So much travel, so little time – and I am SO glad I was jotting notes and whatnot as I went along.

Monday, January 14, 2008:
The Flight from Phoenix to Denver was my favorite kind – uneventful. There was turbulence on the climb, and again on the descent. I think I know why they call a paperless voucher and “e-ticket.”

Unfortunately, my cousin in Denver was unable to come out to visit with me at the airport. Prayers and well-wishes for Bev would be welcome and appreciated.

Denver International is a very nice airport – at least concourse A is. I didn’t wander about too much. Without needing to leave to meet my cousin, I wanted to avoid a second security check if possible.

Osama Bin Laden is probably chuckling up a storm over what he has managed to incur on the traveling public. Very clever.

I know that I jotted lots of notes for this trip. I just can’t remember where they are. Really, I had some insightful comments to make, and droll observations.

Huh. I wonder what happened to them.

Anyway – left Tampa Tuesday afternoon, about 1500 hours, and drove for a while. I’m not as young as I used to be, so I ended up roosting in Tallahassee in a Motel 6 at about 1830 hours. Next morning (Wednesday), I was on the road at 0730, in a rain that lasted until I was well into Texas on I-20. Yes, that was over 800 miles of driving in the rain. I honestly can’t think of anything more frustrating, nerve-wracking, and stressful than driving in the rain. With snow and ice, the idiots slide off the road and you don’t have to deal with them. With rain, everyone thinks they can drive in the rain. Never mind that they haven’t changed their wipers in ages, and can’t see more than twenty feet in front of them – they will tell you they are the safest drivers out there.

I arrived at GG’s house Wednesday evening about 1930 hours – a bit later than planned, but still early enough to have a nice dinner with her. After a restful night’s sleep, and a delicious home-cooked breakfast, I was again on the road by 0730. I took a break about the Midland-Odessa area, filled up and ate a quick bite while talking to TMBWitW on the phone. Then I was back and cracking – I hit Phoenix about 2200 hours, and put my head on my own pillow by 2230.

In Tampa, I had rented a mid-size car. They offered me a Toyota Prius for an additional $10.99 a day, and I jumped at the offer. The savings in fuel alone would more than offset the daily charge, I figured – and I was right. Over the 2,340 miles I drove from Monday evening to Thursday night, I averaged 42.8 miles per gallon. Oddly enough, I would get better mileage in the cities, where traffic was stop-and-go, than on the open road, but I figured that was because on the open road I was using the little gas engine more than the electric motor. Once I set the cruise control on the Prius, it would stick that speed up hill and down dale. I took advantage of drafting traffic – the bigger the draft, the further back I would be able to reap the benefit – and posted some odd numbers at times. One time, for about 15 minutes, drafting a big rig that I was v e r r r r y slowly catching up to, I was getting about 75-80 mpg at 80 miles per hour. This was in west Texas, on I-10, where the speed limit is 80.

During the drive back, I chatted here and there with some blogfriends, and promised Jenn that I would call in on Thursday evening and talk with her during her Jenn’s Jungle BlogTalkRadio show. Naturally, come time to call in, I was on the one stretch of Interstate Highway that has no cell service whatsoever – I-10, between El Paso and Tucson. Well, except for a blip near Savoy, that I used to call and leave a message for TMBWitW so she wouldn’t worry about me. I did, however, manage to call in to Political Pistachio Thursday evening, and participated in that chat for a while.

When I find my other notes, I will post more about this trip. I’ll also put up more pictures, although most of the pictures are shot through the windshield at speed and are of random points on the freeways, along with the obligatory stateline crossings.

Thank you for stopping by, God bless you all, Wear Red on Fridays, and support Warriors for Innocence!