Planning the drive

Originally I had intended to drive route 80 through NY to avoid tolls and then switching to 90 for most of they way out to Portland. But I think the plan has now changed. I found this very neat website that lists all the different routes across the country and the things to see and places to sleep along the way. Route 20 , though I have long known it as the best way to see the rust belt and strip clubs of Worcester county, is apparently a scenic and interesting way to get out west. It goes by Niagara falls (kind of), Shaker villages, Amish Farms, Mount Rushmore, Yellowstone, and bits of the actual factual Oregon trail. How cool is that!! Ok perhaps only cool to a super geek like me, a girl proud to be from the city that houses the national toilet museum, but I think it will be worthwhile.


This route does seem like it will take longer because the it's not a freeway so the speed limits will be lower and I hate to delay seeing Matt more then I need to but it would be a waste of perfectly good gas to just drive by some of the coolest places in the US and not stop. Perhaps I can cheat through some of the more boring states (here's looking at you Iowa) and jump on a freeway to zip through them. I'm trying to plan out how long it will take me to get from place to place and good places to stop. I'm anticipating about 10-12 hours of driving a day give or take an hour depending how much caffeine I have gotten and where 10-12 hours of driving will leave me when I want to stop and sleep. I've also decided to stop at least once a day and walk for an hour lest I arrive in Portland wider then I am tall.

I'm bringing a cooler for food and drinks. I'm stocking it with water, Empanadas, fruit, cheese and other yummy and easy to eat foods. If all goes well I will only eat out for dinner.
The IPod is loaded with my favorite musicals to sing along with (imagine a cross country Buffy singalong!!!), books on MP3, A weeks worth of NPR programing, Venture Brother cartoons, Buffy episodes, a blank moleskin notebook for when inspiration/desperation strikes, and my entire music collection.

The car is being worked on this week. New tires, new belts, an oil change and other standard bits. Checked my Emergency kit and all is well.

My dad has agreed to let me borrow his super sweet Cannon D (something or other) digital SLR for the trip. So get ready for great pictures. I'm not the best of photographers but I've hit upon the trick of take a billion pictures and at least 3 or 4 will be passable. The camera has "burst" mode which allows you to take a quick succession of 3 pictures each time you take a picture. This mode is excellent when you are trying to take pictures of whirling dervishes or children alike. As a lot of time that perfect "moment" occurs just a second after a picture is taken. The camera has 4 gigs of memory so no limitations as to the number of pictures I can take. Also big plus the camera will take pictures in RAW mode which I've been wanting to try out.

Well I'm nearly ready to take on the road. Still have to figure out good places to stay the night on the way but no worries there.