I’m bloody tired today. I spent the whole day behind the wheel, driving the Nugget from Lago Maggiore, Italy, to Freising, Germany. Google indicated that it would take me at least 5.45h to get home. That is, of course, if you take the easy road.
I decided I would take the more challenging, but also definitely more picturesque road.
We drove towards San Bernardino, where the road would eventually take us through the mountain. The fuel meter indicated enough gas to drive another 150km. On the way up, this number went down quite rapidly, and I started to sweat a little. I had never been up there before, had no internet, and no way of figuring out whether filling the tank was an option anywhere on top. I just hoped for a gas station somewhere up there, and kept on driving. Just before the tunnel, we finally found a gas station, when the fuel meter indicated another 35km left. (Note that there were maybe 10km between the earlier 150km indication and the gas station!)
We filled up, grabbed a coffee, and continued our way. I noticed a sign saying Passo towards the right of the tunnel. I was sold. I love driving mountain passes. It took some convincing Heike from my side, and I was aided by a stubborn red traffic light that prevented us from entering the San Bernardino tunnel, but eventually Heike agreed that we should take the pass, instead of the tunnel. I think the two fire trucks arriving at the tunnel we’re also persuasive.
Who wants to take a tunnel, if you can drive through the most stunning scenery in central Europe?
And so it was that our drive took us over 2000m above sea level. The trip from Italy to Germany took about 6.5h, but the views were well worth this small delay.
There are a few more days at home before it’s back to normal life. Or back to crazy life. We’ll see.
Robin Heinen 