Halving the Remainder

htrvnhmThere are currently six US states I have not visited. Over the next week or so I expect to cut that in half. Three of the six, Alaska, Hawaii, and North Dakota, are going to take a fair amount of planning and effort to reach and I don’t know when or even, with any certainty, if that will happen. The others, Vermont, New Hampshire, and Maine, are much closer to me as well as to each other and I have just started a drive that should get me to the capitals of all three over the next several days. I have no meticulously prepared route or schedule but I know roughly where I’m going and have a few stops in mind.

The journal for the trip is here. This entry is to let blog subscribers know of the trip and to provide a place for comments.

Clinching the Dixie

Dixie Highway MarkerAlthough the impetus for this trip is a Greater Cincinnati Miata Club visit to Indianapolis, the more exciting thing for me personally is completing a drive of the full Dixie Highway. On Saturday and Sunday, members of the Cincinnati club will hook up with members of the Indianapolis club for a couple meals, a couple driving tours, and a couple museum visits. On Monday, I’ll depart Indianapolis to follow the Dixie Highway to Chicago.

The journal for the trip is here. This entry is to let blog subscribers know of the trip and to provide a place for comments.

Stone Pony Picnic

stoneplogoI’m off to at least one concert, maybe two, and there’s a pretty good chance I’ll also get to see a parade. The for-sure concert is Willie Nile’s 35th Anniversary Show at the Stone Pony in Asbury Park, New Jersey, on Friday night. The maybe is a Bruce Springsteen tribute band playing the same place on Saturday. The parade is a gay pride event on Sunday.

The journal for the trip is here. This entry is to let blog subscribers know of the trip and to provide a place for comments.

Jefferson Highway Association Conference

ja1965It’s a logical progression. First the Jefferson Highway, then the Jefferson Airplane, and finally the Jefferson Starship. The original Jefferson Highway Association was organized in November of 1915. The current Jefferson Highway Association was organized in 2012. I’m on my way to Muskogee, Oklahoma, where the fourth annual conference of the modern JHA is to take place. I intend to drive part of the Oklahoma portion of the highway on the way to the conference and the remainder after. The centennial of the original JHA will certainly be celebrated during the conference. This is also the year of the Jefferson Airplane’s semicentennial but whether or not there will be a celebration I have not heard. I do know that I’ve not yet received an invitation.

The journal for the trip is here. This entry is to let blog subscribers know of the trip and to hold any and all comments.

Dandy Trail

pic08bEver wonder what it would be like to drive to a city a hundred miles away, drive half a circle around the city for breakfast, then drive the other half circle and go home? If so, you’re kind of weird but I can answer that question for you. On Sunday, I drove to Indianapolis, followed the circular Dandy Trail around the city, and met friends for breakfast in a west side suburb.

The journal for the trip is here. This entry is to let blog subscribers know of the trip and to hold any and all comments

Alternate Dixie

pic05cI took advantage of a not-snowing above-freezing day (It’s all relative.) to take a day trip on part of the Dixie Highway to Berea, Kentucky. Rain washed away any thoughts of making it a multi-day outing but the drive down was very pleasant and the stay in Berea both pleasant and worthwhile.

The journal for the trip is here. This entry is to let blog subscribers know of the trip and to hold any and all comments

Christmas Escape 2014

pic01dDespite a sincere and publicly proclaimed desire to get to Key West last year, it didn’t happen. I can’t guarantee it will this year either but at least I’m headed that direction. I attended the Lighting of the Serpent on the evening before leaving and have plans to drive some Dixie Highway both coming and going. I’ll probably also visit some friends and/or relatives somewhere along the way.

The journal for the trip is here. This entry is to let blog subscribers know of the trip and to hold any and all comments.

Faux Fight at Franklin

I decided to make an official road trip out of a run to the reenactment of the Battle of Franklin at almost the last minute. The first day’s journal is posted and covers a fairly unplanned drive to and through Nashville, Tennessee.

The trip journal is here. This blog entry is to make blog-only followers aware of the trip and to provide a place for comments which are very welcome and appreciated.

Hail! Hail! Rock ‘n’ Rail

octrainAmtrak has a simple but incredibly effective way of avoiding scenes like this at its station in Cincinnati. Eastbound trains are scheduled to depart at 3:27 AM; Westbound at 1:23 AM. That’s AM as in “ante meridian”, as in “before midday”, as in “middle of the night”, as in “dark as a black cat in a coal mine”. That would seem to be sufficient discouragement but, just to be on the safe side, Amtrak frequently misses those times by sizable amounts. On rare occassions, they might even cancel a train a day or two before departure as they did for me in 2011.

I made it this time though not exactly as planned. Between the time I left home and the time I reached the station, the Amtrak Cardinal had gone from 8 minutes late to 3 or 4 hours late. It finally pulled out of Union Terminal with me on board at 8:03 — a mere 4 hours and 36 minutes behind schedule. It was no longer dark. My plans for the evening are clearly demolished but I still have hopes for the rest of this trip to Washington, DC. A Saturday concert remains on the agenda followed by a couple of days roaming around the National Mall before heading back home on Wednesday.

The trip journal is here. This blog entry is to make blog-only followers aware of the trip and to provide a place for comments which are very welcome and appreciated.