Our guest writer winds down her "storied journey across the country" in a Malibu dubbed Lucy

After an extended stay at a Holiday Inn, Lucy and I took to the streets for our next adventure, which isn't really that adventurous at all. We got a house-sitting gig that will fill the gas tank up a few more times, give me some time to work on my book, and create an ART (After the Road Trip) plan.

This morning, we're squirreled away in a Midwest location. Lucy is resting up in a nice, cool garage and I'm having a free Continental breakfast that won't incur the wrath of the Inn's black-shirted egg guards.

Lucy and I are at something of a stand off after yesterday's long drive, though. She's still speaking to me, but barely, and there's a chill to her leather seats that feels like disenchantment.

Our road trip here started off well enough. The Michigan sky was bright and cloudless and traffic was light, even through the construction zones. Lucy had her sunroof open and was cranking out happy music from XM's Soultown radio station.

"This is Aretha Franklin, and you're listening to Soouull-Town." Lucy didn't seem to mind when I parroted the promo phrase and then sang along with Smoky Robinson's Tears of a Clown. She seemed content to be gliding along I-75, her V6 engine purring as she passed lesser, slower cars. My 2010 Chevy Malibu has really turned out to be quite the ride--she's solid, stylish, and exceptionally comfortable.

While our friends at Autoblog.com were out flogging the Callaway SC572 Camaro, we occupied ourselves over the July 4^th weekend driving the new RPO SERIES L78 Kenne Bell-supercharged 2010 Camaro up to Death Valley

One of the truly great things about this job are all the cars that I get to drive, often before almost anyone else has the chance. This past weekend, thanks to great connections at Mr. Norm's Garage and Kenne Bell, I had the opportunity to go prototype hunting in Death Valley from behind the wheel of Jim Bell's personal 650-horsepower 2010 Camaro. It's the one with his exclusive and patent-pending liquid-cooled supercharger, the stage-one 650-horsepower RPO SERIES L78 six-speed package. And this time, I had company for the long trip, Debbie and Larry Weiner. They run the Performance West Group, which, coincidentally, handles media relations for both Mr. Norm's Garage and Kenne Bell. These are the people who made last summer's Tire Melting 101 Challenger feature one of the most-read articles on AutomotiveTraveler.com, and the images among the most downloaded of our screensavers. So without further delay, let's get to the heart of the story.