Road Trip!

stever · May 2013

It has been a chilly Spring but that would be a nice route. Chimayo does get the weather though. The firewood piles we saw a few summer back remind me of the piles that accumulate around here.

Cimarron Canyon would be new country for us - we turned south to do the Angel Fire loop (and hit a little snow in June on that stretch!). Looks nice. And the long range weather forecast is looking pretty good for you.

iluvmysephia1 · May 2013

if you come back through Albuquerque and head south on I-25 look us up here in Alamogordo. I'll treat you to some Daylight Donuts and some Seattle's Best coffee. Yeah, my wife and I recently visited Albuquerque and the people were very nice. The city is easy to learn from the internet and in practice, the routes map out accurately. We were feeding a parking meter and one young man saw our troubles trying to pay in the parking lot that had a broken meter box. He offered to pay for our parking meter on the street!

We did go north to Santa Fe the next morning. What an interesting place that is! It might be a bit spendy to retire in but even here in Alamogordo wouldn't be so bad a place to settle in. Ruidoso is a nice mountain town here that the Texans love to visit and buy vacation homes at. The Ruidoso Wal*Mart had a bomb scare and evacuation the other day. Probably a teenage prankster but who knows, I found that one to be very strange.

steve, edmunds.com doesn't have private messaging or does it? Can't rememba.

stever · May 2013

No PM, but it's on the wish list. Did you take the survey? One of these years.

Try El Meze in Taos for dinner some time. It'll blow your budget but it's worth it. They had cardamom donuts for desert the night we were there and they were memorable. :shades:

gagrice · May 2013

We stayed over night in Alamogordo Marriott.. Had good Chili relleno at Margo's. Cheapest gas was USA $3.25. Nice town, not too congested. We were headed home so not much time looking up old friends. On my list as good route driving cross country. Like US 60/70 a lot.

iluvmysephia1 · May 2013

I understand. In fact, that was just what I was thinking just before I found this message. Yeah, my wife and I were up at Ruidoso and Fort Stanton today and it was good sunny weather and hot. Alamogordo has a lot of houses for sale or rent, too. Glad you liked your stay here!

stever · May 2013

Didn't take long to get into AC conditions, and the lakeside campground near Ann Arbor had some active skeeters last night. Lots of flowering trees. Cruising through Ohio on the Interstate today heading for some W VA and VA backroads in a few hours.

stever · May 2013

Highway 50 in West Virginia was even fun in my minivan. Tons of curves.

Then there are the 9% grades you have to groan up mile after mile and when you think you're home free you have to downshift and ride the brake through a bunch of curves marked 35 and 20 mph to wind up at the bottom of another hollow.

hpmctorque · May 2013

Hey, Steve, if you're going to be in or near the DC area, I'd love to meet you and buy you and your spouse or traveling companion(s) coffee, a beer (or two), or lunch. Please let me know.

stever · May 2013

Thanks so much! That would be fun - I'm still bummed that a planned visit with another '99 Quest owner in Chicago didn't pan out. He had a last minute problem come up when we were down there last month and had to cancel our coffee rendezvous. It's fun meeting you guys in the flesh.

We went into the city last year and hit the cherry blossoms just right. My sister is out toward Winchester and we've been hanging with her a couple of days (great sushi and bento box at Mr. Noodles & Rice :-)).

We are heading to NYC tomorrow; we've rented a cabin at Croton-on-Hudson and will be hanging out a week there with my brother and his wife.

I get back this way once or twice a year so maybe next time.

explorerx4 · May 2013

NYC could have more traffic than normal due the CT train accident which has knocked some of the service, i.e. more car commuters.
There is a great walk across bridge in Poughkeepsie that's on my list.

stever · May 2013

Yeah, we're hoping that they'll have most of that cleaned up soon. I remember how fast they got most of the lines running after Sandy, except for the track down at the, er, Battery area iirc.

I told my brother if the trains get messed up, we could drive one of our vans in and just pay the $12 an hour to park - or more.

gagrice · May 2013

$12 per hour to park. :sick:

Another advantage to avoiding big cities. Most I have spent on parking over the last 20 years or more would be a quarter in a parking meter. I don't allow any valet to touch my vehicles either. I suppose if it was an old beater I would. High priced parking/valet parking means too many people in a small place.

stever · May 2013

Nah, you just avoid driving. When there's so many alternatives, it's easy. Bus, train, cab, foot, whatever. Unfortunately the rent-a-bike program in NYC won't start until the week after we're there. Be fun to cycle around Central Park.

gagrice · May 2013

Be fun to cycle around Central Park.

I can HONESTLY say, visiting NYC has never entered my thinking. I took the job in Alaska back in 1970 because the town I lived in near San Diego put in a mobile home park. I live far enough out on my own acre that I can breathe. I know and get along with all my neighbors on our street. How many people living in an apartment can say that? We are now experiencing in the US the problem with moving from an agrarian society. Detroit is a good example of how bad it will get everywhere. Don't get mugged.

stever · May 2013

If you've never been there, you really can't talk eh? :shades:

fintail · May 2013

I visited NYC 2 years ago - it was pretty fun. Don't think I would want to live there unless I was wealthy and had a reason to be there, but it's something to see.

I live in an apartment and get along with everyone, and know a few people. I doubt Detroit will happen everywhere, although it will in some places, as different places in the US continue to evolve in different directions. In my neighborhood, rents and mortgages are so high that only gainfully employed or trust fund trash are going to be able to live here, so people are generally well behaved.

imidazol97 · May 2013

Will we see you in the crowd on the Today show wearing an Edmunds shirt?

gagrice · May 2013

I have many friends that have made the mistake of visiting NYC. Cramped dirty rooms for $250 per night. $20 for a decent sandwich. Fighting a mob to go up in the Empire state building is hardly my idea of a nice vacation. I can get a decent room overlooking the ocean in Hawaii for a 100 bucks a night. If I could just get my wife back onto an airplane. I really enjoyed our cross country vacation. Bypassed all the big cities. Except for the stop and go through Las Cruces NM. Even El Paso was not a big deal getting gas at Costco right on the Interstate. I will never do Interstate 20 again. That is brutal. And our trying to bypass Dallas was less than pleasant. There are more pleasant ways to get across the USA than the Interstates and big cities. Every little town has a museum that does not take a week to see. And you learn a lot about what used to be good about America.

gagrice · May 2013

In my neighborhood, rents and mortgages are so high that only gainfully employed or trust fund trash are going to be able to live here, so people are generally well behaved.

That is nice for you. It is also the minority of apartment neighborhoods in the USA. All the ones I pass and they are being built by the 100s as we speak are slums in the making. Section 8 dumping grounds. Apartments built less than 2 years ago already looking like the projects. Thanks to the Stimulus San Diego is a dumping ground for the indigents both legal and illegal. The only light I see at the end of the tunnel is the current housing bubble. Housing in my neighborhood is going up at 10% per year. Should be back to what I paid in one more year. Then we decide whether to get out and find a better state to live in.

fintail · May 2013

I think most cities that aren't dying have wide areas where apartments are not the ghetto. More younger people are remaining single for longer or forever and just don't want a house, cost of living in this dumbed down new order usually doesn't allow for a single income homeowner in such areas - at least without parental help, and cities where the jobs are often have limited land availability which keeps housing prices high.

No place is perfect...I am sure you could move now if you wanted. But then you couldn't complain about CA :P

gagrice · May 2013

No place is perfect...I am sure you could move now if you wanted. But then you couldn't complain about CA

Those are the facts. I have a couple places in Kentucky I could like. One is 10 acres with a 3 acre stocked pond and plenty of room to have a rifle range.
I could buy it with our current equity and have a lot left over. Then go to the Keys in the winter and rent a condo. My wife is just about fed up with CA to the point she will leave. When you add up all the taxes living in CA it gets close to 50%. So I know what Jon Stewart was ranting about. Our favorite spot in the USA is still Hilo Hawaii. And that may be where we end up. Again not perfect, but less taxes and better weather. Better growing conditions.

stever · May 2013

Oh, don't say that (my sister-in-law dropped a hint - the line probably forms at 4 am). I'm in an audience shot on the Letterman show back in '99 (?) when we got to see ZZ Top. :-)

My sister lives about 20 miles from Willard Scott and has seen him several times, so I'd go run around there if I was a celebrity hound.

imidazol97 · May 2013

>Oh, don't say that

I think you're safe. I scanned NBC Today this morning and they were showing the audience in the dark--in Hilo, Hawaii. Unless what I saw was a rerun, they're out-of-town.

Of course, this is gagrice's chance for Hawaii and stardom all in one.

stever · May 2013

Whew.

Good tapas place in Croton; Sala de something. Highlight was scallops in a white wine garlic pistachio sauce.

Got our train tickets last night so we should at least get as far as Grand Central in a couple of hours. Lots of security at bridge crossings but it looks like all the trains we need are running fine.

gagrice · May 2013

We are so thankful to have gone through the region of current devastation with great weather. Shows how it can change in a heartbeat. So sad all those children thought to be safe in their school.

stever · May 2013

Bad news for sure.

We're dogged tired - 12 hour day in the city. Really fun showing the newbies the ropes and finally made it to Staten Island. Lunch was pizza and mussels at Eataly in Chelsea. Lots of good food for $37 for two.

I was way off on the parking - the lots near the theater district were like $18 an hour or $32 all day. Out train ride along the Hudson was nice. We got great info and directions from a dozen strangers and didn't get mugged once, nor run down by speeding bike messengers. My brother and his wife really loved it.

Rest day at the cabin tomorrow.

gagrice · May 2013

The cabin sounds great. You keep the cities. In case you haven't heard the big cities in the USA are more dangerous than the war zones in Iraq and Afghanistan. Thankfully you made it out alive. :shades:

iluvmysephia1 · May 2013

although my wife and I enjoyed our visit to Albuquerque we were warned by one of my co-workers that New Mexico's largest city still has its crime quotient. I'm sure it does and I'm sure we'd probably not relocate there. But having grown up around Seattle the lure of a big city is hard to ignore, especially for rock shows and ballgames. Though Albuquerque's most major-league team are the Albuquerque Isotopes, who play at Isotope Park. Anyone know what an isotope is? Sheesh!

gagrice · May 2013

If you like sunshine and not extremely hot weather Albuquerque is hard to beat. I have a sister and a pot load of nieces and nephews there. My folks lived there a lot, so I visited a quite a bit. not bad as big cities go. If you are a ways out of town

stever · May 2013

Will be home later today. The Bruce Peninsula was a bit of a bust - too much fog to see anything on the two hour ferry ride, and too wet to see much on the drive or short hike we did. Sitting at a muni campsite just east of the Soo Locks right now watching the "boats" go by. They don't call them "ships" on the Great Lakes. Having marinetraffic.com on the laptop helps you learn when they should pass by our tent, and you can get flag info and tonnage, destination, etc. there.

gagrice · May 2013

What service do you use for internet on the road? Or does the campground have WiFi? I cancelled my JetPack Verizon service. I will just get a prepaid Verizon service when we are on the road. Knowing what I know now I could have done the same thing for about $100 less than it cost to cancel the 24 month contract. Have a safe drive home.

stever · May 2013

My wife got a refurb iPad 3 a few weeks ago with wifi and cell built-in (the Verizon cell I guess).

We got the $30 plan for one month and that would have worked fine but some apps got downloaded by mistake so we wound up buying another $20 worth of data. Will be hard pressed to use that up before the 30 days runs out.

The campsite last night had wifi - most do unless you're in the boonies or at a public one, but even most of those have it, although you may have to drag your lawn chair close to the office to get online.

My brother had the Jetpack last year and it was pretty flaky and expensive. He was able to cancel (or maybe just let it run out).

The main issue is that the Verizon iPad hotspot plan doesn't work in Canada.

Getting real close to home now - I'm catching up a bit while my wife blows $100 on plants at a nursery we don't get to very often.

Naturally after wearing my sweater this morning at the Soo Locks where it was only 60 at 9 am, it's almost 90 now and I'm sure the yard needs cutting bad.

imidazol97 · May 2013

>I'm catching up a bit while my wife blows $100 on plants at a nursery

Sounds like my wife. Can spend lots of money on plants each year. Of course our home and yard look really nice, but... .

stever · May 2013

Maybe I shouldn't mention the $70 spent on wool a couple of days ago. :shades:

Have to say, I enjoy that stuff too, but I'm all shopped out.

imidazol97 · May 2013

We got out of Michigan on Wednesday afternoon, after the tornadoes, to make room for Steve to return.

We'll leave the $3.99 gas prices behind. Had a nice stay in Michigan. I Always am confused by the flashing red, flashing yellow left turn signals, which vary at different intersections.

explorerx4 · May 2013

Years ago, we took a boat tour of the locks. It was pretty interesting.
My nephew went to LSSU for a year. Unfortunately, he only went to class the first semester.

imidazol97 · May 2013

We did the locks too, after riding the railroad that leaves from Sault Ste. Marie, Agawa Canyon. It was the weekend before 4th of July and it was freezing, really, in the low 30s that morning.

explorerx4 · May 2013

It was nice weather when we were there, but I do remember my nephew telling us stuff like people putting those tall orange flag posts on their cars so they could find them in the drifts and having to enter/exit the dorm through the 2nd floor due to the snow drifts.

Kirstie_H · June 2013

I do that too - probably $250 spent so far this season, but then again we just moved into this house and the previous owners had done nothing in the way of decorative planting. And also, it's MY money that I spend. The Mr. is in charge of the "basic maintenance," like mowing grass and killing weeds (and all associated expenses), and I'm in charge of "beautification." So, at least I know ahead of time that if I want to plant any pretties (plus the veggie and herb gardens), I need to set a budget & save for it.

Road Trip related: first time we drove to the biggest garden center around here, we took a wrong turn off the highway and had to re-route. We were still in city limits, but on a road I'd never taken before, and came across a house (well, more like an estate), with these critters roaming around: http://www.flickr.com/photos/one9us/sets/72157623277735324/

Everyone thought I was hallucinating, so I had to look up some proof!

stever · June 2013

Funny, I remember driving from N. Mississippi to Colorado a few times in the 70s and passing some big fields either in Missouri or Oklahoma that had an elephant or two grazing in them. I think some circus or carny stashed them there between their road trips.

imidazol97 · June 2013

>$250

I estimate my wife has spent 4-5 times that amount on annuals and periennials and ornaments for the yard. This is her hobby.

We visit Home Depots 35 miles south because they get things in sooner near Cincinnati because they're a week or so ahead of us temperature-wise in the spring.

stever · June 2013

The 10 Best Fourth of July Road Trips

For Canada Day on July 1, maybe try the few blocks of Dominion Road in Victoria or the Confederation Parkway in Mississauga. Don't bother cruising Quebec on that day for "political" reasons, plus there'll be too many moving vans blocking the roads since that's really Moving Day up there. Oh, the Great Lakes Seaway Trail would be fun and the tie-in there is that it was officially flooded on Canada Day in '58.

gagrice · June 2013

I approve of all but New Jersey and Daytona. Too crowded. I have visited most of those places. Driving around the Big Island and the Blue Ridge Parkway I could do over and over again. Big Heads way too touristy. The TX Hill country has real possibility if we sold out of CA. My brother in law used to rave about State rd 33. He went on runs in his Sunbeam Tiger and that was one of his favorites. Have to give it a try next trip to Northern California. I won't likely have a Porsche, but would enjoy it in a new VW Touareg TDI.

None of these would be on the 4th of July. We stay home and watch the fireworks from our patio. Have a few family & friends over for Ribs, dogs and burgers.

berri · June 2013

The Texas Hill Country is something I don't really get. It's nice, but never seemed knock out nice to me. My advice though, check it out in the middle of the summer before you move there! Good tax and housing rates. Now NJ, there's New York NJ and then the rest. Actually, driving I-80 into NJ from PA is rather scenic to me. Daytona - want to go there in the off season. Then it's pretty mellow with a a fair number of good local restaurants and shops, and decent ocean front hotel room prices. I personally recommend Aunt Catfish just over the Inter-coastal from A1A for some good, relatively inexpensive seafood eating. There's also a pretty good chocolate shop called something like Angell's I think downtown. It's kind of funny; you're from the west coast and like driving the Blue Ridge Pkwy. Now that is a nice drive, but for many people from elsewhere their preference is the dramatic mountains in the west.

gagrice · June 2013

I was in school in Johnson City TN for 3 months back in Spring of 1971. I drove different parts of the BR Pkwy and really enjoyed it. I remember the Rhododendrons in bloom. I liked Asheville to Gatlinburg which I hit on several weekends. Put 13k miles on my rental car. Shipped about half a container full of antique furniture back to Alaska.

I think I would more than likely move somewhere in KY or TN if we get out of CA with our shorts. Hilo Hawaii is still our first choice. If the TSA ever quits their idiocy. Time to call the Patriot act what it is, a dismal failure.

stever · June 2013

The last couple of times we've tried to hit the Blue Ridge we got fogged out. I'd like to see the hill country during the fall; like the area north of Houston on the Guadalupe (iirc) river, and Big Bend has some neat gravel roads.

gagrice · June 2013

We picked up 90 off of the I10 just out of El Paso. It takes you through Alpine, Del Rio and Uvalde onto San Antonio. I have never seen so many antelope. I did not realize TX had so many. Literally 1000s. Only about one car per hour. A few quaint little towns. The most relaxing part of our trip to the Hill Country of TX.

gagrice · July 2013

Steve, what is your take on this proposal for our National Parks? Yosemite being the test.

http://www.calwatchdog.com/2013/07/11/park-service-wants-to-ban-most-people-from- -yosemite/?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=facebook

Mr_Shiftright · July 2013

I know you didn't ask me, but having seen first hand what heavy tourism has done to the park, I'm totally in favor of giving it back to the bears.

stever · July 2013

The last time ('05) I went to Yosemite it was nice just parking and hoping on and off the bus. We drove to Upper Pines Campground and just parked the car at our tent side and didn't move it again. Try going to Yellowstone this time of year - you don't even need a bear or bison jam to stall you out. Too many vehicles. Limiting cars would work especially well in Yosemite since it's just a "dead-end" loop anyway. The big loop in Yellowstone would need some way for the traffic to get from the Tetons up and out or for the Idaho crowd to head for Montana.

Cades Cove in the Smokies may have car free days. It's a zoo with cars.

Don't recall any real issues in Kings Canyon or Rocky Mountain. Bryce, Arches and Zion could stand fewer cars, as could Rainier. The Olympics seem okay. Long time since I hit Crater Lake but seems like it's spread out enough. Glacier is all about the road.

Of course the best place that banned almost all cars is Denali. The buses fill up fast these days, but a bunch of private cars would really screw up the wildlife viewing there. As you know, most of the tourists go to see the mountain and wind up being wowed by the critters instead.

One of the best loop roads is Craters of the Moon. Easy bike ride, relatively short but long enough to get the feel for the lava. A hop-on, hop-off bus could work well there and a couple of electric buses could do the ~7 mile loop all day one a charge. :shades:

Road Trip!

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