[Dr.AD]

Sunday Breakfast Drive

Not every weekend drive can be a long drive. Sometimes, even short drives can be fun if you have the right company. One such "short and sweet" drive happened today morning.

This "short" drive was still about 100km each way, and was a nice highway drive where we could enjoy our cars on a surprisingly foggy Sunday morning. Along with two BHPian friends, we drove to Krishnagiri (TN), which is about 100km from Bangalore, and had an authentic South Indian breakfast while chitchatting and catching up with each other.

The two friends were @abirnale (driving his "Red Sabertooth", the XUV700 that is quite well known on this forum), and @praveenbalan (driving a sleek 2022 BMW 330i M Sports that he just recently picked up). It was nice to meet both these friends and their lovely cars, and see them in action and have some nice dosa and coffee with them. A Sunday morning well spent!

We did not take any pictures as such. Just a couple of casual mobile phone shots while we were busy chitchatting. Please allow me to share those anyways.

The three cars parked outside the breakfast place:



Authentic dosa, along with some other delicious breakfast items:



A parting shot in the parking lot:


Nothing more to write about this short and simple drive. 200km of roundtrip and some nice discussions with close friends. And loved every moment of it.

[Rishiagarwal11]

Guys can anyone guide me on upgrading my headlights to LED's or finding new headlights which are reasonable. I need to replace both headlights. The original ones cost 1.10 lakhs at the dealer.

[Dr.AD]

Drive to Nilgiri Hills with Friends; And Crossed 85,000km

A couple of weekends ago, I did a drive to Kotagiri (Tamil Nadu), with a few BHPian friends. We thoroughly enjoyed the hilly drive the included passing a few hills and crossing Ooty. And on both ends of the journey, the drive also included some fast highways. Overall a good loop drive of about 700km for a weekend.

This trip is covered in details by @abirnale in this travelogue.

Here, I give only a few pictures just to keep this thread up to date.

My car somewhere between Ooty and Kotagiri:



A solo shot of my car in that hilly drive:



"Red Sparkle" of @abirnale:



The two red cars together:



The newest addition to our driving group, BMW 330i M Sports of @praveenbalan:



Another shot of the 330i somewhere in the woods:



The fastest machine in the group, Kawasaki Ninja 1000 of @KarthikK:



The famous 3GT of @graaja:



A parting shot of my car parked in the resort parking:



And finally, to break the monotony of car photos, one landscape from tea plantations around the resort:



Somewhere in the return leg of this drive, my car crossed 85,000km on the odo! That sounds like a lot, but the car still feels fresh to me. The car is still totally niggle-free and reliable (touch wood) and weekend after weekend, serves me well on these drives. Some of these drives are quite tough and challenging, including some bad roads and plenty of hilly areas, but the car manages it all very well. The car is fast on the highways, elegant on the corners and in the twisties, manageable on even some of the worst roads, and overall, 100% enjoyable in all conditions.

"Sakura" in the Neighborhood

While I await next driving trips with this car, I could not resist clicking a few photos of the cherry blossom (Sakura in Japanese) season in Bangalore. This year, we had some amazing Sakura in Bangalore in last 2-3 weeks. Missed taking photos during the peak of that, but here are a couple of photos during the fag end of the Sakura season in Bangalore.







Well, that is all for now. Thank you very much for reading!

[mankuthimma]

Thank you Dr. AD for yet another beautiful travelogue. The destinations that you choose to drive to and stay are always good and the travelogues are filled with so much details, it inspires so many of us and makes our own travel planning much more easier. The unwritten rule is that, if it is Dr.AD's recommendation, then the requisite standards are met !

Just to quote an example, we wanted to do a quick getaway during Good Friday weekend and choose Green Pastures homestay based on your travelogue. It was a last minute booking. Needless to say, we had a great time! Our host, Hemanth recalled fond memories of your stay during our friendly conversations. Coincidentally, there was another guest at the same time, a bhpian equally inspired by your post. And it doesn't end here, yet another bhpian had booked the stay for his vacation next week as well!

Keep driving and keep inspiring !

[Dr.AD]

Originally Posted by mankuthimma

Thank you Dr. AD for yet another beautiful travelogue. The destinations that you choose to drive to and stay are always good and the travelogues are filled with so much details, it inspires so many of us and makes our own travel planning much more easier. The unwritten rule is that, if it is Dr.AD's recommendation, then the requisite standards are met !

Thank you very much for your kind words. I am glad if my travelogues are helping fellow members.

Our host, Hemanth recalled fond memories of your stay during our friendly conversations. Coincidentally, there was another guest at the same time, a bhpian equally inspired by your post. And it doesn't end here, yet another bhpian had booked the stay for his vacation next week as well!

Great to hear this! That place is indeed very nice, and Hemanth is a great host! I am also going to go back there soon. I am looking forward to staying there again and exploring the surrounding areas.

[Dr.AD]

Three Bimmers and a Breakfast

Unfortunately the 320d had been more or less parked and not driven much in last month or so. The reason was that I was mostly on business travel last month, and whatever free time I got in between my work travels, was spent on matters related to the other car in my garage. About a couple of weeks ago, I bought a new Thar (Petrol AT 4x4, April 2023 model) and sold my old faithful Maruti SX4 that had served me so well for almost 13 years and more than 137,000km.

While the last two weeks were spent in taking delivery of Thar, managing the sale of SX4 and getting used to the new Thar, the 320d was quietly watching all this without getting an opportunity to stretch her legs. Finally, today on a nice Sunday morning, got a chance to do a short highway drive with 320d.

It was a casual breakfast drive to Krishnagiri, TN (about 75km each way from South Bangalore), with a couple of close friends - @RSUDARSANAN driving his blue BMW 320d F30, and @praveenbalan driving his white BMW 330i G20. Thus, it ended up becoming a drive with three BMW 3-series. No, it was certainly not intentional. It just so happened that our other friends were busy and just by coincidence the three BMW guys decided to join the drive.

White the highway traffic towards Krishnagiri was quite bad in the morning, we nevertheless enjoyed the drive. It was lovely to stretch legs of the 320d after a gap of a month, and I enjoyed using the "Sport" mode and pushing the car for a nice Sunday drive!

The two F30 320ds that arrived at the breakfast spot together (it was awesome to catch up with my old buddy, @RSUDARSANAN):



And then in a couple of minutes, the third 3er, @praveenbalan's 330i M Sports joined us:


We had a great time catching up and enjoying a delicious South Indian breakfast, and of course talking cars! It goes without saying that we talked about BMWs and Thars and all the cars in-between, and also discussed some future drives. I love this group of friends because every time we meet, we end up talking about next drives and invariably some new ideas and new plans emerge from these discussions.

Authentic TN style breakfast - pongal and vada with delicious chutneys:


After driving Thar for a week or so, it felt so good to drive the 320d again. The two cars are so different that it takes some getting used to every time I switch cars. Compared to the bumpy and slow Thar, the 320d suddenly feels so fast and and the ride feels so great. One week with the Thar made me appreciate my 320d even more and made me realize all its strengths all over again. This is a great side benefit of owning a Thar. It makes your other car feel so special.

Jokes apart, I indeed appreciated the acceleration, handling, ride quality, dynamics and stability of the 320d. All of these are conspicuous by their absence in the Thar.

Of course, the Thar has its own strengths, and I love the Thar too for what it offers. In fact, I am glad I finished this breakfast drive in the morning. By Sunday late afternoon, heavy thunderstorms hit Bangalore and the city received massive downpour. The roads turned into rivers in no time, and by around 5pm, the only car that I could even think of driving in those conditions was Thar. Thus, the Thar clearly has its own advantages and use cases, and for now, I am loving both my cars and I am quite happy with this combo I have in my garage now.

So to end this casual update on a sweet note, let me share a sweet picture from today's breakfast.

The highlight of the breakfast, the irresistible "kesari bhath" (aka "sheera"):

[Dr.AD]

Another Random Drive

My new Thar is getting more attention from me (mostly due to the novelty factor, which I am sure will wear off soon) and I already did a weekend drive in Thar last weekend. That meant the BMW was parked for the weekend again.

While I await my next long drive in BMW (which I hope will happen very soon), I just wanted to drive the BMW after spending another week with Thar. Luckily, I got some free time in the day, and decided to just randomly drive the BMW on a highway and just enjoy an aimless, purposeless drive.

It ended up being a nice solo drive. Just me and my car. I put on my favorite music, and just drove the car aimlessly on a nice six-lane highway and just enjoyed the drive. Simple basic driving joy! There was no plan, no destination, no agenda, no timetable, no Google Maps, and no ETAs. Thankfully the traffic was relatively thin, and I ended up having a really good drive. I absolutely appreciated and enjoyed the highway manners of this car after spending a week with Thar again.

At a pit-stop somewhere on a random highway run:


As an added bonus to the driving fun, I had this authentic and very flavorful Tamil Nadu meals at my pit-stop on the highway (which was in TN):

Originally Posted by mankuthimma

Just to quote an example, we wanted to do a quick getaway during Good Friday weekend and choose Green Pastures homestay based on your travelogue. It was a last minute booking. Needless to say, we had a great time! Our host, Hemanth recalled fond memories of your stay during our friendly conversations.

We went there again last weekend, and had a great time at the homestay and also had a great time with Hemanth. But this time, I did not take the BMW but instead drove the Thar. Here is our short travelogue on the Thar drive at this homestay: https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/trave...lls-coorg.html (Three Thars and the Hills of Coorg)

[shankar.balan]

Originally Posted by Dr.AD

[h3]
Of course, the Thar has its own strengths, and I love the Thar too for what it offers. In fact, I am glad I finished this breakfast drive in the morning. By Sunday late afternoon, heavy thunderstorms hit Bangalore and the city received massive downpour. The roads turned into rivers in no time, and by around 5pm, the only car that I could even think of driving in those conditions was Thar. Thus, the Thar clearly has its own advantages and use cases, and for now, I am loving both my cars and I am quite happy with this combo I have in my garage now.

[/

Hi AD.
The Thar in stock form is certainly bumpy and slower because of its boxiness and other characteristics. Therefore your driving style has to undergo significant changes as compared to when you drive your BMW.
It makes very good sense to consider the suspension upgrade to AVO, which significantly improves the dynamics of the Thar. And to reduce the air pressure in the tyres to maybe 30-31psi.
And Yes, having one stylish sedan car and one Jeep in the garage is exactly the right combination. A choice of two vehicles between which, one can more or less go anywhere and do anything and address any occasion or need.
Have fun!

[Shubz]

Originally Posted by Dr.AD

After about 35,000 km on the old tyres, it was time for a new set of tyres. The runflat tyres (RFTs) that BMW uses has been a topic of a lot of debate on this as well as other international forums. The ride with RFT is usually a bit harsh, they are noisy, and many believe that the advantages do not outweigh these drawbacks. Many recommend changing to tubeless tyres, and say that after experiencing the ride quality on tubeless tyres, they will never go back to RFTs. And yet RFTs offer the one most important quality - the peace of mind when driving in remote areas.
.
.....from 3 series to 7 series, had switched to these Primacy 3 ZPs and they were very happy about these. So after some research, I decided to go for these tyres.

Dr. AD -- Sorry to hijack your thread.

I am due for a tyre change now. Just about 30k on the Odo now, Rear tyres have come to the wear-indicator mark, front's have some tread left but I am going to get all 4 changed.

Am looking for 225/50 R18 and RFT -- so I don't have much choice other than Pirelli P7 & Conti SC6 (this is the current tyre too)

Any feedback on P7 here?

Thanks

[Dr.AD]

Originally Posted by Shubz

Am looking for 225/50 R18 and RFT -- so I don't have much choice other than Pirelli P7 & Conti SC6 (this is the current tyre too)

Any feedback on P7 here?

I do not have any first-hand experience with either of these tyres. But from what I have heard from my friends, I would avoid Pirelli P7. The number of tyre damages (due to bad roads or potholes etc) seen on Pirelli tyres in India is alarmingly high (relatively speaking of course) compared to other tyres. I have personally seen Pirelli tyres on my friends' cars getting damaged surprisingly easily.

Out of the two tyres you mentioned, I would choose Conti SC6. But again, this is based on hearsay and I do not have first-hand experience on either of these tyres.

[Dr.AD]

Weekend "Food" Drive to Mangalore:

Last weekend, with our usual driving group (all bhpians), we did a drive to Mangalore to explore some of the famous cuisine from that area, as well as at the eateries along the way while crossing western ghats. The mastermind of this plan was our friend @KarthikK. The whole drive was his idea, and he planned and executed this drive to perfection. Thanks to @KarthikK for this wonderful weekend experience!

We drove through some awesome roads crossing the western ghats and reaching the coast. Nice sweeping corners, lovely tarmac, and lush green scenery was what we experienced everywhere. To top it all, we experienced torrential rains in many sections, and this became a wonderful beginning to our "monsoon drives" this season.

I was so glad I chose my 320d for this drive and not my "Dusty", my Thar 4x4. The roads were lovely and the corners were inviting. Thar would have been a totally wrong choice here. The 320d on the other hand, came alive here and was at her best, and both the car I loved this drive. After two weekend trips with the Thar, this drive with the 320d and taking those lovely corners in this beautiful sedan was a magical experience! I loved every bit of this.

@KarthikK will write a detailed travelogue on this trip and we are all looking forward to that. In the meantime, please allow me to share a few pictures relevant to this thread here.

With @praveenbalan's White 330i M sports:



The full gang (from left to right: @robimahanta;s M340i, @RSUDARSANAN's F30 320d, @KarthikK's Honda Brio, my 320d, @praveenbalan's G20 330i M Sports, and the most famous car in the group, @graaja's 330i GT):



At a quick stop at Ibbani Cafe near Mudigere:



Through the fog and rain at Charmadi ghat:



The five bimmers on a corner under thick fog:



On the return journey, at my favorite coffee shop in Coorg:



Flashback: Just two weeks ago I was at this exact coffee shop with my Dusty:



Fresh hot coffee while overlooking my car parked outside:



A parting shot at the coffee shop:



This was a very memorable experience. Loved every moment of this weekend drive. Now looking forward to the detailed travelogue by @KarthikK, where I am sure he will elaborate on the culinary delights we explored!

[Dr.AD]

Rains, Forests and Hills Drive with 5 on-board (Part 1 of 2)

Last week, two of my nieces and one nephew (all three of them are college students) were visiting us from Mumbai and Pune. I decided to take them out for a 3-day tour of the lovely forests and scenic routes in Karnataka. My wife was also with us, and this meant that we had 5 adults (and their luggage) on-board. This was a bit of a test for the 320d. But I had no choice because my other car, a Thar, would not be able to fit this group no matter what.

Although I completed 5 years of driving the 320d this July, this would still be my first ever road trip with 5 people on board. I was quite curious to see how the car handles and feels with 5 people. While the roads were great and scenic (I had specifically chosen good roads for this trip, because there was no point tackling potholes and broken roads with 5 on-board), we encountered torrential rains and tons of water flowing on the ghat roads in Chikmagalur area, and that certainly added an adventure quotient to what was otherwise a family drive!

The 3-day driving plan was roughly this:


We would spend a day at JLR King's Sanctuary and do a Jeep Safari there through Nagarhole Tiger Reserve. Then we would drive to Chikmagalur area and stay at a beautiful homestay called Ibbani Heritage Homestay. We would drive around in the hills a bit and explore some scenic roads and landscapes. And then drive back to Bangalore.

While on the way to JLR King's Sanctuary, we had a couple of hours at hand (else we were reaching there too soon for their check-in time). Therefore, at the last minute, we decided to stop at Ranganathittu Bird Sanctuary and we spent an hour or so there and took a boat ride.

Monsoon is not the best time to visit Ranganathittu Bird Sanctuary. The number of birds was much smaller than what we see there in the winter and summers, and even the "special boat" (which is almost a 90 minutes long private boat ride) was not available this time. We had to take a common boat with other tourists, and that was just a short boat ride of about 30 minutes.

It was dark, gloomy and rainy there. We hardly saw any special birds there, and the lighting was quite poor for photography too. This has to be the worst time of the year to visit this place. But we visited it just to kill an hour or so and it was fun for that purpose.

Crocodile on the rocks, a common sight at Ranganathittu:



Asian Openbill Stork:



Juvenile Stork:



Black Headed Ibis:



Another crocodile:



Another view of the croc:



Teeth of the croc:


After this quick stop at Ranganathittu to kill an hour or so, we drove on to JLR King's Sanctuary and reached there at the right time for check-in. It was again raining there, and the forest was alive with lush green scenery and wet weather.

At the reception of JLR King's Sanctuary:



After the check-in formalities, parked here for the day:


In the evening we took a Jeep Safari at the JLR through Nagarhole Tiger Reserve. The weather was great when we boarded the safari vehicle, but as soon as we entered the forest, it started raining heavily. Soon we faced torrential rains, and got drenched from all sides (the safari vehicle is open from all sides). My camera is not weather proof. I had to hide my camera under a plastic cover most of the times. I took the camera out only for a moment or so to take a quick photo, and then had to hide it back. Eventually it did get wet after a few times of repeating this routine. Luckily, no damage done to the camera or the lenses!

Anyways, it turned out to be a memorable experience to drive around in the forest, while getting drenched in that rain, and trying my best to keep my camera dry. We enjoyed the torrential rains. The forest was alive and thriving in that rain. The Jeep ride through that rain was chilling cold. But just seeing the thick green rain-forest around was a great experience.

While we did not see any tiger (expected due to heavy rains; we were told at the beginning of the safari that animal sightings are very rare in such rain), we saw plenty of deer and Indian Gaur, and a few wild elephants too. And a few peacocks!

Serpent Eagle:



Wild Elephant:



Deer shaking off rainwater from their drenched bodies:



We saw plenty of deer there:



A portrait of a deer:



One more:



Finally, an Indian Gaur (we saw plenty of these too):


Next morning, we walked around in the lodge and enjoyed the monsoon weather and the scenery within the property.

Our cottage at the JLR:



In the morning, our staircase was full of these lovely flowers and the air was full of the smell of these flowers:



Another view of the carpet of flowers:



Finally, a parting shot of my car parked there, before we checked out of that place and drove on towards Chikmagalur:


While I did not get any great photos that day (it was quite dark and gloomy most of the times, and raining non-stop which was not good for my basic camera), I did manage to get one picture which I liked a lot.

I uploaded this picture on my Flickr account, and it got selected for the Flick Explore!, the coveted Flickr selection of some of the most interesting pictures from around the globe each day.

The picture that tells the story of the monsoon conditions in the forest, and got selected on Flickr Explore, is this:


In each of my recent trips, I have been coming back with one memorable picture that sort of represents the whole trip in my mind. For this drive, this photo of the jungle tracks in that green forest under the monsoon conditions became one such memorable photo for me.

The second part of this drive is covered in the next post below.

[Dr.AD]

Rains, Forests and Hills Drive with 5 on-board (Part 2 of 2)

After spending a day at JLR King's Sanctuary, we drove on to Chikmagalur area, where we stayed in a lovely homestay called Ibbani Heritage Homestay. Thanks to our friend @KarthikK for letting us know about this beautiful place through this travelogue.

What we did not know when we started that day was that torrential rains and quite challenging conditions awaited us in Chikmagalur. More on that later.

At the beginning of the day, we had lovely weather and such nice state highways:


Just a bit later, we driving on NH 373, which passes by from one scenic temple that I really like. This temple, known as "Mavinkere Sri Ranganaathaswaami Gudi" is on a small hill on the junction of NH373 and SH121, both the roads I love driving on. This is my usual place for a scenic stop when driving in this region, and this time too, we took the short 3km diversion to visit this temple.

The lovely roads that take you to this temple:



Views from the temple:


Later, as we crossed Chikmagalur town and started driving to Ibbani Heritage Homestay, we were greeted by torrential rains. That road goes through hills with many hairpin bends. We had thick fog, heavy rains, and very less visibility throughout that hill drive. At many places, water was flowing on the road as the rainwater from the hills was gushing down and flowing further down, crossing the road on its way down.

At one point, the drive became quite adventurous when we encountered a section where there was an overflow of mud-water on the road, flowing down from the hills, and along with it carrying debris such as small wood pieces and leaves of the trees from the hills.

Mud-water and debris flowing on the road, just to show the conditions we had to drive through:


I had no choice but to drive through this. I was caught in the middle of this with such mess on all sides of me on that hilly road. With rain pouring on my windshield, with very low visibility, and this mud, debris and water flowing on the road, I did my best to drive on very slowly and very carefully, and thankfully, managed to reach the homestay without any damage to the car.

A sigh of relief when we reached our homestay and parked here:


The homestay turned out to be very beautiful. It has cozy cottages located in the middle of thick trees and coffee plantation. However, it was raining very heavily there, and we could not walk around through that plantation area or explore the area much. Almost all of our time was spent watching the rain and the fog from our room, and enjoying the delicious hot food and fresh hot coffee at the homestay.

Walking to our rooms nestled in those trees and coffee plantations:



Some artistic decor inside the room, with a large window with a view of the thick forest outside:



View from the veranda outside our room:



Another view of the homestay under that rainy condition:



Another view from the lovely walking paths in the premises:



We spent some time walking on these paths, but due to heavy rain, could spend only a little time outdoors:


The food at the homestay was absolutely delicious. This place serves only vegetarian food. Since we are a vegetarian family, this was not a problem for us. On the contrary, we loved the pure vegetarian fare and the authentic local food. Fresh hot homemade food, and sipping on hot coffee while watching the rain was the highlight of our stay there.

We really had a bad luck about the timing of our visit there. Not only that it was pouring heavily and we were mostly confined to our rooms that time, the place also lost its power supply that day. Their diesel generator broke down, and in spite of their hectic attempts to get it started, they could not start it. We had to spent the entire night in candle lights, and even the dinner turned out to be a forced candle light dinner that night.

Spending the evening and the night there, in the darkness, with only candles in the room for any light, and listening to the sounds of heavy rain on the roof all night, and seeing only the forests and rain and fog outside was a mystical experience. We loved it to the core. My nieces and nephew surely loved this experience, which was a welcome change for them from their city lives.

Spending the evening in such candle light, with thick forest and rain outside, was indeed a mystical and enjoyable experience:


There was no mobile network nor WiFi in the rooms too. Thus, with no electricity, no mobile network, and with only the rain and the trees for company, we enjoyed a complete "digital detox" for one night. It was surely a very unusual experience my nieces and nephew, who are otherwise used to the typical city life in Mumbai and Pune.

Next day, we drove back to Bangalore. Thankfully by this time, the continuous non-stop rain of the previous night turned into intermittent heavy rain, and that gave me a couple of opportunities to quickly take car photos from my mobile phone.

Somewhere on those lovely forest roads (notice the debris due to the heavy rain):



View from the windshield:



Driving through thick fog:



A parting shot at another rain-drenched corner:


Overall, we had a fun drive. We absolutely enjoyed this "family trip", where we got more than our fair share of rain. We faced a few challenges on the road too. But every challenge offered us an unique experience of adventure, and we all loved it to the core.

The car, for the first time carrying 5 people on a road trip, managed all this very well and came out without a scratch or a dent. My love and respect for this car only grows after every road trip. The car was a joy to drive on those lovely corners and the scenic roads, the ride was very comfortable for all 5 people on board, and even when the going got tough, the car managed it all without a whine!

By the way, I think it is particularly important to have the right tyre pressures when we do such tricky drives. For me, I followed the recommended tyre pressure label on the door, and filled in a relatively high pressure of 33psi in the front and 41psi in the rear for this drive:

The tyre pressure label on my car, with relevant numbers for my 225/50/R17 94W tyres, for 5 people, highlighted in green:


33psi and 41psi does sound like a high pressure, but it did help me a lot. With these pressures in my tyres, the car behaved absolutely fine even with 5 people and their luggage on board, and we never had any ground clearance problems or bumpy ride problems anywhere. BMW has got it spot on with their tyre pressure recommendations, and I always found that following it exactly gives me the best ride and handling balance.

Anyways, that is all from this exciting 3-day drive. Thank you very much for reading.

[Fiatfan]

Hi Dr,

It was nice reading your experience in the rainy season for both of you, with your nieces and nephew for company along with your passion drive - 320d.

Every journey and destination I feel you bring out the bright side of the situations when inside hooked up in the room or outside encountering unexpected developments along pumping up your adrenaline wanting for more the next time, that's the spirit I like about you and that's what keeps us driving with passion.

With whatever little chance you got in between the pounding rains, you have pictures depicting how nice the homestay accommodation and it's surroundings was.

Hope to read many more of your driving experiences.

Regards.

[Dr.AD]

Originally Posted by Fiatfan

It was nice reading your experience in the rainy season for both of you, with your nieces and nephew for company along with your passion drive - 320d.

Every journey and destination I feel you bring out the bright side of the situations when inside hooked up in the room or outside encountering unexpected developments along pumping up your adrenaline wanting for more the next time, that's the spirit I like about you and that's what keeps us driving with passion.

Thank you very much for your kind words, Fiatfan!

The whole point of road trips is to experience some adventure, some unknown, and some challenges. I have also done road trips where everything went absolutely easy and there was zero challenge. But in hindsight, those trips are not that memorable, and do not feel special at all (and hence I rarely write about a trip where there was no "story"). These small adventures help to create a story out of a road trip and I love these stories and these experiences!

Hope to read many more of your driving experiences.

Thanks again. Really appreciate your kind words.