road thoughts

[swan_tower]

Eight states and four time zones later, we've reached California. Thoughts on the trip:

Good God, the U.S. is huge.

Going east to west is nice; you effectively get 25-hour days.

So glad I'm not driving back. Especially since I'd have to do it alone.

Just how big is this place?

Thank God for cruise control. I'm pretty certain I didn't touch the gas or the brake for three hours in western Kansas -- and that isn't hyperbole.

Watching the gas mileage change going up into Colorado is depressing. Watching it change coming down out of Colorado is glee-making.

Especially in a hybrid. Thank God for those, too.

How is all of this a single country?

Comments

[zellandyne.livejournal.com]

You're here! Awesome.

Let me know if you need any help unpacking or escaping from said unpacking. I'd love to see you.

[swan-tower.livejournal.com]

Not here in the sense you're thinking. I drove out with kniedzw because he starts work on Monday and the trip goes better with two people, but I fly back on Tuesday, and he only has a couple suitcases of stuff. I'll be following with all of our belongings in a few months.

[querldox.livejournal.com]

I'm around for the next week or so myself.

Surprised you didn't put together the old saw about 100 years being a long time in the US and 100 miles being a long way in Britain. That plus manifest destiny pretty much explains the whole single country bit. : -)

[swan-tower.livejournal.com]

Oh, I like that line, and I'm aware of manifest destiny. But the sheer bloody scale can only really be perceived by watching thousands of miles of landscape roll by.

(Well, to really perceive it, I suppose I'd need to make the trip in a covered wagon.)

[(Anonymous)]

Don't you remember the lessons learned in Texas 20 years ago?
"The sun is ris, the sun is set, here we is in Texas yet!"
Mom

[swan-tower.livejournal.com]

Yes, but I don't recall the last time (if ever) the sun ris and set four times and I still hadn't run out of country.

[kendokamel.livejournal.com]

Glad to hear you made it safely! (:

[swan-tower.livejournal.com]

Thanks!

[shalanar.livejournal.com]

Welcome to California :)

Glad you made it safely.

And Kansas? Yeah...I remember reading once about a study where they compared the topography of Kansas to the topography of a pancake, scaled up in size. Kansas really is flatter than a pancake.

[swan-tower.livejournal.com]

Not quite as flat as the Llano Estacado (Panhandle of Texas/eastern New Mexico), but yeah -- pretty flat. I imagine that if you scaled a pancake up to that size, it would have more topography.

[mmegaera.livejournal.com]

You can drive 14,000 miles to get clear around the country. I've done it (Seattle to Vermont to Florida to California, nine years ago). That said, it sounds like yours was a diagonal route. Straight across, it's 3000 miles, give or take. Doing the diagonal thing can add 1000 miles or more.

[swan-tower.livejournal.com]

We went about 2400 miles, from southern Indiana through Kansas, Denver, et al.

14,000 miles is crazy.

[mmegaera.livejournal.com]

14,000 miles was wonderful. Right up till the last few yards, when I rolled my car [sigh].

That was a trip I'd wanted to make for a very long time -- my inspirations were John Steinbeck (Travels with Charley) and William Least Heat Moon (Blue Highways). The trip took 2 1/2 months, and I went to many, many places that I'd always wanted to see for the first time, and many, many places I'd always wanted to revisit. I also got the inspiration for a book of my own on that trip. I wouldn't trade the experience for anything.

[daydreammuse.livejournal.com]

Oh, I am glad that things went normal in Kansas. You can never be too sure when a tornado might pick you up and then you will have to follow a yellow road and what not! Dorothy made the warning quite clear, while Twister added the need of vigilance once flying cows made teh scene.

PS: I can't imagine traveling so much! My country is smaller than the city of New York. Not much huh?

[swan-tower.livejournal.com]

Smaller than the state of New York, maybe. But surely not smaller than the city?

[daydreammuse.livejournal.com]

It's true. We are just barely 7 million and we take up a country the size of 111 000 square kilometers. I think personally that it's not as big as New York city, but well I can be mistaken, space is not my domain.

[swan-tower.livejournal.com]

The most generous estimate of NYC's size on wikipedia is 17,405 sq km. Trust me, you at least beat the city. :-)

[daydreammuse.livejournal.com]

Whew, now I can sleep at ease, knowing it's not as bad!

[cheshyre]

Non sequitur, but I stopped at the bookstore over the weekend and made my contribution to your royalty pool :)

Work has left me with little time and few braincells for reading, but I'm in Act II, and recognized the character with clipped ears before his name was revealed.

Just wanted to share; I'm enjoying the book.

[swan-tower.livejournal.com]

Woot! I love knowing I have period geeks reading it. (Though you'll probably catch all my mistakes . . . .)