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Road trip, Day 2
Oct. 12th, 2004 10:13 pmI managed to get on the road at a reasonable hour this morning, and was gratified to find that I hadn't burned much oil at all between the fillup and stopping for the night.
I covered almost 790 miles yesterday and today I managed just 700. Theoretically, this leaves less than 300 miles to Toronto, according to the mapquest.com instructions (although I'm noticing that the distances given are not very accurate).
There was something in the air as I drove yesterday, and I only noticed it if I tried to talk out loud or sing along with the radio. By "notice," I mean to say I actually felt a pain in my sinuses that caused me to shut up. Today, whatever it was that was annoying me no longer hurt, but did cause me to sneeze uncontrollably if I tried to vocalize at certain frequencies.
Here's a shot I took yesterday while driving up Highway 285 toward Denver:
And another, taken today in western Iowa:
Driving on I-80 through Nebraska and Iowa I noticed a few things. First, unlike Colorado, there was virtually no Kerry or Bush signage on display. I don't know what to make of that. Perhaps Nebraska and Iowa, unlike Colorado, are not among the so-called "swing" states?
Second, there are a lot of museums advertised along the road. I must've seen signs for over a half dozen such emporiums, including a number of military museums -- one for WWII, one for military equipment, one dedicated to something that sounded like SAC, a pioneer museum, and one dedicated to Bob Feller. (Then again, Pagosa has its own Fred Harman museum, so please don't get the idea I'm complaining.)
Finally, unlike New Mexico and Texas, the billboards along I-80 in Nebraska and Iowa appear to be regulated to keep them at least 100 yards from the side of the road. Apparently, the only exception to the rule is if the sign is portable (i.e., on the side of a truck), in which case, it can be right on the other side of the highway easement boundary.
Around 2 pm, I pulled into an Iowa rest stop that advertised WiFi connectivity. It turned out the connectivity was free, but I was not able to actually connect to the Internet, despite having registered with the Department of Transportation's vendor. Despite the lack of true connectivity, it was cool to be sitting in the car and be able to use my browser.
By the time I hit Michigan, it was starting to get dark. I wanted to get at least 700 miles behind me for the day, so when I got off of I-94 in Kalamazoo, I was tempted to stop for the night, about 20 miles short of my goal. However, as I waited in the drive-up line at an Arby's, the Motel 6 guide I'd taken in the morning indicated there was a Motel 6 in Battle Creek, where I am now. The fact that the help at Arby's asked me twice whether I wanted traditional or curly fries and then screwed up my order clinched it for me: I would drive the extra 20 miles to sleep in Battle Creek (home of Tony the Tiger, et al.).
Yesterday and today were quite sedentary. I walked barely 1200 steps yesterday, as measured by the pedometer; today's total was just over 1300 steps. I'm going to have to get off my lard butt once in Toronto and walk around a bit.
One strange phenomenon this trip occurred after I turned off my cell phone last night, which is the first time I've actually turned off the unit while there was charge left in the battery (two bars out of three). When I tried to turn on the unit this morning, it told me the battery was dead. I eventually plugged the phone into the car charger, which brought it up to two and then three bars out of three in short order. I don't know what to make of it.
I'm for Toronto tomorrow, and I don't have to worry about "losing" an hour to the time zone change, as I crossed into the Eastern time zone earlier in the evening. If I leave around 9, I should be at the hotel in Toronto by check-in time.
Sweet dreams.
Cheers...
I covered almost 790 miles yesterday and today I managed just 700. Theoretically, this leaves less than 300 miles to Toronto, according to the mapquest.com instructions (although I'm noticing that the distances given are not very accurate).
There was something in the air as I drove yesterday, and I only noticed it if I tried to talk out loud or sing along with the radio. By "notice," I mean to say I actually felt a pain in my sinuses that caused me to shut up. Today, whatever it was that was annoying me no longer hurt, but did cause me to sneeze uncontrollably if I tried to vocalize at certain frequencies.
Here's a shot I took yesterday while driving up Highway 285 toward Denver:
And another, taken today in western Iowa:
Driving on I-80 through Nebraska and Iowa I noticed a few things. First, unlike Colorado, there was virtually no Kerry or Bush signage on display. I don't know what to make of that. Perhaps Nebraska and Iowa, unlike Colorado, are not among the so-called "swing" states?
Second, there are a lot of museums advertised along the road. I must've seen signs for over a half dozen such emporiums, including a number of military museums -- one for WWII, one for military equipment, one dedicated to something that sounded like SAC, a pioneer museum, and one dedicated to Bob Feller. (Then again, Pagosa has its own Fred Harman museum, so please don't get the idea I'm complaining.)
Finally, unlike New Mexico and Texas, the billboards along I-80 in Nebraska and Iowa appear to be regulated to keep them at least 100 yards from the side of the road. Apparently, the only exception to the rule is if the sign is portable (i.e., on the side of a truck), in which case, it can be right on the other side of the highway easement boundary.
Around 2 pm, I pulled into an Iowa rest stop that advertised WiFi connectivity. It turned out the connectivity was free, but I was not able to actually connect to the Internet, despite having registered with the Department of Transportation's vendor. Despite the lack of true connectivity, it was cool to be sitting in the car and be able to use my browser.
By the time I hit Michigan, it was starting to get dark. I wanted to get at least 700 miles behind me for the day, so when I got off of I-94 in Kalamazoo, I was tempted to stop for the night, about 20 miles short of my goal. However, as I waited in the drive-up line at an Arby's, the Motel 6 guide I'd taken in the morning indicated there was a Motel 6 in Battle Creek, where I am now. The fact that the help at Arby's asked me twice whether I wanted traditional or curly fries and then screwed up my order clinched it for me: I would drive the extra 20 miles to sleep in Battle Creek (home of Tony the Tiger, et al.).
Yesterday and today were quite sedentary. I walked barely 1200 steps yesterday, as measured by the pedometer; today's total was just over 1300 steps. I'm going to have to get off my lard butt once in Toronto and walk around a bit.
One strange phenomenon this trip occurred after I turned off my cell phone last night, which is the first time I've actually turned off the unit while there was charge left in the battery (two bars out of three). When I tried to turn on the unit this morning, it told me the battery was dead. I eventually plugged the phone into the car charger, which brought it up to two and then three bars out of three in short order. I don't know what to make of it.
I'm for Toronto tomorrow, and I don't have to worry about "losing" an hour to the time zone change, as I crossed into the Eastern time zone earlier in the evening. If I leave around 9, I should be at the hotel in Toronto by check-in time.
Sweet dreams.
Cheers...
