From The Back Row

After last year’s epic road trip (14 days, over 4000 miles, 2 countries), I decided to play it cool this year and take it easy. I’ll escape soon after my exam on Friday, spend 2 nights in Atlanta (one of which seeing Lynyrd Skynyrd with Kid Rock), move along to Memphis and Graceland (and Corky’s). After that it’s Oklahoma City and Albuquerque. The final day is really more of a test than anything else, a 774-mile run from ABQ to Arcadia – just to see if I can do it.
Should be an interesting trip as it is probably the last of it’s kind for awhile.

Day 1 – Tucson
Late start leaving the Arc, didn’t actually pull out until just before 2pm. My punishment was one last dose of LA traffic (210 east, 71 south, 91 east). An hour later I was on 15 and headed for the border. Took the 15/8 route this time since the last time I went through PHX to Tucson I spent an extra hour and a half in traffic. Drive was good, scenic – plenty of rocks. Made a stop at the Golden Acorn Casino for gas. Didn’t really make a lunch stop per se, got into the Marriott here around 11pm and got a salad from rm svc. No pictures as my iPhoto just finished getting updated. Playlist for Day 1 is a little tragic – podcasts included MacBreak Weekly and GDGT, music ran the gamut – Buffett, Marley, Winger, Journey, NWA, Smash Mouth, Eli Young Band, Don Henley. I know, ouch.

Day 2 – Fort Stockton
Day 3 – Austin
Day 4 – New Orleans
Day 5 – Jacksonville
Day 6 – Fort Lauderdale

Ok, so it’s been awhile since I’ve posted to my personal blog. There are many reasons, but the basic one is that I’ve been “participating” more on “The Facebook” lately. Also, I do use Twitter fairly regularly (and have been for 2+ years now), but since that is shown in this blog’s sidebar, I guess it counts as updating this site. Also, I haven’t been using Flickr much – that could change as well. Basically I’m becoming more of a mobile blogger which is basically Twitter (which updates my FB status). After it updates FB, my non-Twitter crowd can comment on that status and discussions form, etc.

Since I’m wrapping up school in the next few fortnights, I’ll come back to this, my personal blog more. I have plans to start at least one more blog which I’ll update regularly (at least daily to start). The plans are for a “lifestyle blog” covering topics that interest me and that I think will interest a lot of people. I’ll probably develop it while I’m in Miami and the best I can hope for is maybe a September 1st launch. More details to come on that down the road…

The roadie is in-place, leaving Friday and hitting up Tucson, Fort Stockton, Austin, New Orleans, Jacksonville & Fort Lauderdale. Graduation is next Friday, May 15th – you’re all invited – see you at the BUC!

Matt & I get the road trip thing

Almost a week since I got back from the ACL Festival. Some really good bands, some crappy bands, some bands I didn’t even see. Lots of walking. Sunday night however, Kramer almost stole the show with two epic performances of “Stranglehold” in back-to-back 6th Street bars. The first was at The Thirsty Nickel:

The second perf was at Maggie Mae’s, which is incidentally right next door. If last call hadn’t been approaching, I’m confident a third performance could have been arranged.

Total days: 16
US states visited: 18 (8 I’d never been to before)
Countries: 2
Miles Traveled: 4,811
Miles Driven: 4,000 (811 miles on Amtrak Auto Train)
Fuel Costs: $1123.08

Alright, so back home after some doing. The last few days after Chicago are a blur, basically nothing to report about Branson, Amarillo or Flagstaff. Also, no pictures since I’ve always posted many of the American southwest. Barring unforeseen windfall, next year’s trips won’t be as extensive or aggressive, simply a casual there and back across the lower half. I’ll hit some states I’ve missed (Arkansas) and revisit New Orleans and Austin along the way. Should be interesting, but only to dedicated road trippers like myself.

Well, everything came to a stop on this day for this trip. I’d been basically going full-out with daily activities and driving mixed around, lost the energy today. I did make it out to South Bend from Chicago for the College Football Hall of Fame. This was the Hall I was most excited to see and while it wasn’t as flashy as Hockey and not as “storied” as Baseball, I’m still really glad I went. Once again, August is the month for visiting things as there was barely anyone there (and Chicago as a whole is pretty empty). The CFB Hall had many cool things but I felt that Miami was under-represented and ND was overdone, but that’s to be expected I guess. As it seems with most halls of fame, if you’re in the area it’s worth a stop. I am for sure getting sick of all the tollbooths, especially in Indiana and Illinois where you stop every couple miles and pay a few bucks – it’s so annoying to keep stopping and paying. If California had tollbooths we’d soon after have “tollbooth violence”, I’m sure of it. Slight schedule change this week as we head south to Branson for a family situation.

Dual-cities in the title… back was still acting up due to further experimentation on what the causes might be, so I slept in a little on the flat. Got into the Hockey Hall of Fame around 12:30pm and spent the next 2 and a half hours there. Gotta say, it’s a way better experience than the baseball hall. Everything was new and updated, kids were having fun with all kinds of activities, it wasn’t as sterile or outdated. It’s a really cool place and I’m glad I made time to visit Toronto and the Hall. Toronto is a great little town that sorta reminds me of NYC at like 1/4 scale without all the tall buildings (if that makes any sense). I’d come back for sure any day.

And the results are in: Dunkin Donuts beats Tim Horton’s hands down.

Left Syracuse really late, around noon. Starting to get some back stiffness, partially from the car and the variety of hotel beds and partially from not working out I surmise. Stopped a few times for gas, etc. – not my usual style of travel since I typically only make 1 stop a day. As such, I got into Niagara Falls late in the day, paid the $10 for parking and was shocked to find out that it was only $1 for the observation deck. I’ve been nickeled and dimed to no end on this trip and expected another gouging – not so. Niagara Falls was cool, but it’s a big waterfall and I guess I was expecting more. A lot like the baseball hall of fame, it’s a great visit, but if I wasn’t passing through the area, I probably wouldn’t have come out.

I’m in Toronto now, having missed the Hockey Hall of Fame and it’s summer hours of 9:30am-6pm. I’ll catch it on Day 9 and likely bump the CFB Hall to Day 10 and move some Chicago stuff around.

Day 7 got off to a decent start with a nice 4 hour drive to Cooperstown, NY. The Berkshires of Mass. and upstate NY are really nice this time of year and the rain and slightly chilly 60-degree weather sort of made everything just cool feeling. Personally, I was a little shocked to find no traffic on the way there or back and very few visitors to the National Baseball Hall of Fame. It was a Friday during summer and there weren’t alot of guests – I suppose I was lucky in some ways. Parking was easy on a nearby street and I made my way in – and out – in about 2 and a half hours. I guess I had always envisioned the Hall of Fame as I would construct it – a giant garage stacked floor to ceiling with every baseball treasure ever accumulated during 150 years of the game.

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