Category: Automobiles

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Munich – Germany – Alps 32

Munich! We are starting our visit to the city at the 1972 Olympic Park. We have come full circle in the last 8 weeks on our Tour of the Alps: Anger and Almbach – Germany – Alps 1
This is where it happened: Remember the swimmer who won seven gold medals here, each setting world-record times?
Interesting glass roofs were ahead of their time in 1972.
The clouds made the tower look a bit surreal – like it was a spaceship landing.
The day cleared up nicely for a picnic lunch enjoying the Olympic Park.
BMW Welt is in the same area and was fun to visit as well as tour the BMW museum.
There is lots of BMW to turn your head here – classics to Mini’s to Rolls Royce to cars of the future.
Elvis’s US Army tour had him serving in Germany in 1958, where he bought this little sports car for his R&R . Rediscovered in 2008, it was meticulously restored and has been featured here for the last 10 years. You can sing “Return to Sender” while it sparkles in the lights.
BMW Isetta from 1958, could have been a more practical option.  The front is the door and it seats two.
The advertising for the car all had people stretching thru the sun roofs. Oh what fun!
In the center of Munich is Marienplatz with the eye catching Neues Rathaus (City Hall).
The Rathaus-Glockenspiel is a large mechanical clock. There are lots of people in the square but the clock only performs twice a day.
Munich was pretty much completely rebuilt after WWII in the traditional style.
The Ägyptische Museum (Egyptian) is an amazing collection, organized to give us greater appreciation of the type of art being showcased.
No trip to Munich in October is possibly complete without a stop at a beer garden. After a wander through the English Gardens, we thought we should enjoy this fabulous ambiance from the Seeshaus with some Bavarian Paulaner! Prost –
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Rent an electric car! EV in Norway 2/26

We were upgraded to an EV with Eurocar (through AutoEurope). Norway is committed to electric vehicles and as tourists we should be part of this vision. The EV Tourist guide to Norway.
Download an app from Fortum and add your credit card. This app covers several providers, like Recharge, and is what the manager at Eurocar recommended for our route. Many charging locations are at gas stations, near the center of town so plenty of options while charging. We learned later that we could add a non Tesla car to our Tesla account so that could have been a very good option as there were always a lot of Tesla charging stations.
It is much more convenient to use a cell phone to charge so we bought a $5 SIM card at 7-11. For $15, we topped it up with 3GB data use in Norway only for a month (Update: we used  less than one GB for the month.  We added only on GB for second month at $8). Mycall.no
The charging stations vary in power from 50kw to 350kw. The cost per kw increases with speed but the charging time decreases. This car –  VW ID.4 – has a good range: 455 km equals  280 miles. Update: We drove 4396 KM (2732 miles) with our total charging costs being $402 ($.09/KM or $.15/Mile)
All 6 chargers full on a Sunday afternoon – but these are the 350 kw superchargers. All electric cars in Norway, including those with foreign registration plates, can drive through the many toll roads at either a rebated price or completely free of charge. Both riksvei (state own)- and fylkesvei (county own) ferries operate with a 50 per cent rebate for fully electric vehicles (make sure to inform ticket agent that you’re driving an EV to get rebate.) When we rented our car the manager said our AutoPASS charge would probably be less than the $58 we paid to add the second driver for our 34 day rental. (Update: the total charge was $73)
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Tesla Model 3: Electrifying!

Tesla Model 3 is our choice for our new electric car! It is a very smooth and high tech ride.
We ordered with an 8 week delivery but were offered a show room model so we headed out to pick up with our lunch stop at Lathrop State Park – gorgeous day.
We spent the rest of the afternoon and evening at beautiful Pueblo Lake State Park.
After many months of research we had decided that we would go all electric as it is important to lead the way into mitigating climate change.
We arrived well rested to do a thorough walk through of the new 2021 Tesla.
Our first Tesla supercharger stop in Poncho Springs, Colorado – we saw 5 other Teslas pull in while we were there. A happening spot!
We made time to take a walk at Sand Dunes National Park.
A favorite photo under 14 thousand foot Blanca Peak, south of the Sand Dunes. Very red white and blue! Wonderful to buy an American car of such quality.
We also had time on our way home to see some of the Sandhill Cranes in Monte Vista on their northern migration.
The glow of the setting sun as we start our adventures with the 2021 Tesla and the 2016 Travato.
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3/5: White Sands NP/Organ Mountains NM

The clouds and remaining snow made a revisit to White Sands National Park feel unique.
The gypsum sand does not look so white under the snow.
The winds shifted the clouds into different formations.
It looks dark and stormy over the mountains providing contrast with the sand.
There was some fresh snow at Organ Mountains – Desert Peaks NM but is suppose to warm up.
Test (la) drove a Model 3 and marveled at the design details. Electrifying!
Hiked Pine Tree Loop into the foothills of the Organ Mountains.
Very unusual clouds and sunset lighting as the moisture rose.
The Chihuahuan Desert and all its amazing diversity.
Enjoying the picnic area from our #1 site at Aquirre Spring Campground.
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Poncha Pass and Salida, Colorado

There is the Travato on a hill on Poncha Pass – it is a level spot with a great view and the MINI Cooper is sitting behind it.
We walked a mile or so to O’Haver Lake which is quite pleasant. We hung out at the day use picnic tables but there is also a campground.
This aspen grove was quite dense and interesting.
This is the stone bridge for the turnoff to Marshall Pass road – 7 miles to the pass is a bit much for us to hike with the looming storm clouds.
Salida Fly In – a gorgeous morning and some very fine planes.
Some fun Russian nose art that we had not seen before.
The propellor is polished to such perfection that there are reflections!
Super Bee tail art – the nose looked like a cute smiling bumblebee.
Take off – we thought they were going to fly around in formation.
And maybe give us a bit of an airshow – but we didn’t see it.
There were also some beautiful old cars – this 1940 Buick in from Wyoming.
This was an original Colorado State truck that delivered the fish to stock the lakes – very nicely restored.
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Historic Sights In Illinois

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In Moline, Rock Island Army Base had an interesting Arsenal Museum and Corp of Engineers Waterway museum at the Mississippi Lock. We were lucky to see this 2-part barge and tugboat going through.

The historic bridge pivots to let the tugboat through after the two barges reconnect. We were thrilled with our timing to see this during the hour we were there.

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Further down the road we stopped at Hennepin Canal State Park to see the locks on this historic canal.
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The bridge had a 4-ton limit so we were good for crossing!
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We parked overnight along the canal with this picturesque view.
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Pullman NHS near Chicago is a new addition to the Park System but the community has been working on conserving it for many years. This factory will be the future visitor center.
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It was a factory town but constructed to entice people to be a part of the community.
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A variety of housing styles.
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They used different bricks on each home to provide individualism.
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There is awesome community spirit. Most of the homes have been restored by their owners.
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Indiana Dunes national Seashore provides a view of the distant Chicago skyline.
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The bog area adjacent to the Dunes has been preserved as well.
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St Joesph Harbor Lighthouse was our chosen spot for our evening stop.
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A Travato 59K is waiting for us in Texas

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June 1 we flew to San Antonio, Texas. We were chauffeured by Rick, cousin of Barry Gorden (Motown Music Founder), to KerRVille where our van was waiting. We learned so much about how to operate it from Keith, for which we are very grateful. We also appreciate the small town service of Otis, Todd, Shannon and Keri. Thank you so much!
We bought a Winnebago Travato 59K which is a converted RAM 3500 high top extended cargo van. This is the layout of the 21′ length – everything we need!
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We did not linger in Kerrville because of the intense rains forecast. We drove to Fredericksburg in the rain and spent the night there. We had a pleasant evening but it did rain all night – so we know our van is waterproof!
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Our first National Park with the Travato is LBJ childhood home. The Texas White house is closed due to flooding but we enjoyed our time here very much. Good movies on both LBJ and Lady Bird – seemed like a good start as they did much to preserve some of the beauty of our country.
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We took a ranger led tour and sat on the front porch.

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We left early and drove to Ft Stockton to skirt all of the storms. We were successful!
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Our first purchase was this fresh water hose. Newbies trying to figure this out. We love that the Travato is fully self contained and that the solar panels recharge the “house” battery.
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The little kitchenette, 2 coach seats swivel with airline type trays, overhead cabinets have lots of storage, 2 twin beds that can push together and also tilt for reading/TV viewing. Sliding screen door and lots of windows – good cross breezes.
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After a visit to Ft Davis Historic Site, and the local library, we headed up into the hills and found this The Nature Conservancy Trail and picnic area.
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Seemed like a good spot for wine o’clock and then to spend the night.
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Guadalupe National Park with Chollas blooming.
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Our camp site for 2 nights. Interior of van is 6′-3″ so Henry does not hit his head.
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An automatic awning over the picnic table. Wine O’clock in style!
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We got up early and hiked Guadalupe Peak. A 3,000′ elevation gain!
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This formation of El Capitan from the top reminded us of Michigan lower peninsula.
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What lies ahead? We wander into New Mexico.
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The Mexican Trestle Bridge hike in Cloudcroft where we spent a night.
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We went to the space museum in Alamogordo. This was the moon model behind Walter Cronkite when he gave all those updates on the astronauts. Pretty interesting that it is preserved here.
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Capitan is home of Smokey the Bear and they have a museum to him.

 

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2015 FIA Formula E Miami ePrix Grand Prix

Thanks to PAMM (Perez Art Museum Miami) and family who are members for this new Electric experience.

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The inaugural Electric Formula E in the United States – how green!
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The favorite Pit-girl next to one of the super quiet cars: FIA Formula E
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All you can hear are the cars braking – Oh! and some clueless DJ over-cranking the tunes. The Sounds of Silence are not an option in Miami…
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Mr. Race Fan and The hall of fame – with the current drivers 😉