Locate an Auto Repair Shop in Florence, Kentucky

http://www.autoblog.com/2011/12/13/2013-subaru-xv-crosstrek-first-drive-review/ on day two of our drive, we met the cousin with the better personality, the longer legs, the Sophia Loren cheekbones and the killer personality: the 2.0 liter turbo-diesel with the manual transmission. We drove her through the winding back roads north of Florence amidst the Chianti vineyards, villages and Fiat fix-it shops, but she refuses to come to the States. You see, she will only date Europeans. All that and it got +5mpg on the gasser.

I bought my 11 Camry just about 11 months ago. I have not been happy with it since the day I drove off the lot. I agree - they've completely gone downhill. The dealership - KERRY TOYOTA in Florence, KY is horrible, and their "customer service manager" needs a lot of human interaction training. I want to get rid of this crappy car, but I'm not sure how I can do it with all the problems it has. Has anyone else gotten rid of their car? Does anyone else have a 2012 camry?

Took a side trip to see the Tom Mix monument near Florence on the old highway to Tucson. Filled at Costco in NE Tucson. Paid $3.07 for RUG. ARCO was $3.05 but cash only. With the AMEX Costco discount the price is $3.01 per gallon.

I'd skip sleep for about 40 hours aside from a nap here and there, and then crash hard the first full evening. Italy was amazing...Rome, Rivenna, Pompeii, Venice Florence, were all magnificent. We try to do that too as much as possible, but even after 5 days I could fall asleep at about 9 pm and I am wide awake at about 3 pm...the internal clock is really mixed up. It stans to reason to try to stay up as late as you can, and you should get up at the right time, but it doesn't happen in real life. I don't know how you got up the next day and went to work, I couldn't do any work today and it has been 4 days. I have no idea how shift workers manage.....but I think they have a hard time adjusting and it does take a mental and physical toll on those people.

Day 4 & 5 – Monday & Tuesday 19, 20 Sept. – Cinque Terre I had decided early on [ for several reasons ] that we would park the car at the B&B and leave it there until we left on Thursday. We took a bus to La Spezia and then the train to each of the villages – bus stop right across from the B&B. I will not detail everything here. Suffice to say that the scenery and the town buildings are everything we expected, and even more! The color of the water was striking – and the surf generated by the overnight storm added interest and texture. Beautiful. [ pictures ] The high temperatures were a bit warmer than is typical for this time of year all 3 days – but cool each morning, for breakfast outside on the deck. We had gelato each day we stayed here. In fact twice one day - outstanding!! The lunch each day in the different villages was quite good. And the sight-seeing was just amazing. = = = Day 6 – Wednesday 21 Sept. - S. Terenzo and Lerici. The woman who runs the B&B where we were staying suggested that we would enjoy spending some time walking through these two local villages. We did. Interesting architecture. Beautiful old church – castles – lovely. And we had a very good lunch right at the harbor. I’m guessing we walked over 4 miles this day – much of it up and down the hills. But worth every step. Day 7 – Thursday 22 Sept. – La Spezia to S. Bernadino, Switzerland Despite our prior experience, we decided to try the same strategy that had blown up in our faces before – meaning: look for a place to stay for the night, off the highway, once well into Switzerland. Circling around Milan to the southeast, we headed toward Como. Again, the vistas were lovely, but safely pulling off the road to stop and really enjoy them was problematic. [ pictures ] At one point [ perhaps near Chiavenna? ] my daughter noted that one of several waterfalls [ dropping hundreds of feet from the peaks on either side of he road that wound up the valley floor ] looked like we might be able to exit and drive back to see it somewhat closer. She was correct [ that happened a lot ] and it was well worth the slight ‘detour’. [ pictures ] We ended up staying at an exquisite little hotel in San Bernardino. Just before the entrance to the San Bernardino tunnel, this a tiny old village – primarily geared to skiing. We were ‘off-season’ and the town was very quiet. The water in the creek running through town was clear. The air was crisp, cool and clear. Just lovely. We had excellent fondue for dinner in the hotel’s restaurant and slept well – enjoying the fresh mountain air – at over 5,000 feet elevation. Day 8 – Friday 23 Sept. S. Bernardino to Memmingen, Germany We had another excellent breakfast [ more wonderful bread ] at the hotel and headed north. On the Autobahn [ 96 \ E54 \ E43 ] approaching Memmingen, I had my one opportunity to briefly explore the outer limits of [ my experience in ] LEGAL, very high speed driving. A break in traffic [ Friday PM ] allowed a quick blast to 135+ MPH. Exhilarating. But traffic again intervened and I was back to 100 – 115, or so on most of the unlimited sections. This was also the case the next day, Saturday, going to the Munich airport – generally able to hold a steady 100, with a few blasts to 115 or so – then back to 100. Holding 115 MPH for a few minutes at one point was quite satisfying. Being passed while doing 100 MPH by Porsches [ and others, but most often Porsches ] clearly doing 140, 150 MPH or more was quite an experience as well! We arrived in Memmingen in time to spend a few hours exploring the old city area, town square, churches, etc. We ate dinner at the hotel - very good. Day 9 = final day – Saturday 24 Sept. – Memmingen to Munich Airport and fly back to Boston We slept well, until a local, nearby church rang the “100 o’clock” bells. The ringing just kept on and on – at 7AM. Oh, well – time to rise and shine. Another very traditional breakfast at the hotel, an hour or so at the farmers’ market in the town square [ best looking produce and fruit I have ever seen ! ] and we packed up for the last leg of our journey. We drove to a car wash, then to a final fuel stop [ ended with exactly the quarter tank the shipper recommends ] and drove to the airport to drop the car off, and [ after waiting in several lines, including 2 security checkpoints, since we were flying to the US ] we flew home without incident. A few overall impressions: This was a wonderful trip. It is hard to describe the feeling of driving for miles through what looks like the biggest postcard in the world. Large areas of both Switzerland and Austria were absolutely magnificent and spectacular. Cinque Terre was all we had hoped. We spent 2 full days exploring and enjoying all 5 towns and it was amazing. The other 2 small villages we visited near the B&B on our third day there were a charming surprise as well. The times I was stressed were mostly a result of no experience driving anywhere in Europe and knowing very little German or Italian. [ Meaning, mostly my fault. ] I do not expect to return to Europe anytime in the next few years [ if ever ] and my daughter had downloaded a translation app. For both Italian and German - so did not expend a lot of time or effort trying to learn the languages. Some of the country and village roads in Italy were scary narrow. And I wish they had the option to just buy a sticker for use of their toll roads. My one ‘incident’ [ scraped the left front rim ] was while struggling to deal with an un-attended toll booth at an exit somewhere south of Trento after dark. I drove too close to the curb, trying to understand and deal with the instructions and reach the ticket \ credit card slots, etc. [ sigh ] Oh, well. Why not Rome or Florence or Milan or Venice, one might ask? My daughter spent over a week in Italy a couple of years ago, and had an opportunity to visit each of those places. And I was just personally much more interested in the Austrian and Swiss Alps and the Italian Mediterranean coast than the cities. We were both quite happy with our choices! The car – 2011 335iS Coupe, Le Mans Blue, Gray Leather, DCT, Premium Package, Comfort Access, Heated Front Seats, Satellite Radio. http://www.caranddriver.com/reviews/car/10q3/2011_bmw_335is-short_take_road_test- - I test drove 2 cars equipped essentially identical to what I bought, except they both had the optional 19” wheels & tires. For me & for my typical driving, I decided that the 18s would be fine – and offer a somewhat better ride. The car was delivered with Michelin Pilots – excellent tires. continued...