I was on the road at 7:30am this morning. Called it quits at about 7pm (but lost an hour due to timezone change). That’s a lot of driving.
I’m not sticking to the route as shown yesterday, but only because I didn’t want to get tired while on the road and have another 100 miles to anything. I was in some places today where it seems like that’s what the situation was. Some route that google picked that is technically faster, but it’s not an interstate road, it’s some state highway, hardly used, and the closest one comes to finding civilization is a run-down ghost town. It’s a good thing I had a full tank before I started on that road.
High tailwinds today (steady 20-25 mph) helped me reach an all-time high MPG rating: 20.8. And that was with the cruise on at 70mph. Now that I’m not towing, the truck has new tires and new control arms, it can really sustain some serious speed. A good portion of the day was spent with the cruise on at 75mph, and while passing people I accidentally hit 90mph once. 85 was pretty common. The speedometer maxes out at 100mph, and I have absolute confidence the engine could bury the needle if I so wanted.
I had enough energy tonight to try out some random motel instead of paying higher price for a brand-name place. A quick Kayak search found a few options, and after seeing good reviews on google, I went to the Shamrock Country Inn in Shamrock Texas. $42.18 (including taxes) was the minimal damage done, and it’s cute with its vintage furnishings and plumbing. Everything is very clean, which is more than I can say about the last place, and it’s nice and quiet.
I think I still have somewhere around 15 hours left of driving time. Tomorrow I’ll put in around 8 and stay at another hotel somewhere.
Good idea to split up that last leg. Tempting to ‘make it home’ regardless of how long you’ve been on the road. You’ll probably need your wits about you as you’re gonna run into a snow storm in Mn. Tue. and or Wed. Check for it.
Nice motel room. Enough room to turn around in the bathroom (some are so tiny you need choreography to enter and exit).
I was thinking about recognizing your tribe. It is a bit simpler when they come attached to a mobile abode but there are a lot of people out there thinking the same but having to not do it because of health or finances. Even yourself would be difficult to recognize as an open roader when you are in Shoreview….