Some links

Just thought I would point people to the discussion on elisetalk I created once I got home: http://www.elisetalk.com/forums/showthread.php?t=39042

Also here is the Chicago meet thread that towards the end has pictures and comments after we met: http://www.elisetalk.com/forums/showthread.php?t=37776

Note that there is a link section on the right of this page. I hope you have all been reading Jared's blog too. He has some great photos there too, including this fantastic one of some lightning at Todd's place:

Review video

I made a little video last night. It's my first go using Windows Movie Maker, so excuse the roughness. It is quite an intuitive program to use, but I have never had a program crash so many times in my life. I estimate perhaps 75 or more crashes during the course of making it. However, enabling idiots like myself to put together little videos is pretty impressive. I do have a Mac too, and next time may try that iMovie thing, if it allows similar results; I have never run it yet.

Now that I am home...

I can now sift through all the pictures and video clips I took when on the journey. I am in the process of creating some montage videos; hopefully they will turn out good enough to share. I am totally new to doing video editing to a soundtrack, but I think I have enough Heineken for it to work. I will also be writing a final summary of the trip, including a list of stats that are fun and interesting.

Day 25: Chicago, IL to King of Prussia, PA

Today was the parting of Jared and I. It made sense for Jared to head down to North Carolina from Chicago, as I continued east towards Philadelphia. I wanted to visit Chicago first and Todd kindly took the morning off to take us around the city. Jared hadn't overcome his urban driving fear so after 25 days together we waved each other goodbye and he peeled off as Todd and I entered the city.

From 2007 USA Elises

As we neared Chicago I was thinking about what I knew about the place, and realised everything I did know came from The Blues Brothers. This made me feel a little guilty as it's a city that I have always wanted to visit. Todd was a great tour guide though; we drove around for a while and then parked at the Planetarium, which sits over the lake and offers spectacular views of the city. I probably drove him mad though, as all my questions about Chicago were like 'are we near that bit in The Blues Brothers where...'. Sorry Todd!

From 2007 USA Elises

From 2007 USA Elises

From 2007 USA Elises

Rey, who had been at the barbecue the day before, met us at the Planetarium. Todd had to head back to work (I vaguely remember work), but Rey and I continued driving around Chicago, one Ardent Red Elise substituting for the other. We did a quick tour of Chicago neighborhoods, Gold Coast, Old Town, Lincoln Pk, and then a quick lunch in Wrigleyville. Chicago has a large 'good' area it seems, extending all up the water front, rather than other cities where the nice areas are separated by unsavoury ones.

Another thing that stood out about Chicago was how civilised the drivers are. There is very little aggression on the road, but the main thing I noticed was how people stop immediately when traffic lights turn amber. In Philly amber means 'ok, only another 15 of you are allowed through'.

After lunch (thanks Rey!) I headed off solo through Illinois, Indiana and Ohio. It was a fairly run of the mill drive, although both a car and a truck had a tyre blow out as I was going past. The truck one was particularly dramatic, and I had to swerve a few times to miss the principal debris pieces.

I arrived in Akron, Ohio by early evening and met my friend Robin and her friend Victor for dinner. Robin and I have known each other for a few years now but only now finally met in person. It was a very enjoyable meal with two great people.

From 2007 USA Elises

Feeling invigorated I decided to push on back home to Philadelphia. In Akron we were right on I76, the road which I live off, and Pennsylvania is only and hour and a half or so from where we were. These all make it sound close...oh no. Pennsylvania is pretty big when driving west-east, and it was six or seven hours later when I finally got home. I was glad I did it then rather than staying in another hotel and doing another day of driving; the desire to get back is pretty overwhelming when within touching distance of home.

Day 24: Des Moines, IA to Chicago, IL

A local country buffet place was recommended to us for breakfast. I am normally scared of buffet food for breakfast for two reasons, both being that I'll eat far too much and then want to go back to sleep afterwards. It was a great place, and the food was excellent. I ate too much and didn't care.

The place was like 'Farm Land' in a Disney park, with tractor rides, the staff dressed in farming attire, drinks served in jam jars and agricultural oddities and souvenirs everywhere. I wonder whether it's just what Iowa is like, or just catering to tourist's expectations.

From 2007 USA Elises

From 2007 USA Elises

We chatted with the tractor driver who was a really nice chap, but the English/American sarcasm gap reached new lows with the conversation. After I commented on John Deere stealing the green/yellow Lotus livery, Jared implied the contrary. I then quipped that surely the farming profession didn't predate Formula One, to which he began explaining that I must be wrong. I pictured a Greek farmer unable to try out his new Archimedes Screw due to his mates racing their cars around the field.

Iowa by day is a little less exciting as it is by night. We passed a place called What Cheer. Indeed. There was also another called North English. We call it topspin where I come from. Another was Keokuk, which I had to laugh at as it was on Krusty the Klown's list of amusing sounding places he taught at clown college "OK, memorize these funny place names: Walla Walla. Keokuk. Cucamonga. Seattle." We passed Cucamonga when entering Los Angeles. Not sure where Walla Walla is, and we went nowhere near Seattle, but two out of four isn't bad.

The trip to Todd's house an hour or so west of Chicago was actually a little shorter than we expected. The weather was pleasant, but very windy. We passed a place called Joliet, which I recognised from somewhere. After some thought realised I had misinterpreted a bit from The Blues Brothers all this time. When Jake says 'And I thought I had it bad in Joliet' I always assumed that Joliet was a slang word for Jail, not an actual place. Apparently the jail is all that is there, so maybe I wasn't too wrong.

We had a little trouble finding Todd's place, but thankfully he heard us in the area and like a sheepdog herded us back on his motorbike. We were about an hour earlier than planned, which gave us a little while to get settled before people arrived.

From 2007 USA Elises

The barbecue was fantastic with really nice people. We had 11 Elises there and Mike, a former Elise owner, brought along his Vette Z06. One of Todd's neighbours also brought his yellow NSX over, so a good group of cars. It was a great afternoon. Thanks to Tracy for grilling!

Very special thanks though go to Todd and Margarite for putting us up for the day, hosting everyone so kindly and allowing us to crash there overnight. It turns out we were the perfect alibi to finally get Chicago Elise owners together, as they have not really had many meets outside of track events. It seems they may get together more often now, so everyone won. Here is the Elisetalk thread about the meet. The first few pages are preparing the event, but there a plenty of comments and pics afterwards.

From 2007 USA Elises

From 2007 USA Elises

Day 23: Larimie, WY to Des Moines, IA

Before we set off we bid farewell to the lovely lady who ran the Gas Lite Motel (many apologies as I forgot her name).

From 2007 USA Elises

From 2007 USA Elises

From 2007 USA Elises

The Gas Lite Motel was in our guidebook and seems to be quite popular, and she told us of a number of celebrities that have stayed there, including some big movie stars and that band Limp Biscuit or whatever they are called. It's a really nice place and if you ever find yourself in western Wyoming then stay there :)

The remainder of Wyoming and Nebraska didn't offer too much to write home about. I amused myself mainly with the road signs and place names (see the gallery for some of those). I think that it would be almost impossible to fall asleep at the wheel in Nebraska though as the rather pungent 'farming smell' keeps one quite alert. The generous 75 mph speed limit also helps cross the state. For this part of the journey lots of old British Indie music was my audio entertainment: Ride, The Wonderstuff, The Family Cat and Inspiral Carpets. Great stuff.

From 2007 USA Elises

So I quite enjoyed going through Nebraska, but I couldn't help think that it must be one of the worst states for Elise ownership. Highway on and off ramps are the only corners we encountered. Admittedly we were only on the highway but saw no real evidence of anything too exciting road-wise off of it.

Jared and I have split the leading/following pretty evenly throughout the trip, and we keep together quite well, but today I noticed him lagging behind once or twice. I finally radioed to him to see if he was ok, only to find out his radar detector had been going off so he was being cautious. Apparently I was either bait or a sacrifice as he kept me in the dark about this!

We got to Omaha in the early evening. It's a place I knew nothing about, other than 'Lady Fanny of Omaha' from the brilliant Michael Caine and Steve Martin film Dirty Rotten Scoundrels. I know it's a remake, but have never seen the original, so I have no idea whether that line was in the first one. We had planned to stay there overnight but after consulting the maps, and given we had to make it to Chicago the next day decided to grab a snack and head onto Des Moines, Iowa. We left Omaha with me knowing nothing about it other than 'Lady Fanny of Omaha' from the brilliant Michael Caine and Steve Martin film Dirty Rotten Scoundrels. Oh they have a mall there.

Darkness was setting in at this point, and we made one of the few night time legs of the whole journey. I am a big fan of night time driving, and I find the music I listen to changes when doing so.

From 2007 USA Elises

As we were going through a rural area with little light for about two hours it was a perfect drive to listen to a classic album. I consider Jeff Wayne's 1978 musical version of War of the Worlds one of the greatest concept albums ever. A superb orchestral rock album with Richard Burton's haunting narration. It is best enjoyed at night and turned up very loud. Some people have a problem with the disco elements that pepper the album, but I can't imagine it without them. The album used to scare me as a boy when my dad played it.

Day 22: Elko, NV to Larimie, WY

Today was another long driving day, so we got going at 9am. We realised one thing before setting off; we'll be losing an hour a day as we head east through the time zones. When coming west earlier in the journey it was a pleasant surprise to find we had occasionally gained an hour, but losing time is something one is much more conscious of.

We had the last small portion of eastern Nevada to drive through before Utah, and were treated to more amazing scenery.

From 2007 USA Elises

From 2007 USA Elises

As we entered Utah the terrain almost instantly changes to the famous salt flats, but there are still lots of hills around. At some places it looks as if we were surrounded by water due to the famous 'shimmering' effect given off by the ground. Around Salt Lake City there is (obviously) water, and some fun elevation changes. Thankfully extra lanes are provided for the many trucks to labour up.

From 2007 USA Elises

From 2007 USA Elises

We past near the Bonneville Salt Flats, the location of the land speed record attempts.

From 2007 USA Elises

As we were crossing the narrow part of Utah in the north, it doesn't take too long and we were soon into Wyoming, which offers yet more new terrain. Some of the pronounced striation on the hills is beautiful.

From 2007 USA Elises

From 2007 USA Elises

Otherwise though Wyoming looked mainly like the following picture. Not too exciting, but I kept busy today by listening to all the (very funny) Baddiel and Skinner podcasts from last year's World Cup, although I had to skip the one where England were knocked out.

From 2007 USA Elises

We had a little break at a rest stop, at which there was a brave colony of Prairie Dogs.

From 2007 USA Elises

We ended up at Larimie, and headed to the wonderful Gas Lite Motel. It's packed with Old West memorabilia inside and out, and the proprietress is a big animal lover. Being Polish she was happy to learn one of my cats is called Kicia (Polish for kitty). I am now happily sitting in the cosy reception area. Here is a picture of Sheba, one of the cats here, preventing me from writing this, so blame her for the lack of a big blog today :) I will take more pictures of the motel tomorrow, before we set off on what is apparently a flat, mundane journey across Nebraska.

From 2007 USA Elises

Day 21: San Francisco, CA to Elko, NV

Today Priya had to head back home sadly so our first destination was the airport, which is only 15 minutes or so south of the city.

From 2007 USA Elises

We dropped her off at 11am, so had to eagerly get driving as we had a long drive today of about 8 hours. The next few days will all be of similar length as we have had to revise the itinerary once again. This is my fault as the itinerary I had put up on the Automapic journey plan included two September 26ths, which implied we would be in San Francisco and Battle Mountain Nevada at the same time. This reminded me of the bit in the first Red Dwarf book when Rimmer fails (yet again) in preparing for the Astro-Navigation exam by including two Septembers in his revision timetable.

Mentioning the Red Dwarf story isn't so random as it seems. Some people were asking whether the drives are getting boring, and what I do during them to stay interested. Audiobooks are a great way to make long drives fly by, and before leaving on the trip I stocked up on plenty including Red Dwarf, Terry Pratchett's Discworld, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Agatha Christie and James Herbert. I also bought a few stand up performance CDs by Eddie Izzard and Rowan Atkinson. Podcasts are also great for long trips, especially as there is new material almost daily. My staples here are World Soccer Daily, various BBC Five Live ones, Adam Curry's Daily Source Code and some other news and sports ones. I also had some that discussed Lost, but I haven't seen it since we left so can't listen to those anymore. Music still fills much of the day though. Iron Maiden has randomly been the most played band. What started as an amusing nostalgic listen to an old Maiden album has completely rekindled my childhood love for the band.

Back to the itinerary, the reason for the long drives over the next few days is that Todd off EliseTalk has had a barbecue planned for us in Chicago on Sunday. Due to my error with the schedule, we have one day less than we thought to travel the 2,000+ miles to Chicago. We really don't want to miss it, and the final date of the whole journey is something that we can't really adjust due to commitments both Jared and I have once we return home. From here to the end is going to be all road and no stay.

Yosemite Park was the latest planned destination that had to be pruned from the journey, and instead we traveled north east up through California towards Nevada. Once past Sacramento it's an incredible drive on undulating roads with sweeping bends; not the hairpin twisties we had driven near LA by any stretch, but nice roads to be on. The road surface was awful however, and we later learned that this is probably due to heavy snow chain usage ripping up the road. We had obviously started the day at near sea level, but just a couple of hours later were at 8000ft or so in snow-banked mountain roads with crisp, cool air. Very cool.

From 2007 USA Elises

From 2007 USA Elises

From 2007 USA Elises

Just after we passed into Nevada we stopped at Reno for lunch. Not much to report there, although I had yet another sign misreading that startled me. I knew Nevada was a state of vice, but seeing an advertisement for 'Loosest Sluts in the State' is still a shock. Of course it is 'Loosest Slots in the State', which could in itself be considered a bit dodgy.

I realised that this would be the only time in the whole trip that we'd visit the same state twice, of course not including Pennsylvania and North Carolina, myself and Jared's respective starting and ending states. This time through Nevada we'd be passing through the north of the state, rather than the small southern section we visited when in Vegas. The terrain is very impressive, although there is very little civilisation between Reno and Salt Lake City, Utah. The 75 mph speed limit in Nevada it most welcome.

From 2007 USA Elises

From 2007 USA Elises

We finally reached our planned destination for the day, Elko Nevada. It has to be the winning town so far for turning heads; we may as well have rolled into town dressed in pink ball gowns riding penny farthings with our heads on fire. Having said that though I have to stress how nice everyone is in greeting us and inquiring about the cars. I had envisaged encountering occasional hostility or snide comments towards two brightly coloured foreign sports cars turning up in the middle of nowhere but that has turned out to be an unfair expectation. People's open warmheartedness absolutely everywhere we have been has been a humbling pleasure.

Day 20: San Francisco, CA

Priya felt a bit under the weather so Jared and I explored San Francisco by ourselves. One recommendation we had was to visit the Fisherman's Wharf area, and the best way to get there was by tram. It turns out the word 'tram' is one of those aluminium/aluminum words, and I kept getting corrected to use 'trolley' instead.

The trams are a central part of San Francisco's charm, and must be experienced. They aren't necessarily high-tech, with clunking gears, loud running and involved two man operation, but these things add to their delight. The driver stands in the front center area, surrounded by open air outward-facing wooden benches and standing platforms, and the rear is an enclosed seating area. Another manual element of the tram system is the way they are pushed at the end of the line to rotate them 180 degrees, as in this photo:

From 2007 USA Elises

We rode the tram to Fisherman's Wharf, which offered some really nice views along the way, and more San Francisco quirks, such as the signs reminding people how to park on slopes to avoid runaway vehicles. Almost every single car parked on a slope has its wheels either turned towards the curb (when facing downhill) or away from it (when parked uphill), so it's a habit people get used to quickly it seems.

From 2007 USA Elises

We stopped at the top of a famous little road on Lombard Street that winds tightly down a steep hill for one block. I recognised it from Grand Theft Auto, but didn't know it had a name. The map we had labeled it 'The Windingest Road'. Windingest is one of those American adjectives that makes me cringe, like reading that a sporting coach is the winningest in history. I am sure my English teacher would have cracked me over the head with a stick for using that at school.

From 2007 USA Elises

Fisherman's wharf is a rich area of shops, restaurants, museums and the like. Some pedestrian areas had live music and open air cafes, which are always nice to walk around. We were directed to a popular seafood restaurant within the small market area, and had an excellent fishy lunch.

From 2007 USA Elises

From 2007 USA Elises

The piers in the area normally offer great views of Alcatraz and the Golden Gate Bridge. The latter was almost completely obstructed by a docked ship and fog, but the famous prison island was close enough to get some snaps of.

From 2007 USA Elises

The next pier over has become a big attraction over the last few years. Pier 39 has been adopted by a big colony of Sea Lions, who bask on floating wooden things (they must have a name) and spar with each other. Here is a little video of some snoozing.

From 2007 USA Elises

From 2007 USA Elises

At this point it's worth mentioning the worryingly large number of homeless people in the city. Especially at night, one can't walk more than a few paces without being met by someone asking for a donation. We are always happy to help them out, but the sheer number of people on the streets is upsetting. Some are more industrious than others in looking for cash; down at the wharf we were scared out of our skins when what we thought was a stationary bush leapt out at us. It turns out that one guy was crouching down, a bush in each hand, and waiting for innocents such as ourselves to walk past, at which point he would scream and leap. This was accompanied by quite a large number of onlookers across the road howling with laughter, many recording the action on their phones, so I expect there is a youtube video of me jumping 5 feet in the air and screaming like a girl.

We had a fantastic Italian dinner, possibly the best meal of the trip so far, including the amazing deserts pictured here:

From 2007 USA Elises

Afterwards we went to the same Irish bar as the night before with Priya's friend Jesse, a really nice fellow who is in the Coast Guard. Another brilliant day. Please check out the gallery as always for more pictures.

Day 19: Los Angeles, CA to San Francisco, CA

Packing up is getting harder to do every time we leave a hotel, given all the stuff we keep buying. Plus packing the same bag becomes less and less space-efficient as neatly folded clothes become stuffed bundles in any available space. On the plus side we are becoming more efficient at getting things packed into the Lotus, and my years of playing Tetris down the student union are really paying off.

Heading out of LA:

From 2007 USA Elises

From 2007 USA Elises

One of the most popular suggestions I received when planning the trip was the Pacific Coastal Highway (PCH) drive, and after dabbling a little on that road near LA we agreed we simply had to drive it. The PCH drive up to San Francisco is in reality much longer than taking one of the major roads. After a couple of hours we realised that we simply weren't going to honour our 6pm appointment meeting a few EliseTalk people in Santa Clara. Begrudgingly we cut back across to the 101, and the apparently best portion of the PCH will have to wait until another time.

In the meantime the gallery has some shots of scenery we saw along the way.

We were ultimately glad we missed the central bit of the PCH as we got to Santa Clara on time. We were in fact the first ones there, and after a little trouble finding the place saw some other Elises patrolling the area.

The fellow Elise owners we met with in Santa Clara were a terrific group. Thanks to Rahul for setting up the meet, and apologies to people for talking cricket, curry and geeky stuff at dinner!

From 2007 USA Elises

After dinner we said goodbye and headed on into San Francisco. I love urban driving, especially in a new and exciting city, and was having a ball zooming around the San Francisco streets reliving Playstation driving games. However I selfishly forgot Jared's opposite feeling doing this, and to his relief we soon found Union Square and parked the cars up for a couple of days.

Day 18: Los Angeles, CA

We had stayed up late the night before, Priya gossiping with Mohini, and myself mucking about on the computer, so we got off to a bit of a late start. We did manage to take advantage of the hotel breakfast though. I think this was actually the first time since I left Philadelphia that I ate one of the complimentary breakfasts. The weather was the best of the Los Angeles days so far.

From 2007 USA Elises

As we cruised over to Universal Studios we found a new way to survive the terrible LA roads by going 'Aaaaaaahhhhhh' and making amusing sounds as the abysmal washboard roads shake us. We have a ChaseCam clip somewhere of that hilarity. I also think we only got lost 4 times, which is almost a record low.

We got to Universal Studios in mid-afternoon and had a Hard Rock Cafe lunch. As we ate we learned it is currently off-season, and therefore the park was closing at 6pm. Panicking a little, we rushed down the (pretty awful) lunch and rushed into the park. Thankfully it wasn't that busy and it looked as if we could go on all the rides of note before close. It's quite a small park and there were only five things we wanted to go on.

From 2007 USA Elises

1) Studio Tour
This is the classic Universal Studios bus tour, going around sound studios, outdoor sets, special effects demonstrations and the like. Although it has been the staple attraction of the park for some time, it is often updated with new bits and pieces, whilst retaining such classics as the Jaws scene and Bates Motel. I could see small children getting quite scared on it, as there are loud bits, bits where you get wet, bits with intense special effects and a really cool bit in a 'rotating' tunnel which gives the sensation of falling over. We were quite scared.

From 2007 USA Elises

From 2007 USA Elises

We both find movie making a bit magical and really liked the outdoor street sets, just for the sense of majesty they evoke. One more recent set that is preserved and visited on the tour is the crashed Airplane one from War of the Worlds. It is very impressive; they actually got a full sized jet and cut it up for the set. Quite eerie.

From 2007 USA Elises

2) Back to the Future
This is a hydraulic Delorean ride accompanied by a projected race against Biff in another car. It is very effective and quite unsettling at some points as the visual cues coupled with the movement of the car really make you think you're experiencing a range of extreme motions. Our one gripe with this one was that the video looks quite dated now. Surely it wouldn't be too much to ask to make a new hi resolution version.

3) Jurassic Park
This is a water ride in much larger 'logs' than the usual ones of this type, and in a Jurassic Park style environment. As with the other rides at Universal Studios, they aren't necessarily the most extreme, but the effort spent in dressing them up in themes really adds to the experience. The Jurassic Park one is really entertaining with moving dinosaurs, some unexpected things leaping out and squirting water, and quite a dramatic final drop. We did this one twice as there was no queue, as was fortunately the case with all the other ones.

4) The Mummy
Priya said this one was similar to the Indiana Jones one she went on somewhere once. It's an indoor coaster mostly in the dark with a really good sudden acceleration bit, stop and a backwards portion.

5) Shrek 4D
We understood that this was a motion ride, but after a funny Shrek introduction in the staging room entered what looked like a normal movie theater. We donned our 3D glasses and sat back. The movie was really funny, as one would expect from a Shrek movie, and it was indeed a motion ride. The seats moved about in synchronisation with various action portions, and water and air squirted from in front and behind us. There were also things moving around our feet during the spider bit, although I didn't figure out how that worked.

We were cheap and didn't fork out for the action prints, but I sneaked a couple of photos of the screens. Here are some of us on the Jurassic Park and The Mummy ones.

From 2007 USA Elises

Jared had driven over to the park after visiting Lotus of South Bay, but got there even later than we did and just looked around the shopping arcade outside and waited for us to get out. We all headed back to the hotel and, being quite shagged out just had a local meal for our last evening in LA.