1700 mi road trip report

[tim]

Hi guys,
Well I made it. Some of you may remember when I posted about my trip from dallas to connecticut with my family and dog in my 540 touring. Here is the report.

I went I30 to I40 to I81 to I78 and finally I95. We did it as a straight shot, with my wife and I switching off at the wheel. It was pretty uneventful, and we made excellent time. We covered the 1700 odd miles in 25 1/2 hrs. Most of the time we had the cruise set to 80. We made four stops, and I'd say all told, our total stop time including gas was about 1 hr 15 min.

Now we're waiting for our stuff to get here in the moving van tomorrow. The 540it (e39) performed flawlessly. I didn't get passed by a car until I got to Pennsylvania, and the whole trip took 4 tanks, with about 3/4s of a tank left at the end.

We were grateful that the road gods kept the weirdo's away, and in general, I found the truckers along 81 to be fairly courteous and predictable. You definitely have to be careful in Virginia. That stretch was like one big speed trap, but through there I took off the cruise control, and just paced the trucks. We saw at least 10 or 15 cars pulled over in Va. and maybe 2 in all other states combined.

Thanks to all who wished us well, and we're really excited about being here. (Although we were greeted on our first night with 6" of snow!)

Sincerely,

Tim

[PhilipJCaputo]

Glad to hear it was a safe trip!

I usually set the cruise on 80 as well, and haven't had any problems as of yet.

Enjoy the snow :)

[Paul in NZ]

set the cruise on 80
whats your speed limit?...i spose thats "freeway "all the way.Our main hihway has some corners posted at 35km hr..there may be one at 25km hr...course that has its own rewards too....and 98 per cent at least is one lane each way with overtaking lanes everynow and then. ussually on a hill.. i like to cruise at about 110km/hr(speed limit 100) so every nowand then the routine is.....select a passing gear(lotsa cars short passing lane =3rd)
vroom...resume :D :) ;)
Glad to hear the trip went well and you made it safely!

[tim]

Paul,

most of the speed limits along the route were either 70 or 65 mph. These are wide laned highways, and to be honest, if I didn't care about speeding tickets and safety, I could just as easily pegged the cruise at 100mph without too much trouble. They are very safe in good weather at these speeds in a BMW.

There were two really nice driving segments, both mountain terrains. The first was north of knoxville, and through southern virginia from cumberland gap to the beginning of the appalacian chain. The second was north of maryland and into southern pennsylvania through the penn dutch "hex barn" country.

(I hit that at the gloaming of a beautiful sunset with my kids asleep, and Bach's "Goldberg Variations" (Van Cliburn, of course) in the cd changer. That was truly an incredible feast for the senses. I stay away from rock and roll for long trips as I burn out on it too quickly, even though I love it. For this trip I rotated Beethoven's piano sonatas, Mozart's 39th and 40th symphonies, Bach's Variations, and Dvorak's piano trios.)

-tim

[632 Regal]

It sounds likr it went a bit smoother than you or "we" anticipated. I'm glad that things panned out good and you werent one of them cars on the side of the road padding the pockets of the anti speed terrorists...lol

how you like the new place?