Greetings from the Quality Inn (the Motel 6 was full) in lovely “downtown” North Platte, NE. After a bit under 1100 miles of driving today, I’m now a mere 262 miles from home. While I only made it through one time zone – ET to CT – I did manage to make it into the land of 91 octane gas [1].
The progress today actually had me contemplating a completion of the drive tonight – and if I didn’t have a call I needed to be on tomorrow I might well have done that – but it’s probably just as well that I stopped. While I’m fine with the power-nap-in-a-truck-stop strategy, and have used it many times on late night trips from Logan to Maine, I can’t say that it’s my favorite thing in the world. Sometimes you just need a shower.
Logistically, I’ll be heading back to Denver just as soon as my call is completed – about 11 AM CT, I think – so I should be back in the Denver office sometime early afternoon (I pick up another hour en route). Until then, cell is your best bet.
Lots to talk about when I get back.
[1] For reasons that I don’t fully understand, many stations here in the midwest serve premium fuel that is 91 octane rather than the 93 octane I get on the east coast. Apparently octane consumption is in some fashion related to altitude, which explains Denver’s lack of higher octane fuels, but not Nebraska’s.
christopher baus says:
September 14, 2006 at 2:08 am
I think the octane has something to do with California emissions regulations. I think they pretty much sell the same grades all over the west. It is kind of a bummer since the Porsche would be happier (less chance of denonation) with higher octane. Hell one shop recommended 100 octane, but I don’t exactly have a good supply of racing fuel in Tahoe.
james governor says:
September 14, 2006 at 2:14 am
glad to hear you’re nearly home man.
Alex says:
September 14, 2006 at 8:16 am
How was your Cingular coverage in N. Platte? When I was there, my Sprint coverage was in roaming the whole time. Actually, I think I was roaming from just about Lincoln back to Denver. 🙂
http://www.alexking.org/blog/2005/12/27/north-platte/
Donnie Berkholz says:
September 15, 2006 at 2:37 am
FWIW, any decent truck stop should have showers.
stephen o'grady says:
September 18, 2006 at 6:16 pm
Christopher: ah, that does explain it. fortunately, i really haven’t noticed much difference between the 91 and 93 octanes in either the SHO or the S40, but then they’re not Porche’s 😉
james: you and me both 😉
Alex: Cingular coverage was excellent, actually. i couldn’t get the wired network in the Quality Inn to connect, so i actually posted this via Bluetooth DUN.
Donnie: they usable or no?