Day Four

The fourth day began in earnest with a spirited drive to the top of Mount Palomar, northeast of San Diego.  Gaining almost 5000 feet in six miles, it was one of most fun hill climbs I’ve ever done.  Despite my enthusiastic run up the hill, the NSX's temperature gauge never budged from its normal mid-range position.  Good thing I had removed all those grasshoppers from the radiator.  At the top of Palomar, I stopped to check out the dinosaur 200-inch telescope.  It is huge and impressive, a marvel of pre-computer engineering.   I descended East Grade Road, which is 14 miles long and much more gently sloped, with great views all the way to the ocean.  A fellow in a Ferrari 308 waved at me through his open roof.

After Palomar, it was on to the real desert, County Highway S2 south to Ocotillo, almost at the Mexican border. Not your typical flat-and-straight desert highway, S2 features plenty of turns and undulations.  The NSX’s bone-stock suspension followed the terrain flawlessly.  This was an immense confidence-builder on a road where it’s 15 minutes between sightings of other cars and probably hours to wait for real help.

County road S1 provided spectacular vistas both east and west returning north along the ridgeline.  Traffic was quite light for what was billed as the heaviest auto travel weekend in years.  Another trip up Palomar finally wore me out (after a total of 1400 miles of driving), so I cruised the scenic Highway 79 north semi-sedately to the freeway.  Fortunately, the NSX is just as happy cruising at 55 mph as it is carving up a mountain road or safely passing several vehicles at a time on a two-lane straightaway.  It's a car for all moods, rather than a car with its own attitude.