Rotorglow

As I mentioned the other day, I'm on a trip south to learn some car racing in Florida. After 4 days (including an off-day with my parents in PA), I've made it to near Daytona Beach, just as the NASCAR crazies arrive for this weekend's "great American Race," the Daytona 500 (and assorted other, inscrutable duels, shootouts, chases, and challenges). Here're a few stats and thoughts:

Total road miles from front door: 1292
Avg speed, including stops: 59 mph
Avg fuel "economy": 29 mpg

Observations:

• VA, NC, SC and GA are crawling with highway patrol cars. CRAWLING, I say....
• ...which led to (only!) one "oh shit"-moment.
• Instead of maintaining I-95, I hope SC is teaching kids to read.
• Super 8 is at least three steps above Motel 6 (not just 2).
• The smoke from the recent forest/wildfires in western NC and VA was blowing east over I-95 between Petersburg and Rocky Mount, NC. It cut visibility down to about a mile, made the sky orangey/brown, and made everything smell like....wood smoke.
• There are way fewer vans than I expected.
• The driving hasn't gotten boring yet. In fact, it's improved. Boston to Richmond is sucky; but that's no surprise. South of Richmond, the traffic abates, the roads improve (except for SC), and the land flattens out. The air smells different, too. I haven't driven south of DC since I stopped living in Chapel Hill, and I'd forgotten how (and the degree to which) things change mile after mile. It feels good, I have to say.

Last leg is tomorrow, an easy 200 mile run to Palm Beach (with a brief stop at the Kennedy Space Center, which I last visited when I was 8). Thursday is a day off by the pool.

And then....