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Hi, my name is Ron Kaminsky and I want to share a story about an Idea that started with a seemingly innocuous drive to California in May 2007 with a great friend, Patrick. Actually the story starts in December 2005. I was driving around on a cold, dreary and rainy Saturday afternoon in Chicago; I was searching for a new car. Although, I truly cherished my 1993 Lexus ES300 5-speed, with over 206000 miles, I felt it was time for an update. Before I get too far into the story, there are a few people that I want to take a moment to thank. I feel like I"m writing an award, acceptance speech...hehe. I'm just going to list them, since they all know how important to me: Alice, Tony, Garry, Paul, Patrick, Helma, Steve, Deb, Judy, M&R and all my other friends, thanks for all the amazing support, I love you all!
The Alaskan Pipeline snaking thru the Brooks Range en route to Prudhoe Bay
There were only 3 requirements that were non-negotiable for my new chariot, first and foremost, a manual transmission, next was all-wheel drive, and third was a top-notch navigation system. As I was going from dealer to dealer, becoming more and more frustrated that none of the models I was interested in were available with my 3 seemingly reasonable requirements, my cell phone rang. My favorite brother, Steve (he's my only brother, he-he), was calling. As we were talking, I was lamenting about the fact that no one could manufacture the car I wanted, grrrrrr!
He immediately asked, "Ron! Did you check out BMW?", he has always loved BMW, I said, "No", and he said, "Get your butt over there and drive one", I agreed and drove to my local BMW dealer.
I have always had nothing but total admiration and respect for the unsurpassed quality and design of BMW. They truly manufacture, “The Ultimate Driving Machine”, as I have learned, this is not just a clever advertising phrase, but a truism. At first sight, I really loved the new body style; it is totally sleek and beautiful. I was awestruck and simply couldn’t wait to drive it.
Lake Louise. Wow!
I regaled my tale of woe to the salesman and he just smiled and said that he could easily satisfy my wishes, but that the car would most likely have to be ordered and that would take some time. To me, that was not an issue, since that would mean, that the car would be built just for me. The salesmen grabbed a key and we set off.
Well, honestly, I think I was sold before we exited the parking lot. The car was perfect, I was totally amazed at how I was instantly sold. Everything immediately felt right to me; I couldn’t believe it! I decided to order the car utilizing the European Delivery option. This means, I ordered the car from the dealer in the US and picked up the car in Munich at the delivery center. Too cool, huh?
Well, Patrick and I picked up my favorite-car-ever in Munich, in January 2006. A 2006 Emerald Green BMW 330XI (see pic above), Serendipity. The name was suggested by my newly acquired great friend, Janis, "Thank you, Janis, I love you and I look forward to a long and enriching relationship with you and Lois (more about Lois, later)".
It's the perfect car and the perfect name; I cherish you, Serendipity! Ever since I started driving Serendipity, which, incidentally means, "an aptitude for making desirable discoveries by accident", thanks Dictionary.com, that is EXACTLY my life!!! I have always believed that things happen for a reason, sometimes, at the time, it's not clear why, but at some point later, if you look back, you think, wow, that really worked out ok.
Beautiful B.C.
But, back to the idea, as I said, Patrick and I were caravanning from Chicago to St Helena, CA and I decided since I had time, I wanted to drive to Alaska after we got to our destination. This was inspired by the 94 year-old grandfather of a great friend. He and his amazing wife traveled the world many times over and actually drove to Alaska on 4 different occasions, the 1st time in 1950. Whenever he shared stories about his trips to Alaska, the excitement was palpable. I always thought, I want to do that someday.
Anyway, I wanted to determine how far it was to Alaska and discovered that my navigation system did not have Alaska on the disk. I then called the company who supplied the disk to BMW, NAVTEQ and was informed that I needed the updated data disk. At that point in the trip I was not sure where they could send the disk. I then called FedEx and asked how I could get a package without having an exact location. I was informed, by the very helpful and friendly FedEx employee, that I could ship a package to any FedEx location and simply show my ID to pick up the package. Wow, how easy is that?!? So, I decided to drive to Alaska and, what the heck, I, might as well drive the whole California coast and on to Alaska, what fun. As it turned out, I drove down the Baja to Cabo San Lucas and all the way to Prudhoe Bay, AK and took approximately 3.5 months, it was truly an amazing experience and the trip of a lifetime, which I hope to repeat.
Click here to see my Pics at gallery.mac.com, Enjoy!