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Taking the Long Road
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\r\nGreetings from the far north. Part of the US Ski Team has traveled to Muonio (Finland) for a training camp before the World Cup kicks off in Ostersund (Sweden). The travel here was definitely worth it. We have great skiing (although it has been a little wet lately), and everyone is doing well.
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\r\nIt feels good to finally have arrived in Munio as the road here was a long one. Pete and I picked up two cars in Munich at the Movenpick Hotel. We were a little nervous if the vehicles would suffice, but to our delight the cars were both fit for the job. After loading about 1500 pounds of equipment into the vans we started to head north. Driving was going really well for a while, but how long was Adam in Eve? The German Autobahns are notorious for their traffic jams. Thanks to our GPS system we were able to circumvent one of the worst ones, but lots of time was wasted hanging out going about 3MPH. At around 9PM we decided to call it for the night. We had driven all the way through Germany and taken the ferry from Puttgarten to Denmark. The heavy traffic had slowed us down considerably; we had only covered 800km in 11 hours.
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\r\nJet lag came in handy the next day. After a little twisting and turning we got up and got started at 4am. Driving was great as there were not too many other people with jet lag driving at 4am on a Saturday morning. We quickly left Denmark behind us and after a short ferry ride we were ready to tear up the roads of Sweden. After consulting with a few locals in a gas station we decided on the quickest route to Ostersund. We had made a deal with our wax tech that we were to pick up all the new skis there. Driving was going smooth, with the exception of quick speed adjustments for the many speed cameras. (We think we made it without any tickets, but I guess we will know when we return the vehicles). At around 6pm we arrived in Ostersund, found the pick up location and loaded another 100 pairs of skis into the van. We were getting a little tired so we decided to drive to the next town and try to find a hotel. Finding a hotel was a little hard, but we motivated to find one as we were too tired to drive any farther and too cold to sleep in the car. We finally found one hotel, but it was closed. After driving around town for a little longer we found another one, but that one was closed to. There was a phone number on the door, so in our despair we decided to call and see what was up. A lady answered and gave us the code to the door and told us to call her when we checked out. Impressed with the trust put in us we were ready to call it a night. It was 8pm and we had covered around 1500km. Not bad considering we were on two lane roads and had to look out for reindeer and speed cameras.
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\r\nJet lag served us right again the next night/morning. We were itching to get under way around 3 am, but decided to wait till 4am such that the check out lady could get another hour of sleep. At 4 am sharp we were ready to leave and called the number. She sounded pretty awake considering the time, but suggested that we left her 70 Euros on the front desk as payment for the room. We were impressed by the trust she had in us, and coughed up the dough and wrote a short thank you note. The next day presented what we had feared the most; black ice and snow. The road was so slippery that we could not even walk on it. The danger of reindeer and unexpected sharp turns made us slow down a little. Our safety concern paid off as we actually managed to stop when three reindeer suddenly appeared in front of us. The next issue we had to overcome was a sudden lack of diesel. If you are thinking that this was an issue we could have easily avoided then consider this: We had started early to drive (because of jet lag and because we wanted to beat the weather), it was Sunday morning (gas stations do not open till 9am), we were in the middle of nowhere (about 100 km between each gas station) and we had only American credit cards (only Euro cards accepted). After the inevitable happened with one of the vans, we drove around on fumes with the other car on hunting for diesel. The problem was solved by borrowing a water can and a sudden discovery of a Norwegian ATM card in Trond’s wallet. Things were going our way, but to our despair the car did not start after we poured in the diesel. After a little quick thinking we left the gas tank cover off (thinking that would allow for better flow) and pushed the car down a big hill. The car started and we were off to find the next gas station. The rest of the day passed by pretty uneventful. And we arrived in Rovaniemi ready to pick up the team. After the athletes arrived the next day we drove up to Muonio and were ready to train (and mount and wax way too many of the new skis). We had covered 3500 km in 3 days and were exited that we had completed 3500 of the 15000 km we have to drive before Christmas.
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\r\nDriving around like this seems like a ridiculous way to travel, but with a limited budget it is a must. By driving like this we avoid having to buy tickets for the coaches, we do not have to pay for overweight (which can be thousands of dollars) and we can rent pretty inexpensive vehicles in Austria instead of the expensive ones in Scandinavia. For the ones of you going on a journey like this you should remember the following:
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\r\nDrive on the autobahn at night (remember to go fast or stay right)
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\r\nBring a GPS with Euro maps or get a car with a GPS.
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\r\nLook out for speed cameras (radar detectors do not work most of the time).
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\r\nMake sure the car has winter tires.
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\r\nCharge two radios (or use cell phones) for each car such that you do not loose each other.
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\r\nLook out for reindeer.
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\r\nPlan to tank when you see a gas station. It might be a long way to the next one and the next one might be closed.
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\r\nBring your own CD’s. Euro radio stations suck.
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\r\nStay awake by drinking massive amount of coffee or Red Bull. Avoid the bath room stops by buying a wide mouth bottle where you can go without stopping.
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\r\nDo little thinking before the journey as you have plenty of time to do it underway.
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\r\nKeep checking the site for more traveling stories. We have a long way to go: Ostersund next, then Kuusamo, then Val Di Fiemme….and yes, the two road warriors are driving there.
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\r\nTrond “Leadfoot” Nystad
\r\nPete “ Speedy Gonzales” Vordenberg
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Written By: TNystadDate Posted: 11/5/2004Number of Views: 262
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