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The Great Coffee-Room Cross-Country Road Trip; ...should we?
Topic Started: Apr 1 2006, 10:11 PM (739 Views)
CrashTest
Pisa-Carp
Nina
Apr 2 2006, 08:02 AM
Do the math.

I-40 from NC to Los Angeles is 2,555 miles. A reasonable estimate.

If you're driving 75 mph the whole way, it will take you 53 hours, driving non-stop.

But you will need to stop a bit, right?

So let's say 10 bathroom breaks, 10 minutes each
6 fast food drive-through food breaks, 15 minutes each (because they always take forever and there are always long lines on the ones just off the interstates)
7 stops for gas (assuming 25 mpg, 12 gal tank, I think)

It's now about 58 hours. Plus everyone knows that as soon as you hit the Riverside overpass you'll only be able to go about 30 mph from there on. Add another 2 hours, minimum. And somewhere along this 58 hour stretch, you'll catch a few rush hours. Add another 3 hours.

OK, 63 hours plus or minus, driving time alone, on I-40. One way.

I don't think it's possible. :D

But in case I'm wrong, let me know and I'll have some Jolt and doughnuts ready to toss in through your car window. We can chat! :)

i h8 maths
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CrashTest
Pisa-Carp
Hey, maybe I can come along. We can go pick up random chicks at malls and bars, and maybe have sex with them.

I would love nothing more than a roadtrip! We can't really go near Florida, or any state below Virginia for that matter. Something about a restraining order or something, no big deal, we still have like 6 states we can visit!
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Dewey
Member Avatar
HOLY CARP!!!
You're young, you're supposed to be at least partially out of your mind.

One of my great memories from being a young twentysomething was waking up on a Saturday morning in southwestern Pennsylvania, and having "Cuz" (my cousin, a year and a half older than me and who lived in the same town) call me on the phone:

"Hey, you doing anything this weekend?"
"No, you?"
"No. Hey, you want to go on a road trip to Washington D.C.(or fill in the blank with some equally remote locale)?"
"Why Washington (or wherever)?"
"Idunno, why not?"
"OK, yeah, sure. Let me get a shower & pick up some pop & Donut Fair donuts at Foodland - I'll pick you up in about an hour."


That was usually the extent of the planning on these trips. And off we'd go. Man, I'd love to have the freedom to do that again, just once or twice.

So do it now, while you can. We'll put you up while you buzz through here.
"By nature, i prefer brevity." - John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion, p. 685.

"Never waste your time trying to explain yourself to people who are committed to misunderstanding you." - Anonymous

"Oh sure, every once in a while a turd floated by, but other than that it was just fine." - Joe A., 2011

I'll answer your other comments later, but my primary priority for the rest of the evening is to get drunk." - Klaus, 12/31/14
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The 89th Key
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Very nice offers and comments everyone, thanks.

Dwain, you're right...we should take advantage!

Actually, every now and then Aqua will come into my room and say "Hey, wanna go to Atlantic City?" or something random... :P
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kenny
HOLY CARP!!!
89 travel as much as possible when you are young!!!!


I traveled extensively, and look how I turned out! :blink:

Seriously, get out there!
Just DO it!
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schindler
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Fulla-Carp
Yeah, and if you stop by Kansas city you can meet Deb, Apple, and me! I'm going to be only and hour or two away. :)
We're all mad here!
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Dewey
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HOLY CARP!!!
And if you haven't done any European travel, you should do that, too. When I was 23, a group of us - including "Cuz" - were going to get Eurail passes, fly El Cheapo Airlines to Europe, and bop around there for a month. One by one, everyone else dropped out but me. I figured it was their loss, and went by myself. It was a fantastic experience.

I was met at the airport by my Dad's best boyhood friend (for whom I'm named), who went to East Germany with the Air Force, and never left. After a couple days with his wonderful family, I worked through Trier, Cologne, Frankfort, Munich, Venice, Rome, Florence, and a bunch of other places. I'd pull into the train station, find the name of some little guest house or a private individual who rented out rooms. Sometimes I'd split a room with one or two other young people wandering through the country doing the same thing as me.

I did my laundry in the sink.

I'd sit on the Spanish Steps in the morning, eating some sinful little pastry and sipping cappucino while reading an Italian paper printed in English.

I got a big, fat German barmaid ticked off at me in Munich, and I couldn't understand a word of what she was yelling at me - until a few other guys in the beer garden, who were laughing at me, called me over to explain why she was mad - and then they bought me beer the rest of the afternoon; we had a great time.

I wandered around in the ruins of Medieval castles and ancient Roman buildings.

I stood in Saint Peter's Basilica, and felt the physical presence of God. I stood in the crematorium at Dachau, and felt the physical presence of evil.

I had a cute old German couple (he complete with green felt hat) on a street in Munich, work with me on my German pronunciation.

I toured the Uffizi. I saw Michaelangelo's David, and two of his Pieta's. I climbed to the top of the dome of the Florence Cathedral. I walked the rooftop of St. Peters.

I stood in the Piazza San Marco in Venice, watching the sunlight reflect in a thousand brilliant little sparkles off the gold in the mosaic tile on its facade. I got thrown out of a tour with a private guide that was going through the Doge's Palace, that I had glommed onto as I went through it myself without paying for a guide.

At the time, I lived in a tiny fly-speck of a town, and had rarely travelled more than 200 miles outside of it my entire life. I did it all on my own. I spoke neither German nor Italian. And I'd give my left nut to be able to reprise the month now, at age 45.

I could go on, but you get the idea. I think everyone who possibly can should have a similar trip under their belt in their youth.
"By nature, i prefer brevity." - John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion, p. 685.

"Never waste your time trying to explain yourself to people who are committed to misunderstanding you." - Anonymous

"Oh sure, every once in a while a turd floated by, but other than that it was just fine." - Joe A., 2011

I'll answer your other comments later, but my primary priority for the rest of the evening is to get drunk." - Klaus, 12/31/14
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kenny
HOLY CARP!!!
Ahhh Yes, Eurail Passes. :hearteyes:

I've been a vagabond with a backpack and a passport in Europe twice, two weeks each time.
Slept in cheap pensions.
Food?: a loaf of bread, cheese and fruit.
pocket dictionaries endear you to the locals.
5000 slides of Kodachorome
Playing guitar in the subways of Paris for change.
In the evening I'd go to the train station and just find the next sleeper car; that's when I'd found out where I would wake up the next morning.

Sweet.
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Dewey
Member Avatar
HOLY CARP!!!
Yes to all of that, except the guitar playing. And my slides were split between Kodachrome and Ektachrome (needed higher speed for all those dimly lit cathedrals)
"By nature, i prefer brevity." - John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion, p. 685.

"Never waste your time trying to explain yourself to people who are committed to misunderstanding you." - Anonymous

"Oh sure, every once in a while a turd floated by, but other than that it was just fine." - Joe A., 2011

I'll answer your other comments later, but my primary priority for the rest of the evening is to get drunk." - Klaus, 12/31/14
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kenny
HOLY CARP!!!
I hated Ektachrome.
Too grainy, and pukey color.

But do I have a few rolls, what was it 400 ASA?

Dwain, perhaps we met.
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Dewey
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HOLY CARP!!!
It skewed too blue. I haven't shot a roll of it (or any actual film) in years. Now I can't even look at my slides; my projector broke & I never replaced it. Didn't seem to "fit the modern spirit," as Linus might say.
"By nature, i prefer brevity." - John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion, p. 685.

"Never waste your time trying to explain yourself to people who are committed to misunderstanding you." - Anonymous

"Oh sure, every once in a while a turd floated by, but other than that it was just fine." - Joe A., 2011

I'll answer your other comments later, but my primary priority for the rest of the evening is to get drunk." - Klaus, 12/31/14
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Dewey
Member Avatar
HOLY CARP!!!
You just never know, kenny, maybe we did. My wandering was in April of '84. Man, it hurts to think that was more than twenty years ago.

"By nature, i prefer brevity." - John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion, p. 685.

"Never waste your time trying to explain yourself to people who are committed to misunderstanding you." - Anonymous

"Oh sure, every once in a while a turd floated by, but other than that it was just fine." - Joe A., 2011

I'll answer your other comments later, but my primary priority for the rest of the evening is to get drunk." - Klaus, 12/31/14
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kenny
HOLY CARP!!!
Nope.
I got out of the U.S. Navy in 82.

:(

I haven't see any point in going back since; the experience was so authentic.

Staying at the hotels to which I have become accustomed seems so insulated form the local experience.
Why bother?
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kenny
HOLY CARP!!!
Dwain
Apr 2 2006, 07:57 PM
It skewed too blue. I haven't shot a roll of it (or any actual film) in years. Now I can't even look at my slides; my projector broke & I never replaced it. Didn't seem to "fit the modern spirit," as Linus might say.

The last film I shot was when I visited BeeLady and Bernard.
I came home to hundreds of dollars in processing bills. :mad2:

That was it.
Now I'm all digital.

Wanna buy a Nikon F3 body?

Sorry 89, us two old farts are hijacking.
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The 89th Key
Member Avatar

My relatively short week in Rome almost a year ago today reminds me of your story Dwain.

Of course, not nearly at the same extent. Although I did fly over there by myself, and wandered the streets of Rome for 2 hours in 80 degree weather with a backpack and large suitcase behind me. I finally made it to the small hotel, somehow got in the room, and took a nap to the sound of an open window overlooking a real rome courtyard and the hint of rome traffic on the other side of the walls. I woke up to my two friends who were studying in Florence, since we were meeting there.

A week was sooo short, maybe I'll go back one of these days. Perhaps when I get my next job (not planning on it, but when I do change employers) I'll take a month off in between and do the Eurorail things.

How do I know about the euro-rail? Let's just say we met some British chicks. :cool:

PS. I spent a half-day on the Island of Capri, and I wish I could go live there now. Maybe I will...
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DivaDeb
HOLY CARP!!!
apple
Apr 2 2006, 05:59 PM
just come to kc

Well exactly...


we'll feed you sooooooooooo well....and besides, you could drop in on your bro

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CrashTest
Pisa-Carp
In the Navy! DUM DUM DE DE DUM DA DA DE DUM IN THE NAVY!
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