Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with Road

SoCal Holiday Road Trip Tips?

Capostrophe — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 18:55:42 -0800

I'll be embarking on a two week road trip from just before Christmas until just after the new year. My plan is to drive south out of the SF Bay Area and spend most of my time in southern California, possibly with forays into Az, Nevada, and Mexico. My interests are nature, archaeology, and history, and I'm an avid photographer. Tell me about the places I shouldn't miss. I'm considering the obvious destinations: Death Valley, the Salton Sea, Pinnacles, and Joshua Tree. I also intend to spend some time in San Diego, visiting the zoo and wild animal park. Beyond that I'm eager to hear your suggestions about roads to drive, places to stay, places to stop, and places to skip.

Bonus points for forgotten little picturesque attractions, and double bonus points for practical tips on visiting Mexico for a few days.

Did I spend too much on a book?

Bacillus — Sun, 29 Nov 2009 19:22:12 -0800

Did I spend too much on a book? $325 for a very good hardcover 1st Edition UK (Picador) Blood Meridian, or the Evening Redness in the West by Cormac McCarthy? About a year ago I became a huge Cormac McCarthy fan and decided to get as many of his 1st Editions as possible.

I recently bought Blood Meridian for $325 before even reading it. The day I bought it over eBay I went to the local book shop and bought the paperback (so I wouldn't damage the hardcover) and have read half and absolutely love it.

After reading half of the paperback I'm not sure I'd ever want to sell it.

Would it bother you if it was the UK edition?

Will the price of the book go up considering the popularity of Cormac's Pulitzer winning fiction novel The Road, The Road Movie recently released in cinemas and the fact that their making Blood Meridian The Movie?

Would you sell it?

Did you enjoy this book?

Where to stop on a road trip from Texas to Nevada?

Anonymous — Sat, 05 Sep 2009 14:33:05 -0800

Road Trip Filter: Two guys driving from Corpus Christi, Tx to Las Vegas, Nv (passing through New Mexico and Arizona). What are some absolute "must see" or "must eat" places along the road? I'm flying out with my friend to help him drive back an amazing car (Porsche GT3). We have about 1500 miles to cover and two days to do it in.

I'm looking for suggestions on great roads to drive (think smooth, wide, traffic-free), awesome places to eat, places we just must see or activities we can't pass up. Bonus points if there are any racetracks on the way we can stop at for some fun :D

Neither of us are really interested in sight seeing. To give you an idea of what we are looking for think partying on 6th st in Austin, eating anywhere Man vs Food has been, or getting to shoot assault rifles at a range (because we can't do that in cali).

Sorry for going with "anonymous" but I'd rather be safe than sorry....don't need the internet knowing who I am AND where I'll be :)

much thanks in advance!

First Road Trip - Providence to Toronto!

quodlibet — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 14:55:01 -0800

I am planning a road trip from Providence, RI to Toronto and need the hivemind's help! In early September, I will be driving from Providence to Toronto, and back. I've driven across country (from the south to north) and done the backpacking in Europe thing before, but always with friends/family - so this is my first trip that I get to plan for myself (!!). I'm 25, female, into history, politics, general quirkiness, and outdoorsy stuff.

My goal is to leave Providence on a Monday, drive/sight-see for two days, and end up in Toronto Wednesday morning. Stay in Toronto until Saturday afternoon, and head back to be back in Providence by Sunday night. I'm flexible on time other than Wednesday-Saturday I need to be in Toronto.

So, hivemind - what should I do along the way? And what should I do in Toronto? I already would like to see Niagara Falls (which side tho, not sure), Oneida Community Mansion House, something to do with the Hill Cumorah in Palmyra, see the Adirondacks...
what else should I add? where should i stay along the way?

location, location, location!

evadery — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 08:31:41 -0800

Am considering buying a house both on a bus route/busyish street and a few houses down from a school. What should I be aware of before I make this purchase? Found a very reasonably priced house in downtown toronto - almost TOO reasonable. One of the reasons is that it right next to the pretty tree lined streets, but it is itself on a decently-busy street. Not afraid to cross the road busy, but one lane each way, wait for a couple cars to pass busy. On that road is a bus. While I know this drops the price, I actually think this is convenient and will help in my commute to work, but I was wondering if anyone had any thoughts both positive or negative about living on a busy-ish street with a bus route.

As well, another positive (or negative) is that the house is a couple doors down from a school, kindergarden to grade 6. While this would be very convenient when we have kids, is there anything we should worry about due to the proximity, or is there any way to effectively check out if this is brings bad elements out in the neighbourhood?

A third question - any idea how much these factors above would influence price (either percentage-wise, or something like 'greatly', 'hardly at all' would be helpful).

Other than those issues, we like everything about the place. So, should we be nervous about them? Thanks!

Rocky Road Trip Advice

jpcody — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 07:47:49 -0800

I need some help planning and plotting and figuring what happens between Denver and Portland. I think it might include The Tetons, Yellowstone, Glacier, Banff, Seattle and Vancouver, but I'm worried I'm trying to cram too much. jpcody, cncody and Barkley the English Pointer are headed out to Portland, and we need to figure out a portion of our road trip that is being quite a pain for me to figure out.

On 7/31, we're leaving our city of origin, which is Atlanta, and we'll spend 5 days getting to Denver.
On 8/7, we're leaving Denver.
By 8/24, we need to be in a city with a large airport where we can leave our car, board Barkley the dog and fly back to Atlanta for a wedding for a few days.
Our final destination is Portland, OR.

So in that 8/7-8/24 range, I'd love to hit the following:
• Grand Tetons
• Yellowstone
• Glacier National Park
• Banff
• Vancouver
• Seattle

Judging by distances, it looks possible. But I don't know how much time I should devote to the parks, any unexpected plans I should make, if it's *really* practical to drive from Calgary to Vancouver in a day, etc.

I've been to Yosemite, and I felt like two days there was enough to get a good grasp of the entire park. Is it the same way with these other big parks?

Should I cut off Banff and Vancouver? Can I make it?

Any tips for general dog travel, particularly in that part of the country? He's a champion in the car and can sleep in the car for the entire night if the weather allows. He's also 45 pounds of pure energy, sow we'll need to keep him moving.

I guess all in all, I'm looking for advice for me, wife and dog hitting those 6 locations in our 17 day time frame.

Thanks so much.

Road Construction PA Westbound I-80 vs Turnpike?

Chanther — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 18:44:15 -0800

At the moment, if one wants to drive westward through Pennsylvania, is it a better bet to take I-80 or the Pennsylvania Turnpike (I-70/76) through the state? What's the construction like on those two routes? Under ordinary circumstances, I'd say I-80. But I don't know if there's a significant amount of construction on either interstate at the moment. Have you driven there recently, and can you clue me in?

The PA Department of Transportation has a map, but it's only available if you have IE, and I don't - and I'm leaving in six hours.

Thanks for your help.

Headphone recommendations for road cycling?

Señor Pantalones — Sat, 16 May 2009 21:34:46 -0800

[cycling] best headphones, preferably not buds? A few years ago, a company called Slipstreamz introduced something called "The Slip" which mounted earbuds outside the ear on a windscreen and allowed the best of both worlds -- hearing your environment and hearing your ipod. They appear to be out of business (or at least hard to find, and their server has been down since I started looking).

I've tried riding with both forms of iPhone buds (the plug-style and the pre-plug disc-shaped "buds"). They block too much environmental audio, and I'm not comfortable being that detached from my surroundings.

What are you using? What do you like or dislike about them? Would you recommend them?

Thanks in advance. Bonus points for iphone-friendly (e.g., mic on the cable) recommendations.

Sorry I have to ask, but no "don't do it" safety responses please. This is a specific question for people who choose to ride with headphones.

Help me pass my road test mefi!

QueenHawkeye — Sun, 26 Apr 2009 15:45:22 -0800

Help me pass my road test on Wednesday this time around. The last time I took my road test was sometime last summer. I failed because I drove straight into the first set of cones when trying to parallel park. I had a panic attack right before the test because the person taking me to my road test, had gotten lost on the way there and would not ask anybody for directions how to get there, and it was in the middle of nowhere! Note, I parked perfectly the three times I tried parallel parking the day before. I've never driven straight into a pair of cones before the test, EVER.

This time around, I'm trying to not have an anxiety attack but I keep thinking about how I failed the first time around, so that's not helping me right now.

I'm trying to get some practice time in, but I get criticized by the method [the way my instructor that I did my required 6 hours in NJ taught me how to parallel park.] I'm trying to parallel park by the person who's taking me out to practice. I don't even get practice driving on the roads, just parallel parking [and even that's not happening!]. I like to think that I am a decent driver, I follow signs, the speed limit, and practice in pro-active driving whenever I actually DRIVE on the road.

So I'm looking up to you mefi users; help me pass my road test this time around, tips to how to parallel park [or on/about the road test in general!] without having someone chastise me the way I'm parking with, will be loved and put into good use [hopefully].

Bonus points for tips to get rid of my anxiety/fear of failing the test this time around!

Used road bike price?

dunderwood — Wed, 04 Mar 2009 16:05:04 -0800

bicycle filter: What's a reasonable offer for a used fuji road bike? http://tallahassee.craigslist.org/bik/1060670156.html

I'm looking to buy my first bicycle and do not want to pay too much.

Thanks in advance for your help!

Where do I sleep at night?

Alec Loudenback — Sun, 01 Mar 2009 19:20:29 -0800

Road Trip Filter: New to extended road tripping. Would like to make a loop from Denver to Seattle, down to Cali and back through the desert and up through Utah before heading home. Where do I sleep on a limited budget? After graduating from High School this May, a friend and I are planning to make an approximately 1 month trip as described above, leaving mid-late June and returning mid-late July.

We are on a limited budget and want to save our money mostly for food and gas. Really scrape by like they do in the movies.

I have a Honda Element, which I believe would work wonderfully for night-time accommodations - the seats fold down to make two beds to sleep in and has a moon roof right where our heads would be at night.

What I am not sure about: Where to park at night?

I don't want to be right on the side of the road nor do I want to be somewhere where we might be in danger (some crazy farmer with a shotgun's field) or somewhere where we'll be woken up by the sheriff tapping on the window with a ticket. Of course we could pay for a campsite, but that costs money and isn't quite as "out there" as we'd like.

We're also planning on having a tent and sleeping outside somewhere some nights, but we don't want the same problems as described above.

Note: For now, I am not really looking for specific places to visit, just some general directions/tips for basically random overnight spots.

Please, MeFi, help me live my graduation dream!

Help me plan a 10-14 day European roadtrip for early February.

meantime — Thu, 22 Jan 2009 01:13:46 -0800

Help me plan a 10-14 day European roadtrip for early February. I'll be starting and ending in Prague.

Must include Paris for at least 1 day.

I'm intentionally leaving out any other preferences because I want you to post your own ideas as opposed to repeating what I've already considered. I'm pretty cool with anything from sleepy to outrageous. But if you need more info, I'll provide it.

Fixed a freeway sign.

acidic — Thu, 01 Jan 2009 11:48:09 -0800

Read a story in the LA times a decade ago, can't remember the details: a man fixed a misleading freeway sign by himself. It was a Los Angeles-area freeway-- maybe the 5 or the 405? There was a sign that gave motorists the wrong instructions for getting onto another freeway, or something like that. This man painstakingly researched the style of signs, found really obscure materials, and drove a van to the sign and climbed up to fix it. Google is failing me-- anyone remember the details or have a link to the article?

We need an atlas, a guidebook (maybe) and some travel tips.

MithrilMongoose — Wed, 03 Dec 2008 18:05:13 -0800

Where should we go on our impromptu roadtrip in Western U.S.? We've decided to take advantage of the gas prices and go on a road trip. We'll be in the Western U.S.-ish. Will include the Yukon when we leave Alaska, Montana as we come over the border from Canada, then Portland to visit a buddy, and ending in Taos. Not sure which other states/locales. A couple questions:

1) Any suggestions as to where we should stop on our tour?

2) What is the awesomest atlas and guidebook (separate or conjoined) that will help us have a great trip? This way we can hit up one of the relatives for a Christmas gift that doesn't involve a sweater.

About us: Two young people with their golden lab, doing traveling right in a 1975 yellow Dodge Tradesman campervan. We like progressive, funky places, and aren't afraid of the cold. Centipedes can be a problem, though. We're into hiking and natural phenomena. (Although, heck, if you know of some supernatural phenomena feel free to send us that way, too). Also very into cultural stuff like museums, ethnic food, Americana, and mimes. Especially crazy ones. We're not on any particular time table. Oh, and we're on the shoestring budget. Neither of us has properly explored this part of the country before.

Advice? Suggestions? Sensations?

I'm a reverse snowbird!

phytage — Fri, 24 Oct 2008 13:56:05 -0800

Moving to New Hampshire from Arizona next week! We are driving across to OK, then up to Chicago and through Ontario from Detroit. From there I just don't know what route to take... ... What are some fantastic things to see, and what route would you go after you left Niagara Falls? I have never driven past Niagara before. I want to see anything from balls of twine to giant glacial rocks! My boyfriend has not traveled and I want to expose him to as many mind blowing and wacky things as possible! I've looked at RoadsideAmerica.com... but what am I missing?

I want to drive from North America to South America

Scientifik — Thu, 16 Oct 2008 14:24:53 -0800

I'd like to drive from Texas to Tierra Del Fuego. How do I pull this off? Ok So I've traveled quite a bit internationally, Europe, Asia, South America etc.... I figured I would like to try something different and drive from either Texas or California down to Tiera Del Fuego in Chile, sell the truck I drove and fly back to the US. I would plan for the trip to take a few months. Any MeFi-ites done this or know any good resources for a trip like this?

Recording decent audio with a lousy digicam

SamuelF — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 06:56:06 -0800

We're taking a road trip from Boston to Michigan this weekend, and would like to record some video along the way, just for fun. Problem is, we've got a cheap digicam with a lousy built-in mic. How can we record audio (two people talking, mostly) on the übercheap? Our digicam - Aiptek A-HD - has enough trouble recording audio normally, but it's completely useless in a car. Everything gets drowned out by engine noise and static. There's no jack for an external mic, so I'd need some kind of external recorder that I can dump to a computer to sync with the video in post. Quality isn't a huge concern, and I'd like to keep it as cheap and simple as possible. Any digital audio recorder + cheap mic pairs? Recording advice? I'm completely inexperienced at this whole thing, so any information will be valuable. Thanks!

Advice for cross country moving and road-trip

Rustbeard — Thu, 14 Aug 2008 11:50:45 -0800

Some general/all around advice and tips from experienced/veteran movers and road trippers to help me with my move across the country would be extremely helpful. So I just got a job out in Northern California and I will be moving there from New England. I've never made a big trip like this before, I've lived on the pretty much in the Northeast my entire life. I've also never really made a big road trip like this before either.

I was going to use Pods but the don't deliver to the town I'm heading to and I don't want to do Uhaul; so I'll be just packing up my SUV (and putting the rest in a storage unit) and driving out there probably by myself.
Some things I would like to know are what are some vital things that people bring on road trips? Such as I assume bring an extra cannister of gas since I assume there are long stretches without gas stations and a SUV isnt that great for conservation.
I've had some friends recommend sleeping in Walmart parking lots or bringing a tent. Others just go to Motel 6 when they can find one.
As well as some decent sites to see, I'll be traveling across route 80 which I hear can get pretty boring
Thanks

Help troubleshoot and enhance my move / road trip from Lawrence, Kansas to Eugene, Oregon.

Derive the Hamiltonian of... — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 09:27:01 -0800

Help me troubleshoot and enhance my roadtrip / move to Eugene, Oregon. I will soon depart Lawrence, KS for adventures that will eventually leave me in Eugene to begin graduate studies with UO. I'm going to outline the planned itinerary in the hopes that the hive mind can suggest areas to visit at our planned stops, beautiful or interesting routes to take between them, and interesting pit stops to make. Also, warnings of potential trouble spots or situations will be greatly appreciated. The Participants:

A mated pair of chemical engineers and myself. We all love the outdoors, interesting technology, interesting architecture/engineering (especially anything energy efficient, otherwise green, or enormous), anything that will increase our nerdlore, and any delicious food of almost any variety. We're all in very good shape, although my 270 lb ass will not be running up any mountains.

The Vehicle:

A 2007 Volkswagen Rabbit, so no unimproved roads.

Itinerary:

Day 1:

Leave Kansas and pick up two friends at Denver International, thus officially beginning the road trip. Drive to Great Sand Dunes National Park and set up camp. We're thinking about stopping at Garden of the Gods on the way down. I'm kinda torn between driving down on 29 so that we can see Garden of the Gods and driving out on 70 and then down on 24/285 to get some awesome mountain highway action in.

Day 2:

A hurried attempt at acclimation for days 3 to 4. Play around on the Dunes and see other interesting things in the area. So far, besides the Dunes, I know of Zapata falls, although I cannot remember the exact location.

Day 3:

Get up very early, drive to the Mt. Blanca/Ellingwood trailhead, and pack in to Lake Como. Set up camp and enjoy the lake, trees, and canyon walls. I should mention that I've done the Blanca/Ellingwood combo before and that we are all experienced hikers. I'm not enthusiastic about doing this two days after getting to altitude, but this is the portion of the trip I'm most sure of. One question; on my previous trip, we were in Jeeps and easily made it to the beginning of the serious incline before we got out and started hiking. Are there spots on the sandy, car-navigable part of the road where I will be able to pull over and park without going into the bushes and rocks? 14ers.com seems to indicate so, but I want to be sure that I'm not going to have to park within sight of the highway.

Day 4;

Summit Blanca and Ellingwood, head back to the vehicle, and drive off into the midday sun. Head out to Black Canyon of the Gunnison and make camp. For the drive to Gunnison, we're currently set for doing 285 to 114 to 50, but 149 looks really fun and twisty.

Day 5:

See what we can in Gunnison during the early morning, drive to Arches National Park, see what we can in a few hours, and drive to Great Basin National Park to camp for the night. This is a very rushed portion of the trip, but we want to have several days in SanFran later on and are constrained by plane tickets.

Day 6:

Drive from Great Basin to Grass Valley, CA, where we will apparently be hanging out at some awesome bathing holes near some awesome waterfalls.

Day 7:

Drive from Grass Valley to San Francisco and crash with friends. We will be staying at an apartment in what my friend calls the McBaker Heights neighborhood, although I'm not sure whether that name is colloquial. The intersection of Baker and Golden Gate gives you a general area. My understanding is that the area requires some sort of special neighborhood permit and has no off-street parking, so I need to figure out a safe arrangement for parking my car. Non-exorbitant garage parking would probably be fine. We'll reach SF on a Saturday afternoon, so I'm hoping to avoid doomtraffic.

Days 8 – 9:

San Francisco! Oh, what shall we see?!? Our friends in the city have plans already, but suggestions would be great. Bonus points for godlike sushi and any other kind of interesting ethnic food.

Day 10:

Drive up the coast to Redwood National Park. We're not sure about the route yet, although we would love some awesome coastal highway action. We also aren't sure of what portion of the massive park to camp in.

Day 11:

Drive to Crater Lake, check it out, drive to Eugene and crash at the co-op I'll be living in. Any suggestions for awesome places to eat dinner or night scenes to check out?

Day 12:

Get the other two to Portland for a 10 am flight.

I needz a routz.

sully75 — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 08:32:41 -0800

I'm driving from Houston to Seattle. I'd like suggestions for good things to see along the way. I'm helping my friend move from Houston to Seattle. We're driving a minivan, definitely, and a moving van (maybe). Can you suggest any particular route or things that we should definitely not miss? I've been to Colorado briefly and San Francisco even more briefly but otherwise I'm 100% a Yankee. I'll probably not go this way again anytime soon.

The more direct route the better (for gas consumption), but we can make a couple of detours.

Is there a google map type service for calculating gas usage?

jujube — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 11:24:50 -0800

By using Google maps, I can figure out not just how to get from point A to point B, but also the number of miles and approximate time it would take to get from A to B. Is there a map that will also let me approximate gallons of gas? Of course, while I can figure out a very rough approximate myself by dividing miles by my car's mpg, the mpg varies by road condition. So driving 50 miles instead of 40 miles doesn't automatically mean that I'm using more gas choosing the 50 mile route.
I'm assuming that when Google Maps (or Mapquest, etc.) gives me an approximate time, there is a database of various posted speed limits on the roads along the route that it is using to calculate estimated arrival time. So is there something that uses posted speed limits, density of cars, number of traffic lights/stop signs, etc., to approximate gallons of gas if I entered my make and year of car?

Plan our cross-country road trip!

CommonSense — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 22:47:21 -0800

Where MUST we stop on a road trip from the Bay Area (CA) to Baltimore (MD)? My fiancee and I will get married in November, in California. Afterwards, we'll throw some junk in her car, and drive from there (the East Bay, just across from San Francisco) to Baltimore (where I live, and will be carrying her, against her will but alas, for the sake of love).

She's got a fun car to drive (Acura TL -- it's an automatic, but I'm done giving her a hard time about that), and that's good, because I know she's going to make me do about 94-95% of the driving. I know we can just generically do the I-80 to I-70 thing all the way here, and that there's even some decent scenery along that path (mainly out west), but surely there's a more fun, more scenic way to do it?

I'm open to being torn away from this "optimal" route. For instance, I'm already pretty sure I want to throw Chicago into the mix. St. Louis is good, too -- I have friends there who'll offer us free lodging, and it'll be good to see them after a while. But I've wondered about the beauty of Montana for the longest (hear good things about Glacier National Park!), though I've also heard Utah's natural beauty is not to be missed. Geography demands I pick one or the other, though.

I've heard great things about the farthest northern reaches of Wisconsin and Michigan's UP. Idaho's supposed to be really pretty in parts. The Dakotas, from what I can tell, have an amazing, idiosyncratic beauty. (Me living in Baltimore, and her living in California, we'd actually find the "utterly mind-numbingly boring, flat" nature of the Great Plains to be an utterly fascinating change of pace.) I hear Central Nebraska is fascinating, in its own unique way.

So, in any event, I'd love to hear some recommendations about how we can transform this otherwise mundane "let's haul the rest of your crap into our new home" trip into an adventure, in and of itself. Hey, we're already going to be raped on gas, to the extent that it'll COST as much as an exotic vacation, so I figure we might as well make the trip BE a destination in itself!

FWIW, this will happen in November, just before Thanksgiving, so yeah -- certain parts of the continent might be kind of inhospitable, weather-wise. But let's assume otherwise, for the sake of argument.

Many thanks, fellow travelers!

Which Bike?

Kiwi — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 23:38:26 -0800

Should I get a racer or a tourer? Are there any particular advantages of a racing over a touring bicycle? I'm talking mainly in terms of differences between frame geometries, mudguard (fender) incompatibility etc.

Specifically, I'm trying to decide between Condor Cycles' Italia and Agio bikes.

Will be used mainly for commuting but also a little racing. This will be my first non-mountain bike; there is something nice about the single-mindedness of a pure racing bike, but will this end up being a bit much in potholed EC1?

How to fairly split costs on a roadtrip

biwa-shu — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 21:51:04 -0800

What's the fairest way to split gasoline and other costs between riders on a roadtrip? We will travel in Japan, and there are many variables in our trip, but I imagine the same information could be used in light of the rise in gas prices in north america!

-One person will incur costs traveling by train to our start point.
-We will travel by toll road.
-We will pick one person up along the way, incurring costs when we exit from the toll road. Does that rider pay the entire cost? Is he responsible for his share of our entire toll burden, or only the cost from his point of pickup?
-Also, should all riders split gasoline evenly, or only depending on how far they travel (eg: we split gas 3 ways until we pick up our 4th rider, then split it 4 ways)?

Because I own the car, I am interested in collecting as much money as I can--I have to think about oil, wear and tear, and cleaning time. Would it be fair to split the entire cost of our trip between all the riders evenly?

Don't stop in Gary, Indiana.

ben242 — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 14:00:56 -0800

I'm going on a road trip from NYC to Chicago, then to DC, then back to NYC. I have plenty of time for stopovers and I'd like to see more than I-80. What should I stop to do during this trip? I've already been warned not to stop in Gary, Indiana.

I'm a foodie and would totally dig a side-trip that involves finding the best [food] in [place].

Photography is a serious hobby for me, so suggestions in this vein are welcomed.

I'm a city guy, born and raised. Things that are way off the beaten path are fascinating to me. Interpret this any way you like.