Trying to Make the Driving World a Little Less Annoying

Category: Road Trips and Events Page 1 of 3

“By the Time I Get to Phoenix”

As I’m wont to do, I was putting my trip notes from our family vacation last summer to the Grand Canyon into an Excel spreadsheet. I have many reasons for logging my trip notes, but the primary one is generally to procrastinate from doing something, like filing my taxes.

8 Mile Road

The story starts off in Italy back in May 1999. My friend Luca invited me to drive from Regensburg, Germany down to Genoa, Italy with him to visit some of his relatives there. I said sure, as long as we could swing by Maranello and visit the Ferrari factory (another mediocre story for another time). So armed with my little point and shoot camera, I started snapping pictures out the car window at the landscape.

Fast forward twenty-one years later to May 2020 and I’m locked down in a pandemic. I don’t bake bread or plant gardens, so I’m in my basement scanning film negatives instead. That’s when I re-discovered my pictures from Italy on that trip.

Subaru Winter Experience

I attended a two-day program of the 2020 Subaru Winter Experience and did unnatural, unspeakable things with cars. It was both a hoot and a holler.

2019 Detroit Auto Show

I attended the 2019 Detroit auto show (NAIAS) last January, but unlike other years, it was for work. I spent most of my time in the basement pretending to be interested in autonomous vehicle stuff. It’s a section called AutoMobili-D, and you may have seen it if you got lost looking for the bathrooms.1

If I Had My Rutters

Years ago my sister told me what a “rutter” was after she had read James Clavell’s Shōgun. A rutter was what the pilots and navigators used as guides as they sailed around the world. Countries such as Portugal guarded these rutters (roteiros) as national secrets to prevent others from finding their trade routes.

Inspired by these rutters (but not by the colonialism that accompanied them), I decided to keep a roteiro for my own journeys. I think in old-timey English this translates to “trip logbook.”

2018 Detroit Auto Show

I wasn’t able to see an auto show in 2017, so I was looking forward to going to the Detroit Auto Show (North American International Auto Show) this year. Of course, life conspired against me, and I almost missed it this year. I was just able to go on the last day, thanks to my wife (she made me go).

Berlin Hauptbahnhof

Versus 2: Car vs Train

There’s nothing like the smell of a burning red project at work as you leave it behind for vacation. Unfortunately, I’m one of those worrying conscientious types so to take my mind off my disaster, I tried to figure out which is the most relaxing way to travel across Germany for vacation.

This is actually a trick question because for me there is no relaxing way to travel across Germany.

Rear View Perspective

There Is No Substitute… for a Vacation Day

The Porsche 928 has always been my favorite Porsche. I had built a model of it in high school about the same time I really started liking cars. Then I saw it in movies like Weird Science and Risky Business.

It made me want to be a U-boat commander.

Driving down Stelvio Pass

Stelvio Pass

I give myself one job when we go on vacation: driving the car. My wife handles the trivial things like: packing, lodging, food, sights, and kids. Of course, we only drive if our destination is in the same continent2.

Grand Canal by Rialto Bridge

The Streets of Venice

I consider myself a car-driving fool, so traveling to a city where cars are not used is a bit odd for me. But Venice is pretty unique, so I don’t mind coming here. It’s been sinking for centuries, so who knows how much longer it will be around, which is as good of an excuse as any to visit.

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