[driverace]

TL is NA-ice!
The spirit, the OTS (on the spot)-ness of it, and everything was awesome!

The trip was Shuper!

Thanks Libran, Abhinav!


what's Next!?

Ace.

[figo_united]

libranof1987, ace and abhinav, that's an amazing drive!
Cheers to your spirit! impromptu drives with friends are always great fun.
keep em comin

[Latheesh]

We planned and postponed drive to Chikamagalur multiple times due to schedule issues and what I see is this travelogue! Hats off to you guys! That is an amazing long drive!.

[abhinav.s]

Very nice TL Nishad. Thanks to both of you for a wonderful drive. Glad the pics have come out well. Though it was an impromptu drive, i was glad we had the cam with us.

How it all started for me:
Saturday was a long day. I was up and running by 0800 attending to some work that was pending for a long time. Got back home at 1600 dead tired from traffic, pollution and humidity. By 2230 i was nicely tucked up in bed getting ready to hit the sack when my phone starts ringing

Ace: Hey are you in for an impromptu drive to Chikamagalur
Me: Nope not now dude. Its too far.
Ace: Alright, are you in for a closer destination
Me: Hmmm.. Well.. Alright.(you have kindled the fire already)
Ace: Cool we will pick you up at 2300!!

I had to walk 1km to the pick up point. Midway, i get a call again from Ace.

Ace: Dude are you still ok to drive to Chikamagalur.
Me: No buddy!! Not so far

Nishad takes the phone from Ace

Nishad: Come on man! We will be back by tomorrow afternoon.
Me: (After contemplating for a quick while) Ok fine! I am in!

From then on started the drive. We were in great mood and never felt sleepy. Nishad drives really well and we had one close encounter due to a moron in an alto overtaking us from the left while there was another vehicle on our right. Apart from this it was event less and Nishad is very relaxed and has the needle stuck at 90kmph on good roads. Very rarely did we see 3 digit speeds. And we were happy the way we were progressing so no complaints.

Just after the power nap, we opened our eyes and saw people all dressed up and out for their morning walk at 0630 when it is chilly, wet and foggy!!

Ace comments, people are looking at us and smiling & admiring us. I said dude, they are giving the weirdest stares and not smiling. Ace goes "Well, time to put my glasses back on"

The mountains were really beautiful with the golf green grass and fog in the early morning. It was chilling to the bone and we were not exactly dressed for the destination as you can make out in the pics. But we had a gala time getting out in the chilly weather and posing for photos!

Once we were back from the peak, it was still 0745 and we were hunting for a place to hog as all 3 of us were really hungry since the only nutrition since 2230 was tea, water and the fresh mountain air!!!

Finally found a decent place for breakfast and he had a choice of about 4 items. Ace and I had an item each while Nishad was able to down 2 items. (Does not look like that in the pics though, does he?)

After some good nutrition, we hunted for plum cake for the road. Found a bakery and bought plum cake and water. Headed back to the car and drove back to reach the bannerghatta nice road exit. The instant we take the exit the first sight that greeted us was huge traffic pile up! Damn!!!

Thankfully it did not stall us for long and we made it back home by 1600.

All in all a very nice trip with very good company from Nishad and Ace. Thanks once again guys.

Originally Posted by Fordmanchau

That guy in Green T-shirt is Abhinav, is it ?

That is me!

Originally Posted by Fordmanchau

Get responsible, will ya!! just kidding!!

Like the title suggests "A man's gotta do what a man's gotta do"

Originally Posted by Fordmanchau

Have fun till you have time. You gonna be busy like hell afterwards.

Very true and this trip really made up for it.

[Fordmanchau]

Hey, Abhinav, thanks man for the wonderful write up.
Made a perfect post to finish up my lunch with.

Originally Posted by abhinav.s

Like the title suggests "A man's gotta do what a man's gotta do"

Yup, very apt indeed.
But I see you talking on phone in one pic, and that must be with your wife, I guess.
So Even when a man is doing, what he gotta do, he still has to call up his wife and update her, what he is doing and most importantly, what time he'll be back home after finishing what he gotta do.

[mayankjha1806]

Wow cool pictures, i have been thinking of doing a Bhadra Wildlife trip for sometime. These picture were needed for me to start planning a longish weekend there.

[Fauji]

Hey Nishad,

That was a cool drive

This reminded me of our drive to Tirupathi few years back when we left Bangalore in the aftrenoon in Honda city, reached Tirupati at night had darshan returned to Bangalore at 3 in the morning!

BTW, did you top it up with the heavenly Butter Masala Dosey in Town canteen???

[AdityaLN]

Nishad,

Super fun drive and good snaps.

Reminds me of my Coffee trip to Chikamagalur. Me and my friend were on our way to a friend's wedding in ISKON Temple, we were discussing what to do after the wedding. I told him about this coffee shop I had seen near Balehonnur on the highway next to a estate.
So, we ended up skipping the wedding and driving out for that cup of coffee. We had to be back in Bangalore by next morning. So, we had to make do with coffee in Chikamagalur.

[libranof1987]

Hey fellas, thanks a ton!

Hope all you nice people manage something similar soon!

Originally Posted by driverace

what's Next!?

You'll soon find out!

Originally Posted by Fauji

BTW, did you top it up with the heavenly Butter Masala Dosey in Town canteen???

I did have Dosa in a some Hotel Mayura (that was the only one open at 8am!). I think I remember the waiter mentioning butter something but since it was an unusual morning, I didn't feel like having anything heavy.

Advice to all those planning something similar : Gorge on plum cake and have filter coffee. And yes, mornings are the best time to go to Mullayanagiri : 1) no traffic, 2) fabulous weather!

[nkrishnap]

Thats a good way to get rid of the city blues. A nice travelogue and pictures to compliment.

I used to do this every weekend on bike during the monsoons from 2005 to 2008 a good four monsoons. Now the itch to ride has just increased, testing myself till when I can hold back.

I might come up with trip log similar to this, you never know u see

[amitoj]

You guys are crazy!!

Reminds me of an impromptu trip I had done to Coorg many many years back. Only difference was that it was on a bike and on New Year's eve and i was young *sigh*

Anyway, so is this going to become a regular sort of thing??

[neo45007]

Well, somebody has changed from 'Lion King' to 'Formula one car'.

[libranof1987]

Originally Posted by nkrishnap

Thats a good way to get rid of the city blues. A nice travelogue and pictures to compliment.

I used to do this every weekend on bike during the monsoons from 2005 to 2008 a good four monsoons. Now the itch to ride has just increased, testing myself till when I can hold back.

I might come up with trip log similar to this, you never know u see

We should share notes then; might just plan something together!
Where do you generally head towards?

Originally Posted by amitoj

You guys are crazy!!

I'll take that as a compliment!

Reminds me of an impromptu trip I had done to Coorg many many years back. Only difference was that it was on a bike and on New Year's eve and i was young *sigh*

Oh c'mon, don't use age as an excuse. You aren't "old" anyway!

Anyway, so is this going to become a regular sort of thing??

Something tells me you are interested!

[amitoj]

Originally Posted by neo45007

Well, somebody has changed from 'Lion King' to 'Formula one car'.

That's Francesco, from Cars 2 My current favourite animated character.

Originally Posted by libranof1987

I'll take that as a compliment!

It WAS a compliment indeed.

Originally Posted by libranof1987

Oh c'mon, don't use age as an excuse. You aren't "old" anyway!

And I will take THAT as a compliment. So we're even now.

Originally Posted by libranof1987

Something tells me you are interested!

I am not committing to anything here! Next thing i know i will see a CCD bill coming my way!!

By the way, there is only a difference of roughly 400 feet in altitude between Chikmagalur and Bangalore. But the place feels a lot cooler than Bangalore because of the greenery surrounding it. Kemmanagundi of course is really a hill station, though it doesnt have much in terms of hotels and restaurants

[noopster]

Hey libran, great travelogue and it's awesome to see a Corsa Sail in action- hardly see those around anymore!

Don't mind me saying this but with no sleep, you should have probably not diven as much as you did on the return leg. Smooth highway, steady speed, sleepy driver. But glad you made it home safe, thanks no doubt to your excellent co-pilots!