an infrequent repository of mostly new stuff
Postcard from the Road:
Too tired to do much tonight. We’re crossing the country at a rate of a Time Zone per day.
Sixteen hours of driving, and close to 1000 miles. It began in the dark and snow and ended in the dark.
At least the snow part is over for now.
Postcard from the Road:
We covered 759 miles today, stopping just east of St. Louis. Wanted to save Missouri for tomorrow, since state lines will be fewer and farther between from now on. We saw 6 states today.
The driving has been good, so far. Traffic is light, weather good. A dusting of snow on the mountains in West Virginia, increasing steadily to piles here in Illinois. But all of is several days old, the highways clear. Only parking lots and side roads still packed with snow.
We lucked into a nice window – between the Polar Vortex (which froze and burst all the pipes in the hotel here on Monday, from which they’re just now recovering) and some light snow just south of here. We should get to Oregon just a day after big storm there of fierce wind and very heavy rain, up to 6 inches overnight. Hope our luck holds.
A selection of snaps from the day. Some is from the time lapse rig running on the dash, and some hand held.
Very pretty landscape, even in the hard light of winter.
Postcard from the Road:
Emily is sorting what must go and what must stay. Much will stay. The process could take all night.
While the packing and planning ensues, there’s not much to do but come up with ideas for my own next project. A cabin in the woods, designed and constructed by a boatbuider, hmmmm . . . :
“Boatbulder Constucts Home in Oregon Woods for $11,000”
Apparently, he started with a brass sink found at salvage, and imagined a whole house around it. The idea sort of took on a life of its own after that.
I can totally relate.
Cross Country Route #1 ~ the most direct
So, on Wednesday morning, Emily and I will pile into her aging over-stuffed Subaru wagon here in Scottsville, Virginia. We’ll point it west and begin driving. After at least four days, over 3000 miles, passing through 14 to 16 US states (depending on where we stop for lunch), we’ll arrive on the west coast. She’s moving to Hood River, Oregon, and I talked her into letting me come along for the ride.
Yes, I know, it’s the middle of winter. Currently, there’s a blizzard sweeping across the Midwest, with temperatures plunging lower than most of the country has seen in 20 years.
We may have to go around. Those figures quoted above? That’s if we take the most direct route, which we’ll call Provisional Route #1. We could end up taking a tour of the Southwest along the way. Hey, it’s 70 degrees in Arizona right now, while by morning it will be -12 degrees (Fahrenheit) in Nebraska. Hmmm, which one is better . . .
I’ll be posting photos from the road as we go.
There’s a GPS app I use called MotionX for the iPhone. It’s pretty great, and I’ve been using it for years for sailing, hiking, biking and driving. I like it so much I also got the HD version for the iPad. It includes about a dozen different map types, from satellite, to road, topos, and even NOAA charts. The nice thing is you can download the maps ahead of time (for free) so you don’t need cell signal to use it.
“Point A”
It also let’s me post my position to an online map via the phone, much like a SPOT tracking system does via satellite. You can follow our progress (or lack thereof) on the map below. Just enter channel number 23232 and hit the submit button. We’ll appear as a flag labelled EyeInHand:
I also plan to shoot a time lapse video of the entire trip, so, if all goes as planned, look for that in a couple of weeks.
And wish us luck.
One of two found in the yard.
“This way lies madness.”
Happy New Year everyone.
(Wait, is it already 2014 in New Zealand and Australia, or still 2013? Or already January 2, and you folks are past the hangover part and well into shamed regret?)