Hi, Chuck,
Glad you made it back ok, and had an enjoyable trip. That's quite an
undertaking for 6-7 weeks. Good luck on the driver's license. Perhaps your
state would issue a duplicate.
Jim Nichols
Tullahoma, TN USA
----- Original Message -----
From: "Chuck Norcutt" <chucknorcutt@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: "Olympus mail list" <olympus@xxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Tuesday, October 21, 2008 10:07 PM
Subject: [OM] [OT] I have returned
>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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