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One of the (Few) Joys of Business Travel

Posted by GayPatriot at 8:37 am - May 21, 2008.
Filed under: Post 9-11 America, Travel, We The People

It is nice that sometimes I get to experience this beautiful country we live in at ground level, instead of always at 35,000 feet.

-Bruce (GayPatriot)

10 Comments »

  1. I’ll spend June 1st driving up the PCH before a week of work in LA. I always take advantage of business travel and carve out a day of peace where I can.

    Comment by iamnot — May 21, 2008 @ 9:33 am - May 21, 2008

  2. Very smart idea. A peaceful time in the midst of work is very important.

    I just want to share with all of you my experience last night of being at a speech by Ken Burns (Civil War). If anyone has the opportunity to hear him, he is a powerul speaker. What a passion he has for this country and how lucky we are that is such a great documentarian. His new series The War looks fabulous. It will be rerun on PBS soon.

    Comment by PatriotMom — May 21, 2008 @ 10:55 am - May 21, 2008

  3. This is REALLY what they mean by “America the beautiful!”

    FYI - my favorite driving is on I-10 West from Houston to Columbus. Picture perfect Texas landscape!

    Regards,
    Peter H.

    Comment by Peter Hughes — May 21, 2008 @ 2:53 pm - May 21, 2008

  4. Did anyone else notice that the 9th circuit ruled that DADT should be subject to heightened judicial scrutiny?

    http://www.ca9.uscourts.gov/ca9/newopinions.nsf/DE9D0217A8A2A1758825744F007E23F3/file/0635644.pdf

    Thought you all might be interested.

    Comment by DoDoGuRu — May 21, 2008 @ 7:38 pm - May 21, 2008

  5. #3

    I did a road trip from Spring, TX to Dana Point, CA. once. You get out there past San Antonio and Comfort, and there ain’t hardly nothing till you hit El Paso. Took 15 hours from the North Freeway to El Paso.

    Needless to say, by the time my friend and I got to LA, we were sick of each other and the Pontiac Sunbird.

    Comment by ThatGayConservative — May 21, 2008 @ 8:23 pm - May 21, 2008

  6. The 101 along the Oregon Coast is amazing, but the most beautiful landscape I have ever seen is along I-84 around SLC.

    Comment by V the K — May 22, 2008 @ 7:41 am - May 22, 2008

  7. For many years I have driven from point to point in an unusual way. I lay a ruler on the map between two distant points and I follow the line as closely as possible without taking interstates. It can eat up a lot of “travel time” and should not be employed if your schedule would not make it enjoyable.

    Now, with GPS, I can make my way deep on back roads. You see and meet a part of the country that everyone needs to know exists.

    I don’t always start the line from my home base, because the first 100 miles are too well known to me to qualify as exploration.

    In doing this, I have visited a hound dog cemetery, crossed the Ohio on a small ferry barge, dropped in on local events, etc. It can be quite colorful.

    Comment by heliotrope — May 22, 2008 @ 10:59 am - May 22, 2008

  8. #7 - A hound dog cemetery? Shades of Stephen King…

    Regards,
    Peter H.

    Comment by Peter Hughes — May 22, 2008 @ 12:22 pm - May 22, 2008

  9. About 35 years ago a good buddy and I decided to return to Florida from a trip to Washington DC by driving down U.S. 1. It took forever (and forever) but was one of the most beautiful and enjoyable trips I’ve ever driven. ‘Twas a great tranquilizer.

    A few years later, however, I had cause to swear never to drive anywhere again. My memory dims about some things but I think it was Mississippi. If it was, the highway was Interstate 55. Anyway, I turned off another highway and headed south on the new Interstate, pleased that I could pick up speed. I noticed that there was no traffic in the northbound lanes but the roadway was obviously brand new and I figured few people had found it. I was really impressed by how friendly the state’s road crews were since to a man every one of them waved at me. And I enjoyed waving back. I probably didn’t drive as far as it seemed but finally came to a metal barricade blocking the roadway where the payement came to an end; on the other side of the barricade was a drop off of 10-15 feet.

    I had to turn around and head back north and for several miles frantically tried to find a way over to the northbound lanes since the last thing I wanted to do was drive the wrong way on an Interstate highway. The guys on the highway crew still waved but less urgently and seemed to be laughing.

    I drove north in the southbound lanes all the way back to the point where I’d gotten on the roadway. I then learned that a barricade blocking access to the yet-to-be-opened stretch of Interstate had been moved to allow access by grass-seeding equipment.

    What a waste of driving time. Surpassed only by my son, Trace, who once during the arrival of the outer squall lines of a hurricane ignored rising waters along a highway in Louisiana. He had to stop at a point where a river had jumped its banks and the highway was under water. He turned around and headed back north but drove only a few miles before he encountered another river out of its banks and the roadway under water. He found a rise of land along the highwy and parked there. He and his college roommate spent 50 hours in the car, sharing the small piece of dry land with a large population of rattlesnakes and water moccasins, never imagining how exciting it would be to see a highway reopen to traffic.

    Comment by Trace Phelps — May 22, 2008 @ 12:58 pm - May 22, 2008

  10. Looks like I-10 at Ranger Hill East of Abilene….

    Comment by Kevin — May 22, 2008 @ 9:20 pm - May 22, 2008

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