Wow, What A Coincidence -- Nothing About The Bakken -- A Geography Lesson -- June 20, 2018

Locator: 10010PRUEM.

Updates

January 20, 2024: correction. My friend with a Porschhe lived in Plütscheid, not Prüem. Plutscheid is a small village about halfway between Prüem and Bitburg. Closed now, but when we were stationed at Bitburg AB, Germany, the USAF had an air station at Prüem.

Original Post

In 1982, or thereabouts, my closest friend at the time wrote to tell me that I "had to get the US Air Force to send me to Bitburg Air Base in Germany" where he was stationed. It was perhaps the best Air Force assignment at that time. In addition to the spectacular setting (the scenery and the beer) the Air Force was flying its premier fighter jet, the F-15, out of Bitburg.

One Air Force astronaut returning from a space shuttle flight was asked by a journalist: "Now that you've been to space, what would you like to do next?" The astronaut's answer: "Get assigned to Bitburg Air Base, Germany."

If I can find the link, I will.

In 1983 I was assigned to Bitburg AB where I spent my first three years overseas. I went on to complete thirteen years overseas, including a second four-year tour at Bitburg.

Upon arriving at Bitburg, I bought two used cars for our growing family: a large Mercedes-Benz 280 sedan and a smaller BMW sedan, 5-series, if I recall correctly. It may have been a 3-series. I forget. I digress.

I bought the Mercedes-Benz within a week after arriving in Germany, and my first trip out of Bitburg was up to Pruem, Germany, about 35 km to the north, I suppose, to visit my friend who said I needed to get assigned to Bitburg. I don't recall what type of car his wife drove -- oh, that's right -- it was a Toyota (?) mini-van they had brought over from the states. He drove a Porsche that he had bought in Germany, but because it was "German spec" he would not be able to bring it back to the states.

So, he had a Porsche. I had an old "heavy, Chevy" Mercedes-Benz. LOL.

We loved the Bitburg-Pruem area because it was so close to France, Luxembourg, and Belgium. A day trip would take us to any of those countries. One day we drove to Switzerland, stayed overnight, and came back home the next day just to say we had been to Switzerland. We generally took the train to Paris -- a four-hour trip, but everywhere else in the area, we drove. 

I was reminded of all  that by this story sent to me by Don: Tesla is considering Germany as its first site outside the US for a "gigafactory." Okay.

Then I read the story to the end. More specifically the location in Europe:

"Germany is a leading choice for Europe. Perhaps on the German-French border makes sense, near the Benelux countries," Tesla's billionaire boss Elon Musk said on Twitter here Tuesday, responding to a public tweet.  

Tesla already has operations in Pruem, Germany, which is only 30 kilometers from Belgium, and about 100 kilometers from the French border. 

Pruem is the headquarters for Tesla’s Grohmann Engineering division, which specialises in automated manufacturing systems for battery making plants.

Grohmann recently built a production line for Tesla’s U.S. battery factory in Reno, Nevada, to speed up production for its Model 3 electric sedan.

Wow, Pruem, Germany. Who would have thought?

If Bitburg was sort of the size of Williston or Minot back in 1983, then Pruem was the size of Ray, North Dakota. Can you imagine Tesla setting up shop in Ray, North Dakota? What are the odds? What a coincidence.

Anyway, three maps.

The first map is of the larger, general area where Bitburg and Pruem are situated. Some years earlier, 1973, after graduating from college, I hitchhiked to NYC; flew to Luxembourg City via Reykjavik, Iceland, on Icelandic Airlines; and then walked from Luxembourg City to Koblenz, Germany.

That hike took me two weeks. A German friend and I met at at a Luxembourg hostel and decided to hike back to his home in Germany. We crossed the "frontier" at Echternach, Luxembourg. I remember the crossing vividly. Germany would not allow "homeless" into their country at the time, and I had to prove I had enough money to support myself; a German family who would "sponsor" me; and, proof, that I had a return ticket back to the states.

The arrow on this map shows our general route towards Koblenz.

The second map zooms in a bit, showing the geographic relationship between Bitburg and Pruem. Bitburg was the better of the two assignments, but Spangdahlem Air Base just a few miles to the east was also a great assignment. Its primary aircraft were the older F-4s. I've flown in F-15s and F-111s, but I don't recall ever flying in an American F-4. But I forget.

Note Speicher. During WWII, Speicher was the turn point for US bombers returning to England after dropping their bombs over military/industrial sites in Germany farther to the south and to the east. At the turn point -- that is, over Speicher -- the bombers were directed to drop any ordnance that they had not dropped on their targets earlier in the night. Speicher was bombed mercilessly (and militarily needlessly) throughout WWII. When I was in Germany, Americans assigned to Bitburg Air Base and Spangdahlem Air Base were generally told to "stay clear" of Speicher. If I recall, I drove through Speicher only once during my seven years (two different tours) assigned to Bitburg, and we were only driving through to another destination. American military personnel had "American military" license plates on their cars; that was changed near the end of our second tour when we were given "German" license plates. It took that many years to get the Germans to agree that "American military" license plates needed to be replaced with "German" license plates.

Finally, the third map shows our general route from Luxembourg City to Koblenz, Germany, that my newfound "friend" and I took, walking to Koblenz. At Koblenz, we went our separate ways. He took the train north to Cologne, I believe. I took the train south to Basel, Switzerland, where I met my next hiking "buddy," an incredibly attractive (female) art student from one of the California universities.

By car, google suggests the trip from Luxembourg to Koblenz is about 135 km. Let's see, 10 days x 10 km = 200 km. That's only twelve miles a day but it was through the hills and the forests. We did not take any roads or highways. We probably walked about six hours/day -- three hours before lunch, and three hours after lunch.

Maybe more later.