Monday, July 11, 2011

Stats for the day:

·         Daily miles: 546.3

·         Total trip miles: 4629.2

·         Temperature on the side of the I-70 tollway: 102°F

·         Tow trucks needed: 1

·         Miles I was from making it home with no drama: 81

After saying goodbye to the Brooke and the kids, I started my trip across Colorado and the state of Kansas to make it back to Weston.  Most of the drive was uneventful.  Kansas raising the speed limit to 75 on I-70 helped a bit, and the weather was great (just super hot!).

And then, I reached the Kansas Tollway on I-70, just east of Topeka.  I grabbed my ticket, tried to accelerate, sawing my RPM needle drop to zero, and lost any engine power.  I pulled to the side of the road and had a car that wouldn’t start.  Seriously?!?!?!?

So, after talking with the rental company, there were a couple of options. 1) I could be towed to the closed location in Topeka and have a family member pick me up from there.  OR, 2) I could be towed to a location that was still open and be put in a new car, but it’d be a much longer tow.  Because I have a wonderful family, I voted for option 1.  I was supposed to turn in the car early tomorrow morning, anyway. 

I’m thankful the tow truck company arrived quickly and that overall it was the best scenario for a car breaking down that I could imagine.  I’d traveled 4,500 miles over 4 weeks and was only an hour and a half from home.  The best part is that when I arrived at the rental car location and the tow truck driver, Sam, tried to start the car (he said he always tries before and after towing), it started!!! He shrugged his shoulders and said I’d be surprised how often it happened.  But advised me to take the ride with my family and not risk it!

Math thoughts for today:

·         A higher speed limit (or even driving faster) always makes people think they’re going to get somewhere so much faster.  But, it’s impact, and whether or not it really makes one, really depends on how far you are traveling.  My students can do some simple calculations to determine the amount of impact. I happen to know of someone who got a speeding ticket when he first got his license – the faster speed would have saved him less than 5 minutes if he hadn’t been caught.  But, he was.  And it therefore took him longer, and cost him more!

Shout-outs:

·         Happy Birthday, Alexia Norris!!!