2024-12-24 28 -82

Location

Hidden among the development, some sort of parcel in Wesley Chapel, FL

Participants

Plans

Get there... maybe.

Expedition

I set off for this point with my phone, GPS, camera (which I never used), and half of my dignity. That last one was what I used up the most.^[1]

I looked at this point and thought, maybe I could do it, and 20 minutes later I'm on my way to I-75. Usual traffic, and it's 40 minutes on the interstate to get to Wesley Chapel, road FL-54. A brief trek before I turn onto Smith Road, and this is where everything went wrong: the road direct is smaller and appears menacing should one happen upon it. I went on anyway because, well, I wasn't doing the second option of generic neighborhood, and then I see the no trespassing signs.

Now, Street View already indicated that Duke Energy tells you not to go there. What I didn't find before setting was a bog-standard private property sign, and I decided I wasn't gonna brave weakened... anything, really. Also that I passed another pasture immediately before I stopped, and its fences were locked away, so I figured this one I was about to go to would also be locked.

So back home. Oops.

At least it wasn't a complete waste of time. Not just that I'd do literally nothing at home otherwise, but I was curious about the crossover's fuel economy, so on the interstate, I went 65 mph most of the time, even when the limit was 70. Cars passing left and right, weavers, semis... but I carried forward. In the end, I returned 38 mpg at most and 36 average. Also, the AC unit was off, and I kept it that way to see if I could survive; it wasn't summer weather, being 70°F, but I didn't sweat very hard even when I thought I should've, so that worked.

Statistics, too. 123 km in two hours... so I was realistically going 60 km/h. I already figured not to be optimistic on speed, and this kinda confirms that. I made up for the lost 2 gallons by refilling 1.7 of it, after which the car thought its fuel tank had more than when I started.

And I was let off the hook by passing it off as "Christmas traffic".