Sonata Mileage

25,000 Cars A Minute

We pulled off I-95 in near Melbourne, Florida to do a driver change. We turn right and make a u-turn to stop in a spot on the left hand side of the road. This allows Donna to just turn right out of the parking and turn right again to get back going southbound.

At the intersection at the bottom of the off ramp there is a red light. No problem we should be able to go right on red. Ha. It is a very busy road and we watch 25,000 cars go by until a light turns red somewhere back to our left. I zip across 4 lanes to get in one of the two left turn lanes and get caught at another light. We wait for another 25,000 cars to go every which way until it is our turn. Of course to two left turn lanes promptly turn into one lane creating confusion and jockeying for position. After navigating that mess we find ourselves in a giant Target parking lot. I make a left and then another left to head back out to the road where we run into a stop sign and no place to pull over to swap drivers. We do it anyway and rush through the procedure. Only to have to wait at the stop sign for another 25,000 cars to pass by before a big enough gap appears for Donna to pull out and get on the Interstate. What takes 3 minutes on I-95 in SC or GA takes 15 minutes in FL. If Donna’s sister didn’t live in this state we would never get anywhere near it.

On I-95 near Flagler Beach, Florida the Purple Whale passed the 25,000 mile mark. Since we bought the car we have been driving the heck out of it, in the five hundred and fifty eight days of ownership we have averaged 46.5 miles a day. We only live 6 miles from work…

23,000 Feet Of Line

Somewhere in the Poconos, the Purple Whale clicked past the 23,000 mile mark.

Today was the first day since we started our trip that I didn’t take a single picture, so I have posted an artsy photo from Monhegan Island. More than likely that will be the case for the next week or so.

22,000 Blocks of Dolomite & A Couple Of Covered Bridges

Somewhere along US7 in the Massachusetts Berkshires the Purple Whale inched past the 22,000 mile mark.

We climbed three towers today, the:

Winsted Civil War Monument, the tower at the top of Haystack Mountain and the elevator assisted ascent of the Bennington Battle Monument.

And we photographed two covered bridges, one in Sheffield, MA and, as required by law, this one from Vermont:

Upper Falls near Downers, VT.

21,000 Pieces of History Ignored

Somewhere between Columbia, SC and Charlotte, NC the Purple Whale surpassed the 21,000 mile plateau. We are on our way to the State of Maine, but first we have a stop in The Plains, VA to watch some of Donna’s cousins play bagpipes in a Scottish games there. When I was driving and we were not near any large cities in Virginia I would opt to drive on US11 which parallels I-81. It is a lot slower, but much easier on the eyes and senses. Along this back road we must have past by over 21,000 Civil War roadside plaques without so much as a sideways glance.

We stopped in our favorite little town in Virginia, Lexington, and took the Lewis Loop walk along the Woods Creek Trail and back through VMI and Washington & Lee, passing by right by the burial place of Stonewall Jackson which we have never visited. We even parked across the street from 318 South Jefferson to start the walk.

We had dinner at the Southern Kitchen in New Market. It has been open since the middle 1950’s and the only thing that has changed is the prices. The booths along the wall have those personal jukebox things, the is a soda fountain counter on the other side. The menu choices are probably the same and judging by the age of the clientele they are probably the same people who ate here then too.

After dinner as we continued north on US11 I spotted a sign that said Covered Bridge, so I turned off to investigate. I drove the Sonata through one way and then back the other before we pulled into a little parking area nearby. We walked down to the river beneath looking for a vantage point to get a photo, but they were few and far between. I did manage to get this one of Meems Bottom Covered Bridge.

I walked to the other side to see about another vantage point and when I looked down, this one is for you Mark, I saw a dead cow! I didn’t go down there, I’m not that much of a diehard photographer (groan.)

20,000 Miles Of French Roads

Actually the tour only covers a little more than a tenth of that figure at 2,173 miles, but on yesterday’s short flat stage from the Provence of Kroger to the department of Boardman the Purple Whale crossed the 20k mile figure.

As we do every year we’ve upgraded our cable package so we can watch the bike race. What started as the Outdoor Life Network and morphed into VS (later they spelled it out, Versus) is now this year the NBC Sports Network. NBCSN doesn’t show as many repeats as Versus did, so it is not as convenient for us to watch the weekday stages. Last year Versus had a 2 hour show be tween 5 & 7PM, but this year we have to wait until 8:00PM.

We were tempted to try their live streaming, but try as I might I could not find any information if I could replay the stage when ever I wanted, Like 5:00PM…

19,000 Volts

According to Wikipedia, Chevrolet has sold a little over 15,000 Volts in the US since they started producing them in 2010. The world wide sales numbers are a little hazier, but if I had to guess, the total number of these plug-in hybrid electric vehicles in service today is probably around 19,000.

I saw my first one in the wild today, in white, while not necessarily attractive, it is certainly not ugly either, as it passed by me on I-20 in Columbia.

Somewhere just east of New Holland, the Purple Whale, windshield wipers slapping back and forth, passed the 19,000 mile mark.