“Waiting for the fish to bite or waiting for wind to fly a kite. Or waiting around for Friday night or waiting perhaps for their Uncle Jake or a pot to boil or a better break or a string of pearls or a pair of pants or a wig with curls or another chance. Everyone is just waiting.” ~Dr. Seuss
Earlier this summer Bonnie and I stopped waiting on one of our “dreams/wants,” an indulgence — we found a little used convertible sports car, a 2006 Mercedes Benz SLK 350. This was the car we took on the “2011 Fall Road Trip” and we experienced fall foliage as never before. We truly love the experience and there will be many road trips ahead. It’s the first car I’ve owned which far exceeds my driving skills on twisty mountains roads, and yes, I did push it close to my own limits and Bonnie wasn’t even screaming. :-) Perhaps I’ll find a class at a driving school.
As a side note, the SLK 350 has an iPod connector and we used my iPhone with the GPS Drive application by MotionX to provide navigation on the trip. This combination gave turn-by-turn voice guidance and worked beautifully…as good as most dedicated GPS device in my opinion. It gives guidance but doesn’t continually “nag” at you if you decide to take a side trip. It also does search for POIs in the area allowing one click navigation to or dialing of related phone numbers. Recommended!
Nice ride, Earl. Let me know when you want to trade up to a 2002 Ford Focus with a broken CD player and no iPod connector.
Ken…now about that trade up, I think I’ll wait. :-)
Oh! Now that is nice, Earl! I was thinking another day that I’d love to drive along The Parkway in a convertible and was even considering renting one! Congrats on your purchase and many more happy road trips with the wind whipping through your hair. I’m glad that Bonnie wasn’t screaming. She might have made you take the car back! :)
Paul, Yeah, it’s a great way to immerse yourself in those beautiful surrounds…you see and hear things you’d never notice in a sedan…even with the windows down. We’ve come to call it our mini-vacation on four wheels — the top comes down and the stress is left behind.
No, Bonnie loves the experience as much as I do…she’d never let the car go now. :-)
Looks like fun! That would be a good way to see the fall color. Of course, it might look like streaks of color at the speed you were going!
Eric, it’s a LOT of fun, at least we think so. I probably wasn’t doing more then 50mph, but that may have been around 15-20mph turns. ;-)
That is awesome! All of us kids need to have a few toys to have fun with. I, I think you live in a great place to have a convertible, as noted by this past weekend trip. Enjoy!!!!
Monte, we are enjoying…we took it to a wine festival today and had a great time, but It may be stealing time from my photography. ;-)