A quick summation of my 2002 season

Considering I did not get to ride a single American rollercoaster, I'd would have to say it has been a fantastic 2002 season - one I surely did not expect. After being activated for the military and being sent to Germany, I decided to go all out as much as I can. After all, a free round trip to Europe, free housings, accommodations, food, etc, I knew this was my one and only chance.

All in all (to make this short), I rode 224 European rollercoasters. Take that ACE Europe trip and times it by, well, you can't. 17 countries (Germany, Denmark, Poland, Czechoslovakia, Austria, Switzerland, Litchenstein, Italy, France, Spain, Portugal, Andorra, Luxembourg, Belgium, the Netherlands, England, and Wales), lots of driving, different signs, languages, and culture.

On the coaster side, I rode 224 European rollercoasters (Silver Star, Gouderix, Pepsi Max, Katun, Goliath (SF H), Exp G-Force, Dragon Kahn, Olympia Looping, too many to name) is by far the most I have ever ridden in one year! Before this year, I only had 177 American coasters under my belt. So now I'm at 401 total and I still haven't been to many parks in the U.S. like SF Georgia, SF NE, SF GAdv, Hershey and many more. With me missing a year, I can get the benifit of having "two years of new attractions" at once.

However, I also did as many cities and site-seeing as I could. Sites and sounds of England, not to mention driving on the "other" side of the road, very top of Eiffel tower in Paris and then going to the Tour de France finale, Amsterdam, Brussels, the tunnels of the Alps, Roman coliseum, castles in Germany, the most wild and craziest Love Parade in Berlin, cruising on the Autobahn at 250 kph, and all this is just the tip of the iceburg. . . :)

Overall, I'm glad to be back in America and I hope I get to ride some American coasters next year. Hopefully, I do not get sent anywhere - as Iraq doesn't have many coasters. . . but Europe was a blast! Until next time.

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Operation Enduring Freedom - 10 months, 17 countries, 224 European coasters, 8000 pictures - a lifetime of stories and memories :)

Wow! Where in the world did you get that kind of time during the summer to find and ride 200 some odd coasters? I was stationed in Europe for a couple years and I barely had time to take a crap much less sight see. Granted I did get to see several countries and did make a few trips out to Paris but never did I have to time to do what you did in the entire 2 years I was there. I spent most of my tour there freezing my ass off on the Czech border while having the entire Soviet Army having me in their gunsights. Guess the military is getting easier and easier now a days. Glad to know our taxpayer dollars have allowed you "10 months, 17 countries, 224 European coasters, 8000 pictures - a lifetime of stories and memories".

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Bob Hansen

A proud CoasterBuzz Member

Wanna Ride A Woodie?

I think many people would rather do what you did then go to any American park.

Just one question, how was Katun? That last twisting drop looks crazy.
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TOGO!

Kick The Sky, I did my fair share of freezing too. I did plenty of security and pointing weapons and the mission by far took more time than anything else with post 9/11 measures. But instead of having a couple of German beers, going to the nearest club and doing little to nothing during my free time, I hit my trips hard and heavy and wasting no time, jetting on the autobahn the second I was released. And no, the military is definately not getting easier. . . neither being in the military in a foreign country nowadays. Saudi Arabia was heck - dry and sizzling hot and no sight-seeing but this particular operation gave me a once in a lifetime chance.

I did alot of night traveling. I crammed as much as I could each trip - often hitting multiple parks in a day, thanks to the closeness of the parks/countries and slept very little during that time. I don't know how many Red Bulls, Bats and all the thousands of energy drinks out there that I downed. . .

Katun was great and fun. It's an intense ride and is one of my favorite Inverted coasters (although I haven't ridden Montu yet). Too bad Italy didn't have many coasters. The last twisting drop was a wild finish to a great ride. I'm glad to have stopped by to ride this as many people haven't ridden Katun.

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Operation Enduring Freedom - 10 months, 17 countries, 224 European coasters, 8000 pictures - a lifetime of stories and memories :)

Energy drinks if mass consumed have been known to cause kidney failure. And I don't want someone who hasn't slept in three days defending my country but hey maybe that's just me or maybe its the fact I envy you tremendously!!!!!