Amazing how fast two weeks can go by. We started day 12 in Strasbourg France, home of the European parliament. I might have liked to look around a bit, but honestly, we didn't have any time. So we did a quick drive by of the EU parliament for a couple of pictures, then we were off on our journey back to Stuttgart.

First, a gratuitous car shot:



Sorry, I couldn't help it. Man, am I happy with the Guards Red. What a beautiful car....!

OK, so here are some shots of the European Parliament:







Want to see something else that's cool in France? They have these neat little mini traffic lights located low on the pole so the first car can see the light if they are too close to the line. They don't have these in Germany, and unlike in America, there are no lights across the street to look at.



OK, now how is it possible that anyone living in a country as rich in culture and art as France could possibly drive something like this?:



OK, enough site seeing, we cross the Rhein river and we are back in Germany.



After we did, I wanted to turn around and re-enter France to see if we could find a nice 'Welcome to France' sign. When we entered the country last night, it was dark and we didn't get a very good picture. This was the best we could find:



(more to come later, got to to eat)

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Gator Bite
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My best guess Gator Bite, I would have to wager that the Pharmacist drives it. At least they know how to color coordinate.

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- Saint Etienne -

Yes, I'm part of the unofficial Welcoming Committee!

OK, so we cross back into Germany and I see an Esso station with Super Plus for 1.38 a liter. That's cheap and I've got a good 300 km on the odo, so I can use some fuel.

We pull in and begin to fill up. Just then, I hear a familiar sound, a Boxer engine. I turn to my left and on the other side of the island of pumps that I am on, there is a basalt black 987 Boxster. I could tell it was a 987 by the headlights, but I couldn't tell if it was an S or not. The owner gets out and he's looking at my car. I gave him the 'nice car nod', but he didn't return it. This kind of prevented me from walking over and striking up a conversation. He obviously wasn't feeling the same Porsche owner connection that I was.

Then something terrible happened. My tank was full and I was hanging my pump back in it's holder when I heard a 'BANG-CRUNCH'. I quickly turned to see what it was and was almost sickened by what I saw. That basalt black Boxster had backed directly into one of the fuel pumps. The driver must have realized that his tank was on the other side, so he went to back up and move his car to the same side mine was on. Well, I can only assume that he must have thought there were only two pumps on the island and he turned in after the second without looking because he backed directly into the third. His left rear bumper went right into a metal trash bin that was hanging there, providing a nice sharp edge for him to hit. The owner played it off and just pulled away from the pump as if it was an every day occurrence. Then he came to the same side I was on and started fueling up. I was mortified. I was literally sick to my stomach thinking about what he had just done and imagining what I would have felt if I had done that. As we were leaving, I saw him looking at the damage, and I couldn't help but try to look as well. His rear bumper had some heavy paint damage, but it seemed to snap back well. OK, a wake up call for me. Always look when backing up. We continued on, into the black forest.....

Our journey down the B-28 was incredible. This made the B-48 that I previously raved about look boring. This road wound its way through some of the most picturesque country side you could imagine. And turns were everywhere. These are the pictures that people have in their minds when they think about historic Germany. Absolutely amazing, and some fun driving too.



















Now try to picture this next scene. I couldn't get it all in the camera's eye. This road wound its way up the mountain side like a human intestine. Can you see the road leading up on the left, going into the U turn you see on the left side, then another U turn directly behind me, then up the right side.




OK, another gratuitous car shot in front of the U turn that was behind me in the last shot:

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Gator Bite
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We worked our way up the mountain, and when we reached the top we saw a view that was absolutely breath taking. We pulled over for some pictures. Ina and I walked down a dirt road that led to the edge of the mountain we had climbed. Then I said, "I'll be right back". Ina knew what I was up to before I did and didn't even question me. I went to get the car.










OK, photo shoot over. I like the way that last one came out, but it really didn't capture the background beauty. I guess I'm not really a photographer.... Anyway we rolled on to Freudenstadt where we had another classic German meal. Ina went for the Tomato soup, I went for the schnitzel.



Back on the road, and before long we were closing in on Zuffenhausen way too fast. When we saw this sign, I knew my time was almost up.



One of the things that was really bothering me about returning my car was the fact that it was so far from clean. I used to work on cars and I would always treat a clean car better than a dirty car. A clean car sends a message. It says that the owner cares about the car and that he/she is aware of details. That always made me work extra careful on really clean cars. Germany has a serious insect problem. I cleaned this car after almost every drive. Even so, after a couple of hours of driving in the German country side, my car looked like this:






(These pictures were taken early in day 11. I washed the car on Day 10. So this is one day worth of bugs and by the time I was aproaching Zuffenhausen, there were twice as many plastered to the front of my car. OK, so now I am starting to understand why the Germans buy so many black Porsches.....)

This is one of the things I misjudged while packing for Tourist Delivery. I had a full bottle of Griot window cleaner at home, and I didn't pack any. I thought, "It's only two weeks. How bad will I need window cleaner?" Bad assumption. My windshield was covered with more carnage than the beach of Normandy. My car is responsible for killing hundreds of insects. That doesn't make for very good visibility. If you noticed that many of our pictures were hazy, that's because they were shot through a windshield covered in bug guts.

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Gator Bite
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One word: Karma!

Unlike the United States of America Gator Bite, I have yet to see a piece of trash in any one of your photographs. Please don’t get me wrong, but I love the Nation in which we live. It could be cleaner, that’s all. Everything I’ve witnessed through your eyes looks as if it were something Thomas Kinkade painted by hand. Absolutely stunning!

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- Saint Etienne -

Yes, I'm part of the unofficial Welcoming Committee!

So you done it, Gator Bite, pulled it off good. I grew up in CT, and I have to wait even longer than you did to get my Cayman, so I've been following your adventure with much sympathy. When did they tell you the car will make it back to you? About a month from now?


That scene with the Boxster was disturbing and strange. A good chance to learn through someone else's experience, but the Boxster owner's apparent stoicism was all wrong. If he keeps bottling it up like that he'll have a heart attack!

OK, so I was having a real hard time returning my car with 2 pounds of bug splater on my paint. So, once we got back to the factory, we did a little hunting. Right down the street there is an Esso station with an 'Auto Washe'. I checked it out, but with those spinning brushes, there was no way my car was going through it.

I had found a hose there and was spraying the nose of my car to loosen up the bugs. Then Ina got to talking with a lady that was putting her car through the 'Auto Washe'. She told her that there was self wash place right around the corner. We went there and got to work. I broke out the Zymöl clear and a couple of micro fibers and I was able to give her a proper wash job.



I was really worried that my car might be sitting around with these bug guts etching their way into my paint. It made me feel a lot better to clean the car before returning it. Anyone who feels the same way I do who is planning a Tourist Delivery may want to mark this address down: 'Gottfried Keller Strasse' Longitude: 9.15945E Latitude: 48.83512 N. It's literally 2 1/2 blocks from the factory. Bring 5-10 euros worth of coins with you and you'll be set.

OK, I couldn't put it off any longer. We returned to the factory and unloaded the car. I took about 40 close up pictures of the car, just in case it shows up damaged, and we were done. It's going to be a long 6-8 weeks. One last hug, until we meet again......



OK, I was sort of kidding with that picture. But I thought you guys would enjoy it. Now the countdown begins again, until my car is back home.

Thanks for reading and encouraging my writings. It's been a lot of fun, and writing it all down like this allowed me to relive the best parts all over again.

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Gator Bite
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Germany is very clean. I didn't see much litter at all. And if I did see any, I wouldn't have photographed it.

Thanks so much for all your support and encouragement. Posts like yours helped me stay calm when I was starting to get angry about my first few days.

His total lack of emotion to seeing another Porsche, and then to wrecking his was very hard for me to understand. I wanted to go talk to him and comfort him, but I interpretted his reaction as embarrasment and didn't want to make him uncomfortable.

My car will be in the USA in somewhere between 6-8 weeks. It usually takes about 3-5 to get cars back to the East Coast, but I returned mine 1 week into their summer break, which lasts 4 weeks. That means my car will sit in storage for 3 weeks before it's sent to the port. Bummer....

I was sort of unsure if my car would be outside during those three weeks, but we spoke to the security guard and he told us that it would be inside in storage before night fall.

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Gator Bite
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HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!

Thanks for that last picture and commentary. My wife and I got a good laugh. Funniest part was my wife bent over in gut busting laughter saying "I can see you doing the exact same thing!!!!"

Glad you had fun and thank you for all the pictures and commentary. I enjoyed the experience with you, well sorta.

Now that you're back.... get back to work!

I'm sick of looking after your forum sections

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2007 Cayman S
2006 Cayenne S Titanium Edition
1982 944 (Amoung first shipment to come to US; number 6 off the boat)