general observations on the last week and a half:
my girlfriend and i (well, she went my girlfriend and returned my fiancee) went to florida. hopped in the P71 the day after christmas and came home yesterday.
so on the way going up the mountains my overdrive band started slipping between 60-72mph on uphill grades. anyone traveling I-77 from ohio south knows that when you hit west virginia the whole state is uphill. i had to drive carefully to keep it around 75. i had severe doubts about making it home at this point but i was not turning back.
uneventfully made it to florida to find my best MPG tank was the one where 80% of it was going downhill out of the mountains in VA and NC - 22.5mpg. most fillups were in the 20.5 range.
i found that as a whole except those who work there in office buildings, Tampa is closed on mondays. and that travel book made Ybor city look way cooler than it really was, unless you count paying $3 to look at some construction paper signs about cigar making cool.
Clearwater beach is nice, however it was chock full of Iowa people since the Outback Bowl was happening. this made a rather interesting mix of the normal florida retiree hawaiian shirt/khaki pants/sandals with socks/panama hat attire and the iowa retiree hawkeyes shirt/jean shorts/cheap tennis shoes with socks pulled up/hawkeyes cap/bright white skin look.
My favorite part of the general area was Tarpon Springs. i got to see some manatees there, and while we were out at the beach on honeymoon island we saw a shark come right in and swim along the shore.
Traffic on I-95 north in georgia sucks, we ended up detouring via 303 and 17 to keep moving, every time the road got close enough to see 95 traffic was still sitting.
the Plant museum in Tampa sucks. I was expecting along the lines of the Lightner museum in St Augustine and was presented with a hallway and a couple rooms none of which had anything interesting.
Ybor City - coming back to this - my highlight of the half day spent there was Mema's Alaskan Tacos - good freaking tacos right there.
Dunedin - nice little town with some decent shops to browse for crap i do not need. the Salmon BLT at Sea Sea Riders was probably the best food of the trip.
Where the hell is Skee Ball????? EVERY arcade i tried had the lame shorter ramp version - Ice Ball. LAME! I'm buying my own Skee Ball machine as soon as i find a good deal on a working one because i can't take it anymore.
the Days Inn in columbia SC at exit 7 or so on I-77 is the WORST HOTEL EVER! so gross, dirty, stained, and generally scary. i could not scrub it off of me in the shower and still feel dirty.
Comfort Suites in clearwater on Alt 19 just south of Dunedin was super nice but their pool closed at 6 - wtf? made it impossible to go out for the day and come back to jump in the pool.
that "fort" south of St Pete beach - what the hell was that? they put up some guns and built a hill out of sand and called it a fort.
so in the end, slipping tranny and all, the P71 made it home. those seats are fine for short trips but my ass still hurts, it started to feel like i was sitting on plywood.
i'll toss up some pics, camera is out in the car.
