2000 Z3 Homecoming

Was it Labor day already? We had a good night's sleep, and I was itching to get home. We started out with a hearty breakfast, and head out. The skies were cloudy, but we really didn't see much rain. On the one road, there was a bit of fog, and some traffic, but fortunately, the fog burned off. I was not having much luck keeping up with Rachel and Dave, but the waited for me at a couple of points down the road. Somewhere along the way, we all stumbled across another Z3er on the road. This belonged to an older couple, and somewhere along the way, our paths crossed, and later split. Oh well. We stopped for lunch, and answered a bunch of Z3 questions. Apparently, earlier in the day some other roadsters had passed the restaurant, and we were trying to ascertain if they were also Z3s, but the person wasn't entirely certain.Oh well, no matter, it was fun sharing our experiences.

So, we pressed on, with the skies threatening to start opening up at any time. Eventually, we had to pull over quickly to raise our tops, and it was at a farm that had this curious apparatus. Any ideas as to it's true function?

A bit later, it cleared up, so the tops went down again, and the cruising continued.

We made it back to the Interstates, and found a lot of traffic from people returning from the long weekend. Ugh! Bumper to Bumper traffic for quite some time. We stopped for one last fill up before the last dash home, and Rachel and I bade David farewell while we turned off to head for Harrisburg. Traffic did not let up, so we stopped for a quick bite and to assess the remainder of our route. Rachel found us a neat road through a Pennsylvania state forest, which led us up to somewhere near Harrisburg. We chose to give the Interstates another try, and luckily, there was less traffic than before. So, we settled in, and went. I was leading for a bit of this time, but I was getting truly tired, and could not maintain a constant speed as traffic started getting heavy again. There were also a lot of trucks on the road (on a Holiday?), and twilight is not my favorite time to drive.

Soon thereafter, we got stuck on I78 - As is ALWAYS the case when you drive through Pennsylvania, you have to encounter major construction on the roadways, which is there to foil your efforts to drive at a good pace. Rachel hopped on the CB, and found that traffic was being forced on to the other side of the highway, and we had to merge down to one lane. YUK! We were inching along for about an hour or so when finally we merged down. Once through, the State Troopers were waiting to snag people who were frustrated with the whole experience and would bolt at the first sign of freedom. Somewhere in here Rachel and I got split up because of impatient people crowding us out. I lost radio contact with her, and I was getting tired. I then realized that I was back in my home phone calling region, so I ended up calling my mom to see how my sister was doing (she was apartment-sitting for me while I was gone), and how my cat handled me being away for so long. So far, so good, but I did find that my phone at home was out for several days, and would not be back in service until a technician came out to fix it the next day (gotta love phone company strikes!) Fortunately, after hanging up with my mom, I saw a "NEW YORK - 100 MILES" sign, and I started perking up. I called Rachel on the cell, and was asking her where she was, when all of a sudden, I realize I was right behind. What a coincidence! We ended up cruising through the next-to-last leg of our journey at a relaxed, but energized pace. She too had perked up when she saw the NY sign. Soon, I had to turn off, and I was only a few miles from home. I got home some time after 10:30 PM, and heard that Rachel was in by 11:30. We spoke for a bit as we soaked it all in.

Wow. 8 days, 2300 miles (for me), and lots of memories. I don't think I went to sleep for a little while, all the time with a pleasant little smile on my face.

Thanks to everyone for the whole experience, and thanks for reading this far. I had a BLAST! See you all next year!

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All Pictures are Copyright 2000 by Jon Trudel.

Photos may be reused with permission