Digital-Traffic.net

Bandelier Old Tree 1

Originally uploaded by spectre_240sx.

Things have been quite busy since my last update. I made it into Albuquerque on Friday the 13th at about 1:00 p.m. mountain time. That evening, I went with my family to the Balloon Fiesta to see a balloon blow, where a bunch of balloons are inflated and sit on the ground with the burners being run from time to time to light them up. It’s a great chance to see the balloons up close. Saturday morning we got up at 5:00 to head back down to the fiesta to see the mass ascension. Unfortunately the weather wasn’t the best, so a lot of balloons were forced to stay on the ground, but enough got up to make it a very interesting sight.

Sunday morning I left for Santa Fe, which was really great. I got to see the Loretto Chapel and its miraculous staircase. I Then I went around to different galleries, stores, etc. on the plaza. After that, I met up with Tom and Gale Albury and went to the top of Hyde Park, which is a park on a large mountain near Santa Fe.

The next day we set off about 9:00 a.m. for Bandelier National Monument. We spent about 3 hours there hiking through the trails and up to the caves. We even made it into the large ceremonial cave which is up 3 or 4 ladders about 150 feet in the air. It’s a breathtaking view from up there. I took a lot of photos, but most of them were taken on film, so it will be a little while before I get a chance to develop them and get them scanned for uploading.

Good and Evil

Originally uploaded by spectre_240sx.

Today was a good day. I got all the way to Amarillo Texas for a grand total of 530 miles or so. It was a bit long, but absolutely worth it. Albuquerque is 287 miles from here and I hope to make it there by mid afternoon tomorrow. Then my largest part of the trip will be over and it will be fun and sightseeing time again.

Amarillo is an interesting area. I don’t think I’d really want to spend too much time here. I’m not sure what it is about the place, but I just don’t feel all that safe. There’s a lot of litter on the ground and things are in a bit of a state of disrepair in many areas. I’ll definitely be happy to get back on the road and leave. On the good side, I do feel quite comfortable in my hotel room. I guess that’s what matters most since I’m really not going to leave it until I drive out again anyway.

About the picture, one thing I noticed is that the ground is so flat that the sky is a bit mesmerizing. I ended up driving most of the way with my sun visor down to help keep me focused more on the road. Once I did that, everything was fine and it was quite an easy drive. This is the first time I’ve actually been able to use cruise control and let my legs stretch out a bit.

Bridge to Arkansas 2 

Originally uploaded by spectre_240sx.

Well, I’m in much better spirits today than I was yesterday. Although there’s still a day and a half left of driving, I’m feeling great about the progress I’ve made so far. I’ve driven about 1400 miles in three days. I think that’s something to be happy about. I did run into a little bit of trouble in Nashville when the entire line of cars ahead of me stopped nearly instantaniously, but I managed to avoid an accident.

Today’s drive ended up right at 500 miles. I started at about 8:15am and I think I finished up around 5:30. I’m staying at a Holiday Inn (definitely reccommended) in Russellville, Arkansas. It’s a great little town. Everyone here is quite friendly. I got a glass of wine at the bar in the hotel and the bartender was actually from Maine. Funny how that works out, huh? One strange thing, though, is that this is apparently a dry county and you have to have a membership at every bar that you go to. It only cost me about 2 dollars, though, so it was worth it. Plus, I got a niftly little card as a souvenier.

My next stop will hopefully be Amarillo, Texas, which is about 520 miles from here. Either way I should be in New Mexico by Friday, which will be nice. I’m really looking forward to seeing my family there and to doing some sightseeing.

note:

One thing I wanted to mention is that all of the photos on the blog here link to a larger version of the photo on Flickr. From there you can see all of the photos I’ve taken so far. Have fun!

100_3213.JPG

Originally uploaded by spectre_240sx.

I’ve made it to Cookville Tennessee today. That’s 490 miles or so from where I started this morning. It’s not a bad distance for one day’s driving, but I’ve still got a long way to go. I’m a little discouraged, though, because i just realized that my trip is more likely to be about 5 days long rather than 4. That means I’ve got 3 more days of driving to do.

Anyway, the scenery today was pretty amazing. That’s definitely a plus. In a day or so I’m guessing I’ll be driving along flat ground in between cornfields without anything interesting popping up for miles.

On The Road 5
Originally uploaded by spectre_240sx.

Well, the day started off well. I got a great night of sleep and woke up feeling quite refreshed. I ran into a little trouble coming into New York where I somehow managed to get into an EZ-Pass only lane. It wasn’t bad, though. I just got yelled at and was let through. Other than that, it’s just been 8 hours or so of driving on the highway. I’m writing now from a Budget Inn in Woodstock, VA.

I tried to get some pictures, but I didn’t really end up stopping anywhere, so I only got a few from the road and a few at a rest stop.

DSC00413.JPGOriginally uploaded by spectre_240sx.

Tonight I got a chance to go to the movies with my uncle, John. We went to see “The Guardian”. It’s a pretty good movie, though I have issues with the way it was cut. All in all, it was definitely exciting and it certainly gave me a new respect for those in the coast guard that are there to protect us.

I also went out earlier today with my grandfather and played 9 holes of golf. I spent more time looking for my ball than actually hitting it, but I guess that’s to be expected after not playing for 6 or 7 years.

I’ve had a great time down here in East Hampton, but it’s just about time to start heading out west. Tomorrow I’ll be going to see two more people — one here in East Hampton and one in Queens — and then I’ll be driving down 78, catching up to 81 and driving as far as I can get before I get tired. I’m thinking I’ll end up somewhere around Harrisburg by the end of the day, but I’m really not sure. The farther, the better.

update:

Well, unfortunately I managed to spend 8 hours lying awake stairing at the ceiling last night, so the departure date has moved back by a day. That also means that I won’t be getting to visit at least one of the people I was supposed to see, as well. Such is life. On the other hand, it gives me a bit more time to pack my car and I’ll probably end up getting further tomorrow than I would have today. Either way, I’ll be on my way out west soon.

I haven’t posted much because not a lot has been going on. It’s been really nice down here, though. I’ve been going out to eat with my family, going to the golf course, doing a bit of shopping and finally getting a chance to relax a bit. It’s nice to just sit and watch tv for a little while without any worries about the move.

I ended up sending out my djembe through the mail which cleared up a lot of room. That should make things much nicer driving. Plus I’ll be able to fit the clothes that I got here in NY.

Cars from atop the ferry

Originally uploaded by spectre_240sx.

Written on 10-01-06:

Well, it’s been an interesting day. I got up at 7:00, packed the rest of my stuff. It went pretty well for the most part, but I did end up finding out that my bike rack wouldn’t work, so I had to leave my bike behind. I’m not sure what I’m going to do with it yet. I hit the road at 9:30 or so. After that it was about 6 hours of pure highway goodness. There was a huge amount of rain. Every car had a rooster tail behind it, so I tried to stay in the slow lane with only one lane of cars beside me. In a couple of spots I thought we might all have to pull over and let it pass, but that turned out to be unnecessary.

I got onto the cross sounds ferry at 5:30 and that took about an hour and a half to get me to Orient Pt. Long Island. Unfortunately, someone managed to down some high tension wires and the only road out is completely stopped. So, here I sit, trying to make a decent post. sitting in a cramped car isn’t the best for writing, but I’m doing my best. Interestingly enough, many people are actually turning around and driving the other way. It doesn’t make a whole lot of sense, though, considering there’s absolutely nothing back the other way. Maybe they’re going back to the ferry terminal. I’m really not sure. I really wonder what’s going to happen when the next ferry gets in. There are a few more due in any time.

Every once in a while a car will go by in the other direction, giving me a glimmer of hope. Unfortunately, it looks like it’s all just local traffic.

7:40PM There’s thunder and lighting every once in a while. I’m hoping I don’t have to roll up my windows. The breeze is definitely a help.

7:45PM Here comes the rain. Blast.

7:53PM I win my first game of computer chess. The lightning is increasing in frequency

Sidenote: I really wish I had a backlit keyboard. I also wish someone around here would be kind enough to have an open wi-fi access point for me to steal access from.

Update:

Everything started moving at about 8:55. I got into East Hampton at 11:30

Almost all of my worldly posessions

Originally uploaded by spectre_240sx.

…packed away on the side of my room.

It’s been an interesting week. I’m horribly disorganized in real life, so just getting to this point has been quite a lot of work. I got my two dressers, my fridge and my microwave moved out yesterday. Now I’ve just got the dresser drawers, my couch and a couple other things left to go.

Beside moving things, I’ve also been making a lot of visits to friends and family that I’m going to be leaving behind. That’s filled my week up a bit as well. I’m hoping to get all of the work done for the site by tomorrow, because my main computer and my server are going to be packed away and I’ll have limited resources to make updates with. I’ve set up an account on flickr to share the photos of my trip. I’ve got a gallery on my main site, but I really wanted to take advantage of the social networking capabilities of flickr and to become more of a part of the community.

All in all, things are going very well. Pretty much everything is set to go and I’m really looking forward to the trip.

I’ve finally done it, I set up a blog and a photo gallery for a visible record of my journey out west. If all goes well, I’ll be blogging and uploading new photos every few days once I get on the road. I’m also hoping to get into the Google Maps API a bit and set up a map that will track my progress accross the country. I originally wanted to do this in real time, but it’s just too expensive to set up the internet access needed. Whenever I can get to a hotspot, though, it should update my position.

That’s about it for now, but there should be more to come soon.