Reflections

I've had the shoe for more than a week now, and I can't get enough of it.  Excuses to drive it seem to come up spontaneously and at random.  Now that I've had time to digest this whole adventure, I thought I'd share one more post.

When Lewis & Clark headed west from St. Louis Missouri in 1804, it took them more than a year and a half to reach the Pacific Ocean.  And that was starting at the Mississippi River!  What would they think of me traveling from South Carolina to California in less than five hours, and driving back in three days?  Not that they would be able to fathom the likes of a jet airplane, let alone a Clownshoe.

I can’t imagine how someone could be so determined and brave to cross this land two hundred years ago.  Summiting a mountain pass and looking over hundreds of miles of plains just to see another mountain range off in the distance would be gut-wrenching when you didn’t know how far off the destination was.  I had that feeling of being the only person in the world when looking out over the expanses of the land and seeing not a hint of civilization.

Speaking of that, I now know what "range anxiety" feels like, and I wasn't driving an electric car!  When you set out in the desert, you want to be sure you have a full tank of gas just in case there are no gas stations ahead.  Of course I was never more than 30 or 40 miles from a gas station, but it felt like I was hundreds of miles from anything.  I filled up often.  I even stopped to top off with less than six gallons two times in a row.

My final top-off of many.

It’s pretty amazing what can be done today by a less than heroic, everyday person.  Highways have been constructed to connect big cities together.  Cars are safer and more reliable than ever.  Cellphones keep us within a minute’s reach of help.  GPS guides us towards our destination with accuracy of meters. 

All those capabilities are useless unless you actually create an opportunity for adventure.  My dad was one who would create those opportunities.  I remember he might go to a conference on the west coast, but take a few days to ski in Utah on the way.  I guess I’ve done the same in the past.  I visited Yosemite on a weekend before I had to report in for work out west.  I definitely don’t do it often enough.

We live in an amazing country.  Nearly any climate in the world can be found in the US.  You can meet all types of people, see so many things!  Many people, including myself, get caught up in everyday life, forget that it’s out there and don’t make the effort.  We don’t get outside our comfort zone.

Back to the birthplace of all Z3s.  Plant Spartanburg.

Would I do it again?  Absolutely!  I still plan to travel Route 66 someday.  Maybe my next car will be an M version of the Clownshoe that I can buy in California.  Prices are heading north quickly, so it may be out of the cards for me soon.  A new record price of $75,000 was set for a pristine eleven-thousand mile M-Coupe recently.

Every Clownshoe, and Z3 Roadster for that matter, was built in the Greer, South Carolina BMW plant, which is only a few miles from away from where I live.  The morning after I arrived home, I drove the car to the BMW Zentrum to take the requisite photo of this car coming back, full-circle, to its "place of birth".

Go make your own opportunity.  Write your own story.  Share it if you like.  Others may appreciate it and hopefully break out of their comfort zone too.