Today was the first day of driving with my mom. She instructed me that I was to operate exactly as I would if she were not with me. That means that I am not to make any extra stops for food or bathroom breaks on her account. I am beginning to realize where I get my craziness from.
It may be hard to track, but some of you may have noticed that on my long 10+ hour drives I do not really pull of the road very often. When I am by myself my goal is to get to my destination as fast as possible (while remaining safe and within the speed limit). Most people ask me how much money this trip is costing me, but honestly the time constraints are much more of a concern to me.
What we listened to in the car:
Tigers/White Sox game
Who Charted – Marc Maron
As I am doing this alone – although I am not alone at the moment – I need to take advantage of every spare minute I can. A frivolous stop at a rest area eats into time that I should be writing, or recording, or editing or scheduling, or running errands, or doing laundry, or any number of things that are involved with living a full life on the road. I need to eat in these cities, and I would prefer to eat something relatively healthy and inexpensive. Looking up restaurants in every city I am in takes time. Even if it only takes 20 minutes, that is 20 minutes that could be better served doing something more productive. I am in each city for a little over 48 hours and most of that time is spent at the stadium. Because of that I do my best to power through and stop only when absolutely necessary. This is why I buy my food before I hit the road.
For the first time since May 28 when I began this tour, I let somebody else drive while I took a nap in the passengers seat. I have spent 10,153 miles behind the wheel of my car over the last 56 days. Full disclosure: Rindler desperately wanted to help me drive during his week with me, but I would not let him. My mother refused to let me drive for long stretches today forced me to take a nap. It was glorious. For 350 miles my mom drove down the same stretch of highway that I had gotten sick all over days earlier.
We got to Willows, CA around 10:30 PM and decided to call it a day. I have been using hotels.com all summer and was eligible for a free night so we took advantage of it today. The first day of driving with mom was an unqualified success. I got to catch up on some sleep while still moving towards my next destination. When I woke up, my mom and I listened to the Tigers game on the radio. Tomorrow we finish off our drive and I will be back in LA.
Travel Stats
Miles Traveled: 678
Time in Car: 10 hours 50 minutes
Avg. Speed: 62.58 MPH
Gas Money: $69.16, 58.25
Gas Price: 4.299, 3.999
Gallons Filled: 16.0876, 14.478
Exercise: None
Sleep Time: 6 Hours 10 minutes
Bottles of Water: 6
Bathroom Stops: 4
Traffic Jams: 10 minutes
Food Eaten: Butter chicken and mataar paneer from Whole Foods, blueberries, raspberries, blackberries, grapes and 6-inch chicken teryaki from Subway
Total Money spent today $176.50
Cumulative Miles through today 10,503
Cumulative Time in car through today 196 hours 10 minutes