Combining Two Life Experiences ...

[Dickkooty2]

 

1. I was stationed in Schwabisch Gmund at the Bismark Kaserne for two years and our first child was born there.

 

2. I am under the capacious wings of the Pelikan.

 

I had to have this luggage sticker. Note the cars ... a VW and a prewar Mercedes which were pretty common in 1957-1959 when I was defending the West in the Cold War.

[Bo Bo Olson]

Das Pelikan Hotel is still there...just looked it up.

 

Schwabisch Gmund is only 30 miles/50KM east from Stuttgart, and I don't remember ever being there. I don't even get to Stuttgart much...it being a 1 1/2 + hours away at German gas prices.

The dammed greens have stopped the fly low on the Autobahn trick mostly.

I have to drive well over an hour into the hinterlands to fly low any more.

Where at 120 mph, you have to keep your eye on the mirror for fast VW's or BMW's limited to only 150 mph.

 

We can still sneak 120...but if caught....$$$$. If the traffic is light one has more chance of not having the cops busy.

We only on the whole on the Autobahn have two lanes, a passing lane, and a regular one. The cops will stop and give tickets to someone clogging up the passing lane by doing only the speed limit.

 

If passing no big deal doing 30 or more over 75mph limit....as long as you get back into the regular lane when the opening is there. It is safer to pass fast.

 

My car is not an Autobahn car, an MX-5** I bought for the mountain twisties that start 7 miles from my house. It won't do much more than 125 maxed.

I find the MX-5 a bit light at 118mph, but my wife is comfortable at 122mph.

I have to admit, after coming back from having my wife drive the twisty Whiskey Trail in Scotland....and she drives the mountains every day to and from work....she's a better driver than me. That is not on the same page as the end of the world.

** that Mazda MX-5 has a funny name in the States, I can't remember but it sounds like the Moth that ate Tokyo.

 

I hate driving in the states... It's dangerous....they hang in the blind spots ( I buy little half round glue on mirror attachments for the rental car mirrors to eliminate blind spots. ....and in Virginia they hired an Englishman to reverse bank the roads to throw you off. I'd love to see Virginia with snow and an icy road.

The last time I was there after weeks of cramped dead slow 55, I stepped on the gas and was able to relax for a couple of minutes at 85... which is not fast at all. But the States have the original Stealth Police so I had to go back to poking along............there are little twisties out in the back, where they have a 25 mph because there is a turn...... It's not even a 90 degree turn....much less a 180.

Edited July 13, 2017 by Bo Bo Olson

[Barkingpig]

I applaud your acquisition of the luggage sticker! I "make many things mine," without near as much rationale; sometimes things just "speak to you," & are a joyous reminder that make the acquisition worthwhile. I have long admired the well traveled pieces of luggage I have seen & been sad that the use of same has become almost extinct. Thank you for sharing your find & the story behind it with us.

[Dickkooty2]

I applaud your acquisition of the luggage sticker! I "make many things mine," without near as much rationale; sometimes things just "speak to you," & are a joyous reminder that make the acquisition worthwhile. I have long admired the well traveled pieces of luggage I have seen & been sad that the use of same has become almost extinct. Thank you for sharing your find & the story behind it with us.

 

Dear Barking, Yes that pretty much describes the sense of immediacy that sez is a demanding voice, "gotta have it". I've got a 1930s baby Hermes coming and have no idea what I'm going to do with it. Well, hopefully, type on it, if I can get someone with skills to have a look.

[Dickkooty2]

I hate driving in the states... It's dangerous....they hang in the blind spots ( I buy little half round glue on mirror attachments for the rental car mirrors to eliminate blind spots. ....and in Virginia they hired an Englishman to reverse bank the roads to throw you off. I'd love to see Virginia with snow and an icy road.

 

Yo, Bo Bo,

 

Jawohl! I used to drive from Dusseldorf to our factory and offices outside Cologne. To be in commuter traffic going 120 was in itself an experience, let alone having the blinking headlights of a Mercedes indicating that i should consider moving over a lane. Even going back and forth to the office from London to our plant and offices there was at least 85-90 on the M4.

 

Here in Oregon the speed limit on the Freeways is 65. 70, as in other states is being considered. 75 is the safe speed to drive without finding yourself being asked for driver's license and registration.

[tamiya]

** that Mazda MX-5 has a funny name in the States, I can't remember but it sounds like the Moth that ate Tokyo.

 

Eunos Roadster & Miata

 

Be thankful you're not downunder, here 40km/h zoning (with Gatso enforcement that ping$$ everything over 43km/h) is spreading like rabid cancer.

 

But the real joke is that we're stuck in a jam 14hrs/day anyway with little hope of even doing 40km/h

[inkstainedruth]

** that Mazda MX-5 has a funny name in the States, I can't remember but it sounds like the Moth that ate Tokyo.

 

I hate driving in the states... It's dangerous....they hang in the blind spots ( I buy little half round glue on mirror attachments for the rental car mirrors to eliminate blind spots. ....and in Virginia they hired an Englishman to reverse bank the roads to throw you off. I'd love to see Virginia with snow and an icy road.

The last time I was there after weeks of cramped dead slow 55, I stepped on the gas and was able to relax for a couple of minutes at 85... which is not fast at all. But the States have the original Stealth Police so I had to go back to poking along............there are little twisties out in the back, where they have a 25 mph because there is a turn...... It's not even a 90 degree turn....much less a 180.

 

 

Here in the States there are still highways with a 55 MPH speed limit. But at least a lot of roads have gone back up to 65 or 70. I remember years ago, driving from southeastern NYS to Syracuse with a friend of mine. It was January, and she absolutely insisted on taking the NYS Thruway up (I-87 to around Albany, than I-90 West) rather than the more direct diagonal route. "Rte 17 is a DEATH road in the winter!" she said. Well that was back when the nationwide speed limit was 55. Only the Thruway was designed for vehicles going 70 -- and banked that way. And we crawled all the way up I-87 (and it didn't help that I was coming down with a sore throat...).

We were staying over with friends who lived between Syracuse and Rochester, who asked us to drive someone back to the train station in Syracuse Sunday morning. Fortunately for me, it was a nice day. And that I spotted the entrance ramp for 17 before we got back to the Thruway. That was when I learned that you CAN actually make a '77 Chevy Nova go 80 MPH.... Maybe not the best speed for Rt 17, which does wind around a bit. But it also meant we got back to her house at a reasonable time after stopping for lunch at the "famous" Roscoe Diner, in Roscoe, NY. Although, part of the reason it got the nickname was probably because it was (at least 30+ years ago) the only decent place to eat on that road between Middletown and Binghamton....

Oh and do you mean Mazda Miata? A woman that used to be in my choir had one. But she quite coming in the wintertime -- because she lived about an hour east of the city, and admitted that the Miata was really a "summer" car....

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[BillH]

Here in SW Idaho the posted limit on the interstate outside city limits is 80... I like it.

[Christopher Godfrey]

Dick started this here thread to show off his nice hotel label (I think!?) and here we are discussing all sorts of motoring activities...blame it all on our old friend, the Bo Bo! (And he's right, of course, German drivers <are> disciplined, in contrast with their New England c ounterparts who drive miserably, for the mostpart! What's the very first instruction in the Rules of the Road in Massachusetts -- and it must be the same elsewhere? Drive on the right! So, when motorists occupy the left-hand lane of an empty highway: they are actually transgressing!)

 

Anyhow, Dick, good on you: nice vintage luggage label! I saw one, a few years ago, on eBay, for the Lake Victoria Hotel in Entebbe and, to this day, am sorry I never bought it! Very nostalgic...