Greyhound Bussing America [Pt.2]

Classic imagery that helped define the Greyhound Bus company
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In which my luck continues to hold.

One of the things I like most about solo travel is the luxury – the indulgence, really – of being able to please myself with regard to itinerary, level of accommodations, methods of travel, choice of eating establishments and so on. Paradoxically, one of the things I like least is the fact that because I am travelling alone, I don’t have someone else to share my experiences with [suddenly, it occurs to me as I write this, that maybe that’s why I write this blog – as a way of sharing my travel experiences with you, the reader].

My three day stop in Raleigh, was particularly pleasing because it gave me a chance to catch up with extended family, and to share part of the journey with them. So when cousin George saw me off at the station, after he and his lovely wife, Jan gave me a send off BBQ with the whole family present, I was sorry to go, having enjoyed their lively company and warm companionship during my all too brief stay.

The woods and forests across the rolling green hills of North Carolina may well be "...lovely, dark, and deep," but like Robert Frost, writing in his famous poem Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening, I too "...have promises to keep/And miles to go before I sleep."

With that in mind, and the exciting prospect of three nights in New Orleans waiting for me at the end of a 24 hour bus ride, I departed Raleigh just after 7.00PM for the Crescent City.

Raleigh, NC, to Atlanta, GA. Distance: 410 miles (659 kms)

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From my observations, the further south I travelled, the older the Greyhound Bus fleet seemed to get. That’s not to say the buses were unsafe or unroadworthy, just that some of the seating was well-worn, that there are more rattles and squeaks emanating from various parts of the chassis, and that you might be unlucky enough to find the storage compartment on the back of the seat in front of you, missing.

The bus was 90 percent full, as we left Raleigh, with the usual mix of 80 percent African-American and eight percent Hispanic passengers. The other two percent was made up of mostly of Caucasians like myself. For a while I shared a seat with a youngish male who was trying hard to sleep, although without much success.

At Greensborough some passengers disembarked and to my delight I managed to grab a window seat. Now I should add here, that I don’t do long bus trips all that often, and I do overnight bus trips even less. I don’t have a problem sitting up during the day watching the scenery flash by, but when evening comes, and it’s time for bed, I prefer a nice firm mattress, a fine soft pillow, clean fresh sheets and a warm bed – and I was clearly not getting any of these on this overnight run! Which is why I was delighted to get a window seat.

Coincidentally, it takes almost the same amount of time to fly from Adelaide, Australia, to say, London, England, as it does to travel by bus from Raleigh to New Orleans, which is why I decided to treat the bus trip the same way I treat international travel. When I fly on long flights, I always ask for a window seat, and when it is time for some shut-eye, I wedge myself hard up between the back of the seat and the window, and doze fitfully through the night. It isn’t the firm mattress, soft pillow, fresh sheets and warm bed I prefer, but it works.

At 11.30PM we reach Charlotte, North Carolina and I buy a small travel pillow for $4.30 from the café in the bus station. At 1.50AM, a jot into my notebook: Pillow the best $4.30 I’ve spent on the trip so far!

Personally, I prefer to travel during daylight hours. The whole point of embarking on this bus trip down south was to see America. Spending twelve hours in darkness, rolling across the American countryside does not constitute seeing America in my book, but clearly not all bus trips can be conducted during daylight hours. Not profitably, anyway.

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Image: Highway view by day - seeing America (Well, sort of...)
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Image: The same view at night - Not seeing America!
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As the bus rolls through the dark landscape, we make brief stops in Spartanburg, and Greenville, South Carolina.

Spartanburg gave the world the Southern rock group - the Marshall Tucker Band, and General William C. Westmoreland, who came to much prominence when he served as senior US military commander in Vietnam during the height of that conflict. It was also the home of Pink Anderson, the southern bluesman who unwittingly provided half the band name for Pink Floyd. According to Wikipedia, Syd Barrett came up with the band's name by juxtaposing the first names of Pink Anderson and North Carolina bluesman, Floyd Council, after he noticed the names in the liner notes of a 1962 Blind Boy Fuller album.

Hopefully, you will sleep a lot easier tonight, having learnt that.

Greenville on the other hand gave America the Rev. Jesse Jackson: two-time presidential candidate, civil rights activist, and Baptist minister.

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Image: Jesse Jackson in 1975, surrounded by marchers demanding full employment. [Source: Wikipedia] P.S. Gotta love that 'fro', man.
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Since we were now heading into the real south, a few words about the Rev. Jesse seem appropriate:

During the 1960s, blacks in the [Greenville] area were subject to segregationist restrictions; for example, they were limited to the back of city buses, were not permitted to stay in hotels or motels for whites, and had to sit in the balcony of movie theaters. Especially significant was the restriction of blacks from use of the public library, which partially motivated the activism of the library-denied Jesse Jackson. Jackson, working through the NAACP, organized a sit-in at Greenville's F.W. Woolworth "five and dime" store, and quickly emerged as a civil rights leader. [Source: Wikipedia]

Somewhere off on our right are the Great Smoky Mountains, but since they are at least 50-60 kilometres away, I doubt if we could have seen them even during broad daylight – so I continue to doze on. At 4.15AM we reach Atlanta, Georgia. I’m feeling remarkably chipper, having slept most of the journey from Raleigh. We have a 90 minute layover, and a change of buses before departing at 6.00AM.

Preparing to board at 5.30AM, I encounter my first security check of carry-on bags. I immediately wonder if this is a portent of what is to come? Should I be concerned? Do the new passengers look any more dangerous, deranged, and altogether debauched than either myself or the people continuing the trip down south? The short answer, No. They look tired, haggard, and desperate to reach ‘home’, wherever that may be. Who knows how long some of them have been waiting for their bus, or how many hours they have been on the road, or are still to travel?

I wonder if security personnel are on hand 24 hours, or just during the early morning hours, when travellers are more likely to be exhausted from upset sleep patterns, and cranky due to missed, overcrowded or rescheduled buses.

A Few Observations

• Sadly, Greyhound staff seem to do the absolute minimum necessary to help customers. If you don’t ask you don’t learn or know what’s going on. Staff are faced with an endless stream of tired, stressed and frazzled travellers, but don’t seem to want go out of their way to make things easier than they can be – either for themselves or their customers.
• Thankfully, there are few children travelling on buses, and those that are, are remarkably well behaved and quiet.
• Line up early to get a window seat – if a window seat are what you are after.

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Image courtesy of World Photo Journal.com...
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7.25AM: A golden sunrise breaks above the horizon heralding a beautiful day ahead.

To be continued…

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Read The Full Greyhound Bussing America Trip Report:
[Part 1] New York City to Philadelphia, PA…
[Part 2] Philadelphia, PA to Raleigh, NC…
[Part 3] Raleigh, NC to Mobile, AL…
[Part 4] Mobile, AL to New Orleans…
[Part 5] Tips and Advice…
[Part 6] A Final Word…

Aircraft Enforced Speed Limits

Photo: Gregor Smith…

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So there I was, Greyhound-bussing it down the I-95 through Virginia, when I was startled out of my reverie by signage along the roadside proclaiming: SPEED LIMIT ENFORCED BY AIRCRAFT.

What? It had to be a joke, didn’t it? How on earth do you enforce speed limits using aircraft? My mind was immediately awash with visions of laser-guided missiles speeding to their targets from high-flying B1 bombers. No doubt, the resulting ‘shock and awe’ effect of this deadly force on any law breakers was sure to keep the rest of Virginia’s citizens (and other out of state road users), well within legal speed limits. It seems to me too, that these signs tap into the paranoia some people have that they are constantly being watched by ultra-quiet high-flying aircraft or satellites.

As it happens, the sign is not a back country Virginian joke. The state does indeed monitor speed limits on state highways by occasionally using light aircraft (such as Cessna’s) to check motorists driving habits.

Aerial enforcement (as it is known), has been monitoring motorists from the air in Virginia since July, 2000. Highways are marked at various points with lines measuring specific distances (generally half-a-mile apart and called “fixed course sites”). When a suspected speeder enters the course, officers in the sky determine the speed of the vehicle using their VASCAR system (Visual Average Speed Computer and Recorder). This is achieved by measuring average speed over that half-mile distance.

If the time taken to cover that half mile is faster than the officially recorded time it takes to complete that distance at the maximum lawful speed, airborne officers alert a waiting highway patrol car, whose officers then pull you over and issue you with a speeding fine.

This still conjures up visions in my head that suggests using a hand-grenade to kill a fly! And so it happens to be in practice.

The odds that a speeding motorist will be caught in this way are well in the motorists favour. Aerial enforcement is understandably very expensive, and given the parlous state of most state government finances throughout America (which I suspect includes Virginia), the chances that drivers will be busted for speeding by high-flying aircraft officers is virtually nil. But don’t quote me on that! If you get busted by a combined aerial and highway patrol – it’s your own fault. Still, I suspect the signs do have the effect of encouraging most motorists to keep within the speed limit, and that can’t be a bad thing.

So while my visions of armed B1 bombers or Apache Attack Helicopters patrolling the highways and byways of Virginia, vaporizing transgressors from the highway are highly fanciful and obviously wrong, I’m sure I am not the only person to imagine this bizarre scenario – as this computer enhanced image attests:

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Image sourced from the Internet

In Review: Route 66: An American (Bad) Dream

~ In 2002, three young Germans, Stefan Kluge, Mathias Eimann, and Gerald Menzel set off on their Great American Adventure, hoping to drive the length of Route 66. Their transportation of choice is a massive 2.3 ton, 1974, red Eldorado Cadillac convertible.

The resulting film: Route 66: An American (Bad) Dream, is a salutary lesson on what not to do on your American road trip – or any road trip for that matter. Clearly, these travellers where under prepared for their journey, since it would appear they had no insurance, no AAA cover, and no idea that the car they had paid $2,500 for was barely roadworthy.

The Caddie either breaks down constantly, runs out of fuel, or suffers a litany of other mechanical problems throughout the journey (broken gear box, flat battery, worn brakes, oil leaks, blown tyre and an exhaust pipe that needs to be replaced en route). In fact, the car breaks down before the journey even begins, which surely must have been a portent of the problems to come.

However, the three travellers are saved by their naivety; the assistance offered to them by complete strangers; the friendliness of the people they meet along the way; and the little mechanical knowledge they do share between them.

As you would expect, they meet an assortment of characters, and offer wry observations, such as this gem: “Americans live in their cars, and they eat there. For that, you need cup holders. Nowadays, new cars will be judged by the number of cup holders they have. If you watch advertisements, you will find that the number of cup holders seems to be as important as the number of cylinders or the vehicle load capacity. Modern minivans like the Chevy Venture have up to 17 cup holders. Above all, that could be the reason why our car [is] no longer been seen on the American highways. A missing cup holder! In 1974, even Cadillac wasn’t thinking about cup holders.”

Intriguingly, the credits note that the film is “Based on the book, Route 66 in einem 74er Cadillac”, (Route 66 in a ’74 Cadillac), written by Stefan Kluge and co-authored by Mathias Eimann. Stefan Kluge has also added the following brief plot summary to the film’s entry on the Internet Movie Database, where the film is given the title: Route 66: An American (Bad) Dream.

“Route 66: Ein amerikanischer Albtraum (2004) Three German provincials are searching for Hollywood. So they take the most American values they can picture: an absurdly vast car, full of fast food, bottles of oil and camera equipment on the way to California via Route 66. That they never find Hollywood is not the only surprise - on their quest for the American clichés they face unplanned incidents. A documentary drama somewhere between Jackass and Michael Moore, between gloating and satire.”

As Germany’s first Open Source film, you can download and view the film for free from the VEB Film website. You also get a good idea of how technology is being used to today. The creators of Route 66 filmed, edited and produced the film themselves. They are using the internet to ‘distribute’ the film around the world, and on top of that, they include a Creative Commons License which allows you to add to, or reedit the film in any way you choose.

As for the film itself, as already noted, is provides a good lesson in how not to organise and conduct a long road trip. Preparation is the key to a safe, successful journey, and while it is impossible to guard against every eventuality or potential problem, a little planning – as the saying goes – goes a long way.

Along the way we get to see vast stretches of open highway, interspersed with our intrepid travellers eating fast food (McDonald’s seems to be their main diet); repairing the vehicles brakes; visiting the famous Cadillac Ranch with its series of Caddie’s buried ‘nose first’ in the open prairie near Amarillo, Texas; doing the laundry; replacing a flat tyre; get brief glimpses of Washington, DC., New York City, and Las Vegas; more breakdowns; etc, etc.

As the three travellers cross the country, we learn almost nothing about the towns, cities, and country they pass through. If it wasn’t for their encounters with helpful strangers along the way – strangers who essentially save the travellers from themselves; from their own disorganisation and incompetence – we might not have even got to ‘meet’ some of the 300 million people who inhabit the United States today.

At 103 minutes the film is over long, and could easily be edited down to a workable 90 minute version without losing any flow or drama. In fact, apart from a brief encounter with a police patrol car, and watching them deal with constant mechanical problems, nothing particularly dramatic happens. The first 20 minutes of the film is spent waiting for the Cadillac to be fixed, and when the journey proper finally begins they head for New York and the ‘start’ of their road trip.

Because the three travellers presumably talked to each other in their native German, we learn about the details of the trip via a voiceover which, despite the strong German accent is quiet and unobtrusive, and never gets in the way of the unfolding journey. The commentary is filled with wry observations and explanations such as the one already quoted above, as well as others in which we learn about the ‘joys’ of cheap motel accommodations. Where “…every motel has its own individual characteristic, and while you are driving in the dusk, you are already wondering…if the indoor aerial will fall off during the NBA playoffs”; or this, “…the distance between your bed and your car won’t be more than three metres...”

Where the three are filmed talking to each other, subtitles allow us to listen in on their conversations as we ride with them inside the Cadillac.

Finally, excellent atmospheric music is provided throughout by the German electronic group, Valley Forge (note: the website is entirely in German). The group consists of Thomas Bechholds (synths, organ, piano, vocoder), with Michael Seitz (drums, percussion, synths) and Jürgen Winter (guitars).

To sum up, if you are planning your own road trip across America (or anywhere), Route 66: An American (Bad) Dream, is worth viewing for the many lessons to be gleaned from our hapless adventurers.

By the way, the ‘bad’ dream alluded to in the title, is entirely the result of the film makers own lack of care and forethought. As I’ve said throughout this review, and repeat once again, the film is a great lesson in what not to do when embarking on a long road trip, and if viewing Route 66 encourages you to put more thought and care into planning your own travels, it will have been worth the 103 minutes you invest in it.

View the Route 66 trailer…

Amazing Pocket Survival Kit

~ ‘A pocket survival kit that really could save your life!’

One of the many decisions a traveller must make when they are preparing their packing list, is what items to include for those unexpected “what if” moments.

What if the car breaks down? What if you are stuck or stranded in an inaccessible part of the wilderness? What if you twist an ankle or worse? What if…? You get the idea.

So the next question then is, What emergency items can you carry with you, that will not be too bulky, heavy, and impractical?

Thankfully, Doug Ritter has put together an emergency kit that is light, compact, and very practical, and based on years of experience. Doug is the Executive Director of the non profit Equipped to Survive Foundation, and an internationally acknowledged authority on survival equipment and practical survival techniques.

His innovative product reviews, evaluations and articles have helped to revolutionize some aspects of survival equipment design and production and allow consumers to make fully informed decisions about their own investment in survival – decisions with potentially life and death importance.

After researching numerous emergency survival kits, I have decided to offer Doug Ritter's Pocket Survival Kit through my Compleat Traveller Store. As you will see by the brief review excerpts reproduced below (and the many other on the Amazon site), Doug Ritter’s Kit comes highly recommended by many purchasers of this incredible, pocket sized survival pack. Let’s take a look at the Kits features and contents.

Product Features

The Pocket Survival Pak contains a collection of survival tools for when you find yourself abandoned, stranded, or lost in the outdoors. Features include gear repair supplies; fishing supplies; sewing supplies; mini-duct tape; 20mm, liquid filled compass; and waterproof survival instructions. The Kit’s compact size and weight (just 3.9 oz., and 4" x 5" x 0.652") make it perfect for backpackers, hunters, pilots, snow-mobilers, hikers, or anyone who enjoys the great outdoors.

Product Description

The Kit contains the following items: Signal Mirror, Rescue Flash; Spark-Lite Fire Starter; Tinder Quick Fire starters; Whistle, Rescue Howler; Waterproof Survival Instructions; Duct Tape, 2" x 26"; Scalpel with Handle, Sterile, Disposable, #22 Blade; Compass, Button, Liquid Filled; Aluminum Foil, Heavy Duty, 3 Sq. Ft.; Waterproof Paper; Fresnel Magnifier; Safety Wire, Stainless Steel, (6 ft of 0.020"); Sewing Thread, Bobbin #69, Nylon; Nylon Cord, #18, Braided, (10 ft. 100lb test); Sewing Needle, #18, Chenille; Fish Hooks, #10; Split Shot, Lead B; Snap Swivel, Size 12; Pencil; Pocket Survival Pak Contents List; and Safety Pins

Warning: Due to the inclusion of numerous proscribed travel items in this emergency kit, do not attempt to transport the kit in your ‘carry on’ luggage if you are planning to fly to your destination. It will almost certainly be removed and disposed of by security personnel.

Clearly, the above kit can’t hold everything you might possibly want or need in every emergency, but based on numerous reviews on Amazon, this handy emergency kit is highly regarded, and very popular. I would recommend you add a small torch, a waterproof poncho, and a Leatherman multi-tool to your luggage, but beyond that, you should not need much more for general outdoor travel.

Amazon Customer Reviews

I've been buying and building and updating emergency preparedness kits for over fifteen years now and this is a great package. Doug Ritter's put together a real wealth of stuff in a small package and it's all top notch materials. ~ By K. Miller (Arlington, VA USA)

This kit is perfect. Small enough to fit in your pocket, yet everything you need if your outdoor trip takes a turn for the worse. Would highly recommend, and I will buy more. Everything is very high quality, nothing looks or feels cheap. ~ By Ghostrider (Az.)

I found the Adventure Medical Kit to be one of the lightest, most compact kits on the market. ~ By J. Bowe (New York)

Doug Ritter and his foundation, Equipped to Survive, has come up with a very economic method to equip yourself and your family with an emergency kit. It is small enough to carry unnoticed in a pocket, yet fully functional. ~ By T. Hassler

You can read the full reviews and many others, via the Amazon.Com website…

Sunday Supplement #2

~ Say, "Please": Reading this story will remind you of why your mother always encouraged you as a child to say, "Please".

A Canadian traveller insisting on courtesy from a member of the Customs and Border Protection guards was pepper sprayed and held in custody for three hours.

His only sin — asking the border guard to say “please” when he was asked to turn his car off during a search.

“I refused to turn off the car until he said please. He didn’t. And he has the gun, I guess, so he sprayed me,” said Desiderio Fortunato, who frequently crosses the border to visit his second home in the state of Washington. “Is that illegal in the United States, asking an officer to be polite?”

Mr. Fortunato said after he was sprayed he was forcefully taken into custody by several officers. He was held for three hours before he was released without being allowed entry into the United States. Mr. Fortunato says he was dismissed with a warning to be more cooperative in the future. Read more here...

Road Trip USA. Here's something a bit different. Two guys drive across America (from San Francisco to Washington, DC) with a camera mounted inside their car set to take photographs every 10 seconds. The resulting time-lapse video takes you speeding across California, Nevada, Colorado, Missouri, Tennessee and into Washington, D.C., to the music of Michael Nyman's "An Eye for Optical Theory" (personally I would have preferred 'Born To Be Wild' by Steppenwolf, but hey, it's their road trip).

I would have also liked a few titles so viewers could get some idea of where exactly we are on the route, but it makes interesting viewing just the same. The video has been edited down from the original nine minutes running time to 4:36.

You can see a map of the exact route here...

Wherever you are, whatever you are doing, enjoy the rest of the weekend.

Five Road Trip Planning Commandments

~ By Tara Waechter

Many people think that all it takes for successful road trip planning is a couple of good maps or a GPS system, a car, and the urge to hit the road.

Wrong!

Without taking the road trip planning steps necessary, you could find yourself in a world of hurt when you were expecting a good time.

Obeying these five commandments will ensure that not only is your road trip trouble-free, but it's also truly fun!

The Five Commandments of Great Road Trip Planning:

Commandment One

Thou shalt not bring the wrong passengers

It seems like a no-brainer, but being a part of the road trip planning world, all I ever hear about are disasters where someone goes on a road trip with someone they barely know, or someone they know well and also know they argue with constantly, or a family member that's involved in an ongoing feud.

Before you select a destination or buy a guidebook or do a search for hotels online, figure out who you're going to bring. If you don't have a choice (it's a family or couples trip) do two things: 1) have everyone participate in selecting the destination so everyone's enthusiastic and 2) sort out any ongoing feuds or other arguments before you go. Trust me, those underlying problems are going to pop up like some demented jack-in-the-box when you're cooped up in a car together every day, and if everyone's not psyched about the destination, it will affect the trip.

Have a choice about who to bring? Select someone you know well enough - not that acquaintance from work or that neighbour you chat with occasionally. Even if you're bringing your best friend, make sure that everything is great between you (or sit down and have it out ahead of time).

Commandment Two

Thou shall avoid the Hellish Haul at all costs

A Hellish Haul is when you try to get to your destination as fast as possible, spending six or more hours behind the wheel every day. You may end up having more time at your destination, but the journey itself will simply be physical, emotional, and psychological torture. Does that sound like a vacation to you?

How to avoid a hellish haul? There are a lot of articles on my website on how to plan a road trip without ending up on a haul, but to simplify drastically: don't pick a destination that's too far away. You'll want to spend no more than four and a half hours behind the wheel every day. If you can't get there with that much driving per day and have time to enjoy your destination, either select a closer destination that appeals or fly there and skip taking a road trip this time.

Commandment Three

Thou shall Achieve Universal Destination Agreement

One pointer I made earlier about selecting a destination everyone is interested in for a family trip also applies to all road trips. You and your travel companion(s) absolutely must agree on the destination, and I'm not talking about a lukewarm agreement here. I'm talking psyched!

How do you do this? Sit down with everyone going on the trip and have everyone vote on various destinations (that are achievable without a Hellish Haul) until you find somewhere that everyone really wants to go. Now you'll have a group of really happy people and you'll need that when you get lost, or if a tire blows, or when anything goes wrong. When you're excited to go somewhere, those things really don't bother you as much (unless they just keep happening and ruin your trip, but that won't happen if you've put some time into some comprehensive road trip planning).

Commandment Four

Thou shalt not ignore thy car

An oil change is just not going to do it. Sorry! Take the time to have your car checked out thoroughly. Must-check items include:

• Tires (replace any old tires now, not on the road), alignment, rotation.

• Top off all fluids and have oil changed.

• Have belts and hoses as well as the brakes checked.

• Get new air filter (unless you just had it replaced).

• Check your manual. In it you will find a maintenance schedule for your car. Have all maintenance items taken care of before you go - getting it done on the road will not only potentially ruin your trip, you'll also be at the mercy of the garage that ends up holding your car hostage (you'll have zero leverage).

Also, make sure to get a roadside emergency kit and pack it along with other items you might need in case of a breakdown including extra water, snacks, and a blanket. I highly recommend you get a AAA membership* - not only for their great roadside assistance program, but also for the many travel discounts available through membership.

Commandment Five

Thou shall remember to pack everything you will need

Sure, you can get things on the road. Do you really want to spend your vacation, driving around trying to find these things, though? Wouldn't it be easier if you just had them along in the first place? It's not like you're flying and you're limited to one bag and one carry-on!

Start a packing list at least two weeks before your trip. Keep the list handy to you with a pen nearby. Every time you think of something you'll need, write it down. Look up general packing lists and packing tips online to help you remember everything. By the time you've got your suitcase out and you're ready to pack, you'll be in much better shape than anyone who didn't take the time to create a list and it will be highly unlikely that you'll forget something. What's even better, you won't find yourself an hour or two down the road experiencing that uh-oh feeling you get when you realize you forgot something important.

These road trip planning commandments will transform your vacation from one where everything goes wrong to one where everything (within reason) goes right and you can relax and have a wonderful time!

*AAA (American Automobile Association) Membership. In Australia you could join the Royal Automobile Association (RAA), or the Royal Automobile Club of Victoria (RACV), and other state based associations. Many countries have similar national automobile associations providing roadside assistance to travellers in need.

Tara Waechter owns http://www.planning-fun-road-trips.com - a website that covers every aspect of road trip planning including mapping tips, packing lists, road trip games and songs, trip ideas, recipes, tools, and in-depth articles. Tools offered include a road trip budget calculator and a printable checklist of to-do's to handle before you depart on your trip.

Tara has travelled extensively in the United States as well as abroad, and has learned the knowledge she passes on in her website through the "School of Hard Knocks". She is also an office manager and meeting and event planner. She resides in Cary, North Carolina with her husband, Ash.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Tara_Waechter

Image: Lost Highway #3

Photo: Jim Lesses

The Countdown Continues

Click on image to enlarge

At the beginning of June (in The Countdown Begins), I wrote about my nascent plans for my next major overseas trip planned for 2010. Back then I’d been home in Adelaide eight months following my last trip, and I was counting down the ten months before my expected departure.

Now here I am, two months later and find those numbers have been reversed. I’m now ten months back with eight months before I head off again around the end of March.

My plans are still no clearer in my mind, with respect to what I want to do, and where I want to go, other than I want to undertake a major road trip across the United States, and once again end up in Greece for an extended stay. Greece is the ideal place as the final destination of my travels because I have two sisters living there, and the free use of the original family home on the island of Ikaria.

Regular readers of this blog will know I have been conducting lots of research in the form of reading (and reviewing) books – old and new – in preparation for my trip. I’m a great believer in trying to get a broad understanding of the cities and the landscape of countries I am travelling through, so I can better enjoy the experience. Knowing something about the history, culture, and lives of the people I might meet helps build insight and awareness into the overall travel experience. The more I research and learn, the more I am able to see the world through the eyes of the locals and modify or drop my own preconceived ideas of how I think they should or should not be living or behaving.

And so to America. So far my thoughts are thus: I will probably fly into Los Angeles. I will then catch up with various relatives on the west coast (San Diego; Tucson, Arizona, and elsewhere).

I will then embark on my road trip. But for how long and to where exactly? This is currently my great dilemma. The United States is so vast and varied that there is far too much to see and do in one road trip no matter how extended it may be. My plans have ranged from a circumnavigation of the continental United States that would involve driving some ten to twelve thousand kilometres (assuming Google has done the maths correctly), to much shorter drives of four to six thousand kilometres.

I am currently more inclined to aim for a shorter drive where I can spend more time savouring the journey and the destinations along the way, but I’m still a long way from deciding where my road will lead me.

My latest Google mapping exercise has me plotting a route from Los Angeles across the southern states as far east as Alabama, and then up to Nashville before driving back to L.A. along Route 66 (see map illustrating this entry). However, at around 5,300 miles (or 8,500 kilometres), even this road trip looks like hard work, and vacations should not be hard work. They should be relaxing and fun, and stimulating and exciting.

Not that I am baulking at the distances involved – even though I will probably be on my own. One thing Australian drivers learn to do early – whether they like driving or not – is drive long distances. We know that short of flying between major capital cities (or taking a train or coach), the most convenient way to get anywhere is by car. And since we hate to be without a car at our ultimate destination, driving our own vehicles to our final destination is almost always our preferred option.

Anyway, I know I will return to this theme several more times before March, so bear with me, and if you have any ideas or suggestions, please pass on your tips via the Comments box below.

In Review: Great Plains



 

Click here to order from Amazon.Com

~ “Away to the Great Plains of America, to that immense Western short-grass prairie now mostly plowed under! Away to the still-empty land beyond newsstands and malls and velvet restaurant ropes!”

So begins Great Plains, the 1989 examination of America’s heartland. That vast inner expanse of plains and prairies that range from Canada in the north down to the Texas panhandle in the south. Stretching some 2500 miles in length, and about 600 miles across at their widest point, the Great Plains encompass parts of the Canadian provinces of Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba, and parts of the American states of Montana, North and South Dakota, Wyoming, Nebraska, Colorado, Kansas, New Mexico, Oklahoma and Texas.

Part history, part travelogue, part extended road trip, Great Plains has the grandeur and sweep of the frontier itself crammed into its concise 214 pages of main text – which is no mean feat, let me tell you.

By the time he wrote this book, Ian Frazier had driven some 25,000 miles on the plains – from Montana to Texas and back again. Twice. As well as many shorter distances. His meanderings took him from an abandoned anti-ballistic-missile system command centre in remote Montana, to the exact site of Bonny and Clyde’s automobile plunge into the Red River; from the location of Sitting Bull’s camp on the Grand River, to the site of Custer’s last stand on the Little Big Horn; from Fort Union in North Dakota, to Fort Stockton in Texas.

It is no accident that rivers feature so much in this book – even as peripheral ‘characters’. The Great Plains are at times so dry and barren that in the early years of exploration parts of them were known as the Great American Desert. It made sense for the early settlers – just like Native Americans – to build their forts and villages, their towns and cities along the banks of any river large enough to provide a source of life-giving water and food to the populace.

No accident too, that the history of conflict between Native American Indians and settlers crops up throughout Great Plains. Frazier manages to examine the slaughter of millions of bison, the betrayal and death of Crazy Horse, and meet and mix with numerous descendents of the great warriors of the past as he traverses this immense space.

All the great characters are here; ranchers and homesteaders, mountain men and fur trappers, outlaws and gangsters, cowboys and Indians, railroad barons, oil men, coal miners, and more. You get to meet the great and humble, the rich and poor, emigrant Germans and former Southern Black slaves, and the men and women who struggled for generations (and who still struggle today), to make some sort of living from the Great Plains.

Ian Frazier is clearly a man in love with the Great Plains, its history, and its immense cast of fabulous characters – both modern and ancient. As an introduction to this vast area of land and open space Great Plains is entertaining and informative, and filled with insight, obscure historical facts and references, and ultimately, immensely readable.

Finally, the book is well indexed, includes 16 pages of black and white photographs, and has almost 70 pages of extensive notes to supplement the main text. Highly recommended.

“This is a brilliant, funny, and altogether perfect book, soaked in research and then aired out on the open plains to evaporate the excess, leaving this modern masterpiece. It makes me want to get in a truck and drive straight out to North Dakota and look at the prairie.” —Garrison Keillor

Click here to purchase Great Plains via Amazon.Com...

Great Plains by Ian Frazier (First published: 1989, Penguin Books)

Now available in Picador (May 4, 2001) . ISBN-10: 0312278500

Also by Ian Frazier is the book On the Rez, billed by Amazon.Com as “…a history of the Oglala nation that spotlights our paleface population in some of its most shameful, backstabbing moments, as well as a quick tour through Indian America. Much of On the Rez revolves around Le War Lance, whom Frazier first met in Great Plains.”

Publisher: Picador; 1st edition (May 4, 2001). ISBN-10: 0312278594

NOTE: scroll through the Reading List box on the left to purchase On The Rez directly from Amazon.Com. You can also click on the In Review tag below to view other book reviews on this site.

Road Trips: Five Golden Rules

~ The Five Golden Rules Of Cross Country Road Trip Planning

By Tara Waechter

Tara Waechter owns Planning Fun Road Trips - a website that covers every aspect of road trip planning including mapping tips, packing lists, road trip games and songs, trip ideas, recipes, tools, and in-depth articles. Tools offered include a road trip budget calculator and a printable checklist of to-do's to handle before you depart on your trip. Tara has travelled extensively in the United States as well as abroad, and has learned the knowledge she passes on in her website through the "School of Hard Knocks". She is also an office manager and meeting and event planner. She resides in Cary, North Carolina with her husband, Ash.

A cross country road trip is like no other road trip! For most road trippers, it's the Holy Grail of trips. For you, it may just be a long desired vacation or chance to visit family. No matter what your reason, you'll need some tips in order to prepare that are very unique to a cross country road trip. These five Golden Rules of Cross Country Road Trip Planning will ensure that your trip is a success!

Golden Rule #1

Recognize that this country is HUGE. Looking at a map may give you the illusion that you can cross it in a couple of weeks. There is no way you can do that, no matter what any mapping site says. Day after day spent entirely behind the wheel is a hell I wouldn't wish on my worst enemy, and you certainly don't want to suffer through it. A typical enjoyable cross-country road trip can last anywhere from a month to two months depending on whether it's round trip or not.

Map It. Whether your cross country trip is round trip (from home and back) or one way (a rental or another car you can drop off and fly back), get on a mapping website that will estimate the number of hours it will take you to drive to your destination (and back if that applies). There are tons out there including Google Maps and MapQuest.

Get Real. If you think you can drive for 8 hours a day, you've got another thing coming. For a fun (I hope this isn't some method of self-torture) road trip, you're going to want to spend no more than four hours behind the wheel a day. That will allow plenty of breaks and sightseeing along the way, and you'll need both on your vacation. To make your trip even more pleasant, plan a day "off" from driving occasionally during your vacation. Plan that day to be at a destination where there will be enough to see and do to entertain you for a full day.

Consider Your Destination. Wherever you're going, it's probably somewhere you're very interested in, or you wouldn't be crossing the country, right? Plan at least a few days there to really soak it up before heading back home, no matter whether you're flying back home or driving back.

Golden Rule #2

Spend some time planning out the sights you'll see along the way as well as your time at your destination. Winging it with this can lead to some very boring breaks along your route. Most great things just aren't visible from the highway. Great resources for planning your stops/sightseeing are:

• Guidebooks on each state you'll pass through.
• Travel forums - especially ones that address specific areas/states and cities.
• Websites that specialize in a state/area you'll be passing through or in road tripping attractions

Golden Rule #3

One common question I get is whether to book all the hotels/campgrounds/other lodging and plan each day or just to "wing it" and hope for the best. The answer: you can do either, but there are rules specific to each. For the planner, it's easy - plan! Booking ahead will usually ensure cheaper lodging and will guarantee that you'll have a place to lay your head at the end of each day (winging it can be more dangerous, but there are tricks to make it less so).

If you want to "wing it", you'll still need to do some planning. At the very least, book your lodging in the areas you'll be visiting along the way that are popular destinations. Trying to get last minute reservations near a place like Yellowstone Park in the summer is insanity. It won't happen. Consider the time of year also - New York City in the month of December is a crazy time. Plan accordingly.

Otherwise, "wing it" people can either use their GPS and really fly by the seat of their pants, or they can protect themselves from trouble by doing the following.

Before You Go. Research areas along the way and at your destination that may - or may not - be places you'll want to stay. Make a list of 3-5 lodging choices for each and take down the address information and the phone number. Put it somewhere safe and accessible for your trip (I use a folder).

On the Road. Every morning, make the decision. Where do you want to go that day? Select your evening destination and make calls to your listed lodging choices. Don't put this off until later in the day if you want to guarantee a place for the night. What vacancies exist in the morning will probably be snapped up by the afternoon. Now you can follow your whims every day and still have the security of a reservation each evening.

Golden Rule #4

You'll need to really baby your car before taking a cross-country road trip - more so than for any other road trip. You're about to push it to its limits! Here's a checklist of things to have addressed by your mechanic before you hit the road:

• Read your manual and have all maintenance that's due taken care of now. Timing belts, tune-ups, system flushes, etc. all fall into this category.
• Get an oil change unless it was literally just changed.
• Have your mechanic check the following: hoses, spark plugs, belts, air filter, and all fluids. Also, if there's any problem/weird noise or smell that you've been noticing with your car, deal with it.
• Tires are vitally important. If they're old, they won't be able to handle heating up as they roll on the road and will probably blow. Replace them now if warranted. Get your tires rotated and alignment checked

Be sure to pack a roadside emergency kit (jumper cables, flares, tire patching kit, jack, spare tire), make sure you renew or get a roadside service membership, and pack extra water, a blanket, a flashlight with fresh batteries, and some emergency snacks.

Golden Rule #5

Packing for a cross-country road trip is all about streamlining. Unlike other vacations, this is not one where you'll want to pack an outfit for every day. The best plan is to have 5-7 pants/skirts/jeans and 7-9 tops/shirts that coordinate well (as well as shoes, underwear, socks.

Stick with neutrals (kaki, white, gray, black, navy, blue jeans) for easier mixing and matching. Add 3-4 sweaters and jackets (more layers if the weather will be colder) that also are in neutral colours. Bring a gentle detergent for hand-washing (or using a machine when your lodging offers it) to make these outfits last as many weeks as your trip lasts. Don't worry about your travel companions growing bored with your wardrobe - most people don't care about your clothes as much as you do!

When it comes to other items, be sure to bring enough of the things you can't easily get on the road (prescriptions for instance). For everything else (drugstore shampoos, soap, shaving cream, etc) just bring what's easy to pack and get more as needed on the road. You don't need to bring everything - you're not going into the wilderness!

Conclusion

If you obey these five golden rules of cross country road trip planning, you'll be well-prepared to experience an outstanding road trip odyssey across the U.S.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Tara_Waechter