There is a new car in the garage ....

    Various events culminated in my making a bid on publicsurplus.com. On what? A retired police cruiser. A 2017 Dodge Charger. Maybe it was the Duluth, MN location, Labor Day auction ending, or the winter tires. I was the high bidder. I had previously bid on similar cars in Cheyenne, Wyoming, but was not successful. A quick search showed that some folks use 33miles/idle hour for wear calculations. Even by that metric, this one wins over others — an order of magnitude fewer idle hours than the average of ~3000.

    What's next? A trip to the bank to get a certified check, then mail it. Scour airfares and find a reasonably priced route to Duluth, on a bus from Minneapolis. They sent over a scan of the title and told me that the original will be in the car. Earlier, a conversation with the motor pool selling the car gave me some confidence: this would be sight unseen. I had a few questions about the photos in the auction and they allayed my fears.

    Kudos to Minnesota for a good public transportation system. I took the light rail to my first time at the "Mall of the Americas". Lunch was excellent Ramen. Back to the Minneapolis airport and the bus to Duluth airport. Walk to the overnight hotel. Then heavy rain. The next morning was clearer, and I took a bus to the pickup location. Duluth and Lake Superior were resplendent in the sun. My friend who lives in the area, said I was lucky to sample their two weeks of summer, which he warned were not all contiguous. Car pick up was straightforward and took a couple of minutes. Next stop was the Minnesota Driver and Vehicle services. The young clerk was not familiar with the 30-day temporary permit, but the supervisor was. They also knew about this particular car and commended me on my purchase — small world. Insurance was ready, and off we go. 

    Earlier, folks in the know suggested I should drive the north shore of Lake Superior. I met up with a friend and we did this after a lunch of wings. In other chronicles of a small world, TVs showed the CU Boulder campus in a football show — early days of Coach Prime. The drive was excellent, and we stopped at a couple of state parks. Good fall times with lots of color, greenery, and water. After that we headed to the UP: Michigan's Upper Peninsula. When we arrived at night, I was shocked to step out of the car and immediately see the Milky Way; no eye adjustments necessary. This was unbelievable to someone who grew up in a big city in India. We went to a "Friday Fish Fry" which I am told is the social event of the week.

    The next day, I left via a stellar "Rustic Road". Fall colors were beautiful and the road was fun to drive. The car performed well. I stayed off the interstates and saw many snowmobile-crossing signs. Lunch was in a small Thai restaurant, in St. Paul, while reminiscing with an old friend. The food and conversation were excellent. I also happened to stop at a garage sale, mostly furniture, at Summit Park. It was surreal to do this while reading Minnesota detective fiction about art thieves at Summit Park. What was in the book, that was thankfully not in real life: untoward incidents. Coming from an E39 525i, with oil consumption issues, I loaded up on a case of Mobil1 5W20 at a Sam's Club. I ended up not needing it.

    I stayed with previous neighbors in Sioux Falls, SD. When possible, I again stayed off the Interstate system in South Dakota and Nebraska. US 281 was a good drive. Even with gas, range anxiety is real in some parts of the country like North-Eastern Nebraska. I turned around after seeing a "next gas station 100 miles sign". I even risked E85 and a mix of 91 RUG in the car, though the car is not rated for E85 (previous experience in the 4.5L I6 of the FZJ80). The wide vistas of Oglala National Grassland were sublime; there really were no trees for a while.

    There was a lot more traffic on I-80. While trying to evade an errant trucker, the car really shone: 70s to 3 digits in seconds. After the E39 525i this Dodge Charger was different: good different as far as power, AWD could be fun on ice since the car came with winter tires. The combination of MDS (deactivate 4 out of 8 cylinders during low load) and RWD/AWD auto switch resulted in a highway MPG of about 24 Link, reasonable compared to the 525 earlier, though those two "features" have their detractors. 

    It has been a few months, and it has been an interesting, positive experience with this car. No big issues, 5.7L Hemi V8 sounds good (and so did the 2.5L I6 of the 525i). So what if my first domestic car was made in Canada.