Second cross-country road trip 2011: Day 2

Though I'm never likely to end up in Lake Havasu (Arizona) ever again, this is a beautiful place where I would've liked to spend more time. Allie and I got up early to get back on the road in order to get to the Grand Canyon with enough remaining daylight to enjoy the Grand Canyon.


The drive from Lake Havasu to the Grand Canyon was a short four hours with a couple of stops (mostly for our little dog). As you drive to the South Rim of the Grand Canyon from the direction of I-40, the land offers no clues as to the huge hole in the ground just a bit to the North. In fact, there is very little clue as you park at the South Rim's visitor center. There's no clue as you walk along the paved trail from the parking lot. There's only the slightest hint as the North Rim becomes visible over the trees. The full impact isn't realized until you are at the rim and look from East to West, and then nearly straight down. It's really true that photographs do not do justice to the Grand Canyon. Nothing really prepares you for the awe you'll experience when you first see it for yourself.




The Grand Canyon is pet friendly. Although my dog did seem to appreciate some aspects of the canyon, he was most interested in every single bush we walked past.

Our hotel was surprizingly good. I originally had booked with another hotel, but cancelled when they hung up on me three times in a row when I was trying to confirm my reservation. I'm glad I cancelled. The Grand Hotel turns out to be the best choice, not just for pet friendliness, but for general comfort and cleanliness.

We will very likely be back to the Grand Canyon some day to experience more of its wonders.

Second cross-country road trip 2011: Day 1

My second cross-country road trip across America is under way. Not only is this my second time, this is my second time this year! This time, I am travelling with my wife and my little dog too.
Due to the time of year, we had to avoid the heart of the Rockies, opting to drive through Arizona. The first day was a long 10 hours from Silicon Valley to Lake Havasu. We made a lot of stops, mostly cuz of my dog being restless during his very first road trip.
Sometimes it is easy to forget how big California really is. It takes many hours to leave the state from the Coastal regions.
We didn't make any stops to see anything. The goal was to get to Lake Havasu as quickly as possible to have a good nights sleep so we'd be able to take off early enough to enjoy the the Grand Canyon the next day.
Our hotel in Lake Havasu was beachside, but we didn't really have time to take advantage of that.
We did stop off at London Bridge (and got to drive over it twice). I didn't see any World War II damage marks on it, but didn't really have time to look all that closely. It was already nighttime when we arrived.

States I have visited (USA, Canada, Mexico)

As of today, the maps above represent the states and provinces that which I have visited. On the world map (not shown here), I also add Bahamas and Hong Kong to my list. My ultimate goal is to set foot on all seven continents. As of right now, I don't really have a goal about any specific number of states or countries. I do eventually want to visit particular places that would naturally add states, provinces and countries to my list of visited areas.

Not counted in my list are places where I had never left the airport in between legs of multiple flights. However, it wouldn't change the maps all that much if I had.

Video of St. Louis Gateway Arch (road trip)

Video from my recent road trip across the USA, day 4, at the Gateway Arch in St. Louis.

Ran over a bird (dang!)

Many birds have flown into the path of my car over the years, yet always seem to get out of the way. Many others have been in my path already (chillin out on the road or something), and have also flown out of my way. They generally respond quickly enough that I've rarely have to react as I drive at them. Well, that all changed on my recent cross-country trip. Easily, hundreds of birds flew into and out of the path of my car on this trip, with no incident.

One bird in Missouri, this stupid Red Winged Blackbird, did not. In fact, it flew right into my path so quickly that I could not respond in time to avoid it. Although I quickly applied my brakes, I heard it bump against some portion from under my car. I don't think I actually ran over it, per se, because I didn't see any remnant left on my car. It likely just bumped into my car, and got knocked about. I didn't see it on the road behind, so I'm guessing it was able to fly off.

Still, it was very annoying. It's bad enough having all these birds rush in front of you all the time, but actually hitting them just sucks.

Cross-country trip photo (Flickr)

Cross-country trip, a set on Flickr.

I've uploaded all of the photos (many shown here) from my recent cross-country trip to a Flickr set. There's a few of my car, and many others taken from my car. I didn't get a chance to stop at many interesting places (for various reasons discussed in earlier articles), but there are still some interesting shots. Enjoy!

Cross-country trip - day 6

Day 6 of my cross-country trip was marked by yet another viciously beautiful day as I drove into Massachusetts. Eastern New York is beautiful, save for a few cities here and there (which have their own charm). There are more rustic farms that might as well be from the late 19th Century, and more lush forested hills. This day was the first time on my trip where I had to pay two separate road tolls in the same day. I guess $5 (total) isn't bad for travelling a couple of hundred miles. It's certainly a better price than paying $5 to cross a 1 mile bridge over the Delta in Northern California.

I made it to my appointment in Massachusetts with 10 minutes to spare. My time estimate for the overall trip was nearly perfect. I didn't get to enjoy some of the cities as much as I had wished. Besides that, this 5 1/2 day road trip turned out to be a good experience that I'll remember very well.

Would I do a similar trip across the USA again? If I had to, yes. Next time, I may take more time to enjoy many more stops along the way.

Cross-country trip - day 5 (part 2)

Western New York state is beautiful, gorgeous and simply stunning. The forests are lush and rich in color. The lakes are serene. The farms are stereotypically and wonderfully idyllic. This was entirely unexpected by me.

The drive to Binghamton, NY was long. Getting across New York state takes as much time as any other larger state, such as Kansas (though is much more interesting than Kansas). There happened to be a festival in Binghamton on the day of my arrival, called First Friday Art Walk. The event was fairly lively with a lot of friendly people. I got a hotel (that I picked myself without the help of Expedia or that Hotwire unpublished rate thing) that was right in the middle of the downtown area action, so I was able to walk around freely without having to drive anywhere. There are a few attractions that are prolly better seen during the day, but here's a couple of late evening photos anyway (to the right).

I was at one bar where there were a bunch of locals rooting for the Braves to beat the Mets. Everyone was happy when the Braves won. Huh? Even if you are a Yankees fan, I would consider it disgraceful to pull for an Atlanta team over a local team! Oh well, I wasn't going to argue the point with anyone, especially after the Bruins lost to Vancouver a few minutes later in the Hockey finals; too even greater celebration by the locals.

The next day, as I was leaving the hotel, the bellhop thought he recognized me from a late party from the last night. Of course, I was at no such party. Though I was aware of it, I didn't crash the party. ...might've been nice to be invited to the party! Where are all these dopplegangers having my fun instead of me?!

On my way out of town, I ran across this interesting place of business (photo below). I was immediately thinking that such a place would be useful to Napoleon Dynamite.

Cross-country trip - day 5 (part 1)

I learned along time ago that good planning for a trip is critical. That includes planning for flexibility. On this road trip, I learned that it is very easy to forget the day of the week or even what city I was in on the previous day. There is a new understanding as to why rock stars often gaffe by shouting out the wrong city when they are on long tours.

Due to poor success with picking a hotel using Hotwire's unpublished rates via Expedia (yet again), I ended up with nice hotel that was not close enough to the area I wanted. I was stuck at the hotel (since I didn't want to drive anywhere). However, complimentary services weren't denied to me at this place. Though hotel rates can be as much as 50% less, I would still think twice before using Hotwire's unpublished rates again.

The drive from Indianapolis, IN to Binghamton, NY was the second longest of this road trip. Ohio wins the award for the most welcoming entry sign! Most states just put up a road sign that says something like, "Hey, you are entering our state". Ohio has a welcoming arch that extends over the freeway and declares "Welcome to Ohio" using three different fonts! I felt very welcomed, indeed. There's a lot of blue and white paint on bridges and other freeway structures in Ohio. When you are here, there's not doubt about the fact that you are in Ohio!

The weather turned from gray to very sunny somewhere in Ohio. I decided to stop off in Erie, PA for a very early dinner. The weather was gorgeous! The lake was beautiful. I had a great swordfish sandwich at Rumrunner's Cove. It's nearly impossible to find swordfish on the West Coast these days due to mercury contamination. Even though I had my swordfish steak in a sandwich, it was cooked a 100 times better than what I got at The Chart House in Boston the month before. My early dinner was very relaxing, though very short, since I needed to get back on the road. I'll have to come back to Erie, PA again.

OK, I was stunned by what I found in western New York state. More on this later.

Cross-country trip - day 4

My drive out of Kansas City was uneventful, with a brief lament about the fact that I didn't get to spend more quality time there. On the way to St. Louis, I stopped off at this one Mayberry type town (which shall remain nameless here). There were several official brown highway signs pointing out the existence of this quaint town. Even that modest highway advertising was a bit overstated. The photo to the right shows the full extent of the "historic old town". To me, it seemed like a glorified yard sale, with its four or five antique shops. The windmill was interesting.

Crossing the middle of America went well. I was able to hit St. Louis about mid-day to see the Gateway Arch. It's big and very stainless (as in stainless steel). If you don't intend on staying at the monument for longer than 30 minutes, parking is fairly easy to find (in the 30-minute park zones). However, spending more time there will likely cost a few bucks on garage parking.

There was no time to go on a tour inside the monument, but there was enough time to have lunch at Pappy's Smokehouse (of Man V Food fame). The food was great and the service was quick, polite and friendly. When I got back on my way, I crossed over the mighty Mississippi without giving it much more than a passing glance. The only reason for such disregard was that I forget to look at it as I drove over the bridge.

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The drive into Indiana consisted of an abrupt speed change down to 65MPH. As far as I could tell, there was no reason for this. Even worse, within Indianapolis, the speed limit was 55MPH on the freeways. These freeways are very wide and very modern. In my opinion, one would be safer driving at 85MPH on the Indianapolis freeways than they would be driving 75 on a rural freeway in Wyoming. The 55MPH speed limit just doesn't seem logical. It almost seems like people from Indiana let their grandma's pick the speed limit.

Oh, did I mention I drove through Illinois (and avoided Chicago)? Yeah, I did that too. I was on a mission to break my old, personal record for the most miles on one tank of gas. In my old 2003 Acura TL-S, I was once able to go 360 miles without refueling. With my 2009 Pontiac G8 GT (with its 6.0L 8 cylinder engine), I easily passed 400 miles, with about 24MPG. (I love the engine technology that shuts down 4 of the cylinders when they aren't needed). City driving is much worse, with about 15MPG. So, I either get really good mileage (for a V8) or really bad mileage, depending on the type of driving.