Saturday

Well I believe that is the last of the interesting stops. (and pictures) After stopping in Alabama to pick up fudge and peanut butter (mmmmmmmmmmm!) the rest of the trip was non-descript. I needed to be back before 9pm so I could get my music gear and go to a gig. So time was of the essence.

It's no surprise that we hit traffic on every road we took from Delaware back to Terry's house in Flushing. After dropping Terry off, I headed home and made the gig on time.

Terry and I will each post a final entry to close this blog shortly. There will even be a statistical entry containing total time, miles, states, gas, etc... which will probably be of no use to anyone (even I don't care.) =)

.:C:.

French Quarter

Before I get to the French Quarter, I need to mention the streets leading to New Orleans are all in swamps. The roads are elevated about 10 feet above the water for miles at a time:



(Lauren, don't go here!)

We made our way to Boubon street and took in the sights. First we found someone who looks like Terry standing beneath the Bourbon Street sign:



The streets are very narrow. Lots of food and music! Lots of nudity and sex shows! Lots of gift shops! If that combination of items excites you, (as it does me) then you need to go here. We're here at the polar opposite of Mardi Gras, and there are still people drinking and puking before noon! We took in some gift shops and got lunch at this place:



We had the best gumbo here and I believe we were the only people in this area that were not drinking alcohol =)

Here are some shots of cool balcony iron works:







And the French Market:


And it wouldn't be complete without a scuff with the law... Here's a shot of a genuine New Orleans Bourbon Street parking ticket:



As an update, I am posting this from a truckstop in Greensboro, NC at 5:45am

.:C:.

Friday

OK - Terry will take this one:

Leaving Austin with a full stomach courtesy of the local franchise Cajun eatery Jazz and saying goodbye to our new found friends from Ontario, Canada and Milwaukee, USA we trekked South on I-35 to San Antonio. Here are a couple of shots of the restaurant Jazz, inside and out:

The inside is pretty spacious. You can see where the bands play to the left of the shot.


The outside is pretty hip too. In case no one knew, Lance Armstrong is from Austin.


Charlie: Jazz has the best jambalaya I've ever tasted. Two years ago when I was here, I had a triple order! (it's only listed as an appetizer) Everything was great until I needed to use the bathroom:


Seriously, we're not sure what this is a picture of. Approaching it from afar it looked like a sunrise. The dark part at the bottom are trees/field. The flame was easily 50 to 60 feet high. There was fog/low clouds that were reflecting the light for miles. It was actually scary as we got closer. (it was about 3:30 am when this picture was taken) It was creepy and cool at the same time.

The return will be a bit longer in terms of miles, but will take us through cities we have never been to before… namely New Orleans, location of the delta of the great Mississippi.

In San Antonio, we visited the famed Alamo. A sacred location to Americans and especially Texans, this is considered the birthplace of Texas freedom. Texas was its own country before joining the Union. For thirteen days, a handful of brave Texans held the missionary turned strategic entrenchment. They did not surrender and all died for the freedom of Texas.

On the door of the Alamo, is an inscription which was moving in a simple Texas-like way.
It reads:

Be Silent, Friend
Here Heroes Died
To Blaze a Trail
For Other Men.

Here are some shots of the Alamo to remember...





Outside of the Alamo (we could not go inside for it was around 9:30 pm CST) we saw a monument erected in 1936 commemorating 100 years since the great sacrifice. It has names of the people from the battle including Dave Crockett.

After we got back into the car, I sent off a post card of the original Planet of the Apes movie (c. 1960s) to my brother. While circling around the post office, I caught drift of several Wi-Fi spots, but could not connect; people are getting more techno-savvy.

So, we got onto I-37 North, got onto Loop-410 and onto I-10 East. I-10 East goes to
Jacksonville, Florida, but we plan to turn up in New Orleans for Atlanta. On the way is Houston and then we will pretty much drive through the length of Louisiana.

-Terry

Charlie: I'm just going to add that I am uploading this blog entry from a Starbucks in New Orleans. Looking out of the window at Decatur Street, we this:


We are going to take some pictures around Bourbon Street now and then we will be en route to Mobile, Alabama (no Bob Dylan jokes please!)

.:C:.

Thursday

Thursday: We oversleep again. miss today's keynote. I think everything is catching up to us now. There has been no real restful time. We are checking out of the hotel today after the conference closes today. We will then grab a bite at Jazz...
->The BEST Jambalaya on the planet!<-
and then grab a t-shirt or two and get on the road...

There! This blog is finally up-to-date!

Wednesday

Wednesday: We make it through the whole days conference (including the key note at 8:30am. Some good classes today. Tonight the LabVIEW user group is heading over to the Salt Lick. It's about 20 miles out of town. It's in a dry county, so we have to stop and pick up our own beer to bring. The Salt Lick is in Driftwood, TX. I think the website is www.saltlickbbq.com. It's all you can eat for $13.95. Woo-Hoo. We do some damage there. Here is a shot of the group that went to the Salt Lick:



And here is a shot of us at the Salt Lick:



We then head back to Austin to catch the tail-end of the shindig given by NI at Buffalo Billiards. This place is cool. It has two floors with bars, pool tables, foozball, shuffleboard (with those puck things and the sawdust), and air hockey... yes... air hockey. The upstairs is also divided into two rooms. The open area that overlooks the downstairs and closed off room where a band usually plays. The music was pretty cool: Saliva, Alice in Chains, Limp Bizkit, etc... Here is a random shot at Buffalo Billiards:



ANd this Buffalo Billiard's shot pretty much sums up the quirkiness of Austin:



We finally bail out and head back to the room. ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ

Tuesday

Tuesday: Wow.... what happened? We both wake up late. We miss the keynote speech and the morning classes. We finally stagger into the convention center at lunch time. We then get to our classes. Elpitha invites us to her place for dinner. We agree and go over. Her friend Travis is there too (I have vague remembrances of him hanging out last night) Elpitha made an excellent meal and then we hung out and just chatted about this and that. Trying to cross the parlance barrier that exists when electrical engineers and architects talk ;-) Her friend Justin showed up as Travis was leaving.

Towards the end of the evening we decide to go to Magnolia which is a warped kind of diner with kind of hippie offerings (they serve rosehip tea) and play bizarre, sometimes heavy, music. Good food though... They have the best bacon! Unfortunately I have no pictures of this place. This was kind of uneventful. (thank God) We drop off Elpitha back at her place and we go back to the hotel. Sleep.

The blur that is Monday

Monday. First day of classes and lectures. Not too crowded because it's alliance day. This means it's specially for company's affiliated with National Instruments. Anyone can go, but it costs extra. Terry and I split up and each go to 5 different classes today. All Good.

Tonight NI is throwing an Alliance Party at the Hula Hut. This is a Hawaiian-style bar on the shore of a big lake (no oceans in Austin, y'all!) It's open bar/free buffet. OK let me start by saying I don't like tequila. However, I drank more frozen margaritas this night that I ever have previously. I've been eating the buffet, so I'm not really feeling it yet. This is how tequila sneaks up on you. This place has two docks on the lake's shore with full bars on them and a cover band playing at the end of one of them. Not to conceited, but Pulse 5 smokes this band. They were playing almost an entire P5 set. At this point some people decide that they want to go back into town and go to Coyote Ugly Bar. Did I mention that NI had continuous bus service to and from the Hula Hut from the convention center? Did I mention that our hotel is next door to the convention center? I'll pause here to show some crappy pictures of Hula Hut.

Here is where I hung out for most of the night. This is one of the docks:


Here is a shot of the other dock with a the band playing at the far end:


Now we take the bus back to the convention center/hotel. Terry's been calling his friend Elpitha all day and she finally calls back now (what timing...) Her and her friends are hanging out at the Ritz (pool hall) on 6th Street. Since this is walking (staggering) distance from where we are, we head over there. We hang out drink lot's of Fat Tire (Awesome beer unavailable in NY) then decide to go to this piano bar they know of. Wait... here is an not so representative shot of the Ritz Pool Hall:



We get there and it's empty. The piano guy is finishing up a song. We get him to play Roadhouse Blues and Love Me Two Times before they take a break (there was a drummer there as well)....more drinks. It turns out Terry's friends know the owner. Since the place is dead, he closes up and comes with us to another bar... Logan's. wait. Here are a couple of shots of the Piano bar:

This is looking at the front where you walk in:


This is bad news:


Logan's is a cool place. We pretty much ended the night here. I don't remember much after these pictures except for getting pizza somewhere and all of us sitting on the curb in row eating the pizza. Some shots at Logan's here.

Terry's friend Elpitha at Logan's:


Terry at Logan's:


Me at Logan's (very close to the end):


I don't remember much after this.

.:C:.

Sunday Evening

I get up around 2 or 3 pm and take a long shower. OK.... first stop: Texas Chile Parlor! We walk a few blocks we're there. Quesadillas and chili! Heres a shot of the place:



We have a few headaches getting the wireless internet to work in the room. Especially since they charge per 24 hours of use. The NI website said it was free. Anyway, as it gets later, I'm tired and heading off to bed but not before a blurry picture from our room on the 18th floor looking out:



.:C:.

Finally... TEXAS!

Early Sunday morning: I'm driving and fighting to keep my eyes open. Finally, I give in and pull off to a truck stop, recline the seat, and crash. Wake a few hours later and get back on the road. We find a gas station to throw out trash, get something to drink, use the restroom, and switch drivers. While waiting for Terry to come out, I noticed the sun rise from the horizon. It was an interesting moment because I realized that I had never seen a sunrise before. I've been up at sunrise and have seen the sun rise up over the trees, but I have never seen the sun rise from the horizon. I grabbed a picture of it.



We made it to Austin around 8am. Fortunately the Hilton let us check into our room early. Wow... beds! ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ

.:C:.

Memphis part 2

We get off at the Graceland exit: Elvis Presley Blvd. See Photo - No ego problems here. Anyway, could we pick a worse time to go to Graceland? (we're in a hurry!) How about during National Elvis Week?! Yep. Our timing couldn't have been better. Tons of cars, people, and tents. We managed to catch the last mansion tour of the day. Platinum ticket (all areas) $27.



We get our headsets and radio-devices. You get on a (short) bus and ride across the street, up the driveway, and get out at the front door. You walk through the mansion at the pace of the narrator on your headset device. You cannot go upstairs. I guess it's a mansion from a technical aspect, but was really quite humble as far as millionaires go. Either that, or I'm just spoiled with the gold coast mansions of Long Island.



As far as mansion decor goes, it's a time capsule for 1973. In other words, I have a lot of the same decor in my house. I took a lot of pictures. They don't let you use a flash. While I was shutting down the flash on my digital camera and inadvertently clicked off auto-focus, so I have a lot of blurry pictures of Graceland. The outdoor shots are clear. Dur to lack of space on this blog and lack of patience on my part, I am not posting them. Well, just a few.



They have Elvis' private planes on display and you can walk through them. All the furniture is covered with clear plastic... My grandmother would be proud. The planes are also, as expected, decorated circa 1973... again, grandma would be proud.





.:C:.

Memphis part 1

While heading to Graceland, We pass a sign for the Stax recording studio museum. I MUST GO TO THIS! For those who don't know, Stax was a record label owned by Atlantic Records and was responsible for Wilson Pickett, et al. see photo of sign.



This is in a pretty poor neighborhood, but it looks really nice. We went inside and had to wait 10 minutes. (a 20-minute film about the place is included with the self-guided tour.) We saw the film and then walked through the exhibit. Lots of memorbilia in glass cases. Lots of video screens showing interviews with artists about the place and, of course, the music itself.



The interesting part is the mixture of black and white artists working together without regard for color during a time in history where segregation was still a huge issue... just making your foot tap was the point. They played music that they wanted to hear. Steve Cropper said it best: "When you walked through the door, everything else disappeared except the music."

This all ended with the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. When this happened, it affected the working relationships between artists and turned the neighborhood into a violent scene. (Note: King was shot at the Lorraine Hotel in Memphis - very nearby - and it is now a civil rights museum.)

By far, the best part for me was the studio where it all happened. I was not allowed to take any pictures inside, so this explains the few shots I took here. The first stop is the control room. Ancient recording gear lives here. As a geek and nostalgia buff, I loved this. The play, over the loud speakers, the sound of different artists in the process of recording their songs. You hear the songs breakdown and people laughing as they try for take 5 of a song.

Finally, You walk through the actual studio itself where it all happened. Guitars and basses encased in glass. From Steve Cropper and "Duck" Dunn respectively. Those were the only things in glass here. There was a drum set sitting on a moveable isolation platform and, best of all, Booker T's actual Hammond Organ used in the recording of "Green Onions." The amazing thing is that is was sitting on a stand about 6 inches high with some velvet ropes around it - BUT you could reach out and touch the thing. The back cover was off so you could see all the tubes and electronics in there (considerable.) I was in there for about 10 minutes by myself... feeling the vibe and heavy atmosphere. I wish I wasn't so rushed so I could really get into the vibe there, but after continuous driving to that point, and knowing that we are only a little more than halfway to our destination, kept my mind occupied.

Next Stop: Graceland!

.:C:.

Update

We are in Memphis right now.... updates to come. Mileage so far: 1203

Greece by way of Nashville...

I wake up and we're in Nashville, TN. Terry is looking for a replica of the Parthenon that is allegedly in these parts. We find it. See Photos. Terry wonders why they didn't use marble to construct it like the real one in Greece. I'm wondering why someone built a replica of it in Nashville (or anywhere)

We stop in front of a Kinkos and I sign up for a T-Mobile hot spot 24-hour account. This is the first Internet connection we've been able to get. (for a number of reasons I won't go into)
We're starving, so I will post everything when we get to Jackson, TN. We find a Cracker Barrel and gorge on assorted breakfast dishes.


Terry with the Element in Greece.. oops, I mean Nashville.. ;-)




A look at two geeks on a road trip...

update

We switched at 7:30 am about 30 miles into Tennessee (I40) I crash out.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
changed time zones
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

First brush with the law

Terry is driving and we're making really good time. (actually we're making back the time we lost sitting in all the traffic in NY/NJ) He's following a couple of suped-up cars: a camaro and a trans am. They're doing about 90 through on I81 in Virginia. Terry's following them and we're all flying along.... at one point we're doing 105 and the other two are 110. If you've ever driven through Virginia, you can appreciate the novelty of this. (signs reading "Speed Limit Enforced by Aircraft" are all over the place - they take speeding somewhat seriously here :-) Well, we all blow past a Virginia trooper - and three pairs of brake lights come on immediately. We all slow down, but it is too late. He pulls out and starts waving everyone over to the side of the road. We weren't sure if he meant us too, so we pulled over anyway. Since we were the only vehicle of the 3 with out-of-state plates, we figured if we didn't, he would radio for aircraft backup and "side-winder missile" us into oblivion. (to set an example, of course ;-) Well, I start digging out the paperwork while we're waiting for the trooper. All of a sudden, he pulls up on the lawn next to me. (on the passenger side) I put down my window and he asks if we're with those other guys. I say no, I thought you waved us over. He says, "nope. I didn't see you do anything wrong." Woo-Hoo! Back on the road!

Sorry... no pictures from that one... ;-)

We refueled and switched drivers at 3am about 140 miles from the Virginia/Tennessee border (I81)

update

Entered Virginia at 11:18pm we're on 495 (not the LIE) that goes around Wash DC

Heading for 66

Change of road trip directions...

OK... after a slow start (crazy traffic on the Cross-Bronx throught almost the entire NJ Tpke as seen here)

Here is a shot of us on the NJ Tpke


We did a complete change of path. Having said that, it should be no surprise that we have stopped in Philly which was not part of the original plan.

Here is a shot of us heading into Philly (really cool sky)


Since it is dinner time, a Cheese steak sandwich is natural. Woo-Hoo! I drowned mine in hot sauce. For those who don't know, there are two places to get The Cheesesteak: Pat's and Gino's. This borders on civil war in Philly. Since Terry's brother, John, went to Drexel College and lived on campus, we went to his team (Pat's) and pigged out. Here's a shot of Pat's (Gino's is the blur of light to the right of the image) Just like Hatfield and McCoy all over again.



In retrospect, We should have gotten one from each place for a comparison test ;-)

Finally got an internet spot!!!!!!!!!!!!

OK, I have been keeping track of things but have not had a chance to upload to the net because I haven't been able to connect to the internet. So I will now post in chronological order the stuff I've been writing...

.:C:.

The Last Night Before Departure

Terry summed it up today with this phrase:

"The trip is still not real to me yet."

I got a few more things accomplished today, but the list has many more items that need to be done. The worst part is that the list is not even complete. I know there are some more obvious things that I'm overlooking.

This blog is to be used as a recording device to document this road trip. whenever we find an "available" internet connection, I will try to post the following for each entry:

• Where the hell we are
• current odometer mileage
• GPS coordinates (maybe)
• anything of interest
• pictures

The date/time stamp is automatically attached to the post, so that's about it. The point of doing this is so that search parties have a chance in hell of finding us when we disappear. ;-)

Tonight I will send out the address for this blog. I set it up so comments for a particular entry can be posted by anyone. This means you don't have to register with blogger.com to post a comment. However, by doing this, every post will be marked "Anonymous" (surprised?) Because it's always nice to know who is complimenting (or insulting) you, I would ask that anyone who posts a comment, please include your name at the end of the comment. 'nuff said.

Onto LAUNDRY!

.:C:.

The WHY

"Why are you guys DRIVING to Texas?!" This has been asked by many. The simple answer is, "At the time we decided to go to Texas, the air fares were ridiculous. It was cheaper to fly half-way across the globe than to fly within the US." There. are you happy now? No? OK.... the air fares have gone down since then but the facination of driving through states I've never been to, and the road-side attractions they hold, are reason enough for us to stay the course and drive our fricken asses down there.

The long-winded explanation is:
National Instruments, based in Austin, Texas, has a technical symposium every year for 4 days in August. They have done this for 10 years now. It is basically an NI propaganda-fest. They announce releases of new, upcoming products. The hold classes on how to use their technologies in different situations, etc... Usually, I would not stand for 4 days of in-your-face marketing, but NI is a good company that makes some great products. Especially LabVIEW which is a graphical programming language that allows for simple intergration of hardware and software. This is the primary reason for our attending the event.

This web log will be used to track our journey. We are armed with much consumer electronics... 4 laptops, 20Gb Mp3 player (just about full), Digital camera, 2 cell phones, GPS system, etc... We're hoping to find (and document) some Wi-Fi hotspots along the way. This will be our primary method of uploading.

We are leaving Friday afternoon... jeez I still need to do laundry... =) Chuck

Getting Ready

I don't know if the concept of a road trip was conceived in America, but it sure seems like it. This trip has been coming since Terry & I decided we're not crazy to drive from New York to Texas. Sanity might still be questionable, but excitment level is rising. I'm used to driving 12 hours one way to see my parents in North Carolina, but almost 28 hours one way? Hmmm.

Stay Tuned for more info....