Tag Archives: Search for America

Safely in Music City

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Leg one of the Search for America Tour, 2009 edition is in the books. This tour is powered by Cadillac; a burgandy red CTS to be precise. We covered 650+ miles today; 10 hours of driving time; 12 hours of time elapsed off the clock. That’s plenty. We’re now at a Hampton Inn just west of Nashville.

We had beautiful, though bone-chillingly cold weather all the way. The temperature struggled to crack 25o and had a side order of variable but steady wind. Took all the joy out of smoking at rest stops; I’ve been issued but two stindeens, and have no desire to lose them in pursuit of a habit I should quit anyhow.

On the mileage front, the average life-to-date mpg on our rental increased from 18.9 to 19.1. On this leg, we got around 22-23 mpg, which impressed me, given our 70-75 mph speed and the wind. And the CTS has a V-8; nice to mash the gas on something with some ponies under the hood.

We’re safe, but tired. Nice to be in Central Time again. Tomorrow, 6 more hours of the same, across half of Tennessee, over the mighty MIssissip’, and on to Hot Springs, where I’ll help my brother-in-law control his beer inventory.

-k-

Movin’ Slow

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As predicted, it was a short but intense work week. MLB has my duds and skivvies all packed, the electronics are rounded up, and I’ll continue to battle the cold bug that’s trying to beset me. The faithful cat’s supplies have been left with our good neighbor a couple of doors down1.

A bite to eat, then, and a decent night’s rest, and Westward Ho! tomorrow, after a trip to IAD to pick up the rental car. I asked for a Cadillac; we’ll see what we get.

-k-

1 The Faithful Cat has more supplies than a human infant; blankets, pillows, food, dishes. Man, cats have it made. To the degree that I wish reincarnation had some merit. If it did, I know my next-life species.

Every Tour Starts with Electronics

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As we prepare for the first Search for America Tour of 2009, I’m rounding up the electronic devices necessary, or perceived to be necessary, to make this effort a success. This includes:

  1. Updating our TomTom GPS to the latest software.
  2. Rounding up batteries, SD cards, etc, for our camera.
  3. Gathering phone chargers. Including the one for the Jitterbug.
  4. Making sure the Sprint Wireless access card is handy.

All the above will be lovingly and meticulously packed into the gypsy’s Tom Binh backpack later on today.

Then we’re down to the grossest of the gross travel necessities; skivvies, toiletries, duds, and the like. This trip, I’m taking advantage of MLB’s semi-retired status to handle the packing of these.

So, three short but intense workdays, a trip to IAD to pickup the rental chariot on Thursday, and then, we ride.

-k-

The Brunch Bunch

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One of the hoped for but not expressly articulated events of our trip was being reintroduced to our friends’ eldest son, his lovely wife, and their cute-as-a-bug’s-ear daughter. I had not seen their son since he was in diapers; it was inappropriate to go through my usual my how you’ve grown routine.

On Saturday morning, we were delighted to hear that they were dropping by to join us for brunch. We had a great meal; I forget the name of the place, but you can get red beans and rice with your scrambled eggs if you so choose. And an out of this world good Bloody Mary. I had the bacon omelette with cheese grits and biscuits … Good Eats. After I got totally aced out of picking up the check, eldest son’s lovely wife used her cell phone to snap this photo of the rest of us.

Front row, left to right: me, my little bride, eldest son.
Back row, left to right: Sue (Richard’s wife), my friend Richard, holding their lovely granddaughter. The little one goes by Pippy; her given name is Penelope.

Aren’t they a beautiful bunch?

-k-

The Out-of-Towners

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We took a cruise down the Chicago River and out onto Lake Michigan on our recent visit. Our host had gone below to avail himself of the plumbing facilities and cash bar. So, my little bride and I did the classic touristy thing; we handed our camera to a fellow tourist, who was kind enough to snap this photo of us with the Chicago skyline in the background. The sky looks more threatening than it actually was; the sun was shining brightly when we boarded the boat; the cloud cover and breeze was welcome. As my hair thins, my head needs protection, and my Kevin Harvick racin’ hat was left behind.

Our friends have an obvious affection, if not outright passion, for the city and living in it. MLB and I are small town folk. But being shown around the city by people who actually live and work there was a treat. Our host and his wife have only one minor nit with the Windy City, and that’s that It’s not New York. In addition to the boat ride, we did a lot of walking around the city, and revelled in the architectural magnificence of it all.

I was glad the NASCAR events were held at night; we would have missed out on a lot of Chicago sightseeing otherwise. And there’s much more that we want to see; if we haven’t worn out our welcome with our friends, we will definitely make a return trip.

-k-

Road Blogging

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I did a miserable job of providing daily updates from the recently concluded Search for America Tour. I’d intended to provide at least an every-other-day update, but two consecutive late night NASCAR events, and a desire to catch up with friends we hadn’t seen in too long combined to get in the way.

In the spirit of boring your pants off with photos and reminiscences about the recently concluded adventure, stay tuned.

-k-

Back at tbbs WorldHQ

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The first Search For America Tour for 2008 has reached its conclusion. My little bride and I arrived home, happy but tired, yesterday afternoon. We quickly scooped our gear out of our rental Cadillac STS, and headed to the airport to return our beautiful Capitalistic Rental Car. It was an awesome ride, V8 powered so it had some balls, but got an incredible 27 mpg highway.

The biggest mistake I made was choosing the “bring it back empty” fuel option, for a princely $71.00. It cost us $55 at our most costly fill-up, and we left about 100 miles of petrol still in the tank. The bring it back empty option results in some sphincter-tightening moments when you see the LOW FUEL light, and fervently hope that

  1. the estimated range provided by the car’s on-board instrumentation is correct;
  2. the miles to destination provided by the GPS is correct; and
  3. that you haven’t botched up the math in figuring how much gas you need on the next stop.

So next time, we’ll stop by the overpriced Exxon station right by the Avis return.

And, as if to welcome us back home, a Ford Excursion showed considerable reluctance to let us merge onto the Dulles Toll Road on the trip back from the airport. My little bride was driving, and gave the Ford driver a gesture expressing her undying gratitude for his behind-the-wheel courtesy. I trust no diagrams are needed to convey the essence of the gesture.

But the Ford driver actually did us a favor; his self-centered rudeness proved that we are back where we came from, and not with the friendly Midwesterners with whom we spent the last several days.

-k-

The Long and Winding Toll Road

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The Search for America Tour finds us in Fremont IN, safe, but tired. This particular SfAT is powered by Cadillac STS, a firehouse red, Northstar V8 powered Capitalistic Car if there ever was one. Man, I can’t believe the instrumentation on this rig. A variably heavy rain fell as we navigated the Pennsylvania Turnpike; the wipers were smart enough to adjust their speed, based on the amount and density of the rain that was falling. Impressive. XM radio and On-Star are in the package, along with several buttons I haven’t pushed yet. Gotta save some fun for later.

We left from Virginia, through Maryland, Pennsylvania, Ohio, on into Eastern Indiana. I never realized that the majority of the miles would be travelled on toll roads. From the Dulles Greenway to the Pennsylvania Turnpike, to the Ohio Turnpike, to the Indiana Toll Road, we’ve been on them all. To the tune of 25 bucks or so thus far. I never have much nice to say about Maryland, but it was the only state where a toll collector’s hand wasn’t out. I don’t mind toll roads on principle; I don’t like the Jersey walls, and the lack of predictable eateries in the “service plazas” resulted in a degradation in the quality of our migratory foraging. So much so, that I’m contemplating missing the toll roads altogether on the return trip; this at a cost of 70 miles, and an hour of drive time.

Ohio was beautiful; there was some amazing rural scenery I’d love to have photographed, but no place to get off the road to take any pictures.Hopefully the southern route will render some photo ops that we can seize.

On to Chicago tomorrow; we’re 150 miles out, and trying to time the trip to miss the worst of the congestion on the Dan Ryan. If that’s possible.

-k-