Notes on driving

Driving.... That is the only bad part of this trip. But so far it has not been too bad. I have had the following major stretches of driving to do so far -

1. Seattle WA to Yellowstone NP - 700+ miles (2 days).
   
2. Yellowstone NP to Denver CO - 750 miles (2 days).
3. Denver CO to Chicago IL - 1000 miles (2 days).
4. Berrien Springs MI to Ithaca NY - 615 miles (1 day).
   

This means that I herd most of the pain to a single day of driving and then relax a bit. The bit from Denver to Chicago was bad due to Iowa and Nebraska. Come to think of it, the only good long drive has been today's to Ithaca. I saw some fall colors on the way and the lakes were beautiful. Unfortunately I didn't take too many pictures.

Driving has been made bearable by the short naps that I take in between long stretches and I have found that smaller county and state roads with 55 speed limits are better than interstates. Interstates can lead to lapses in concentration as they are monotonous and besides they have lots of trucks on them. The other concern is the Obama stimulus, which has meant lots of construction on the roads and this is very annoying esp with my manual car.

I have been reading (hearing) Bill Bryson's audiobooks. They are wonderful and are a must read for long trips like these. Another help line has been NPR and of course my crazy music which I sing along loudly.

No tickets so far, but two warnings. One was the verbal one in Oregon and another was a written one in Illinois. The cop in IL was shadowing me for a long long time. I decided to not risk overtaking (passing) the truck ahead of me, lest I creep over the speed limit and this bored cop gave me a ticket. I think he wanted to stop me for some reason to check for drugs or my immigration status or whatever. So I got closer to the truck and then braked. He pulled me over and said I was following him too close. We chatted for a while about museums etc. He was just bored and so wrote me a written warning.

Next big stretch will be from Washington to Smokies, but I will have company then. I dread driving through Oklahoma and Texas however.