Today I drove on the world-famous German Autobahn!
I've lived here almost two years and I've probably only driven a total of six times. Today we headed out of the city for a diving excursion. As we walked to the car N. asked me if I wanted to drive as she often does... for some reason a little voice in the back of my head said "go for it", and I did.
So I get out on the highway and I see that magic sign that means there is no more speed limit. It is hard for me to explain how freeing this is for some strange reason.
But before you get excited you need to understand the car I'm driving isn't a fine specimen of German mechanics... It is a Ford C-Max. They don't sell it in the states, but let's just say it is some kind of cross breed between a minivan and an SUV with strong emphasis on the minivan part. The engine is a four-banger with moderate power, but let's face it, my New Beetle had more power with the air-conditioning on.
I ease my foot into the accelerator and move into the stream of traffic. The rules are stiff here. Far right lane is for slow pokes, middle lane is for normal travel, and far left means you will get plowed if you aren't going VERY fast!
The car gets up to a decent speed and I look down at the speedometer and get really impressed to learn I'm doing 140kph. Notice the important part is the kph part... not miles per hour. I'm not good at figuring on the fly and I have to remain happy thinking that I'm doing 140kph on the German Autobahn!
So tonight I get home and do the conversion... turns out I was doing something close to 86mph. LOL! I've done 40mph more than that on I-135 between Oklahoma City and Dallas!
Oh well, maybe the fun part is that I didn't have to worry about some copper wanting to give me a ticket.
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