Wednesday, 8 August: The Long Road Home

The final day of our Alpine journey dawned cloudy and rainy, but we decided to continue with our original plan to traverse the final two passes on our itinerary – the 2,224-meter Sustenpass and the 1,948-meter Klausenpass – on our way back to Bregenz. The former was identified as Car Magazine’s favorite of all the great mountain passes of the Alps, so we had to give it a try. Unfortunately the weather did not improve and our seven-hour drive through the mountains was completely socked in. We can only imagine the magnificent vistas of snow-capped peaks and verdant valleys that were hidden from view today! John had a heck of a time just staying on the road and I had to satisfy my photographic cravings by taking pointless pictures out the window of a bottomless white abyss. It was a long day of driving through endless clouds, but we made it safely home to Stuttgart in good time.

What a magnificent journey…we are already fantasizing about running an auto touring operation in the Alps. We would provide the cars (we’ve decided Mini Coopers would be just about perfect), mechanical support, guides, driving routes, and hotel reservations, and our clients would get to explore the best scenic roads of the Alps! John’s colleague Gert has already volunteered to be one of our guides. Now if only we had about a million dollars in start-up funds…

A few more photos from our drive home can be seen here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/hausfrau/sets/72157603812729513/