Cross Country 2004
our progress [IN YELLOW] across the country
our progress [IN YELLOW] across the country
| time | odometer reading | location (geographical) | music | comment |
| 6:16pm | N/A | Chicago Midway Airport | Sigur Ros Agaetis Byrjun | I'm on my way back to Boston. again. This time, Andy (Leiserson, my tEp little brother and electronics/ computer extraordinaire) and I, are driving to the Bay Area. He's moving out there, to Santa Clara, to work at NVidia. I'm getting away from Stanford for a bit and trying to stretch out the time I have before I start work at Function Engineering (function.com). I tend to do this thing where I try to see what my limit is by taking on way too much and then working really hard. Not always the best plan, I must admit. But now, I feel like I need to get away and a road trip is a pretty good way to do that--and Andy didn't have anyone to drive out here with so I'm being a big hero in that manner. |
| 8pm | N/A | over New York somewhere | Sufjan Stevens Greetings from Michigan | [I had to get on a plane there]. I had other things to say up there; that is to say, the previous entry isn't finished, but I forgot what was going to finish it. Oh yeah... The plan: leave sunday morning, drive to Pittsburgh, see my parents and some friends. Then, Texas to see Bork. After that? I don't know. We both start work on the 28th of June. Between Sunday and the 28th? I don't know. Things I like about America that I want to do: |
| time | odometer reading | location (geographical) | music | comment |
| 8:50am | 314 | Winchester, MA | radio | we're leaving (this entry was faked at 9:07am) |
| 9:08am | 319 | Arlington, MA | my new found oldies collection | the clock is set. a quick stop at CVS has resulted in Kool-Aid Man Bobblehead appropriately attached to the dash (yay for double-side mounting tape) Woo! ROAD TRIP |
| 10:39am | 429 | just passing through Hartford | still oldies | signs: (one of those programmable road signs, back in MA) "Test" (a billboard in Hartford) Do it in Hartford! Find out what @ hartford.com |
| 2:56pm | 653 | near Bloomsburg, PA on I-80 | John Vanderslice Cellar Door | we just stopped for gas and food. 37.4mpg gas mileage so far. Subway was the food. it was fine. in the bathroom at this gas/ food stop was a weird thing. it was a coin operated cologne dispenser with nozzles on the face of it. I guess you put your coins in, pick your cologne, put your face near the nozzle on the face of this machine and it sprays out the cologne. who would use such a thing? a trucker that wants to make himself feel special?? |
| time | odometer reading | location (geographical) | music | comment |
| 1:28am | 950-some | casa de Bischoff, Pittsburgh, PA | weezer | I drove the last bit to Pittsburgh. There was crap construction
stop-and-go on I-79 near the I-80 interchange. it was dumb. we got in for a slightly delayed dinner. Jon Werberg and his girlfriend Helene (sp?) came for dinner and Mike Glasser joined us later. Good times. Apparently Hampshire College is a total freak fest (Helene went there and enthralled us with stories). Mike and Jon look good, but each seem to have his worries. I was about to go to bed when I realized Christine Waller was around too, so she came over for a bit and showed me her pictures from Peru and we talked about the future and boys and girls (and sometimes both boys/ girls and the future at the same time). I called some people today and it looks like we'll be staying with JeffMillerGuitarGiant in Nashville tomorrow night and having dinner with eldale. Andy also has relatives in Nashville. I don't know if we/ he'll see them. So Nashville tomorrow night, then Graceland on tuesday, ending the day maybe in Mississippi. From there we go to Houston (to see Bork) via Jackson and Baton Rouge. From there we'll probably make our way to Bisbee, Arizona to see Rowena and then maybe LA to hit up Jason for a night of sleep (thoughts on this, Jason??) and then to the beautiful Bay Area. So much for plans though... on a closing note: DO YOU PEOPLE UNDERSTAND THAT THERE IS A PLACE IN THIS COUNTRY WHERE YOU CAN GO TO A DRIVE-IN-LIKE MOVIE AND SLEEP IN A MOTEL ROOM AT THE SAME TIME??? Best Western Movie Manor in Monte Vista, CO. I was in that town not a year ago and I didn't go to it. if only I had known! oh yeah, and I graduated today (well sunday). congrats me. |
| 1:49pm | 1192 | southern Ohio on I-71 | weezer, again | we left at about 9:30 this morning and got gas at one of those 20 pump gas stations of the future (which have touch-screen sandwhich ordering as well!). we made some progress while I slept and andy drove. at a rest stop we saw two Deloreans! Check out this sweet picture below (if it's not there yet, it will be soon). Apparently there's a convention/ show in Pigeon Point (?) where about 125 of them from 6 countries are going to be. It's all rather exciting. |
| 4:12pm CDT | 1418 | Kentucky, I-65 at exit 48 | 101 FM, the best of Kentuckiana | andy Adrian declares that he uses emacs without Meta or Esc! Also, this morning we stopped to take my (Andy's) picture by a sign for route 22 (and 40) in Ohio. |
| 4:34pm | 1445 | Kentucky, just past National Corvette Museum | same goofy radio station as before | andy another funny light up sign:
TEST
TEST
TEST
TEST
TEST
also, a few miles later we saw some doofus make a u-turn across the median of the interstate. he must have misunderstood the prominent "No U-Turn" sign. |
| time | odometer reading | location (geographical) | music | comment |
| 9:29am | 1530-ish? | Antioch near Nashville, at Jeff's place | none | we're at Jeff's place, showering and stuff. I think we're going to
Shoney's or iHop for breakfast. We got into Nashville a little bit earlier than we expected, mostly because Nashville is in the Central Daylight Time zone (who knew?). While Elizabeth (Dale) was doing other stuff we wandered around downtown Nashville and went into crappy souvenier shops with leather cowboy hats and shirts entitled things like "20 things not to say during sex". High quality stuff. Then Andy ran off to have dinner with his cousins and I had dinner with Libbs and her roommate at this place in the Vanderbilt area of things. Good times. Jeff ran later than I expected, so meanwhile I talked to Andy and Libby while they dozed off. (She still turns into a pumpkin at midnight, or more like 11:30 these days). Jeff ended up getting into the area around 12:45am, after which we came to his place, andy fell asleep rather quickly and jeff and I talked for a bit. capitalization is both a pain and out of style. look at me! |
| 2:06pm | 1728 | on I-40, a bit yet from Memphis | oldies! | it's raining like crazy and we're going pretty slow. we don't know what
it is for sure. no sign of construction and we're too far from Memphis for it to be city traffic. a first and just now a second ambulance passed us, so we're guessing it's probably an accident. ... okay. we're going again. it was actually two accidents about a quarter mile apart. hope everyone is alright |
| 5:45pm | 1768 | Memphis, TN and Horn Lake, MS | Elvis | andy some thoughts on the recent happenings:
|
| 11:21pm | 2093 | Hammond, LA | the sounds of Dave Letterman | so we're stopped for the night, drinking a couple beers, figuring
out our route for tomorrow, and watching some TV. we're in the
slightly-seedy but cheap Motel Cedars (the cockroach in the shower and
disconected smoke alarm
have been noted). Our revised schedule includes going to New Orleans
for a couple hours tomorrow and then heading to Houston by evening to
see Bork. It seems reasonably doable. A new thing that I want to do
(see list above, entry #2) is get some Dr. Pepper from the main
factory (where they use sugar instead of corn syrup). Also, maybe go
to some pawn shops. I must say, though, Mississippi has some of the most consistant interstate-side scenery of all the states thusfar. Oh and parts of I-55 included severe rain which slowed us down for portions of the drive. the repetative scenery let my mind wander a bit. mostly about the future and the recent past. Pizza hut wasn't disgusting; it was just um not the most appetizing ever. |
| time | odometer reading | location (geographical) | music | comment |
| 12:41pm | 2168 | New Orleans, about to get on 10W (to Houston) | Rainer Maria Look now look again | New Orleans! Oh benny, it's all quite exciting: we parked on
Esplanade St. and wandered around the French Quarter. We were worried
we'd get a parking ticket (the street signs were confusing) but we
didn't. We crossed the Lake Pontchartrain Causeway Bridge, which I think
is something like 30 miles long. Andy was quite blown away by it. To his
benefit, it does seem for quite a while like you're on a bridge across the
ocean because all you can see on all sides is bridge and water. Maybe I'll
post a picture below from Andy's digital camera if we can dig out the card
reader from the trunk. and now we're off to Houston, maybe stopping in Baton Rouge for a couple
minutes. I'm worried we'll get to Houston pretty late if we don't make pretty
good time. Some highlights of New Orleans: |
| 1:55pm | 2250 | just past Baton Rouge on the I-10 | Unwed Sailor Faithful Anchor | Baton Rouge: I didn't see a single red stick! |
| 4:10pm | 2379 | just past Lake Charles, LA | Beatles Revolver | store name in Lake Charles: Casino Pawn (so you can pawn all your stuff
and blow the money down the street) according to a billboard, the name of an establishment in the area: Wagin' Cajun Casino. |
| time | odometer reading | location (geographical) | music | comment |
| 12:40pm | 2540 | leaving Houston, TX | 93.7 FM | andy We got a late start today because we spent some time with Bork. I was going to talk about how Adrian is softcore here, but I've decided against it, since nobody would appreciate it except Jesse. |
| 11:44pm | 2806 something like that | Alex's place in Dallas | Conan sounds | alright, so I haven't updated in a while. I drove all day today
(well all of what we drove today--andy drove all of yesterday) so I
couldn't write. quick recap of today's events and then more detail
about a couple of things. We started the day with Bork in Houston. We hung out for a while. We headed to Waco to the Dr. Pepper Museum. I am now the proud owner of 23 cans (gave one to alex) and 12 bottles of the original Dr. Pepper, made with Cane Sugar (instead of corn syrup), a shirt and a patch. We're in Dallas now, at my brother Alex's (handcoding.com) place and we watched the movie Saved! after eating some Mexican food. [warning: this section contains overly personal thoughts on money and religion, skip for the skiddish--okay it's too long to put here, I'm putting it here if you want to read it.] |
| time | odometer reading | location (geographical) | music | comment |
| 10am | 2806 | my brother's place in Dallas still | Polyphonic Spree Beginning Stages of... | a quick update on our plan: drive to near Carlsbad Caverns today; go in the morning; drive for a bit tomorrow; get to Bisbee and visit Ro on sunday; go to LA or near on monday; drive to the Bay Area on Tuesday. |
| 11:12am | 2837 | I-30, past Arlington | oldies radio | I think people just don't know how to use those programmable road signs: "This sign is being tested. Texas Department of Transportation." |
| 5:10pm [see next entry] | 3225 | 180/ 62 past Hobbs, NM | oldies mp3s (I swear we listened to other stuff recently as well) | So we've been driving for a while, since about 10am. For a long time
we were on the 180 (before it joined with the 62) between Lamesca and Seminole
(which is the #1 oil, #1 cotton, and #1 peanut producer of the county? Texas?
the US? I didn't catch that part) with reddish brown dirt stretching for miles
on both sides and a oil well every once in a while. It's the sort of
nothingness that reminds me of Kansas except
the fields were brown instead of green and the occasionally town had a
McDonalds, a gas station and a payday loan service, instead of a Walmart, a
Perkins and a payday loan service. We passed through the town of Hobbs, in NM, which was pretty exciting. It had a bowling alley, but no drive-in movie theater. Carlsbad apparently has a drive-in, so we're probably going to stop there for the night. We're passing through the distinctive smell of natural gas (or rather one of the mercaptane additives that makes it smell); we figure there are natural gas refineries around here. |
| 8:37pm MDT | 3290-some | Carlsbad, NM | none | we're in the mountain time zone and I'd like to relate to you,
Loyal Reader, how I know this. We knew Carlsbad had a drive-in and
found out that the main showing is at 8:30 with the place opening at
8., so we had a quick dinner after arriving in town at about "6:30"
and checking into the economy inn (cheaper and cleaner than the motel
cedars of hammond, la) and went over to the theater, getting there at
about "8:05" after driving around for a bit. There wasn't anyone at
the ticket booth thing, so we went in and parked. I went up to the guy
that appeared to be preparing the place and said "hey, there wasn't anyone
at the booth." he said "that's because it's five past seven." I stared at him.
"it's mountain time." andy laughed in the car. "oh. uh, sorry." "we
get that all the time." "I guess I'll see you in about an hour then." andy
laughed some more. So let this be a lesson to you: New Mexico is in the mountain time zone, no matter how close to Texas it is. we've also discovered that of my list of Americana, we can do almost all of them here. we're going to the drive-in in a couple of minutes, the economy inn is right next to cal's cactus lanes bowling alley, there's a diner near the drive-in and there's a putt-putt/ go cart place a few minutes farther down the main road. we might have breakfast at the diner and see about bowling or putt-putt in the morning before the caverns. it's still about 550 miles to bisbee, so it'd be hard to make that in one day, especially if we're stopping at the caverns, so we can take extra time at places like the diner and the bowling alley. |
| time | odometer reading | location (geographical) | music | comment |
| 10:14am | 3318 (over the 3000 mile mark of our trip) | right near the Carlsbad Caverns, NM | oldies radio | billboard: " Velvet Garter Saloon and Restaurant... Steaks Salads Garters" |
| 3:07pm | 3464 | on 180/62 just past Hueco, TX | Archers of Loaf All the Nation's Airports | we just passed a how shaped like flying saucer and made out of concrete.
the windows are little black domes shaped like those security camera bubbles
in department stores and casinos. Carlsbad Caverns: impressive. definately worth the trip if you're in the area. The walk down is a bit rough on the knees and the ankles. |
| time | odometer reading | location (geographical) | music | comment |
| 1:46 am | 3770-ish | Ro's house, in Bisbee, AZ | Joseph Arthur "In the Sun" | so we're in bisbee and it's been quite a night. we decided somewhere around
Las Crucez (sp?) that we could make it to bisbee by 8:30 or so...and later we
realized that it was going to be earlier, because arizona doesn't do the
daylight savings time thing, so in the summer they're sort of on pacific time.
We called Rowena a few times but to no avail: no response. we decided to come
to bisbee anyhow and try our luck. when we had arrived, still no sign of Ro
and time was passing (like it always does). just as we were considered
how much a hotel was worth in terms of not having to sleep in the car, Ro
called and we met up and went on a slightly precarious ride to her place.
Settled, we had a beer and headed back to main street and beer gulch to have
some dinner and for Ro to waitress at a local bar. As it turns out we ate and
hung out with her at her bar, which she didn't end up working at for the night.
breakfast at a diner in the morning. we might try to push on to Jason in LA by night or we might give LA a skip and pull up short for the night. it's a long drive... |
| 12:38pm | 3798 | on Arizona 80, near Tombstone | Leonard Cohen "Hallelujah" | we're on the road again. this morning we went to this awesome diner (check
that off the list) in Bisbee called Dot's Diner. it's a stainless, probably
prefab building of about 10'x18' with nine stool seats. no booths, just the
stools and the counter with classic diner stylings. I had some really good
blueberry walnut pancakes (the "Blue Wally" pancakes) and had some of Rowena's
cornflake-encrusted french toast in a berry compote, which was excellent.
it was located right next to the Shady Glen RV park/ hotel. This place is
incredible. (I've definately seen something about it on TV before.) it has
all these old restored RVs, a boat, and a restored bus, each outfitted with
beds and things and people book a room for a night or two, like a hotel. it's
really cool.
we finished up our morning with a quick hike to the top of one of the hills
on the edge of old Bisbee.
Bisbee's a quirky town, it seems. it's in a valley and a lot of the houses
are built into the hills in a way that reminds me of the south side of
Pittsburgh. lots of stairs and strange, steep streets connecting everything. when I have cell phone coverage again, I'm going to call Jason and see what he thinks about getting in late to LA. |
| 6:09pm | 4159 | past Blythe, CA on the I-10 | Mantissa a Working Model | Our mascot and dashboard companion, the Kool-Aid Man Bobblehead Doll, is
not looking well. He formerly stood proud and did a job with the spring in his step.
After thousands of miles of happily bobbling along, his shoulders are slumped
and the spring is just not there anymore, like an old man jaded
by the ways of the world. I've tried to give him a pep talk, tell him that
things are looking good, that we're in California, the New West, that we're
nearing the end of our Journey, that he's been bobbling so well thus far
and that he can do it just for a little more. Then I got a more stern.
Straighten up, Soldier!
This is no time to give up! To no avail. What can I do now? Should I threaten removing him from his honorable dash post? Try to appeal to his heart? Wretch his head and try to straighten out his spring? I'm at my wits end. |
| 6:22pm | 4179 | somewhere on the I-10 | Mantissa still | so we're in California. I've talked to Jason and it looks as though
we're staying with him tonight in Pasedena. a few things I forgot/didn't to note earlier (in almost chronological order): |
| time | odometer reading | location (geographical) | music | comment |
| 10:55am | 4369 | on the I-210, leaving Pasadena | Creedance on the radio | we've started on our last day of our trip. it'll be nice to be home.
nine days on the road is about enough. we crashed at Jason's place at Caltech last night. we're now heading out of town, trying to get away from the LA sprawl as quickly as possible and somewhere around San Luis Obispo, cut over to the coast and do the scenic drive till about Santa Cruz and then it's just a little bit to Menlo Park from there. I can't see the sky because it's overcast/ all the smog; I hope it clears up by the middle of the drive. |
| 10pm | 4803 | Palo Alto High, Menlo Park, CA | Her Space Holdiday Young Machines | we're back. we got back at about 8:45. we spent a good portion of the day tracing up the 1 along the coast. Some beautiful vistas and slow corners winding up the coast of the Golden State. we had dinner at a good, but overpriced seafood place in Monterey, which must have been two miles from where we parked our car (my fault). but now we're back. I got some mail (e- and snail-) and need to catch up on some things. |