Leaving the Driving to Me

I gotta to go up to Northern Virginia this weekend. I'd rather not. It's cold up there. Who knows, wait a day, it might even warm up?

Three hundred and thirty one miles on our nation's highways.

Flying is out. United could get me there in less then two hours, but that's flight time. Then there's paying for parking, the two hour check in, TSA screening and whatever their prohibition of the day is, then getting to the other end and getting a taxi. By the time all is said and done, think 500 bucks and at least seven hours each way. Ouch.

Don't even think American, Delta, or Jet Blue. They will fly me a thousand miles to go three hundred. I get to cool my heels in the Midwest, or the former Confederacy, or Yankee-land as I wait for the second leg.

Ok, there's Amtrak. Cary to Harper's Ferry. Bike on down to the station...not, cold. Leave at Oh-Dark AM and get to DC at eleven AM. Spend five hours in DC and then get to Harpers Ferry by seven PM. Sixtysix bucks each way.

Greyhound is much the same but the closest station is in Frederick Maryland. That's thirty miles from where I need to be.

So I'm driving. Even after 9-11, The Iraqi War, Peak Oil, and all of that nonsense, it's less then forty bucks of fuel to get me up there. As for all the other costs, I'm already having to pay insurance, maintenance, and taxes on the Subaru. Seven hours tops, and I have my transportation at the other end.

A lot of people puff away and say you can take the train, the bus, the plane, a bike. Just one problem. The US of A is a BIG place. Even at three dollars a gallon last summer, it was still cheaper and easier to drive then being politically correct and socially responsible and using semi-public transit. Also, sometimes one is employed, one is not. Cheap is as cheap does, and right now, the cheapest ride is my Subaru.