Day: 318


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The engine purred. My palms were slightly sweating, I glanced over at the calm German sitting next to me at the steering wheel; absolutely calm; my eyes drift down to the speedometer, 190KPH (118 miles per hour). The lane next to us opens up, and without even blinking, Markus shifts his new Mercedes into 6th and floors it past the small (ecologically friendly) cars in the right lanes of the autobahn. I am pressed against the black leather seats.


“Hey.” He looks over at me. “220. (136mph)”


He smiles the smile of any good German auto engineer at a car as finely crafted at this. Were doing speeds reserved for the race car drivers and other Germans, I am nearly crapping myself at the thought of what would happen if we blew a tire right now.


Another car, something fancy and Italian, screams past us on the left; Markus, now beaming with pride at the European auto industry, turns and says with no envy “Now, that’s a fast car.”


The drive home from Oberstdorf, which took us almost 3 hours to get to yesterday, flew by in an hour and twenty minutes of insane speed on a much emptier autobahn.

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Other things took place today; like an amazing 10 mile hike, or me eating a plum dumpling covered in vanilla sauce (Germknodel), or some astounding cliffs which I climbed all over, but compared to the insanity of the ride home, I couldn’t vividly recall any of it.

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