Articles

  • Road Trip Stories: No Experience Necessary

    Road Trip Stories: No Experience Necessary

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    Road trips are an American institution. Our networks of highways, lack of cheap long distance travel, and history of V8 powered land yachts created the perfect environment for travel by car. These days the land yachts may be going the way of the dinosaurs which power them, replaced by more fuel efficient, and smaller cars.…

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  • Scenes from a road trip: Family time and the Audi Q8

    Scenes from a road trip: Family time and the Audi Q8

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    It’s a weekend I look forward to ever year. Towards the end of August, my closest friends make a familiar pilgrimage to a lake house in New Hampshire. It’s there where we drink far too much alcohol, eat way too much food, and laugh way too hard. This year, my wife and kid flew in…

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  • Our cars: A Roving I shall go.

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    You know, I looked at my watch half an hour back and it was three weeks ago. Something odd is happening to time these days; the continuum appears to not be following the traditional 60 minutes per hour format. And it’s forced my transportational hand somewhat. Long story short, my mollycoddled, babied, cherished Rover is…

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  • San Francisco, Day Two: Exploring more Bay Area wonders

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    No set plans: Two days exploring the San Francisco Bay Area in a rented Mustang GT Some things are hard to explain. Take, for example, an intangible like the connection between car and driver. But break it down and you can begin to build a picture of what goes into “the feeling”: things like the…

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  • San Francisco, Day One: “Slower traffic use turnouts”

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    No set plans: Two days exploring the San Francisco Bay Area in a rented Mustang GT The sign stood there, motionless except for the small movements of the wind’s work, as does any sign. A reflection of the suggested all-important driving etiquette, it stands strong in the name of the enthusiast, always there, always a…

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  • Inheriting The Past: Reflections From A Road Trip In My Grandparents’ Oldsmobile

    Inheriting The Past: Reflections From A Road Trip In My Grandparents’ Oldsmobile

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    I’m eight years old, and my Grandpa Dave takes me for a ride in his brand-new supercharged Pontiac Bonneville SSEi. He lets me sit up front, a rare privilege that my parents wouldn’t afford, and my little fingers play endlessly with the dizzying assortment of passenger-side power seat buttons. I watch as the supercharger boost…

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  • Riding the Pan-American Highway by Bus: Ecuador and Colombia

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    With our bus stalling twice already the night before in the Ecuadorean Central Highlands, I was on edge. Was I going to make it to the end of the Pan-American Highway? With pressing family and work obligations, I may not have another chance to complete the journey in the foreseeable future. Then, at around three…

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  • Riding the Pan-American Highway by Bus: Peru and Ecuador

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    As some of you know, I started a trek in 2007 to ride the entire 14,741-mile Pan-American Highway by bus. Last month, I finally accomplished this goal. The final stretch was from Lima, Peru, northward, to Turbo, Colombia. The Darien Gap, a roadless stretch of jungle between Panama and Colombia, prevents the highway from running…

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  • 2013 Nissan Rogue: A Road Trip Review Story

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    Enthusiasts always look for something fun in a car. Something exciting, adrenaline-boosting; something that makes a car rewarding. Things like good steering feedback, a willing and fun engine, and that special something that makes you want to drive. But not every situation requires such characteristics; rather, sometimes a vehicle needs to simply be comfortable, efficient,…

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  • Embracing Fall Driving While You Can

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    October wraps up next Tuesday and November’s arrival come the following morning to me signals the start of way less than ideal conditions for all-things car hobby. This is especially true for us living in two season states (winter and construction) like Wisconsin. The past few days I’ve been scanning Craigslist and shooting off emails…

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