What is Drive Thru?

The story of Drive Thru goes back years to 2004 when I decided I was going to get a new car. I’m on obsessive researcher so I spent a lot of time looking around the internet, reading about different cars. I settled on two, the Toyota Prius or the Honda Insight (the first generation Insight, not the current iteration). For a number of reasons I decided to buy a Prius.

To address what I thought was a need on the net, I started the Prius Owners Group in 2005. It was the one kind of site that wasn’t around when I first started looking for hybrid information. I encourage you to visit there and learn more about it.

Fast forward to January 2009. As the owner of the POG, Toyota has invited me to the Detroit Auto Show and after that, an opportunity to test drive the upcoming third generation Prius in Napa, California. At that event I discussed with Toyota the idea of taking the brand new Prius (which wouldn’t be available for month) out on an extended test drive of sorts. The idea would be to run the car through a fairly insane road trip (more than 8,000 miles in 26 days). It would be a great opportunity to show how the car performed and, here’s where this site comes in, create a information source for anyone who wanted to do a road trip. And that’s how this site started.

Hopefully you will find here all the information you need to help make your next road trip better. Maybe you will just find the inspiration to load the car and go somewhere soon. I hope so. We love driving around this country. There’s an amazing diversity of things to see and do and it’s not restricted to only those with wealth.

I know I can’t wait for our next trip.

Enjoy the site and please feel free to drop me a line and ask any questions.

Thanks very much.

-russell frost
at home (for now) in Lancaster, Pennsylvania

My co-pilot and love my life, Kimberly while visiting the (secret) Toyota American Auto Museum in July of 2009. We’re sitting in the back seat of the oldest Toyota imported into America, a beautifully restored 1956 Toyopet.

Both Kimberly and I want to send our sincere thanks to our friends, yes, friends, at Toyota who have been supportive in many ways. Some of those ways are things you might take for granted, such as building a great car. Some of those ways, such as supporting some of our trips, are simply amazing. They have made our lives richer and we appreciate that. Once again, from both of us, thank you.