Cedar Fair currently owns 11 amusement parks and six water parks at a total of 15 different locations in the US and Canada. In the summer of 2007, a year after Cedar Fair acquired Paramount Parks, they introduced a new type of season pass that allowed access to all amusement and water parks owned by Cedar Fair. Having taken a yearly trip to Cedar Point for 24 consecutive years and living less than 30 minutes from Kings Island, I decided that this “Maxx Pass” was a solid investment. Three years later and a silly name change to “Platinum,” Abi and I both have these season passes that can still be used at all 15 properties. This summer we decided to exercise our season passholder privileges to the fullest…well, not quite to the fullest, but close enough.

We’re going to take a 16 day road trip to eight different parks. Due to time constraints we’re going to skip the five stops in California, water park in Aurora, OH, and one in Canada (after the Olympics I think you’ll agree skipping the latter is acceptable). Without further ado, I present to you the order of events for our Roller Coaster Adventure Tour 2010:

• Worlds of Fun (Kansas City, Missouri)
• Valleyfair (Shakopee, Minnesota)
• Michigan’s Adventure (Muskegon, Michigan)
• Cedar Point (Sandusky, Ohio)
• Dorney Park & Wildwater Kingdom (Allentown, Pennsylvania)
• Kings Dominion (Doswell, Virginia)
• Carowinds (Charlotte, North Carolina/Fort Mill, South Carolina)
• Kings Island (Kings Mills, Ohio)

Our schedule and the distance between the parks requires that we reserve a full day for travel the day before visiting a park. Basically we’re going to drive for a day, then ride coasters for a day, repeated a total of eight times.

Where available I *think* we will visit the adjoining water park (Abi really wants to do this, personally I’m not a huge fan). There’s also an outside chance that if everything stays on schedule that we might be able to make a stop in Santa Claus, Indiana at the one and only Holiday World. That may end up being a game day decision at the end of the trip.

So there you have it, our summer vacation plans. Probably not exactly your standard vacation, but I think it sounds like a heck of a lot of fun!

After Evan’s little vehicular incidents, I decided to crunch some numbers to see which Lepolt kid is really the best driver. You know us Lepolt’s…always competing to be the best. If you’re interested in the results continue reading. If you’re not, and you don’t already know who the best driver is…shame on you.

Accident History

Jonathan

• At fault accident with a curb in the snow with a 1987 Renault Alliance
• At fault accident with a minivan in the rain with a 1987 Renault Alliance
• At fault accident with a parked car while in reverse with a 1997 Toyota Corolla
• Not at fault hit and run in a UC parking garage with a 1997 Toyota Corolla

Emily

• At fault accident with a man on an expensive bicycle with a 2001 Toyota Camry
• Not at fault hit and run in a UNCW parking lot with a 2001 Toyota Camry
• Not at fault hit and run in a UNCW parking lot with a 2001 Toyota Camry

Evan

• At fault accident with a guardrail in the snow with a 2002 Toyota Corolla
• At fault accident with a car in a parking lot with a 2005 Honda Odyssey

Accident Statistics

Note: In all of the following statistics, a lower number is better.

Years driving
Jonathan: 10
Emily: 7
Evan: 2

At fault accidents per year of driving
Jonathan: .33
Emily: .14
Evan: 1

Not at fault accidents per year of driving
Jonathan: .10
Emily: .29
Evan: 0

Total accidents per year of driving
Jonathan: .40
Emily: .43
Evan: 1

Results

If you look at the total number of “at fault” accidents per year of driving, Evan is currently in the lead. I should mention this is not a statistic that you should be proud of or brag about. Since each case of the “not at fault” accidents was a hit and run, it’s going to cost the Lepolt’s money out of pocket, so those count against total scores as well. Emily is leading that category, followed by Jonathan, both of which can be blamed on college. Lastly, totaling everything up, Jonathan is the best driver, averaging on .03 less accidents per year of driving than Emily.

After further analysis, none of the Lepolt kids really deserve the award for “Best Driver.” Other awards, however, have been handed out:
Dumbest Accident – Jonathan for his little run in with a curb.
Funniest Accident – Emily hitting a guy on a bike
Highest Frequency of Accidents – Evan … two in one month … whoops.

Stop at a clearly marked stop line, but if none, stop before entering the crosswalk on the near side of the intersection, or, if none, stop before entering the intersection;

Therefore, the correct answer to last week’s poll was: #3, Four-way stop.

Thanks to everyone who played. Whoever voted for bumper cars…I know you know better. My loyal readers are very bright.

Before we conclude for today, there is one other traffic pet peeve that I’d like to clarify. The main road connecting my place of residence and the freeway is a four-lane road with a double yellow line. During the school year there are many times that school busses drive down this road. This, as you may have guessed, also results in them stopping to pick up/drop off kids. On more than one occasion I have seen traffic in both directions come to a complete stop when the bus is stopped. My argument is the following:

When a school bus is stopped on a four-lane road in the state of Ohio, oncoming traffic need not stop.

According to the Ohio Revised Code Title [45] XLV Motor Vehicles — Aeronautics — Watercraft, Chapter 4511: Traffic Laws — Operation of Motor Vehicles, Section 75: Stopping for a stopped school bus, I am correct.

Where a highway has been divided into four or more traffic lanes, a driver of a vehicle, streetcar, or trackless trolley need not stop for a school bus approaching from the opposite direction which has stopped for the purpose of receiving or discharging any school child, persons attending programs offered by community boards of mental health and county boards of mental retardation and developmental disabilities, or children attending programs offered by head start agencies. The driver of any vehicle, streetcar, or trackless trolley overtaking the school bus shall comply with division (A) of this section.

I hope that this has been educational. Actually, I hope you already knew this. Consider this a refresher course in basic drivers’ ed. Please note that driving laws may differ from state to state. It is the driver’s responsibility to familiarize himself with state driving laws while traveling. Did you know that in Texas if there is an emergency vehicle on the side of the road you must move over or slow down to 20mph below the speed limit?

First things first: 90% of the people that read this blog on a regular basis personally know me. They probably know that I like computers, I work for a computer software company, and I’m working on my second computer-related degree. In fact, they may classify me as a computer nerd.

Way back when before I could even drive, my parents would more or less keep track of the gas mileage that their cars would get on each tank. Nothing too crazy…simply reset the odometer each time they pumped a full tank of gas, divide trip distance by gallons pumped and booya, instant mpg. After that the number was used only as a reference for subsequent fuel ups.

About a year ago I decided to start tracking this data in Excel. Each time I filled up I would record the number of miles driven on that tank of gas, as well as the number of gallons pumped. Excel would then keep a tally of the miles per gallon achieved on that tank, average miles per gallon overall, total number of miles traveled, average number of miles driven per day, etc. Nerd, yes, fine.

Most of my driving is done on the highway. I have a ~30 mile commute on Tuesday/Thursday, and a ~20 mile commute on Monday/Wednesday/Friday. About a month ago I decided to perform a little experiment. I decided to drive the speed limit when on the highway…
Note to Mom: I actually always drive the speed limit, no matter where I am
Note to everyone else: I usually drive about 70-75 on the highway

Performing this not-completely-scientific experiment on my last four tanks of gas has produced some interesting results. I have been able to drive an extra 55 miles on each tank (401 miles up from 346), and have increased my average miles per gallon by about 4.9. (38.9mpg up from 34.0mpg) This basically saves me almost two gallons of gas from my previous driving habits, allowing me to wait longer between fill ups. Personally, I was very surprised at the difference that this made, but maybe I shouldn’t be. Everyone knows the faster you go, the worse the fuel efficiency gets.

The hardest part about this whole thing is staying relaxed in the right lane on the highway. I’m usually that guy speeding around some slow driver…now I’m the slow driver that everyone is speeding around. Is it worth it? Perhaps. What I really need to do is buy a house closer to work. That would solve a whole slew of problems. Besides, I’ve only gotten the finger once.

Jonathan Lepolt’s Snow Rules:

1. If it’s going to snow, don’t do it while I’m away from home.
2. If it’s going to snow when I’m away from home, especially don’t do it when I’m 30 miles from home in Mason, OH.

Yes, you guessed it.  I got stuck driving home from work in the snow again.  Some of you may find this funny.  Screw you.  Some of you may feel my pain.  I’m about to start a support group, and everyone is welcome.

So it turns out this blog entry is going to be another rant about the weather in Cincinnati, moronic drivers, and the lack of competence of the local meteorologists.  Last week you may recall that I put a poll up on my blog asking people to vote on how much snow we would get overnight.  Meteorologists predicted 3-5 inches, and we ended up with about one inch and a nice coating of ice.  All I saw on the TV was weather people, weather watches, weather warnings, weather updates, weather-related closings, and salt trucks on call to react to the weather.  On my two-hour drive home today in a stretch of about 30 miles, I think I only saw two salt trucks.

Kevin should be able to attest to that.

So where were you on this one, weather people?  On my way into work around 7am they said the snow wasn’t going to start until 5 or 6pm.  Abi said I’m full of crap and they said the snow was going to start at 3pm, but I think they changed their minds once they figured out how stupid they were.  Oh well, I enjoy stop-and-go traffic on the Interstates.  After all, who needs a 65mph speed limit?

*Allow me to step off of my soapbox*

So, how ‘bout them Bearcats?  Not looking too bad this season after all, and we are sure getting our money’s worth in these close games.  Anyone predicting 2008 NCAA Tournament?

I want to tell a little story about my experience last winter with snow and how my respect for Cincinnati snow has increased dramatically when snow meets hills. It was any old Tuesday afternoon in January, and the meteorologists were predicting a large snow storm that afternoon that would continue into the evening. “Big deal,” I thought, “get over it. It’s just a little snow.” Around 1pm or so the snow started falling; big flakes blowing in the wind beginning to cover everything on the ground. What a beautiful site. It remained pretty solid for most of the afternoon. Around 3pm my boss started walking around the office letting people that lived far away from work leave early to avoid getting stuck in traffic. I thought he was being a little cautious, but nonetheless I took his offer and headed for home.

This is where the fun begins.

I live about 30 miles from work. It generally takes me 30-35 minutes to get home with no traffic. I figured the roads would be a little messy, and it might take me an hour this time. I actually thought that. One hour. Oops.

To spare some of the details, it took me 2.5 hours in stop-and-go traffic to get to the entrance to my apartment complex. Wow, 2.5 hours and I am still just almost there. I’ll just drive up this hill and we’ll call it a day. Gravity was against me. Gravity was against my manual-transmission car and me. I could not get enough traction on the ground to move forward…in 1st or 2nd gear. I had no chance to get any momentum to even try to get up the hill. After about 30 minutes of moving almost nowhere, I finally threw in the white flag, parked my car, and walk the rest of the way up to my apartment. A full three hours after I had left work.

So, what have we learned here? Well, maybe Cincinnatians aren’t being completely ridiculous when they cry and moan about all of the snow, but lack of driving skills sure doesn’t help the situation. I think this year I may carry some chains in my trunk.