38,000 miles

 The Boxster hit 38,000 miles 19 minutes after midnight on Monday, September 8!

It was a late night drive, so the picture is a little blurry.  It happened as I drove Faris from South Bend to Chicago, just as we passed mile 69 westbound on I-80.  It was my first longish night drive, top up.  The car has fantastic headlights and is just a pleasure to drive.  It's a phenomenal car!

Why was I driving Faris back to Chicago late on a Sunday night?  Long story short, he came to visit, went to play pickleball with us, and ended up falling and breaking his wrist.

Within moments of the break, Allison got an ice pack to alleviate the swelling.  I drove him to the ER where he was processed relatively quickly.

Since he has a clipped wing, I'll be driving him and generally looking after him as he prepares for surgery to repair the break.

One of my favorite reactions to the 38K milestone was Allison's reaction:

It makes me profoundly happy that she really enjoys the car every day.  It makes me happy that she's experiencing the delights of owning something that is truly fun to drive, be in, and look at.

229,000 miles

 The grey van rolled 229,000 this past Saturday!

This time, the entire family was in the van.  We were heading to Ohio for the annual Brewfest fundraiser to support Alzheimer's research.  I decided to pile the miles on the grey van because, well, I'm trying to get that thing to the moon!

It was a beautiful, crisp, sunny day.  Luca and I were in front, Allison and Enzo were in the second row, and the girls had the third row.  As is typical, I made a big fuss over the milestone and took my customary photo.

Less than 10,000 miles until the moon!

39,000 miles

 The GLI hit 39,000 miles this past Friday:

I was heading back from Indianapolis and had just merged off I-465 onto 31 heading north.  I was on a Zoom with my Virtues and Vocations group, having just spent a couple of days at the AnalytiXIN summit.

Friday was yet another day in a string of abnormally hot, humid days.  The GLI kept me cool and comfortable as I steamed north.  I made sure to fuel up before I left South Bend, and the GLI easily did the 370 miles I put on heading down, driving around, and completing the return trip.

Every time I drive it I marvel at what a wonderful machine it is.

To help it breathe a little easier, I replaced the air filter with a K&N this past weekend.  As you can see, the K&N is not nearly as wide as the stock air filter:

I've had a K&N in the 911 for over 25 years and it's been great.  I hoping to have a similar experience with the GLI.  I took it for a quick "around the block" shakedown drive.  There is perhaps a tiny bit more intake noise, and it may have smoothed out the surging that appeared as part of the APR tune.  I look forward to driving it a bit more to see if I'm just imagining things or if the increased airflow had this unintended effect.

228,000 miles

 The grey van rolled through 228,000 miles while we were out on the East Coast:

I presume Olivia was going about her daily routine.  Maybe she was heading to work, or heading to go climbing, or going to the grocery store?  Who knows?  All I know is, she obliviously rolled through 228,000 and kept rolling.

The moon is 238,900 miles away from Earth.  The van is getting closer every day.

What a machine.

96,0000 miles

 The van cruised beautifully through 96,000 miles as part of our trip home from Boston:

This ended up being our longest single-day drive.  Allison, Madeline, Enzo, and Sara grabbed breakfast from the Residence Inn on Tudor Wharf while I retrieved the van from the adjacent parking lot.  We loaded up and started rolling around 7 am.  

I made a wrong turn and we ended up driving out to Logan Airport, doing a quick loop through the arrivals area, before finally picking up I-90 and heading west.

We motored along, enjoying the light traffic while observing how jammed the lanes to Boston were on the morning commute.  We made a quick pitstop in South Hadley to visit Jason and his kids, and to pick up a couple of items we inadvertently left behind when we stayed with them at the beginning of the journey.  Unfortunately, Pam had to leave early to be part of an interview committee, so we didn't get to see her during this stop.  The Estes are a delightful group of people to spend time with, and we could easily have spent a couple hours or days just being together.  They are also super thoughtful, and packed us a little "cestino di viaggio" for the rest of the day.

Unfortunately, I had a conference the next day and the road beckoned, so we said our farewells and hit the road:

Heading west, we uneventfully rolled through 96,000 miles west of Manchester, New York, in the Finger Lakes region.

Since this was Sara's first trip to the US, Allison and I decided to surprise everyone with a little side trip to Niagara Falls.  It only added about an hour or so to the trip, and it's definitely worth seeing.

After our break at the Falls, we pressed west.  We stopped for fuel and food, and after almost 16.5 hours, we arrived home.  Unintentionally, this ended up being our longest single day trip as a family.

The van did exactly what it was supposed to do.  It kept us entertained, safe, and comfortable regardless of weather conditions.  Over more than 2,500 miles, it returned almost 25 mpg.  It never ceases to amaze me how wonderfully competent it is.

Since the journey was over 950 miles, crossing a thousand mile milestone was bound to happen.  96K came and went uneventfully, just part of the fabric of the longest day.

95,000 miles

 Having missed 94,000 on this trip, I resolved to not miss 95,000, and I didn't:

Allison, Madeline, Enzo, Sara, and I were in the car.  The context for 95,000 was much more emotional.  We had spent the day on Narragansett Beach, by far my favorite beach in Rhode Island:

For the first time that I can recall, we spent the entire day on the beach, primarily because we hadn't been there in years, we brought a shade canopy, and took advantage of Salty's 2-for-1 lobster roll deal at the concession stand.  It's really hard to beat a lobster roll on the beach.

After our beach day, we headed to Hammond Hill to visit Cara and Colin.  This was the first time back since Allison's folks moved away, and none of us felt happy to be there without going "home" to 51.  Enzo was fully weeping, and Allison was similarly volatile.

We visited the horses, then headed to get pizza at Kingston Pizza, followed up with an ice cream from Brickley's Baron's.  We flipped 95,000 miles as we drove away from the horses and were climbing Gilbert Stuart Road.  Marking the milestone was an absolute footnote given the emotional load of the day.  If I didn't mis 94K, I probably would have missed 95K.

94,000 miles

 I missed it completely by about 40 minutes!

We hit 94,000 in the blue van embarking upon our 2025 camping trip to Connecticut, Massachusetts, and Rhode Island.  Allison, Madeline, Enzo, Sara (Gianna's daughter), and me hit the road early on a Friday morning.  It was raining when we departed, which I think is the first time we've ever set off on a road trip in the rain.

Olivia and Luca woke up early to see us off.

As is our routine for long road trips, we started heading east on I-80 and had breakfast in the car.  Perhaps because it was raining, perhaps because it was an atypical start (folks weren't immediately hungry), or perhaps because I was distracted and excited by the prospect of a road trip, I just flat missed the 94,000 milestone.  94K came and went on a long overall day:

I suppose it's like I've said before, we were just living our lives and enjoying the moment, so 94K came and went without fanfare.  The van was just the backdrop, the context for facilitating the journey.