's like devil or devil's lake somewhere in North Dakota,
this campground that I found on an island in the lake. And there's, I mean, there was a bridge to
get there. And I pull in, in this point, it's like the end of August. So light's still long. It's
nine o'clock dusk. There's one other camper in this campground. And they're at the other end of the
campground. I found a great campsite right next to the water, set up my tent, hang out. So maybe 1030
and I go in my tent to go to sleep. And probably from my tent, it's probably about like, let's say
400 feet. And there's a pier or dock that had a boat launch. And I see some lights,
should lighten up my tent. And so I kind of unzip and I poke my head out. And down near the boat
launch, there's a headlamp light moving around. And it turns off. And so I'm like, okay, all right,
it's probably the other person in the campground. And so I go to sleep. And I wake up at like
430 in the morning. Now, hold up, before you go to sleep, you're kind of wondering what the
is going on? Or do you just immediately go to sleep because you're so used to this light? Yeah,
that's what I was about to say is like, there's a degree of like, I just have to turn off a lot
of the fear when it comes to this, you know, assess the fear, but also don't let it control you.
Right. So I just kind of turn it off. Like it's probably the other person in the campground.
Logically, there should be no one else here. So it's probably that person.
And then I wake up at 430 in the morning. And I have one of those. I kind of
got a pee, but I can kind of also maybe roll back over and go to sleep and pee.
And I'm like, man, I should just get up and go pee. So I just kind of, you know,
yank my zipper or my tent fast to open it. And I poke my head out and at exactly the same place
where that headlamp was, a headlamp turns on at 430 in the morning. Okay. Like, because it heard,
at least I think it heard my zipper open, right? And sound travels like a mug.
Yep. And so I watch this headlamp and then I watch the headlamp turn off.
And there's enough light, like ambient light from the moon where I can see
like for me to the light, but obviously I can't see the light. So I could see, like,
if anybody, I guess was to get closer, I could kind of see them in the grass area, but uh,
No silhouettes or anything. No, but I got up and went pee and just went back to sleep.
You know, I just tried to like roll over, not trying to think too heavily on that.
But I thought it was just really odd and it's like reflecting back on that. You know, I don't know if
maybe they woke me up, right? Not my pee. Sure. You know, so
the second one was my first night on the Alaska Canada highway, which is, uh,
you know, the Alcans famous road, obviously to get from Alaska all the way into, uh,
or from Canada all the way into Alaska. And I didn't quite know what I was going to do for
sleeping the first night, but I had found that there, I guess there's like, they're basically
like little fishing ponds kind of scattered off a couple of spots. They called them like a pit
site or something along those lines. And so I had one picked out and I'm rolling into it about dusk.
And as I'm rolling into this campsite, the, the, the turnoff into it, it goes over a railroad
track, but I mean, it's like a hundred feet off the Alcan is this campsite. And so as I'm turning
into it, the road's a bit jacked up. So I'm basically approaching it a little bit further on the
entrance and my windows down and it's dusk. The sun is set. And as I'm pulling in, there's a guy
pushing a bicycle, wearing all black, leaving the campsite. And I thought about making some like
smart ass witty comment, like, Oh, it wasn't good enough for you or something, right? But I,
I made eye contact with this guy and I didn't say anything. And I just went in the campsite
and I ended up camping there. But you know, like in my mind, I'm thinking, where's this dude going?
You know, there's not a town for 50 miles. You know, and like, and you're wearing all black on
a bicycle at night. Like what is a better campsite than where we're at? What did you just do?
Basically, you know, and so another one of those things where it just kind of have to override
it, but thinking, you know, like, man, I just, it's really odd. And like, the thing is, I try
to also understand is like, man, like, I'm a trusting, kind guy. And I think everybody has
good intention from the most part, but I also have to understand is like, the characters you run into
out in the wilderness, you know, may or may not, you know, be mentally healthy or may and may not
be running from something either, you know, and so I try and understand like,
there's some dangerous people out there, you know, and they see a hundred thousand dollar car
and a guy get out of it and sleep in a tent next to it, you know, maybe some thoughts creep into
their mind. What kind of tent do you have? Because you keep bringing up the tent, I keep thinking,
because we have a couple seven footers that we've camped in like once, but do you have like a
traditional, I don't know, tent? Do you have like a dome tent? Do you have something that comes off
of your car? No, no, it'd be just like a small backpacker's tent. So it's supposed to be a two
man, but you know, like looking at this table, it's like one and a half of these wide. Okay,
so pretty, pretty small. Yep. And you can't stand up in it, you know, the ceiling's probably four
feet, maybe. And, but it's just a, it's a big Agnes backpacking tent. First night on the Alcan,
one of the tent poles broke. Because I mean, I wish I knew, I was telling my friend yesterday,
I said, man, like, I'd like to have a counter on how many nights I've stayed in this specific tent,
because it's, it's hundreds for sure. I just don't know how many, but I fixed the broken pole and
I've been kind of stubborn enough to still use it. Do you use the car as like kind of one of your
walls? Does that make sense? So like literally right next to the car? No, so certain situations,
yes, but most situations I prefer not to do that. And the thought I have is I was actually driving
my Red NSX in 2018 to San Francisco. How many do you have that you can drive?
Right now, just one, but I do have three, but two of them are
pieces. The parts of cars or your assembling? Assembling. So, but I was driving in 2018 to
San Francisco and I was somewhere in Nevada, I believe. And I just saw a little campground sign,
so I pulled over kind of right off the interstate and there was a lake and I just
set up my tent right next to the NSX. And right before I was, I didn't even set up a tent,
actually, I just threw my mat on the ground. But right before I fell asleep, I got thinking,
like once again, I guess I would think of it as a crime of opportunity, right? So like
somebody pulls into a campground or place and they see this car and then they see the
tent next to the car. It starts to possibly put a scenario in their mind where they say that,
oh, the keys for this car are in that tent. So what I usually typically try and do if I have
the option is to give myself like at the vantage point and put my car somewhere and then have a
line of sight 200 feet away or 100 feet away behind a tree. So at least maybe I can have the first
look as opposed to somebody having the first look at me. And sometimes it works out better than
others, but that's typically what I would prefer to do. If I'm in an actual campground,
then it doesn't matter. But just kind of off campground camping, that's how I'm going to try
and play it. You consider yourself a light sleeper? No, I mean, I guess I can wake up easily, but I'm
pretty good at, you know, like sleeping through some things. That's, I mean, you mentioned,
you know, Northern Lights or Royal Borealis, I didn't get to see any on the trip. And ultimately,
there's probably a good possibility that I slept through some of it. You know,
like it probably did happen at some certain point, but you know, I was basically going from
very, very early in the morning all day. So typically when it gets dark, when you're camping,
you really don't have anything to do. So I'm basically kind of just sleeping through the
night, you know, I'd wake up a time or two and take a peek, but I never saw any.
Do you ever, like, do you do the traditional camping thing that we see on TV all the time?
You're pitching your tent, you're making your fire, you know, all that stuff for you. Basically,
just pull in, pop your tent up, eat your oatmeal, go to sleep, get up in the morning and keep moving.
Pretty much that. There's, I haven't had a single fire on the entire trip. A lot of it because
like Canada. Well, this trip specifically, right? But overall, do you ever just do that?
Yeah. I mean, overall, sometimes fires, but overall, no, you know, like, and I'm also not the
type of guy that's like spending a whole heck of a lot of time in the campground, you know,
so it'd be more of like, I am pulling in, I'm setting up my tent, whether it be a
dusk or with my headlamp, get my whole sleeping kit set up and then, you know, like,
basically think about going to bed, you know, whatever little bit I need to do. And also too,
if I have cell signal or even if I don't, you know, just with offline maps, the, you know,
a little bit of decompression is basically trying, you know, think about tomorrow and
like really look at the map and make sure I'm not missing something great, which
inevitably also happens too. You know, like we were joking earlier, it's like,
I've got maps of things I didn't do, you know, so there's a lot of things that I would like to try
and hit. I'm just trying to make sure like I'm not going to drive past something epic and not know
about it. Do you find it easier to fall asleep being so disconnected from electronics? And I
ask that because I remember being a kid and going to like grandma's house and everyone's in bed
about like 7.30, you're watching Benny Hill or something on TV and you look up and it's 8.30
and you're ready for bed. When you're at home, you're up to 11.30, 12. Yeah. Same thing going
camping. It's like sometimes you stay up late if there's a bunch of people, but if you're by yourself,
maybe just go to bed as soon as it gets dark outside. Yeah, definitely. Like I said earlier,
I have a good job just matching the mood. Yeah. You know, so if there's not much going on,
I'm probably going to be going to sleep. Because we're going to the club after this.
Yeah, I know. Yeah. Okay. All right. Just so you know. For sure. For sure. On a school night.
Yep. On a school night. Let me ask you this because I was wondering,
like I said, I spent a lot of time thinking in the shower. So I knew you were coming over,
so I was thinking about you again in the shower. Just so you know, right?
Good. Most people do. Yes. You're either at a campground or you're at a hostel.
I'm guessing, you know, KOA is out of the picture, but you know, if you're not doing those two,
are you always finding a hotel or is there ever a time when you're like,
this is a random spot of land. It looks cool. I could be in and out in the morning.
Like, do you ever just randomly pick something? Oh, certainly. It's just gorilla camping,
you know, and like there's all sorts of places that I've camped that I'm not supposed to,
you know, and I know that like, I mean, I've done it a whole bunch on this trip, you know,
I've stayed in places that you're not supposed to stay, you know, I've stayed in campgrounds that
have been closed or whatever, but it's like, the way I kind of view it right is like overall,
I have a very low impact of what I'm doing, but also overall too is like, if I was to,
you know, I guess for lack of a better term, get, you know,
investigated or harassed by the park ranger or the police, you know,
like my answer is going to be, dude, I was tired and I needed a place to sleep.
The difficulty with like, truly tent camping like I am, as opposed to having a tent on top
of your roof of the vehicle, which is extremely common now, but I can't like pull over on the
one in California at a roadside pull off and set my tent up on the ground, but you can pull over
and have a rooftop tent open up. So effectively like I've shut out from a lot of like camping spots
or cool camping areas that Sprinter vans or rooftop tents have access to. So I got to be a little bit
more unorthodox and kind of a little bit off the beaten path to find a place to actually set my tent
Yeah, because that thought came to me, obviously, knowing you were coming here, but
just in the road trip that I just took with JC driving back, obviously, you know, because you
do this for people who fly everywhere, you don't realize this, but there's a lot of times where
you're just, no, you're funny. He's pouring his, I don't know. I don't even know if the
microphone is going to pick that up or not. I'm going to leave it in there anyway. Yeah. Yeah.
But, you know, there's a lot of time where you're just staring out the window when you're driving,
you're just thinking, right? I'm a thinker and I'm like, I see all this land out in the middle of
nowhere. And I'm like, we're 20, 30 miles away from anything, whoever owns this land,
unless they have little thumpers or something, you know, or a little motion cameras, you know,
everywhere, like where are the odds I could just pull into one of these places if I just had to
spend the night and leave early in the morning, like how would they know? Or even more nefariously,
it's like, if I wanted to bury somebody, how long would it take them to find this person on their
land? You know, those are thoughts that I have. I'm not crazy. That's what made me think. I was
like, I wonder if I just needed a place to sleep really quick, like off the path. So the highway
robbers don't pull me over and stab me to death while I'm on the side of the road. I could probably
pull off the road and just be gone in the morning. I mean, definitely. And that's something that's
pretty much key with a lot of that is you got to be up early. Yeah. You know, like if you're going
to try and sleep until eight o'clock, like that, that's going to find a good idea. Well, it just
increases your chances to get caught for lack of a better term. But if like you're busting camp
right at sunrise, then you can usually be in and out and not have to worry. But yeah, I find there's
lots of opportunities for gorilla camping. What the difficulty is in the NSX is just road conditions.
You know, there's a lot of places that I could camp have awesome campsites. Like I was in NorCal,
near Bodega Bay, kind of near Sebastopol area. And there were two really great campsites that I
literally won, I guess, speed bump, I guess for lack of a better term, denied me access and my
car couldn't make it. And so I knew from that speed bump to the campground, it was like less
than a mile walk. But I wasn't really feeling like leaving my car and walking a mile. But you know,
like I got shut out because the road condition didn't allow my low car there. You know, and had
I been in anything else, I would have made it. So that's another difficulty too is like a lot of
the campsites and the campgrounds and stuff and the data that I get as far as camping all show up
and be like, well, this isn't made for a sports car. So I have to turn around and figure out some
other option. What are some of your favorite places to eat when you're out on the road?
Well, I mean, usually it's grocery stores, you know, like I like going and doing just random,
you know, yogurt and banana and tell everybody what you're normal. And I don't think there's
anything wrong with it, man. Like you told Yvette and I earlier and I was like, oh, that actually
makes sense for a number of reasons. I mean, I'm pretty sure that's what they feed sports teams
typically as well. So I mean, what is your typical meal when you don't decide to pull over and
because you're not probably hitting fast food. I mean, there's a time or two where you break down
and, you know, I've been hiking 15 miles and I'm just going to get some hamburger and fries. But
predominantly, you know, a lot of oatmeal and a lot of peanut butter and banana sandwiches,
you know, for most of the, you know, camping backpack and stuff can't obviously carry any
perishables with me, you know, so it's got to be stuff that I can last and, you know, nut butters
are really good too. I carry a bunch of those with me. Like honey? Yeah, a little bit. Peanut
butter and honey, dude. That's like, it's great. Yeah, it's one of the classic comforts.
All white or you get like multi-green bread? Kind of depends honestly. I'm usually like whatever's
on sale type shopper or so. Or if I can find something somewhat like, like from a bakery would
be ideal. Be a lot of that, a lot of grocery store pickin' and then also too, I rely heavily on
Google, you know, whatever little restaurant or whatever is in the area and sift through and
figure out, you know, is this one going to be a good fit or are they truly good or whatever. But
I like, I like trying restaurants and I like trying food and I like experiencing it all,
you know, like I've got plenty of coffee with me, but I also still, if I see a great coffee
shop, I'm going to stop in and try it, you know, because it's part of travel.
I've got a few more questions for you. Yeah, just, yeah, that's it. The first one is,
you know, so you are, we kind of skirted over this earlier, like you love doing the outdoor stuff,
you love doing the hiking, you hike incredibly fast. You told us a story earlier. You know,
where does that come from? Because I think you like hiking and you go to all the cool spots,
you like driving and you camp out of your car, which isn't normal, especially for an NSX.
And you look, I mean, you should be driving around in like a Tacoma or a Tundra or something,
but you choose to take this car and then you're going on these incredibly long walks. You've
done 10, 15 miles a day, then you get back in your car, then you do other shit. Like,
where does that passion come from and what are your favorite places to go or what are your top
three places you've been? Well, good questions. I'd say probably the initial passion for
outdoors and adventure would just be my parents, right? Like growing up, they
took us on cool road trips and hiking and outdoors was a big part of, you know, our family. So we
would do a lot of that. So, you know, as I got older, I've still enjoyed those things.
Which is awesome, by the way. Yeah, it is. It truly is, man. I love it. And I feel like more
people need to be doing it. But your parents are still with us? Yep. Yep. So still, they're hiking
around and adventure around as well. You know, not in NSX, but they're still staying busy.
Do they think you're crazy? Yeah. Well, I think probably one of the stories that
cracked me or one of the comments that cracked me up on this trip was, so I have a Starlink
Rome, which is the mini Starlink that allowed me to have internet this entire trip. And I
mount it under the rear glass of the NSX. And overall, it worked out great. You know,
sometimes phone calls were a bit spotty, but I was able to keep all my group chats and my text
and stream Spotify and use internet data the entire trip. But I think my parents,
you know, have accepted that I'm always going to do wild and crazy stuff. So they kind of just
maybe don't pay as much attention to what exactly it is, which may help them, you know,
ignorance is bliss, right? But I sent a group text to the family chat that I was leaving Fairbanks,
because I didn't quite know when I was going to actually make the push to the Arctic Circle. And
so I sent a group text that I was leaving to go on the Arctic Circle. I made the call. I'm going to
do it today. And my mom said, have fun. And then I took a picture like 10 or 15 miles on the Dalton
Highway of my car and sent it over on the group chat. And my mom said, Oh my gosh, what are you
doing? Turn around. And that was quick. Yeah. And I'm like laughing in my head because, you know,
within an hour ago, you were telling me to go have fun. And I don't maybe think that
she really realized what I had gotten myself into, right? So yeah, that kind of cracked me up. But,
you know, it's the mentality that it's like, you know, ships aren't made for the harbor,
you know, and like cars aren't made for the garage, they're made to go out and do it. So that's
what I was out there, you know, trying to involve myself with. Yeah, hiking and just,
yeah, what are your, what are your, especially on this trip, but you know, where are the two or
three places you've gone to that you just love? This trip, especially is Banff, Canada, you know,
like I had extremely high expectations because everybody had spoke so highly of this place.
It's just the coolest place ever. And okay, we'll see. So yeah, I mean, I got there and it blew
all the water, you know, I just really was taken with that place. And I could spend a year and
hiking around that area and still not really scratch the surface of my opinion, because there's just
so much to do there. Denali National Park in Alaska was really incredible too. And I caught that kind
of like right at the tail of the peak of the, the color change up there, which was real phenomenal to
see. And are you ever worried when you do these hikes? Because, you know, some of these national
parks and places, I mean, they're, they're wild. Oh yeah. Well, I mean, hence the name, I mean,
Bear Spray, you know, it's about the cheapest insurance you can do, you know. Any close encounters?
I mean, I, I've seen a big grizzly on the side of the road in Canada and then seen five from the,
the bus tour in Denali. And Denali, you can only drive, I think, like maybe 16 miles into the park.
But if you want to go to the rest of the way in the park, you got to take a bus tour.
So we saw five grizzlies on the bus tour. But I mean, I've run into grizzlies in the back country,
like on foot in the past, none on this trip, which I was honestly a bit surprised because I did a
lot this trip. But yeah, Bear Spray is about the only thing you can really have. Canada,
you're not allowed to have a gun, you know. So it's like, and to me, I don't, you know,
I don't really even want to carry a gun really, you know, like, so I'm not, I'm not afraid of
wildlife, you know, obviously, obviously more, you know, I guess, nervous on wild interactions
with other people out in the back country than actual wildlife. But BAMP, incredible hiking.
And then probably like the other spot, which, you know, has always been cool to me anyways,
is Pacific Northwest and specifically like the Olympic Peninsula. So after NS Expo, I spent
like five days doing a big ring loop of the whole Olympic Peninsula and just checking out
like the Ho Rainforest, which was unbelievable and the whole coastline there. And yeah, there's
just Olympic Peninsula is a really cool place. The Pacific Northwest is really cool. There's
just a lot to do here. But it's also very difficult because every single day, there's only so many
hours and I can only do so much. And for a basically three month trip, you know, like
time is very finite, even though it seems like a lot, like I don't have a lot of like
days when I'm doing nothing. So yeah, those areas will probably jump out as the top ones.
And then throughout California, I really haven't done too much actual camping. It's kind of the
past, as this trip kind of wraps up, I'm going to be doing less camping because it's more basically
friend to friend to friend work my way home. There may be like maybe one opportunity to
pitch my tent from here, but I could probably honestly put box everything up and ship it home
and not use it for the next, you know, 14 days that I'm on the road or 10 days that I'm on the road.
If you wanted to, I know that I have a nice foresty area back here.
Oh yeah.
That we prepared just for you. Like I showed you earlier, we got a bunch of trees planted today,
you know, just for you. Perfect timing. How do you, I have this thing that I don't, I don't,
I say this to myself and it's not a hundred percent true, but I try to be this way. But
sometimes at the end of the day, you are who you are, right? But I have said that I don't have time
for people who don't have time for me. And at the end of the day, you still have given people
your time, even though they just continuously don't really have time for you or don't think about you.
You've made it a point to stop and see a lot of people on this road trip, a lot of people,
but then there's probably a lot of people you don't have time to stop and see that you would like to
see. How do you decide? Because I know that you have, I know that you do change course,
depending on who it is you have to see and you try to make it work. Like how do you come to
that decision of stopping and seeing and knowing that a lot of the people that you see, we all
love you, but people have their own lives, right? And you know, would they do the same for you?
Probably, probably not, but that doesn't change who you are. So how do you decide and why do you
do it? Good question. I mean, I'd say initially starting the trip, there'd be like a certain
percentile of like must sees, you know, like 40% or 50% of people that like I have to see on this
trip, you know, like obviously here being one of them, but I'm happy because I'm like, maybe if
you're in town to see Tyson, then maybe I'm just, you know, I'm glad I'm in, I'm living in the same
town. Tyson's another one of those too. Yeah, for sure. But then, you know, I do leave some room
for possible opportunity of like a new friend or a new opportunity as well or somebody I may have
forgotten about. It has an open opportunity, but you know, a lot of it takes like basically this,
you know, like the swirling mental thing that's going on of like, where am I going to be
in seven to 10 days? Who do I know that's there? I need to start the conversation now
about their schedule, my schedule, can it all work out and just see who bites really, you know,
like, and so it's like, I may cast 10 or 20 lines depending on what city I'm in because I'm really
well networked nationwide. And so if somebody bites on a line, then I'll try and accommodate and
set up a schedule, you know, like when I joked earlier, it's like, I got lunch and dinner
plans, you know, like the remainder of the trip pretty much because I'm trying to lock these
people in for certain times. And I've also found just generally in life, you know, the way friends
work too is like, if I throw one or two, you know, lines out and they're not reciprocated,
that I just understand that, you know, they're busy or it's just not their personal. Yeah. And
I'm not trying to like, the thing is about friendship, right, is you can't force friends.
So if they're not able to make it happen, then that's okay, you know, but it is difficult too
because, you know, I have lots of friends that I didn't get to see on this trip. I mean, I just
left LA a couple days ago and it's like, there's like probably easily 10 to 20 people that I really
wanted to see in LA that it's like, it didn't work out. And just how it goes. Yeah. So, you know,
and obviously I'm supposed to be at the right places at the right time, but I'm going to try and
figure out, you know, as many people as I can possibly see. And so there's been, it's kind of
funny, right? Because it's like, on the way to Key West, I met up with three different NSX owners
in South Florida and I literally had our windows with each of them. So we hung out for one hour,
one hour, one hour, most passing through San Francisco a couple of days ago, and I had forgotten
about an ex NSX owner that I never met, but we were friends. I gave him about two hours notice
and he restructures this whole morning and we stopped by for, I stopped by and hang out with
him for an hour. So, you know, it's like, I have to realize that I got to take these hour opportunities
with everybody, you know, and it's like, sometimes a bummer because it's like, things are awesome for
that hour, but literally that's all the time we got, you know, and so the, I guess maybe closer,
more tight knit friends that are the must sees, you know, I obviously try and accommodate a little
bit more timing for them because I want to kind of immerse myself in our friendship a little
bit deeper, but I'll take any amount of time with anybody that I can physically make happen.
Yeah, that's cool because back when I used to travel all the time, when I would get a new job
at a new site, I used to be like, Hey guys, I just landed a contract in your city. Who's available?
You know, what night can we go out to happy hour or we could just meet together at dinner
somewhere. So I get that and that is the same deal. You reminded me of that when you said you
just cast all those lines out there and see you, see you catch. But yeah, it sucks for the people
you can't spend time with. For those of us that you can, we truly appreciate it and love it.
Yeah. And something that I guess I will add to that too, that I just thought of is
what's also blown me away is like, just like the reception, I guess, maybe that I get from
certain individuals that I didn't expect, you know, like there's a girl in Portland Shea,
she's got a MK4 Supra and she's got a rooftop 10 on it.
Know how cool.
And she was friends with Chris Cut. And so she drove her Supra cross country and
camped out of her Supra. And so her and I like missed each other on the tail of the dragon right
near our live by like minutes when she did this trip. So we've stayed in communication
and we ended up getting together and hung out for an evening when I was in Portland.
But she had mentioned my NSX had, or my Supra hadn't been running in like four months.
And I got it running to meet you. Oh, wow.
And then like NSX Lawn in Oceanside, California, same thing. Like I haven't driven my NSX in four
months. I drove it out to meet you, you know, and other people like that. And it's just like,
I don't know, I guess it's kind of humbling, I guess for lack of a better term because it's
like, man, I'm just trying to go out and have fun and hang out with people, but people want to
make serious efforts to be involved in this trip. And you know, I've gotten many thanks from many
friends about like, thank you for including me in this, you know, which like to me, I'm like,
well, dude, you're putting me up for the night. Thank you. So it's like, it's tough, but a lot of
people just want to like, be a part of it, which is really cool to share it because, you know,
that's basically what it boils down with life is, is like, we're all sharing experiences together.
You know, and that's kind of what a podcast is too, right? It's just sharing our general experience.
Yeah. And I know, I know Chris was, was planning on doing that, you know, him and Hashes and then
obviously they didn't work out. So I think for people who are able to do that, it's great,
you know, and, and you're not that guy, you know, you, you, we had a conversation before the banquet
about, you know, the banquet, you know, you're not that guy, you don't want the praise,
you know, but I think that's the magical part of being you and people who get an opportunity to
know you. This is not a question I typically ask people, even though they're in the NSX family,
but I know how much you love the car. I know how much you love going to NSX pose, you know,
again, that's, that's one of the two events I circle every year. The other one's Monterey Car Week
and I don't go all the time, but I still want to know when it is. What has NSX ownership meant to you?
Tough question. Pretty much everything. I don't really know, I guess, where I would be without
this car, you know, like as simple as that is, you know, and like,
I bought it because it was something that I always thought was amazing and cool and
revered it, right? You know, just on its purely mechanical aspect, but like
NSX ownership to me has basically been the opportunity to share something and also share
something of myself with everyone who wants to say yes, you know, and I don't know, man, it's
really been life changing buying this 30 year old Honda and, you know, like something I did want to
add, not to detract from the question, but speaking of Chris Cut is on this trip, the two people that
I really, you know, kept close to me on the trip because I knew there were two people that
would have respected it and enjoyed what I was doing was Chris Cut and then John Bassos.
And, you know, I even, you know, kind of joked it's like,
you know, I know John would have loved what I'm doing, but he also would have scratched his head
a lot of what I was doing. Yeah, absolutely. What I said, what the fuck? Basically, but,
you know, keeping those two guys close, right? Because obviously the NSX meant a lot to those
two guys and just to like, you know, I guess pay homage to them on the trip because I know that
they would appreciate it. So, but all I can do is really, you know, every day, like I've probably
said before on this thing is just keep sharing this car with people every single day, you know,
and every single day it gets better and better to do it because more and more opportunity and
more and more people come into my life because of this car. So, it's every single day I keep
saying yes, I want to get out there and share it. Because you've had the most random people just
come up to you. Oh, yeah. Not even just NSX owners because I mean we, people who are part of other
car communities, whether it's the Porsche Club, Ferrari Club, Lamborghini Club, you know, they
realize there's something very special about the NSX owner. And I'm not quite sure why that is,
you know, what makes us so different and unique because our lives are so different
and the car just kind of brings us together. Yeah. I mean, I don't know, a couple possible thoughts
on that would be like, you know, number one, there's a Honda marketing slogan and they actually
had it at HQ in Torrance when I was there last weekend across the wall is you meet the nicest
people on a Honda. And it's like I truly 100% believe that, you know, and why that is is, you
know, like, I just think a lot of ego gets checked at the door with Hondas, you know, you're not
coming into it with any delusions of who you're about, you know, it's like it's a piece of machinery
and it does something incredible and it runs for a long time and is reliable and, you know,
so it's like your ego gets checked at the door. And yeah, I don't know, it's tough because I think
even if you are, let's say a current Ferrari owner or current Lamborghini owner or hypercar
owner, I think if you have some sort of Honda, like lineage or pedigree, right, like I think
that's going to stick with you, but the guys that bought a Ferrari or Lamborghini without that,
you know, also have a certain, you know, I guess approach to their car ownership and it may not
be as friendly or as accommodating as a Honda owner, but I, you know, I'll stand by it till
the end of time that you meet the nicest people on a Honda. So super cool and I'm super thankful
that, you know, I number one have the opportunity to do this, right? Because this trip to me
was a test of myself, right? Like, could I do this, but also ultimately could this car that was
hand built in Japan 30 years ago, pretty much in its same configuration, do something like this,
you know, that no other real super car could possibly consider doing, you know, and like
on both accounts, you know, success, right? Which I was optimistic, but you never know till you go.
Johnny, thanks for coming by. You are out of Coca-Cola. So we'll just have to figure out,
oh, we got to get to the club, right? At some point tonight. All right, we got to get to the
club. So thank you so much for coming by hard park. It was a real pleasure. I mean, I thank you
and your family and just everybody for having me by. So it means a lot from the closet calls to
the studio. Yep. What's next? Thanks, man. Thank you. Wow. What an amazing story. What an amazing
trip. What an amazing person. One of the things that we didn't get an opportunity to talk about.
And when, when Johnny left, he was like, man, I forgot to talk about this, but, you know, he's
really big on no coincidences. He's, he's very strong. He has a, he has a perfect zen with his
world and within himself that the universe is what brings things together. One of the cool stories
is, you know, when I was driving from, from here in Arizona on my way to NSX, I was coming over from
the Spokane, Washington day four, I think of the trip. And the first vehicle I see on the freeway
is him and his NSX. And I'm also the first NSX he saw on his trip to NSX. I see that and I go,
wow, what a crazy coincidence. But Johnny correctly, you know, I would say correctly,
corrected me and said, there's no such thing as coincidences. The universe brought us together.
I was supposed to run into him that day on the freeway. Now for full context, he was just coming
into the United States down from his trip in Canada. And this was during rush hour. So at any
given time on a major freeway, there are tens of thousands of vehicles within a five to six mile
stretch, especially when you're talking about the Seattle area, another major metropolitan area,
in the odds, like we could probably try to time that and say, Hey, man, let me know when you're
at this exit and I'm at this exit and then we can try to meet up. Even if we did that, it'd be very
hard to recreate that strange occurrence where you have a first gen white NSX with white wheels
running into a second gen white NSX with white wheels. Of course, both headed to NSX Bow, which
that in itself wasn't a coincidence that in itself was supposed to actually happen. And it did happen.
But I hope you guys really enjoyed that. And make sure you follow him at NSX explore. There are
articles of him out there, a tremendous person. And I hope you really enjoyed that. Leave a comment
below if you're watching this and let us know what your favorite part of that interview conversation
was. Hey guys, so I wanted to kind of talk about this a little bit. I forgot to even bring up this
part after I recorded my thoughts, my reflections on Johnny being here in studio. But again,
the crazy thing about the universe kind of bringing people together, it's almost as if we live in a
simulation because I forgot the craziest thing wasn't even Johnny and I running into each other on
the highway, which is super nutty. Like you have to admit that is some wild shit. But when we were
sitting here, after we got done recording, we looked up the two times he was on hard parking.
The first time he was ever almost episode 10. This episode right now is 300 episode 10. So
290 episodes ago, November 8th of 2019 was the first time he was on the show that I'm pretty
sure that time I was in the closet. The next time he joined, and this is when it gets really crazy
guys, October 26th of 2020 was the second episode drop, which means I would have recorded it the
prior week at some point, but the episode dropped on October 26th of 2020. Two crazy things.
Chris cut in a sector was also on that episode. And we recorded this episode episode 300 on
correct October 26 2025. Five years to the day
that his second appearance dropped. And he recorded his third appearance here in studio.
That is nuts. And that is all. Well, another month, another closing. If you like what you heard
today or like what you watched today, if you're watching this on YouTube or Spotify,
make sure you go ahead and hit that subscribe button to make sure you go and tell a friend
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About this episode
Johnny Lang shares his incredible journey driving his NSX from Key West to the Arctic Circle and back, covering over 22,000 miles. He discusses the challenges of camping in remote areas, the camaraderie within the NSX community, and the serendipitous encounters he experienced along the way. With stories of meeting fellow NSX enthusiasts and navigating the logistics of his adventurous lifestyle, Johnny's passion for driving and the outdoors shines through. His unique perspective on life, friendship, and the joy of exploration makes for an engaging and inspiring conversation.
Original notes
Episode 300 – Johnny Lange: 17,000-Mile NSX Road Trip from Key West to the Arctic CircleJhae welcomes longtime friend Johnny Lange (@NSXPlore) back to the Hard Parking , first time in-studioJohnny is mid-epic solo road trip: 17,000+ miles in his white 1st-gen NSX, camping almost every night, from Key West, FL to the Arctic Circle via the Dalton Highway, through NSXPO in Tacoma, and now looping the Lower 48 visiting friends.
Chapters:
01:36 – Johnny Lange Enters the Studio (First Time!)
05:37 – Who Is Johnny Lange? Nomadic NSX Life & Trip Origins
09:01 – 17,000-Mile Route: Key West → Arctic Circle → NSXPO
18:06 – “No Coincidences”: Viral Alaska Fame & Serendipitous Meetups
32:32 – Dalton Highway Survival, Damage, & Close Calls
47:42 – Guerrilla Camping, Food on the Fly, & Hiking Highlights
01:13:28 – What NSX Ownership Means + Wrap-Up
Other Johnny Lange articles:
Some lunatic drove his NSX to the arctic circle and back
https://www.autoblog.com/news/some-lunatic-drove-his-acura-nsx-to-the-artic-circle-and-back
North Carolina man has driven his Acura NSX from Key West all the way to the Arctic Circle
https://supercarblondie.com/north-carolina-man-acura-nsx-key-west-arctic-circle/
Meet The Man Who Just Drove His NSX From Key West To The Arctic Circle
https://www.theautopian.com/meet-the-man-who-just-drove-his-nsx-from-key-west-to-the-arctic-circle/
Main Show Sponsors:
Right Honda: https://righthonda.com/
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Autocannon Official Gear: https://shop.autocannon.com/
Contact Hard Parking with Jhae Pfenning:
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