Re: Oct9 Best Roads Cruise-Elvis was here... (looo (archive)

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: You can upgrade my chip, intake my air, make any modifications you like but unless you get in my car and drive it you ain't gonna make the real difference in the car's driving performance.
: The way people drive is a bigger determining factor in performance than the car itself. If you don't believe me, you should have been on the October 9 Best Roads drive. Gadi in his 2.3 automatic and Pete in his 1.9 blew my doors off at very respectable speeds and were gone in a flash. :::::poof::::
: JohnH had no trouble staying in front in his M, but JohnM and Dar felt comfy sweeping in their M coupe.

: As a Mercedes owner and club member I have a clear conscience when I say that perhaps the roads on the Car and Driver site are skewed more to the Mercedes luxury ride than to a "driving experience". Mercedes is the heavy handed sponsor of the Car and Driver's Best Road's Page.

: They were still quite beautiful- you'll have to wait for JonT and JohnM to post their pics to see- I am not able to shoot while I am driving....

: I had much glee telling the cruisers after 97 (and 17, America's Most Scenic Highway) and 10, that in my humble opinion these were the UGLY roads compared to what we would see and drive in the afternoon.

: Lunch at the Diner was the first time we had seen each other since morning at High Point. I was 2 minutes late for the meet because I had to pick up our slave.
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: Yes, the first BMW Z3 Slave, my friend Karen came along for the ride and rode with several Z3 Masters until JonT freed the slave on the way home. He turned her into a secretary, delivering messages by TalkAbout.

: Although the meet point at High Point State Park has incredible views, it was completely fogged in that morning. Danny Lawrence explained to passersby that we came to see the fog. Yep.
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: When I mentioned I had been bidding on the Elvis auction items on Friday, our cruise virgin, Irene, told us the delicious story of how she got a kiss from Elvis in an elevator.

: We saw Elvis again at lunch, many bits of memorabilia including a poster for one of Elvis's performances where tickets had cost $1.75.

: It was pretty hard to keep my mind on the road after hearing Paul and Irene's stories about the Beatles and Elvis.

: True enough, there are spots on 97 that are pretty awesome, you can see a ribbon of road several hills and turns ahead, plan your moves and go-

: We spread out on the expanse, sometimes against our will as there is only two lanes and not much else in the way of passing zones or places to pull over.

: At the end of 97/17 we pulled over to wait for the rest to make the turn and zoomed off again.

: By this time we discovered that our gadgets were useless. There was no cell phone coverage for anyone, digital, analog- nada, zip, dead, NO SERVICE. Talkabouts were useless between the rolling hills. The trees were changing colors in turn, some still fresh green and others almost on fire with color. So we would pull over and wave and rely on the quick reflexes and wonderful BMW brakes of our fellow Z3'ers.
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: (Yes, that's a police cruiser at the far end. He followed us into the rest area, and then left wordlessly.)

: Lunch at the diner was OK- it was magnificent considering the only other food for miles without flies was McDonald's. (They had bees).
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: We spoke briefly about the devastation in Bound Brook, NJ. JohnM and Dar have a sister whose house was flooded in nearby Mayfield. JonT had driven through what was left of the town. The town of 10,000 was awash after the Raritan River, swollen by Tropical Storm Floyd, overflowed.
: Using boats and three helicopters, 35 NYPD officers plucked 225 people from the roofs and second-floor windows of homes submerged in as much as 15 feet of water. Helicopters and motorized rafts rescued about 1,000 people from rooftops and second-floor windows. NYPD helicopters also helped douse fires that burned uncontrolled for eight hours in three downtown buildings. There were helicopters with spotlights, people standing on roofs and in trees
: At the peak of the flooding, the Red Cross opened 54 shelters in north Jersey, and housed 5,000 people.

: The storm killed at least 40 people nationwide, including two in New York and 16 in hard-hit North Carolina.

: In the same moment we felt closer to our neighbors in NJ, and our neighbors in North Carolina. Many of us had been in North Carolina last month for Homecoming, for the Sunday Brunch, driving in or out of Spartanburg, and knowing there is a Z3 drive there at the same time as we were driving in New York. In this spirit, we collected $310.00 in contributions to donate to the Bound Brook Flood Fund in the name of "BMW Z Series Register". Irene pointed out that people fortunate as we are can afford to help out our neighbors. I have decided to collect for charity at every drive I run. Thank you cruisers for your generosity and caring!

: That was when I got to tell everyone that the days roads and scenery just get better.

: We traveled as a group for that stretch of 28, and passed many many motorcycle groups. You know you are on the right road when you see the motorcycles. Two of our area cruisers- (Gadi, who was with us in the automatic 2.3, and Wayne Sebastiano, who was not with us )- are motorcycle enthusiasts as well as Z3 enthusiasts. I am inviting them to cruise with us on the next Best Roads cruise, with roads recommended by Top Motorcycling Roads. Gadi has give me another good lead- a copy of "Backroads". We think Burkhard Goeschel, father of the Z3, would be proud. We learned from Burkhard at Homecoming that the Z3 is born of motorcycle lineage. As we neared the end of our Route 28 ride we passed a Z3 coming the other way- top down of course.

: JohnM and Dar stayed with Paul and Irene while the rest of us took the Route 28 Watusi- a route designed to take advantage of some local Dragon-like twisties.
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: I hesitate to tell you about these roads because they are such a great secret and happily not well traveled, although very well paved. Bill Z said of Route 212, "If the Dragon is in 2nd Gear, this is the Dragon in 3rd gear."
: Agreed.
: Back up 28 to join Dar and JohnM and Paul and Irene at 28A to the Ashokan Reservoir. There is no way to photograph the scene at the reservoir, the narrow road with the fabulous water and sunlit mountains on one side and the drop into the valley with the fountains and the mansions on the other. That didn't stop us from going photo happy-
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: and we were videotaped by these wonderful people who just happened to be there taping, I will let you know as soon as I get the tape.
: We dropped off Paul and Irene at 209, and Bill Z, Danny and Nancy at the secret road to 87 and headed back to the Depuy Canal House.
: The nice folks at the Canal House had an upstairs with a glowing fireplace waiting for us in this elegant country inn.
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: This place was amazing, the table settings looked like Thanksgiving, the menu was exciting and they invited us into their kitchen. This is the view from the rafters.
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: We gobbled up pumpkin soup from carved out pumpkins and ostrich and octopus and finished with chocolate souffl�s and other delectables.

: Taven came by to tell us about the road rallyes the Depuy Canal House has been mounting and how they have recently gained sponsorship from Mercedes-Benz.

: Off we went home, I followed JonT along with DaveP and JohnM until DaveP left for Connecticut, I-84. A few moments later Pete pops up from behind and we run with JonT and JohnM until I-80 when they went west and we went east. Outside the GW Bridge Pete and I were stuck in traffic for over a half hour. Pete noticed the traffic over the guard rail was speeding by us. He crossed the Do Not Enter (mtc only) area and told me to come on over, but carefully. That one maneuver saved me a half hour of traffic with my needle nearly on empty at midnight in Manhattan. I made it home only minutes before JonT got home in Pennsylvania and Karen in New Jersey, both drove more than an hour further away from the Canal House than me in New York.

: Pete's bold move only proves again that the way people drive is a bigger determining factor in speed and performance than the car itself.

: It was a pretty perfect day. Thank you so much everyone for coming on the cruise!

It was a great day, in spite of the GWB delay which got me home to the east end of Long Island just before 1:00AM. Thank you to Rachel for all the work in putting this thing together, I wish I were going on the next one but the only cruising I will be doing on that day is to a family wedding, rats, wish I were with you. Pete

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