Way late, but here are some photos from my part
Delicious grits, the rock and roll hall of fame, and older parts of Cleveland.
rkabir coast 2 coast
recap, day 5: Friday
(apparently I wrote up day 4 twice. Just realized this right now. They're different aspects of the same day, so I'll keep them up) This felt like the true beginning of the roadtrip for some reason. Partly because I was actually heading eastward, and partly because all day was basically spent on open road. We had decided to skip Mount Rushmore, and focus on Glacier National north in Montana. Some of the pictures already posted are from that park. My copilot took "real" pictures using his SLR, and those will be posted later. But most of the day was spent blasting by green fields, blue skies and endless cloud. Apparently Montana didn't used to have speed limits. They do now, but that bit of history suggests why they weren't ever enforced. There were times where we chased the clouds across the sky, trying to leave rainclouds behind us. The other thing in Montana was that the internet was just not present, with few exceptions, resulting in the following musings: http://broadcastutopia.com/?p=113 and http://broadcastutopia.com/?p=116 It was a weird thing, and very different from when I've gone on vacations to places without internet. I've been so used to having mobile internet while traveling for so long now that the stretches of road without connectivity induced a small amount of fear. Informational withdrawal. At some point I had realized that we may be in tornado country, so we wanted to dig up all the info we could get in case we saw one. (we didn't.) Glacier national itself was beautiful. We pulled in late in the day, just before sunset, so the colors were brilliant. Wound our way up and down the mountain making stops to see the glaciers. Almost ran into some wild animals too. Not sure what they were, but they were nearly on the road. Lots of animals roaming around the state. First time it felt like we were in open country that hadn't been subdivided and cordoned off. Beautiful.
Recap: Thursday, August 12
It felt like recording my memories of this trip for posterity's sake was a useful exercise, if for nothing else than to see how different people have different memories of the same shared experience. And thus begins my recollections of the trip.
Most of the epic road trips in travel literature are journeys. Ours was more of a jaunt. The mission- a cannon ball run through Middle America, starting in Seattle with the goal of reaching Chicago by Sunday night. This was no journalistic endeavor. There was no higher truth we were seeking, no soul searching planned, no drug fueled three month long excursion. This was more practical- Ryan needed to move home, and I was going to give him company. And that was that- be the Paradise to Ryan's Moriarty.
One might think this was an impromptu trip- it was not. This was a planned trip. The plans were half-baked but they were plans nonetheless. As of Thursday, there was only one item on the agenda- we must drive before nightfall, and get to Spokane. As epic as the road trip have ended up being, it commenced at a place that was decisively not. The Public Storage storage lockers in Bellevue are the last place you'd expect to start a road trip. It is very non-descript and you'd miss it if you didn't notice the sign- we nearly did. You drive up to it, and enter the passcode on the numeric keypad to be granted access to enter. Once inside, you're left with a sense of foreboding- the interiors can be most aptly described as prison-like, except with very few people, an Alcatraz without the tourists I suppose. Not the happiest place on the planet to start a road trip. But items must be triaged, and the storage locker contents reassessed, and so we spent an hour or so selecting items to accompany us on our trip, or condemning them to storage. Goodbye, Windows PC.
Next stop- Fry's. Because, you know, Ryan and I need our gadget fix- there was going to be no way we were going to get through this trip without using our laptops in the car, and there was going to be no way we could pull that off without a cigarette lighter inverter. Except Fry's closes at 9 and we were still in Bellevue at 8:15. Our cannon ball run was to have a cannon ball run within it, or so we thought, as we rushed to Fry's, only to get there with plenty of time to spare. This is where I stock up on not just our prized inverter, but also on candy to get us through the trip. We were set- except, we still needed food since I hadn't had dinner and it was past 9. So we took our first exit off the I-90, the highway that was going to take us through all of Washington. We made our first stop- in Issaquah. At a Red Robin. Which, for us, was surprisingly hard to get to, since we missed the first exit and had trouble re-routing us on the second. But we made it, and they had food so now content and no longer hungry, we were on our way. We were leaving King County at 1030. 4 hours behind schedule already- only because we pretended to have a schedule.
The drive through Washington state was for the most part unremarkable. This was mostly because we were driving through at night. But it's partly due to the nature of the highway system itself. The interstates are an engineering marvel, and make what were once arduous journeys much easier. But they're constructed for the most parts through unremarkable scenery, at least in Washington state. The 90 through Washington is no California 101. In fact, while even the I-5 has dramatic passages through Southern Oregon, the I-90 is a decisively no-frills highway.
The absolute lack of lights did give us one benefit- it was a moonless night and you could look up at the sky and see the stars in all their glory, the milky way painted as a bold brush stroke across the black canvas. I had never seen that many stars in the sky in my entire life, and just that moment alone made the whole trip worthwhile for me. It's one of those moments when you stop and think about what you know, what you think you know and how it all pales in size compared to the size of the universe. You're rarely confronted with that fact- staring at the night sky when it's that lit up is an exception.
We drove into Spokane around 2 am. We really had no plan. At least, nothing more than, we must stay the night in a hotel. As we passed through exit 276 we noticed signs for hotels so we pulled into a little complex of hotels which included a Best Western and an Airway Express inn. And stunningly enough, we were informed that we couldn't just waltz into a hotel at 2 in the morning in Spokane and expect to find a room- apparently, people actually visit this city in August. The lady was kind enough to direct us to the Hilton Garden Inn on Sunset Highway. This was slightly nicer than I expected, and although the lady seemed suspicious of two cranky, bedraggled brown people showing up to her hotel at 3 in the morning, she did give us a room on the third floor. Tired, we dragged ourselves up to our room, looking forward to a good nights sleep and a long drive ahead. But the Hilton lady wasn't going to let us go to bed that easily- she had given us a key that apparently didn't work. Ryan's first reaction to me informing him of the key not working seemed to be of disgust at my incompetence at unlocking a door, but that soon changed to annoyance as he realized that he couldn't open the door either, so off he went, marching back to the front desk while I guarded our bags outside the front door of our room we couldn't enter. Ryan returned with the on-duty maintenance guy who seemed to also have difficulty believing that we were telling the truth when we said the keys didn't work, because he too proceeded to try and swipe the key a couple of times. But this time, we heard a noise from inside the room- clearly, the room was already occupied. The maintenance guy was quite apologetic, and went off to find us a new room, returning with keys to a room at the exact opposite side of the building. Still, getting into a hotel room was quite the success at this stage, and we were too exhausted to really do anything about our general discontent with what had transpired so far. The bed was inviting, and night one was soon in the books. Spokane had not redeemed itself in my eyes- I had no inclination to spend too many waking hours there.
Most of the epic road trips in travel literature are journeys. Ours was more of a jaunt. The mission- a cannon ball run through Middle America, starting in Seattle with the goal of reaching Chicago by Sunday night. This was no journalistic endeavor. There was no higher truth we were seeking, no soul searching planned, no drug fueled three month long excursion. This was more practical- Ryan needed to move home, and I was going to give him company. And that was that- be the Paradise to Ryan's Moriarty.
One might think this was an impromptu trip- it was not. This was a planned trip. The plans were half-baked but they were plans nonetheless. As of Thursday, there was only one item on the agenda- we must drive before nightfall, and get to Spokane. As epic as the road trip have ended up being, it commenced at a place that was decisively not. The Public Storage storage lockers in Bellevue are the last place you'd expect to start a road trip. It is very non-descript and you'd miss it if you didn't notice the sign- we nearly did. You drive up to it, and enter the passcode on the numeric keypad to be granted access to enter. Once inside, you're left with a sense of foreboding- the interiors can be most aptly described as prison-like, except with very few people, an Alcatraz without the tourists I suppose. Not the happiest place on the planet to start a road trip. But items must be triaged, and the storage locker contents reassessed, and so we spent an hour or so selecting items to accompany us on our trip, or condemning them to storage. Goodbye, Windows PC.
Next stop- Fry's. Because, you know, Ryan and I need our gadget fix- there was going to be no way we were going to get through this trip without using our laptops in the car, and there was going to be no way we could pull that off without a cigarette lighter inverter. Except Fry's closes at 9 and we were still in Bellevue at 8:15. Our cannon ball run was to have a cannon ball run within it, or so we thought, as we rushed to Fry's, only to get there with plenty of time to spare. This is where I stock up on not just our prized inverter, but also on candy to get us through the trip. We were set- except, we still needed food since I hadn't had dinner and it was past 9. So we took our first exit off the I-90, the highway that was going to take us through all of Washington. We made our first stop- in Issaquah. At a Red Robin. Which, for us, was surprisingly hard to get to, since we missed the first exit and had trouble re-routing us on the second. But we made it, and they had food so now content and no longer hungry, we were on our way. We were leaving King County at 1030. 4 hours behind schedule already- only because we pretended to have a schedule.
The drive through Washington state was for the most part unremarkable. This was mostly because we were driving through at night. But it's partly due to the nature of the highway system itself. The interstates are an engineering marvel, and make what were once arduous journeys much easier. But they're constructed for the most parts through unremarkable scenery, at least in Washington state. The 90 through Washington is no California 101. In fact, while even the I-5 has dramatic passages through Southern Oregon, the I-90 is a decisively no-frills highway.
The absolute lack of lights did give us one benefit- it was a moonless night and you could look up at the sky and see the stars in all their glory, the milky way painted as a bold brush stroke across the black canvas. I had never seen that many stars in the sky in my entire life, and just that moment alone made the whole trip worthwhile for me. It's one of those moments when you stop and think about what you know, what you think you know and how it all pales in size compared to the size of the universe. You're rarely confronted with that fact- staring at the night sky when it's that lit up is an exception.
We drove into Spokane around 2 am. We really had no plan. At least, nothing more than, we must stay the night in a hotel. As we passed through exit 276 we noticed signs for hotels so we pulled into a little complex of hotels which included a Best Western and an Airway Express inn. And stunningly enough, we were informed that we couldn't just waltz into a hotel at 2 in the morning in Spokane and expect to find a room- apparently, people actually visit this city in August. The lady was kind enough to direct us to the Hilton Garden Inn on Sunset Highway. This was slightly nicer than I expected, and although the lady seemed suspicious of two cranky, bedraggled brown people showing up to her hotel at 3 in the morning, she did give us a room on the third floor. Tired, we dragged ourselves up to our room, looking forward to a good nights sleep and a long drive ahead. But the Hilton lady wasn't going to let us go to bed that easily- she had given us a key that apparently didn't work. Ryan's first reaction to me informing him of the key not working seemed to be of disgust at my incompetence at unlocking a door, but that soon changed to annoyance as he realized that he couldn't open the door either, so off he went, marching back to the front desk while I guarded our bags outside the front door of our room we couldn't enter. Ryan returned with the on-duty maintenance guy who seemed to also have difficulty believing that we were telling the truth when we said the keys didn't work, because he too proceeded to try and swipe the key a couple of times. But this time, we heard a noise from inside the room- clearly, the room was already occupied. The maintenance guy was quite apologetic, and went off to find us a new room, returning with keys to a room at the exact opposite side of the building. Still, getting into a hotel room was quite the success at this stage, and we were too exhausted to really do anything about our general discontent with what had transpired so far. The bed was inviting, and night one was soon in the books. Spokane had not redeemed itself in my eyes- I had no inclination to spend too many waking hours there.
recap, day 4
This was perhaps the most intense day. Woke up to say goodbye to the first copilot. Mad dash to the airport which worked out fine - but the airport is always this twilight zone of uncertainty for me. Traffic to the airport, boarding pass shenanigans, and then of course the security line. Three years in Seattle, you'd think I'd have a handle on it, but the interplay between dynamics in a city are still so complex that you cannot really be sure of anything. Soft goodbyes followed by a mad dash around the city. Former boss, coworker, and saturday house cohorts back to back for business meetings and general catching up. Dashing around Seattle traffic, I was reminded of a bit from the Repo Man trailer - "driving just makes you dumb". Lots of traffic within a city even during the middle of the day. I've been fortunate to encounter all wakes of people throughout my life, and especially fortunate that they've typically been Good people. Good individuals, good community members, and definitely good karmic forces in the world. The most basic skill I was taught growing up was to never be bored. And so with people, I'm rarely bored -- and so I draw inspiration from everyone. Topped off the social day with wanderings around the former employer, talking to former coworkers. We used to hang out every afternoon - the tradition was affectionately known as "afternoon meeting". We'd sit in a dark office behind a closed door and discuss corporate policy. We were all mostly peons mind you, but the armchair generals we were, we tried to figure out what we'd do. Of course much of it was useless. In some ways like political discourse or op-ed when you're unsuccessful. If you have ideas but you never share them with the right people, does it really matter? No. Sushi dinner at an old hang out, ruminating on the nature of friendship. The best friends are Good. And they make you Better. The worst friends (who must be discarded) don't make you better, and go further to make you worse. They are in no uncertain terms a kind of cancerous poison. It doesn't have to be this way, but the world is so large and open and diverse that it's impossible to go through life without encountering these people. We sat over dinner, perhaps reflecting not enough and complaining too much. Perhaps, but I don't think so.
The truth? Sometimes friendship causes you to be blind to the truth. That you may be different from how you perceive yourself. And that your friend may be different from how you perceive them. And thus? Not your friend at all. A difficult conversation at times, but a necessary part of life-growth. (This was coincidentally repeated today in DC, but more when I catch up to real-time). The final pre-launch prep was to tend to the storage locker to rearrange some of my worldly possessions. I've been inspired by the internet people who've reduced their possessions to 100 or less. I myself have done away with the need for comforts like a bed or most furniture in the interests of keeping my assets mobile. But I still have a full 5x5 storage locker in suburbia up in Seattle with most of my worldly things. Books. Magazines. Backissues of Wired. Kitchen things. A rowing machine. Computer equipment. It took a while to sort through it to find what was missing. I never really moved out of it when I went down to the bay area, and in some ways that part of my life is in stasis until I'm ready (if I'm ever) to settle down and have a place that's more than just a standby temporary stop-gap. Moving is a real pain, and the simplicity that a minimal lifestyle affords is totally worth it. When you're ready. Knowing that I haven't touched any of this stuff in the past year would make you think that I was ready to rubbish it all, but for lack of time, I hesitated. Things were packed up in a rush, and so there was a deferral of a certain level of time commitment complicit with that. One that I've yet to go back on and contribute. All of the above resulted in a very late departure from Seattle, by way of Fry's for an inverter (where I paid good attention to the car in the parking lot with its rear window smashed, presumably in search of some expensive things that someone had absconded with). Then we promptly stopped just outside of Seattle in Issaquah for some Red Robin foodstuffs. Driving until 2:30 into the night, beat tired, we checked into a Hilton with abhorrent service. I was given a keycard to a room that clearly didn't work. And it didn't work because the deadbolt was set. And we learned this when the maintenance person they sent up with us - by this time it was 3 AM - used a master keycard to discover that the room was in fact chained from the inside as well. Yes. A Hilton desk staffer had given me keycards to an already occupied room. By the time we were in our proper rooms, it was 3:30 AM. But I can't complain, that was perhaps objectively the worst part of the trip, since the rest went swimmingly. Brief nap (which is why my second copilot was asleep in his chair, as seen below...) and then onward to day 5 through the bulk of Montana...
The truth? Sometimes friendship causes you to be blind to the truth. That you may be different from how you perceive yourself. And that your friend may be different from how you perceive them. And thus? Not your friend at all. A difficult conversation at times, but a necessary part of life-growth. (This was coincidentally repeated today in DC, but more when I catch up to real-time). The final pre-launch prep was to tend to the storage locker to rearrange some of my worldly possessions. I've been inspired by the internet people who've reduced their possessions to 100 or less. I myself have done away with the need for comforts like a bed or most furniture in the interests of keeping my assets mobile. But I still have a full 5x5 storage locker in suburbia up in Seattle with most of my worldly things. Books. Magazines. Backissues of Wired. Kitchen things. A rowing machine. Computer equipment. It took a while to sort through it to find what was missing. I never really moved out of it when I went down to the bay area, and in some ways that part of my life is in stasis until I'm ready (if I'm ever) to settle down and have a place that's more than just a standby temporary stop-gap. Moving is a real pain, and the simplicity that a minimal lifestyle affords is totally worth it. When you're ready. Knowing that I haven't touched any of this stuff in the past year would make you think that I was ready to rubbish it all, but for lack of time, I hesitated. Things were packed up in a rush, and so there was a deferral of a certain level of time commitment complicit with that. One that I've yet to go back on and contribute. All of the above resulted in a very late departure from Seattle, by way of Fry's for an inverter (where I paid good attention to the car in the parking lot with its rear window smashed, presumably in search of some expensive things that someone had absconded with). Then we promptly stopped just outside of Seattle in Issaquah for some Red Robin foodstuffs. Driving until 2:30 into the night, beat tired, we checked into a Hilton with abhorrent service. I was given a keycard to a room that clearly didn't work. And it didn't work because the deadbolt was set. And we learned this when the maintenance person they sent up with us - by this time it was 3 AM - used a master keycard to discover that the room was in fact chained from the inside as well. Yes. A Hilton desk staffer had given me keycards to an already occupied room. By the time we were in our proper rooms, it was 3:30 AM. But I can't complain, that was perhaps objectively the worst part of the trip, since the rest went swimmingly. Brief nap (which is why my second copilot was asleep in his chair, as seen below...) and then onward to day 5 through the bulk of Montana...
(intermission)
I wasn't able to keep this updated real-time as it happened, so a lot of the recapping is happening post-fact. So my current status? I'm in Boston. Taking off for DC in less than 10 hours for the weekend... working hard and preparing for the future. I'll continue posting things to the posterous to keep as a kind of log of the trip. The linearity and recollection of memories is something I've been playing with anyway.
Sleepy copilot
recap, day 3
Trying something out - the summary of the day: http://tripline.net/trip/Seattle%2C_Day_2-65230455023110039172C53BC7FE08E2?n=11 (let me know if it doesn't work) Spent the day running around the city. Breakfast revealed that blue cheese + smoked salmon (in crepe form) is delicious. The Seattle Public Library was a fixture of my time in the northwest. For the first many months, almost every single Sunday I looked forward to the brief drive into the city, parking under the library. Sometimes I'd go to Pike Place for some Beechers and donuts. Mostly I'd sit inside the SPL, thinking, writing, and maybe reading back-issues of Wired.
I know nothing about architecture. But the SPL is majestic. If you haven't been, you must. It's the number 1 place in the city that I used to show people.
In a weird way, it's the library designed for the internet. And it feels oddly disconnected from the city blocks around it, while imposing a vision of the future on the nearby streets. It seems only fitting that the beginning of the new journey takes me there. The other Seattle staples were good. Sushiland, every Tuesday during the Microsoft era fostered my love of sushi. But the real high point was seeing my friends in their various places and states. Seattle was definitely a place of coffee-shop mode. Sit. Chat. Be. Converse. That part I do miss, and hope to carry with me onward. Day 3 was all about hellos, goodbyes, and paying my respects to the only city I look back on with love/hate in near equal quantities. It was a good day.
I know nothing about architecture. But the SPL is majestic. If you haven't been, you must. It's the number 1 place in the city that I used to show people.
In a weird way, it's the library designed for the internet. And it feels oddly disconnected from the city blocks around it, while imposing a vision of the future on the nearby streets. It seems only fitting that the beginning of the new journey takes me there. The other Seattle staples were good. Sushiland, every Tuesday during the Microsoft era fostered my love of sushi. But the real high point was seeing my friends in their various places and states. Seattle was definitely a place of coffee-shop mode. Sit. Chat. Be. Converse. That part I do miss, and hope to carry with me onward. Day 3 was all about hellos, goodbyes, and paying my respects to the only city I look back on with love/hate in near equal quantities. It was a good day.
6 am at o'hare to handoff the copilot
Minneapolis skyline
Endless clouds in a Montana sky
