Welcome to Florida.
photo posted by matt in Sunday, March 21, 2021
Content about roadtrip
Our nav directed us off of I-75 to avoid some traffic. Sometimes we trust the computer on the necessity of these detours, sometimes we don't. We did this time, and drove along a winding two road highway for probably 5-10 miles through the last hills of southern Kentucky and into Jellico, Tennessee.
We've buzzed by Jellico dozens of times, of course, but have never stopped. It was nice to see. Looks like it might have been a bustling town back in the day, before the interstate came through, I'm guessing.
tags: roadtrip jellico tennessee
postposted by matt in Saturday, March 22, 2025
Renee and I are on the road early this morning, doing The Drive to St. Pete. It's different these days with just the two of us and the dog in the car, but I still enjoy it. She's not a huge fan, but I actually loook forward to it. A little windshield time has always been a good thing for me.
tags: travel roadtrip stpetebeach
postposted by matt in Saturday, March 22, 2025
Motels Are Having a Moment (nytimes.com)
"Some people shy away from the word ‘motel,’ because it has a connotation of Super 8 and Motel 6,” Mr. Blood said. “But the Brooklyn crew is not afraid of a good motel,” he said referring to what he calls “young hipsters.”
The old beachside, mom and pop motels in Florida seem to be having a moment, too. We've noticed several being renovated in St. Pete Beach and assumed they were being transformed into Airbnb properties. This article has me thinking that may not be the case.
tags: roadtrip travel stpetebeach
posted by matt in Saturday, July 20, 2024
Vikings rookie Jackson among 3 killed in crash (espn.com)
Police said Hazel was driving a Dodge Charger with Jackson in the passenger seat when their car was struck by an Infiniti Q50 attempting to change lanes at a high speed. The Charger left the road and struck multiple tree stumps....Neither the driver of the Infiniti Q50 nor her two passengers...was injured. Investigators believe alcohol may have played a role in the crash, police said, adding that charges are pending.
It's hard to tell what happened here, and I suspect two points from that story – the 3:14 AM time of accident and the statement that "alcohol is believed to have been a factor" – leave the impression that the athletes were drinking and caused the accident. After our drive yesterday, I wonder if they were innocent victims of racing on the highway. After all, their car "was struck by an Infiniti Q50 attempting to change lanes at a high speed."
Twice yesterday, in separate incidents with different cars, a pair of cars rushed past us, weaving in and out of lanes without signals and, seemingly, without care or concern. Both pairs were clearly racing and, by my estimation, were traveling at 90+ miles per hour while the fastest of the normal traffic was doing 75 (five miles over the limit). In the moment, this was more maddening than frightening – where are the cops when you need them? – but, after reading this story and that detail about the Infiniti "attempting to change lanes at a high rate of speed," I now appreciate the danger those racers created.
Turning back to the Jackson story, everyone in the Inifiniti was unscathed, of course. "[C]harges are pending," though, so there's that.
If this was caused by racing, I hope it brings some much-needed attention to this problem.
posted by matt in Sunday, July 7, 2024
We pulled into the driveway this morning at about 12:30 AM, completing The Drive in nineteen hours and forty-five minutes, give or take. It certainly took longer than our runs in a gas-powered car. I think our record "from the old days" is just under 18 hours, but that only happened once that I remember and had to be under ideal conditions. We certainly had those conditions yesterday, with zero rain, normal traffic, no backups, and an easy passage through Atlanta, providing the basis for a best-to-best comparison for The Drive with an EV versus a gas car. We did make use of the Express Lane south of Atlanta, mostly because it was open to us and, well, why not (it never seems to be open to us and we've always wanted to see what it was all about). Some quick math on the trip computer in the car told me, at the time, that it saved us about twelve minutes, so, to be fair, we likely need to add that to yesterday's time when making any comparisons, putting our final time at just under 20 hours.
So, under ideal conditions, taking the Tesla adds about two hours to The Drive.
Not bad.
postposted by matt in Sunday, July 7, 2024
Heading home today. Beautiful day for a drive.
postposted by matt in Saturday, July 6, 2024
From sunrise to sunset...it's been a long day of driving. Teddy's been great, as usual. He soaked up the sunset at this charging stop in southern Georgia. Renee and I got Starbucks to help with the last leg of the trip.
tags: roadtrip
photo posted by matt in Saturday, June 22, 2024
It's always sad, infuriating, and even a little comical when we reach southern Georgia. The interstate is lined with billboards warning of Armageddon, praising jesus, and villainizing democrats ("Don't be a Democrat, they're destroying America!"). Give me a break. "Abortion is Murder" seems to be a favorite, too.
Someone is spending a whole bunch of money to infuriate folks. Or, more likely, to manipulate them.
The contrast between the outright nasty tone of these billboards and the welcoming tone of the many signs for sausage shops and boiled peanuts stands is really strange. I've driven through the area my entire life, but I've never spent any time here, other than the occasional overnight stay in Valdosta. It seems nice, until you get bombarded with those damn signs. I don't think I'll ever spend any time here, they clearly don't want me.
postposted by matt in Saturday, June 22, 2024
One thing I love about our drives to Florida, and the early departure time they bring, is watching the sunrise as we head south on I-75. We usually get a nice view of things around Dayton and Cincinnati. This morning, we still had some remnants of a beautiful sunrise at our first charging stop in Florence, Kentucky.
Beautiful light in Florence, y'all!
photo posted by matt in Saturday, June 22, 2024
Headed out on The Drive today. Up and at it!
tags: roadtrip
postposted by matt in Saturday, June 22, 2024
Ah yes, the familiar pattern of a drive home from Boston — running from the sunrise in the morning and chasing the sunset at night. Always a good day.
tags: roadtrip
photo posted by matt in Saturday, May 25, 2024
Left early this morning to drive home. It's a lot lighter at 5:00 AM in Boston than it is at home. I could probably be an early riser here.
I loved seeing this view of the moon as I pulled away from the hotel.
So long, Cambridge. See you in the Fall.
photo posted by matt in Saturday, May 25, 2024
We're eating in a Panera in Cheektowaga, New York as the Tesla charges out back. I guess the charging time is the downside of traveling with the Tesla, but it's also kind of nice. Breaks things up a bit, and changes what we eat on the road, mostly for the better.
There was only one open spot when we pulled in, so we almost had to wait for a charger.
tags: roadtrip travel tesla newyork
postposted by matt in Monday, September 4, 2023
Headed to St. Pete Beach today. Left Perrysburg at our usually time ~4:15 AM. It's a long drive, but I truly look forward to it. I'm not exactly sure why, maybe it's nostalgia (been doing it my whole life), maybe it's the "dashboard thinking time," maybe it's the opportunity to catch up on podcasts. Whatever it is, SPB here we come!
tags: roadtrip
postposted by matt in Sunday, July 30, 2023
We left St. Pete Beach at 4:17 AM and arrived at home in Perrysburg at 10:15PM…essentially 18 hours flat. We had a few traffic delays, but overall not too bad.
tags: roadtrip
postposted by matt in Thursday, April 6, 2023
Made it home in about 11.5 hours. We had a little bit of rain, but nothing too bad. Mission completed.
postposted by matt in Monday, August 29, 2022
The fire and brimstone of southern Georgia never ceases to amaze me. This is representative of the billboards in the last 100 miles or so in Georgia.
It's funny, actually. Every time we "run the gauntlet," I feel assured in my belief that there is no god, because, if there were, he/she surely would have blown up the car with all the blasphemy and fist waving going on.
tags: roadtrip
photo posted by matt in Sunday, July 31, 2022
Beautiful morning for The Drive to St. Pete Beach.
tags: roadtrip stpetebeach travel
photo posted by matt in Sunday, July 31, 2022
It's been awhile since I've seen the approach to Cincinnati on I-75 North. It's one of my favorite stretches of highway, with the way it wraps around a hill to reveal the Cincy skyline, gradually descending to the Ohio River and the double decker bridge that crosses it. It's beautiful, particularly at night.
tags: cincinnati travel roadtrip
photo posted by matt in Sunday, June 26, 2022
Chattanooga, Tennessee. First time I've entered a supercharger lot to find no empty spaces. I'm sure that will become more frequent in the (near?) future. It really wasn't a big deal—a charger opened after just a few minutes. So now we're happily sitting at the Chattanooga airport watching planes come and go as we charge.
And it's raining, too.
tags: tesla roadtrip travel airport
photo posted by matt in Sunday, June 26, 2022
Sunrise, two hours or so into our drive home. So long, St. Pete. See you soon.
tags: sunrise florida stpetebeach travel roadtrip
photo posted by matt in Sunday, June 26, 2022
Teddy has been great in the car again. He's quiet, but a little nervous this time, I think. He loves the walks when we stop to charge, and happily gets back in the car when we're ready to go. I don't think he fully relaxes in the car, but seems to do ok.
Here Renee is giving him a drink while we charge in Acworth, Georgia.
tags: tesla roadtrip travel dog
photo posted by matt in Monday, June 20, 2022
20/20/20.
We made it from Perrysburg to Florence, Kentucky for the first segment of the drive—much better than I thought. The car automatically started preconditioning the battery for fast charging when we were about 20 miles away. We charged to about 90% in a little over 20 minutes, for a little under $20. Incredible.
photo posted by matt in Monday, June 20, 2022
We're driving the Tesla to Florida for the first time today. We've continued to drive Renee's gas car for our drives to St. Pete even after getting the Tesla three years ago. But, with current gas prices, we have a bit more motivation to go electric on this trip.
So, we headed out on our first real cross country trip in the Tesla this morning at about 4:30.
photo posted by matt in Monday, June 20, 2022
Made it to Batavia for the night.
The Maps app threw us for a bit of a loop, directing us to the U.S. Border and Immigration Control facility based on the address for the hotel. The barbed wire fencing and lack of a Holiday Inn Express sign were decent indicators that something was awry.
We looped around the road a bit and eventually found it. Must be a new hotel, or they've reconfigured addresses on the road recently.
tags: roadtrip
postposted by matt in Thursday, May 12, 2022
This weekend should be quite an adventure. Renee and I are headed to Cambridge to move Jonathan out of his sophomore dorm room and into a temporary dorm he's able to use for a few weeks in exchange for helping with the graduation ceremony. And our niece is getting married in Western Massachusetts on Saturday. So, we're loading Jonathan up tomorrow, headed out to the wedding location, heading back to Cambridge on Sunday to unload him, and then heading home on Monday.
tags: roadtrip
postposted by matt in Thursday, May 12, 2022
This seems as good a photo as any to be the first posted through the Shortcuts app on iOS. I remember taking it at a gas station on a drive home from Florida. In southern Georgia, I think. The grammar police are everywhere...thankfully!
tags: dev daystream roadtrip grammarpolice
photo posted by matt in Monday, October 11, 2021
Filling up on the beach must mean it's time to head home.
photo posted by matt in Friday, July 30, 2021
I always enjoy The Drive from Toledo to St. Pete. We started today at about 4:30, and just finished breakfast at our usual McDonald's in Florence. First shift down, several more to go.
postposted by matt in Sunday, July 18, 2021
There's a storm sweeping across the route home today, so we'll stay another day. Darn. ;-)
tags: weather stpetebeach roadtrip
postposted by matt in Wednesday, March 31, 2021
Had a little rain this morning, which always seems to be the case for us as we enter Florida. It always feels like a Wally World moment to me—
"Sorry folks, park's closed. Moose out front should have told ya."
tags: travel roadtrip moviequote
photo posted by matt in Sunday, March 21, 2021
Its official—we've got a good traveler. Teddy has been wonderful in the car. In the hotel last night, he got a little restless as he heard some doors and the elevators, but settled in after that and slept through the night.
On the bed.
For the first time.
😳
postposted by matt in Sunday, March 21, 2021
This road trip is different for a lot of reasons. For one, it's Teddy's first trip to Florida. He's really good in the car, but we weren't sure how he would do on "the drive." So far, so good. Five and and half hours into it and he hasn't made a peep.
tags: travel roadtrip dog labradoodle
photo posted by matt in Saturday, March 20, 2021
I wanted to leave this morning by 4:30 AM. So I told everyone we were leaving at 4:00. It worked perfectly.
photo posted by matt in Saturday, March 20, 2021
It's always a good day when you're loading the SunPass in the car. Heading to Florida tomorrow.
photo posted by matt in Friday, March 19, 2021
