The drive home.
2795 km's, ninety percent of it in rain. Haven't seen the sun in over a week. It's warmer here today than it was in Austin last Saturday.
This was a trip of weather anomalies, starting with intense heat and high humidity, then wind and rain, then cooler, then downright cold and more rain.
At one point last week the radar map showed a weather system (rain) stretching from Mexico all the way to Newfoundland.
But I'm not complaining. All in all it was great.
A few random notes.
Gas in the US is CHEAP! In most states it could be found for as little as $1.60 per gallon. That would translate to 58 cents CDN per litre. We are paying 50% more for gasoline in Canada. It's nice to be able to call yourself a Canadian but it sure costs!
Diesel was a little more, about $2.00 to $2.60 a gallon, but still cheap.
We burned about $650 worth in 2620 miles. The Unit averaged about 11.5 miles to a CDN gallon. Towing the car cost us about 1 mpg. So the fuel cost to tow it the 2600 miles was about $60. Not bad.
I can't speak highly enough of this little car. We dragged it mercilessly over enormous pot-holes at highway speeds and flogged it at 75 mph in the rain for 3 days with nary whimper. I followed us everywhere faithfully, stuck to the Unit's rear bumper. If not for the rear camera I would never have known it was there. I found it hard to believe but we put 1600 km's on it not counting the trip home.
Speed limits south of the border are more realistic than in Canada. Some go beyond realistic. I remember sailing through a small town in rural Texas on a 2 lane country road (ironically the road's name was "Nameless Road") at 55 mph, the posted speed limit. That's pretty close to our maximum on major highways like the 401.
We had a budget for the trip and I'm happy to say we were able to stay well within it. This was in no small part due to the fact that I wrote the budget when the CDN dollar was near par with the US dollar. The budget didn't specify which currency it was referring to so I chose US, of course.
The low cost of fuel and our preference for State Parks over the more expensive private parks helped a lot.
Without getting into specifics, the entire trip came in just under $4000 plus the cost of the trip home at $324.
That's roughly what a week in St. Maarten used to cost us.
So there you have it. Our first big trip in the Unit. The first of many we hope.
Thanks to all who came along for the ride, it's been great!
Hope to see y'all again in the spring.
Be safe, be happy, just do it!
