World Auto Tour 2020

Leg 1 of the World Auto Tour 2014 - Yokohama, Japan to Paris, France

Leg 1 Days 1-3 Yokohama, Japan

Leg 1 Day 6 Lake Biwa, Otsu, Japan

Leg 1 Days 25-27 Ulan Ude, Russia

Photo Credit: Vladimir Kvashnin

Leg 1 Day 28 Lake Baikal, Listvyanka, Russia

Photo Credit: Vladimir Kvashnin

Leg 1 Days 47-49 Moscow, Russia

Leg 1 Days 49-51 St. Petersburg, Russia

Photo Credit: Lindsay Fincher

Leg 1 Days 54-55 Vilnius, Lithuania

Photo Credit: Lithuanian State

Leg 2 Partial Route Paris, France to Hirtshals, Denmark

Leg 3 Retracing the Yellowstone Trail, the 1st Transcontinental Automobile Highway

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Autobahn Road Sign Challenge

July 18, 2014By JohnQ

So lets start the blog with a German Autobahn road sign challenge….check the sign below

German Autobahn Sign

If you guessed some type of bodily malfunction you would be…..WRONG! As you probably figured out, it’s actually an autobahn exit sign. The other side of the coin is Einfahrt which means…..you guessed it….Entrance. You can now impress your friends that you are fluent in German Autobahn!!

Since we are continuing our quest for some type of sophistication, I took a pic of the current tour group as we were leaving Amsterdam in front of a Rembrandt statue near our hotel….that quest resulted in one of the guys having his shirt stolen as the photo was taken….so much for sophistication!!

Rembrandt Statue

On a more serious note, the Netherlands is really a beautiful place with all the canals and drawbridges that are in most every town, both large and small

Draw Bridge in Action

And finally, at the end of a long driving day…..

a cold one from a local brew pub….if this picture seems sideways, it means you need more beer!

Oh and the roadster, still running great though the right front tire has lost some air pressure, which could mean a slow leak…I checked for a nail, etc but found nothing. I’ll check it again tomorrow and see what happens

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Amsterdam

July 17, 2014By JohnQ

So in the last blog I mentioned Brugge, Belgium and Amsterdam….Brugge is a small but very impressive town, very picturesque and full of old school architecture; however, its like Disneyland on steroids…..loaded with tour busses of older travelers as well as young tourists on there own!! Tough to walk around, but well worth the visit….people are everywhere!!

Amsterdam….or “The Dam” as its called, is the other side of the rainbow….again, very picturesque as well as very gritty. Bicycles rule the roads in the city, with pedestrians next followed by cars. I’ve never seen so many people riding bikes in a city in my life….maybe because gas is over $8.00/gal here. If you think cars are aggressive, try dealing with a herd of bicycles heading towards you a mach speed. They don’t stop for anything….especially if you are on foot.

Bikes outside our hotel in Amsterdam

Here a few more pic’s

More bikes….

View of the train station and canal downtown

And a touch of the gritty side of the dam

We left Amsterdam this morning and traveled to Groningen NL via Sneek, NL. To date we have passed up the opportunity to visit the “French Fry” Museum, the “Herring Museum”, and the “Lace Museum” to name a few, so we couldn’t say no to the Sandcastle Museum in Sneek…..as you can see from other posts, we live on culture so this stop was a must.
The theme was “Hollywood”…..a couple examples below….still not sure what they do when it rains.

The Ring my precious….

It was actually pretty cool all the detail the sculptures contained, each done by a different artist.

On another note, the Roadster is running great…no problems at all since the Russian shock absorber issues. I love European roads!!!

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Luke Rizzuto and John Quam: Re-enacting the Great Race

July 17, 2014By Eileen Bjorkman

When we pulled into Paris last Sunday, Luke and John became the only two people in the world that we know of who have re-created the exact route of the 1908 New York to Paris race. It took them six years to do it! Luke led the re-enactment of the U.S. portion in the fall of 2008, where he met John. The two of them then worked together for more than five years to put together the Japan to Paris part of the trip. The dinner we had our last night in Paris was for our entire team, but Luke and John are the two who really deserve all the congratulations, because without their vision and persistence, the trip would have never happened!

Farewell Dinner: L-R Eileen Bjorkman, Susan Wills-Quam (John’s wife), John Quam, Leo Jannsens, Karen Bradbury, Luke Rizzuto (Eileen Bjorkman photo)

Of course, we had plenty of help along the way, from Mir Corporation to do the detailed planning, from our guides who kept us out of trouble and smoothed over customs issues, and from many strangers who jumped in with everything from repairing a flat tire to helping John work visa issue with the Russian immigration folks. It would be impossible to thank everyone who helped us, especially since we don’t even know many of their names.

For our last day in Paris, Karen, Leo and I took a short cruise on the Seine River. Because it was Bastille Day, in addition to the usual tourist sights, we were treated to fly-overs by three different military helicopters, with the last one turning right in front of our boat.

Helicopter flyover on the Seine River (Eileen Bjorkman photo)

Our farewell dinner was at the Verjus restaurant, where we indulged in a tasting menu of eight different dishes of French cuisine.

The Verjus restaurant (Eileen Bjorkman photo)

After dinner, we headed back to our hotel to take in the breathtaking fireworks display over the Eiffel Tower and the Seine River. The picture below is of fireworks over the Seine; I’ve got some video of the fireworks set off from the tower, and I’ll get that posted later.

Fireworks over the Seine River (Eileen Bjorkman photo)

I arrived back in Seattle last night about 8:30 local time. Due to jet lag, I woke up at 4 a.m. today and was treated to a nice sunrise and 55 degree temperatures for a perfect morning run. I’ll miss the travels, but it’s good to be home!

Sunrise over the North Cascades this morning (Eileen Bjorkman photo)

World Auto Tour 2014

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