Road Trips

Friday, I was very disturbed to encounter gas at a neighborhood station priced at $4.259/gallon.  It was only a couple of weeks ago that we were bracing for $4/gallon, after all.

However, today on a border-hunting mailing list, a link was posted to a photo gallery of one member’s recent trip to Baarle.  Included in the gallery is this picture:

Seeing gas priced at 1.513 is refreshing (other than that anomalous 3/10ths of a cent)…until you consider that price is stated as Euros per liter.

Doing the conversions…folks, that there is some $9/gallon gas.

Maybe my local $4.259 doesn’t seem quite as painful now.

We go to Brazil this week:

This is a section of SP-160, the Rodovia dos Imigrantes (”Immigrants Highway”), a toll expressway connecting São Paulo with the Atlantic coastal cities of São Vicente and Praia Grande, descending 800 meters in elevation down the Serra do Mar in the process.

Due to the volume of beach-bound traffic, the route can be converted into a one-way expressway (with traffic seeking to go the other way relegated to the older Rodovia Anchieta).

The particular stretch shown above is one of the crossover points of the two carriageways, as they snake around the escarpment, making use of 44 viaducts, 7 bridges, and 11 tunnels for the 59km route.

As folks prepare for their travels over the river and through the woods, the government has some happy news for us (via Reuters):

U.S. consumers could pay record gasoline prices for the upcoming Thanksgiving holiday with pump costs expected to climb another 20 cents over the next two to three weeks, the government’s top energy forecaster warned on Monday. 

Guy Caruso, who heads the U.S. Energy Information Administration, said not all of the recent jump in crude oil prices has been reflected in motor fuel costs which now top $3 a gallon in many parts of the country, about 80 cents more than a year ago.

“We haven’t seen the full pass-through (of high oil prices) yet,” Caruso told reporters at a briefing on oil market conditions held at Energy Department headquarters. “I would say what’s in the pipe right now (for gasoline) is about another 20 cents.”

I’m writing this just before hitting the road for a day trip to Boston.  Gas prices locally are now high enough that strategy comes into play when planning such a trip.  I know, for example, that gas prices generally run $0.20/gallon lower on the MassPike than in the gas stations closest to home in CT; and the stations by my office are $0.30-$0.35/gallon cheaper than home.   Thus, it becomes an interesting exercise in planning where/when it’s most sensible for me to top off the fuel tank.

With one of the major driving holidays almost upon us, I can’t help but wonder if there’s now demand for trip-planning software, or GPS navigation units, to start including software…or hooks to online fuel price databases…to make such optimization easier.

With a great big caveat of “kids, don’t try this at home”, I direct your attention to an article at Wired, describing the recent efforts of Alex Roy:

Roy is attempting to break a legendary cross-country driving record known to most people as the Cannonball Run. The time: 32 hours, 7 minutes, set in 1983 by David Diem and Doug Turner. Captain Roy’s quest is definitely illegal and quite possibly impossible. He is one of the few drivers wealthy and geeky and foolish enough to try it anyway. So far he’s tried and failed twice, but he’s still convinced that his careful calculations will allow him to beat the record.

The effort apparently involved a spotter plane, 4 GPS units, 151 gallons of gas, no telling how much caffeine, and an average speed of 90.1 miles per hour….and they were successful.

Again with a necessary disclaimer to decry such wanton disregard for the speed laws of our fine country, I have to observe—that is so cool…and remarkable given the increase in traffic loads on our interstates since the original days of the Cannonball Run.

And to think, my most infamous road trip adventure is documented by only a few blog posts and a rental car slip tacked to the side of my cube in the office, describing a 6-day, 3500 mile car rental I made almost two years ago.

I never realized that being a cop could pay so well.

From the Boston Globe:

Nearly one in 10 Massachusetts State Police officers made more than the governor last year, with 225 officers topping the $140,535 annual salary of the state’s chief executive.

Four of the 2,338 state troopers were paid more than $200,000, and 123 others were paid more than $150,000, the salary of the governor’s Cabinet secretaries, according to payroll information obtained by the Globe under the state public records law.[.]

The figures apparently include more modest base salaries, overtime, and $40/hour for standing guard at road construction sites. There’s also apparently a one-time bump in last year’s numbers due to some retroactive pay received after contract negotiations.

Still, it seems that it is good to be a member of Massachusetts’ police union.

I’m slow, and parts of this have already appeared in my livejournal. However, thought this might be be of interest to some of you folks.

Almost two weeks ago, I embarked on a trek to Dothan, Alabama, to ferry a dog and some material to my wife, who’s spending the winter down there (long story mostly irrelevant to the trip report).

The plan was to drive down in two days, and drive back in two…but things didn’t go quite according to plan. Details are below. Pictures from the trip are available at http://www.triskele.com/gallery/view/roadgeek/roadtrip2k6/

Day 1 - 7 Jan: Windsor, CT - Stony Creek, VA

Routing: CT 20 - I-91 - Cross Pkwy - Merritt Pkwy - Hutch Pkwy - Cross County Pkwy - I-87 - GWB - NJ Turnpike - I-295 (DE/NJ) - I-95 - Balt-Wash Pkwy - DC 295 - I-295 (DC/MD) - I-95 - I-295 (VA) - I-95

Mileage: 516 miles

States: 7 (CT, NY, NJ, DE, MD, DC, VA)

New Counties Collected: 1

New Freeways Clinched: I-295 (VA)

Generally a pretty easy drive. I rented a car for this trip, figuring that I’d prefer to put miles on something other than my gas-guzzling Jeep Cherokee, and I will say that it was nice being able to drive 3-4 hours on 8-9 gallons of gas.

I made only one stop this day — at Delaware House….although seeing the Popeyes on the NJ Turnpike and at Chesapeake House was very tempting, given that I’ve had a craving for a while.

Roadgeek highlights included the new high-speed EZ-Pass lanes on the NJ Turnpike, and my (finally) having spotted one of the legendary DC 295 trailblazers. (Sadly I saw the DC 295 shield too late to grab a picture.)

As I mentioned in an earlier post, my drive took me through the Woodrow Wilson Bridge replacement and Springfield Interchange construction zones. The new WB span looked to be almost nearly structurally complete, while the new EB span was mostly just pylons.

The construction had an added benefit — the flock of regulatory signs I’m used to seeing at the Virginia state line was nowhere to be seen.

South of the Springfield interchange, I was stuck in a massive traffic backup. Ten miles of bumper-to-bumper, stop-and-go traffic brought us to the hold up — a police car having stopped a car on the left shoulders. Effing rubberneckers!

Police presence was negligible this day until I got into Virginia. It seemed like there was a speed trap every 15-20 miles in VA.

Day 2 - 8 Jan: Stony Creek, VA - Dothan, AL

Route: I-95 - VA 40 - I-85 - I-185 (GA) - US 27 - Byp GA 62 - GA 62 - AL 52 - US 431

Mileage: 729 miles

States: 5 (VA, NC, SC, GA, AL)

New Counties: 9

New Freeways Clinched: I-85 (NC)

My motel for the first night of the trip was at exit 33 on I-95, and was selected because I was traveling with a dog. Finding dog-friendly hotels/motels of acceptable quality can be challenging…and I have the added (artificial) restriction of seeking to keep my Gold status in Hilton Honors. So I wasn’t able to drive quite as far as I would have liked the first day.

However, this did give me a pleasant way to start off the morning, with a nice little stretch of 2-lane VA 40, a fun, rolling, curvy road through the piney woods of southern Virginia.

I don’t recall seeing any signs of I-73, I-74, or I-274 trailblazers (other than a few blank spaces on BGS) as I passed Greensboro and High Point, but you can certainly see a lot of interesting freeway construction taking place.

Also, I didn’t realize Jack’s had expanded into North Carolina. I grabbed a southwestern chicken pita at a Jacks south of Charlotte, which made a surprisingly good bit of road food.

Atlanta was…well, Atlanta. It being Sunday, I drove I-85 straight through the city, and while congested, it wasn’t too bad.

In past drives between Atlanta and Dothan, I’ve followed 85/185/80/431. However, while much of 431 on the Alabama side of the Chattahoochie is 4-laned, the 2-lane section is infamous, and not particularly fun to drive. So, I decided to stay on the Georgia side of the river, following US 27 down to Blakely and cutting over. This had the advantage of letting me add a few extra counties to my collection (see http://www.triskele.com/highway/my-county-collection).

I think I like the Georgia routing better.

US27 is in the process of being 4-laned, and construction is much further along than Rand McNally indicates. Traffic was very light — light enough that waiting for a passing lane, or a break in the yellow striping when encountering a logging truck on the 2-lane stretches wasn’t a problem. However that routing was pretty devoid of services, and my cell phone did keep having to fall back to analog roam.

Sadly, it was dark when I reached the intersection of US 27 and GA 27, so I didn’t get pictures.

One other oddity of US 27 — just south of Columbus, I passed a house whose occupant permits his/her dogs to run loose. There was one border collie that decided to challenge the Chevrolet Aero that I was driving, by running out and sitting down in the roadway right in front of the car. A hard brake and a swerve (both of which upset my dog in the back seat) prevented Darwin from working is magic. At least my dog made her displeasure known to the offending mutt, through the window.

Day 3 - 9 Jan: Dothan, AL - Santee, SC

Route: US 231 - I-10 - I-95

Mileage: 509 miles

States: 4 (AL, FL, GA, SC)

New Counties: 12

New Freeways Clinched: I-10 (FL), I-95 (GA)

I had some business to attend to in Tallahassee, so this day wasn’t quite as wimpy as it might look at first glance.

Items of roadgeek interest include seeing a few traces of the Florida exit renumbering of a few years ago around Jacksonville, and the backwards-facing evacuation signs on the eastbound roadway of I-10, starting somewhere between Tallahassee & Lake City. I don’t recall having seen crossover roadways however…although that could have been lack of attention on my part.

Also seen on I-10: a car kept shedding hubcaps at me as we leapfrogged each other!

Jacksonville’s evening rush hour was congested, but nothing compared to what I’m used to in the northeast. I could have saved myself a headache by taking I-295 around the city, I suppose, but then I wouldn’t have clinched I-10!

In South Carolina, the rest area at the 40-somethingth yard line seemed very nice… until I looked up. There were some very nice sculpted skylights over the mens’ side of the rest area building, which I imagine add some nice lighting during the day. However, at night, all they seem to do is provide a reflective surface with which you can see down into every stall. Eeeewww!

Generally, it was an easy day. The weather was gorgeous, especially considering that when I left CT there was a several inch-thick snowpack in my yard, and my driveway was challenging for 2WD vehicles. Being able to have lunch outside in shirtsleeves, under palm trees and live oaks helped make it a good day…

…until I got the phone call that night from my wife, asking if I could come back and retrieve our dog, and take her back to Connecticut. (Long story, the details of which aren’t relevant to this report.)

So, rather than drive home….

Day 4 - 10 Jan: Santee, SC - Duluth, GA via Dothan, AL

Route: I-95 - I-26 - I-20 - I-285 (GA) - I-85 - I-185 - US 27 - Bus US 27 - Byp GA 62 - GA 62 - AL 52 - US 431 - (u-turn) - US 431 - AL 52 - GA 62 - Byp GA 62 - Bus US 27 - US 27 - I-185 - I-85 - I-285 (GA) - I-85

Mileage: 754 miles

States: 3 (SC, GA×2, AL)

New Counties: none

New Freeways Clinched: none

This day’s drive was actually pretty boring, other than being able to get pictures of a couple of poultry trucks in SC.

I did get the novelty of driving I-185 end-to-end twice this day, as well as the joy of driving through the new I-285 tunnel under the new ATL taxiway. The second pass-through was at night, and my God it was blindingly bright! They really ought to do something about that; not being able to see was not a good thing, considering the volume of traffic.

The second pass through the Atlanta metro area brought me with one of my few encounters with useful VMS’s. This one read: “Accident I-85NB, Exit ## Four right lanes blocked.” Good thing to know; I had been planning to drive through the city, given that it was a little after the evening commute hours.

Oh, and the border collie I mentioned in Day 2? Yep, he challenged me again on my way back down to Dothan. I’m amazed that he/she’s alive if that’s what he/she does for sport on a regular basis.

I wish I had been able to push on further than Duluth; however when booking my hotel room, I hadn’t been sure how much time I’d need to get turned around in Dothan. Add in the regular challenges of finding dog friendly hotels that will also help defend elite status, and I had to call it a night earlier than I would have otherwise chosen.

Day 5 - 11 Jan: Duluth, GA - Windsor, CT

Route: I-85 - I-77 - I-81 - PA Turnpike - NJ Turnpike - GWB - I-95 - I-91 - CT 20

Mileage: 1011 miles

States: 10 (GA, SC, NC, VA, WV, MD, PA, NJ, NY, CT)

New Counties: 1

New Freeways Clinched: I-81 (VA), I-81 (WV), I-81 (MD), I-81 (PA)

Ugh. This was the drive from hell. It marks the longest day’s drive I’ve ever done…and it was rain, fog, and road spray the entire way.

I’ll admit, this is not the most efficient routing I could have chosen. However, I wanted to avoid the Northeast Corridor until after the evening commute, but I wanted to be on roads that have service areas after dark, in case I started getting tired.

I got on the road about 6am, and was treated to a heavy, blinding downpour as I headed north. I didn’t even notice Greenville (or its rush hour) until after I had passed it and the rain let up.

I got to cross Fancy Gap on I-77 through thick fog. The heavy-duty reflectors, and thicker road striping was a benefit. However once the road was up in the low clouds, I was quite happy to crawl along at 25-35, with flashers running.

I don’t recall seeing any speed traps set up on I-81 in Virginia, which would be a first. Truck traffic was a little lighter than I recall on 81, but maybe the weather had something to do with it.

All things considered, I made pretty good time, and actually killed about 45 minutes at the Valley Forge service area, to let a band of heavy rain pass, to get a bit of dinner, and to let evening rush hour traffic dissipate a bit more.

The drive through New York City was surprisingly painless. I took what’s usually the worst-possible-traffic route to get from New Jersey to Connecticut…and it was a breeze! I’m not sure I’ve ever seen the Cross-Bronx traffic that light!

The last bit of the drive was in Connecticut, land of no highway reflectors. It’s true, the further north I got, the worse condition the lane-mark-reflectors were. That’s not surprising, given the heavier use of plows and sand/road salt further north. However, even in New Jersey, the lane reflectors still helped keep me in my lane when visibility worsened. However, once into Connecticut, things became more interesting because Connecticut doesn’t believe in reflectors.

Day 6 - 12 Jan: Windsor, CT - Windsor Locks, CT

Mileage: 2

I dropped off the rental car the day after I got home. When checking the mileage, the lady checking me in developed an odd look, for some reason…. “3500 miles?!”

I do have to admit, my desire to go roadtripping seems rather sated. Over 3500 miles in 5 days is quite enough, I think.