Road Trip

[MichaelB]

We have concluded our yearly migration northwards. This time it took longer than planned, some local economies along the way are better off thanks to our unplanned contributions - mostly auto care and hospitality. I also have a new computer - my hard disk failed (2nd time).

A few observations from the road:

truck traffic was just average, definitely not above where it was 6 or 12 months ago, still far below its peak in '07
auto trucks and moving vans are still almost non-existent
there was some RVs, but mostly smaller ones.
the good- to- bad driver ratio hasn't changed much , and there are many more bad drivers south of Atlanta and in South Florida.
State trooper presence was less than it was a year ago, especially in Georgia. This surprised me. The expectation that greater ticketing efforts would be made to offset declining revenues elsewhere does not show on the highways.

The highway system in the US is amazing.

Unrelated to the road but the result of having to move unwillingly to a new computer: For a company whose claim to fame was "making IBM personal computers easier to use", Microsoft sure does make it hard to use its products.

 

[Alan]

Glad to hear that you made it back safely.

Next year all our travels are planned to be by road,

 

[REWahoo]

Next year all our travels are planned to be by road,

Passport problems?

 

[Alan]

Passport problems?

We just fancy a year off flying. We can't remember the last time we had a year without flying, so we thought we would do some serious driving in the USA as we enjoyed our driving trips to Colorado and Ontario last year (but still ended up flying to England as well when FIL died).

 

[REWahoo]

We just fancy a year off flying.

There is a lot to be said for having a big say in your own travel itinerary, especially when compared to being an airline [-]prisoner[/-] customer.

 

[MichaelB]

Glad to hear that you made it back safely.

Next year all our travels are planned to be by road,

Thanks. Had enough radiation and TSA pat downs for now?

Will you be driving here in the US?

 

[Alan]

Thanks. Had enough radiation and TSA pat downs for now?

Will you be driving here in the US?

Radiation and pat downs are the very bottom of my concerns when flying Many hours in the airplane in cramped seats, schedules to make etc are the main causes of irritation.

Last year we enjoyed traveling by car with the flexibility of driving through the countryside and stopping whenever and wherever we fancied on the way.

 

[Goonie]

........we enjoyed traveling by car with the flexibility of driving through the countryside and stopping whenever and wherever we fancied on the way.

Amen to that!!! We've thoroughly enjoyed our road trips for exactly the same reason...stop whenever and wherever! On our ride to Florida earlier this year, we had only been on the road for about 1 1/2 or 2 hours down in central Georgia, when a hankering for ice cream hit us. I knew of a little shop in the midst of a pecan grove, a mile or two off the interstate out in the boonies that makes their own fresh pecan ice cream! Boy, was it good!!!

 

[Alan]

Amen to that!!! We've thoroughly enjoyed our road trips for exactly the same reason...stop whenever and wherever! On our ride to Florida earlier this year, we had only been on the road for about 1 1/2 or 2 hours down in central Georgia, when a hankering for ice cream hit us. I knew of a little shop in the midst of a pecan grove, a mile or two off the interstate out in the boonies that makes their own fresh pecan ice cream! Boy, was it good!!!

While working we never had the vacation time to do any long distant driving, so this has turned out to be one of the great pleasures of retirement.

We are having similar experiences with bus travel here in England. One thing buses have over a car is the ability to go somewhere, set off on a long, linear walk, and catch the bus back home. When we lived here before we drove everywhere and any walk or hike we did had to end up back where the car was parked.