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Originally Posted by senindra Nice write up and Love the C300 |
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Originally Posted by sushrutha @1100D
Wow fantastic snaps. They are just out of the world. Every pic seems to be like a wallpaper for me.
Thanks for sharing the pics. |
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Originally Posted by benbsb29 Lovely pics there, Anirban.
Almost all of those pics of the car are very worthy contendors for the crown in 'The Auto Image Thread'. |
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Originally Posted by Samurai Wow, this is a fantastic travelogue. Majestic car in a majestic surrounding. I did these parts in a dull Buick Century. Besides, I wasn't serious about photography then.
Awaiting the grand canyon photos... |
Thank you, Grand Canyon will come up soon.
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Originally Posted by normally_crazy WOW - This is awesome 1100D !! Love the car - looks mean and gansgta !!
Keep it coming man.
Arre - Khan, you already removed 100 cc from 1100D |
89cc to be precise!
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Originally Posted by deepaktpatil 1100D,
I guess you were running too tight on your schedule, there is always a next time. May be you can club it with a visit to Sedona and Canyon de Chelly ( this is the place where western flicks like Mckennas Gold were pictured).
Enjoying your pics, hope to see more of them. |
Yes, the schedule was tight. I am situated at Dallas and that itself puts a tight schedule owing to the distance I had
to cover in 4 days (which also included a day to come later on in the report where I did not drive the Chrysler much).
On this particular day (Day 2) I was reporting on, we did not even have time to stop for lunch. We knew that was coming and had tanked ourselves up heavily in the morning. Some distances over here look quite small, say 140mph or so, but they still set you back by a little under 2 hours at an "average" speed of little under 80mph. All the time wondering, will we be able to execute our plans? Add to that the need to shoot certain sections of the road. You drive over them and then, you need to turn around and go back for shooting what you just drove on. I guess thats the purpose of a road-trip. The roads were characteristic part of this road-trip. However between Glen-Canyon and Marble Canyon, apart from one point where I stopped to shoot the road, most of the pics were taken from the driver seat while at the job.
Now, the world is an informed place, you see googlemaps, you see the pictures associated with those places and decide
what you want to see and what you absolutely can't do without. It will be clear what I was gunning for all this time,
on this particular day in my next posting. But like I said, only worry on my mind would be whether this can be achieved
or not.
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Originally Posted by Ram 1100D, you have enacted an absolutely edge-of-the-seat escapade. Anirbana Jones can never be called Junior.Attachment 37953
Seeing Arizona by road was a great decision and an entirely different experience -- Dallas to the Grand Canyon and back in one stretched weekend.
But tell me: - How come it was a Florida car?
- What did you expect to achieve by inspecting the bottom of the Chrysler 300 undersides?
- Did you also take pictures of the Navajo reservation?
- Why didn't you choose to take "Route 66"?
- Didn't 2,400 straight dusty miles cake the air cleaner and therefore performance of the car?
- What photographic equipment did you use? Body and lens?
The wide angle shots were especially breathtaking.
And the pictures were red enough for me, despite the cloud cover you mentioned.
The dusty state hwy 160 west must have been challenging.
The depth pictures of the dam were mind-numbing.
Cheers...
Ram |
Ram sir, I was somehow expecting these questions earlier and good that they came from you.
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Originally Posted by Ram |
Ofcourse junior title is reserved for someone. But in those settings I was almost beginning to think myself as Harrison Eastwood, only I didn't have the hat, the long boot, the horse and countless other things!
Answering your questions
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Originally Posted by Ram How come it was a Florida car? |
Avis has started a "Cool fleet" thing at select airport locations. I booked the 300 from there. No other rental company
apart from Avis/Budget did assure me that I was going to get a specific car. But adding to specifying the car, I asked
them if they could give me a car in a dark colour. They had a good laugh at it, and told me they will keep it in their
collective minds (read: information system). On the day of departure, when I went to collect the car, the lady at the
reception, being curious about my nature, personally went with me to show me my dark coloured car. It was a dark
metallic red one. Her smile went from boom to bust in a matter of seconds when I said, oh no, I did not figure this in
my equation. She was on the floor laughing that I am acting like a kid that I dont want a red car, everyone wants one.
I seriously replied back that I dont want this rental. At which point her compatriot, now fighting to show her smile,
remarked, that they have had a car come in, but its not cleaned as yet. It was this one in the pictures. They must have
thought me to be crazy or something, raising a large hue and cry about not taking a spanking clean dark metallic red
Chrysler 300 and being absolutely ecstatic about this car which hasn't even been vacuumed. I asked them to Vacuum it
anyway but not bother about the exterior.
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Originally Posted by Ram What did you expect to achieve by inspecting the bottom of the Chrysler 300 undersides? |
Being based on a Merc E-class, and knowing that I was going to do the Monument valley, which, various articles said was
rough and can be achieved by passenger cars only on a clear day, made me check the undersides. Mainly because, on my
W124 Based E-class the engine sump has proven to be a weak spot on unpaved roads. I had a flying rock damage it once.
So it was very important that I check this car out for the fuel line routing, for checking drive shaft layout and
angle. Now that dirt section was only a 17 mile one and did not want to take suffer a high vehicle for the rest of the
2431-17 miles.
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Originally Posted by Ram Did you also take pictures of the Navajo reservation? |
Yes and No, the visitor center in the Monument valley was situated right in it. Okay let me be correct, there are two
visitor centers, one the Monument Valley visitor center just off US163 at the Utah border, and another 4 miles into the
Navajo reservation, which is also the start point for the scenic drive.
Why didn't you choose to take "Route 66"?
Time. However I had made specific entry and exit into the famed route at points. There will be something coming up
later in the thread.
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Originally Posted by Ram Didn't 2,400 straight dusty miles cake the air cleaner and therefore performance of the car? |
As you see the roads weren't all that dusty as we expected them to be. I had checked the Aircleaner and it wasn't dusty
at all (apart from the first evening at Monument valley)
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Originally Posted by Ram What photographic equipment did you use? Body and lens? |
Lens was in the Body! What I used, would have every photography enthusiast laughing at my expense, as I would utter a
word called "powershot".
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Originally Posted by Ram The wide angle shots were especially breathtaking. |
Wide angle was achieved by stitching two photographs, using Canon supplied lay-man software.
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Originally Posted by Ram And the pictures were red enough for me, despite the cloud cover you mentioned. |
The place was red for sure, but contrary to what you say, not red enough. It is like both Accent Viva and the Palio 1.6 sport come in the shade of Red but they are different. Sunlight on the red rocks (you can see it in some snaps of mine and almost all the snaps in Deepaks galley) brings out its true beauty.
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Originally Posted by DHABHAR.BEHRAM Obviously, if I am going to drive in "Amreeka", I would love to do this trip in my "right hand drive" Premier Padmini. Ha Ha just kidding. Your daughter is very cute, upset and all with the backdrop of the bridge. Please pass on my regards to your parents and all in Kolkata. By the way, when are you coming back?
Best regards,
Behram Dhabhar |
Well, a well tuned Padmini would just come to its own on roads like these. Praying for your dream to come true. My daughter hates being indoors even if its in a room with a view. I will convey my regards.