I ran into this over at GuyK‘s place. I couldn’t resist.

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After a delicious homemade breakfast (Thanks, GG!) I hit the road once again. Leaving Fort Worth was uneventful, as I think everyone else was headed into town:This is the merge from I-820 south to I-30 westbound.

Fort Worth in the morning:

Shortly after, I was at the end of I-30 and back on I-20:

Mile 420, I-20 westbound:Keep in mind that I-20 doesn’t go all the way to the end of Texas, after the 420 miles of I-20 I will still have quite a bit of I-10.

Saw a few of these:

Mile 320, I-20 westbound:Yes, I did say about seventy miles or one hour apart. You do the math.

Midland!

This helped:Can you see that top number? The one that starts with an eight and ends with a zero?

Since not everyone has a fast connection, and photos slow you down, I’ll skip ahead a few miles:This was at mile 70, I-20 westbound.

I-20 joins I-10:Jenn had mentioned, in our phone call last night, that she couldn’t imagine driving that far in one day. Wait ’til I talk to her tonight, and tell her how many miles…

Mile 140, I-10 westbound, near Van Horn:

Mile 70, I-10 westbound, near Fort Hancock:

Well, it was fun while it lasted:This was just inside El Paso County.

Oddly enough, I got better mileage in El Paso than I did anywhere else:Notice the higher bars to the right of the active mileage. This was even in the afternoon rush hour. By this time, I had set the clock for Pacific time, in order to call in to Jenn’s show on time.

New Mexico!Even though it wasn’t raining, I was now in the habit of taking the picture through the windshield. Why stop now?

And so, another day ends with the sun setting slowly in the west:Mile 106, I-10 west. About this time, I should have been talking to Jenn on her BlogTalk radio show. About this time, I didn’t have a cell phone signal. I stopped for gas in Savoy, New Mexico, and had just enough signal to let TMBWitW know where I was. Once back under way, I didn’t have a signal again until I got almost to Tucson.

I made an exception to the “stay in the car” pictures – because I was passing a big truck when I entered Arizona, and he was blocking the state line sign:This was in the first rest area inside Arizona on I-10.

I did manage to get a signal in time to tune in about a half hour late to Doug, to listen to the “Navy Stories” that were supposed to be on the air that night. Instead, since there were technical difficulties, we ended up just chatting.

I got to Phoenix about 2200, and pulled into my driveway about 2230.

Miles driven: about 1100 today. About 2340 total, including a few around Tampa and Clearwater. Money spent on gasoline, entire trip: $175.00 Not bad for this little car, and it was fairly comfortable, but I don’t know if I would take it on another long drive like this. Next time, I’m flying.

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I woke up Wednesday morning in Tallahassee (and, since that’s where I fell asleep, that’s a good thing) to rain.

Lots of rain.

After breakfast, I started out, with the lights on and wipers going, and killing the mpg on the Prius: Wet pavement, headwinds, idiots who think they know how to drive in water – my idea of STRESS!

Mile 141 I-10 westbound (still raining):Notice the rain didn’t slow me down very much (speaking of idiots).

Mile 70 I-10 westbound:Florida is finally coming to an end.

This is where I would have pulled over, set up the tripod, and snapped a picture of myself standing in front of the state line sign. Since it was raining, that plan was canned:If you like, you can imagine me standing in the rain in front of the sign, getting soaked every time a vehicle drove by and sent spray splashing my way.

On I-10, Alabama and Mississippi are only about an hour wide: Still raining here, too.

…and still raining as I cross into Louisiana:Still not stopping to get soaking wet.

Coming into Baton rouge, and crossing over the Mighty Mississippi:That sure is a bright bug. The rain seems to have let up, but there is a fine mist in the air and besides, I’m making really good time now.

Crossing the Basin Bridge – mile after mile of swamp below, still raining up here, and the wipers are working hard again. My timing is such that I managed to avoid getting the wipers in the pictures:

Off I-10, onto I-49:

Mile 70, I-49 northbound, near Alexandria:

Mile 140, I-49 northbound, near Natchitoches:I stopped in this area for gas and grub.

In Shreveport, merging off I-49 and on to I-20 westbound:

Texas!

I-20 westbound, someplace in Texas – I forgot to note the mile marker, dang it!

“Hey, Martha! Didja see that? That idjit took a flash picture in his car driving down the road!”Shortly after this, I talked with Jenn and promised I would call in the next evening on her show.

I arrived in Fort Worth at GG’s house, went to dinner, talked with Doug on his show that night, and then fell asleep.

Miles traveled: about 900

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

Now, understand that when I left on this trip, I had every intention of doing the whole tourist thing – stopping at the state lines, important points along the way, and so forth, to the point that I even packed the tripod for our camera so that I could take pictures of myself at the state lines, important points along the way, and so forth.

I didn’t realize how much I would miss my wife and daughter.

Now, I know that a big tough former Marine such as myself should be a big old independent cuss, able to stand on his own two feet, not need anyone’s help for anything, yada yada yada, but I stand before you a changed man.

As I recently told a friend, “…the whole self-sufficiency thing can get in the way sometimes…” – and I have finally had the lesson come home to roost.

So – I shot most of the pictures through the windshield of the rental car. Besides, day two was spent in the rain until I was in Texas. No way I was gonna get out, set up a tripod, take my picture in the rain, take down the tripod, repack it, and then continue on the way. I didn’t have that many changes of clothes.

You’ve already seen the picture of Denver International Airport. The next trip photo is of Tampa, as seen from the causeway driving from Clearwater: This was on Tuesday afternoon, as I headed out.
Mile marker 56 on I-275 nothbound:
Fair warning: you are going to see a lot of these.
Mile 317 on I-75 northbound: I took most of these every hour or seventy miles, whichever came first. I also learned a lot about the camera – like when it’s dark outside, the pictures don’t come out nearly as well. I experimented with the settings a bit, but nothing spectacular happened.
Mile 383 I-75 northbound:

Then I thought, “How goofy do I look driving?”Answered that one, didn’t I?
Once I gunned through Gainesville and hooked west, I felt like I was making some progress: (Mile 281 I-10 westbound)Still, it was getting dark, and time to start thinking about how long I wanted to drive.
Mile 211 I-10 westbound, just outside Tallahassee: You can see what I mean by the pictures not turning out at night. Since it was about 1830, I figured I would just stop for a bite and push on for a while. Then I saw the light had been left on for me, so instead I got a room at the Motel 6. I did grab a bite to eat, but I ate it in my room, watched a little bit of TV, and then sacked out.

Miles traveled: about 250.

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

Motherboard went the way of the dodo bird.

New MB, case, and power supply, since the manufacturer of the old one no longer supported it, or even made replacement parts.

I’ll be back in the swing of things after I make sure everything is hunky-dory.

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