Day 1: Westward, Ho, Ho, Ho!
Date: December 12
Destination: Bossier City, LA
Start Time: 2:30 PM
End Time: 11:00 PM
Road Time: 8.5 hours
Weather: Fair
Notables: Talladega Speedway, FEMA Trailers, Mississippi River, Falcons/Saints
Food: n/a
Health: Slight Cold
Forgotten Items: Cell Phone Charger.
Again, a sinus-induced sore throat. Again, the symptoms faded in the presence of warmth.
After some last-minute laundry, cleaning, and running around, the Westward, Ho Ho Ho(tm) Road Trip of 2005 began.

For a Milwaukee road trip from years past, I made protein shakes for consumption on the road. They worked great. This year, I'm doing it again, using protein/nutrition/fitness bars, pre-made shakes, mainly to avoid needing a cooler. I've also brought a gallon of water, to take care of thirst. I'm using Spring water, which should contain some level of salts and other minerals. If I need to, I'll bring a salt packet to mix with the water, that should take care of drinks along the way.

Bottom line: Each $1.50+ bar or shake is roughly 30-45 minutes of time spent driving or wandering around, and $5-15 in meal and tip. So, unless I'm waiting out traffic, or intend to stop for sightseeing, there's no need to stop for meals along the way. I figure one bar or shake every two hours, four or five times a day max, that should result in 800-1000 KCal at $8-10, plenty to keep me going.

I took a starting picture of my ride, will post it ASAP. I hope to take pictures of the car in various places along the way, let's see how far I get...

I remember from prior trips, that Dallas is about 11 hours from Atlanta, including a traffic jam or two. So leaving at 2:30, I'd show up in Dallas around 1:30 or 2 AM. Shreveport around 11 or so, Tyler around midnight. So those were my options.

I breezed through Atlanta, having learned the construction lesson from Sunday. Actually, the drive was great all afternoon and evening. Talledega is looking nice as usual, and Alabama DOT has almost completed lane expansion on Hell's Playground. The construction zone traffic there was slow, as usual, but the overall drive through that section of I-20 has improved greatly over pre-expansion days.

The protein bars worked out; I ended up making the trip with one stop for gas, south of Birmingham. They're definite time-savers. Now if I could dump this cold permanently, I'll be alright. Earplugs also came in handy, cutting the road noise to tolerable levels.

If I knew I could leave as easily as I arrived, I would have stopped in Pascagoula and Ocean Springs for a few days. I might yet stop by on the way back. Mainly, I don't want to obstruct things. As it was, I encountered a few FEMA trucks, towing prefab houses down to the coast. It bothers me that houses are being carted in place, rather than in parts, to be assembled on-site. The latter method would be more efficient in transporting houses to the coast, although you might get a bottleneck in labor once on the coast. That's a really big might, though, as you have folks living in tents, and will for the forseeable future. These folks have extra motivation to assemble or construct housing.
At some point in the first quarter, I remembered the game was on -- THE game, otherwise known as Falcons/Saints. This rivalry is similar to Braves/Giants, in that all sorts of craziness usually happens during these matchups. I tuned into 870AM out of New Orleans, and got the local announcers for the first half. They were demonstrably pissed at the review of Vick's second touchdown, and as the second quarter exploded into zaniness, I pulled into Bossier City and the Horseshoe.

I watched the second half from the pub, downed a few pints, booked a room, and lost $40 (+50,-90) at two 4-8 Hold'em tables. One day, I'll remember to stop playing when the brush breaks up my winning table. This is the second time that's happened, and the second table has been a total loser each time.

While playing, I felt a vibration through the floor. It took a few minutes to realize that Louisiana gaming law requires (a) gambling to be conducted on boats, and (b) the boats to be running while gambling takes place. Yes, running. Wasting gas or electricity or gerbils or debtors, or whatever else turns the propellers on this stationary riverboat casino.

Day 1 ended quietly, and well. I'm on the road, I'm out of Atlanta, I'm committed to the trip, and here's to open roads and fair weather.


posted at: 18:35 | path: | permanent link to this entry

Day 0: The Warmup

Date: December 11
Destination: Atlanta, GA - Columbus, GA (round trip)
Start Time: 1:30 PM
End Time: 10:30 PM
Road Time: 4 hours (approx.)
Weather: Fair, windy.
Notables: Cheerleading competition.
Food: Country's BBQ
Health: Slight Cold
Sunday, I had planned to travel to parents' house for my uprights-splitting, gift-exchanging pass on the way out West. This turned into a daytrip to Columbus, to visit parents and little brother, the latter of which was competing in a cheerleading competition.

I woke up with one of those dry, sore throats that portends latend colds. I wasn't disappointed, as the cold hung around most of the day. Staying warm (especially throat area) mutes the cold's action, so I stayed bundled up. As long as this doesn't turn into flu (or similar), I'll be ok. Driving while sick is _not_ fun.

As it turns out, Columbus, GA is a cheerleading town. Apparently, this is a large regional competition for the Cheersport sanctioning body, and roughly 3000 people turned out to either conduct, compete, or spectate. Most of those 3000 were from the Columbus area.

I still don't get competitive cheerleading. Mainly, it reminds me of synchronized floor exercises. With overdriven, Ritalin-addled arrangements of pop music to match the blur of bodies on the floor. I suppose synchronicity is the key; a few, really tight performances generated standing ovations from the entire crowd.

So, there was cheering, and more cheering, and talking with parents, and then dinner at a local barbecue franchise, Country's. I give the Barbecue a B+, the sides a B+, and the tea an A+. Generally good stuff, but it isn't the best (contrary to what Dad says).

The driving was good, outside of a poor choice in routing, which placed me in traffic jams on 285 trying to leave Atlanta. Car performed well, with the new oil change and re-inflated tires. Cruise control is still glitchy, but that's better than my prior opinion. I feel there's a loose wire or contact somewhere between the set/resume switch and the computer, that evaded the dealer's testing. So, I'll take that back to the shop upon my return.


posted at: 18:08 | path: | permanent link to this entry