2013 Passat TDI SE 6-Speed Manual

[pkforbes87]

I bought Permelia on March 12, 2014 with 32k miles, and have loved every single mile since.

Thus far, I've had the pleasure of driving her through 44 states. Still missing AK, FL, MI, MT, HI, and WY.

They say a picture is worth a thousand words.. so here are a few thousand words:

Bonneville Salt Flats

Clear Lake - Houston, TX

Craters of the Moon - Arco, ID

Four Corners

Goldendale, WA

Grantsville, MD

Maryhill, WA

Mount Shasta - Weed, CA

Mount Washington - Coös County, NH

New Orleans, LA

 

[pkforbes87]

Pemigewasset Wilderness, NH

White Mountain National Forrest, NH

Tail of the Dragon

Tail of the Dragon

I use an app called "Road Trip" to track fuel economy and various vehicle expenses and maintenance intervals. Here are some stats from the time I've owned the car:

100k mile maintenance, just a couple weeks ago:

 

[gforce1108]

Very cool. I've taken my Passat on a couple vacation road trips. It would be easier if my girlfriend could drive a manual (I won't have an auto daily driver). Not sure if it's because I'm getting older or what, but I just can't do more than about 8 hours driving a day.

I assume the stickers on the door are the states you have visited?

 

[DieselkW]

You take her to all the nice places.

Who took the pictures when you were driving?

We just drove from Indianapolis to Kitty Hawk, by way of Pigeon Forge, TN and the Smokies. I take pains to keep the car out of my pictures - perhaps I should be including it.

 

[VeeDubTDI]

I love the stickers on the side with the state flags. That's a really cool idea.

You could pick up Wyoming, Michigan, and perhaps Montana and Florida if you come to TDIFest next weekend! We're doing a private group drive to the top of Mt. Washington, as well.

Welcome to TDIClub!

 

[pkforbes87]

I assume the stickers on the door are the states you have visited?

Yes, I sort of borrowed the idea from kill marks on WWII fighters. It's been fun to watch the collection grow.

You take her to all the nice places.

Who took the pictures when you were driving?

I travel for work and until February of this year, lived in central Missouri - so had a great central location to spread out all over the country. I'm glad I spent a few months on the road before moving West. Since February, my work travels have been focused primarily on a half dozen or so states on the West coast.

The "action" photos were taken while on "Tail of the Dragon", a section of highway 129 between NC and TN. It's a very popular location in the motorcycling community (my other vehicular hobby) and there are a few photographers who take photos of the traffic navigating that stretch of road. (Killboy.com, 129slayer.com, etc.) A few days after passing through, visitors can visit the photographer's websites and find their photos listed by date. For a reasonable fee, high resolution files are available for purchase. I've unfortunately never visited the Dragon on a motorcycle, but went ahead and purchased some photos of my visit in the TDI.

You could pick up Wyoming, Michigan, and perhaps Montana and Florida if you come to TDIFest next weekend! We're doing a private group drive to the top of Mt. Washington, as well.

Welcome to TDIClub!

I doubt I'll be driving that far East again as long as I'm living on the West coast. Again - I feel really fortunate to have had the opportunity to drive through most of the country from a central location in Missouri though. New England in the Fall was breathtaking.

The Mount Washington Auto Road was one of my favorite traveling experiences thus far. Probably rivaled only by driving a Jeep Wrangler up Mauna Kea on Hawaii earlier this summer.

Thanks for the warm welcome!