Rather than verbally flog the wife and kid, drink heavily, or engage in other forms of unproductive venting after an intense week of work I have developed a ritual for my Saturdays.
Knowing that I wont be able to sleep in on the two days I actually can, I have given in to that fact and just get the heck out of bed on Saturdays at 7 in the morning. Once dressed, I get in the M5 , put a smile on my face, and head to the gas station for a fill up and a brushless car wash. I then casually motor to my shop and air dry the car rather completely. On the way there I stop at a convenience store and get a Starbucks Moccha Latte in a bottle, and a 2 pack of Hostess cupcakes.
I sit at my desk and fire up the computer and read this board, while eating and drinking. Then I get a few paper towels, dry the door jams, trunk area, polish the wheels, clean the windows, and check the oil. I get a dust rag and wipe down the interior. Then I stand back , admire the Beast, and the smile gets even bigger.
That all takes me about an hour and a half, and most, if not all the stresses of the week have melted away, and I am quite an amiable fellow once again.
Today for some reason I started it all at 5 in the morning. Just could not get to sleep last night and was up at the crack of dawn.
Still early once my ritual was complete, I decided to take a drive.
I chose a canyon run this morning, Deer Creek Canyon, and Turkey Creek Canyon to be exact.
The wife, as a joke, bought me a pair of very nice driving gloves. She still does not understand my, or any other persons fancy for cars. To her they are a means of transportation and thats it. But she accepts my infatuation to this car, and secretly i believe, enjoys the fact that I am a happier person now that I have it.
Ok, so I am now on my way to the start of the canyon. I've never driven with driving glooves, so just before I get there I slip them on. Soft, supple, deer skin, slightly stretchy, and a snap to close them. HEY, I like them!
SO whats the next absolute necessity when one is about to charge through a winding and twisting canyon road? Of course, the proper tunes!!!! I bring up the CD menu just as I slip it into 3rd gear and bring the engine up to attack speed. Almost instantly Wagners "Cry of the Valkaries" starts to play as I attack the first sweeping turn into the canyon.
The twists and turn come at an ever increasing rate as the pitch and tempo of the Valkaries increases to urge me on. The downshifts, the upshifts, the massive torque hurling me out of the turns is food for the soul. The bright sunlight, mixed with the scent of the pine trees, and a wisp of moisture in the fresh clean air rejuvinates me.
Now as the initial rush of my run, and the song have ended, I choose CD #2, the Texas threesome of ZZ TOP. NOw I begin to drive as technically perfect as I can, entering into and exiting the turns and twist as precisely as possible. Slowly I build speed, my confidence in myself and the car reaching that rare point when you just feel " in the zone". I carve my way through the first canyon and i feel 15 years younger, all the trials and tribulations of the prior weeks challenges now washed from me.
400 HP and a challenging road are all the narcotic I needed this morning. While it might seem like gushing to some of you, it would not be unreasonable for me to say that this BMW M5 has improved the quality of my life by a noticable degree. Other than for my wife and daughter, both of which I cannot imagine being without, I dont think there is anything else i can say that about. I had no idea that buying this car would affect my life in such a positive manner.
Yo guys were right, the smiles do just get bigger and bigger.
The run through the second canyon was almost indescribable in its perfection. A symphony of man and machine acting together in a rythm of movement that was almost flawless. Almost flawless meaning there was an inapropriate appearance of a squirrel in the road. Since I do not road hunt, a judicious application of the brakes gave this wayward rodent a reprieve from joining his ancestors in that great pine tree in the hereafter. Had it been the all to common rattlesnake, no such humaniatian compunction would have entered my mind. Having once been bitten by the ****hery demons, I now make it a practise to hunt them in any fashion at hand. They make a wonderful addition to the barbeque dinner.
I once read that the M5 hits a ceiling in price as far as dimishing returns for a car is concerned. While that may well be true when one restricts the analysis to purely technical and mechanical considerations, it is a flawed analysis in my opinion. For me at least, the analysis is not complete until one factors in the intangibles. Like I said before , this car has improved or substantially added to what I get out of life. I find it most difficult to place a price on that.
Alright , enough of my gushing over this car and what it means to me, I hope that all of you get as much out of your car as mine has given to me.
Cheers
Apologies for typos and grammer in advance.
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