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Author Topic: American Gods' road trip  (Read 10077 times)

Nodaisho

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American Gods' road trip
« on: 11 Aug 2008, 20:23 »

Has anyone ever done the road trip from American Gods, or know of someone who did? When I first read it, it struck me as something that I wanted to do, I can't have been the only one with that reaction. Of course, I would prefer not to have gods attempting to kill me while I am on the trip, that seems like it would just ruin the enjoyment.

Not sure if this is the right section, seems like if this topic goes more than a few posts, it is likely to involve some discussion of the book, so I put it here.
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Tom

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Re: American Gods' road trip
« Reply #1 on: 11 Aug 2008, 20:27 »

I thought about this then wrote it off as a stupid idea because I'm geographically challenged.
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CamusCanDo

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Re: American Gods' road trip
« Reply #2 on: 11 Aug 2008, 20:39 »

I would love to find, or even see a picture, of the big ass Ash tree.
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Nodaisho

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Re: American Gods' road trip
« Reply #3 on: 11 Aug 2008, 20:48 »

Does it actually exist, or was it made up for the sake of the story? I know Gaiman is king at making things he pulls out of his ass sound like real legends for Sandman, could do the same thing for land features.

I need to read the book again, I got it... I forget exactly when, but I think I either got it as a gift from my grandmother, or when I got some books in preparation for a trip, but that was a couple years ago, so I am foggy on some of the details.

I would love to do the roadtrip myself, but I am not sure whether it would be preferable to do it by myself, just take some time away from everything, or to take it with friends that have read the book.
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imagist42

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Re: American Gods' road trip
« Reply #4 on: 11 Aug 2008, 22:18 »

I was pretty sure most of the key locations in the book--the kobold's town, the fates' farm/field/plot/whatever--were at least semi-fictional. I could be wrong, though.

I would so love to see the tourist traps, though. He just makes them sound so magical.
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CamusCanDo

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Re: American Gods' road trip
« Reply #5 on: 11 Aug 2008, 22:36 »

Does it actually exist, or was it made up for the sake of the story?

I think I remember reading somewhere that Gaiman said that if someone were to ever go and look for it they would find it. I have no idea where I read this, it was either in an interview or in my copy of American Gods.
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Nodaisho

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Re: American Gods' road trip
« Reply #6 on: 11 Aug 2008, 23:31 »

Now, if I were to say that, I would mean that if someone tried hard enough, they could find someplace that they could convince themselves was the place. Wonder if that is what he meant.
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Gridgm

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Re: American Gods' road trip
« Reply #7 on: 12 Aug 2008, 07:15 »

this site has approximatly the road trip taken, the quote at the top is taken straight from the note on the road trip which is in the first few pages of the book (or at least my one)

http://frowl.org/gods/geography.html
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Nodaisho

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Re: American Gods' road trip
« Reply #8 on: 12 Aug 2008, 14:12 »

Man, that is a long trip. It would be noticeably shorter if you removed plane flights, though I am not sure how many of those were plane flights, driving Providence to Seattle would take three or four days, if you are driving constantly, one drives while the other sleeps.
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Liz

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Re: American Gods' road trip
« Reply #9 on: 12 Aug 2008, 15:02 »

Well, I've road tripped from Fargo to Washington D.C. and Fargo to San Antonio before. Spread over nine days with overnight stops it's actually quite fun and not tiring or anything.
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Surgoshan

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Re: American Gods' road trip
« Reply #10 on: 12 Aug 2008, 17:23 »

I've driven by myself from central Florida to upstate New York in a single stretch on several occasions.  1100 miles.  My best time was 18 hours (left Gainesville at 3 PM, hit DC around 4 AM.  Zero traffic on the beltway.).

However, Shadow's trip clocks in at roughly 20,000 miles.  That'd be difficult to do non-stop. 
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Nodaisho

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Re: American Gods' road trip
« Reply #11 on: 12 Aug 2008, 21:14 »

That was juist one highway, though, right? I am from Colorado, so I don't really know the eastern highway system all that well, I just know that we have gotten down to about one and a half days from Denver-area Colorado to Atlanta, and I must say that while I might not enjoy it so much if I were driving, there is nothing like waking up in the Appalachians as the sun is rising and you are on a curving mountain road.

20,000 miles is indeed a bit much to do nonstop, and my estimate for gas cost would be pretty damn high, I would probably want to make that drive in a CRX if I could fit all my stuff in, 50-odd highway MPG would make it a lot cheaper. And not do it during the summer, if possible. And like I said, skip the plane trips. Providence to Seattle would be a monster, was that a drive in the book?

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Surgoshan

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Re: American Gods' road trip
« Reply #12 on: 13 Aug 2008, 17:59 »

Yeah, the east coast has a pretty thickly woven highway system.  My trip was 95 from Jacksonville to DC, then 83 to 81 to a state highway.
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Nodaisho

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Re: American Gods' road trip
« Reply #13 on: 13 Aug 2008, 21:22 »

Out west, you would probably end up wasting some miles unless you had very carefully mapped out the route, and then you would lose time by going slower, though our country roads still have the same speed limit as your interstates out east (why the hell is it that everything east of kansas is 65? I think even Kansas is 65, and you can see from border to border, barring the two or three trees). Price-wise and enjoyment-wise, I would go with state highways and county roads if I could, lower speed means less gas consumed, probably wouldn't lose much if any time as long as you knew where you were going, and two lane blacktop is much more enjoyable than interstate. Besides, what is it on the cover of the book? That's right, it isn't an 8-lane interstate.
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Surgoshan

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Re: American Gods' road trip
« Reply #14 on: 13 Aug 2008, 21:42 »

Quote
why the hell is it that everything east of kansas is 65?
  Because once you're east of Kansas, there are people.
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Nodaisho

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Re: American Gods' road trip
« Reply #15 on: 13 Aug 2008, 22:09 »

If they are standing in the road, maybe they deserve to get hit.

Look at a population density map of someplace out east compared to one of the more populated western states (like colorado), while Colorado has a large area with few or no people, that is where the roads aren't, the front range consists of a bunch of cities about three or four hours apart, all of the major population centers. I won't bother checking the miles, because three or four hours apart is still about the same out east, people just fudge 15 rather than fudge 5.

Maybe it worked like that when the highways were started, but now, while you have more nothing out west, you also have a lot of something with a speed limit of 75, and it is in the whole lot of nothing places that you get more crashes, cause people aren't paying attention (holycrap a curve! that is the first one in an hour). Now I think it is just stupid laws. And I am pretty sure I-70 through kansas is 65, I remember being happy when we got back into Colorado because I could finally speed up without getting in trouble, I had had a cop in front of me for about an hour.
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