Well, I’m back from my whirlwind day at the Mississippi gulf coast. Heather, a special high school friend of mine, is about to move to Dallas, and this was one of the last chances we had to get together. (We’ve not worked hard enough to find them; though we’ve kept in touch fairly consistently, this was the first time we’d seen each other in seven years.) I decided to drive the whole way rather than try to meet to make it easier for her, and also to say hello to her parents.
She took me on the Katrina tour (still sadly and brutally impressive 18 months later), we sat on the beach and visited a bit, and we had a marvelous lunch at Aunt Jenny’s in Ocean Springs. It was a lot of fun catching up.
In the “personal bests” department, I drove 817 miles today, shattering my old single-day record of 725. I averaged 71.6 mph (71.8 going, 71.4 coming), gas and restroom stops included. (That’s Mr. Cannonball Run to you.) It was a near-perfect day on the interstate. I shudder to think what the law of averages will do to my next trip out.
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I was hoping you’d shoot for an average in the triple digits, Bo. 117 all the way! Yeeeeeeeehawwwww! *grin*
Well, that would have made the whole round trip take just under 7 hours, instead of almost 11.5. 🙂
The troopers were out bigtime yesterday. I saw maybe ten marked cruisers each way, and some crafty unmarkeds (like an F-150 and a Tahoe) with customers.
On controlled access highways, I generally add 7 mph to the speed limit (77 in both Alabama and Mississippi), set the cruise there (checked against GPS), and that never draws attention. I don’t even take it off passing a trooper in the median. It’s also a good speed to run without a lot of traffic, because it’s too fast for Grandma and most tractor trailers and too slow for the nuts who really do try to sustain 90-100. You wind up running by yourself a lot, or with a friend or two 50-100 yards back.
You surpassed my record by far, Bo! I think I’ve only made it to 400 or so miles of consecutive driving by myself. Hats off to you!
Aw, shucks, Lesley. 🙂 It wasn’t quite consecutive–it was in two chunks separated by about 5 hours–but it was all in one day.
I didn’t much feel like going anywhere today.
Well, I’m not here to comment on your fantastic time or speed but on YOU. I am so blessed to have the friendship that you and I share. Thank you from the bottom of my heart for traveling an incredible distance and spending all day with me. I enjoyed talking, sharing, laughing….just being together. THANK YOU! Heather
Heather, I had a marvelous time too, and it was my pleasure. After not seeing you for so long, it was heartwarming to get so much uninterrupted time! I’ll always cherish our friendship.
Ok, pretty impressive mileage. I of course went straight to mapquest to see how far it is from my house to your house and it is about 700 miles. (I was sure I had you beat with my many trips to visit) So, I sit in awe of you accomplishment. What were your start and finish times? Your sis’
I don’t have meaningful times for the way down because I missed an exit. The way back was 399 miles in 5:35 (3:38-9:13 pm).
Dad’s got us both, and by a bunch. He did Birmingham to Minneapolis in one day (to marry Mom), and most of the interstates in between weren’t finished yet. Best I can tell it was about 1150 miles.