Not dead

JMB · May 4, 2005 at 10:17 am · Filed Under Off-topic ranting 

I’m not dead. Really. We’ve actually been here for about a week now — we arrived last Monday, got the keys to our place Tuesday and our stuff showed up Wednesday — but are so far without the DSL Verizon promised us. Depending on who you talk to, we’ll either get it May 10th or… never. The latter situation according to the technition I tracked down yesterday, who said there isn’t even DSL running to our development and that they never should have let us order it in the first place. So… it’s looking like cable. In the meantime, I’m on a 45-minute limit computer here at the Arlington branch of the Poughkeepsie Public Library System.

Quick trip summary: Seattle WA to Yakima WA; Yakima WA to Hope ID; Hope ID to Billings MT; Billings MT to Rapid City SD; Rapid City SD to Mitchell SD; Mitchell SD to Minneapolis MN; Minneapolis MN to Milwaukee WI; Milwaukee WI to Chicago IL; Chicago IL to Cleveland OH; Cleveland OH to Philadelphia PA; Philadelphia PA to Pleasant Valley NY. (I’m doing that from memory, so it might not be 100% accurate, but I think it is.) Approximately 3,350 miles all told. We saw Little Bighorn Battlefield in Montana, Mount Rushmore in South Dakota, The Mall of America in Minneapolis, Shedd Aquarium in Chicago, The Liberty Bell in Philadelphia, ate pizza in Chicago and cheese steaks in Philly. We also stopped at more travel plazas, ate more fast food and paid more tolls than I care to for the rest of my life.

In any event, I hope to be back up and running in the next week or so. School starts next Monday and I’ll try to get an update on that blog, too.

Comments

16 Responses to “Not dead”

  1. paul on May 4th, 2005 10:30 am

    cheese steaks in Philly

    Pat’s or Geno’s?

  2. David J Corcoran on May 4th, 2005 10:46 am

    Haha. You went to Hope. Kennedy Expressway through Chicago… and 80/90 to Cleveland. I used to ride down that road many a time when I was younger. I recall being stuck in traffic. Yuck.

  3. BrianV on May 4th, 2005 11:43 am

    Glad you made it safely.

    I did Kirkland, WA to Hamilton, NY once, and once was enough.

    I don’t think people realize how many Hardee’s there are, or how disgusting each one is.

  4. RFS on May 4th, 2005 11:47 am

    One of my colleagues, formerly at Vassar, says that a running joke among the faculty was that “Poughkeepsie” is an old Iroquois word for “town without restaurants.”

  5. Shawn on May 4th, 2005 12:06 pm

    #1: Jim’s is the best cheesesteak joint in Philly, by far. At least in my opinion.

  6. David J Corcoran on May 4th, 2005 12:35 pm

    Randy Williams just beat George Sherrill back to the big leagues. Never in my wildest dreams…

  7. Barney on May 4th, 2005 12:55 pm

    Where’d you get the pizza from?

  8. David J Corcoran on May 4th, 2005 1:08 pm

    All Hardees is is Carl’s Jr now… and I don’t see what’s the problem with that..

    I once made it from Greensboro, NC to Boise, ID in 3 days. 2 of which were from Nashville to Boise. It was tough in a non airconditioned soft top car in the middle of summer.

  9. M. Bannan on May 4th, 2005 1:16 pm

    I drove from Raton New Mexico to Chehalis WA last summer, 22.5 hours straight, I started getting the m’s game in Idaho, so that was nice.

  10. aron on May 4th, 2005 1:39 pm

    Verizon? They suck! You should try Speakeasy. Welcome to New York. 🙂

  11. msb on May 4th, 2005 1:47 pm

    lessee. Seattle to Columbia S.C. (in a January, so took the southern route), D.C. to Seattle (summertime, across the top), D.C. to SLC (vaguely across the middle). So, by going in April, you must have missed most of the road repairs …

  12. Tim Kelly on May 4th, 2005 2:12 pm

    M. Bannan you are from Chehalis, thats funny so am I. What year did you graduate?

  13. M. Bannan on May 4th, 2005 2:19 pm

    1905

  14. Dash on May 4th, 2005 2:27 pm

    M. Bannan – Wow 100 years old and internet savvy.

    I have a sister who lives in Hope, ID. I think it should be named Hopeless, but that’s probably just me.

  15. Michael Johnson on May 4th, 2005 9:50 pm

    Augusta GA to Fairbanks AK…5000 miles.

    Beat that…mj

  16. James on May 5th, 2005 1:28 am

    Jason… yeah, you actually have to say where you ate pizza. You can’t say you’ve eaten Pizza in Chicago and had stopped for Dominoes. I’m sure the Phillies would say the same thing about their cheesesteaks.

    I’m hoping you hit Geno’s East, Unos (or Dues… same thing) or Lou Malnati’s… but if you hit Giordano’s that would be ok too.