Well it’s getting real now Dopers.
Have cleared the baggage checkers. Found my gate lounge. At worst can now spend the next 50 days wandering Kingsford Smith with only a beanie for a change of clothes.
Will use this thread as a “here I am, can’t believe what you sophisticates just did to this itinerant yokel”, for those who can give a toss. Any and all heads up will be appreciated.
Was getting a bit tense yesterday googling US road rules. It’s a yellow line in the middle and white lines for lanes going your way innit? Can’t recall if it’s LA freeway shooting season. Am assuming that Google maps and or Waze will get me there … eventually, once I thunk out precisely where “there” is.
Am curiously much more relaxed now.
From memory, according to The Collins “Wit’s Dictionary” an optimist is a somebody blissfully unaware of the disaster about to befall them. Or summat.
Ah, the great American road trip! Have a great time!
I’ll be heading out for a couple of months myself next week. Looking at the map you posted in the other thread, there’s a chance we might be in the same vicinity on the westward leg of your route after Minnesota. I’ll keep tabs on your progress and PM you if it looks like we might cross paths.
Showing all the sympathy for humanity and respect for elders and gallows humour he has been so carefully been brought up #1 son has suggested I have buggered up my itinerary
Woohoo! Your next challenge will be “Can I really sit in a coach airline seat for 18 effing hours, and still be able to walk?”.
That’s pretty much it. Solid white lines mean “don’t cross this”, typically either on an odd stretch of the highway (often prefaced with a sign saying “stay in lane”) that is going around some curves, or is under construction. Or it’s on the “outer” edge of the road, separating the driving section from the shoulder.
Dunno about shooting season in LA. Since it’s mild there year-round, I suspect that this is similarly a pastime without specific seasons. Such driving as I’ve done in the area, I’ve managed to survive without bullet wounds in myself or the car.
Get paper maps as well, rather than “just” relying on your phone’s navigation (or the car’s, if it has it built in) - they can occasionally come up with some fairly bizarre alternatives. And a solely satellite-based system has occasionally been wildly, hilariously wrong (there’s a town in NY called Lake George; there is also a lake, Guess which one the car’s nav system thought I was in?).
Cattle class was full to brim.
I got the aisle seat next to the loo so plenty of bumps.
There’s something incongruous sitting on the donut, at 10,000m doing 1,000 clicks and looking down between your knees and realising below you is Hawaii.
Learned customs, where they weren’t particularly impressed a furriner is circulating in the lower 48 without physical address so gave my NYC hotel. Was at a bit of a loose end finding my next connection. At 6am the information kiosk is unattended. But a helpful cabbie directed me to the Hertz shuttle, The kindly Shuttle driver delivered me to the rental yard. Then the exceptional Hertz customer service operator processed all the paperwork then pointed me to a line-up of several dozen vehicles an told me to take my pick. Keys in the vehicle. Just drive it away. So I have a blue Nissan Rogue with Nevada plates, or actually plate with barely 10k which, if all ducks line up I’ll double.
First, minimalist ie <10km attempt at LA navigation was barely a pass but we got where we needed without a scratch or earning an indignant honk after a couple of diversions.
Once booked into pub, we have the first lesson.
US light switches are up = on
Then turn the TV on and I get Willow! What are the odds?
I haven’t followed your plans, but don’t neglect our lovely neighbor to the north. I recommend driving to Jasper AB on the Icefields Parkway and Nova Scotia/PEI…
BTW, if you haven’t already, I recommend signing up for the frequent customer program for Hertz, the airline and whatever hotels you end up staying at. With a trip of this duration, you should earn some perks.
This could serve as a catalyst for Dopefests, anywhere on PT’s route where there is a sufficient concentration of Dopers. We’re working on one in the DC area:
C’mon, people, our Aussie friend isn’t just here to see sights! Seems like we likely have a lot of people in the NYC area who could convene, right?
Driving: In general, US drivers do not actually wish to murder you. Despite some rather terrifying incidents (we witnessed two separate highway drag racing events on the same day, on a recent trip). But they are clueless, entitled, and occasionally jerkish, and often far too unaware that there are other cars on the road. Or they get pissed at you for doing something that offends them, and drive in such a way that an accident is almost guaranteed. Defensive driving is a MUST, especially in cities / on major highways. Just assume that all the other drivers are trying to kill you, either through malice or inattention, and you’ll be fine.
And turn signals… despite all 50 states having laws requiring their use before changing lanes or actually turning, I’d say less than 50% of drivers on the road around here actually use them as required. Hell, probably less than 25%. A joking explanation is that you don’t want to let the enemy know your intentions. My husband and I snarl “What? is your car out of blinker fluid again??”.
Just be aware that Jasper, Alberta and Nova Scotia/PEI are about three thousand miles apart. One is not a handy drive to the other, and they certainly cannot both be done in the same day.
But I agree: don’t neglect Canada if you get the chance. As you make your way across the northern states, you might be surprised at how close it is and how easy it is to get to. We Cana-Dopers would be happy to welcome you!
We heard about that - as we drive from DC to northern NJ on occasion, the traffic would be a concern.
PT is going from DC to Gettysburg per current plans, then to NYC. He could, in theory, go via Philly, but that’s a good reminder to rethink that route if that was the plan. Up 15 from Gettysburg, to I-81, to I-78, might be a better option.
Day 2.
I took the sage advice of @Sage_Rat and skeddadled out of LA in minimal time. Even so, didn’t see anything of LA’s best. It was grey and overcast when we landed. It remained that way the whole stay, didn’t see a beam of sun. Grey sky, grey buildings, grey freeways. Maybe next time.
The
The first issue to negotiate was the 405 -105 interchange. Now somebody actually designed this architecture of concrete and I’m sure it all fits together without any redundant pieces … but to this casual visitor it looks like four strands of fettuccine draped over a label of vermicelli.
Oh, the wonder of GPS. Kate got me there without a wrong turn or late lane change.
Note to self, next time get a vehicle with fitted navigation. Using Waze off the phone works fine but the odd glance at the screen helps planning when all the place names are unfamiliar.
The grey skys at Inglewood closed in, became a light mist, then a moderate fog with visibility down to 100m at times. The Spotify playlist started “Out of sight, out of mind” by The Models. No shit James Freud.
…
It wasn’t until Hesperia until the fog lifted and the the sun broke though.
The scenery didn’t progressively transition, one minute we are seemingly in suburbia, in the next the great Fordesque movie set vastness of the Mohave. I assume at some stage it gets a bit greener. So raw, bare and inhospitable. Not an unreasonable expectation to see Pale Rider materialise over the vista, well at least mounted in a Chevy Silverado.
Was just about passing underneath the first road sign saying Las Vegas and Spotify provided the AC/DC anthem “Highway to Hell”, the bloody thing is psycho-telekinetic.
Zipped past the Death Valley turn off. Tick off the bucket list.
In an absolute cock-up the dash cam failed. So I have none of the vision until Boulder City. Bugger.
Toured the Lake Meade reserve. Being from a family of broad acre irrigated farmers, dams are a bred-in fascination of mine and Hoover is a good-un. Hoover is a monsterous, improbable human achievement, but I reckon one of the key reasons how they built it under budget because they scrimped on the reclamation. Every boulder must be exactly where Frank Crowe left it.
Made first use of my “America the Beautiful” National Parks card, thank you @Ludovic
Next stop Kayenta for a couple of days at the canyon.
Large, monstrous projects are one arena in which I think the Art Deco of the dam works, because while both Art Deco and Brutalism evoke the future, Art Deco puts a more optimistic face on otherwise faceless, large-scale endeavors, whereas for smaller projects it would seem more naive than Brutalism.
15 through Vegas isn’t that great anyway compared to the other highways I’ve experienced, view-wise at least. However, if you are taking 15 through Arizona to St George, Utah, you should definitely have your dashcam on. It is probably the number one road I wished I’d had my dashcam on for, since the views are spectacular but there isn’t anywhere to park and enjoy them.
