So, we left Phoenix late Wednesday to get out after most of the traffic cleared, and pulled into our friends place in El Paso at about 3am (420ish miles).
I was pretty wasted from the previous weeks chaos... So when our friends most graciously offered to have us stay an extra day with them, we most gratefully accepted.
Having well recovered with a decent nights sleep, and a good days company, we again decided to set off later than originally desired...
...this time because a major tropical depression had formed over the next major destination point on route, New Orleans... in fact, there was a full blown cyclonic storm stretching from Austin to the Florida atlantic coast.
Next leg, El Paso to Austin was about 580 miles, when we stopped for a late dinner around 10pm (the Texican in Austin, very good food, most of it house made not brought in, and excellent service), and waited another couple hours for the rain to clear between there and New Orleans.
We left Austin about midnight, drove down through NO (Mel had never seen it before), and stopped for breakfast with a friend in Kenner (just outside of New Orleans) around 10am (about 500 miles). He also led us to a great dogpark where we all played with the boy, and the dogs, for a couple hours of much needed off the road time.
From Kenner, it was a relatively short hop (220 miles) over to Pensacola for dinner etc... with another couple of friends, and a couple hours of socialization, before the final leg down to Lakeland.
That final leg was about 470 miles, and with the timezone change and fuel stops... and some slowdowns due to REALLY REALLY thick fog, we finally pulled in around 10am Sunday.
We've been running around the last two days doing the basic errands required so that we can sleep, eat, live, work etc... but tonight we can actually mostly relax. We only have a couple more "must do now or soon" things to deal with over the next couple days...
... then I think I'mna try to sleep for a bit..
You know... like... a couple weeks...
Trip Log:
Origination: Chandler, AZ- 05-07-0159z
Termination: Lakeland, FL - 05-11-1459z
Total time enroute: 97h 58m
Total engine on time: 35h 59m
Total rolling time: 31h 58m
Total en route miles: 2,222.22mi ctd.
Total enroute average speed: 22.9mph
Average driving speed: 69.49mph
Total fuel: 145.9 usgal
Average fuel economy: 15.229mpg
Total fuel cost: $559.78
Avg fuel cost per gallon: $3.839
Fuel cost per mile: $0.252
Food cost: $196.94
