The Journey East
09-06-2013, 12:43 AM
#1
Boost Pope
Thread Starter
iTrader: (8)
Join Date: Sep 2005
Location: Chicago. (The less-murder part.)
Posts: 33,026
Total Cats: 6,592
The Journey East
Good bye, car. You have served me well:
(see this thread: https://www.miataturbo.net/cars-sale...ree-ish-74807/ )
Now, a public service announcement:
Silicon Valley sucks.
Seriously, the place just doesn't do it for me. It's hot, it's flat, the roads suck, everything seems old and run-down... Screw that. And, since this was my first exposure to northern Cali, I formed a pretty strongly prejudiced opinion of the area. There are a COUPLE of cool spots (eg: the Good Karma Vegan Cafe in San Jose), but for the most part, it's a shithole.
Well, it turns out that not ALL of NorCal sucks. Just the valley. (And probably the rest of the SF Bay Area.)
In fact, most of it ******* rocks. NOW I understand what Ken & Roberta Williams saw in this place:
Hello, Reno.
Saw a bunch of these:
I'm trying to visualize how one of these would behave in reverse. I just can't see it.
Also, the Deeth Starr:
Touchdown for the night is in Tooele, UT, a charming little town just outside of Salt Lake City.
Irony:
1: NASA nationals are apparently this week, and the hotel is filled with both racers and officials.
2: The hotel is owned by John Potter, owner of Magus Racing. His car is parked inside the hotel lobby:
3: Points 1 and 2 are, to the best of my knowledge, unrelated and a complete coincidence.
Miles Traveled: 754
Fuel consumed: 52.2 gal
MPG: 14.4 (Wow!)
(see this thread: https://www.miataturbo.net/cars-sale...ree-ish-74807/ )
Now, a public service announcement:
Silicon Valley sucks.
Seriously, the place just doesn't do it for me. It's hot, it's flat, the roads suck, everything seems old and run-down... Screw that. And, since this was my first exposure to northern Cali, I formed a pretty strongly prejudiced opinion of the area. There are a COUPLE of cool spots (eg: the Good Karma Vegan Cafe in San Jose), but for the most part, it's a shithole.
Well, it turns out that not ALL of NorCal sucks. Just the valley. (And probably the rest of the SF Bay Area.)
In fact, most of it ******* rocks. NOW I understand what Ken & Roberta Williams saw in this place:
Hello, Reno.
Saw a bunch of these:
I'm trying to visualize how one of these would behave in reverse. I just can't see it.
Also, the Deeth Starr:
Touchdown for the night is in Tooele, UT, a charming little town just outside of Salt Lake City.
Irony:
1: NASA nationals are apparently this week, and the hotel is filled with both racers and officials.
2: The hotel is owned by John Potter, owner of Magus Racing. His car is parked inside the hotel lobby:
3: Points 1 and 2 are, to the best of my knowledge, unrelated and a complete coincidence.
Miles Traveled: 754
Fuel consumed: 52.2 gal
MPG: 14.4 (Wow!)
Last edited by Joe Perez; 09-06-2013 at 01:39 AM.
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09-06-2013, 01:49 AM
#4
Boost Pope
Thread Starter
iTrader: (8)
Join Date: Sep 2005
Location: Chicago. (The less-murder part.)
Posts: 33,026
Total Cats: 6,592
****
SILICON
VALLEY
This town ******* sucks, and so do the people in it. I grew up reading stories about how awesome life was in the valley / Berkeley / Livermore / etc., but the reality is that San Diego is much more awesome (and much cheaper.) Everyone up here is a hipster retard. (Except for that one hipster chick who.... nevermind. She wasn't a retard.)
Also 14.4mpg?!? I get almost that in my '02 4.6L stroker, lifted Jeep. Is the throttle an only on switch?
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09-06-2013, 01:59 AM
#5
Ah. Well that's another story. Mirror shot looked like just a Chevy truck. Not a moving truck. 14.4 is awesome. If it isn't prying why the move? Other than the valley sucks. I'm always down for ditching a shitty situation, place, people, etc. Curious what greatness is underway.
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09-06-2013, 08:15 AM
#7
Let me make this very clear:
****
SILICON
VALLEY
This town ******* sucks, and so do the people in it. I grew up reading stories about how awesome life was in the valley / Berkeley / Livermore / etc., but the reality is that San Diego is much more awesome (and much cheaper.) Everyone up here is a hipster retard. (Except for that one hipster chick who.... nevermind. She wasn't a retard.)
****
SILICON
VALLEY
This town ******* sucks, and so do the people in it. I grew up reading stories about how awesome life was in the valley / Berkeley / Livermore / etc., but the reality is that San Diego is much more awesome (and much cheaper.) Everyone up here is a hipster retard. (Except for that one hipster chick who.... nevermind. She wasn't a retard.)
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09-06-2013, 09:08 AM
#9
Elite Member
iTrader: (21)
Join Date: Jun 2007
Location: Rochester, NY
Posts: 6,593
Total Cats: 1,259
If you find yourself near Rochester (hint: it's several exits on the NYS Thruway) in your travels, I would be honored to buy you dinner/drinks.
I'd also offer a place to crash, but you'd have to be fairly desperate to want to do that.
I'd also offer a place to crash, but you'd have to be fairly desperate to want to do that.
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09-06-2013, 02:51 PM
#13
Senior Member
Join Date: Jan 2007
Location: Round Pond, ME
Posts: 1,064
Total Cats: 232
Based on previous posts, I assume you're heading for the glorious NY tri-state area. By comparison to SD, we have about 3 1/2 hours of good weather a year. The good news is you should arrive just in time for this year's last 45 minutes or so.
It really is a good place to live, so long as you can get past the hideous cost of living and frequent-mortal-danger part. I keep trying to slink away to rural Maine, but the city keeps puling me back.
If you land in Manhattan, I'll buy you a beer sometime when I'm in town.
It really is a good place to live, so long as you can get past the hideous cost of living and frequent-mortal-danger part. I keep trying to slink away to rural Maine, but the city keeps puling me back.
If you land in Manhattan, I'll buy you a beer sometime when I'm in town.
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09-06-2013, 02:59 PM
#14
Elite Member
iTrader: (2)
Join Date: Sep 2008
Location: Central Florida
Posts: 2,799
Total Cats: 179
Señor Pérez - Good luck and godsspeed on your journey East. "El que lee mucho y anda mucho, ve mucho y sabe mucho."
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09-06-2013, 03:31 PM
#15
Senior Member
Join Date: Dec 2007
Location: ATL
Posts: 1,348
Total Cats: 128
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09-06-2013, 09:36 PM
#18
Boost Pope
Thread Starter
iTrader: (8)
Join Date: Sep 2005
Location: Chicago. (The less-murder part.)
Posts: 33,026
Total Cats: 6,592
I'm sick of it already.
Also, a complete absence of Payday-loan shops, rent-to-own stores, places that specialize in installing loud car stereos, stores with the name "discount" in them, and Hyper.
As for mortal danger, I guess...
Nope.
Hahaha.
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09-06-2013, 09:58 PM
#19
Boost Pope
Thread Starter
iTrader: (8)
Join Date: Sep 2005
Location: Chicago. (The less-murder part.)
Posts: 33,026
Total Cats: 6,592
Greetings from the bristling metropolis of Lexington, Nebraska. A couple of observations:
1: This entire place smells like cow ****.
2: It has forced me to reevaluate my interpretation of the phrase "hick town."
3: What the **** is up with this ceaseless wind?
Some good driving roads getting here, though:
And I gotta tell ya, without the trailer and car hitched to the back, these gas-engined Penske trucks are actually pretty damn nice to drive! Not having all that dead mass on the bumper makes a huge difference not only in acceleration and hill-climbing, but in cornering stability and braking as well. Since I have the load extremely well-secured in the back, I've really been testing the limits of handling in this truck, and I am impressed. In the twistier sections, I was pulling away from passenger cars at a pretty fair clip.
It's kind of funny, actually. I almost never actually drive vehicles all the way at 10/10, but I feel like I'm actually doing that with this truck.
Now, this is interesting. I saw a BUNCH of these signs, about one every 20-40 miles. Apparently, I-80 gets shut down with sufficient regularity to merit permanently installed signs, as well as railroad-crossing-style barriers.
Also, this guy:
Oh, I almost forgot- there was this automated pancake-manufacturing machine:
You just press the button, and a minute later a freshly-made pancake falls out the side. When I saw it, I thought "Hmm- I'll bet that machine consistently makes perfect pancakes." Turns out that it doesn't. The pancakes which it makes are consistently spongy, with one side consistently cooked properly, and the other side consistently sort of not quite burned, but definitely hard and cardboard-like.
I've had worse pancakes, and I've had better pancakes. If I were a statistician, I would declare it to be a .5PP (50th Percentile Pancake.)
Today's route:
Miles traveled: 745
Fuel consumed: 52.8 gal
MPG: 14.11 (Consistency is very sexy to an engineer.)
1: This entire place smells like cow ****.
2: It has forced me to reevaluate my interpretation of the phrase "hick town."
3: What the **** is up with this ceaseless wind?
Some good driving roads getting here, though:
And I gotta tell ya, without the trailer and car hitched to the back, these gas-engined Penske trucks are actually pretty damn nice to drive! Not having all that dead mass on the bumper makes a huge difference not only in acceleration and hill-climbing, but in cornering stability and braking as well. Since I have the load extremely well-secured in the back, I've really been testing the limits of handling in this truck, and I am impressed. In the twistier sections, I was pulling away from passenger cars at a pretty fair clip.
It's kind of funny, actually. I almost never actually drive vehicles all the way at 10/10, but I feel like I'm actually doing that with this truck.
Now, this is interesting. I saw a BUNCH of these signs, about one every 20-40 miles. Apparently, I-80 gets shut down with sufficient regularity to merit permanently installed signs, as well as railroad-crossing-style barriers.
Also, this guy:
Oh, I almost forgot- there was this automated pancake-manufacturing machine:
You just press the button, and a minute later a freshly-made pancake falls out the side. When I saw it, I thought "Hmm- I'll bet that machine consistently makes perfect pancakes." Turns out that it doesn't. The pancakes which it makes are consistently spongy, with one side consistently cooked properly, and the other side consistently sort of not quite burned, but definitely hard and cardboard-like.
I've had worse pancakes, and I've had better pancakes. If I were a statistician, I would declare it to be a .5PP (50th Percentile Pancake.)
Today's route:
Miles traveled: 745
Fuel consumed: 52.8 gal
MPG: 14.11 (Consistency is very sexy to an engineer.)
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09-06-2013, 10:42 PM
#20
Senior Member
iTrader: (7)
Join Date: Oct 2011
Location: Horse and Buggy, PA
Posts: 704
Total Cats: 21
When I moved to California, I took I-80 pretty much the whole way. I got stranded just outside of Cheyenne thanks to a freak snow storm when they shut down the interstate using the barriers you describe. Not fun.
When I moved back east I took I-70 most of the way and much prefered that route (except for Kansas). A bonus of I-70 is that you can stop by FMs shop for a place to stretch your legs and lay your tent out in their parking lot to dry it from last nights soaking rain.
If you're coming through central PA let me know.
When I moved back east I took I-70 most of the way and much prefered that route (except for Kansas). A bonus of I-70 is that you can stop by FMs shop for a place to stretch your legs and lay your tent out in their parking lot to dry it from last nights soaking rain.
If you're coming through central PA let me know.
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