[dradernh]

Originally Posted by bngcruiser

Exactly what I drove.

The road leaving Bend all the way to Idaho border was SPECTACULAR early morning driving. I was able to cruise as fast as I was comfortable with the temperatures in the low 50's and zero traffic.

I left Bend at 5:20am and was barely bothered by any traffic at all until I-84 E.

I highly recommend the route I took out of Bend for spirited driving groups. It was fantastic, car felt like it was on rails around the bends and I felt like I had great vision through plenty of curves to push the car safely.

On an Amarillo to Oregon Coast run back in 1977, I was fortunate enough to enjoy driving Boise to Yachats, OR via Bend.

That route was likely more wide-open then than it is now; but still, the biggest thing about the West (where I was born (Denver) and lived for may years (age 0-47)) is the openness of the country, and that definitely includes the roads when you're outside the major and minor metro areas.

Placing my '85 M635CSi astride the middle line of a two-lane "back highway" and rolling at 85-110 MPH for extended periods of time is easily the most enjoyment I've ever had in a high-performance vehicle. To this day, I am firmly convinced that my M240i is in so many ways the reincarnation of that M635CSi. And I'm not exactly into that reincarnation stuff.

Frankly, taking much more capable cars to the track has never been more fun than some of the mid-80s M6 drives I had the opportunity to enjoy. My peak experience was a 16:15 Denver – San Francisco run during daylight hours. I left at first light and arrived in time for an 8:30 PM dinner watching the sunset with friends. Now...THAT...was a car!