Blog Note

I'm back! 1,725 miles in the car, five States, 34 MPG, three hotels and one guest room. Old pet peeve: one semi trying to pass another while going the exact same speed. New pet peeve: I'll tell you tomorrow.

Mike

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Featured Comments from:

Sebastian Broll: "Question from a non-native speaker. What is a 'semi'? 'Hemi' I would have understood, but those I'd not expect to perform endless overtaking moves.  ;-)  Cheers, Sebastian (waiting for an X-Pro3 to be delivered)."

Mike replies: Sorry. What I meant is a tractor-trailer. A semi-trailer is a trailer that bears its own weight only on the back end; the front end is supported by the rear wheels of the tractor, which is the part with the engine and the cabin where the driver sits. A tractor can drive without a trailer, but a trailer can't roll without a tractor. You can see a diagram with the parts labeled here. And congratulations on the b*tchin' new Fuji!

Sean: "Re 'New pet peeve: I'll tell you tomorrow.' Is it cliffhangers?"

Comments

[Lynn]

Welcome home and glad you had a great time getting to know Cirrus, Mike. Looking forward to the pictures.

As to your old Pet Peeve, here in Australia where many rural highways are two-lane only it's illegal to exceed the speed limit while overtaking. I've had to pull over to avoid overtaking trucks coming from the opposite direction.

[David Lee]

Glad you’re back!

[Dave]

Glad you made it back safe and sound!

I don't even bother with the passing lane anymore, unless a bunch of people are trying to enter the highway. Always a left-lane bandit holding up a slew of cars.

My Impala can also get 34 mpg on the highway. It seems to like 70 mph for the best fuel economy.

[Peter Wright]

Glad you’re back. Was beginning to think the worst!

[Olybacker]

Glad you got back safe and had a good time with Cirrus and his family.

[Bryan Hansel]

In South Dakota they call multiple cars that are traveling at the same speed and blocking all the lanes a "South Dakota roadblock."

[James]

Semi (semi-rigid?)

In the UK they are often called 'Artics', for 'Articulated Lorries'

[scott kirkpatrick]

just wondering... How would your trip have worked out if you were going purely electric?

[Well, I've no clue, really, because I'm not familiar with how EVs are to use, and obviously I didn't research the location of charging stations en route, which I would have if I owned an EV. I think EVs currently make the most sense as commuter vehicles for regular daily trips. For example, I have a neighbor who just bought a PHEV, and she's only put in half a tank of gas in more than a month, as most of her driving is local and she has a charger at home. The car was frightfully expensive though, to my mind. --Mike]