Yesterday morning I left Lake Charles at 6:40 a.m. That was one long day of driving — 11 hours and 20 minutes to be exact. This sign was a very welcome sight. The best news is . . hopefully this was my last trip to Louisiana from here. From Texas, it should be a 7-1/2 hour drive. Shaving off those 4 hours should make a huge difference.
This sign was even more welcome. My exit. The way to my home. The way that leads to my own bed, my own shower, my husband, my dog, my chickens!
I needed to be home by 6 p.m. for a dinner and look what time I got off at my exit. Pretty good timing I’d say . . especially since I spent about 25 minutes sitting and reading the Kindle. Once was for road construction and once was for some kind of work being done on electric lines. I was glad to have the Kindle handy. The Highlander can make it from Louisiana home with just two stops for gas. The Honda takes at least three stops, sometimes four, depending on how often I stop. There are some areas that it’s a long way between gas stations so I often get gas before the tank gets empty. Speaking of gas . . what is it where you live? In Lake Charles, I filled up one day and it was $3.55. The next day at the same station, it was $3.69. The lowest price I saw it yesterday was in Oklahoma for $3.49. The most I saw it was in Texas for $3.89. All those prices are for the lowest grade . . which is what I use. Anyway . . this is what time I got off the highway at my exit.
I had planned to meet Vince at the restaurant but a severe storm was headed our way so he wanted to get the Highlander in the garage so I ran home, put it safely in the garage and we took the truck but the storm didn’t get here til after we got home from eating.
Speaking of the Highlander, it will be 4 years old in June and look how many miles it has on it.
Just before I got off at our exit, it turned over 16,000 miles. What’s that . . 4,000 miles per year. Amazing. We don’t put many miles on a car anyway. The Honda is now 10 years old and has 80,000 miles on it. Told you I’d rather stay home than go anywhere . . unless we’re talking about going to Louisiana! 🙂
Vicky says
Welcome home! I know it felt good to sleep in your own bed last night! Those storms were horrible – just watched the news. Glad you’re okay.
I hope this makes you feel better. I paid $4.09 for regular this week. I just put a half tank in the rental and that was $50. Yikes! With the price of fabric now over $10, I think we’re all going to be glad for our stashes!
JudyL says
I figured your gas was over $4 and you have to drive way more than I do. I was in several fabric stores while in LA and even though I had heard prices were edging up past $11/yard, it was shocking to see it. I feel bad for the shop owners and am very happy to have my stash.
Karen says
Glad you made it home safe & sound. Shaving 4 hours off your drive to LA sure goes in the move plus column. I have 18,000 miles on my car and I’ve had it not quite a year. But when your grandkids live 900 miles away it adds up fast. Gas in St Louis is $3.89/gal. Some days I wish I had a Prius for driving around town – love my car for the road trips though, even if it does get thirsty more often.
Sharie - Moss Bluff says
Glad to see you are home safe and sound. Now you have lots of work to do. What does Vince think of your “big” idea????
Marilyn says
I never pay less than $4.19 a gallon out here in California! You guys make me want to move 🙂
Melinda in CT says
I paid $4.19 yesterday. I’ve seen it as high as $4.49! :O Makes you happy to stay home and sew.
Helen in Switzerland says
Wow, that’s one long drive Judy! I think I could nearly get all the way to Scotland if I drove that long from here…and that’s a really long way! How many miles did you do? I can see why you would be glad to be 4 hours nearer!
Gwynette in NW Arkansas says
Those two signs are so familiar to me. I go to Indep., MO to visit our daughter and when I go to Kansas to visit the other one, I go that way, too.
Now what will I think about when you move to Texas? I always think about you when I drive through there.
Pat McGuire says
Regular gas in this far northern CA coastal town is $4.35. Ouch! So glad I’m retired and not commuting. If we go shopping in OR, we always fill up there. It’s $3.85. It pays for the half hour trip. Glad you are home safe and sound. Pat
Mary LeClerc says
We were eating in Nevada at 6:00 P.M. And I was thinking of you and understanding why you like to go out of town to eat. Not many choices and I hope your supper was better than ours. We drove home about 9:30 through some nasty rain.
Jocelyn says
My daughter has an 03 Highlander and it is a great gas saver. Runs like a champ too. But gas is going up, up, up here. I tanked up at BJ’s at $3.73 the other day, because I had already seen it for $3.89 at a local station 🙁 Glad you made it home safely.
Gale says
Gas is always over $4.00 here in small town, California. And we have to drive many miles to get to anywhere. My nearest quilt shop is 65 miles away! Even Wal-Mart is 22 miles. When you think about what truckers have to pay for the diesel to get the goods to the stores you can understand why the price of everything is going up, up, up.
Jan says
I paid $4.22 for the lowest grade of gas yesterday north of San Francisco but still in the Bay Area.
??? says
Did anyone realize Judy was doing over 70 while taking a picture of her odometer?
I thought I was the only type person who did this…I don’t do it with even #’s though…I do it with patterns on the odometer. mileage. 112233…that type thing :):):)
Sandy says
Gas in Texas where we are right now is running about $3.79 and diesel is $3.89. I hear back home diesel is over $4.00 a gallon and gasoline not far behind it. (IL)
Judy, I have a 2008 Malibu that has 10,000 miles on it and our 2010 Camaro has 5,000. We have both of them in the garage when we go to Texas for the winter. The 2002 Trailblazer that we tow ………….over 100,000 miles . I think we need to get rid of a car but I don’t want to see the Malibu or Camaro go. We need the trailblazer to tow. Hmmmm………
Kathy (QuiltMonkey) says
I’ll be getting gas today on my lunch hour and I’m dreading seeing the price. I work in San Jose, CA and the lowest grade was $4.39 when I got it last week. My husband only works about 2 miles from home, and he switched back to riding his scooter because it only holds about 2 gallons and he only has to fill it less than once a week! Too bad I work over 20 miles from home, otherwise I’d get a scooter myself!
Margery says
I just did some sums, converting litres to US gallons, then UK pounds per litre to UKP per US gallon, then UKP to US dollars – in the UK we pay about £1.40 per litre which I think comes to 8.66 U.S. dollars per US gallon. It’s just as well yours is cheaper – you drive a lot more miles than most of us!
Julie says
And I was growling that I paid $3.41 per gallon on Tuesday. I didn’t realize how high prices had gone. I have a 2009 Malibu with 3700 miles on it. I don’t go far from home…..
Cindy in NC says
You’ve got me beat, Judy — my 10-year-old Corolla has 91,000 miles. It helps that almost everywhere we have to go, including work, is close by. No longer hauling kids around to games and practices also makes a big difference.
When my mother and her siblings sold the family property in LA they retained the mineral rights. I inherited my mom’s share, and every few months I get an oil check. Despite the rising price of gas, my check stays about the same. I don’t know who is making money off the price of gas. I use my oil check to justify my fabric buying — the problem is, I spend the check several times over! That oil check does, however, provide a lot of laughs (husband loves to “brag” about being married to an oil heiress) and makes me feel still connected to a place that holds lots of happy memories.
Kim says
I would love gas that cheap!! It is $4.41 here “out on town” – $4.11 at the base gas stations.
Judy D in WA says
I make a game of seeing how long a tank of gas will last me. I’m lucky I don’t have to go to work and I try to make only one trip to town a week. I’m going to have to see what it cost today when I’m out.
I love seeing your outside temp of 77 at 6 pm. I get excited if I see 60 degrees. Weather guy said we won’t see 70s until mid May! Send sunshine to the north west, please. 🙂
Diane S. says
Gas is $4.03-$4.28 in Sacramento. That didn’t stop me from putting 278 miles on my car for a “Quilt Rush”! Seven quilt shops yesterday, 3 the day before and 4 tomorrow, $25 miles in all. Money well spent I’d say.
Judy, with your mileage, you should be leasing! I put 168,000 miles on my car in 10 years.
Diane S. says
. . . that’s 425 miles in all for Quilt Rush.
Dora, the quilter says
Being able to put so few miles on a vehicle sounds heavenly. My Corolla is four years old and has 126,000 miles–most of it for work. After my involuntary transfer to the school in the Gulag last fall, my daily commute is almost 140 mi. round trip. I’m glad you get to stay close to home, even if your home has to move every few years. (And gas here in NM is up to $3.70–usually 10 cents higher in my little town.)
Patty says
Right now it is $3.69 a gallon for regular. I’m impressed with your mileage!
JoAnne says
I bought gas a couple of hours ago, I have to use premium, it was $4.54 a gallon. I’m glad I don’t have far to travel.
Mary says
I’m doing a little road trip on Wednesday… From VA to GA which is about 9.5 hours. I tend to fly more often than drive these days but for years I drove back and forth to VA visiting family from FL and GA.
Our car is 6 years old and has about 22k miles and most of that put on in the couple years before we moved here. Very unusual for us because we’d both always done a lot of commuting for our jobs before this.
Marilyn Smith says
We went out around 1 pm today – trip to Lowe’s and for lunch. $4.11 when we drove by the station. An hour later it was 4.13. We combine errands and have done so for years. I did have to go out at 4 pm to pick up prescriptions. It had gone up to $4.15. Thank goodness I only had to drive 2 miles. I did a grocery pickup at the same time. I have a 2008 GMC Acadia with 20,000 on it. DH has a 2008 Malibu and just turned 5,000 miles. Thank goodness we do not drive all the time. We drive the Acadia to San Diego a few times a year, Las Vegas area once or twice a year, Lake Tahoe once a year and a trip to Flagstaff this past year. Also, 5 trips about 50 miles away for reunion meetings. The rest is around town driving. The Malibu sometimes goes 2 weeks without being driven. The Acadia gets driven about 2 -3 times a week.
Hugs to all!
Leah says
Glad you get home safely…
We are currently paying $1.35/L locally, or $1.19/L out side town (20km away). That $5.11/Gallon
Its almost worth driving to the US for gas! But I’d rather stay home…