Adventures In Driving
I did what I said I was planning on.
First, I left the house today shortly before noon to go pick Fatphin (pyrophin) up in Seminole to take him to the airport. I was almost a half hour early, so I stopped into a shady used car dealer who had a couple of Escorts on his lot. A silver 1995 and a red 1993. The red one (despite being older) seemed to be in better shape. I took a business card from the guy in case I'm ever in the position where I'd want to buy one for parts. He said a cash deal for one would be somewhere in "the low teens". Though I know I could probably haggle him down a bit by pointing out what's wrong. After that stop off, I arrived early and had to wait for fatty to show up. And then again for him to change. Still and all, I got him to the airport about 3:40 for his 5:55 flight. However, I turned out to be very glad I did. As soon as I got back on I275 from leaving the airport, traffic was like a parking lot. Fortunately, that only continued until just before the I275 / I4 split, then traffic began to flow normally. I was lucky, the timing was neigh unto perfect.
As I'd already gone 277 miles on that tank (and I normally like to fill up around 220) I stopped for gas at the Citgo station immediately off the Bearss exit before I headed up to Gainesville. I also did something I very rarely do... I went inside and bought a soda at the inflated convenience store prices. I was very thirsty and didn't feel like buying a bottle of water.
The trip to Gainesville was pretty uneventful. I75 (which is what I275 N turns into) Is straight, flat, and has a 70MPH limit. It needs it, too. I got on that, and the GPS just gave me the exit number and "exit 387 in 120 miles". So, 120 miles of straight, flat, and fast driving. There wasn't really much to see. Some touristy shit and some hotels I could see from the road. Then I passed through part of Ocala. But for a good 80% of the time after I left Tampa, there was nothing around for miles. There was even a 40 mile stretch where the interstate was the only thing around. The GPS screen was blank save for the highway itself. Usually there's at least some side streets within view. It was almost like taking I81 through Weedsport NY, but about ten times longer.
Took about an hour and forty minutes to get to Gainesville. Turns out the ABC there was less than a block from I75, so the trip turned out to be 99.9% highway. I went in, bought my bottles, talked with the clerk for a minute or two (who seemed to agree with me that it wasn't at all insane to drive 250 miles for booze) and got back in the car.
The return trip was much the same as the one up. Uneventful, lots of tractor-trailers on the road.
As hard as it is to drive for long periods of time, I enjoy it. It may be mentally exhausting and fatiguing of the leg muscles and foot, but there's nothing quite like that feeling of going someplace far-flung under something "powered" by you. I also got a chance to calculate my pure highway milage, and it wasn't quite as good as I expected... but I've also never taken an entire trip at 70MPH before, either. Clearly that caused a slight drop in the fuel economy. I "only" got 36 instead of the 38 I thought I might get. Still, I'm not complaining... total cost in gas was a mere $11, more than offset by the savings of the purchase of a single bottle (when I had in fact purchased five).
While I certainly am not planning on making a habit out of doing this, it was nice to get out on the road and go somewhere, even if it was for a pretty mundane reason (saving money, in this case).
First, I left the house today shortly before noon to go pick Fatphin (pyrophin) up in Seminole to take him to the airport. I was almost a half hour early, so I stopped into a shady used car dealer who had a couple of Escorts on his lot. A silver 1995 and a red 1993. The red one (despite being older) seemed to be in better shape. I took a business card from the guy in case I'm ever in the position where I'd want to buy one for parts. He said a cash deal for one would be somewhere in "the low teens". Though I know I could probably haggle him down a bit by pointing out what's wrong. After that stop off, I arrived early and had to wait for fatty to show up. And then again for him to change. Still and all, I got him to the airport about 3:40 for his 5:55 flight. However, I turned out to be very glad I did. As soon as I got back on I275 from leaving the airport, traffic was like a parking lot. Fortunately, that only continued until just before the I275 / I4 split, then traffic began to flow normally. I was lucky, the timing was neigh unto perfect.
As I'd already gone 277 miles on that tank (and I normally like to fill up around 220) I stopped for gas at the Citgo station immediately off the Bearss exit before I headed up to Gainesville. I also did something I very rarely do... I went inside and bought a soda at the inflated convenience store prices. I was very thirsty and didn't feel like buying a bottle of water.
The trip to Gainesville was pretty uneventful. I75 (which is what I275 N turns into) Is straight, flat, and has a 70MPH limit. It needs it, too. I got on that, and the GPS just gave me the exit number and "exit 387 in 120 miles". So, 120 miles of straight, flat, and fast driving. There wasn't really much to see. Some touristy shit and some hotels I could see from the road. Then I passed through part of Ocala. But for a good 80% of the time after I left Tampa, there was nothing around for miles. There was even a 40 mile stretch where the interstate was the only thing around. The GPS screen was blank save for the highway itself. Usually there's at least some side streets within view. It was almost like taking I81 through Weedsport NY, but about ten times longer.
Took about an hour and forty minutes to get to Gainesville. Turns out the ABC there was less than a block from I75, so the trip turned out to be 99.9% highway. I went in, bought my bottles, talked with the clerk for a minute or two (who seemed to agree with me that it wasn't at all insane to drive 250 miles for booze) and got back in the car.
The return trip was much the same as the one up. Uneventful, lots of tractor-trailers on the road.
As hard as it is to drive for long periods of time, I enjoy it. It may be mentally exhausting and fatiguing of the leg muscles and foot, but there's nothing quite like that feeling of going someplace far-flung under something "powered" by you. I also got a chance to calculate my pure highway milage, and it wasn't quite as good as I expected... but I've also never taken an entire trip at 70MPH before, either. Clearly that caused a slight drop in the fuel economy. I "only" got 36 instead of the 38 I thought I might get. Still, I'm not complaining... total cost in gas was a mere $11, more than offset by the savings of the purchase of a single bottle (when I had in fact purchased five).
While I certainly am not planning on making a habit out of doing this, it was nice to get out on the road and go somewhere, even if it was for a pretty mundane reason (saving money, in this case).