Posted in on Jun 3rd, 2023 No Comments »
It’s autostrada (superhighway) all the way to Genoa. And after we get out of the Milan metro area, the speed really picks up to 130 kph (81 mph) and the little Fiat 500L diesel doesn’t have any issues keeping up with the occasional BMW or Alpha Romeo Stelvio. I’m impressed. We’re actually on our way […]
Posted in on May 31st, 2023 No Comments »
A nice euro breakfast: coldcuts, cheese and Italians. Delivered to the room. A quick coffee and down to the street to look for a taxi. The taxi that brought us to this little hotel told us that there are two taxi stands just up the street at the piazza. We drag the bags out to […]
Posted in on May 30th, 2023 No Comments »
Soon enough (it’s really amazing how long 81/2 hours in economy seating and how short the same time is in business) we’re landing in Milan. It’s sunny and a nice 72° F at the airport and the fewer passengers make de-planing a lot faster than usual. The long hike to customs. Face recognition to compare […]
Posted in on May 30th, 2023 No Comments »
Uber shows up on time at 10:15 for the ride to the airport. We have a flight to Newark just before 1 PM. We’ve booked a flight on a French boutique airline, La Compagnie, that flies from Newark to Paris, Milan and Nice. It’s an all business class airline flying Airbus 321 Neo aircraft. They […]
Posted in on May 7th, 2023 Comments Off on April 29th, 2023 – Ensenada
We’re all ready for the show to begin. This is our third day here and the race doesn’t start until tomorrow. The Lowrance units need to have the data chips installed by PCI and we have to get all of the GPS trackers setup so that they can all communicate with Spotwalla. The Lowrance GPS […]
Posted in on Apr 30th, 2023 Comments Off on April 28th, 2023 – Ensenada
Today is the beginning of tech for the vehicles and the drivers. Because we got in yesterday, we are early to the tech line. But before the car can even start tech, we have to stop the car in front of a huge banner for the race. We all line up around the car for […]
Posted in on Apr 29th, 2023 Comments Off on Baja 2023 – April 27 – Ensenada
I saw a post from an old rally friend of mine, Dick Rockrohr, that he was doing the Mexican 1000 Rally in Baja California and he needed a service truck driver at almost the last minute. The short version: I dropped him an email and told him I was available. I few messages back and […]
Posted in on Feb 27th, 2023 Comments Off on Banjul Challenge – Boujdour – 1/22/2023
Up, out of bed and across the main street to a small hotel with a restaurant. And a sleeping restaurant owner. A local wakes him and tells him that there are a dozen or so people who want breakfast and that rouses him pretty quickly. He starts us off with tea and flat bread. He […]
Posted in on Feb 17th, 2023 Comments Off on Banjul Challenge – El Ouatia – 1/21/2023
It’s just barely getting light when we go down for some breakfast of flat bread and omelet. It’s very cold in the first floor dining room. The fire from last night hasn’t done much to warm the room and, when I go outside to start packing the car, the wind is howling. I sure wouldn’t […]
Posted in on Feb 12th, 2023 Comments Off on Banjul Challenge – Tisi-n-Test – 1/20/2023
We (the five cars that have formed into what is rapidly becoming our “group”) leave Marrakesh after breakfast. We’ve decided to head pretty much due south, away from the autostrada that would bring us back to the coast. Instead, we plan on following some smaller, two lane roads into the Atlas Mountains. The paper map […]
