Summer of Love: 5,700 miles from Chicago to Cali Via Everywhere (Pics on Pg. 3)

[jpod999]

Born and raised in Alameda, though had family/friends all over East Bay, Contra Costa, Marin, and the Peninsula.

Moved to San Diego where I went to college after that for 4 years, then came to Chicago this time last year!

Oh ok cool! I'm from Walnut Creek living in Martinez now, I don't think I ever got the chance to meet you though.

[freeride53]

Hey guys, just got home to Alameda, California after 5,636 miles and 13 days in my '91 E30 on Friday night.

This was my final route:

Chicago, Illinois (Start)
Indiana (Drove Through)
Michigan (Drove Through)
Ann Arbor, Michigan (Stop)
Ontario, Canada (Drove Through)
Toronto, Ontario, Canada (Stop - 2 nights)
Montreal, Quebec, Canada (Stop - 1 night)
South Burlington, Vermont (Stop)
Boston, Massachusetts (Stop)
Connecticut (Drove Through)
Manhattan, New York, New York (Stop - 2 nights)
South Orange, New Jersey (Stop @ Guten Parts)
Delaware (Drove Through)
Maryland (Drove Through)
Washington, District of Columbia (Stop - 1 night)
Virginia (Drove Through)
Memphis, Tennessee (Stop - 2 nights)
Arkansas (Drove Through)
Texas (Drove Through)
Houston, Texas (Stop - 3 nights)
Las Cruces, New Mexico (Stop - 1 night)
White Sands National Park, New Mexico (Stop)
Tucson, Arizona (Stop)
San Diego, California (Stop - 1 night)
Irvine, California (Stop)
Los Angeles, California (Stop)
Alameda, California (End)

Hilariously, the car ran flawlessly.

Even more hilariously, the car drove 5,630 unscathed until literally the last leg to my parents house when a rock/object flew at my hood and smashed a dent in it.

Anyways, here in the Bay Area until next weekend when I'll be moving to Los Angeles.

Going through ~700 photos right now and will be uploading today!

[KIRIEIW]

Damn! Sounds like one hell of a trip, in for pics. Sucks about the dent, hopefully a dent dent guy can bang it out?

[Dj Buttchug]

wow. saw your snaps coming thru alpine. represented chuggz

[freeride53]

So here goes nothing... a photo journal of my trip across, and around the North American continent. Route was plain and simple..actually not at all. After a year of living in Chicago, I cleaned out my apartment and sold anything that I couldn't carry, or fit in a few Fedex boxes back to the SF Bay Area. Saturday morning June 18th, I hit the road.

My parking spot in Lincoln Park, Chicago.



Exiting Chicago out its South Side



A California plated BMW ironically tailing me out of Chicago city limits..



Hoosier Daddy...



Go Blue..



Rolling through Detroit en route to the Ambassador Bridge into the Land of the Queen



Bridge to Canada



Enjoying the hour long wait through customs at the Canadian Border in Windsor, ON



Accompanied by another Bavarian (South Carolinan) sibling through the border



Enter Canada. I've been to British Columbia lots of times but never driven through Ontario.
Looked just like the American heartland!



Pit stop a few hours through the Canadian border. Didn't know Canadian Rednecks were a thing. Very interesting.



Arriving in the Toronto suburb where my cousin lives..



Spotted a very, very fast station wagon in downtown Toronto.



Ah, sweet Canadian importation laws. As sweet as maple syrup!



Towers I spotted on Drake Albums..



Beautiful Rover by the Toronto Harbour..



Some cool architecture..



Thought I was in LA and not Toronto for a quick second..



Then got REALLY confused when I saw a 7 series with California (99% sure from LA)



Headed back into downtown Toronto on Yonge Street when out of the corner of my eye I spotted the side molding from a Peugeot 505. Low and behold, it was an extremely clean example owned by a gentleman in my Peugeot Group, who I'd talked to in the past..



Monday morning on the road again.. This time to Montreal! Here we were fueling up in rural Ontario near the Quebecois border, somewhere close to Upstate NY.



Parlez vous anglais?



First stop in Montreal...some gelato! Our AirBnB hostess called my buddy and said that her apartment was on fire. So we found an even sicker spot, right in the heart of downtown Montreal.



Interesting E30 with M-Tech I and M-Tech II bits on diving boards



Chillin on top of Mont Royal



How many place in North America do you see this?



Sexy Porsche..



Sexy M2..



Oh so French



Breakfast stop..for some baguette et jambon en Vieux Montreal



Last one of these... Au revioir Quebec!



When I told them I was driving to California, they gave me some free Cherry Garcia for the road.



Spotted a HUGE Peugeot landmark whilst stuffing myself with Ben & Jerry's



Went into investigate.. omg..



Walking around with my jaw dragging on the floor...



Pinching myself repeatedly



Legendary, ex Showroom Stock SCCA car..



Much much wow



Drooling over this E-Type



They had a pretty rad hill climber in need of help..



Former European Car of the Year...



A very rare Peugeot missing it's rear end..



Wish I could rescue these!



A very, very familiar sight :)



One of the few FWD I would ever drive..



Pretty funny sight to me as my own 505's garage mate is my mom's Black XC70



The want was strong with this one...



Absolutely stunning 505 Turbo



Roaming the streets in search of Tom Brady



Really liked Boston..



Except for its roads.



Cool structures in Boston near the Harbor..



3 or 4 hours and many snap chats later..and the states of Massachusetts and Connecticut... we were in the greatest city in the world.

If any of you all are ever in East Village, Manhattan, New York, check out Ichibantei.
One of my all time favorite Japanese-Jamaican spots.



Walked around lovely Manhattan the next day. Hadn't been since last November..



Hit up a few rooftop bars because the weather was absolutely fabulous



Checked up on Bae... $75 to park my car in Manhattan for two nights.



Nifty little G63 AMG :)



Next morning said goodbye to my friends, and drove to BK.



Hanging out in Dumbo..



Then I had to make the pilgrimage to Bimmer Mecca aka Guten Parts in NJ!



Drooling over some special Alpine E30s



Always wondered what 16" EVO/M5 weaves look like on Non-M E30's..



The very man himself!



Big shout out to Levent for hooking it up with some goodies for the trip!



Then came the New Jersey turnpike...Delaware, Maryland, and the our nation's Capital.



Lovely Alfa in GTown



Had proper Bavarian breakfast to fuel me for my 15 hour trek from DC, across ALL of VA, and ALL of Tennessee to see my grandma outside of Memphis. The original plan was to do the Tail of the Dragon, and hopefully hook up with some other petrol heads, but my buddy who was supposed to join me had a bad fall rock climbing and couldn't make it..

So 900 miles straight!



Hangin in Germantown, TN.



Two morning later...another long leg through Memphis, Arkansas, and then Texas.
Drove through a small flood in Texas, and got ticket for running through a red.

Finally arrived in Houston, TX. The next morning, my girlfriend's dad's friend hooked me up with a free AC recharge. Thanks Uncle Khosro!



Really digging Houston.



Driving around HTX with AC :)



My beard then evolved into a goatee...



Houston - San Antonio - El Paso - Las Cruces all in one shot. Car ran phenomenally, even cruising at triple digits at times



Out in the bush..



Desert vibes..



Iran, Texas haha



Entering El Paso Texas with Ciudad Juarez in the distance



After a truly amazing Mexican dinner on recommendation from a friend, hit up White Sands National park really early the next morning.



Truly magnificent place.



Running around through the sand dunes blasting Gipsy Kings on my iPhone lol



Sexy30



As you can see, my New England beard evolved into a Texas goatee, and finally into a New Mexico mustache



Greatest town/street name in the world



Hung out with John McCain



And some cactus...



And then this. Almost started crying. From the fact that I was about to run out of gas in the middle of nowhere



my LAST border patrol checkpoint at 4,200 ft, highest point (?) of San Diego county.
The border patrol guards loved my E30 and asked me to take off. So I did and laid a little track of rubber for them.



In San Diego, greeted by some old college buddies.



And the next morning in San Diego, my buddy Pouya (who has a similar addiction to old German cars) bought a cool 2002tii on impulse.



Buddy to the far right, Zubin, does as well. Owns a 6-speed manual 740i (E38)



And that's all folks (well not actually as this was in SD the trip ended the next evening in Alameda, CA at my family's house in the SF Bay Area).

5,763 miles without a SINGLE hitch. Thank you BMW for making a wonderful car that some kook like myself could enjoy almost 26 years later.

I've owned this car for over 6 years now and we've been through high school, college, and the adult world. Even though I already knew I'd be keeping it forever, this 12 day trip just solidified that in stone. In all of it's arguably under-powered and dinged-up glory, it truly is the Ultimate Driving Machine.

Looking forward to the next 80+ years with this thing. Currently starting procure everything needed for a 24V swap...which I'm now starting to feel guilty about, after 265,000 miles of faithful service from the original 4-cylinder... Say hello if you see it driving around Southern California in its new home of Los Angeles.


Fin.



Cheers,
Sina

[2mAn]

This is so cool. Im so jealous. Ive never owned a car for more than 2-3 years. The current E30 is the one Ive owned the longest. Truly jealous of your journey. Now that you are making adult money you can install an adult motor ;)

btw Page 3???

[bangn]

I dont understand your love for peugeot's.

ugly shit boxes, may as well like saabs!

[ak-]

HABIBI U MADE IT.
Having tacos with Ryan next Wed. Come through.

I dont understand your love for peugeot's.

ugly shit boxes, may as well like saabs!

Hey, I like saabs.

[phreshkid]

sup


taco wednesdays about to be LIT

[N2MYE30]

Thanks for sharing your journey!

[freeride53]

I dont understand your love for peugeot's.

ugly shit boxes, may as well like saabs!

Haha, IDK if you are referencing newer, 90s+ Peugeots - in which I wholeheartedly agree with you.

This is so cool. Im so jealous. Ive never owned a car for more than 2-3 years. The current E30 is the one Ive owned the longest. Truly jealous of your journey. Now that you are making adult money you can install an adult motor ;)

btw Page 3???

Haha yeah what about Pg 3? Let's link up soon.

sup


taco wednesdays about to be LIT

*fire emoji*

HABIBI U MADE IT.
Having tacos with Ryan next Wed. Come through.

150% in.

[Cephas]

Awesome looking trip. Thanks for sharing!

[2mAn]

Haha yeah what about Pg 3? Let's link up soon.

edit page options, 40posts per page, we just got to page 2

[Timeizmoney22]

Awesome writeup and adventure! Makes me wish I traveled more before settling down and all that! 👍

[lambo]

After a truly amazing Mexican dinner on recommendation from a friend, hit up White Sands National park really early the next morning.

ayy glad you enjoyed it homie