New Year's road trip, Michigan to Florida

[brianreynolds]

I traveled from Michigan to Florida and back over the New Year's holiday, and a few days before and after.  All told, it involved six long days, five overnights, 2522 miles.  For the first time, I kept very close track of gas mileage in the Prius, figuring the individual mileage with each fill-up.  It went from a high of 49.2 MPG to a low of 42.8.  That low-end segment was the final leg from Kentucky to Michigan, almost entirely freeway, almost entirely nudging the limits of what the law would tolerate.

The purpose of the trip was the trip itself.  Secondary goals were to visit new places, see new roads, spend a brief day or two in a tropical climate, and to visit and tally new counties.  The specifics:
New Kentucky counties Southbound — Jessamine, McCreary — 2.  New Tennessee counties Southbound — Scott, Morgan. Cumberland, Roane, Rhea, Meigs, McMinn — 7.  New Georgia counties Southbound on Saturday — Walker, Chatooga, Floyd, Polk, Paulding, Carroll — 6

Georgia counties Southbound on Sunday — Heard, Troup, Harris, Meriwether, Talbot, Upson, Taylor, Schley, Lee. Dougherty, Mitchell, Thomas, Brooks — 13.  Florida Counties Southbound on Sunday — Madison, Suwannee, Columbia, Union, Bradford, Clay, Duval, Baker, Nassau, St. Johns, Putnam, Flagler, Volusia, Seminole, Lake, Orange, Osceola, Brevard, Indian River, St. Lucie, Martin, Okeechobee. -  22.

Florida counties Monday — Highlands, Glades, Hendry, Palm Beach, Broward, Miami-Dade, Monroe, Collier, Lee, Charlotte, De Soto, Sarasota, Manatee, Hardee, Polk — 15

Florida counties Tuesday — Hillsborough, Pinellas, Pasco, Hernando, Sumter, Citrus, Marion, Levy, Alachua, Gilchrist, Dixie, Lafayette, Hamilton.  -  13     Total new Florida counties — 50.
Georgia counties Northbound Tuesday — Echols, Lanier, Clinch, Atkinson, Coffee, Irwin, Ben Hill, Wilcox, Dodge, Pulaski, Houston.  - 11.

Georgia counties Northbound Wednesday —Peach, Crawford, Bibb, Jones, Baldwin, Putnam , Jasper, Morgan, Newton, Walton, Oconee, Athens-Clarke, Jackson, Banks , Habersham, Stephens, Rabun. - 17.  Total new Georgia counties this trip - 47

North Carolina counties — Macon, Swain, Graham.  3     Total this trip - 3

Tennessee counties Northbound Wednesday — only Blount.   1  Tennessee Counties Northbound (sort of) Thursday — Bledsoe, Sequatchie,  Van Buren, Warren, Cannon, Wilson, De Kalb, White, Putnam, Overton, Pickett. — 11.   Total new Tennessee counties this trip - 19

Kentucky counties Northbound Thursday — Clinton, Cumberland, Green, Taylor, Marion,  Washington, Spencer, Shelby.  8           Total new Kentucky counties for this trip, 10

Grand total new counties this trip — 129.  Southernmost travel location — Shark Valley Visitor Center at Everglades National Park.