95 740i just went to Maine and back to DC! (Road story)

["Stephen Robinson" <stever500@xxxxxxxx>]

My friend and I just took my 95 740i to Maine from Silver Spring Md 850
miles each way last weekend to hike to the top of the tallest point in
Maine, Mt Katahdin.  (we're doing the highest peak in each state)  I was
nervous at first to take the car into Baxter State Park the 10 gritty, rough
gravel, potholed and dirt road miles to our camp site at Roaring Springs
campground.   As it turned out, the car handled the pot holes and awful road
amazingly well, even with the new "star spoke 70" 17" BMW wheels!  Didn't
bend a rim, just got the car incredibly dirty.  The most interesting part of
the trip, was sitting in the passenger seat for hours as my friend
negotiated the curves, construction zones galore, and high speed driving of
I-95.  We had the car up to about 107 ( I get nervous at higher speeds
because of the law), and it was like we were doing 50.  I noticed no
discernable difference in the way the car felt between 50 and 107mph.  As my
friend helped me drive the 17 (ouch) hours back that last day to Maryland
(it was only a 4 day trip), I was blown away by the dashboard layout of this
car.  It's just that I never noticed it much when I drive myself, but the
passenger's perspective is quite impressive.  Kudo's to BMW for building me
such an awesome machine, now with 93,000 fun as hell miles on the odometer.
Because the car has soooo many miles, it isn't worth more than about
$17,000 - which is why I'll probably keep this baby for a good while longer
till it really starts costing a small fortune to maintain.  I saw a brand
new black 750il pass me in Hartford with a gorgeous middle aged woman
driving it and thought... maybe in 5 years or so I 'll pick one up when that
behemoth is 5 years old and depreciated down 60%!  Yeah, they're a boat, but
they're a comfortable one.  The seats on my 740i were incredibly giving,
more than I thought they would be for a 17 hour trip (plus an hour in
Mystic, Conn. for some great food:)).  My back was sore from our 10 hour
hike up and down the mountain, so every hour or so I'd turn on the seat
warmers and it would soothe my aching back.  We sure are lucky to have these
marvelous machines.

Anyone out there take a thrilling, long road trip lately and have a
surprising new discovery to report?

Glad to be back,
Steve
1995 740i
1995 540i hers
1988 911 (definitely not comfortable on a very long trip)

------------------------------