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-   -   5745.4kms, Door to Door, 4 States and 1 UT (https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/travelogues/97695-5745-4kms-door-door-4-states-1-ut.html)

I have travelled more then 3 lakh Kms in all my previous three cars-driven much more in army vehicles across the lenght and breadth of this great country but never did I drive 5745.4 kms for the mere pleasure of savouring the delightful experience of a 'Long drive". To many of you-HVK, Long Drive Lover, Raomingrao, and the other great lovers (not named as the list is so long) of the automobile and the roads-age is not a consideration. I am 57 going on 58-many of my colleagues poof, poof me and even thought I was day dreaming about touching Gujarat-Rajasthan-Maharashtra. Guys I have done it, ably supported by my wife of 29 years, and did it with comfort and ease and lived to write about it.
I am not a story teller but in brief I would love to share my experience with you all.
One of the most major highlights of the drive other then seeing fabulous places, Forts, villages, meeting great people was my meeting with the Guru of the Indians roads- Mr H V Kumar in personclap:. The pleasure was ours totally.(My encounter with the first BHPian)

I will resume my brief on the morrow with a few pictures that were the epitome of our incredible journey.

Col Jude Mayne

Bring it on, Colonel. We are waiting with bated breath!

Was it on the Waggie? Do post as many pictures as you can.

No Nabhi-it was in my brand new Ritz- bought it on 29 Jan-first service (914 kms) on 17 Feb and off on our dream on 19 Feb at 1232 hrs. a few pictures. Start kms-0.0, end kms-5745.4 and Mr HVKumar at the famous
meeting on his Bible-"How to bypass Mumbai from the South". The last picture of the day-The adventurers-my wife and I:-

Nice to hear that you have finally taken the long awaited long trip and congrats on the new Ritz. But must come to my region as well. NER should not be forgotten. Looking forward to read the full story Col.

PS: OT: Thanks for your kind words on the former rememberence thread.

Dear San,

I pray that you have gotten over your loss-i know its difficult. San, be prepared to meet me-my next drive- Bhutan here I come!! This was a trial run for me and thankfully I have come out in unscathed. Guess what my biggest initiator is now my wife-she has already started planning our trip to NE. My poor wallet-took a beating on this trip-Ritz's boot and rear seats were stuffed with buys from Gujarat and Rajasthan!!
Take care.
Col Jude

Salute Col!

We are impatiently waiting for the long queue of photos, Day-to-day updates, Expenses, Halts, Eat outs, Any specific incidents, expenses chart etc.
Eagerly awaiting and getting glued to this thread as early as possible :D

Best Regards!
Asif

Col, good to hear about your successful trip.

Very bad of me to have forgotten when we met, but let me wish you & the Ms. a belated 29th wedding anniversary.

Needless to say, the pleasure of meeting you at Thane was equally mine, and am sure that your trip is going to inspire many more in this group (and outside) on the wrong side of 50!

When we met, the Ritz had come in superfast time from Bangalore and returned some outstanding FE. How was the performance rest of the drive?

Thanks Asif, will do that, I will be a preoccupied with the Budget presentation today and tomorrow but promise will upload all details as soon as possible will try tonight to post more details.
The reason for my post is to tell that age should not be a limiting factor-its the mind that draws fences around us.:)

Dear HVK-My wife and I thank you, firstly for making my journey from the Expressway to you a cakewalk (fantastic directions-she was my navigator) and secondly for taking the time off to meet us. Geeta cannot get over the way you reversed your vehicle and surprised us from behind-she laughs her guts out.
Wrong side of 50-not at all!!!! My anniversary is on the 15th of May. Ritz came is with 17 kms per litre on AC 95% of the time.:D

Awesome!! Looking forward to the T log, Colonel!!! No wonder your Ritz was missing from the RMZ parking. :)

Colonel!! looking forward to the details of your trip .
It was nice and heartening to know that your trip went off well , without any hitches and that both of you endured everything that came you way.
As you rightly said in your post, it's the mind that draws the fences around you.
I know people around you could not have imagines that you can pull this off, but it's just their mind resisting to even think of their comfort zone.
Great that your wife and you had trust in yourself and pulled this off with great aplomb!! Cheers to you and mam!!!
Pour in the details fast.

Thanks Chikkars-if you have the time please do come calling.

The initial plan was to start on 12 Feb but as my daughter was shifting into her flat(from her mother-in-law's place) the wife put her foot down and wanted to spend the week settling her down. So after ensuring that the son-in-law and daughter were tucked in she opined that we proceed on 19 Feb on our first logged run. I have done quite a few above 1500 kms trips but never recorded the same. This is my first long trip after becoming a proud BHPian-never too late??? Though i went down to TN and KL last Dec-did about 1435 kms.
Plan-No plan-just drive and stop when the tiredness gets you to shut off the engine.
Hotels -This our first vacation where we never advanced booked any-stop at the gate-Room hai?? if it suited the tired back and the wallet -we stepped in. The costliest being Rs 2500 (Sam) and the cheapest Rs 650 (NH 8-Swagat Inn, Amboli, just after Surat-in the close proxomity of the Toll Gate-Rs 650-AC attached restaurant-hot water at 0500 hrs in a bucket-very comfortable). Folks not booking a Hotel gave me the flexibilty of not meeting deadlines or stopping on a schedule.
Cities/towns I had to see-Bhuj and surroundings, Jaisalmer and close bys, Jodhpur the Blue City and a longish halt at Udaipur with Chittaurgarh a must see and Pune with my Ex Boss who got us married-I eloped with my wife-anothe long story-to be told personally.
Loved Udaipur-Dissappointed by Daman-excited and enthralled by Chittaurgarh-happy to see Mandavi and the boat building yard-awesome sight-a little dissappointed by Jaisalmer but Sam Dhani was a treat. Pune got lost in the No. of turns and twist -a stretch of 100 metres-atleast two/three turns/bends. I salute the Indian highways.
Warning:- To cars and not SUVs/MUVs-stick to the highway unless you have travelled the State Roads. Shortcuts a big NO NO!! made the mistake twice and my poor Ritz went under torture-will give details of these roads. Traffic comes to you from 06 direction-from the four cardinal points and also from top and down-boy thank God for my wife who kept telling of the approaching paint scratchers/new car denters. To add a few more pictures: I will try not to append photos that you all must have seen in previous post, as far as possible:-

Emus in India, Amul at Anand, Swagat Inn at 0500 hrs in the morning of our second day-long drive to Bhuj ahead!!! Kms to various places on NH 8A. I hope to continue tomorrow

Congrats on your new car, Colonel! You're really munching miles in it from day 1.

I've driven my cuz's petrol Ritz at Vizag and must say it is a hoot to drive, when compared to the Waggie.

Keep 'em coming.

Lovely to see that you are done with the drive!And looks like a very interesting one indeed.Looking forward to the travel(epic)logue:)

That's the spirit. Now bring on the pictures.

Thanks Nabhi-yes I was eating up the miles as if there was no tomorrow. The Ritz is a great vehicle-I am steady driver but I did not realise that I was doing 140 kmph-that was high speeds for me

Thank you ranjitp1-It was one of our best holidays even in comparison to my recent trip to Australia. Interesting yes!

Thank you Chauhan-"spirit" thats what it was all about-like I said before age is a barrier if you let it run fences around your mind? Trust me when I tell you that I am the oldest in age in my Department in my Company but let me assure that the rest are 'old budhas' when it comes to other then office activities. Is it the present day life style??
Continuation of Our Juorney:- The initial plan was to leave on Sunday the 20th Feb, Friday night I discussed with my fairer half (literally) that why waste half a day on 19th Saturday-bags packed, food and water ready-cars cleaning material, torches, medicines, tubeless tyres repair kit and we were all set. I work half a day on Saturdays-came back home at 1245 loaded the car in five minutes-turned the key at 1300 hrs and off we were-on our trip of a lifetime.
First Stop Belgaum (19 Feb):- It took an hour from Whitefield to reach the junction of the ORR and Yeswanthpur and once on the Flyover the it was zip and zip. I want to make a suggestion-in Australia when we drove all over, my sisiters car was fitted with an RFID card and the toll was automatically deducted as we went along-and her card got credited directly from the bank-this saved time at the toll-the amount of tolls and time wasted on NH 4 & 8??
It was a trip without schedules-I did not want to be tied down with them-We just wanted to enjoy the freedom of going where we wanted and stopping once the body clock said so. Intially it was Hubli but we were there by by 1915 hrs so we carried on to Belguam. The first two hotels were fully booked ironically the third was called Rajawada-a Rajasthani establishment and our main destination was the same state. start time 1300 hrs stop time 2105-8 hrs 532 kms-normal body breaks and forced stop at both the level crossing. Clicked pics of the Windmills of Chitradurga.
By passing Pune and Mumbai was to take place on 20 th Feb:-A very beautiful drive from Belgaum to Pune bypass-started at 0530 hrs and was in Pune by 1055 with a stop at the Toll gate just before Satara and stuffed our faces with "Vadapao" for breakfast-hot hot burnt our lips and tongue but asked for more-how I wish I had taken a few pics of us stuffing our face!!clap: