The opportunity showed up rather unexpectedly. Always wanted to ride a decent long distance on work. I had to give some presentation at our LA office, and while my coworker booked his flight, I proposed my cost-saving-idea to my boss. With a stunned look for a few seconds, he approved !
350 miles one way, maps suggested 5.5 hours. I estimated 6.5-7 hours with food stops. I really wanted to test the “mileage disposal” utility of the ST1300. Started at 5am, breakfast stop after 200 miles around 8am, and reached the LA office at exactly 11am. 6 hours with one stop, not bad, never done like this before. A cage came in right behind me, my coworker showed up :). I had temps ranging from 44F to 86F, with terrible LA traffic for the last 20 miles. The HOV lane helped a lot !
The demo went well. Did not really feel tired or sleepy. Started back around 4:30pm, and faced a brutal traffic for 30 miles, and HOV lane didn’t help this time. 6 choked lanes each way on I-405 was incredible to watch. Just outside LA the temps dropped from 75F to 55F in a matter of 5 minutes, took me by surprise. Stopped at Gorman to refuel and considered making a night halt nearby. Double checked weather on the iPhone, all good. Sky looked clear. I layered up and headed to Buttonwillow, my favorite place of stay on I-5.
Ironically I got the same room at the Buttonwillow Super 8 where I stayed on 2nd Jan 2006 on the final night of my cross country trip. Brought back some memories. Grabbed a footlong subway chicken sandwich and thanks to the wifi I could sync up with my mails. 480 miles for the day, not bad for a work day !
Reached home 9am wednesday morning, riding the last 220 miles in 4 hours.
Best part of the trip: The expense software at office won’t recognize gas expense, so I had to report 700 miles of “mileage” which pays 48 cents a mile. I am getting back more than triple what my total expenses are but still less than what office would have paid for a flight plus rental car.