12000 Miles …

Thats the amount of miles I have pu on my car in 5 months at 2400 miles / month. Hyundai even sent me a service reminder expecting me to have driven 15000 miles in the same period. To put this is prespective, consider that the average car drives the same 15000 miles in a year. And for the rest of the world I have put 19312 Kilometers (kms) on my car.

Continuing on my previous posts about driving, I have noticed that each country and state has some peculiarity of its own.

    Did you know …

  • Its illegal to take a ‘U’ turn in Ohio? I didn’t and almost gave a shock to a Chevoret car salesman during on of my test drives
  • There are no stop lines at intersections in Minneapolis
  • Its the law in India to honk when you pass somebody
  • Its the law in India to honk when you are taking a blind turn
  • Its the law in India to honk …
  • There are no speed limits in the highways of India. But you travel faster in the US
  • I can think of lots more but thats for another time.

It’s been a long day and I had something else to post too, but I guess that can wait till tomorrow 😉

“Two roads diverged in a wood, and I–
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference”

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Odyssey – Book 1 – Chapter i

Odyssey the Greek epic by homer about the travels of Ulysses/Odysseus more than 2700 years ago. So here is my contemporary story of my travels.

I have always enjoyed traveling, so far I have only been in India and USA. Since I don’t have a record of my travels in India and my travels so far in the US. After last weekends drive to Minneapolis in Minnesota I have officially been to more states in the US than in India.

The ride there was eight hours through the countryside of Missouri, Iowa and Minnesota. It was good to meet some friends after a gap of three years. Also I got to eat some good Indian cooking courtesy of Jeba’s mom. This trip was about meeting old friends but I did also see the Mall of America and Duluth on Lake Superior.

The drive back was an eventful though. I got lost in the farmlands of Iowa. It was truly in the middle of nowhere. I felt I was going through so back country in India. To take a leak I had to go to McDonald’s 3 miles from the Highway. It was one of those places where they probably never had seen an Indian before. It was also the kind of place where Mcdees was the cool hang out place for the young and the restaurant of choice for the old. Due to confusing road signs and small highways my trip back was extended by two hours and a 150 miles. But I did get home by 1 after driving for 730 miles straight with more rest stops than I usually take. Inspite of all this I still like driving in Uncle Sam’s roads, with just me and my baby*!!!

“When you travel, remember that a foreign country is not designed to make you comfortable. It is designed to make its own people comfortable.”
Clifton Fadiman (1904 – )

* – 2004 Hyundai Tiburon

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