Road Trip

[obscurejude]

Okay, I'm taking a massive road trip this summer. I'm driving cross country from North Carolina and might be coming to a town near you. I plan on taking 3-4 weeks traveling out to California where I'll be for a few days. Then, I'm going to make my way up the west coast, spend some time in Washington, and then come back east. If anyone wants to meet up for lunch or drinks, let me know.

[Matt]

Sounds like a great trip obscure--I'm right smack in the middle of the country so if you are coming through Colorado (and you should), feel free to stop by one evening. :nana:

However, I think this thread is in the wrong place. Towerpedia forum "articleizes" every thread. I'm sure Daggers will be moving it to one of the other forums.

However, I think its a very cool thing to be doing and I'm sure you get plenty of more people responding that way. :fairy:

[Daghain]

Gone to the Dixie Pig! :) Definitely you'll get more traffic here! I don't often get to use my superpowers...:lol:

Let me know if you're coming to Colorado! :)

[Wuducynn]

However, I think this thread is in the wrong place.

This is what I was wondering, why in Towerpedia of all places on the message board?

[Daghain]

Maybe he was tired. It's fixed now. :)

[educatedlady]

Depending on where I am at the time and if it isn't too out of the way for us to do so I'd be up for it. I'm hoping to be in Colorado so maybe there will be a gathering of a few of us. :)

[alinda]

*notes Florida is not on the way west, but invites OJ anyway :harrier: *

[obscurejude]

Sweet Guys. I'm definitely going through Colorado, I'll let all of you know specifics. Thanks for the invite Alinda, I'm not sure about the leg back, whether I'll be going north or south.

Daggers, thanks for moving it. I don't start threads often.

I really hope to meet some of you.

CK, you can kiss my ass. :harrier:

[Wuducynn]

CK, you can kiss my ass. :harrier:

That'll be the day, ya little fucker.

[mia/susannah]

Well, if you come anywhere near Catskill New York on your tril, let me know. I would love to meet with you.

[jayson]

florida is never on anybody's way anywhere but florida. that's why no good bands come here often and why we won't get any of OJ's tour. we may as well be another country down here.:orely:

[Brice]

Welll, since we are right down the road from each other it is only a matter of time before you and I meet up Ryan. Hopefully it will be soon. Still I hope you enjoy your little journey. I spent much of two and a half years wandering the country hitchhiking when I was younger. :thumbsup:

[MonteGss]

If you're near Minneapolis and you like Guinness, let me know.
If you're near Minneapolis and you don't like Guinness, what the hell is wrong with you? :lol:

[obscurejude]

Monte, I might be going through Minneapolis on the way back, it just depends if I want to take the northern or southern route when I leave Portland. And, yes, I do like Guinness. I'll let you know.

Jayson, yeah, Florida is really out of the way unfortunately and to be avoided at all costs during the summer. But, when I am down that way again, you'll be the first to know. I would really love to jam with you and listen to records.

Brice, get a Monday off. :harrier:

[Matt]

Well, you got me, Dora, Aaron and Hannah right here in Colorado so we should seriously plan something.

There are others out here but I know I can speak for the 4 of us. :lol:

[obscurejude]

I'll let you know the dates when I figure it out Matt. We should definitely get together. :thumbsup:

[Daghain]

Well, you got me, Dora, Aaron and Hannah right here in Colorado so we should seriously plan something.

There are others out here but I know I can speak for the 4 of us. :lol:

*Stares at Matt*

[Matt]

:lol:

Do you want to come along too Daggers? :wub:

[obscurejude]

It would be cool to see Daggers. :)

[Brice]

Brice, get a Monday off. :harrier:

That is just what I'm waiting on. Hopefully i can soon. :D

[Storyslinger]

Have fun!

[jayson]

Jayson, yeah, Florida is really out of the way unfortunately and to be avoided at all costs during the summer. But, when I am down that way again, you'll be the first to know. I would really love to jam with you and listen to records.


there's always someday.

[Daghain]

:lol:

Do you want to come along too Daggers? :wub:

I live in Colorado too, you dork. :lol:

[obscurejude]

Daggers, please come if you can.

[Daghain]

Absolutely!

[obscurejude]

:)

[Matt]

:lol:

Do you want to come along too Daggers? :wub:

I live in Colorado too, you dork. :lol:

I know you do, I wasn't going to speak for you though. :cool:

[Daghain]

Oh, well in that case I'll forgive you. :lol:

[Matt]

YAY!! :wub:

[Daghain]

:wub:

[Wuducynn]

I'm always happy if Daghain comes.

[Daghain]

:rolleyes: :lol:

[obscurejude]

You kill me man. :lol:

[ZoNeSeeK]

I want to fly to the US and do a roadtrip with Diem. Would be awesome.

[obscurejude]

I'm pretty sure everybody here would think that'd be awesome Zone. You guys really should before kids come along and what not.

[sarah]

If you're near Minneapolis and you like Guinness, let me know.
If you're near Minneapolis and you don't like Guinness, what the hell is wrong with you? :lol:


:rofl: :rofl:


I'm outside San Francisco near Randall Flagg and Patrick. I'm sure we could all meet in The City for drinks if you come our way.

[obscurejude]

Sounds good Maerlyn. :) I think that might really be a possibility. I'll pm you in a couple of weeks when I have some dates worked out.

[ZoNeSeeK]

jude: thats the problem though. A 3 week trip to the states would cost us upwards of $15-20,000, which is pretty much how much we'll need in the bank to have children. We both work and have a mortgage that would be impossible to pay on one income, so any kind of big expense like that is out until we;re both working again .. and we have some wedding debts to pay off aswell. Diem has PCOS so doesn't want to wait that long to have kids. We do get a fair bit of Government support over here for having babies - $5000 when one is born, and then about $320 a fortnight until they are 5 and then it goes down a bit, which is pretty good. Diem has 14 weeks paid maternity leave plus we could both save up annual leave too. But its still finite and a 1 year old still needs full time care. The major problem here is that single-income families get radically reduced childcare costs, like around $11 a day (which is good), but dual income aren't eligible .. so if mum goes back to work, it goes up to about $60 a day, which obviously chews up a large part of the second income anyway. The new govt is looking at ways to subsidise childcare to make it affordable for two working parents, probably for part-weeks or something like that. I mean, i dont like the idea of 5-day childcare for my hypothetical 1 year old so I guess we;d look at some sort of part time arrangement like everyone else.

But basically i need to earn like $10,000 more a year, but that might not be far from possible if we look at starting in 2 years or so.

We've talked about it and will still go to north america, but probably in about 6-7 years or so, and dump the kid (s(if there are any)) with one of the parents :)

[Patrick]

If you're near Minneapolis and you like Guinness, let me know.
If you're near Minneapolis and you don't like Guinness, what the hell is wrong with you? :lol::rofl: :rofl:


I'm outside San Francisco near Randall Flagg and Patrick. I'm sure we could all meet in The City for drinks if you come our way.
:thumbsup:

[obscurejude]

Cool Patrick. I was asking my roomate how far San Fran was from L.A. Its a hike but it all depends on where it is in relationship to my route to Washington. I'll keep you guys updated as my planning gets more specific.

[Brice]

And Monday you'll be taking a (much) shorter road trip. :)

[obscurejude]

And Monday you'll be taking a (much) shorter road trip. :)

Absolutely. :thumbsup:

[Patrick]

Cool Patrick. I was asking my roomate how far San Fran was from L.A. Its a hike but it all depends on where it is in relationship to my route to Washington. I'll keep you guys updated as my planning gets more specific.
S.F. is about a 6 hour drive north of L.A., but if you're heading north to Washington anyway...

[obscurejude]

Yeah, Patrick, I definitely am. Six hours really isn't that big of a deal anyways, especially after driving 2500 miles already.

[Daghain]

If you can give me a few day's heads up and are going to be here on a weekend, I can probably get the gang together and take you on a hike, or snowshoeing.

Depends on the weather. :)

[obscurejude]

That sounds awesome Dag. *grabs calculator* I really don't think a weekend would be a problem at all. I love hiking. :thumbsup:

[Daghain]

We'll be sure not to take you too far altitude wise - we don't want you to pass out! :lol:

And if it's snowshoeing, we can either rent you shoes or beg borrow or steal from the gang - you never know what's in the collective stash!

[obscurejude]

I can't wait to see the Rockies. I really can't. God, I just can't wait to sit there and write...

Hopefully I won't pass out, but if I do, whatever. :lol:

[Daghain]

Well, trust me, we have members of the gang trained in search & rescue, you'll be in good hands. :)

As long as you don't feel tired or like you'll puke, you'll be fine. :lol:

We can hike a lot lower elevation-wise than snowshoe - probably in the next couple weeks or so we can do some good low hiking trails.

*waits for good hiking weather*

ETA: Pics! Arthur's Rock (http://www.proulx.com/~bob/photo_album/2007-07-31-arthurs-rock/)

Mount Margaret (http://www.schwols.com/Photos/v/AnnSellersPhotos/MountMargaret/)

The bike trail (http://www.proulx.com/~bob/photo_album/2007-09-25-Trikke-Blading/) near my house.

ALSO, if they open Trail Ridge Road, you'll HAVE to go! Highest continuous paved highway in the US! Above treeline and VERY cool!

[Brice]

And until the big trip...there is today. :D

[Unfound One]

*jealousy*
As the Man Jesus might say, drink some in rememberance of me, will ya?
:lol:

[obscurejude]

:lol:

Bless you my child.

[Brice]

May your cup (of beer) runneth over. :lol:

[obscurejude]

:lol:

[Jean]

*jealousy*
As the Man Jesus might say, drink some in rememberance of me, will ya?
:lol:

::even more jealously::

Man Bear says the same!!!

[obscurejude]

You guys are killing me this morning. Thank you friends.

[Brice]

Ryan, we may end up in trouble if we drink some for everyone on the site. :rofl:

[obscurejude]

:lol:

There's no reason we can't try though.

[Brice]

This is true. In this case we should drink one for each of the lurkers too. :D

[educatedlady]

So I just wanted to say that I am about 95% sure that I'll be in Colorado when you make your trip so I will hopefully get to meet you...as well as the other Coloradans. :)

[obscurejude]

Hey, I'm glad to hear that Toni. 100 percent glad.

[Daghain]

I'll be here until we go to Vegas. :lol:

Just let me know when you'll be around, I can probably scare up some people.
:)

[MonteGss]

Ryan, we may end up in trouble if we drink some for everyone on the site. :rofl:

If you guys don't have a Guinness for me I will hate you forever. :D
Or....I may :cry:

[Brice]

I wish you'd posted that BEFORE it was over Monte. :(

[obscurejude]

Yeah Monte. I didn't think about it when we were there. I'm not sure they had Guiness, I know it wasn't on tap- all they had was domestic shit.

[Brice]

I din't think about it, but I didn't see any either.

[obscurejude]

I was in Wilmington, North Carolina earlier in the week (hopefully moving there at the end of the year). Anyways, Wilmington is at the complete eastern end of highway 40 and this is a sign for Barstow, California at the complete western end of 40. So, I suppose my road wanderings have begun. I'm leaving town next Friday and heading west. I can't wait to see the sign for Wilmington, when I'm in California.

http://i267.photobucket.com/albums/ii303/rtbradle/HPIM1992.jpg

[Brice]

I was in Wilmington, North Carolina earlier in the week (hopefully moving there at the end of the year). Anyways, Wilmington is at the complete eastern end of highway 40 and this is a sign for Barstow, California at the complete western end of 40. So, I suppose my road wanderings have begun. I'm leaving town next Friday and heading west. I can't wait to see the sign for Wilmington, when I'm in California.

http://i267.photobucket.com/albums/ii303/rtbradle/HPIM1992.jpg


:o There is a sign for Barstow in Wilmington on 40? I must've been by it dozens of times and never paid attention to it.

[Unfound One]

So you've finally set a starting day for your trip.
Good to hear!

[obscurejude]

Yes, and I know for a fact there's one in Barstow for Wilmington. I can't wait to see it.

Was it really necessary to quote that picture? :lol:

[Brice]

Probably not. I've become so accustomed to threads moving so fast that you have to quote to follow a conversation I guess I just usually do. I actually quoted your question and then unquoted it.

[obscurejude]

So you've finally set a starting day for your trip.
Good to hear!

After much deliberation (not really). :lol: Basically just wanted to hang out with some people before I left.

[Erin]

How exciting! Are you coming anywhere near KY?

[John Blaze]

did you decide if you're coming by NM?

[obscurejude]

How exciting! Are you coming anywhere near KY?

I don't know Erin, if I do, I'll be sure to let you know. I'd love to meet you and Gimli.

[obscurejude]

did you decide if you're coming by NM?

Almost positive that I am at some point. I should know a little more by the end of the week. I'm trying not to plan too much because I really want the majority of it to be carefree if I can.

[John Blaze]

well, I might not be able to go, so don't detour your trip for the likes of me.

[obscurejude]

I'll call you. Its all good.

[Jean]

obscure: I hope you didn't forget this thread; are you still planning the trip? keep us abreast

[obscurejude]

obscure: I hope you didn't forget this thread; are you still planning the trip? keep us abreast

I haven't forgotten the thread Jean, but since I started it, gas prices in the U.S. have risen 120%. I decided to save my money for the time being. It will happen though, one way or the other. I have to see Elliott Smith's memorial, and hopefully the U.S. economy will balance itself out- it always does eventually.

Also, next year I'll hopefully be graduating and I can devote more time to music. U.S. tours in crappy vans are sort of a right of passage, and I've never done one out west.