Comments on: Road trip highlights

By: nick s

nick s — Mon, 18 Sep 2006 23:58:05 +0000

Thanks so much for the travelogue, Eszter. (And could we beg a post from you on things Hungarian?)

By: Eszter

Eszter — Mon, 18 Sep 2006 23:16:17 +0000

Sasha – That’s not nit-picky, that’s important. D’uh. I’ve fixed it, thanks.

CS - I wasn’t really looking for more dangerous sections.:)

By: sasha

sasha — Mon, 18 Sep 2006 18:29:30 +0000

not to be aggressively nit-picky, but California’s border with Nevada is, in fact, the Eastern border, the Bay Area is in the West part of the state.

But yes, bottles do do that cool squishy thing.

By: cs

cs — Mon, 18 Sep 2006 16:11:52 +0000

As someone who lives in SLC and has family in Arkansas, I’ve made a similar drive several times. Next time you make the trip, I’d highly recommend going down I-70. After leaving Kansas City, there’s an endless amount of wide open plains, then, when you reach Denver, a very sharp ascent into the Rockies, until you reach the Eisenhower tunnel, at 11,000 feet, then drives through the ski country for a while. After crossing several miles of alpine country, the highway drops downward, sharply, until you’re now in a very narrow canyon carved by the Colorado River, curving along until you reach wide open country again, this time the red desert of Utah.

With such an amazing amount of contrasting landscapes, this is possibly the best way to kill a couple of thousand miles in the country and much more enjoyable and a bit more dangerous than I-80.

The names in the salt flats aren’t that mysterious. Its not very far from SLC to the flats and lot of the residents of the city pass through the flats on their way to the cheesy miniture version of Sin City, known as Wendover, which straddles the state line with Nevada. Lots of people leave their mark while making that boring drive through the West Desert.

By: Eszter

Eszter — Mon, 18 Sep 2006 14:47:19 +0000

Harry, that’s helpful to know, this could explain the situation. That said, it was still very unexpected and hard to understand. With all the various warning signs that get posted on the highway, I think it would then be helpful if this area included a sign or two about “low-flying crop planes”.

By: harry wilson

harry wilson — Mon, 18 Sep 2006 01:57:19 +0000

Having made that drive many times over the last 20 years, my thought is that what you saw in Nebraska was not a guy trying to land a plane on the highway, but a crop duster. They look exactly like they might land, and then loop up, all to make passes over crop fields. It looks like an attempted landing when spraying close to the road, and parallel with the road. At spraying level, they are no more than 20-30 feet in the air. How did you like the “Gangplank” going into the Front Range in WY? Read John McPhee’s Rising From The Plains.

By: kate3

kate3 — Mon, 18 Sep 2006 00:46:11 +0000

Absolutely a fun experience. I once went with my hubby on a ” joyride”. Such a great experience driving around isn’t it? Sad thing, we forgot to bring our camera with us to capture all those memorable times and places.

By: Gene O'Grady

Gene O'Grady — Mon, 18 Sep 2006 00:19:45 +0000

Strange. I was born in Evanston Illinois (have not seen it since 1949) and lived 50 years in Palo Alto.

I did enjoy Evanston Wyoming. Nice little museum, J C Penney’s third store, and a place where I was going to introduce my son to lefse in honor of his Norwegian grandmother, but it had just burned down.

By: Eszter

Eszter — Sun, 17 Sep 2006 23:59:28 +0000

Bemused – Wow, that’s quite a drive. I thought this one was long. I found some of the states a bit too uneventful, but it was interesting.. once.:)

Matt – I agree, that would be dangerous. I did not take those photos while driving.

Etat – We’ve had illustrations here before, although perhaps not this many in one post.

By: etat

etat — Sun, 17 Sep 2006 22:46:20 +0000

Photos on CT? Is this a first?

By: Matt

Matt — Sun, 17 Sep 2006 22:32:40 +0000

I hope you weren’t both driving and taking photos during the hail storm! That would be dangerous!

By: bemused

bemused — Sun, 17 Sep 2006 21:57:24 +0000

Ezster—Sounds like a wonderful trip. I did a cross country trip about 18 months ago from VA to CA (driving my mom’s car back after she was moved to a nursing home). I enjoyed the changes in scenery across the country so much. I followed a route I had driven when I was a young teenager, and seeing the differences and the things that were startlingly the same was a big part of the enjoyment of my trip.

Off topic, you might be interested in this article, talking about trying to follow a lie across the net, refuting it.