I have returned from the great trip 'round the country which spanned the
period from September 5 thru October 20. Poorer, of course, (especially
as my investments were dwindling away in my absence) but I am wiser and
it was a lot of fun.
I also burned lots of liquid carbon in the process. I traveled a total
of 11,508 miles (18,520 km) and my 2006 Buick Lucerne V8 consumed 492.44
gallons of gas (1,864 liters) at a total cost of $1,735.51 and average
fuel mileage of 23.4 miles per gallon (9.94 km per liter). Gas prices
were generally dropping during our travels and, despite having gone over
my mileage estimate of 10,000 miles, the cost of gas came in well under
my $2,000 estimate. I also determined that it's folly to count on per
tank mileage measurements since it's obvious from my data that the tank
isn't always full when the pump shuts off... even if you try to continue
pumping beyond the shutoff. I got per tank mileage numbers ranging from
a low of 16.9 MPG to as high as 29 MPG with low and high numbers usually
sequentially arranged. It appears that the pump may sometimes shut off
with the tank as much as a gallon short of full despite your efforts to
assure that it's full. At least at a full gallon short it was clearly
visible on the gas guage.
I also snapped 3,459 raw files comprising 44.6 GB. That's a lot of
stuff to wade through. Fortunately, probably at least one third is pure
junk and much of the remainder is 3-6 frame panoramas. But that's still
a lot of stuff to wade through. I spent a lot of time backing up to
DVD's which I will not do again. I will instead invest in a 2-1/2" USB
hard drive of 60-80 GB capacity.
Some "interesting" happenings while on the road. Got my first ever
speeding ticket in Wisconsin going 74 mph in a 55 mph zone. Deserted
country two lane road going down hill. The @%@#$^ speed control on the
Buick does not downshift to maintain speed as does my Chrysler. We
managed to lock ourselves out of the car at a gas station in Amarillo,
Texas. I got out to pump the gas, Peg got out to wash the windshield
and accidentally pressed the door lock button as she got out. About 5
seconds later the car beeped the horn and locked all four doors. My
keys were in the ignition and hers were in her purse inside the car.
Gulp!!! Fortunately, my phone was on my belt and we were in a large
metro area and AAA responded with a Slim-Jim guy in 15 minutes. It took
that guy all of 10 seconds to open the car which lets you know how
secure all your possessions are. Everything of value goes into the
hotel at night. I also managed to "lose" my driver's license to base
security at Barksdale Air Force Base outside Shreveport, Louisiana. We
had stopped there to visit the 8th Air Force Museum and base security
had taken our driver's licenses, and auto and car registrations. In
some mix-up when the papers were handed back I never got my license back
and didn't discover it until I was 200 miles away and being asked for ID
at the hotel. Promises to mail me my license are so far just promises.
I haven't been through the food and hotel bills yet. I think the food
bill will be in line with my estimate but I think we often had to pay
$10-20 more per night for hotels than I had estimated. That was the
largest expense in the plan and will likely be larger yet.
People high points of the trip were meeting Joel, AG and Moose as well
as other friends and family members. I had planned to meet with Bill
Barber as well but to save time we had to cut out the route going from
Dallas to New Orleans via Austin, San Antonio and Houston in favor of
the faster route through Shreveport. Of course, if I hadn't done that
I'd still have a driver's license.
Places to visit high points were Mackinaw and Sault Ste. Marie, Mt.
Rushmore, Yellowstone and Grand Teton, Mt. Ranier and Mt. St. Helens,
the coastal redwoods of California, the unfogged bits of the California
coast including Point Lobos and the Hearst Castle, Death Valley (a
pleasant surprise), Zion National Park, the North Rim of the Grand
Canyon, Sedona, Arizona (been there but always love it), Natchez and
Vicksburg, Mississippi and the several Civil War battlefields we visited
(Vicksburg, Stones River and Antietam).
There's lots more to tell but it's time to go to bed. Just one final
comment. If it hadn't been for the French tourists in buses Death
Valley would have been empty. Keep on comin' and bring plenty of Euros. :-)
Chuck Norcutt
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