Tuesday, June 19, 2007

Cannonball Run

Most of the following entry was written in the car. For reasons that will become obvious shortly, the final section was added later.

The Setup:
My girlfriend and I have made a number of trips between Atlanta and DC this year, most of them by car. The Penrocks, having lived in Atlanta longer, have even more experience with this trek. They have a favorite route which they insist is the fastest way to make the trip. We're not so sure. It certainly appears to be the most direct, but it involves Route 29 and, in so doing, many stoplights. Sarah got a tip from a friend at work about another route that just might beat it. It's more circuitous than the Penrock's route of choice, but possesses fewer stoplights and higher speed limits. In the past we have tried the 95 to 85 route and while it suffices, we believe there is room for improvement. The Penrocks use a 29 to 85 variant. Today, Sarah and I are testing something else - 81 to 75. Which truly is the fastest? There's only one way to find out: have a contest.

The Race:
We both started in Northern Virginia, although the Penrocks start a little south and west of our position. They are travelling west on 66, then south on 29. In North Carolina, they will get on 85 and take that all the way to Atlanta. Sarah and I are using Rt 7 to get to 81, and then following 81 all the way through Virginia to Tennessee where we pick up 75 to Atlanta.
We're both timing our trips from start to finish, including any and all breaks for food, fuel, or "other." The loser, the couple with the greatest total time, owes the winner a bottle of wine. So there's more than just bragging rights involved.


Handicapping:
Penrocks - Fewer miles, possibly less traffic
Drawbacks - Rummy is with them and he requires stops of greater duration and more frequent occurrence.
Added Bonuses - 29 can be very pretty. Also they get to pass the giant peach in Gaffney, South Carolina.

Sarah and I - Higher speed limits, no stop lights
Drawbacks - Lots of trucks.
Added Bonuses - The Shenandoah valley

The Results:
The Penrocks pulled in after approximately 10 hours, 10 minutes. Sarah and I arrived at 10 hours, 30 minutes. The Penrocks win by 20 minutes. Close, but not close enough to call it a tie. We owe them one bottle of wine. Well played, Penrocks, well played.

Now, I think we need to have a word with Sarah's informant...

3 comments:

Mike P said...

After our race, I used mapquest to examine all of the feasible routes. There are really four. The 95 route, the 29 route, the 77 route, and the 75 route. In order of distance from shortest to longest they are 29, 95, 77, and 75. The 29 route is about 609 miles while the 75 route is about 670 miles. According to mapquest, the fastest route time wise is the 77 route at 10 hours 14 minutes. The other three routes were very close to each other at about 10 hours 24 minutes. So in mapquest world they are all very similar. So it really comes down to personal tastes in terms of driving conditions, and the risk of major delays due to congestion due to volume, accidents, etc. Any of the routes that make use of 85 have pretty serious risks of backups on 85 near Atlanta. This has happened to us many times and, in fact, happened during our race. The 95 route takes a double hit because you must contend not only with 85 near Atlanta but also 95 between DC and Richmond. The chances of getting through both of these stretches unscathed is pretty slim. As for the 75 route, I don't know much about it. 75 certainly has its backups near Atlanta, but it seems better than 85. So the 75 route may not be so bad on average, but it is 60 miles longer than average, but the big advantage to the 29 route is that we can stop in Charlottesville and restock our Virginia wine supply!

Meredith said...

Goodness. I was just going to say that the 81-77-85 route is the best bet in terms of speed and beauty, but the previous commentator said far more than I ever could. Happy driving, as I join the ranks of the DC-ATL commute. :)

Rob said...

The 81-77-85 route is the version we took on the way up. It was a poor test, though, since that was the day the dumptruck dropped gravel across both lanes of 85 and shut the northbound section down for an hour (and then another hour to get through with only one lane). Sarah and I got some decent reading done :)