Jolt Country

The weekend before last, the fam and I loaded up the ol' Ford Flex and kicked off a short vacation by driving from Oklahoma to Nashville, and then from Nashville to Washington D.C. After a week there, the wife and kids flew home and I drove from there to Buffalo, NY to visit a friend. I left Buffalo Monday morning and arrived in Chicago that evening, and left Chicago this morning and arrived back home 14 hours later -- total miles on the car, 3,101.

Eight years ago I posted a viewtopic.php?t=6817]A Guide to Sleeping in your Car on Jolt Country. In one of the last responses (from 2016) I said I probably wouldn't do that anymore, and I didn't. I caught a couple of cat naps at gas stations along the way when my eyes would no longer focus on the road, but as for spending the night in my car, I think those days are over.

It's funny how every convenient store looks the same these days. Every one I stopped at had the same snacks, the same drinks, the same look of apathy in the eyes behind the counter. I can't do sugar and energy drinks non-stop like I used to when driving cross-country. Now it's peanuts or cashews or sunflower seeds and coffee.

I didn't hit any tolls driving from OKC to DC. Between DC and Chicago, I paid roughly $30 in tolls. Roads in the north are expensive.

I've been home for a few hours now but it still kind of feels like I'm driving. Maybe that's because I have half a bag of sunflower seeds left.

Flack wrote: Tue Aug 06, 2019 8:35 pm The weekend before last, the fam [drove]... from Oklahoma... to Washington D.C. After a week there, the wife and kids flew home

Were their arms tired? (Cue rimshot)

and I drove... to Buffalo, NY to... Chicago [then]... back home... total miles on the car, 3,101.

Now I would drive 1,550 miles
And I would drive 1,551 more
Just to be the man who drove 3,101 miles
To fall down at my door
— The Proclaimers, I'm Gonna Be (500 Miles)

Eight years ago I posted a [guide on]... spending the night in my car, I think those days are over.

It's funny how every convenient store looks the same these days. Every one I stopped at had the same snacks, the same drinks, the same look of apathy in the eyes behind the counter.

I remember someone saying that after a while traveling becomes a blur, because you stay in the same hotel chains[*], all their rooms look the same, the chain restaurants all have the same décor, and the same menu everywhere you go[**].

I didn't hit any tolls driving from OKC to DC. Between DC and Chicago, I paid roughly $30 in tolls. Roads in the north are expensive.

Hey, somebody has to pay for the bribes and kickbacks the contractor / construction company had to pay to get the job, and / or to keep the inspectors from stopping them from using substandard and / or defective building materials in roads, bridges, overpasses and viaducts. Road building is expensive, especially with that kind of overhead. What do you expect, traveling through Chicago, the place that turned the art of taking / paying bribes into a science?

I've been home for a few hours now but it still kind of feels like I'm driving. Maybe that's because I have half a bag of sunflower seeds left.

Sometimes you can get lulled into the car's motion and experience anything from minor "hightway hypnosis" to full-on falling asleep at the wheel. I think we've probably all experienced the first, when you've been driving for four or five hours and suddenly realize you can't remember the last 50 or 100 miles. It all looks the same. The sterile cleanliness, improved road conditions, and higher speeds of Interstate Highways have provided great benefits to the traveler but added the danger of falling asleep from boredom.

There have been some places where dangerous road conditions have caused many accidents and fatal crashes, and, in many cases, one of the ways to reduce accidents in places near cliff faces and deep ravines was to remove guardrails and barriers (which didn't really do much to stop people who ran into them at high speed from going through them). Ironically, the clear and obvious danger made motorists more careful, reducing fatal crashes.

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[*] Frequent users of the same lodging chain can get loyalty cards, granting them more perks which can save money for the company sending them out on trips. Or an be used to get extra benefits at company expense (by staying in more expensive hotels to get the extra perks.)

[**] Except McDonald's in France and Holland, but not necessarily Burger King as Vincent Vega, "our man in Amsterdam" didn't report on those restaurants.

That makes sense about the guardrails. I know every time I have to go over a high bridge or driving on the side of a mountain my sense awareness (or "oh shit" meter) rises.

I don't see how Flack keeps making these long ass road trips. Admirable, really. My longest drive was 11-12 hours to get to or from Calumet City, IL (close city to downtown Chicago) and by about hour 6 I was already in "are we there yet" mode despite being the one driving the car!

I kill the time by listening to music, podcasts, and catching up with friends on the phone. I also make more stops than I used to. I used to only stop every time I needed gas, getting food and using the restroom during those same stops. Now I make a point of stopping every half a tank just to stretch and walk around.

That’s cool. Come to think of it the next time I had to drive there I passed the time in the car with my girlfriend listening to like 5 CDs of some Stephen King audio book about a girl on the beach that’s being stalked (I forget the title) and it helped pass the time a lot! Still ended up staying in a hotel on the border of Ohio and West Virginia on the way home though that go round.

How much $ in gas do you think you spent btw? At one time (around 2006) it was cheaper for me to fly than drive!

So for the entire trip, if you figure 3,100 miles at roughly 20 mpg, that's 155 gallons of gas. I didn't keep track of what I spent on gas, but the national average is $2.67, so that would be a total of $413.85.

A flight next week from OKC to Dulles is $545 (one way). Individuals can probably get a better deal; I have to use a specific airline and specific airports.

In theory I get paid 58 cents/mile to drive my own car, but the total amount that I'm reimbursed can't exceed the cost of an airline ticket. It's 1,330 miles from my house to DC, so 1,330 x 2 (round trip) x .58 cents = $1,542. That being said, that well exceeds the cost of two tickets, and so most likely I'll get reimbursed $1,090 (the cost of round trip airline tickets).

The only time I ever experienced something like that was when I was 12 and my dad drove from Greece to Germany in one day when returning from summer vacation. The distance was around 900 miles or so and it seemed like an eternity. He might as well have driven to the moon. The next day it still felt like I'm in a car when sitting down.

3100 miles? I can't even imagine that one. The US is so freakin huge. How can you drive that distance and not cross at least once into a different country? :-P

A trip from Seattle, Washington (NW) to Miami, Florida (SE) is about 3,300 miles (one way).

My 3,100 mile trip was a complete loop and not just a straight line.

Here's the path I took.

That's a lot of freaking miles, man. Too many for me.

THE
BUTT HURTS
AARDVARK

If we figured out a way for you to interactively play a text game using voice commands, would you EVER be interested in such a thing? Or do you like to zone a bit with the music and podcastos?

That would be cool, as long as it isn't like that stupid Ford voice command thing we had in our last car.

THE
"SAY A COMMAND"
AARDVARK