A Terrifying Prospect

[solipsistnation]

No sleep till Cleveland!

Comments

[bluegargantua]

Oh hey...

you're driving through Nebraska. I'll have to call the "family" and let them know you're coming.

When are you going to be passing through? What does your car look like again?

heh
Tom

[solipsistnation.livejournal.com]

The 10th of June, red Ford Focus.

I'll tell your brother-cousins and mother-sister you said hi.

[krellis.livejournal.com]

I see your map, and raise you two!

Five days (http://maps.google.com/maps?f=d&hl=en&saddr=1175+Lake+Blvd,+Davis,+CA+95616&daddr=Salt+Lake+City,+UT+to:North+Platte,+NE+to:Davenport,+IA+to:Cleveland,+OH+to:Glenmont,+NY+12077&layer=&mrcr=3,4&sll=42.229915,-82.177055&sspn=20.090225,31.289063&ie=UTF8&z=5&om=1) or four? (http://maps.google.com/maps?f=d&hl=en&saddr=1175+Lake+Blvd,+Davis,+CA+95616&daddr=Salt+Lake+City,+UT+to:North+Platte,+NE+to:Davenport,+IA+to:Cleveland,+OH+to:Glenmont,+NY+12077&layer=&mrcr=3,4&sll=42.229915,-82.177055&sspn=20.090225,31.289063&ie=UTF8&z=5&om=1)

Four days for yours would be even more killer than mine, since you've got the extra 3-4 hours Albany <-> Worcester. Yay cross-country! :)

[krellis.livejournal.com]

Plus another couple of hours on the other end to Mountain View, too.

[stophittinyrslf.livejournal.com]

we're actually staying with a friend in the city for the first couple of days we're there, hence no mountain view on the route.

[stophittinyrslf.livejournal.com]

doh. i also didn't click the link, and see that mountain view IS on the route he charted.

[solipsistnation.livejournal.com]

Yeah, just as a baseline destination... I figure it's going to be the same most of the way there.

[solipsistnation.livejournal.com]

Those are both the same, but I think I can see how your 4-day trip would work. Eek.

[krellis.livejournal.com]

That'll teach me for not actually click-testing the link. this one should be 4 days (http://maps.google.com/maps?f=d&hl=en&saddr=1175+Lake+Blvd,+Davis,+CA+95616&daddr=Fort+Bridger,+WY+to%3AOmaha,+NE+to%3AToledo,+OH+to%3AGlenmont,+NY+12077&mrcr=0&sll=41.903145,-92.845595&sspn=38.032232,62.578125&ie=UTF8&z=6&om=1).

[pir.livejournal.com]

BTW, ending up in MTV there's a quite good used book shop on the main drag there (Castro Street), I think it's called Bookbuyers. I bought a bunch of cheap scifi to read when I was out there...

[solipsistnation.livejournal.com]

Cool. I'll keep an eye out.

There are some great used book and record stores in Santa Cruz, too.

[stophittinyrslf.livejournal.com]

ah, yeah. that's where i got french magazines while i was in mountain view, and also my very favorite crossword puzzle book. (... i think. there are a couple of bookstores on castro, so i might be confused.)

[ronebofh.livejournal.com]

If you really want to be hardcore about it...

[solipsistnation.livejournal.com]

Yeaaah, our route was created by asking how long I could drive in one day. stophittinyrslf doesn't have a license, and I think my brain will melt after 8 hours, let alone 10.

At least the Matrix has cruise control...

[ronebofh.livejournal.com]

Ahh, yes, with a single driver, that is definitely a factor.

[z-gryphon.livejournal.com]

Bah. Wimp. On our way to move me back to this coast in '97, Zoner drove from Evanston, WY to Joliet, IL in a single maniacal session. And since that included a transit of the Rockies and a hilariously underpowered 24-foot Ryder truck, it actually took us something more like 30 hours, not the comically optimistic 18½ MapQuest suggests.

I'd link in the full route for that trip, but MapQuest doesn't yet support linking to routes with multiple waypoints. If you'd like to build it yourself just for giggles, though, the five waypoints are:

704 4th Street, Oakland, CA
1400 Stardust Street, Reno, NV
261 Bear River Drive, Evanston, WY
1850 McDonough Street, Joliet, IL
446 Southbridge Street, Auburn, MA

(Yeah, the first leg was wimpily short, but that wasn't our fault. Zoner wasn't even involved for that part; he had nothing to do with Dad setting the truck's brakes on fire in Tahoe.)

[zonereyrie.livejournal.com]

Here you go.

And that truck was DAMN slow.

[zonereyrie.livejournal.com]

...

Holy shit, I drove 1,288 miles in one shift...

...

I'm fucking crazy.

[frozencapybara.livejournal.com]

Here to Cleveland isn't so bad. I've done that for christmas four out of the last five years. Just don't try to drive 4-5 extra hours on top of that (like I have, more than once, and regretted every time).

Photos? Travelogue?

[mcv.livejournal.com]

I hope you'll be able to take lots of photos. Once you've arrived and slept off your roadTrip you'll need to make a webpage 'r somethin', so we can viacriously enjoy your trip through the heartland.

Pleeeeeeeeeze? I'd love to drive X-country, but my better half would never have it.

Re: Photos? Travelogue?

[solipsistnation.livejournal.com]

Unfortunately this probably won't be much of a sightseeing trip. But hey, if you want a photo journal of Rest Stops On I-80, I think we can probably do that.

Re: Photos? Travelogue?

[twwombat.livejournal.com]

A Qualitative Analysis of Urinals in the Heartland.

Sounds like a good thesis to me...

[desertlover.livejournal.com]

Since you're going to be "in the neighborhood", I would highly recommend traversing Nevada on US HWY 50, The "Loneliest Road in America" instead of I-80.

It's not a "Largest Ball of Twine" type detour. It's a much more desolate and interesting journey, hardly any traffic, and a few neat towns along the way. Far fewer tracor trailers too.

You'll pass through Fallon, currently home to Top Gun. If you don't see black helicopters or fighter jets I'll pay for your gas. Hm. Well, not *really*, but there's always activity in the area.

Other neat sites along the way are long fence lines with "Deadly Force Authorized" signs, antennas coming out of mountains, Sand Mountain, the Shoe Tree, etc.

At the begining of the stretch (NV / UT border) is Great Basin National Park, where you can visit 3,000 year old Bristlecone Pine Trees and see Wheeler Pk, site of the southern most rock glaicer.

The point is, if you're going to spend a full day driving accross the Nevada desert, you might as well do it through a stretch that has a lot of character. At Winnemucca you can shoot back to I-80, or continue on 50 and end up in Carson City. From there, you can shoot 45 minutes north to I-80 in Reno, or take US 50 up to Lake Tahoe, over the Sierras, and into Sacramento - joining up with I-80 again.

Personally, I find the stretch over the Sierras is more enjoyable on 50 than on 80. Fewer semi's and very scenic. Some spots of slow traffic due to only 1 lane in each direction, but there are passing lanes ...

If you do end up in Carson, my parents will be happy to feed and water your horses for you...

[solipsistnation.livejournal.com]

Cool, thank you. I'm always up for more desolation. That does sound like a much more interesting trip.

[mcv.livejournal.com]

Should he watch out for kids launching rockets? :-P

[desertlover.livejournal.com]

heh. On that stretch, I wouldn't worry about kids and rockets. I'd worry about adults and missles. :-)

[mcv.livejournal.com]

Google has an amazing picture of US-50:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Us_route_50_nevada.jpg

Where is that picture taken?

[solipsistnation.livejournal.com]

Dig it.

A difference of about 50 miles.

What's the speed limit on I-80 there, as opposed to US50?

[mcv.livejournal.com]

A friend said he spend 22 hours driving through Nevada and saw something like three other cars. He didn't touch US 80, I don't think. Entering NV on rt 359 (coming from Mono Lake in CA) he was doing 80 on the highway and claimed he was passed by someone doing "twice his speed".

[quaintance.livejournal.com]

I second the Highway 50 vote. If you came down to it in Utah from the 80, you'd pass through some of my favorite country just before getting there. Yummy melons in Green River. south of there are some great Hoodoos at goblin Valley St Park, and I love Capitol Reef.

Most of my research trips to Colorado were along the 50.
My route: SF Area --> Fallon (hotel) --> as far East as I could go, hopefully Capitol Reef --> Crested Butte, Co
Reverse was much the same, but sometimes I'd camp somewhere in NV like Great Basin or somewhere random just to enjoy the landscape. Once I camped in BLM land and heard Pronghorn and wild horses running by :) There is this ramshackle bar along 50 we used to stop at; I can ask my caravan buddy if he remembers the name.

along 80, though, winnemuca has some interesting Basque cuisine and Wells is just, well, interesting for reasons that make Nevada infamous.

[quaintance.livejournal.com]

Oh yeah, and I'd be happy to dig up my old travel-notes if you'd like, and let you know some of the other places I found interesting for a little detour/night's rest stop.

SF to DC

[quaintance.livejournal.com]

SF ---> Salt Lake City ---> Gordon, NE ---> Omaha, NE ---> Chicago, IL ---> "Somewhere", PA ---> Suburban Maryland (DC)

DC ---> Athens, Ohio ---> Lafayette, Indiana ---> Omaha, NE ---> Gordon, NE ---> "Somewhere", WY ---> Winnemuca, NV --->SF

Both of these journeys were draining and epic. Take much music, recording equipment, develop road rituals, stop anywhere that looks vaguely entertaining, watch out for deer/tumbleweeds/pronghorn/bison/pedestrians/cars. Don't expect people in WY to know what herbal tea is or give you an appropriate amount of salad with your dressing. Again, I recommend CarHenge in Alliance NE, but, as you see, I spent a lot of time in Sandhills country.