God Damn Right, It's a Beautiful Day
The road trip to Clovis to see the Cannon AFB Air Expo went well. I've never driven on the interstate for seven hours in a single day before, but having friends and music helped the time fly by.
Plenty of interesting things happened during the drive. I played chicken with a semi and lived to tell the tale. On the way back home, I was tailed by two Dodge Vipers that were on display at Cannon. Later in the drive, I was passed by a truck and trailer that were carrying a third Viper, one which actually raced at Cannon. I also got caught in a charlie-foxtrot of trucks that kept passing me up, only for me to pass them when they slowed down. I eventually overcame.
Fuel economy was good. At one point on the way down I was getting 40 miles per gallon. Start and stop driving on base reduced this to about 36 mpg for the first leg of the trip, and the return leg probably saw similar gas mileage.
The drive to Cannon from Albuquerque isn't too scenic. Aside from the mountains east of Albuquerque, it's all open prairie, with the occasional grain silo or herd of cows. 84 runs parallel to some train tracks, and we did see a really long freight train. There were a few small and scenic towns, but that was the only trace of civilization.
The most rewarding part of the trip was getting to be with other bachelor lieutenants and learning to toss our pre-conceived judgements out the window. It was a great group of guys, and I'd love to take the trip again.
(Title of this post taken from the Road Trip sountrack)
Plenty of interesting things happened during the drive. I played chicken with a semi and lived to tell the tale. On the way back home, I was tailed by two Dodge Vipers that were on display at Cannon. Later in the drive, I was passed by a truck and trailer that were carrying a third Viper, one which actually raced at Cannon. I also got caught in a charlie-foxtrot of trucks that kept passing me up, only for me to pass them when they slowed down. I eventually overcame.
Fuel economy was good. At one point on the way down I was getting 40 miles per gallon. Start and stop driving on base reduced this to about 36 mpg for the first leg of the trip, and the return leg probably saw similar gas mileage.
The drive to Cannon from Albuquerque isn't too scenic. Aside from the mountains east of Albuquerque, it's all open prairie, with the occasional grain silo or herd of cows. 84 runs parallel to some train tracks, and we did see a really long freight train. There were a few small and scenic towns, but that was the only trace of civilization.
The most rewarding part of the trip was getting to be with other bachelor lieutenants and learning to toss our pre-conceived judgements out the window. It was a great group of guys, and I'd love to take the trip again.
(Title of this post taken from the Road Trip sountrack)
posted by Mr. X at
8:35 PM
