Cross country road trip

It's happening. I finished working on my Florida condo and am packing up and moving to Silicon Valley (I have a few appealing job offers out there). It costs $1400 to transport my car and fly myself there. On the other hand, I can drive out there for less, and also check out some states that I've never been through. I want to do the trip is less than five days, preferably four or less.

Any suggestions, comments, and additions are welcome. If I didn't indeed want them, I wouldn't have told you bums!


Here's the current intinerary. (whip out your google earth)

--- Day one (Marathon) ---

1. Start in Melbourne, FL
28° 4'37.51"N - 80°36'32.99"W
That's the 'ol condo. My car is the white one in the SE of the lot (a Subie WRX).

2. Leaving Florida: this takes me north and east across the pan-handle
North on I-95 to 528, which goes through Orlando
Connect to I-75 N
Connect to I-10 W

3. I-10 takes me through Mobile, Alabama. I'm not sure if it's worth stopping or not.

4. I-10 changes to I-110 and goes through Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Again, I'm not sure if it's worth stopping.

5. I-10 goes through Texas. Don't mess with Texas.

6. I-10 takes me through a pretty empty part of New Mexico and to Tuscon, Arizona. If I have been driving straight, which as of now is the plan, it will have been a little under 30 hours of road time. I'm stopping in Tucson to sleep.

-- Day 2 (Hill Climb) ---

6b. Check out the Pima Air Museum in Tuscon. I have a thing for military aircraft.

6c. Drive up Mt. Lemmon.

7. Take I-10 through Phoenix, switch to I-17 and then old route 180 to the Grand Canyon.

8. Take small roads along the canyon to old route 89 into southern Utah and through Zion national park on Utah state route 9. I'll probably spend the night near Zion.

-- Day 3 (Across the Desert) --

9. Take I-15 to Las Vegas. I'm not terribly interested in Vegas, but am up for suggestions.

10. Take old route 95 through Nevada, connect to old route 6 and then to California state route 120, which goes through Yosemite. Spend the night in Yosemite.

-- Day 4 (The homestretch) --

11. Continue on 120 to I-205/I-580, drive through Oakland, across the bay, south on state road 1 across the Golden Gate, and to SF to meet my friend who I'll be staying with until I get a place in the valley. I should be reasonably well rested since it will probably be saturday the 14th, might we decide to hit the bottle.

Yeah, that's the unfortunate truth. That's why I'm trying to stick to sites where I can stay in the car. I need to be there for the week starting monday 16th April to conduct a few interviews, etc, (I haven't committed yet to any offers), but I want to hit SF with my friend on saturday. If I left now I could hit all sorts of places, but there's still some unfinished business here. I'd estimate that it would take two days to sort out the business, but I've learned over the years that I'm exuberant, and that in all likelihood I'll be here until the tenth.

Just a plain WRX. But it should do. I used to have an RX-7, and before they put cops on I-95 in FL I used to exceed 100mph as the norm. The WRX isn't as powerful or aerodynamic, but it can hold more cargo.

I've already been to most of the places between FL and Tuscon, which is why I'm skipping them. I haven't been to some of the second towns like Baton Rouge, etc, which is why they're listed. But, yeah, New Orleans and San Antonio are definitely good places to stop. No doubt about that.

As for Mel to Tuscon, Mapquest says 30 hours, and I can usually beat them. Radar detector, check. I'm also putting together an implement that I won't go into further detail about which should help speed things (let your imagination run wild). Plus, it's good training for the gumball 3000, which I have vowed to myself that I will partake in at some point. Once I make a few, cool mil.

I'll still be in Florida this weekend. I'll be in San Francisco next weekend. I'm definitely game for watching baseball at some point, though, so just send email. If Slewis wants to come too, I'll even buy him a soda and souvenir bat.

On a similar note, I am very upset that the San Jose soccer team left town. A few years ago a group of friends and I began a grassroots movement to spread soccer-related rowdiness and gambling to America. I would have snapped up some season tickets in a heartbeat, even despite the relative lack of quality of the league.

What ended up happening was kind of a let down. A front came through the southwest and I had to fight to keep the car on the road. It coincided with final third of the 28-hour trek to Tucson, and when I woke up the next day, my arms were actually a little sore. I didn't think it would be a good idea to drive around the mountains much more, but I did instead get a decent look at Tucson.

I also got the chance to drive over CA-152 in the night. It's a road that goes over some mountains between the valley (I-5) and the northern californian "coast" (CA-101). I was following a guy who was going way too fast, but I couldn't resist the urge to keep up. Those 20 minutes or so of driving were worth all of the scenery I may have missed. Turbochargers are fantastic. Thanks to the CHP for not being around.

Yes, I am currently in California. Sorry mate.

I-10 through texas and NM was an experience. Driving 90 through mountains in a 50mph swirling wind. My arms were sore the next day from the death grip I had on the wheel.