I'm totally amused by the idea of being able to drive from here to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, which is about 600 miles/1000 km on one tank of diesel fuel.
Now, I'll panic early and want to fill the tank before I get that close, and I'll probably want to stop at Wawa as soon as possible to get an iced tea. Still, it's amazing thinking that, if I had to do it, I could do it.
Thinking about previous trips with 3 different Volkswagen gasoline-driven models, I usually made 3 stops for fuel. I didn't have set places but I would almost have to stop at a PA Turnpike service area since there wasn't any other place, especially when you're driving directly from A to B.
I would enter the PA Turnpike at the New Stanton (exit 11, I believe, but that's the old designation) and I would leave the Turnpike anywhere from Downington (PA route 10) to Philadelphia (U.S. 1), depending on where I lived at the time. If I had time, I'd often stop in Lancaster County to enjoy the ride a bit more and stop at restaurants along the way. If you haven't travelled U.S. 30, you're missing out on some great local stuff, along with some awkward traffic around the outlet malls.
I can't wait to see the Atlantic Ocean again. It's been too long since it last waved goodbye to me. I'm also looking forward to Mitsuwa Marketplace, a Japanese mall plus the usual hoagie, cheesesteak, and Italian restaurants that you can find all around Philadelphia and New Jersey. No, I'm not looking to become obese but I am looking for some flavour.
I wouldn't mind looking at the museums again, since it's been too long since I've been there. I don't care to run up the Art Museum's steps like Rocky again, mostly because I would like to have my car close and you can't drive up the steps.
I was thinking about going to Adorama's street fair in Manhattan on Sunday, 23 June. I've done quite a bit of mail order but I've never seen the store. I wasn't that close to it my last time in NYC, starting and ending at Penn Station.
I think the fuel will definitely be the least cost of the trip. It should be interesting to see the range of prices on the way. While the local Indiana/Ohio prices have held steady around $3.989, I saw that they're handling diesel at one Sam's Club and it was $3.699. This is especially significant when gasoline is over $4.00 per gallon in this area--the old Memorial Day to Labor Day gouging, probably.
I look forward to the trip and to see how the engine responds on a long, uninterrupted cruise. It used to take me around 5 hours, 50 minutes through Pennsylvania. I wonder if that will change because I won't need to stop for fuel, although I'll need to stop for human necessities.
On the way back, I'm planning to photograph two Madonna of the Trail statues, to add to the other three I've already taken. It's probably weird, but I'd like to go up to the little town where they filmed Super 8. I've been wondering how it is to live near a bigger river, and I've been to a few points along the Ohio River in the past year. It's a trip. I might as well indulge myself.
I arrived in the motel in Bensalem, PA just minutes outside Northeast Philly. Sprint's WiMAX is working at 9.9 Mbps accord to the test I just did, which is better than what Red Roof Inn is providing. I'm glad to see that a technology that people call "useless" and "old" and "pathetic" is doing so much better than the up-to-date technology I don't have.
The car topped out at 48.8 mpg. I filled up at London, OH, about 80 miles from home, and the car showed 500.2 miles with nearly 1/4 tank remaining, which suggests 664 mile range, instead of the 592 mile range based on the EPA rating of 42 mpg.
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