The Search for America Tour Wrap-Up

We arrived back at tbbs WorldHQ yesterday afternoon, after yet another successful Search for America Tour. The Cadillac was a great car, traffic not too heavy, and the weather favorable, as least as far as the absence of severe weather was concerned.

As we were heading south down I-81 southbound last weekend, we observed a lot of bridge construction in the northbound lanes. This was going on in the Virginia boot¹, and was causing 4-5 mile backups when we went through. We decided to alter our return route to avoid that part of Virginia, and wound up heading north from Nashville, to Lexington KY, across Kentucky and West Virginia, where we rejoined I-81 significantly north of all the constructuon. This was a longer route, but the scenery was worth it; Kentucky horse farms, and a ride through the heart of bourbon country spring to mind. We decided we’d like to do another SfAT to Kentucky, and spend some time on the distillery tour circuit, see the Corvette Museum in Bowling Green, and in general, just do touristy stuff. We’ll do that another day.

Our best-laid plans for missing traffic backups went into the dumper less than 10 miles from home, where we endured a seemingly interminable wait on the Fairfax County Parkway. No accidents, no construction, just a gaggle of rude, selfish yuppies blabbing on their cell phones, and honking their horns. I truly lead a charmed life.

Since no tour is complete without metrics, here’s what I have:

• Total miles: 2249.
• Our average speed for the entire trip was greater than 60 mph, I think around 65.
• MPG for the trip: 24.972356554. This is for the first 1874.5 miles; we had the “Bring the car back with empty tank” option.
• Fuel range remaining at car turn-in: 74. This is the best number of all.

That gas service option is not a great deal; it’s more of a convenience. Avis has a totally different view of both the capacity of the fuel tank and the cost of gas than I do. And the car is never totally empty. Next tour, we stop at the Exxon less than a mile from the Avis return place, and top it off ourselves. Still, I thought bringing it back with 74 miles’ worth of fuel was a Great Thing.
-k-