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Author Topic: Rooooooooooooaaaaaaad Triiiiiiiiiiiip!  (Read 5287 times)

maxusy3k

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Rooooooooooooaaaaaaad Triiiiiiiiiiiip!
« on: 18 Mar 2010, 00:30 »

Hey guys,

So basically my friend and I are planning a road trip across America, probably for about five years time (for Reasons). The route we have planned is more or less flying out to Boston, probably looking at March 14th or so - we would like to be there for St. Patrick's Day - and then heading through the coastal states, through the South, then up the West coast, probably ending the trip in Los Angeles and flying back from there. I'd like to go up to Seattle too for cool points, but we'll see what happens.

Anyway! I was wondering if you dudes, particularly you American dudes, can impart either advice on things to watch out for - bear in mind we have no concept of American laws - and things we should probably take with us, or just places we should probably do our best to visit. We haven't definitely planned our route yet but given that we can only spend a maximum of about 5 weeks here time is probably going to be short, especially if we want to spend a couple days in some places.

Things we have accounted for:

We'll be hiring a car, so motor insurance is taken care of.
We're both way over 21, which I think is the last legal age in America?

And that is pretty much it so far.
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Elizzybeth

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Re: Rooooooooooooaaaaaaad Triiiiiiiiiiiip!
« Reply #1 on: 18 Mar 2010, 00:35 »

Re: legal ages, most rental car places in the US won't rent to you unless you're over 25, but if you're over 21 now and this won't be happening for 5 years, you're good there.
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Dollface

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Re: Rooooooooooooaaaaaaad Triiiiiiiiiiiip!
« Reply #2 on: 18 Mar 2010, 01:06 »

Elizzybeth: ruining peoples dreams since 2007
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scarred

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Re: Rooooooooooooaaaaaaad Triiiiiiiiiiiip!
« Reply #3 on: 18 Mar 2010, 01:11 »

21 is legal drinking age in america, 18 is everything else.

you guys should totally hit seattle! we can hang out like whoa. pike place is worth seeing and seattle in general as a town is like the pinnacle of the west coast, unless you are totally gay, in case san francisco is where you want to be. but yeah seattle is great woo.
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Elizzybeth

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Re: Rooooooooooooaaaaaaad Triiiiiiiiiiiip!
« Reply #4 on: 18 Mar 2010, 01:20 »

Elizzybeth: just jealous

(that is: it sounds like a total blast and I can't really recommend anyplace that's objectively "worth" visiting, since I haven't seen much of my own country... Los Angeles is okay sometimes and San Francisco is pretty cool?)
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scarred

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Re: Rooooooooooooaaaaaaad Triiiiiiiiiiiip!
« Reply #5 on: 18 Mar 2010, 01:32 »

san francisco = totally gay

seattle = totally awesome

portland = totally hipster

chicago = rad like whoa

new york = omgwtfbbq
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Alex C

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Re: Rooooooooooooaaaaaaad Triiiiiiiiiiiip!
« Reply #6 on: 18 Mar 2010, 01:35 »

People need to quit completely skipping Minnesota and Wisconsin.


I mean, shit, we have moose.



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Barmymoo

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Re: Rooooooooooooaaaaaaad Triiiiiiiiiiiip!
« Reply #7 on: 18 Mar 2010, 03:11 »

Get really good at fractions and percentages. If you're not travelling with Americans, you're going to need to calculate rapidly to work out tax and tipping. Man was I confused, and I never went anywhere without a pet American to help me.
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Re: Rooooooooooooaaaaaaad Triiiiiiiiiiiip!
« Reply #8 on: 18 Mar 2010, 03:25 »

I read "brooooaaaad triiiiip", which sounds more fun.
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David_Dovey

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Re: Rooooooooooooaaaaaaad Triiiiiiiiiiiip!
« Reply #9 on: 18 Mar 2010, 03:31 »

People need to quit completely skipping Minnesota and Wisconsin.

I mean, shit, we have moose.

Dude I'm going to Canada
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Nodaisho

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Re: Rooooooooooooaaaaaaad Triiiiiiiiiiiip!
« Reply #10 on: 18 Mar 2010, 03:35 »

I'm not sure how the weather is where you live, but remember it gets hot in the south, be ready to use your AC and have light clothes if you are used to cold weather. It will be cooler farther north.

Atlanta, Georgia, has the coke museum, although I can't really recommend it anymore. It used to be really cool, with lots of old memorabilia from the early days, videos on the history of the company, now it still has a bit of the old stuff, but not nearly as much. They also really tried to appeal to kids more, I think, adding some crappy CG video when you enter and a crappy 3d "experience" you can wait in line to see. There is a functioning bottling line, which is neat, and they've got a room at the end full of soda fountains that you can get free samples of flavors from around the world from. I was going to recommend it, I used to go there almost every time we would be visiting my grandparents in Atlanta, but I think partially I got older and partially it got a lot shittier. It might be worth going to, if you guys are desperate.

Be prepared for boredom crossing the middle of the country, it sounds like you will at least be skipping Kansas and Missouri, but Texas is pretty boring for the most part as well. St. Louis does have a pretty rad zoo if you are bored witless for something to do, but that would be before the 650 miles of corn fields if you are heading east.

If you guys don't get tired of drinking after St. Patrick's day, if you do head up to Seattle, I hear Portland also has a lot of good microbreweries, and some great scenery if you don't object to rain (I'm kind of biased as I really want to go there). I guess I should think of something to plug my own state, shouldn't I? Colorado's got some great mountains, if you guys want to stretch your legs and go hiking up past 3.5km. I've also heard there are some good microbreweries around here. I don't know, I don't drink.

Sales tax is roughly 7% on average, tipping is 10%-20% depending on how good your waiter is. Sales tax is the more painful one to calculate.
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Re: Rooooooooooooaaaaaaad Triiiiiiiiiiiip!
« Reply #11 on: 18 Mar 2010, 05:56 »

Sales tax varies from state to state, but they calculate it for you. Tip will always be 10-20%.

If you're driving from the north of the east coast down around the south and then up the west coast, go see the Grand Canyon if you like Nature. Really, a lot of states will be boring to drive through, but not nearly as much as the midwest because of all the farm land, so I would skip it, unless you want to see some of the states that border Canada, which really are quite pretty. If you plan on driving through the mdiwest, go to Nashville if you like music. (It's not just country music, don't worry.)
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Slick

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Re: Rooooooooooooaaaaaaad Triiiiiiiiiiiip!
« Reply #12 on: 18 Mar 2010, 07:52 »

Top Gear has driven America a couple of times. You should definitely check out all their stuff (but make sure you don't watch Top Gear America by mistake!).
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Nodaisho

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Re: Rooooooooooooaaaaaaad Triiiiiiiiiiiip!
« Reply #13 on: 18 Mar 2010, 08:10 »

Main lesson to be taken from those episodes is get a nice car, rather than one you could buy for $500, and don't paint "Man love is OK" on the side of your car going through Louisiana. Especially not if you look like James May.
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Slick

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Re: Rooooooooooooaaaaaaad Triiiiiiiiiiiip!
« Reply #14 on: 18 Mar 2010, 08:54 »

Link part 1 for one of their trips.

MAN LOVE RULES OK
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benji

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Re: Rooooooooooooaaaaaaad Triiiiiiiiiiiip!
« Reply #15 on: 18 Mar 2010, 08:54 »

Remember: America is big and many people live in this country our whole lives and don't see everything worth seeing.

Remember, things are far apart. Just for fun, I plugged in a route for such a trip (starting in Boston and ending in Seattle, with a trip through the South as planned) and came out with about 70 hours of drive time. If you can manage about 10 hours a day driving, this means that 1 of your 5 weeks will probably be taken up by drive time, so just be prepared for that.

For the record, I chose:

Boston
New York

Philadelphia (I might actually skip this leg and come down through New Jersey. It get's a bad rap, but once you're in the south, there are some nice beaches. Then again, the shore is going to be crowded in the summer, and if you like history, there's some great stuff in Philadelphia).
Baltimore/DC (these two cities are next to each other. DC has a lot of our national monuments, but Baltimore has some great food).
Nashville (it made no difference to do Atlanta instead, time-wise, but I prefer Nashville for the music scene. If you go, don't go to be big venues, that's going to be mostly pop-country. You want to get to the rough part of town and find someone playing the blues. Also, you get to go through the mountains to get there, so that's cool)
New Orleans (This is one of the great American Cities, and despite the way they talk about it, it's still standing and it's still fun. Great for music and some of the best food in the country)
Austen (If you're willing to take the long way, you can drive along the Gulf to Galveston, and then up through Huston instead of making a beeline for Huston. Huston, by the way, has some cool stuff but isn't as nice as Austen for my money. Either way, Texas is dull. The part before Austen isn't quite as bad from what I can tell, but after Austen, you will likely pas through stretches of long country roads and only country music on the radio, so come prepared with your own music).
Flagstaff, AZ (Near the grand canyon. Before you get there, you'll pass through the Gila and Apache national forests, which also are quite nice).
LA
San Fransisco
(California, like Texas, is huge but there are slightly more interesting things to see most of the way. After SF, you get into Northern California, which has some great national forests you may wish to check out).
Portland
Seattle
I've never been to either of these last 2, but I hear they're fun.



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benji

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Re: Rooooooooooooaaaaaaad Triiiiiiiiiiiip!
« Reply #16 on: 18 Mar 2010, 09:18 »

Man, dyslexia really sucks sometimes.
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Alex C

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Re: Rooooooooooooaaaaaaad Triiiiiiiiiiiip!
« Reply #17 on: 18 Mar 2010, 11:33 »

Dude I'm going to Canada

That picture is from the boundary waters. It practically is Canada.

The midwest: Not as ugly as you think.

« Last Edit: 18 Mar 2010, 11:34 by Alex C »
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Alex C

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Re: Rooooooooooooaaaaaaad Triiiiiiiiiiiip!
« Reply #18 on: 18 Mar 2010, 11:37 »

I'll admit that it's totally understandable to skip it if you're not going to really spend any time there. Not like they'll have time to canoe if you're dead set on crossing the entire damn country.
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KickThatBathProf

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Re: Rooooooooooooaaaaaaad Triiiiiiiiiiiip!
« Reply #19 on: 18 Mar 2010, 12:32 »

yeah i would consider the plains states as generally uglier than midwestern states
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Alex C

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Re: Rooooooooooooaaaaaaad Triiiiiiiiiiiip!
« Reply #20 on: 18 Mar 2010, 12:47 »

Yeah, downside is that Minnesota has big sections of just plains.
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Emaline

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Re: Rooooooooooooaaaaaaad Triiiiiiiiiiiip!
« Reply #21 on: 18 Mar 2010, 13:06 »

St. Louis has some rad ass shit. Like the City Museum! And some awesome little art galleries! And other great stuff.
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JD

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Re: Rooooooooooooaaaaaaad Triiiiiiiiiiiip!
« Reply #22 on: 18 Mar 2010, 13:12 »

Victoria/Vancouver area is worth going to if you end up near Seattle.
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KickThatBathProf

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Re: Rooooooooooooaaaaaaad Triiiiiiiiiiiip!
« Reply #23 on: 18 Mar 2010, 13:20 »

yeah st louis is pretty rad and so is chicago obviously. you might even wanna hit up minneapolis if you don't mind goin a little bit out of the way.  i don't really know about any plains cities but on the other side denver is pretty ok

also the rockies are awesome and you should definitely check out the upper half goin into canada like around wyoming/idaho/montana (canada i hate you cause you have the best part)
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Dazed

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Re: Rooooooooooooaaaaaaad Triiiiiiiiiiiip!
« Reply #24 on: 18 Mar 2010, 14:26 »

Yo dudes, don't skip out on Colorado/Utah.

I realize they're a little out of the way with regards to making a streamlined journey, but shit, there is some amazingly beautiful stuff out there. Check out Zion, Bryce Canyon, and the Arches, just to start.
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Scandanavian War Machine

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Re: Rooooooooooooaaaaaaad Triiiiiiiiiiiip!
« Reply #25 on: 18 Mar 2010, 14:45 »

Seattle suxx come to Alger because it rules

I could show you the real-life burned out remains of a meth lab (I can only assume you are frothing with excitement at the mere thought).
Or just some trees or something, whatevs


you probably won't even get shot at
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maxusy3k

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Re: Rooooooooooooaaaaaaad Triiiiiiiiiiiip!
« Reply #26 on: 18 Mar 2010, 15:28 »

Hey dudes, thanks for the replies!

The route isn't set in stone yet so yeah, the suggestions are great. I don't really think we can look too much into middle America in any shape or form primarily because of cost - I imagine the bulk of our outgoings for the trip is going to end up going on gas as it is. I, personally, would love to see some of the central states, mountains et al but I don't know how much my friend would be down with that and also, it would screw up the travel map plenty I reckon.

Spoke with my friend a bit more about it today and the trip is probably going to be cut down to four weeks... five weeks is our entire work's holiday entitlement and it's very doubtful we'd be able to squeeze that out of our managers. Though with the company we're both at, in five years we might be our own managers so who knows.

Some of the places that have come up we were already hoping to hit up - Grand Canyon, New Jersey, Nashville, Austin, Atlanta - so maybe we're not completely as uninformed as we thought. We were already planning on bringing a whole bunch of our own CDs for the trip.

As for St. Patrick's burning us out on drinking, this is a ridiculous idea. We're English, so it is kind of an inherent thing. Also what are the legal limits for drinking then driving? Personally I wouldn't risk it either way but I know what my friend is like. It shouldn't be too much of an issue... I can't imagine we'd be drinking right before we're about to set off driving anywhere anyway, plus I usually drink hard and spend the next few days avoiding alcohol altogether.

Finally yeah, also aware we'll need to come prepared for a lot of differing climes. England has been getting some pretty interesting summers recently but I'm aware - or at least, I think - that the average temperatures are probably higher for most of the states we'll be passing through.

How friendly is the average American person? Like if we got totally stumped by some crazy sales tax thing, or whatever, what are the chances of getting a civil response by just asking somebody for help?
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ampersandwitch

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Re: Rooooooooooooaaaaaaad Triiiiiiiiiiiip!
« Reply #27 on: 18 Mar 2010, 15:35 »

Go to Philadelphia, see the 8 foot colon



That's what I did, anyway.

ETA: Please tip your waitresses.

EATA: Be careful of trucks when you get out to the big roads in the middle!  A lot of them have been driving for hours and hours without sleep, even though there are laws to prevent this.  My brother, who drives cross-country to California, can attest to some absolutely ridiculous truck-related collisions. 

He also anti-recommends the petrified forests because he was spoiled by the Lord of the Rings movies and was probably expecting Lothlorien.

Also: should you need further reading, there is a large corpus of American Road Trip literature across all media.  Some of it is more reliable than the rest, but it should give you a good idea of what to expect. 
« Last Edit: 18 Mar 2010, 15:40 by ampersandwitch »
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Scandanavian War Machine

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Re: Rooooooooooooaaaaaaad Triiiiiiiiiiiip!
« Reply #28 on: 18 Mar 2010, 15:42 »

How friendly is the average American person? Like if we got totally stumped by some crazy sales tax thing, or whatever, what are the chances of getting a civil response by just asking somebody for help?

America is too big and too varied for averages.
I wanna say that people are generally nice but then again I've never been to New Jersey or The South...or anywhere really.

I went to New York City once and it seems that their reputation for rudeness was vastly exagerated.

My only advice is Speak Clearly, because some people (not that many, really) seem to have an unusually hard time understanding foreign accents, sometimes going so far as to actually be angered by it. But that's probably the exception rather than the rule, at least around here. I can't speak for other areas.

Might as well add "listen clearly" as well, since some rural accents and dialects can be fucking weird, bordering on unintelligible, but you probably know all about that kind of thing already.
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maxusy3k

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Re: Rooooooooooooaaaaaaad Triiiiiiiiiiiip!
« Reply #29 on: 18 Mar 2010, 15:44 »

If I have to use my work voice - BBC English - everywhere I'll be super pissed like three days in.
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JD

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Re: Rooooooooooooaaaaaaad Triiiiiiiiiiiip!
« Reply #30 on: 18 Mar 2010, 15:49 »

Marylanders are pretty nice. There are also a buttload of forumites somewhere in there
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Re: Rooooooooooooaaaaaaad Triiiiiiiiiiiip!
« Reply #31 on: 18 Mar 2010, 16:11 »

At my old job, a man once came in and in a very very very strong British accent asked for a "sa ca" game. I had no idea what he was asking for until he said FIFA. So uh, yeah. Try to be very patient with people who aren't understanding your accent.
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Re: Rooooooooooooaaaaaaad Triiiiiiiiiiiip!
« Reply #32 on: 18 Mar 2010, 16:34 »

Also what are the legal limits for drinking then driving? Personally I wouldn't risk it either way but I know what my friend is like. It shouldn't be too much of an issue... I can't imagine we'd be drinking right before we're about to set off driving anywhere anyway, plus I usually drink hard and spend the next few days avoiding alcohol altogether.

it is .08% but basically you shouldnt even consider it
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Re: Rooooooooooooaaaaaaad Triiiiiiiiiiiip!
« Reply #33 on: 18 Mar 2010, 16:44 »

Yeah, don't drink and drive.

As for how nice people are, if you're friendly, people should be nice back. Personally I think my city is kind of rude whereas NY and Nashville will actually have really cool people. (I don't get where the rumors of new yorkers being rude came from, they're really nice and helpful!) As for the accent, just be patient. Some will understand you, some won't.
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Alex C

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Re: Rooooooooooooaaaaaaad Triiiiiiiiiiiip!
« Reply #34 on: 18 Mar 2010, 16:55 »

I think New Yorkers suffer from the same kind of image problem a lot of Texans I have met suffer from: a lot of them tend to be pretty proud of where they live and sometimes come across as a teensy bit arrogant because of it. There's a lot of insecure people out there, so out of any flock of tourists there's bound to be at least one guy who takes it a bit personal when you run into a bartender that insists it's the best place in the world to live and that their team is better than your team blah blah blah. Basically, I've found that New Yorkers might make fun of where you live, but that doesn't mean they won't point you at the nearest pay phone or give you directions.

Also, it kinda bugs me when people warn each other about truck drivers. I've worked in EMS off and on in one capacity or another for most of my adult life, and my uncle's a lawyer who mostly deals with liability disputes. Let's put it this way: he doesn't like taking on cases where the client is up against a truck driver, because nine times out of ten that means his client did something really dumb that vastly overestimated the options a truck driver has in iffy situations. Truck drivers get cut off all the time and people don't even realize they're doing it.
« Last Edit: 18 Mar 2010, 16:58 by Alex C »
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Re: Rooooooooooooaaaaaaad Triiiiiiiiiiiip!
« Reply #35 on: 18 Mar 2010, 18:38 »

Way to pass right over Oregon, everyone. That is not very nice of you, Oregon has no sales tax and some of the people are quite friendly. If you decide to go through to Seattle, there are a couple of road-trip friendly things you could see without going too far out of your way.



A) Jedediah Smith Redwoods State Park, Crescent City, California - AKA Endor

B) Oregon Caves National Monument, Williams, OR - There's a 1930's hotel here, and a really neat cave.

C) House of Mystery At the Vortex, 4303 Sardine Creek L Fork Road, Gold Hill, OR  - Where people and objects appear to defy physics and gravity.

D) Crater Lake - When volcanoes go bad.

E) Winston Safari, Safari Rd, Winston, OR  - Lions, tigers, cheetahs, rhinos, giraffes and a herd of dik-diks won't eat you if you stay in your car.

F) Beverly Beach State Park, Newport, OR  - A good place to go camping, you can spend the day in Newport and see the aquarium or go to the beach and fly kites or look for shells. Also there is a lighthouse nearby at Yaquina Bay that is really cool. They tell you a "ghost" story there, but it sounds to me as if the girl was chucked out the window and stolen by a vampire, so I wouldn't go at night. In Florence, to the south, they blew up a beached whale with dynamite once. Hooray?

G) Silver Falls State Park, Silverton, OR  - There are lots of waterfalls in this park, and the town's mayor is a transvestite.

H) Bagby Hotsprings, (Estacada?) - After a few miles of hiking though the forrest there are cedar tubs to soak in with steamy hotspring water and a bucket of cold river water. It is the best place in Oregon to be in a bathing suit or not.

I) Timberline Lodge, Mt. Hood - It's cold up there.

J) Multnomah Falls, 50000 E Historic Columbia River Hwy, Corbett, OR - This is the most popular trail in Oregon, I bet. There are many trails nearby and all of them are awesome.

K) Hobo's, 120 Northwest 3rd Avenue, Portland, OR - The Cascade Geographic Society gives tours of Portland's underground shanghai tunnels where they shanghaied people to and took them to Shanghai. The entrance is beneath Hobo's Bar. It is a good tour!

L) Powell's Books 1005 West Burnside Street, Portland, OR - The seventh floor has a rare book room, the store covers a whole city block!

M) Ape Caves, Mt. St. Helens, Gifford Pinchot National Forest  - Travel deep below the surface of the earth in a tube made of lava, watch out for morlocks! I am pretty sure they are the ones who stacked all those rocks in there.

Then you can go to the Emerald City.
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Alex C

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Re: Rooooooooooooaaaaaaad Triiiiiiiiiiiip!
« Reply #36 on: 18 Mar 2010, 18:44 »

Portland actually did get mentioned a couple of times, but I'm glad you posted anyway because people should totally go there. My aunt lives there and she is pretty and bakes. I have nothing bad to say about Oregon.
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Nodaisho

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Re: Rooooooooooooaaaaaaad Triiiiiiiiiiiip!
« Reply #37 on: 18 Mar 2010, 21:03 »

Also, it kinda bugs me when people warn each other about truck drivers. I've worked in EMS off and on in one capacity or another for most of my adult life, and my uncle's a lawyer who mostly deals with liability disputes. Let's put it this way: he doesn't like taking on cases where the client is up against a truck driver, because nine times out of ten that means his client did something really dumb that vastly overestimated the options a truck driver has in iffy situations. Truck drivers get cut off all the time and people don't even realize they're doing it.
What I was recommended in driver's ed was to wait until you could see both headlights of the truck in the rear view mirror before merging back into their lane. Is that sufficient? Also to just assume they can't see you, because unless you are at a perfect angle they probably can't. In bad traffic, they'll probably assume someone is there, but they can't see you, so be very careful and try not to spend too much time in their (very large) blind spots.

Especially be careful if you go somewhere that it is windy. Trucks are a lot taller than you, have a lot higher center of gravity than you, and aren't all that much wider than you. They get hit by wind hard, when wind gets up bad it is unusual for there not to be a few jacknifed trucks along the interstate.

Thanks for that list, Tapioca. That has added some things I want to do when I go up there.
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Alex C

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Re: Rooooooooooooaaaaaaad Triiiiiiiiiiiip!
« Reply #38 on: 18 Mar 2010, 21:47 »

Yeah, that's about right Nodaisho. But one has to consider that a lot of guidelines are written around standards that don't necessarily reflect the fact that many people think a 70 mph speed limit means the real speed limit is 75 mph and that the cop is a dick if they pull you over at 80. But you wanna know what the saddest cases that I've heard of have been? Situations in which the truck speed limit is lower than the passenger speed limit. For one thing, speed differences make it harder to judge some situations. For another, you get stupid ass scenarios in which for one reason or another someone is stuck behind a truck for a while and starts tailgating and nerd raging about it and doing something stupid.

Anyway though, I must say, I was exagerrating too much when I said 9 outta 10. Last time I heard an actual statistic it was really more like 70% of the time it was found to be the fault of the passenger vehicle in truck-car collisions.
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october1983

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Re: Rooooooooooooaaaaaaad Triiiiiiiiiiiip!
« Reply #39 on: 19 Mar 2010, 07:49 »

Either way, I'm pretty sure the UK has its fair share of fucking crazy truck drivers too.
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ampersandwitch

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Re: Rooooooooooooaaaaaaad Triiiiiiiiiiiip!
« Reply #40 on: 19 Mar 2010, 20:11 »

Speaking of disparities twixt Old and New World roads, I've compiled the following list of pros and cons of American road trips as opposed to their counterparts across the pond (based on my own paltry experiences):

PROS
-Fig Newtons
-Fewer rotaries
-Cheaper gas
-Lanes on Right and Proper side.  

CONS
-New Jersey
-?

Yeah, I think you'll be fine as long as you don't try a break to Mexico.  Don't drive drunk and look out for truckers, but I think the biggest problem you're going to face in this ordeal is apportioning the driving hours.
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Aurjay

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Re: Rooooooooooooaaaaaaad Triiiiiiiiiiiip!
« Reply #41 on: 19 Mar 2010, 23:30 »

skip over Texas completely. It takes at least 2-3days of steady driving even to cross the state and trust me their isn't anything to see except desert. Not saying the Midwest has much to offer but if you do cross it I'd stick to north as possible.
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maxusy3k

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Re: Rooooooooooooaaaaaaad Triiiiiiiiiiiip!
« Reply #42 on: 20 Mar 2010, 04:05 »

Aside from wanting to visit Austin we're mainly going through Texas since it's a state which is between two others we're planning on going through. We made a list of the states we'd likely pass through on the route, and we were thinking more about working out the specifics of what to see and do while there as time goes on.

The list is:

Massachusetts
Rhode Island
New York

Delaware
Maryland
Virginia - this will mainly depend on if there is any capacity to visit Langley in any shape or form, even just to see it.

Things get a bit screwy here since I want to go to Chicago, which would involve going from here through West Virginia, Ohia, Indiana into Illinois, then south through Kentucky into Tennesseee, then back to a route we're both agreed on. If I get edged out over this we'll likely go through North and South Carolina before continuing onto:

Georgia
Florida
Alabama
Mississipi
Louisiana
Texas
New Mexico

Arizona
Nevada
California


The bold states are the ones we actually want to visit, whereas the other ones are mainly the ones we will just be passing through on the way to somewhere else.

The Nevada / California bit is going to be awkward I think. We want go to Vegas, but it seems like we'll be going pretty far out of our way to come back down. I think California would be better to drive through - since we'd have to go into the North to see San Franciscio, which my friend really wants to do, before coming back to LA to finish the trip - but I don't know if it would make more sense to drive through Nevada.

Washington isn't on the list yet since Seattle isn't a definite thing.

There is also the possibility we will get carjacked and / or have all our worldly possessions stolen and end up having to do favours for questionable people for the rest of our lives but hey, what is the point of a holiday without that kind of risk?
« Last Edit: 20 Mar 2010, 23:42 by maxusy3k »
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Papersatan

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Re: Rooooooooooooaaaaaaad Triiiiiiiiiiiip!
« Reply #43 on: 20 Mar 2010, 09:42 »

I just went on a long road trip this summer with my friend from China.  Here are the things I learned.  Get roadside assistance. My car broke a bunch of times, and while your chances of this are less in a rental, make sure it has some sort of assistance.  There are places where you could be 50 miles from the nearest tiny town, so walking for help is not an option.  On the same note, I assume you will have cell phones.  Make sure you have pleanty of water on hand in the car, so if you do get stuck in Utah or Arizona you won't die.
We saved a ton of money camping and cooking for ourselves.  I think we ate out maybe one of 5 meals.  We also took a rice cooker and when we stayed in hotels we made a big batch of rice and then had it for days.  The same with camping we would cook a bunch of chicken and then keep it for a few days.  We would stock up on fruit and snacks every few days. 
The other advice, make sure you have a good grasp of how big the US is and how far you are comfortable driving.  Some people just can't sit in a car 8 hours a day for weeks.  We found it was good to break it up have some days where we only drove 4 hours or so.  It also let us do some fun things that we didn't plan for (swim at a beach in Iowa.. yes Iowa..) and made it so we didnt feel stressed when the car broke. 
 
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Lines

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Re: Rooooooooooooaaaaaaad Triiiiiiiiiiiip!
« Reply #44 on: 20 Mar 2010, 19:50 »

Things get a bit screwy here since I want to go to Chicago, which would involve going from here through West Virginia, Ohia, Idaho into Illinois, then south through Kentucky into Tennesseee, then back to a route we're both agreed on.

Indiana, not Idaho. Idaho is over near Montana and Washington state, which would be quite a detour! Really, you would probably be passing through New York state or Pennsylvania (only if you plan on going to Philly and/or D.C.) and would take the northern route through Ohio and Indiana and then bam you're into Chicago. It really doesn't take that much time to drive through Ohio and Indiana compared to other states because they really aren't that big. (New York state is a boring drive. Pennsylvania is also boring, but it's prettier.)

If you don't want to see the southern states, you could do the east coast, head to Nashville, St. Louis, and then Chicago. From there you can go either through the northern states and then down the west coast or you could head out to Colorado, down to Arizona, and then up the west coast. Both routes would avoid Texas, but you'd miss Atlanta, New Orleans, and any other city down there you'd want to visit.
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maxusy3k

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Re: Rooooooooooooaaaaaaad Triiiiiiiiiiiip!
« Reply #45 on: 20 Mar 2010, 23:43 »

Yes, Indiana. Don't know where Idaho came from.
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