The Journey West
 

Ah, California bound at last. Loaded up yesterday, and headed out this morning pulling the Miata on a double-axle trailer behind the 16' Penske truck. Feels good to be headed back again.

This morning, I finally put to rest something that's been bugging me. Like most roads in Florida, Cranberry Blvd in North Port is perfectly straight and flat. Speed limit 40 MPH. There are two very broad turns in it between US41 and my old place. Visibility through them is excellent, there are no blind driveways, and yet for some reason, the locals feel it necessary to slow to 25-30 MPH through them. Here they are:

http://img40.imagefra.me/img/img40/2...am_0aa5ca1.gif

Now, this behavior has always annoyed me, but I've tolerated it, thinking "maybe those corners really are too much to take at 40 in a minivan / Cadillac / SUV" and thus given other drivers the benefit of the doubt.

Bullshit.

If I can drive through those at 50 in a fully loaded moving truck pulling a trailer, with no drama, then Sally Scatterbrain can do the same in her mommymobile.

[/rant]

Saw what I think was a Can-Am on I-75. Didn't care for it.

http://img02.imagefra.me/img/img02/2...7m_9feb444.jpg


Go Gators!

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The guy with the earth-mover had to wait forever to pass the guy with the boat. I kept expecting a third one to show up.

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In the parking lot of the Best Western. Looks a tad small for NASCAR.

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Made it as far as Moss Point, Mississippi tonight.

Miles traveled: 637.7
Fuel consumed: 70.114 gal.
Avg. Economy: 9.095 MPG.

Tomorrow's goal: Oklahoma City, OK (or thereabouts.)

Go, Joe, Go!

You WILL have to drive up to ORP for a track day or two, you'd love it, not too far from cali. And if you're fine with doing Flordia-Cali, Cali-Eastern Oregon is nothing. Welcome almost home!

lol ORP is about 12 hours from the Bay Area... isn't Joe going to Socal? Be more like 16ish from the LA area.

Having said that I really want to get up to ORP, all reports are that it's great!

See one now and then on my commute. Uber Ghey. Bikes for people to scared to ride a real bike.

Enjoy the journey. Any major sights you planning on seeing? Fastest route or taking some scenic routes?

Welcome back.

Must be a gasoline engine in the 16' trucks? When we moved out here we used a 26' Penske with the turbo diesel, stuffed reasonably full with cargo, and averaged closer to 10 mpg than 9.

There were some parts in ID, UT, and WY where there were zero other vehicles ahead of me on the interstate for as far as the eye could see, where the 70 mph speed governor was a bit of a nuisance. Oh wellz. Hit the cruise control and enjoy seeing parts of the country you otherwise wouldn't. The tax deduction was also real nice. ;) IIRC between the truck rental, diesel, lodging and all I knocked off almost $4K.

Where in CA are you moving to?

CA is so last year... lol. I'm working my way back east again.

Good luck and drive safe. Remember to keep the tank topped off through west TX!

The Gibbs trailer looks like a show car transport used typically for promotions.

Have a safe and wonderful trip, Joe... at least as wonderful as driving a box truck can be.

Buen viaje amigo.

We're trading you for Joe... didn't you get the memo?

So who got the short end of that stick?

Good luck Joe, did you sell your house here? How!? lol
__________________
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That was one helluva unfair trade, then!

Hah, nice location on your profile.

Cali...we got Matt Andrews last season.

Greetings from Norman, OK. :D

About ten miles back, I passed a curious building. The Oklahoma Horseshoeing School. I acknowledge that there's likely a certain art to shoeing a horse, but I'd have never expected a whole school devoted to the subject. (Pretty sizable building, too.) Oklahoma Horseshoeing School

I suppose some commentary about the truck is in order.

As the sixth and possibly final entry into the Hitchhiker's trilogy has just been released, I decided that in preperation for reading it, I wanted on this trip to refresh my memory by listening to the entire original Hitchhiker's anthology (books 1-5) in audiobook format, as read by the author. To this end, before leaving, I purchased a little SanDisk MP3 player and a little FM transmitter. Moving vans usually have just the basic AM/FM radio, so I figured this was my only safe bet.

Well, come to find out that this baby has the deluxe sound system. Not only is there a CD player which also plays MP3-encoded discs, but a line-in jack as well. I'm flabbergasted! (And also a little miffed that I wasted $60 on unnecessary hardware.)

Still, happy to have it. I'm about halfway through Life, the Universe and Everything, and the audio quality is superb. (I've also got Dirk Gently and Long, Dark Teatime ready, in case I finish HHGTG with road still left to go.)

http://img40.imagefra.me/img/img40/2...cm_bd4d756.jpg

With the switch from GMC to Ford, they've also made a rather revolutionary breakthrough in driver comfort. In all the Penske trucks I've had in the past, the back wall of the cab (which is, in reality, the front wall of the cargo box) is so far forward that when positioned with the bottom at a reasonable location, the seat back cannot recline beyond vertical.

Imagine sitting in a dining room chair for 16 hours a day for a whole week.

Thankfully, the new ones have added a few inches of depth behind the seats, vis-à-vis a cutout in the front wall of the box. This creates a slight protrusion into the cargo area (resulting in about a five inch deep shelf at the very front of the cargo space, roughly four feet off the floor) however it also means that the seat back can be placed in a position which is actually tolerable by endoskeletal vertebrate mammals!

See the ridge where the rubber edge-molding is just aft of the seat belts? That's where the cab used to end.

http://img37.imagefra.me/img/img37/2...bm_ebb3fc4.jpg

Miles traveled: 799.6
Fuel consumed: 84.415 gal.
Avg. Economy: 9.47 MPG.

Next stop: Denver


From San Diego? Have you ever driven 20 hours in a Miata? Six is enough to nearly paralyze you.

Yep, I was miffed when they made the change but only put the diesels into the 22' and 26' trucks. The 12' and 16' versions are built on an E-350 chassis with the 5.4L gasoline V8. This truck needs boost in the worst way.

I contemplated getting the 22' version on this fact alone, however I'm not entirely unhappy that I didn't. At 9 - 9.5 MPG, I'm getting far better economy than I expected. Granted, the terrain has been mostly flat thus far, but I expect that overall, the cost delta between diesel and gasoline would likely have erased any savings from the larger truck, not to mention the extra cost of the truck itself. (And not to mention also that I'd just as soon not have an additional 8 feet of vehicle length to manage in hotel parking lots.)

Yours had cruise control? This is my fourth Penske truck, and I've never had cruise before. It gets tiring after a couple days...

On the plus side, the governor on the gas trucks always seems to be set somewhere in the high 70s. On this one, I found it to cut out at an indicated 77-78 MPH.

San Diego. Again.

I was worried about that too, but fortunately the hotels that are right off the interstates tend to have bigger lots. The worst part was at the very beginning of the journey, when I had to park it in front of my apartment building in the Eastlake neighborhood of Seattle. The streets are fairly narrow with cars parked on both sides. I wound up parking mostly on the sidewalk so as not to obstruct traffic. The truck was also taller than I had figured, and consequently I pruned up the trees a little. :laugh:

That's a baller sound system for a moving truck. Mine had a tape deck that was inoperative. Totally dead, no radio, no nothin'. When I dropped off the truck here I mentioned to the rental agent that I had listened to nothing but my wife for the previous few days. The guy credited me back $250 for the inconvenience. Now that's customer service! :laugh:

Stopping in Denver on your way from Florida to San Diego? I don't think Great Circle Distances work on the ground!

It is funny though, we made the exact opposite trip 3 years ago (almost to the day). San Diego to Jacksonville. In a Penske. With a Miata on a trailer behind. It was actually a very stressful/long trip because of various delays with closing on our old condo, new home, and a scaredy cat (literally) puking between the seats. To this day, we mockingly spit whenever we see a Penske truck in remembrance of that trip!

Greetings from 8,000' elevation in Georgetown, CO.


Everything has been going quite swimmingly, travel-wise, for the past few days. Today, on the other hand, was a bit grueling. Specifically, I-70 west of Denver is quite the beast indeed. Apart from the fact that in places it seems to climb straight up (relegating me to about 25-30 MPH) it is an amazingly twisty piece of road for a major interstate highway. It would likely be quite a blast to go cruising down in an Aston Martin V12 Vantage. It is less pleasurable in a truck and trailer.

I can't even imagine trying to drive on this in the snow which, coincidentally, is precisely what's forecast for tomorrow. There are many ominous signs warning me that I may be fined up to $1,000 for not carrying tire chains (which I am not), an equal number of signs indicating that I must stop and install the tire chains which I do not have whenever the lights are flashing, and a suspiciously great number of pulloffs alongside the highway which are designated areas for truckers to stop and install said chains.

This is something which I hadn't quite planned for exactly.

At about 9:30, I decided to call it quits and find a hotel for the night. (The word "quaint" describes this particular motel rather fittingly.) I shall resume tomorrow when the sun is up and I can at least see the cliff which I am about to fall off of.



I realized something earlier, before all this mess, which is that since leaving Florida on Monday morning, I've completely forgotten to stop and get anything to eat. I am being quite forthright when I say that my entire dietary intake for the past three days has consisted of a large jar of honey-roasted peanuts, a much larger jar of hard pretzels, and the several bags of beef jerkey which I brought along with me. I can't imagine that this is a particularly good state of affairs, and while I don't yet appear to be suffering from serious delirium (meaning that I refuse to engage the purple kangaroo who joins me in the truck from time to time in conversation) I suspect that this situation must be rectified soon. Tomorrow, I pledge that I shall eat something which can at least passably be described as "food."


... And what's this? A fracking toll booth in the middle of the interstate? Thank you, Kansas.

http://img01.imagefra.me/img/img01/2...pm_95d03db.jpg

Speaking of Kansas, I thought this was amusing. Who'd have thought that the one pump in all of creation from which flows pure, unadulterated gasoline would be located in exactly the geographic center of a state which is known principally for growing corn?

http://img02.imagefra.me/img/img02/2...am_d905af6.jpg


Ah, well. Kansas' energy policy appears to be quite a lark all around. Here, for example, is a group of wind turbines which are rotating at exactly zero RPM, just like those on the wind farms which both preceded and succeeded this one.

http://img37.imagefra.me/img/img37/2...5m_ba61722.jpg

One has to wonder what the total carbon emissions involved in the manufacture and installation of those things was, and how long it will take for them to reach break-even on that (by providing an alternative to coal-derived energy) at their current net output rate of zero MWh / day.


Fuel economy is down a tad as I've started to hit some elevation.

Miles traveled: 719.0
Fuel consumed: 82.954 gal.
Avg. Economy: 8.667 MPG.


Having apexed what may be the widest corner in the known world, I shall begin my turn southward tomorrow.

Good stuff. I love that 87 octane only gas pump. Its gas, its gets you from point A to point B, Who cares about detonation?

My friend was driving through I think Indiana and saw this. Good thing his NA is NA.

Greetings from Salina, UT.

Today was quite an experience. I have learned, for instance, that the snow-covered Rocky Mountains are exceedingly pleasant to look at, and exceedingly horrible to drive through with a truck & trailer. This is what the dashboard looked like for much of the journey.

http://img38.imagefra.me/img/img38/2...dm_f6fee58.jpg

Saw a few of these, too. Runaway truck ramp? Looks more like runaway truck jump. The picture does not do justice to how steeply inclined this thing is.

http://img40.imagefra.me/img/img40/2...qm_aba9b70.jpg


It is, in fairness, quite pretty. And I'm certain that in summer, in another vehicle, it would be a thoroughly enjoyable trip. In places, I kept expecting to be passed by a coyote with rocket skates on.

http://img01.imagefra.me/img/img01/2...wm_b103bb6.jpg

Doubtless however, he'd probably run right into one of these.

http://img01.imagefra.me/img/img01/2...bm_e08d7c4.jpg


In some places, one gets the impression that the state of Colorado just wasn't putting a lot of effort into things...

http://img38.imagefra.me/img/img38/2...bm_a7a6287.jpg

(Although I was a bit slow on the shutter, there's nothing omitted from that picture. It really does say Exit 116: No Name.)


In Palisade, CO, they've gone in quite a different direction with the whole naming things issue. 37 1/4 Road? E and a half? I'm trying to imagine how you'd write that on one of those forms where they have boxes into which each character is to fit. I somehow doubt that the OCR is equipped to deal with the concept of a backslash in a street name.

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The local wildlife is interesting as well. This was on 35 1/2 road. (Be sure to notice both signs.)

http://img37.imagefra.me/img/img37/2...1m_8302ccd.jpg


And then your GPS tells you something really odd:

http://img38.imagefra.me/img/img38/2...nm_5250ee9.jpg



Now, for those of you who might be wondering why a presumably sane and reasonable person might choose to drive from Florida to San Diego by way of northern Colorado, here is the answer:

http://img37.imagefra.me/img/img37/2...um_d21de9e.jpg

It fits!

Around the chest and posterior, it is snug but not uncomfortable. The dash needs to be cut quite a lot to fit my knees, and the pedalbox and forward section of the floorpan (below the feet) could stand to be lowered about an inch and a half to accommodate my big ole' Buster Browns, but apart from that, it's quite a pleasant place to be.

The expression "like a glove" comes to mind, however it seems somehow inadequate in much the same was as it would be to describe Ralphie's bunny pajamas merely as "pink." A better analogy in this case might be "like a condom."

It was quite nice spending the afternoon with Bill and Keith, who took a fair bit of time to show me around, answer my questions, and let me poke and prod about the cars. I was a tad surprised that their V8 conversion business really seems to be booming. I got to drool over one car that's about to go out, another freshly uncrated LS3 about to be swallowed, and saw several more cars lines up in the queue awaiting their turn. They also have another Westie going together, which was nice as in it's half-completed state I was able to poke around and see a lot of the insides.

http://img02.imagefra.me/img/img02/2...vm_a667fdc.jpg


After I left, I broke my strict dietary regimen with a chicken sandwich and a bowl of Chili Wendy's.

Then, things got ugly.

Not long after crossing into Utah, the weather took a turn for the much, much worse. By 6pm it was pitch black and moonless, snowing profusely, with considerable accumulation of snow and ice on the road. Adding to the dilemma, the headlights on my truck were apparently aimed with the cargo bay empty. With it loaded, and a trailer attached, the low beams do a good job of illuminating the snow several feet above the road, but not so much the road itself. The high beams are useful only as a navigational aid to low-flying aircraft.

I thought back to the sign I'd passed about 50 miles earlier which read "No services next 100 miles"

As I drove along I-70, blind, unsure of my ability pilot 12,000 lbs of articulated lorry in these conditions, and quite frankly more than a bit nervous, there was hardly another vehicle to be seen. I deduced that one explanation for this was that all of the sane, rational people who knew what that section of road is like, and had bothered to check the weather forecast, were at that time at home with their wife, their boyfriend, their dog, or their wife's boyfriend's dog, and presumably a warm, crackling fire. By corollary, I deduced that my presence on the road demonstrated that I was a stark, raving lunatic.

After a few miles, three tandem-tanker trucks proved me wrong as they careened past me at what I judged to be a suicidal rate of speed. While this did nothing to elevate my opinion of my own condition, it did recalibrate my understanding of the word "lunatic".

I said a short prayer, asking for guidance.

Not long thereafter, another truck entered the highway shortly ahead of me. From where it came I know not, however I noted that, unlike mine, its headlights shone like a freight train's, and unlike the aforementioned suicidal lunatics, this driver was perfectly content to putter along at 25 MPH. Judging this to be indicative of a reasonable mind, I settled in behind this truck, following in his tire tracks, secure in the knowledge that if he could make it, I could make it.

Not long thereafter, we passed two tandem-tanker trucks which has slid off of the road and were stuck in a gully, along with a third who'd managed to stop safely on the shoulder. It's going to take a tracked vehicle to get those poor bastards out.

After a few hours at 25 MPH, we finally hit Salina, and saw the first hotel signs I'd seen in quite a long time. Needless to say, I've stopped.

Tomorrow should be interesting. Depending upon which report I believe, there lies ahead either much, much more snow, or none at all (but rain).

On the plus side, I did have the forethought to drain my water injection system and refill it with 0° washer fluid just before leaving FL.


Miles traveled: 425.4
Fuel consumed: 48.422 gal.
Avg. Economy: 8.79 MPG.



Actually, the 87 is the good stuff. In CO and UT they have 85. Fortunately, the truck does not seem to mind. I've long held that in SoCal, we got shipped all the gas that wasn't quite good enough to sell in Tijuana. Apparently, in CO and UT they get all the gas that wasn't quite good enough to ship to Punjab, India.

So when are you taking delivery on the Westfield? ;)

Your horror stories of driving in the snow amuse me. Thanks.

http://img37.imagefra.me/img/img37/2...um_d21de9e.jpg
So did you laod it into the truck or is it comming later after you settle down in cali?

I know tell me about it! But remember he is from florida suddenly thrown into a mountain pass snow storm. Those test even those truck drivers that drive them every day.

On a funny note I was jealous of your weather just 5 days ago. Today I was running around in a tee shirt and look where you are! :giggle:

I feel like I'm reading the humorous version of Zen and the Art except the characters are no longer on two wheels of mechanical needy glory, but instead in a monstrous, lumbering life transplanter fueled by caffeine and beef jerky.

Good reading. I wish you the best in California.

Also, the more I read about the guys at FM...the more I decide they've got a solid customer here whenever I actually start bankin'.

I once saw a truck stopped in the one near Dead Man's Curve, on eastbound I-70 heading down into Denver. In addition to being steeply inclined, what you couldn't see because of the snow cover is that those ramps are also gravel traps, about two feet deep. They get used a few dozen times every year and do a good job of catching what goes into them.

Ah, California at last!

Today went quite well. I awoke to considerable accumulation of snow, but upon hitting the road, found it to be well plowed, salted, and completely clear. A light snow turned to a light rain as I crossed from Utah into Arizona and then Nevada.

As I was in no hurry at all, I did a bit of an experiment today. For the first two days, I drove the truck pretty hard, typically running 65-70 MPH. Then for the past couple, it's been severe mountainous terrain, lots of first gear pulling. Today, although there were a few inclines, it was mostly relatively level going. So I decided to take it down a notch, and ran at 50-55 MPH, attempting to see if I could crack the 10 MPG barrier. Far from it, this driving style produced the worst fuel economy I have yet recorded. I have absolutely no explanation for this. Apart from the one station in Kansas, I've been running E10 the whole way, and while I did have a tank of 85 octane in at the start of the day, I've heard no pinging whatsoever, and saw no difference on my second leg, after putting in 25 gallons (on a 35 gallon tank) of 87 octane.

Weird.



At any rate, this is definitely my kind of scenery.

http://img01.imagefra.me/img/img01/2...rm_bee1bb9.jpg

http://img38.imagefra.me/img/img38/2...8m_71b4def.jpg


Aaah, good ole' Zzyzx, CA.

http://img01.imagefra.me/img/img01/2...wm_d1c91d8.jpg



All this thinking about fuel made me notice something which I'd previously missed. Here's the front fender of my truck:

http://img38.imagefra.me/img/img38/2...dm_20942f5.jpg

FlexFuel is Ford's way of saying that the vehicle will run on straight gas, E85, or any mixture of the two. Now, here's the fuel filler on the side of the vehicle:

http://img38.imagefra.me/img/img38/2...4m_76d2b78.jpg

No E85? Now granted, I personally wouldn't choose to fill up with E85 based purely on the range penalty. But I haven't been able to figure out why Penske is telling me not to. Actually, I just thought of one possible reason. When I return the truck, I'm supposed to fill the tank to full. I suppose I could fill it up on E85, which is rather cheaper than gasoline on a per-gallon basis. I know of one station in Oceanside which sells it- not sure if the truck will physically fit...



I tell you what. The next time you walk out of your house and find a large alligator sunning itself on your driveway, be sure to let me know so that I can have a good laugh at your expense. :D That is the sort of situation which, as a Floridian, I know precisely how to deal with.



Somehow I doubt that FM would appreciate me taking their demo car. :rolleyes:

No, this was just a test-fitting. I've been wavering between a Westie and something Atomesque as my next car, and having now sat in the Westie (and figured out exactly what mods I'll need to do to make it fit me really properly) I'm about 95% in the Westie camp. When I get settled in, I need to make an appointment with a referee to see what my options will be in the event that I fail to score an SB100 certificate during the '11 season. Assuming that goes well, I'll most likely place my order and set about getting the new garage ready.



"A monstrous, lumbering life transplanter fueled by caffeine and beef jerky. I love it! I suddenly feel like Hunter Thompson in reverse.

I was really impressed by the visit. Their shop is about as close as you can get to being in the middle of absolutely nowhere and still have phone service, but it's a cool place. Everyone I met was quite nice, and even though the main shop floor wasn't very busy that day, it had a really hoopy feel about it.

The most impressive thing, actually, was the sheer bigness of it all. They had about dozen cars inside the shop when I was there, and yet there was no sense at all of being crowded. Additionally, there was also an airstream camper, two car trailers, and an airplane parked inside, and the really freaky thing is that I didn't even notice they were there until it was pointed out to me. If you moved a few things around, you could easily hold an autocross inside the shop.

Come to think of it, I probably could have test-driven the Westie inside...


Yeah, I've seen them in their uncovered state on I-8 / I-10, which I've driven a number of times. I can only imagine what it'd take to get a rig out of one. I just don't recall the ones down south being that steeply inclined, though they did have a rather serious-looking mountain of gravel piled up at the very end, just in case you're still moving when you get to it.



At any rate, stopped in Barstow, CA for the night. The goal is in sight- just a few hours to go tomorrow.

Miles traveled: 460.2
Fuel consumed: 53.267 gal.
Avg. Economy: 8.64 MPG.

Damn Joe! Wish I knew you were coming through KC, would've loved to have lunch or buy ya a beer!!

Next time I'm in Cali, eh?

lol at the "truckers", those folks are truly nuts and if they're pulled over you might as well too. shame you're back on the homo coast:loser:

I'll be making the same trip whenever I decide to go ta film school out in San Diego.
wtf. How the fux do you pronounce zzyzx?

Ah, good ol' Barstow...I've spent many nights there working out at Fort Irwin. Let me know if you come across a pregnant crack head trying to get money from you.

Good read as always, Joe. I was trying to figure out why you hadn't just hopped on 10W too, but it's clear now.

This Floridian found himself in a bit of a snow predicament too, but in the Miata. 225 RS2s make lousy snow tires, and I think I may have the only pic of what 6ULs look like with snow packed in them.

I know it's not packed, but there are 6ULs under there.

http://gallery.y8s.com/d/22547-2/DSC_1367.JPG

...

When I drove out here from California, I took the miata. It was Halloween so there wasn't much snow, but even still I used the KDW2s "just in case". I hit a little white stuff in Breckenridge, CO (stopped at the beer place for one beer of course) since it's right off 70 and there was snow on the ground.

Pretty uneventful drive.

San Jose to Flyin Miata in one stretch was pretty tough. Left at 4:30pm one day and was eating a late lunch with the FM guys the next day.

I stand corrected.

Touchdown.




Well, my decision to swing up to FM was honestly a last-minute thing. I didn't even have time to load the detail maps for that region into my GPS unit, so I was driving on the basemaps most of the time. I basically decided once I was nearing Texas.



It's pronounced the way it's spelled.


Actually, I've found the majority of truck drivers over the years to be extremely courteous, even to some guy driving a rental truck. (me.) But as with anything else, there are always a few nutjobs.


Heh.

I actually lived in Cincinnati for about five years, so I've driven in the white stuff before. It's just that I'm a little our of practice, and when you combine serious snow, a large heavy vehicle, poor headlights, ominous signs warning me that I need to be carrying tire chains, and the sort of terrain that I usually enjoy driving my Miata on, it's a tad much.

Still and all, happy as hell to be back in San Diego. Haven't computed the mileage for today, as I haven't filled up the tank yet.

Glad you made it safe...just in time to relax and watch some good football too.

How was NV... pretty damn boring huh. lolz

Heh. No relaxing- it's been straight back to work, plus all the machinations of helping my future roommate / landlord get all his shit packed up and moved into the new house which isn't officially his yet. All of my stuff fit into one truck. His might all fit into the HMS Somerset.

This was all supposed to be done weeks ago, but the process is dragging, during which time I'm sleeping on the floor of his living room at the old place. I'm too old for this shit...

NV was a very welcome relief after UT. And honestly, I really enjoyed the scenery. I've driven in and around Vegas before, but hadn't previously been on I-15 that far north.


Not a naturally tenable state for a Miata. Yeah, I know, you've all seen worse. This is a first for me (and my car).

http://img40.imagefra.me/img/img40/2...km_c023be4.jpg



This isn't what California looked like when I left...

http://img40.imagefra.me/img/img40/2...2m_2e1d7bc.jpg


Ok, this is better.

http://img37.imagefra.me/img/img37/2...bm_7d035a9.jpg

Made the final fillup and returned the truck today. Totals for the trip:

Miles traveled: 3,214.8
Fuel consumed: 356.967 gal.
Avg. Economy: 9.006 MPG.

I was curious to see how they'd react at the counter when they computed the mileage, as I figured that 3,215 miles was probably a longer distance than it is actually possible to travel in a straight line within the continental United States. (It's certainly much longer than the 2,546 miles one would travel on the most optimum route from Port Charlotte to San Diego.)

Turns out I was very close, but missed it by just a hair. From the Southernmost Point buoy in Key West to Hole-In-The-Wall Washington is 3,655 miles according to Google.

So close, and yet so far.

I am quite pleasantly surprised by the fuel economy I achieved. I'd very strongly considered getting the larger diesel truck, based upon Penske's own predictions that the 16' gas rig should average 6 MPG, and the 22' diesel rig 9 MPG. In fact, Penske even has a fuel calculator which told me that the 16 footer should burn through $1,446.75 in fossil fuels (at $2.70) vs. the 22 footer's $1,030.23 (at $2.89), which would have more than covered the cost spread in the base rental charge. My actual fuel tab for the trip is somewhere in the mid $900s. (I haven't added it all up, I'm just using their average cost x my actual consumption.)

Well, that's just bollocks.

Honestly, I can't imagine how I could even approach 6 MPG. I had the truck pretty much full to capacity, and was towing a 2,000 lb trailer with another 2,200 lbs worth of car on it, travelling at 70-75 MPH in a lot of places, and climbing mountains as high as 12,000 feet in places. Granted, the turbo would have been nice on those arduous uphill grades along I-70, though of course I was quite glad in other areas to have as short and lightweight a rig as possible- particularly when I stayed the night in Georgetown, CO. (Those roads were something else.)


What a long, strange trip it's been. Honestly, I really enjoy these cross-country moves; I find they give me pause to reflect and unwind, and they are, for the most part, quite rejuvenating. I think that rather than ever going on a cruise again, I may in the future simply rent an RV and drive the whole length of the country once a year.


And there's still some beef jerky left. :D

"I just drove in from Florida, and man is my jaw tired!"

I agree Joe, road trips are a blast. People get so caught up in wanting to visit other countries but never take the time to explore America. I went on a 5,000 mile plus road trip when I was 12 with my Grand father and it was something I will never forget. In fact, I've already began to plan another for 10 years from now. My Dad will be several years into retirement and my son will be old enough to enjoy and appreciate it. We're planning on making a loop around the US. Id also love to drive to Alaska someday, Id go North through NYS and then head west through Canada.
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