Who is online?

[Giant Communist Robot]

Checking "who is online" I see Google adsense is posting in the Debate section. Who knew robots had opinions?

[dai bread]

R. Daneel Olivaw must be alive and well.

[piqaboo]

[Trumpetmaster]

[Trumpetmaster]

I will be driving to Augusta, GA. tomorrow and down there for about 1 1/2 weeks.
will be online from down there!
Leaving tomorrow at about 11AM-12PM
It's about a 12 hour drive.
If I can get through DC/Virginia rush hour without losing too much time I will try and make it straight through.

Talk to you all from Augusta!

Please ... no Tiger jokes...

[analog]

If I can get through DC/Virginia rush hour without losing too much time I will try and make it straight through.

Good luck, TM !

Isn't there a way to bypass DC - I71 or something?

Fair Anne and I do Arkansas to North Carolina in a LOONNNGGGG day, it's 1050 miles about 16 hours.
Rough spots are Raleigh metro area and Memphis, both nothing compared to DC.



a.

[jamiebk]

If I can get through DC/Virginia rush hour without losing too much time I will try and make it straight through.

Good luck, TM !

Isn't there a way to bypass DC - I71 or something?

Fair Anne and I do Arkansas to North Carolina in a LOONNNGGGG day, it's 1050 miles about 16 hours.
Rough spots are Raleigh metro area and Memphis, both nothing compared to DC.



a.

Wow, and I thought Bonnie and I were pushing it to drive to Flagstaff AZ (exactly 800 miles) in 12 hours. Bonnie considers it a marathon...I rather like the drive, especially through the Mojave desert portion and the Tehachapi's.

[piqaboo]

I always considered SD to Phoenix to be a 6 hour trip. OT thinks its a 4 1/2 hour trip.
Guess who does all the driving?

[Schmeelkie]

I always have to be clear - it's 5.5 hours driving time here to Worcester, MA where husband's mom lives, but in reality, especially with kids, it's an 8 hour trip. Pre-kids, it was more like 6.5-7 hours - I could do it in less by myself - husband always takes more time to stretch and move around that I would on my own. Basically anything over about 4 hours, have to add about a half-hour for extra husband stretching time, another hour for kid run around time. Often we'll stop to eat and they'll eat very little and mostly just run around. Then we bring the food into the car and they finish up there. Looking forward to them getting older and being able to travel a bit more efficiently....

Really the big difference in driving between me and my husband (and this goes for most yard work, cleaning, etc) is that he'll stop when he's tired. I'll push on to finish or make that time goal (usually driving 2 hours/shift) or one more rest stop. So I generally end up driving more. Example - our return trip from Princeton after Christmas: I started - took a while to get through winding/stop-light filled country 'highway' (with a detour) to get to the main highway. Once there, I wanted to get a good ways down the road before stopping, so drove 2 hrs. We had lunch and husband drove about 1:15 - had to stop to pee. Then I ended up driving over 2 hours on the next shift, partially because we hit snowy roads south of Syracuse and I didn't want to stop - and again, wanted to get to the Thruway (which is generally the best maintained road in NY) before stopping. And of course, by then, the snow stopped too and husband had less than 1.5 hours to home. Not fair, but I'd rather drive the van in poor conditions as I drive it all the time and am used to how it reacts.

[jamiebk]

There is only one reason to be on the road driving.... and that is to get where you are going (unless it is a dedicated sightseeing trip). With that in mind, I start as early as possible (usually 5AM or so) and drive until the tank runs dry...stop for pee break, gas, and coffee/sandwich....resume and repeat until arrival at destination. My wife hates this. Oh, and I don't really feel like I am doing well unless I can average 5 MPH above the posted speed limits. You and I would get along well in the car Schmeelkie

[analog]

There is only one reason to be on the road driving.... and that is to get where you are going

True enough of the interstates.

Back in my sailing days I said "With a sailboat, getting there is half the fun and getting back is the other half".
Fair Anne and I apply that attitude to most of our cross country trips. The "Blue Highways" are delightful. We stop in junkshops and eat in small town square restaurants.
Some colorful places:
Sinclair station in Mason City Nebraska. Talk with Mr Runyon - he owns a hillside with about 500 ancient cars rescued from local crusher.
Merino's Seafood in Westport Washington best smoked oysters period.
Outz's Oyster Bar in Newport Florida smoked mullet and fresh oysters.
Virginian Hotel in Medicine Bow Wyoming ... looks like Buffal Bill might still be sleeping there.


But when you want to get to a destination ASAP, you just gotta forego the adventure and grind down the interstate. I hate it.

a.

[Shapley]

Someone once said: thanks to America's Interstate Highway System, it is now possible to drive coast to coast without seeing a thing...

[Giant Communist Robot]

On the Road

[Shapley]

Blue Highways

[Shapley]

Back in my youth, I loved driving the "blue highways" (even though we didn't call them that, back then). Getting there was half the fun. Nowadays, I just want to get there. I'm not sure what happened. I just don't find driving pleasurable anymore.

Part of it simply that 'there' isn't there anymore. A lot of the old wayside stops are gone. Many that survive exist simply by selling the same made-in-China souveniers that you can purchase at any wayside anywhere in America, or just visit their website "rip-off-by-the-roadside dot com.

In the great Southwest, many of the old highways are gone, merged into the interstates. Short stretches of them still exist so you can get to some off-the-beaten track tourist destination, and then merge back into interstate, saving the state the cost of maintaining them. If the out-of-the-way tourist destination enjoys any level of tourist traffic, the fast-food barons will have built a new glass-enclosed, overly lit monstrosity to choke out the mom-and-pop diner that used to feed the hungry travelers passing through. Even the mom-and-pops that remain survive by catering to the tourist crowd, adding a gift shoppe convenience store, and 'tourist information' counter peddling time shares.

Then again, when it was just me, I didn't mind stopping at the 'Tiki Motel', with it's cinder-block decor, window mounted air-conditioning unit, and attached diner called "EAT". Not so with family in tow. It's gotta be a chain motel with free cable, wi-fi, and an easily-recognizable brand-name restaurant attached so we "at least know the food will be safe"... [sigh], I guess I've become too soft, setting my sights far beyond the barrio of the Olongapo City. I still have fantasies of traveling to far-distant places and trekking through the jungles. Truth is, if there isn't a Perkins or a Denny's nearby, I probably wouldn't eat there. Anthony Bourdain I'm not...

[analog]

Shap

Blue Highways is quite a story!

I may do that yet. Have an old blue station-wagon, last of the gigantic rear wheel drive GM's (Oldsmobile), and a sleeping bag somewhere.
But, alas, Fair Anne prefers the Hampton Inns so it's still a dream.
But I've planted the seeds for one of those teardrop campers...





lots of diy'ers are building them.....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J7Ia1NZn ... re=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jq-1ZSI0HzE

[Shapley]

I attended sailing classes with a gentleman that has one of those. I believe he said he gave up on his job and decided to travel and enjoy life for a while.

There was a special on the Travel Channel on them. They're quite nice if you're not clausterphobic.

I had an old Mercury Marquis, basically a battleship on wheels, when I was in the Navy. Fine car, a rolling Ramada Inn, with a trunk big enough to live out of, or in, I suppose. I kept a sleeping bag and tent and odds and ends in there, as well as a ready supply of spare clothes. Sometimes, when traveling, I'd just stop at a camground and sleep in the car, though I usually opted for a cheap motel. I'd eat at the local diners and greasy spoons. There was one in Kentucky, on US-60, that was shaped like a giant percolator. I often wonder if it's still there. I don't recall the town it was near, but it was right along the Ohio River, near as I remember.

Unlike Mr. Moon, I went though the cities, sticking to the old US Highways near as possible. In the old days they all went through the towns, snaking this way and that to pick up every major population center. Modern planners have re-routed them to bypass the speed traps that such cities have become, particularly since most of them passed right down the main streets and through the city squares. I however, avoided the bypasses and went through the towns. I believe it took me four days to get from New Madrid, MO to Newport News, VA, taking U.S. 61 North to U.S. 60, and then U.S. 60 all the way to the pier.

When I transferred to Florida, I took U.S. 61 south to New Orleans, then U.S. 90 and 98 along the coast, until I reached that swampy armpit of North Florida, at which point I went North to I-10 into Jacksonville. From there I took U.S. 1 and A1A South to Cape Kennedy, then West to Orlando, where I was stationed. I believe that was about a five-day journey.

But that was long ago. I'm civilized now. [sigh]

[analog]

then U.S. 90 and 98 along the coast, until I reached that swampy armpit of North Florida, at which point I went North to I-10 into Jacksonville.

Ahhhh now that's the best part of Florida, its armpit. Look for an indy movie "Sunshine State" filmed there, leading lady is Mrs Soprano.
If you go that way again let me know, I'll give you my old scenic route that's really pretty time efficient and lots more enjoyable. I-10 is misery but SR20 parallels it and is gorgeous.

a.

[Shapley]

then U.S. 90 and 98 along the coast, until I reached that swampy armpit of North Florida, at which point I went North to I-10 into Jacksonville.

Ahhhh now that's the best part of Florida, its armpit. Look for an indy movie "Sunshine State" filmed there, leading lady is Mrs Soprano.
If you go that way again let me know, I'll give you my old scenic route that's really pretty time efficient and lots more enjoyable. I-10 is misery but SR20 parallels it and is gorgeous.

a.

I-10 is misery now, it wasn't quite so twenty-nine years ago when I drove it.

I had made it as far as Sopchoppy when I realized there were no accomodations along that route, except for a couple of those places you see in old Alfred Hitchcock movies, run by crazy people who collect stuffed animals and shrunken heads. Even in my wild and carefree days, I wouldn't stay there.
Seriously, I was left with the choice between continuing East of Sopchoppy, where nothing was shown on the map, or taking the 30+ minute drive North to the Tallahassee area, where food and clean beds were abundant. I opted for the easy route.

I have never forgotten the name of Sopchoppy. Clever name, but I didn't see much of it, since it was nighttime when I passed through there. Years later, when I was searching eBay to find a sailboat, lo and behold, they had a 25-footer for sale in Sopchoppy, $2,500 if I recall. Even had a trailer. I bid on it but didn't win.

[Trumpetmaster]

If I can get through DC/Virginia rush hour without losing too much time I will try and make it straight through.

Good luck, TM !

Isn't there a way to bypass DC - I71 or something?

Fair Anne and I do Arkansas to North Carolina in a LOONNNGGGG day, it's 1050 miles about 16 hours.
Rough spots are Raleigh metro area and Memphis, both nothing compared to DC.



a.

I wish there were.... Unfortunately I had no choice and hit DC and Virginia rush hour. I stopped over in Petersburg Virginia for the night and started off for Augusta at 6AM EST this morning. Got here in one piece BUT NOT MY CAR.
A truck kicked up a stone and hit my windshield. I have a 10 inch crack on the passenger side. Ugh....
Fortunately, I have full glass coverage on my insurance and they are coming Monday morning to replace the windshield.

Today is my parents anniversary so I am grateful to be here to celebrate their 55th!

My plan is to relax and enjoy this time until I got back to NY on the 25th or 26th of this month.

Regards,
TM