Showing posts with label travel. Show all posts
Showing posts with label travel. Show all posts

Wednesday, March 18, 2009

Out of Texas!

Whew! I finally made it out of Texas. Day 3 finds me stopping near Baton Rouge, LA in a place called Hammond. I probably could have continued to drive into Mississippi, but decided to try to get a room early tonight. It seems that the last two nights I have been stuck with expensive rooms at Best Western. I guess it is only normal that the cheap rooms would fill-up first.

I just finished eating at a place called The Iron Skillet. I am glad that I have an iron gut, the "Southern" cooking shouldn't bother my system at all. I had the obligatory fried chicken, mashed potatoes and gravy, jumbo, sweet tea, etc, etc. It has been my first real sit-down meal all trip, so I might have gorged myself a tad. I'll soak in the tub and get to bed early for sure.

Nothing really to report today beyond the monotony of Texas. I saw a lot of "moo cows" and "neigh horses", and a few "baa sheep" or goats. That is what I say as I drive by, "Hello moo cows!" or "Hello Mr. neigh horse!" Talking to animals while I am driving... that is probably a good sign that my sanity is slipping just a bit. This cannot be compared to my trip going to CA from FL however, as I was accusing road-side rocks of following me. I won't mention the white plastic bags I saw hiding in bushes and trees along the highway today. They don't think I see them, but I do...

EDIT: Remember to check Monday's post for the link to the photos.

Monday, March 16, 2009

On the Road Again...

Well, I'm heading to FL once again, but this time I think it is going to for an extended duration. I'm going home to look after my dad, and in the process I hope I find a decent job. I managed only 10hrs of driving today, had a slow start. I'm hoping I can fit 12hrs of driving tomorrow. I pulled over once it started getting dark, which put me in Lordsburg, NM. I was afraid that having my vehicle so weighted-down with my junk the headlights would blind other drivers. Not that I'm carrying that much (stuffed to the brim), but rather my lights are a bit high with nothing loaded.

Driving through Phoenix was an interesting journey. Talk about speed traps! The speed dropped from 65 to 55, then jumped up to 75 in a short span. I witnessed one car immediately pulled over as soon as the 55mph zone started. Those AZ troopers waste no time. There were also many speed cameras set-up on the I-10.

I did learn something though, my car gets much better gas mileage going 65mph than 75mph. On average I was squeezing out 175 miles on a half tank @ 75mph instead of 210 miles going 65mph. Now I have the dilemma of of driving slower and getting decent mileage or getting to FL sooner with a smaller bank account. Pictures of day one below, with others being added when I stop, so check back often.

2009 CA to FL