Summer 2022, Day 28

This is one of those drives that I’ve done so many times I almost dread it, but the scenery is good and familiarity doesn’t always breed contempt – only for some sections of the drive. The basic route starts somewhere in the Cleveland area, follows I-90 past Erie PA, then I-86 across the Southern Tier of NY State to Binghamton, I-88 up to west of Albany, and I-90 home.

In western NY, I always stop at one of the nicest rest areas I’ve ever seen, overlooking Lake Chautauqua. The views are amazing, and I lived for seven years not far past the end of this lake.

The entire day was great weather, just windy, and not a tail wind. I loved the sky and clouds.

In the end, this trip saw me driving 7,911 miles with 144 hours and 41 minutes behind the wheel for an average of about 54 mph. The car reported 51.2 mpg overall, lower than it should have been but definitely affected by the dozens of passes my route to California passed over and the very strong crosswinds and headwinds all the back home. There was one superb day on the way back with a tailwind – 58 mpg that day – but it soon passed!

Some people have asked how much this trip cost in gas and the answer is $829. That’s about 50% higher per mile than last summer because of the increased cost of gas, but at least I only saw over $7/gallon once.