College Trip Day 4 - The Trip and Travel

Leaving Memphis, TN in the am humidity.

Stopped at a Diner off the interstate to refuel.  Turk was suspicious of the quality of the food.  When we saw popo in there we know it would be good.

When you stop to eat in Tennessee you will be watching NASCAR for sure.  You think the Turk sticks out surfing the web on her iPhone??

Classic southern food.  Out of Mac n Cheese much to the boys chagrin.

Turks concerns further allayed when the utensils came in their personal condoms.

Turk had the Meatloaf with 3 sides.

Jim the Pork Tenderloin.  The item which looks like a pancake is actually cornbread!!

Will had steak and eggs.

JW the pulled pork and tater tots.

All good businesses realize the value of their customers, a sentiment at B-H we appreciate more than you know.  We chuckled a little at the misspelling on this sign.  (Someone will have to help Kane discover it.)

Think about this next series of photos and what is so interesting.   

1.  Will driving.

2. JW Gaming.

3.  Turk back in her office.  She really is like a rock star in a Limo on this trip.

4.  Jim "resting his eyes."

We hit Miami University around 9pm and ate dinner at a local restaurant.  Jim used to work there, first as a bouncer, then as a bartender when he turned 21.  Forget its current name, it used to be called "Attractions."  The layout and most of the furnishings have not changed one bit in the 23 years since Jim went to Miami!!

Since today was a travel day, some random thoughts about the trip.  Today we are driving from Memphis TN, to Oxford, OH. 500 miles, 7+ hours, or about 35 gallons of gas.

We are traveling in a Yukon designed for travel.  In-car nav and OnStar take the stress of navigating to where we go away.  JW has a song called On* (OnStar) by mc cris which is hilarious albeit a bit racy (High School Humor)

Last summer Terri, Jim, Will and JW rode across the country with PAC Tour from Washington state to Virginia. Terri and JW felt that once is enough, so are not joining Jim and Will this summer when they ride from Canada to Mexico thru the Rocky Mountains, again with PAC Tour.   This 6 colleges in 8 days trip gives us the opportunity to have some of that closeness as you can imagine.

As gas prices shot up this spring, Jim began to have visions of the trip becoming something out of Mad Max, or the Road Warrior.  Roving gangs of gas thieves looking for easy prey - like a family of four in a Yukon. Thank goodness we don't have the 1984 Suburban anymore - it had a 42 gallon tank!  Jim planned to throw Will and JW up of the roof with crossbows if it came to that.  Plan is to protect the Turk first, gas second.  Once it's $20/gallon that order might change?

Another thought Jim had was that could be the last great American Family adventure?  When gas is $20/gallon we will definitely be bike touring but probably not car touring.  Will America's roads be essentially empty next Summer?  The political ideas to keep gas prices down this summer to make people drive more were absolutely asinine - shocker, huh?  When do we return to 55mph speed limit as we did in the 70's do reduce overall comsumption.

Jim set this trip up to give the boys a feel for the various looks and feels of different shools. First 3 days in Texas (UT, TT, A&M,) then to Ohio (Miami University, Jim's Alma Mater,) then to New York (Syracuse University, the boys cousin Mika's current school,) and finally to UNH (next door town to Opa.)

We had to crisscross TX inefficiently a little, due to logistics. Jim worked til 7am Thursday and there was no way to get to College Station by 8am or Lubbock by 10am for admissions meetings so we did UT in Austin first. Easy to get there by 10am since Austin is only 70 miles from San Antonio. Starting Day 1 at either TT or A&M would have been logistically bette, but hey you take what is served, right. TT was scheduled the next day, Friday (clear across the state,) because it did not offer Saturday am tours, like A&M does. So back across the state Friday to A&M.

Our appointment at Miami is Monday am, giving us a day and a half to travel the 1000 miles.    We stay at a nice lake 10 miles north (Hueston Woods) and have an extra day there to let Jim relive his college days.  Man the Turk is a tolerant bird.

Wednesday we go to Syracuse, then race up to New Hampshire that evening to tour UNH on Thursday.

Total trip mileage should be around 3000 miles. The Yukon gets 15 miles per gallon and we are paying around $4.15/gallon for Hi Test. I'll leave the math to you, it is a bit painful.  Air travel isn't really a less expensive option with 1 way tickets at least $400 and roundtrip tickets at least $800.  It is what it is.  

Thanx for reading.