Checksum Arcanius

Day 8 (Monday, December 08, 2003)

Ryan and I got up and ate some breakfast, bacon and egg, which Susie had kindly prepared for us. We packed up and headed out. On the way out, we stopped in Fort Worth to see the Water Gardens. The park allowed you to walk down to the bottom of the water display, something Ryan and I decided would never be allowed in Seattle due to public safety concerns.

After seeing the Water Gardens, we headed west on I-20. We are trying to figure out how toward Carlsbad Caverns, where we will camp the night.

1:41 pm — 8 miles: Ryan forgot to reset the trip odometer this morning, so about 150 miles into the trip at Abilene Scott resets the odometer and we continue on.

3:28 pm — 31.2 miles: After stopping for lunch at a Texas Grill where we had somewhat overcooked but still very good peppered ribeye steaks served by a brand new but pretty waitress (Ryan gives her a “9”) for $28.18 plus a $4.26 (14.7% – she was hot, but the steaks were overcooked), we hit the road again.

4:25 pm — 99.9 miles: I call my dad for information on camping place because ehe has internet access. He calls back with some good information: Carlsbad Caverns NP discourages camping, Guadalupe encourages it. We will be staying at Pine Springs camp ground at the Guadalupe Mountains national park.

8:30 pm — 348.1 miles: We arrive at the campground. We don’t know where to pay the $8, so we decide we’ll figure it out later and proceed to set up camp for the night. The wind is strong and gusty, giving us trouble while setting up the tent. We place a few rocks inside the tent and on the tarp to try to keep things in place, and then we start working on dinner. While we are waiting for the water to boil, a big gust of wind picks up the tent and, along with the rocks and sleeping bags in it, moves it about ten feet from the tarp, until it snags on some brush. The wind proceeds to get the tarp out from under three of the four rocks we placed on top. Finally, the water is boiling and we add the pasta and sauce, only to have the camp stove die on us. We refill the camp stove fuel bottle from the extra fuel bottle we have with us, and finish cooking the pasta. It is alright, it pales in comparison to the mac and cheese and the chicken and rice we cooked before, and it can’t compare to the steaks of earlier in the day. By 10:30, we get into bed for some needed rest.

And more…

Day 7 (Sunday, December 07, 2003)

Today we sleep in a bit, didn’t get on the road until about 9:25.

11:30 am — 128 miles: After stopping for another refueling, Scott takes over driving. We turn North on I-49 and are now paralleling the Louisiana-Texas border until we get to I-20 and head towards Dallas. We are out of the Swamplands, so no more crazy, high-cost freeway systems, and things are beginning to dry out. By the time we get to Texas it seems no humidity will be left. I’m not sure if I should look forward to the higher temperatures or not.

2:29 pm — 338 miles: We get onto I-20 West towards Dallas. The sky is blue, the sun is brilliant and warms us. Scott is pissed off at the slow speed limits in “construction zones” with no workers. We haven’t had lunch yet.

2:39 pm — 350 miles: We cross the Louisiana-Texas Border and stop at a rest stop for lunch.

We are getting a little lax on the log, or I am (Scott), my bad.

We got into the Arlington area around 6:15 pm and settled in with our host, Daniel and Susie McElroy who were very gracious and hospitable. We ate some pizza with Daniel and Susie and figured out some sites to see in Dallas. Ryan and I were very impressed with downtown Dallas. We stopped to take some pictures of the City Hall, a very architecturally intriguing building. We also went to Thank-Giving Square in the heart of downtown Dallas. Ryan and I were both impressed with the colorful skyline.

Sorry for the long lack of update. A more leisurely pace actually means we are packing more activities into each day instead of just driving, leaving less time for things like this. Today, however, I have been a man with a mission to update this blog. There are many awesome pictures just waiting for a fast connection to be uploaded. Just hang in there! Here we go…

Day 6 (Saturday, December 06, 2003)

9:16 am — 506.0 / 0 miles: We wake up later than planned, but its still pretty early, especially here at Tulane where everyone still seems to be asleep. I’ve called my aunt and uncle’s house, where I talked to Marie. She had a meeting starting but will be calling back. Next I called my cousin Kevin (Marie gave me her number), and left a message on his phone to see if Pensacola will be an option. Now, we are headed to the Bayou Sauvage National Wildlife Refuge.

At the Wildlife Refuge, we take a variety of pictures, have lunch (chicken and rice, yum) and meet a few locals. One man, walking his dog, is interested in Scott’s large format camera, and two local teens, one with a truck with hydraulics. We talk about the cold, the trip, coming from Seattle, rice rockets, how bad cops are, and a few other things. Meanwhile, I’ve gotten in touch with Kevin and we agree to watch the Army vs. Navy game at Silky O’Sulivans, a pub on Decateur St in the French Quarter at 3:00pm. Traveling around, we decide it would be fun to traverse the 28-mile long causeway to New Orleans. It turns out it’s a toll road, but traveling on the thing is a trip. For some reason, they built the road at the very widest part of Lake Pontchartrain. We arrive in the French Quarter, locate the bar, and then go to park, which is always a battle. We get lucky on Bienville street again. But first, Scott wants to take a picture of the feel of the French Quarter, so we go find a quiet street and he takes a photo. His view camera gets several comments, one from some old-timers, and one from a local DJ who is looking for good album over art. Next, we head to the bar, where we aren’t ID’d, and watch the game, with Navy handily beating Army (the first Division I football team to go 0-13). Navy winning is good, since Kevin is a graduate of the Naval Academy and knows the quarterback. We say our goodbyes, head back to Tulane (Kat is now working on a French paper; we pity her) and watch Legally Blonde (Scott had already seen Men of Honor), a fun and frivolous movie before hitting the sack. Although we didn’t go anywhere today, we still rack up 109 or so miles.

Its late here in New Orleans and we’re going to be getting up early tomorrow. As a result, I am cutting a few corners tonight. Pictures won’t be popup this time around, instead you get to browse them rather primitively here. Also, I am posting all of the new journals at once.

Day 4 (Thursday, December 04, 2003)
We woke up late, around 11:30, showered, and went to Homer’s, an excellent restaurant near the Little Rock airport with Brennan and her step-dad Paul. Next we hung out at Brennan’s house while Brennan went to the dentist, then she returned and took us to Pinnacle Mountain, if mountain is the correct term, where we took many pictures. There were many hawks circling, which was weird, because there were so many hawks. Pictures will happen here at some point. Soon we will be going to a choir concert. Last night we saw the construction of William Jefferson Clinton Library.

Day 5 (Friday, December 05, 2003)

We got up, said goodbye to Brennan and the hecka-tight city of Little Rawk. Hit the road running at 8:24.

Outside of Little Rock Ryan and I see the sun coming through the clouds in rays, absolutely awesome.

10:50 am — 143.7 miles: We cross a bridge from Louisiana into Mississippi. We didn’t even know that we had been in Louisiana already. The speed limits are ranging from 45-55, on US highways — not interstates right now. Everything is feeling more “Southern” in a stereotypical sense.

10:54 am — 148.0 miles: We realize we are off track. Working on a solution.

10:58 am — 150.9 miles: We figure out where we are. Highways 65 and 82 were the same road for a while, then they split up and instead of staying on highway 65 like I, Ryan, should have, we took off on highway 82, and crossed into Mississippi earlier than expected. Now we are trudging our way through Greenville, Mississippi on our way to Leland, Mississippi, where we will head South on US Highway 61 to Jackson, Mississippi where we will meet up with our originally planned path. It looks like we just added at least an hour to out arrival time in New Orleans. Way to go, Ryan!

12:38 pm — 242.4 miles: We arrive at I-20, back on track, headed towards Jackson, Mississippi. We had some PBJ sandwiches I made at Brennan’s house before we left.

1:10pm — 281.2 miles: We get onto I-55 South, and see a sign that says “New Orleans.”

2:30 pm – 371.5 miles: Entered Louisiana.

9:55 pm – 495.4 miles: We get the car’s oil changed and get in contact with Kat at Tulane, who decides she needs to study, so we head out to experience New Orleans on our own. We drive around and finally find a parking spot in the French Quarter. The parallel parking is tight, but with Scott’s excellent direction and Ryan’s amazing driving skills, we managed. We walked to Bourbon Street and strolled up and down several times enjoying the sights, sounds, and ambience of the place. The entire street is a big party, with what seems like hundreds of clubs and stores all vying for the attention of the wandering masses. We didn’t make it in to any of the clubs while the cover charges were still waived, so now we are wandering the city again, wondering what we will do tomorrow (stay here and explore, or head to Pensacola, where my cousin Kevin might be).

10:45 — On our drive back to where we are staying, we stopped at a restaurant for a very late dinner. We decided we simply could leave New Orleans without trying Cajun food. And boy did we luck out, we found a restaurant called, Copland’s. Ryan had Shrimp Creole and Scott had Blacked Cajun Chicken; it was scrumptious. Now we have to contemplate where we are going next. We can see Ryan’s cousin in Pensacola, just a three hour small excursion, stay in New Orleans another night, or simply go onto Arlington, TX (just outside of Dallas). We plan on getting up early and contacting Ryan’s cousin to see what his schedule is, and we will decide from there.

Day 3 (Wednesday, December 03, 2003)

8:54 am — 2.4 miles: We are on our way out of the Maxwell Wildlife Refuge, having just encountered some of the wildlife being refuged. First we came across some deer, which took off in an amazing show of athletic prowess, bounding away over many shrubberies. Then we came to a roadblock of buffalo. Slowly we made our way past them, making sure never to get between a young one and its guardian. Last night, we did indeed find campground the AAA book talked about. We looked around some to make sure we had the right place and then we found nice campsite, set up camp, and made ourselves macaroni and cheese, which was nice and hot and very good. We slept pretty good and I, Ryan, woke up about 8:15 and started breaking down camp. Scott got up about fifteen minutes later we finished breaking camp, and we started driving about 8:50. We thought we would be going oer 1000 miles yesterday, but because of the more efficient route discovered, we ended up at a “mere” 993 miles for the day.

9:17 am — 12.8 miles: Scott seems to be getting worse with the stick shift instead of better. We just refueled in Canton, Kansas at the Phillips 66 station. Now we are headed back to I-135 to get into Oklahoma.

10:08 am — 69.7 miles: Listening to Pearl Jam, we enter Wichita, Kansas. There is construction and the speed limit drops to 45 for a while. The construction is on the other side of a six foot wide, four foot high solid cement barricade. It seems to us to be a little bit of overkill. Kansas seems to have a high number of people with less-than-admirable driving skills.

10:15 am — 76.2 miles: Along I-135 here in Wichita is a huge channel between the two directions of the highway. It has water in it and looks to be pretty awesome. We officially like Wichita. Unfortunately for us, I-35 is a turnpike, a toll road. However, it looks like we’ll only be paying about $1.35 to get to Oklahoma City from here, so its really not that bad. The traffic on the turnpike is very light, making Scott and I think that the speed limit of 70 is a bit low, especially since we are paying. Dumb government involvement.

11:01 am — 128.0 miles: We are several miles Oklahoma, and Oklahoma City is a mere 107 miles away. Now all I need is a woman with which to share an Oklahoma greeting.

11:40 am — 173.4 miles: Switch drivers, Ryan takes the controls. Onward toward Oklahoma City.

3:46 pm — 384.9 miles: After stopping at Sallisaw to refuel and check oil, which was low again — we filled it up with the last of the oil from Laramie and bought some new oil, but the new oil looked funny so we didn’t put much in — its some sort of detergent-free oil. We will inquire about the meaning of that when we have a chance. The car seems to be burning about a quart of oil every 1000 miles. We have so far gone 2212 miles, and it is looking like, due to a later than normal start, we won’t be getting into Little Rock until 5:30 or 6:00pm. Cell phone reception has been fairly steady since we got to I-135 in Kansas. The south is well covered by Cingular. Earlier today we received a call from Jim Chatterly, my mom’s cousin, who we hoped would be our contact in the Los Angeles area. He seemed pleased with the idea and made me promise to keep a good trip journal. I hope this is good enough.

6:23 pm: We arrive at Brennan’s house; she and her parents are very welcoming. Brennan drives us to a fabulous Mexican restaurant, where her parents buy us the first real food we’ve had in a few days. We then return to their home where Scott and I clean up. I get online to upload this (though my cell phone, 8kpbs, thus no pictures until later) because I am a nerd, and later we will do something else fun.

Day 2 (Tuesday, December 02, 2003)

We woke up about 7 o’clock and took shower, ate some breakfast and got on the road again, on the road again.

7:40 am: Departed Salt Lake City. We have so far traveled 853.9 Miles, yeehaw.

8:30 am: Stopped in Park City, UT for gas.

9:00 am: Entered Wyoming, low gas prices ( excellent, muuuuu haa haaaaa haaa).

‘Tis a rugged landscape of snow swept broke hills of Wyoming, a desolate place indeed, no place for a delicate women. (Speak in Scottish brogue)

9:35 am –117.4 miles: Scott takes over driving at exit 33. He could still use some manual transmission finesse, but he’s pretty good. Speed limit is 75. We be cruisin’.

9:48 am — 133.0 miles: We pass three girls on the road. They wave to us, but we cannot determine hotness because the sun is behind them.

11:50 am — 292.8 miles: We pass Sinclair, Wyoming. Its 95 miles to Laramie, but we are getting incredible gas mileage here in the high flat country and we can make it. There is a large oil refinery here, a tanker train waiting, and fire spewing, burning off leftovers.

1:30 pm — 390.2 miles: Stopped for gas. Added oil. Possibly the most hickish area we have ever encountered, overheard stories of women getting in fights to be the first into Wal-Mart after Thanksgiving.

2:14 pm — Entered the fabulous state of Colorado, we see mountains on the horizon.

2:39 pm — 475.1 miles: Scott starts driving again, at rest stop near exit 265. Denver is just over 50 miles away; we will get there with daylight. The question is how far we can get into Kansas before the end of the day. Here is Colorado, the State Police seem to be out in force, making sure a random selection of the population is forced to pay ridiculous fines for the universally broken speed limit. Way to destroy the rule of law you fascist Gestapo pigs! Scott and I are thinking that a radar detector might be a good purchase in Denver.

2:58 pm — 494.4 miles: Scott admits, “I have never seen real tumbleweed before, except in westerns.” Cell phone has service again, ever since Cheyenne it looks like. Only two bars right now though. We are listening to Murder City Devils songs — Scott has hours of them on his hard drive. They take on enigmatic names like “MU9F5D~1” due to a flaky hard drive back in the day. I, Ryan, left my iPod at home, so I have none of my music along, which I can live with, but a little bit on Linkin Park and Collective Soul would be nice from time to time too. Gas here in Colorado is cheap but a few cents more than in Wyoming.

3:34 pm — 532.8 miles: We somehow successfully navigate Denver’s confusing freeway interchanges and get from I-25 S to I-70 E. It seems they have miles of reduced speed limits and under construction/fines doubled signs, but we only saw actual work going on along one small stretch of road. Our next stop will likely be somewhere in Kansas. We decided against the radar detector for now at least — Denver would have been a pain to navigate at any rate. The sun is getting low in the horizon.

3:38 pm — Maybe the radar detector would have been a good idea. Just outside of Denver, Scott spotted the nose of a motorcycle cop. A quick application of the brakes before he got a bead on us probably saved us a ticket. The speed limit here on this wide open stretch of highway is 55 miles per hour. A ridiculously slow speed. A mile or so later, the speed limit suddenly rises to 75 as the road gets narrower and more rugged. “See you later Denver, we won’t miss you,” declares Scott.

4:57 pm — 635.6 miles — Stopped near Arriba to change drivers back to Ryan.

5:48 pm — 704.0 miles — Crossed into Kansas, I think we ARE in Kansas anymore.

6:03 pm — Stopped in Goodland, KS to refuel, with an absolutely astounding 40.5 mpg. Ryan keeps going, like a machine.

8:01 pm — 849.0 miles: At Ellis, KS, Scott takes over once again to close out the day. We talked to Brennan, our host in Little Rock. Scott talked to his dad and I talked to my brother and left a message for my parents. The ETA for Canton, where we are camping tonight is 10:15 pm. It looks like another half hour to the campsite, then either we will go straight to sleep or cook a little something something to eat. My back is bothering me a bit, and both of us are using lumbar support and our time away from the wheel to stay limber. The speed limit here in Kansas is a pretty steady 70mph, and we be cruising.

9:49 pm — 975.8 miles: Scott notices a sign that says McPherson Lake, which we will be staying near. We recheck and find a more efficient way to get to the campground, assuming there is a campground there, which we realize we’re really not sure of. I start looking for alternatives in case the original plan doesn’t work out.

The road trip is over — 16 days, 7025 miles. Once again, Scott’s computer is not where I am, so the official log isn’t up, but I’m working on pictures right now.