walls of the city » cross-country jaunt

one of the few redeeming features

Linoge — Thu, 29 Sep 2011 20:28:00 +0000

If you should ever have the disastrous misfortune of finding yourself in or around Dahlgren, Virginia (otherwise known as "The Navy’s Purgatory") at dinnertime, like I was repeatedly last week, I would strongly recommend that you hit up Regina’s Pasta Factory at 4581 James Madison Parkway, right next to Pancho Villa’s and right across 301 from the new (and somewhat startling) Wal-Mart. It is a little on the pricey side (at least for Middle Of Nowhere, VA), but the pasta is, quite literally, made to order right in front of you on their own machinery, and it was easily amongst the best I have had.

And given you other restaurant choices in the area, you can definitely do worse (though the Crabby Oyster has some pretty decent seafood too).

(This was after my removal of a single shrimp… I always seem to forget my phone has a camera, and I can actually get the pictures off it now.)

(Obligatory FTC note: Piss off. Again. Still. Constantly. I paid for my meal like any other customer, and did not even mention I was a blogger at the time. Even today, that is kind of like mentioning you are a poet.)

piss poor planning

Linoge — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 21:00:36 +0000

I have been intentionally avoiding commenting on the charges brought against three Navy SEALS, simply because I believe that the full facts of the situation have not been adequately documented or exposed, and are not likely to be so until after those SEALS’ courts martial. However, this has got to be one of the better ass-handings I have seen in a while:

Let me explain something to you amigo. That wrist slap would be a career-ender in Spec Ops for these men. You understand? We take three guys who accomplish more in a lazy afternoon than you have in your entire anonymous, snarking-from-the-sideline, existence and we put them out of work making dead tangos. And that sounds like what should have happened to this ass clown. If he dies during the take down we have no problems.

I know you have no earthly clue just how god-awful complicated it is to actually perform a raid and scarf up a bad guy, let’s just say it rates up there with trying to conduct a Beethoven Symphony with your orchestra in free fall, screaming towards Earth like a phalanx of freaking lawn darts. That is why we like to send a f**king Hellfire down on them and last time I checked that leaves a little more than a god damn bloody lip. And yes I am saying I don’t care if he got it once he got to base. What if the guy who clocked his murderous ass knew Scott Helverson, who this bastard helped kill, burn and then defile his corpse? Do you really want to be on record saying he should be made an example of? Do you remember what Kos said about the four men this scumbag killed you dumbass? I’ll remind you “F**k them”. You are sure in illustrious company.

I realize you get paid to say controversial shite all day long. Every once in a while you ought to take a gander at who gives you the freedom to flap your freakin’ gums and think twice before you decide that zero-tolerance demands that your betters suffer for some bullshit like this. Don’t offer the PC losers cover, ever. They will use it against my friends.

As a veteran and military brat, I am constantly annoyed at how so many civilians seem to treat our armed forces as something of a “black box” – enigmatic, un-understandable, and mysterious. Yeah, a lot of the stuff the military does cannot be released to the public. Yeah, a lot of the culture of the military is distilled from centuries of tradition and history, and not something easily understood by outsiders. But the United States Military is also a government entity, and, guess what? As such, a lot of its defining, driving, and delimiting documents are freely available, to the American public, as you sit there on your arses.
The two you will want to pay attention to in this case are the Uniform Code of Military Justice and the Manual for Courts Martial – both freely and publicly available in their unabridged, mind-bogglingly-boring forms (my hardcopy of the former was about two inches thick, and the latter about three). Yeah, these are big documents, so let me help you out: you are looking for Section 815 Article 15 of the UCMJ, which covers something called “non-judicial punishment“.
NJP/Captain’s Mast/office hours/Article 15 proceedings are the military’s way of “slapping wrists”, though some slaps are worse than others – punishments can include 45 days’ restriction to ship/base, forfeiture of pay, reduction of rank, and even short-term stints in an honest-to-God military brig. What is important to note, however, is the name – these proceedings are distinctly not judicial. The commanding/ranking officer convening the NJP has full authority over the entire proceedings, and while there are a few details he has to address in the course of the event, it is pretty much a case of “what he says, goes” (as long as he stays within the rules). However, NJP proceedings do not bear the same legal or judicial weight that courts martial do – the result of the NJP is recorded internally to the military, and could impact future fitreps and promotions, but might never be exposed to civilian authorities in the future (unlike courts martial, wherein a conviction is equivalent to a civilian felony conviction, and must be disclosed as such).
NJPs are, however, refusable… but if a servicemember refuses an NJP, a court martial is automatic, and courts martial are full-blown, honest-to-God, lawyers-and-everything military trials, with all the rules, regulations, and restrictions to go along with them – not exactly a “slap on the wrist”. So why did these SEALS refuse admiral’s mast? Jay Tea has a theory that I mostly agree with:

Our Special Forces are inculcated with values and beliefs that represent the very best of America. And chief among them is a fierce integrity. These SEALS honestly, sincerely, and deeply believe that they did absolutely nothing wrong when they captured that terrorist. They refused the Mast because that would have been an admission of wrongdoing, and they will not lie about it.

Rather, they’ll take their chances with their brethren in a full Court Martial, with all the facts in evidence. They believe that they are innocent, and will be found innocent. And that is the gamble they are facing.

Because a court martial conviction is an automatic “felony” conviction. It’s a career-killer — at the very least. They could also be stripped of rank, dishonorably discharged, or even imprisoned.

They’re willing to take that chance, because they believe in their innocence and their system. There will be no “slap on the wrist” for them, simply because the stakes have gotten too high. That option is off the table.

I say “mostly” because accepting an Article 15/NJP is not equivalent to an admission of guilt – in fact, there were a few occasions on my ships wherein the sailor who was brought before a captain’s mast was let go with a stern talking-to for not doing something in the future that might appear to be a UCMJ violation, but was not really. Additionally, NJPs can pretty much kill someone’s carreer – being busted a rank is one hell of a black spot, though people frequently overcome it.
However, apart from that, though, I largely agree with Jay Tea, especially over one important distiction between courts martial and NJPs – the rules of evidence apply in the former, but not the latter. If the SEALS in question are convinced the evidence will acquit them, and the only way they can ensure that evidence comes to ligth is by way of a court martial, then they hopefully made the right choice.
I guess we will see how this all plays out after the courts martial, which I believe are scheduled to start on December 7. However, until then, folks, please use Google. The military is not some humongous, blank monolith, devoid of any explanations or instruction manuals. A lot of the way it works, and the reasoning behind it, is available online – do some looking around, and save yourself the heartache of embarassment, or at least look like you might have a clue.
And do not even get me started on how television shows and movies screw up military uniforms/insignia…

day five

Linoge — Tue, 17 Jun 2008 20:43:56 +0000

Date: 22 May 2007
Start: Tucumcari, New Mexico
End: Holbrook, Arizona
Distance Travelled: 431 miles
Duration: 10 hours, 30 minutes (including accounting for MDT to MST change)
Map link (approximate).
Today started with us poking a little more around Tucumcari than we had the day before, since we had a little more time available to us. The primary reason for this is that Tucumcari has an amazing number and variety of wall murals throughout the town (my personal favorites being these two), in addition to some other art, and we were trying to see just how many of them we could dig up before we had to head on. Thankfully, the town provides you a convenient brochure, which gets you close to the mark in most cases.
Once we hit the road, it was pretty much a straight shot between Tucumcari and Holbrook. A few interesting things are along the road… as with pretty much any. As an aside note, while this information is about a year out of date now, there was intermittent traffic affecting a varying number of lanes on west-bound I-40 between Tucumcari and Albuquerque. We never experienced any significant delays, but I imagine they could get pretty bad, if traffic snarled. First off, the Flying C Ranch off I-40 west-bound’s exit 234 was a great place to gift-shop, and we walked away with a rather nice set of agate bookends. The people behind the counter were also kind enough to lend us a few tools and bits and bobs for me to poke into the engine compartment and take a look at the air filter. An interesting side-effect of going up in altitude is that modern cars are confused by the decreased air pressure, and continue pumping in air like they were back at sea level (which is where mine spent most of its life). Needless to say, this robs you of performance pretty significantly, and I just wanted to take a look at the air filter to ensure that it was not aggrivating the situation. And, of course, as with all things, by the time the computer caught up with the altitude increase, we were already back at sea level.
Moving on west, you will eventually find yourself in the city of Albuquerque, the largest city in New Mexico, and suppjosedly the second-fastest growing city in the country… and I can certainly understand why – the city is remarkably scenic, it has a gorgeous mountain range to its east that you have to get up and over and then slide down into the city from, and the highways are well-kept and easy to navigate. That said, do be careful of the billboards and road signs – we were interested in stopping by the Petroglyph National Monument, however, there is also a neighborhood called the Petroglyphs. The former is at exit 354, the latter is at 98th Street… just be sure you know which one you want to go to.
After Albuquerque, we hopped off the I-40 at exit 117 (Mesita), and took Route 66 through Laguna Pueblo land. Do be advised, however, while this is a particularly scenic part of New Mexico (which is saying something for that state), what with Owl Rock and other interesting geologic formations, photography, sketching, and other recordings are generally not allowed on tribe lands. If you forget, there are rather clear signs at every entrance to the reservation, and I understand you can request permission of the tribe for certain, specific locations and limitations, but I do not really know how. Once you have successfully navigated Dead Man’s Curve (appropriately named, given its over-180-degree direction change), you will eventually get to the little town of Laguna (exit 114 on I-40), where you can stop at the Conoco in town and buy a Laguna burger meal for $4.99… if you have the 20 minutes to wait for them to cook it on the spot for you. Of course, given the prices these days, and the size of the meal in the pictures, it might just be worth it.
We drove down I-40 for another stretch, hopped off on Route 66 again at exit 96, and then back to I-40 at exit 89 through a little town called McCartys, which was never a particularly large settlement, but is now nothing more than a ghost town. After McCartys, you will eventually find yourself at the Continental Divide, where if you started one marble on the west side of the line, it would eventually find itself in the Pacific, and another marble on the east side of the line, it would eventually find itself in the Atlantic. Kinda nifty.
After, that, you will eventually find yourself in Gallup, of the song’s fame, and eventually New Mexico’s mile marker 0 will slide into view, with Arizona itself not too far behind.
Fair warning about Arizona: They do not, repeat, not, use Daylight Saving Time. Honestly, more power to them. That said, it can be somewhat confusing going from MDT in New Mexico to MST in Arizona… in fact, we would not have even realized it, and continued thinking we were running late for our night’s accomodations, had our cell phones not corrected themselves once they crossed the border. Along with a little temporal uncertainty on the Arizona side of the border, you will find a gift shop shaped like a wigwam, and Fort Chief Yellowhorse, which used to be a gift shop, I assume, and is now rather abandoned.
Thanks to the extra hour we gained crossing the Arizona – New Mexico border, we were able to swing by the Petrified Forest National Park and poke around for a little bit. Unfortunately, we were only able to venture into a small portion of the Painted Desert portion of the park, but as you can see, the views were amazing. This is definitely a place one should go to when you have at least a day available, and a very good camera.
Continuing west from the Forest, you will eventually drive by Stewarts Petrified Wood Shop, and you will definitely know when you do – you simply cannot miss it. Unfortunately, it is only open from 9 to 5, so we were not actually able to go inside… more the shame. There are, however, ostriches outside. Lots of them.
Finally, after all of this, you will eventually find yourself in Holbrook, Arizona, where we spent the night. Where, you ask? Well, first, we had to have dinner at Joe and Aggie’s Cafe, Holbrook’s family-owned and -operated (since 1947) Route 66 restaurant. The staff was remarkably friendly, and the owner (who manned the small gift shop at the front of the restaurant) was more than happy to talk about Route 66 history, trivia, and details – and was quite up-front about how much he thought Cars positively affected Route 66′s tourism. The Mexican food at Joe and Aggie’s, however, was outstanding – for about $8 a person, you get more food than you could hope to eat, delicious sopapilla, and wonderful home-made chile sauces (though their intensities do vary from batch to batch). Should you ever find yourself in Holbrook (which, of course, you will if you ever explore Route 66), Joe and Aggie’s Cafe is highly recommended.
As for where we went to crash after our satisfying meal… well, in Holbrook, it just had to be the Wigwam Motel. These easily recognized (and often emulated) accommodations are easily found, and absolutely surrounded with all manner of classic cars. On top of their nostalgic charm and distinctive styling, they are actually rather comfortable inside, being somewhat larger internally than one might expect, and kept quite clean and neat. The only downsides were a typically short, 1950s shower, and a very cold tile floor, but those were easily offset by a comfortable bed and beautiful red light that filters through the curtains in the mornings.
Before we turned in, though, I did take the opportunity to try and capture some of the town’s neon. Unfortunately, there was not terribly much, but enough for a few interesting pictures.
While we had technically already been in contact with the Mother Road, this day definitely served to immerse us in its culture and history, which is not really a bad thing to explore, when you get right down to it.
The full set of pictures from today can be found here.

Technorati Tags: tucumcari, holbrook, route 66, wigwam motel, painted desert, stewarts petrified wood shop, joe and aggie’s cafe

historical flashback

Linoge — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 15:42:04 +0000

The below picture was taken just a bit over a year ago in small town in southern Georgia, though something tells me the gas station in question had closed a considerable time before. By the same token, I doubt you and I will see prices that low again in our lives. The rest is just a product of me being bored with Picasa 2 and fiddling with image-editing capabilities.

day four

Linoge — Sun, 22 Jul 2007 21:03:05 +0000

Date: 22 May 2007
Start: Decatur, Texas
End: Tucumcari, New Mexico
Distance Travelled: 456 miles
Duration: 11 (including accounting for CDT to MDT change)
Map link.
Well, this particular day got out to a great start, and actually managed to maintain that all throughout. Decatur, Texas, was chosen as a layover point primarily because of its distance from Houston, but we also lucked out – tucked away in the back of the town, up against the railway lines, on the corner of BR-81 and Hale Avenue, is a Petrified Wood gas station. The station is now a private office for a very friendly retired gentleman, whose wife’s grandmother built the original gas station back in the 1920s. That same family operated it as a fully-functional gas station until 1990 when the wife’s father died. For those with a really nostalgic bent, when the station was originally opened, gas was sold at a penny per gallon – I do not think it is physically possible to even dispense a penny’s worth of gas these days. The petrified wood itself was not actually part of the original construction, but instead was added sometime in the 1930s after being collected from a field in the Decatur area. The hotel behind the station (a more permanent replacement for the tent camp that once occupied the area), constructed in a slightly more normal rock style, was never finished, though the rooms were rented for $1.50 a night, including breakfast at the cafe right next door, which is still open and doing a thriving business, from all appearances. Interestingly enough, Bonnie and Clyde visited the hotel in the 1930s, shortly before their deaths… no doubt an interesting experience for the owners. Any way you look at it, however, this gas station is an interesting piece of American history, and well worth the five minutes necessary to turn it up.
Headed out of town on 287, we stumbled upon yet another wonderful find right before the town of Wichita Falls. Just outside of town is a classic car… well… lot, for lack of a better word. From the information we were able to gather from a local, Mr. Fred Robinson, now in his eighties, runs the lot, and owns the vehicles therein. And what vehicles… Old Dodge pickups, Studebakers, Cadillacs, VWs, fins, and bulletnoses galore. Unfortunately, due to his advanced age, Mr. Robinson does not come in to man the lot very often, so what you can see of the cars has to be through the fence surrounding the grounds. The good news is that his phone number is posted on a placard on the gate, and he does answer his home number, so if you are interested in a vehicle, feel free to give him a call – he gave me an honest assesment of one of the Studebakers, and due to my lack of upholstery skills, I, unfortunately, had to pass on it. However, do not even try to ask him about purchasing the two vehicles visible inside the only showroom on the premises… The very fact that they are the only vehicles in an enclosed, no-doubt-air-conditioned space should have given it away, but the plethora of polishing cloths, impeccable condition, and remarkable rarity of both of them just adds to the allure… and the fact that he ain’t sellin’. I do not blame him in the slightest, tiniest bit. I leave it as an exercise to the reader to discover what these gems are.
The only thing of note to Wichita Falls itself is that to stay on 287N, stay in the left lane, and take exit 3A. Yes, you will be taking an exit from 287N to 287N, but… yeah, just do not ask me. Still heading north (well, north west… west north west… close enough) on 287, you will eventually come across the town of Quanah. The town itself is not particularly distinctive, except for the tobacco-store alien (yes, “alien”, not “indian”) that greets you on the way into town, and the metal artwork/junkyard a little farther into the town. For some reason that rusted-metal look has always been nifty to me, and this particular place had it by the boatload. Thankfully, none of the pieces stood a chance of fitting in our already-packed car.
We stopped a little farther up the road at a little town called Clarendon for lunch, however, while this town qualifies as “little” in my books, it dwarfed the villages between Quanah and itself. If you are running low on gas or food, be sure to grab it when you can, otherwise it may be a space before you can get it again. However, if you are looking for good, basic, Texas bar-b-que, Sam Hill’s Pit BBQ in Clarendon, TX, certainly fits the bill. The portion size is more than sufficient to get you full, and the massive drinks are made even better by free refills. The decor is what I imagine to be typical Texas-cowboy (though we saw our first official Route 66 roadsign here), and the bathrooms were clean, so it definitely met our requirements. Prices, as pictured here, are more than reasonable.
Now we get to the fun part.
As we came north-west on Texas 287, we took a left turn onto 1151 (Claude Highway) in, oddly enough, Claude, and proceeded down it until we were approximately 11 miles past its intersection with 2250. From there, you cannot help but to notice the eleven, various-era combines, firmly planted in the field on the north side of the road. Sure enough, these mechanical beasts, some possibly built shortly after the advent of the internal combustion engine, are all dug into the earth, propped up at a 45-degree angle, and pointed south-west. Unfortunately, they are all protected behind a barbed wire fence, and the residence of their… well… “creator” is the wrong word… “manager”? is not too far off, so getting in amongst them to get closeups and the such is not possible. This manner of protection is probably due to some other artistic items of surprising similarity up the road, but no matter how you look at it, this is all manner of shiny. There is something strangely surreal about seeing massive mechanical devices, some the size of small homes, being plucked out of their raucous daily work and planted for the world to see. Maybe it is just me. Either way, if you are in the Amarillo area, Combine/Tractor Ranch is definitely worth a detour.
Continuing west-bound on 1151, we took a left on S. Washington Street (1541), then a right on West McCormick Street, and then headed towards Interstate 27. However, right before we got there, we took a right on the access road (ANOTHER ONE!) and paralleled the highway for a bit (for those interested, you can leave the highway at exit 113 and reach the exact same point). Once we got to the intersection of the access road and Sundown Lane (the road climbs over the highway, but does not intersect it), we were confronted with yet another impressive sight. Now, supposedly this item has been here pretty much since people started occupying the area around Amarillo, though I honestly have no real clue. According to the plaque at its base, Percy Bysshe Shelley and his wife, Mary Wollstonecraft (you might know her better as Mary Shelley), stumbled across this construct back in 1819. Either way, seeing a massive pair of feet, attached to an equally massive pair of legs, one broken off slightly higher than the other and still retaining its knee, set upon a rather large pedastal… well, that is just odd. Reportedly, there is a face to go along with the feet, but vandals did sufficient damage to it that it had to be relocated to a museum (which we did not have time to visit) for preservation and protection. I honestly do not know what would possess someone to construct something like this in the middle of nowhere, but its simple presence alone is impressive. Oh, and the socks… mostly the byproduct of high school football game celebrations, which, coincidentally, are also the cause of the damage to the face.
We continued along the access road until we could get back on I-27, and then took it north until its intersection with I-40, and took it westbound. About ten miles after that interchange, hop off 40 at Arnot Road (exit 60), go under the interstate, and take a left on the, yet another, access road. Follow that for about a mile, and you will come upon the real reason we visited Amarillo – Cadillac Ranch, in all its glory. I had originally planned on going north through Roswell (what, me, a nerd?), but after watching Cars, Better Half talked me into visiting here instead (well, there really was not a lot of convincing to be done, I will admit…), and it was certainly worth the change. The ten Cadillacs, ranging in years from 1949 to 1963, were selected to represent the “Golden Age” of American automotive design. Granted, much of their style and elegance has been beaten out of them by years of weather, a move farther out from the expanding core of Amarillo, and hundreds of thousands of tourists (permitted, in fact, encouraged, 24/7), but there is still an undefinable allure to them. I honestly have no clue what is so nifty about taking hardware and planting it in the dirt like that, but it is undefinably cool. And yes, we came with paint – another permitted/encouraged activity at this particular Ranch. Though, a word of caution – the winds out there on the flats of Texas get a bit strong. Ok, a lot strong. You will definitely want to be mindful of where your spraycan is, where you are, and where the wind is… And where your camera is, too. I just about managed to sparkelize the lens of my spiffy new camera – if you want to see your author peeved, get him to damage one of his new toys. Unfortunately, this means I screwed up a lot of opportunities to take pictures of Better Half painting, so when you visit, be more careful than I was. Also, please, please, please pick up after yourself, and take your spray cans with you – you would not believe the amount of garbage and trash left behind by previous visitors. However, when you get there (and you should go there, if you are anywhere within a mile of it), if you see any random “GT”s, mention of George P. Burdell, or a “626″ here or there, pay it no heed. Also, do not mind the cows – the Ranch is situated on… well… a ranch, and herds stroll by occasionally. Amusingly enough, while at Cadillac Ranch, we not only encountered a group of people who lived a scant ten miles from where we were moving from, but also a group from the location we were moving to. Small world.
Once we had our fill of Cadillacs (which took a while, granted), we kept on the access road back to exit 62, and stopped off at the Amarillo West RV Park there to wash our hands and clean up. Granted, we were not staying there, and that was probably a little improper of us, but we had paint all over the place, and did not really want to touch too much and risk transferring it. That said, the facilities in these restrooms were amazing – marble tiles throughout, full-size showerstalls with honest-to-God curtains and impressive fixtures, equally impressive sink fixtures, clean toilets… And all of this at a campground with a nightly rate of $19.95. If I were to ever camp near Amarillo, this would definitely be the place, what with pull-through slots (important for anyone who dislikes backing their campers… which is pretty much everyone), full hookups (complete with internet, wireless at that, I believe), and bathrooms you would not believe. There, does a glowing recommendation make up for using their facilities?
Headed westbound on I-40 again, we encountered spotty construction, until we got to exit 0. Yes, Texas has an exit 0 on I-40. Kinda wierd. However, that exit allows you access to the real, Historic Route 66, and here is where we got our first real taste of that road. Granted, out here in the sticks, it is a dirt road, and not terribly maintained, but what better way to get your feet wet on 66? My car was desperately in need of a shower after our drive from Glenrio (it used to be occupied, I promise) to our destination for the night, but it was so very much worth it. The road weaves through ranches and open areas, so be prepared for cows to block the road occasionally, and lots and lots of the “buzzbuzz” of crossing cattleguards, but the quiet solitude of driving on a dirt road, mostly out of view of I-40… well, as I said, there are worse ways to get your introduction to 66. After all, this kind of thing is exactly what we were looking for in setting up this cross-country trip. And the towns, or remnants of towns, you pass by only serve to add even more ambiance to the Mother Road, somehow still regal in their depressing decay. You will not make good speed on it, even after it gets to be paved shortly before San Jon (which is still sparsely occupied), but the scenery cannot be beaten, the nostalgic history of it you cannot find anywhere else, and it was well worth the detour, schedule or no. After all, we were out here to explore Route 66, be it paved, dirt, or whatever.
Coming in to Tucumcari on Route 66, you can easily see Tucumcari Mountain (the flat-top remanants of a volcano made so famous by the remarkably similar geological formation in Cars) from quite a distance away, though there is a spot right after where 66 dives under I-40 (at exit 335) where you can get a great picture of your car and the Mountain, should you so desire. After here, Route 66 becomes East Tucumcari Boulevard, and you enter Tucumcari proper.
That town… well, it is exactly as advertised – a historic Route 66 town. It is one of the few to survive, mainly because of its proximity to 40 when that highway was constructed, but I am glad to say that a lot of its nostalgic feel remains, and is intentionally preserved that way. The ravages of modern transportation and society have not stricken it unduly, besides the presence of chain gas stations and fast-food restaurants. We got there just in time for sunset, so we scrambled out to the west side of town, past where 66 joins back up with I-40, and set up our tripods on a small lump of a hill overlooking the rail line that goes through town. A word of advisement to those who would pull off on the side of the road to take pictures – due to living in at least suburban areas for most of my life, whenever I pull onto a shoulder, I turn on my flashers. That way, people do not hit my car – everyone is happy. However, as the Quay County sheriff who stopped to talk to us informed us, there is so little traffic in Tucumcari, that the flashers are completely unnecessary. And tend to generate undue police attention, apparently. Since this particular policeman had no less than two M-16s/AR-15s (could not see the selector/safety switches) and a shotgun all accessible from the front seat, I agreed with him, and turned off my flashers. Good to know. That particular vantage point, however, was quite satisfactory for sunsets, and yielded quite a few good shots. However, there is a better hill behind this particular one, on the other side of the road and a aqueduct – it is on private land, and while that land appears to be abandoned, we did not feel adventurous. Best of luck. Additionally, the Route 66 Monument on the west side of town has some interesting light plays on it towards sunset, and is an interesting sight regardless. Sure, it celebrates an older, gentler, quieter time for the Mother Road, but that is what makes exploring it so very cool.
Going back into town, we had dinner at Del’s Restaurant, which offers remarkably good American and Mexican food in quite acceptable quantities. Their chips and salsa appeared home-made, and their service was attentive and helpful. The salad bar was decent, and along with a gift-shop on the premises, all of the artwork on the walls appeared to be for sale. As if the credentials of the restaurant were questionable, three honest-to-God cowboys, complete with boots, belts, and hats strolled in while we were eating and dug in themselves. A restaurant that meets the standards of the locals is good enough for me, and I would certainly recommend it to anyone going through Tucumcari. Menu pictured here and here.
So where did we spend the night at this, our first real Route 66 town? Where else, except the Blue Swallow Motel. This cute little vintage motel has not changed a great deal since its construction in 1939, but it is still a very pleasant place to rest off the day’s journey. Bill and Terri, the current owners, along with their daughter, run the motel and associated gift shop, and certainly go out of their way to make their guests feel welcome – they had no problems with our slightly-late arrival, put our drinks and ice in the store’s refrigerator, sat outside and chatted with their guests, and even were willing to work with custom requests to have neon on or off at the hotel for me to take pictures of. The rooms were kind of on the smallish side (indicative of the times they were constructed in), but considering the fact that they include the adjoining garage (yes, garage), I was willing to overlook it. Additionlly, the rooms were quite clean, and while the scented detergent they used on the bedspreads and sheets (both in good condition) smelled a little strong, it also further showed a concern for cleanliness. As another “sign of the times”, be prepared for both a small shower stall (no tub), and a very short (at least for me, at 74 inches) shower head… people must have been a lot shorter back then. Before you think it cannot get any better, be sure to check out the heavily decorated VW bus on-site, as well as the beautifully blue-and-white classic car Bill owns. I could swear it is a Thunderbird, but my memory could be playing tricks with me. Supposedly, there is wireless internet on the property, though we did not have any success in connecting to it. You might have to request that Bill turn it on, or he may have simply turned it off when he turned in – he and his family live on-property, in the back of the gift shop, so please bear that in mind after hours. All said, the Blue Swallow Motel is exactly what it advertises itself to be – an authetic Route 66 motel, and I cannot think of a better place to stay in Tucumcari, or for your first night on 66 itself.
Speaking of neon, unfortunately, Tucumcari recently suffered a massive hailstorm which damaged, if not destroyed outright, most of the neon in the town – only seven or eight signs were lit at night, and the Blue Swallow’s sign was only lit from one side. Bill said his damages easily reached close to $30,000, and I certainly do not doubt him… it was kind of a shame to see all of those great old signs flickering or dark completely. There is a restoration organization at work, and I can only hope they will be able to restore the main drag to its previous glory.
The previous days of our trip were pretty much an exercise in getting to this point quickly enough to allow us the time from here to the West Coast to enjoy all the sights, and all that rushing was worth it. I have to admit, by way of starting the real core of our vacation, I was not disappointed in the slightest bit. In fact, for me at least, Route 66, Tucucmari, and the Blue Swallow all exceeded my expectations, and only furthered my interest in exploring the Mother Road. Sure, that interest may have been spurred on my a Hollywood dramatization of the road (though, honestly, I have been interested in driving it for a while now), but there are worse reasons to go check something out.
The full set of pictures from to day can be found here.

Technorati Tags: decatur, tucumcari, route 66, blue swallow motel, cadillac ranch

day three

Linoge — Sun, 08 Jul 2007 12:19:55 +0000

Date: 20 May 2007
Start: Sulphur, Louisiana
End: Decatur, Texas (with stop-over in Houston, Texas)
Distance Travelled: 485 miles
Duration: 13 hours, 30 minutes (with five hours spent in Houston)
Map link (approximate information provided for Houston, for privacy’s sake, and for Dallas, since we got so horribly lost)
This, the third day of our trip, was somewhat unique. Going from Sulphur, LA to Decatur, TX could have been almost a straight shot, more or less, except that we knew people living in Houston from back in our college days, and figured this would be as good a time as any to swing by and visit them. The added benefit to this is that they both work at the NASA Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center, and were able to take us on a behind-the-scenes tour – not something to be passed up lightly, believe you me.
However, I am getting ahead of myself. Upon entering Texas, you are, relatively shortly, confronted with what has to be a rather unique distance sign, proclaiming that El Paso is over 800 miles away – well, if that does not get your attention, I do not know what will. Unfortunately, we missed the chance to photograph it, and it was not repeated. Of course, an interesting thing you will see on both sides of the Texas/Louisiana border are fields and fields of what appear to be paddies, as if they are were growing rice or something similar. On closer inspection, though, you see buoys floating on the water, which does not make a whole lot of sense… Those, ladies and gentlement, are crawfish farms. I think they would sound better as “crawfish ranches”, but, either way, it is certainly an interesting sight as you drive along. Regardless, shortly after the border, if you pull off at the gas station on the north side of the highway in Orange, you have the golden opportunity to purchase a 52 ounce fountain drink (yes, fifty-two)… along with a screaming “state monkey” (a stuffed monkey with very long arms and legs, velcro feet and hands, and a t-shirt proclaiming his love of Texas). I am not sure which was more disturbing, but it is worth the stop, if nothing else – 52 ounces may not last you across the entirety of Texas, but it surely will come close.
Well, after that, we made it to Houston… mostly without incident. A word of caution, however. Due to our lacking inventory in car-mounted GPS units… or GPS units of any variety… we relied on Google Maps and our ream of AAA paper maps to get us cross-country. As any frequent traveller knows, both Google Maps and Mapquest (arguably the two largest names in the business) frequently have… issues. Sometimes it is due to faulty information, sometimes it is due to new roads, and sometimes, just sometimes, it is due to the completely assinine design of a city. Houston falls under the last category. Just about every one of their highways, major or minor, has frontage roads running along the sides of them. These roads are nothing more than one-way, two-lane asphalt tracks, mirroring the larger roads not a few feet from them, and serve as the fallen log upon which businesses can sprout, right next to the highway. This is all good and well, at least for the businesses, but with the plethora of exits to and onramps from those access roads, I think Google Maps suffered a schizoid break – it basically filed both the frontage road and its parent highway as the same road, and frequently tells you to go from one to the other… for no apparent reason. Our directions through Houston contained no fewer than four exits/merges that, if we had executed them, would have amounted to nothing more than hopping off the highway… onto the frontage road… and back again. Huh? The good news, however, is that Houston appears to have a relatively comprehensive HOV network, and if I-45N was any indication, it was well needed. The downsides, however, are that it is only available Monday to Friday, 0500 to 2300 (and they barricade it off when not open, so no sneaking on), and it bears a remarkable resemblance to a pinball chute, with just a single lane and high jersey barriers. Possibly a little disconcerting, that. And a final word of caution concerning driving on Houston highways – they like left exits, and the highways there are rather wide. Plan ahead appropriately.
The good news is that once we made it to Houston and hooked up with our college friends, the tour of NASA was definitely worth it. We got up-close and personal with an original Saturn V (that was in a public area, though, so anyone can do that), and then got to wander around Mission Control and actually go in the rooms where they control shuttle missions. The International Space Station control room was actually being used (duh), so we could not go in there, but we watched them work for a bit, and were able to quiz our two guides all we liked. And, finally, we got to crawl up into one of the space shuttle flight simulators – the ones with the hydraulic suspensions that allow the simulated cockpit to perform simulated, but very realistic-feeling maneuvers and all that good stuff. Unfortunately, we could not talk the operator into turning it on for us, but it was cool enough as is.
Unfortunately, though, we had to move on… travelling cross-country on a schedule is sometimes quite a bear. As we travelled up I-45 North, though, we came across something that touted itself as the world’s largest statue of an American hero. Well, that was worth stopping for, schedule or no. Of course, I cannot imagine there are that many statues of American heroes outside of America, but that is a minor quibble. Regardless, on the east side of I-45, just before exit 112, there exists a positively ginormous statue of Sam Houston, overlooking the… well… traffic. Of course, a little-known fact is that if you get off at 112, and take the access road (there they are again!) on the west side of the highway down to where you can stand across from the statue, if you get your perspectives right, you can squish Sam’s head. No kidding.
Farther up the way, things get even more interesting. What, more interesting than squishing Mr. Houston’s head? Yup. Consider: a flying bulldozer, random space craft pieces, and an envy-inducing fishing rod and fish. All of these items are visible on the south side of a town called Corsicana, Texas, and are easily accessible right off I-45. Be careful, though – the space craft bits are defended by what appeared to be a rather feisty-looking llama. If you keep driving north up I-45, you will eventually come across a small town called Ennis, and shortly after that, you will come across one of the largest still-functioning drive-in movie theaters I have seen – the Galaxy, boasting four remarkably large display surfaces. And, judging from the traffic rolling into her and already parked within, business is doing quite well. It is always good to see pieces of America’s history surviving and thriving… and the best news is that this was far from the last instance. After all, Route 66 is somewhere along this trip…
Unfortunately, shortly after the Galaxy, our trip went to hell in a handbasket – we found Dallas. At this point, it was already late in the evening, and we were getting tired… We were coming up I-45N into Dallas, and were getting ready to swing off on exit 286A … and the ramp was closed. There was no advance warning – besides a mile of traffic beforehand – and the first indication we had that the roadway was closed was coming up on the police cruisers blocking off the passage. Crud. Apparently, they were doing construction on the overpass that comprised the ramp – why this was not announced farther down the road so we could have compensated appropriately, I have no idea, but, then I am not a civil engineer. And, of course, no detour or alternate route information was provided. About an hour later and a lot of strange turns and course changes, we were able to navigate our way back out of downtown Dallas (that was our first mistake – going downtown), but that was probably the least enjoyable evening of the entire trip – and also the shortcoming of relying on Google maps and fold-up paper maps. Granted, this was the only instance on the entire trip, but it would have been really, really nice to have had a GPS unit in the car, such that it could adaptively find us a new way out of that town. We did, however, find something interesting on our travels – an honest-to-God Muffler Man at the intersection of the Northwest Parkway (Route 12, I believe) and Lakefield Parkway. Unfortunately, we did not have the opportunity to record him on film. After that, we had dinner at a Whattaburger on TX-183 in Irving (which, coincidentally, had Diet Dr. Pepper – this made Better Half very happy), and made our way on. Unfortunately, we did encounter some more construction on TX-183 right after 121 merged with it, but there were at least warning signs this time around, and the delays were not that substantial. Of course, the time of night might have had something to do with that…
Once we finally made it to Decatur, Texas, we checked into the Holiday Inn Express there ($60 a night, plus tax) and passed out. The next morning we were able to ascertain that the hotel was actually decently nice – the rooms were rather large for an “economy”-end hotel, and were kept quite clean with good quality linens (always a good thing, at least in my book). By way of hardware, there was a combination microwave/refridgerator unit by the desk, but, unfortunately, it lacked a freezer. Additionally, the showerhead was one of the Holiday Inn Express spiffy new ones, and, while it was not as transcendantly hedonistic as their webpage would like you to believe, but I certainly have no complaints about it, and it surely beats some of the alternatives. As with the previous hotel, the wireless internet was easy to use and sufficiently fast, so that certainly met our needs. The breakfast was a little more comprehensive than the previous one, and had a lot more variety to it, but they started putting away the items a good hour before their posted close time, which is something of a bummer if you are trying to get a little extra sleep. All said, it was an acceptable place to lay your head for the day.
So, highlights of the day? NASA, by far, but Corsicana was certainly interesting… Dallas, on the other hand… yeah, I could do with never going back there, ever again. I mean, for Heaven’s sake, they cheer for the Cowboys.
Day one and day two can be found on their respective pages, and pictures from day three can be found here.

Technorati Tags: sulphur, decatur, louisiana, texas, houston, nasa, dallas

day two

Linoge — Wed, 04 Jul 2007 18:34:21 +0000

Date: 19 May 2007
Start: Southern Georgia
End: Sulphur, Louisiana
Distance Travelled: Approximately 650 miles
Duration: 11 hours, 30 minutes (including accounting for EDT to CDT change)
This, the second day of our trip, was definitely a time-and-distance day. Having driven this particular stretch of I-10 many times in the past, I knew just how boring it was, and just how little there was to see along its length. As such, we went ahead and planned on driving as far as we possibly could in this day, to leave time in other days to take it easy and not have to push quite as far. All said, almost 12 hours of driving is a little rough, though doing it on our second day of the trip was definitely the best course of action – we were still relatively fresh, and driving/riding in the car for extended periods of time was still relatively novel.
And, in all honesty, from Jacksonville, Florida, to New Orleans, Lousiana, there really is nothing of interest on I-10. I mean, sure, you drive past Tallahassee (which has a classic car museum, if you dive off 10 onto 90), and past Pensacola (the birthplace of Naval aviation, with the appropriate museum, I understand), and past Mobile (which has a nifty battleship parked in a harbor), and past Biloxi (which actually has all of its casinos rebuilt and fully operational again, after Katrina), but none of those really held any attraction for us. Hell, I lived near Biloxi for almost half a year, and stepped inside one of its casinos all of once, just to say that I had. Granted said casino (the Beau Rivage) was all manner of nice and pretty, but gambling just is not my thing.
At any rate, along the way we stopped off at Loxley, AL, for lunch at the McDonalds right off I-10… I desperately attempted to empty out my soda cup all over Better Half, but she deftly avoided it, and I survived the experience, so no harm. The manager was somewhat amusing, though, and micromanaged his cashiers in a manner that leads me to believe he has since suffered a coronary. Along the way, we did take a slight deviation from our course when we got close to Biloxi – as I said, I used to live in the area, and we went to take a look at my old apartment/stomping grounds. During Katrina, my apartment complex was flooded up to the middle of the second story (thankfully my particular domicile was on the third), various roofs and walls were torn off, and various boats were deposited in the parking lot. All of this, however, seemed to have been corrected/rebuilt, as my old apartments were being sold as waterfront condominiums, starting at $169k and up. Right before the storm, the landlord had been making noises about converting them into condos, so I guess they figured that the almost-destruction of the property was as good a time as any to remodel and start over again. Hopefully they are successful. The good news is that most of the area around my apartment seemed to have been rebuilt as well… granted, a lot of the small shops had vacated the damaged storefronts, and have not returned yet (in particular, a comics/gaming store I visited was completely gone), and the bridge between Ocean Springs and Biloxi had not been replaced yet, but the area really did not seem all that poorly off. Of course, the areas we drove through were also not at the bottom of the economic spectrum, so who knows…
Once we crossed the Lousiana border, we knew we were on the home stretch, so we got a little more exploratory. On I-12 west (we opted not to go through New Orleans – after seeing Mississippi after Katrina, I did not want to see it again) at exit 7, there are signs for what appears to be “Louisiana Mud Painting”, about 2.5 miles off the freeway. We figured we would take a look, and went ahead and jumped off. Well, two phrases of caution: first, it was not 2.5 miles – more like 1.5; and second, you do not actually get to do the painting yourself, as we kind of figured after seeing the sign. Rather, it appeared to be a gallery in a private residence. The situation sufficiently threw us off that we did not actually go in the said gallery, so I honestly do not know what this whole “mud painting” thing amounts to, but if you were looking to get your hands dirty, it is probably not the right place.
We pulled into Sulphur, thankfully without incident, which was rather surprising considering the distance traversed and the sheer, mind-numbing boredom those stretches of I-10 can induce, and checked into the Microtel there. Paying $55 a night, plus tax, I was not really expecting a whole lot, and it lived up to that beautifully. First, let me preface the rest of this post – Microtel has made an industry out of providing cheap, clean, basic hotel rooms to the cheap/business/spartan travellers of the world. Throwing free wifi internet and the occasional pool into the mix, and they are doing quite well, from what I understand. This particular hotel, however, was a very, very poor example of the chain (having stayed in a few now). However, I will start with the good parts, before I start causing too many ripples. The room itself was clean, but definitely showed itself as being either very old, or very heavily used. The mechanical aspects of the room were also acceptable, with more-than-adequate AC and a mini-fridge/microwave combination that worked perfectly for us to keep our drinks and such cold. The wireless internet continued the trend by working without a hitch, and was more than fast enough for our limited desires. However, that is about where the flowers and fairies die off. The toiletries provided were… rudimentary (two bars of soap and a dinky bottle of shampoo), there were only two, rather sandpapery towels in the bathroom, the sheets and coverlet both were rough and of rather low quality (with the coverlet also in possession of a few stains on its underside), and the low ceilings and even lower showerhead definitely got on my nerves. The breakfast the next morning was definitely restocked rapidly and efficiently, but that could not be too difficult considering that it was pretty much carb-only.
The shortcomings of our lodgings, however, were compensated for by the dinner we secured that evening, however. Right off I-10 at exit 20 for Sulphur, Louisiana, you can find the garishly-yellow restaurant known as “Cajun Charlie’s” (apparently, the alligator on the billboards is called “Charlie” – who’d'a thunk?). While the restaurant itself is somewhat auspiciously located right next to a standard above-ground Louisianan graveyard, this is no reflection on the food quality, and only serves as an easy way to find the location. Once you get past the kitchsy, Cracker-Barrel-esque gift shop, a friendly wait staff escorts you into one of the most eclectically decorated dining rooms us urbanite East Coasters have seen. Among the featured items, one can find a 17-foot stuffed alligator, a 130+ year-old hand-carved canoe, a 1927 Nagant rifle of unknown lineage, and a variety of vintage metal signs, Native American items, and other trinkets (and animal heads). The menu includes such Cajun delicacies as crawfish (boiled, broiled, baked, fried, and possibly even live if you asked nice enough), catfish, alligator, boudin, frog legs, red beans and rice, gumbo, jambalaya, and all the rest, as well as some slightly-more-standard things like shrimp, po-boys (in a variety of flavors), and country-fried steaks. If you could not decide, there was always the option of a relatively comprehensive buffet including most of the items on the menu (though placed under a heat-lamp, of course). We can personally attest to the superior quality of their hush puppies, as well as the fried alligator and red beans and rice. We were not terribly fond of the french fries accompanying the alligator – but if you really want fries, this is kind of the wrong restaurant. Additionally, as a warning to the diet-conscious, or those who like having more than a little salad with their dressing, you might want to ask for your dressing on the side – they tended to be a little enthusiastic with it. A dinner for two can range from $20 to $35, depending on selections, and overall it was an outstanding sampling of local cajun cuisine and atmosphere. Its menu is available here, here, here, and here.
In the “You Probably Do Not Care” category, today was not particularly successful when it came to wild-animal-sightings – only a single red-tailed fox and a wild turkey… and a tiger. Yup, a full-size, eat-your head tiger. If you are on I-10 going through Louisiana, pull off on exit 139, and navigate your way to the gas station on the south side of the interstate (it takes a little finagling – funny bridges). Once there, you will find four pens, and a large open area … expressly for the housing of tigers. There was only one in residence when we stopped, and he was pacing about exactly like you would expect a caged tiger to do (which, in turn, was all manner of sad), but it was certainly not something we expected seeing on a cross-country trip, and not at all something we expected at a rather run-down, dirty gas station. A casino up the road might provide an explanation, but only a partial one – why would the tigers be housed at the gas station as opposed to nearer to the casino? Regardless, it was a little odd. Additionally, we somehow bounced all over the globe, and passed Panama City, Havana, and Bagdad… all in Florida. Finally, today was a very good day for license plate bingo – of course, it was also our first day paying attention, and the two generally go hand-in-hand, so… Anywise, we managed to find Texas, New Jersey, Alabama, Minnesota, Arkansas, Tennessee, Florida, Oregon, Oklahoma, Illinois, Louisiana, Indiana, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Missouri, Georgia, South Carolina, Ohio, North Carolina, Maine, California, Arizona, Nebraska, Mississippi, Idaho, Colorado, South Dakota, New York, New Mexico, Virginia, Michigan, and Kansas. And that was only driving from Southern Georgia to Lousiana!
Pictures from this day can be found here.
Trackposted to Right Pundits, Blog @ MoreWhat.com, Perri Nelson’s Website, Big Dog’s Weblog, Maggie’s Notebook, The Populist, Stuck On Stupid, Leaning Straight Up, Cao’s Blog, The Amboy Times, Pursuing Holiness, third world county, Stageleft, stikNstein… has no mercy, The Crazy Rants of Samantha Burns, The World According to Carl, The Pink Flamingo, and Dumb Ox Daily News, thanks to Linkfest Haven Deluxe, as well as Electric Venom.

day one

Linoge — Wed, 13 Jun 2007 16:00:15 +0000

Date: 18 May 2007
Start: Jacksonville, FL
End: Southern Georgia
Distance Travelled: Approximately 150 miles
Duration: 3 hours, 45 minutes

Well, this day should be one of the easier ones to tell you about, both from the aspect that it was one of our shortest days, and also from the perspective that this is one of those days I will not be telling you a great deal due to privacy concerns. In short, we spent the night at Better Half’s grandmother’s residence in Southern Georgia, and I see no reason to give away her location.

At any rate, my last day at work wound itself down to an end, I scampered back home, and we crammed almost as much as is humanly possible in my poor Mazda 3 (otherwise known as "Stitch 3" for obvious reasons) in preparation for the cross-country trip. The movers had come the previous week, so whatever was left either had to go in the car, or be disposed of appropriately. A fair number of cleaning supplies, as well as a little frozen food, and about 9 bottles of beer found themselves a nice new home a few doors down in my apartment complex, but everything else either went in the car, or ended up in the dumpster. Amazingly enough, we managed to fit everything into the vehicle, and I could still see out the back window, so I considered that to be a relative success. I am not entirely sure whether or not the shocks and springs on the back axle would agree with me, but they could just suck it up.

A few thoughts about packing, while I am thinking of it. We planned on this trip taking us a grand total of nine days, from coast to coast – in reality, it took us ten, but that only serves to further accentuate my point. With that in mind, we realized that trying to pack for 18 total days’ worth of clothes (two people times nine days) would take up an ungodly amount of space in the car (already at a premium due to the residual foodstuffs, apartment supplies, work-related items, drinks, high value items, etc. etc. taking up volume), so we called ahead to some of the places we were staying and verified whether or not we could do laundry while we stayed there. Suffice it to say, it did save us a fair amount of space inside the car. Also suffice it to say that we overpacked (me more than her), but that is just a product of me being me.

And speaking of foodstuffs and drinks, we actually maintained two separate coolers while going cross-country – one "standard", softsided cooler, and one plug-in-to-your-cigarette-outlet, refrigerated cooler. The former, when stocked with a couple of the "Blue Ice" widgets, served as our primary drink storage, while the latter (using a combination of its own electrically-powered temperature regulation, as well as a couple of 20 ounce Gatorade bottles of frozen water) served as a means to keep our reserve drinks cold, as well as anything left in the fridge in our old apartment when we left that we wanted to keep. The powered cooler actually succeeded in keeping its interior below 50-45 degrees while the car itself got into the 75 degree range on a frequent basis, so I guess I cannot complain about it. I did not have a thermometer inside the soft-side cooler, but the two/three Blue Ice packages inside of it along with the drinks kept them nice and cold right up until the end of the day, so, again, no complaints there. Regardless, any way you look at it, cold drinks are an absolute necessity when you are crossing the country along its southern edge. Stock up on them before you leave, stay places with mini-fridges/freezers, and bring along a few home-made or store-bought ice packages, and you will save yourself a little money.

Another thing you will probably want to seriously consider in any extended-duration trip is stocking your car with a backup supply of food and water, as well as a basic first aid kit, and a toiletries kit. I covered the first point with two three-day survival packages by Life+Gear I found on sale at Wal-Mart for about $15 a piece – enough "food" (using that term loosely) and packaged water to last a person three days, in addition to a thermal blanket, poncho, whistle, compass, and some other basic stuff. Our first-aid kit was one of the many, many varieties of ones out there designed (supposedly) for car use, and the toiletries kit was one I constructed myself with trial-size supplies, or stuff… "borrowed" from hotels in the past. None of it has to be terribly complicated, and you probably will not have to use it (we did not), but having that safety net certainly will not hurt you – those three items, even taken collectively, took up so little space we did not even notice them. Additionally, we had a crank-powered flashlight (it lives permanently in my glove box) and a shake-powered flashlight (normally lives in my end-table drawer), and my car thankfully comes with a spare tire and jack. However, to supplement those last two items (and due to a previous episode with my car’s tires), I had previously purchased a 12VDC-powered compressor, sufficiently small that it can tuck into the same storage nook as the jack. This, unfortunately, we did have to use during our trip – my back right tire picked up a nail somewhere along the way, and every morning, bright and early, my car would inform me that one of its tires was below the recommended 32psi. 10 minutes later, the problem was fixed, though I was not able to get the nail removed and the hole patched until we reached our final destination – not something I would recommend, mind you, I was just hurried/lazy/stupid. Finally, we also included a 12VDC to 120VAC convertor such that we could power our cell phone and laptop chargers. If I had thought about it, we might have also included something like Energizer’s Energi To Go gadgets, or maybe a solar charger, but it is probably just as well, since we did not need anything of the sort.

At any rate, on to the drive. We packed up and headed out, checking out with the apartment complex on the way, and grabbed a tank full of gas at the Wal-Mart, just to ensure we were getting a relatively decent price. For those driving in Jacksonville, you should be aware that the Matthews Bridge over the St. John’s River is under heavy construction recently, and is closed more often than not. Unfortunately, that bridge carries the Arilington Expressway, which is pretty much the primary connector between Jacksonville Beach and downtown/I-95, so that is somewhat of a pain in the tush. If you are going south on I-95, the best/easiest workaround is just to take Atlantic Boulevard down to Beach Boulevard and hop on there, but if you are headed any other direction, you can either do that, or jump off Atlantic onto the Hart Bridge Expressway and then figure out Downtown when you get there. I understand this is quite the pain for commuters, but since we only had to deal with the issue once, no biggie.

That small hiccup aside, there were no other difficulties encountered on the actual drive, besides I-10 being one of the more boring highways in south-eastern America. However, as a running tally we kept throughout the entire trip, we did encounter two rather strange, orange-billed ducks (and I mean brightly-orange-billed), three deer, four grey herons, a single rabbit, a very near-sighted armadillo (scared the bejesus out of the poor bugger), and a largely unconcerned turkey. All in all, it was not a bad start to the trip, even though it was just a hurried, half-day drive. More to come.

Further pictures of this first day can be found here.

disclaimers, explanations, and discombobulations

Linoge — Tue, 12 Jun 2007 18:40:06 +0000

Well, before I launch into the whole day-by-day explanation of our trip, where we went, what we saw, and what we did, I thought I would get a few minor details out of the way first.

First off, there are going to be points in my explanation where I will be intentionally vague, if not outright exclusionary. This will be done intentionally, and I will try to make the situations when I am doing it clear, such that there are no futile questions. The fact of the matter is that my family and I value our privacy – something I am sure all of you can understand.

Second, these series of posts are not meant to be an authoritative explanation of the area we covered – there will be omissions, some due to my stupidity, some due to our time limitations, some due to us just choosing not to see something, and some just to dumb luck. If you want a complete and relatively error-free documentation of the area, I suggest you go out and get a membership with AAA - the free maps and tourbooks they offer are more than worth the subscription price, and they have all kinds of interesting discounts and programs you can take advantage of as well. Additionally, if you want outstanding information specific to Route 66, I strongly suggest purchasing Route 66: EZ66 Guide for Travelers. To say that Jerry McClanahan knows his stuff when it comes to Route 66 would be putting it mildly. Regardless, what I write will simply be what we saw and did – do not expect a whole lot out of it. I will honestly try to be as thorough as possible, but we all know how easily I can be distracted.

Finally, just so you know whether you will want to read this documentary or not, this is the route we took going cross-country. Be forewarned, however – Google Maps gets more and more cranky the more waypoints you add to the system, and that link contains about twenty or so. Additionally, those waypoints are not necessarily the places we stopped for the night, or any duration – they are simply there to force Google Maps to follow the route I wanted it to.

And I think that is everything… You can look for the first of the posts in the next few days, once I find a spare moment in the unpacking/rearranging/organizing/cleaning of my new apartment. Moving is always such a blast.

well, that was a trip

Linoge — Sat, 02 Jun 2007 20:58:48 +0000

Literally.

Over 3240 miles, 115 gallons of gas, and $372 spent on gas later, Better Half and I are safely in California. Well, we were technically in California on the 27th of May, and at our destination on the 28th, but things have been a little busy since then, and I have not had time to come by here and let you all know that we did, indeed, survive. Sorry. One of my tires was perforated (just required a patch), and my back right seat was also punctured (blame my Route 66 sign), and I lost my cell phone charger (God knows where… Louisiana has big gators), but Better Half and I made it just fine, and had a blast of a time.

For those interested, pictures of our jaunt can be found at my Picasa web album. Not all of them are up yet (nowhere near), and only some of those that are up have explanations attached to them, but more and more pictures will be added over the following days. Additionally, posts giving the day-by-day highlights and interesting locations will also be added to this weblog at some point in the future. Catch you all later!

worthy causes

Linoge — Fri, 06 Apr 2007 22:36:21 +0000

Yes, I am still alive. But in the interest of using what spare time I have to slightly more constructive purposes, I will keep this post relatively short and to the point. Better Half directed me to the report that Tucumcari was seriously damaged during these past storms that rolled across the country… to the point of losing power and suffering catastrophic damage to the neon light arrays that make the town so distinctive. I am not entirely sure why insurance does not cover this kind of damage (however, having lived through Katrina and the associated insurance debacles surrounding that, I am somehow not surprised), but I am thankful that the Friends of Mother Road organization has already launched a campaign to help fund the reconstruction process. I will, in all likelihood, make a donation, and in addition to my actually staying at the Blue Swallow, hopefully I will do my little bit to help get their neon back up off the ground, literally and figuratively. Take a look, when you get the chance, as well as at some of the pictures of Tucumcari’s signs… certainly brings to mind images of an older time, that is for sure. Sure, there are some better causes out there upon which you can spend your money… but when it comes down to this or a Big Mac… You make the call. More tomorrow/later.

how to get from here to there

Linoge — Thu, 22 Mar 2007 22:41:48 +0000

ver the course of planning for our upcoming trip, we have known about, stumbled upon, and discovered a fair number of useful sites and systems that I thought I would share with you.

AAA – I have somewhat mixed feelings about this organization, as does Better Half, so I am not sure whether to recommend it or not. The price of admission is somewhat high (it depends on your geographic area), however, they can provide you all the free maps and travel guides you could ever want, and a single emergency car-unlock (which I know how to do, though I lack the tools) more than paid for our yearly subscription. Of course, we later found out they were not supposed to actually do it, but details. In addition, I just had to call one of their technicians to come and help me out with a flat tire – whoever put them on to begin with used a pneumatic wrench, so I could not undo the bolts with my piddling six-inch-long tire iron that came with the Mazda. Unfortunately, 160 pounds of force (namely, me) on a six-inch lever arm was insufficient… but the pneumatic wrench the AAA guy brought was more than sufficient (in addition to the two-foot-long expandable bar). A compressor later (apparently, the tire had no damage, after spraying it down with soapy water and looking for bubbles), I was ready to go. Of course, my tire seems to be losing pressure over time, so I guess I will be getting new tires eventually (specifically, tomorrow).

Roadside America – AAA is the best source to get all the maps and tourbooks you could ever desire, but this webpage is definitely the best place to find things you want to see along your trip. Using a nice implementation of the Google Maps system, you can either look up locations by name or geographic placement, and it is definitely an easy and quick way of finding things to take pictures of as you drive. It may not be the most comprehensive of things out there (especially since some of the information is quite old, and almost all of it is user-contributed), but it is certainly one of the easier ones.

Route 66 Fun Run - Unfortunately, we will be traversing that particular stretch of Route 66 a few weeks after the actual Fun Run, but the information is still valid and useful. It may not be the most descriptive thing out there, but when it comes to 66, it appears that as wide an amount of information as possible is best.

Historic Route 66 - This probably is the most comprehensive Route 66 instructions site, offering turn-by-turn directions for those diehards who desire to follow the Mother Road as closely as possible (and are adequately equipped with a 4×4 vehicle and a lot of spare gas cans and water). To boot, for those of you with compatible GPS systems, they provide plugin software to include Route 66 and some of the points of interest in your system – not something to be scoffed at.

Route 66 News – Granted this blog covers news for the entirety of Route 66 (starting in Chicago and ending in Santa Monica) so it is not entirely useful for our purposes, but there is no better source of recent, up-to-date information concerning the Mother Road than this, frequently-updated site.

Route 66 University – I think the description on the opening page sums it up nicely, and suffice it to say that they are well along the way to meet their goal.

Legends of America – Kind of much the same as Roadside America, but focusing on the really interesting aspects of America’s historical legacy easily accessible by road (or not, as the case may be). It takes a little digging to turn up what information you might want, but it is there… probably.

And, last but not least, Google Maps and Mapquest. Where would we be wtihout these? Lost. That is where.

Additionally, Better Half and I have put together a relatively substantial spreadsheet concerning each of our legs of the journey, where we are staying, how much we paid, addresses, things to see along the way, distances, etc. It goes without saying that this information will not be posted online until after we complete the trip ourselves. Additionally, we do plan on keeping a record of what we come across, where it is, whether it was worth the time, and all that good stuff… including pictures, of course. I have yet to decide the format of these kinds of posts, but I promise I will try and make them as comprehensive a possible. Regardless, as I have said before, this is really shaping up to be an interesting trip .

planning update

Linoge — Wed, 21 Mar 2007 22:51:18 +0000

The good news is that Better Half and I have successfully arranged accommodations for ourselves all the way across the country at this point – Sulphur, LA (in the place of Lake Charles – it turns out the latter is a gambling town, and hard to get reservations in); Decatur, TX; Tucumcari, NM; Holbrook, AZ; Sedona, AZ (at the independent discovery by Better Half that she wanted to go there, and the suggestion of Maggie); Grand Canyon, AZ; and Kingman, AZ. Amusingly enough, we have not yet arranged for accommodations at our end location, but that could be a balancing act between a hotel, family we have out there, and the hope of finding an apartment for ourselves in reasonably short order. All in all, it definitely should not be a bad trip at all. That second day, consisting of over 600 miles of driving in a single stretch, might be a bit much, as well as the 450 miles the immediate day afterwards, but the biggest leg after that is only 400 miles, and that is a relatively easy thing, especially considering the number of stops we will be making along the way for the scenic joy of it. The unfortunate thing about the second-day run is that it is on what has to be one of the most boring stretches of road this side of the Mississippi River – I-10, on the panhandle of Florida. There is absolutely didly… Hell, the road even bends to go around Tallahassee (not that I object, having driven through the town once). One interesting thing, however, is that we should be able to see what became of the town I lived in pre-Katrina, time permitting. More specifically, I am somewhat morbidly interested in what became of my old apartment building (pictured at right), but, as I said, that is going to be a relatively long day, and I am not sure we will have the time or inclination to do so by the time we get there.

And, yeah, as you probably noticed, we are more than a little interested in Arizona at the moment… But that is simply because of all of the interesting things to see and do in that particular state. I mean, Holbrook has the Wigwam Motel (which we are, indeed, staying at) along with all manner of other Route 66-related things; Sedona has the Red Rocks, Sliding Rocks, and all manner of other pretty geological formations (and a fair number of spas and “vortexes”, if you go in for that kind of thing); the Grand Canyon… well, that needs no real explanation (though I think we are going to miss out on the Skywalk… it is not near where we are going to be, and neither of us are sure we could actually physically force ourselves to walk upon it); and Kingman is yet another heart of Route 66. Our real and honest concern is that we are going to run out of time to see all the things we want to: the Giant Teepee in Lupton, Stewart’s Petrified Wood in Adamana, the two (yes, two) World’s Largest Maps of Route 66, Winslow’s 9-11 Remembrance Garden, the Meteor City Trading Post, the Barringer Meteor Crater itself, Sliding Rocks, Bedrock City in Valle, Delgadillo’s Snow Cap Drive-In in Seligman, Gicanticus Headicus in Walapai, Chloride itself, possibly even the original London Bridge in Lake Havasu City… And those are just the things we are aware of being out there. I cannot imagine the number of things we will stumble across, and want to stop, see, and take pictures of, especially on the segments of Route 66 we are planning on driving.

Of course, the other difficulties with that scenario are the pictures themselves. Better Half recently acquired a rather nice Canon A640 camera, and has been enjoying it ever since. I am not a considerable fan of hardware that large (yeah, I called that large… DSLR? What is that?), but I have to admit it is a well-built, capable camera that is able to preset its options and functionalities in a way that does not overwhelm the standard user. My camera, on the other hand… well, it is a classic. It does not use physical film, barely, but it was constructed a fair while ago – the Canon S200 ELPH. One of the original digital ELPHs Canon ever created, it is also one of the smaller cameras out there (though Casio has been making leaps and strides in that department recently). Struggling along with 2.0 megapixels, a 3x optical zoom, and decent photo quality (and completely sucky low-light quality), it has been keeping me happy for the past five years. However, with this upcoming cross-country move, I came to the conclusion that it measures up a little… short (even though, dimensionally, that is why I purchased it).

However, the market is currently flooded with compact form-factor cameras… which is both a blessing and a curse. Basically, you can get whatever you want out there, but you have to be careful not to pick some kind of lemon, or something masquerading as something entirely different and better. Unfortunately, my desires in the search were somewhat specific… I wanted a small form-factor frame, preferrably wrapped in metal, good low-light performance (I like taking dim/night shots, for whatever reason), manual control over the picture-taking process, and preferrably SD-format media (given Better Half already has some). Unfortunately, there is only so much space within a compact camera, and I do not seem to be able to get all of those features in one nice little box at the moment. The most difficult to come by, oddly enough, was the manual controls. Cameras with them do exist out there, but it turns out that they do not take the best shots in the world. The other problem I encountered is that camera manufacturers are infatuated with megapixels. Or, rather, consumers are, in the "bigger = better" format… which, in compact cameras, is definitely not the case. There is an upper limit on the physical size of the CCD within a compact camera, and when you try packing more and more pixels on the same area, they become less effective, and more prone to noise. Given my desire for a good low-light performance, noise is not exactly what I was looking for, no matter how big the image files are. Thankfully, there does exist something of a compromise out there.

Better Half and I have all-but decided on the Fujifilm F31fd. Now, it does not use the SD cards, instead opting for the less-widely-used xD media format, and it does not allow complete manual control over the picture-taking (it has aperature and exposure controls, but no manual focus), however, there is one thing to be said for it. In its size and cost class, it positively owns at low-light photography. It’s ISO speed runs all the way up to 3200 (unlike the 400-1600 max of comparable cameras), and its 6.3 megapixel CCD is sufficiently comprehensive to provide images large enough for printing, but also small enough to avoid most size-induced noise. Combine the CCD with the fast shutter and "Real Photo Processor II", and you have a recipie for good, if not great, low-light images. The 31fd also adds Fuji’s "face-detection" technology to the original F30, allowing for even better portrait shots in that low light. What is unfortunate is that the recent F40fd takes both xD and SD media, and has face-detection capabilities, but it is still just the big brother of, oddly enough, the F20, as opposed to the F30. Fuji takes a rather strange naming protocol, and it is annoyingly non-sequential. Regardless, due to its geneology, the F40′s ISO only runs up to 1600, and since it is brand-spanking new (and completely unreviewed), I have no idea what that might actually equate to in terms of image quality.

At any rate, I am currently using one of the many Amazon price watching webpages out there to keep track of prices on the F31fd, and see when the optimal purchase-time might be. Those webpages were originally developed to take advantage of Amazon’s price-matching for 30 days after a purchase, but I figure that no one will mind my current use of it.

So that is where we stand… Accommodations booked, camera… eyed, and both of us itching to actually do it. Should be a fun drive.

now show me that horizon

Linoge — Tue, 06 Mar 2007 22:35:20 +0000

So, as previously mentioned in other posts, I will be moving out to the People’s Republic of Kalifornistan over the summer, departing sunny northern Florida for… well… something equally sunny, from what I understand. While I am becoming increasingly disenchanted with the end location, and its positively insane number of idiotic laws, the route from point A to point B is becoming increasingly interesting. The short of it is this: We (hopefully, Better Half will be able to accompany me) will be leaving northern Florida and swinging by to visit her grandmother, then heading out west. We will basically track along the northern edge of the Gulf, though we have no intentions of stopping anywhere along the way for anything except food and a place to stay after the Mississippi – having survived Katrina, I know just what is left in that area. However, as I said, we will be finding a place to spend the night shortly after the Big River (long second day’s drive), and then moving onward to the west. Our first major stop will be at Houston, TX, hopefully to visit some college friends we have living out there. From there, we will be heading more to the north for a bit, to swing through Amarillo, TX, and make a pitstop at the Cadillac Ranch (and definitely stopping somewhere along the way to pick up our own cans of spray paint). Afterwards, we found the second-most interesting place to stay on the trip – the Blue Swallow Motel, in Tucumcari, NM. While the hotel itself is certainly unique, it also marks where we pick up the reason for our northerly detour on our journey west – Route 66. From here on out, we will be trying to follow the Mother Road as much as we can, and as much as my car (far from being an off-road best) will allow. Once again heading west, our next night will be spent at the Wigwam Hotel, by far and away the most interesting lodgings we will find on our journey, and ones that probably need no explanation. After another, shorter jog north, we plan on spending the night, and a fair bit of the day immediately preceeding, at the Grand Canyon. While I have driven (well, been driven) cross-country three times so far, I have never had the opportunity to check out that natural formation, and I am sure it will live up to its reputation. Heading briefly south, and then west along one of the better-kept portions of Route 66, swinging through Seligman and Peach Springs, we plan on spending the next night in Kingman, AZ, though we have not yet picked out a good hotel from the many candidates in that Mother Road city. After another jaunt on Route 66 through Oatman and Topock, it is all pretty much west-bound from there to point B, on "normal" major highways, since Topock marks pretty much the end of the line for Route 66. We do plan on making a side-trip through Amboy, CA, just to… well… see it, but that is pretty much the last interesting thing we have planned for the journey.

Yeah… Primarily a tour of Route 66, which is understandable, as I have always been vaguely intrigued by the history and stories surrouding that road, but with a few other little things on the side. Of course, you could also look at it as a Cars tour of the country (apparently, the fictional town of "Radiator Springs" was based on most of the small towns along 66), but that would just be wierd .

So why am I writing this? Well, I am wagering that all of this linkage will attract someone’s attention (hopefully someone who lives out in those areas), and they might provide me some interesting things to see/do out there. Like I said, I have never been through this part of the country before, and while Google Maps/Earth are good at finding interesting routes and locations through an area, they are still not terribly useful at finding sight-seeing locations and points of interest. I am sorely, sorely tempted to purchase a GPS unit to help out with this (such as the TomTom One), but one of those aforementioned idiotic laws of Kalifornistan is that you cannot mount anything to your windshield, and I am not too sure about a dashmount, unfortunately. We will see on that point. At any rate, if anyone has any suggestions whatsoever on things to do, see, visit, or swing by, both Better Half and I would definitely appreciate the inputs. This has turned into almost more of a sightseeing trip than an actual get-there trip (not as though that is a bad thing), so we are open to just about any ideas. Thanks in advance!

Trackposted to Adam’s Blog, Overtaken by Events, Planck’s Constant, The Pink Flamingo, The Amboy Times, Conservative Cat, High Desert Wanderer, Right Voices, and Conservative Thoughts (just to see if any of them might have inputs, or readers who would), thanks to Linkfest Haven Deluxe.