I began what was intended to be a shopping trip to Karlovy Vary Czech Republic. Of course that quickly changed when the Czech Officer at the border turned me around for not having a valid passport. Yeah, I was so used to traveling on military ID that I never even considered that Czech Republic might not honor them. I didn’t give up the plan right away though. After consulting the map and a couple of the locals for an alternate route in I decided to check with the German authorities for the possibility of purchasing a temporary pass. That was of course futile, so instead of spending my money in Czech I turned the tires toward Munich Germany where I actually enjoyed some very memorable experiences.

I guess the first experience was on the Autobahn. It’s simple, pedal all the way down or pedal all the way up. No part throttle, no easy does it, just full on or full off. Hey, if we were supposed to travel slower than the vehicle could go then they’d have put up speed limits, right? This would only be the beginning. As I entered the city around ten pm that evening the clouds opened up and delivered perhaps the heaviest downpour I’ve ever witnessed. Or should I say experienced? It rained so hard visibility was less than two car lengths at best and rain flooded the streets. The flash floods stalled even the largest of vehicles.

I drove for what seamed like an hour or more looking for something that resembled a hospitable hotel. Finally, I saw the red letters of the name Astron Hotel. I quickly made my way through registration and on to the room for a hot bath and a warm bed. I didn’t have any trouble getting to sleep that night. The next morning I enjoyed the Astron’ breakfast buffet and set out to do the tourist thing.