2000 Z3 Homecoming

Tuesday morning started a bit slowly. We ambled over to the local restaurant, and discussed our plans for the day. We ended up hitting the road a little later than expected, and came across some incredible roads. It was still a little foggy, so we missed some potentially excellent views from the hills and mountains we were on. I lost track of where we were, and started enjoying the drive, acting as the sweeper. Unfortunately, we started to get split up, and eventually lost sight of Rachel and Dave, who had gotten ahead of some of the traffic. We also lost radio contact, and my cell phone was useless. A bit later on, we reached a smallish town, and I got a call from Rachel, who suggested an alternate route for us to get to our final destination for the night. Ron, Rosemarie, Al, and I pulled over, reviewed the map and felt the alternate was more amenable to our pace. It ended up being a rather scenic Interstate Highway for most of the way, and overall, it was traffic-free.

Some time around 3 PM, we stopped for Lunch at Hardee's, which Al had wanted to stop at (they don't have any of them up in the North East, and Al had a hankering). A couple of times prior to this, I tried calling Rachel to see what her and Dave's progress had been. Apparently, they were having a blast down some nice twisty roads she had found. We were close to the planned stopping point, but Ron and Al wanted to cover as much ground as possible. I related our feelings, and she and Dave were of the same mind set - we all wanted to keep going, and we'd try to link up later on in the day, or perhaps the next.

So we tarried on. Rachel and Dave in one group, and Ron Stygar, Rosemarie, Al, and myself in the other. With smaller groups, we could maneuver easier, which made it easier to stay together. Al plotted a route that took us through Kentucky, and then Virginia. Virginia, as you may know, is the one remaining state in the nation that has a complete ban on radar detectors. Let's just say that we did not have any such devices, however, once we finished crossing the state, we pulled over, and had found a couple of 'em lying on the side of the road that we picked up, and found they worked wonderfully.

That night, we ended up going a long way, and ended up somewhere near Morristown, Tennessee. In its own way, this was kind of ironic because I grew up in Morristown, NJ, and had always wanted to visit another Morristown. What a pleasant surprise!

After settling in, I tried calling Rachel one more time, and as luck would have it, both our cell phones were operating. She and Dave were still on the road, and hadn't gotten to a motel yet, and she'd call me as soon as she had, so we could try to link up the next day. Unfortunately, earlier in the day, my phone had started acting strange, and kept beeping every few minutes to tell me that I had voice mail when I had already retrieved it. This was a pattern that repeated itself for the entire trip until I returned back to the Garden State. Sometime after having some takeout in my room that night, I started to nod off and perhaps while in this state, I turned off my phone because of the constant beeping. No luck linking up with Rachel and Dave that night. :-(

By the way, is this where Homer Simpson gets his car serviced?

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