Roadtrip began on June 3, 2017, and ended on June 18, 2017, covering a distance of 4,581.4 miles (7762.24 km)
Ba and I picked up the rental car, a Dodge Caravan, on June 2 with 8,307 miles on the odometer.
We left home just before 8AM on June 3rd.
After dropping Paul off at Justin & Hope’s home, we commenced our journey in earnest. The first leg had us driving to Princeton, NJ, to attend Alice’s commencement ceremony.
I woke up on the wrong side of my bed that morning, and rested most of the way to our first rest stop in Lake Charles, LA. I found a dollar bill on the floor of the gas station that we’d stopped at, which I placed onto the countertop before stepping into the men’s room. It was still there when I came out, so I pocketed it before poking my head into Cash Magic. I learned that smoking is allowed inside all of Louisiana’s casinos. I stepped out, realized that Ma and Ba were aleady at the car, and hopped aboard so that we could move on.
Ma and Ba had planned to make a stop at Sam’s Club in Covington, where we’d get an opportunity to fill up the car and eat some pizza, but I suggested to Ma that we check out some more regional fare. We stopped at Billy’s Boudin & Cracklins at my suggestion and tried their pistolettes (boudin, crawfish), along with their smoked boudin. We also ordered the cracklins, both seasoned and unseasoned. I contributed my dollar from the gas station to the tip jar, and we moved on.
Big Mamou offers beef jerky in boiled crawfish flavor!
We like our elbow room here in the south
We stopped at Sam’s Club in Covington, LA amidst rainfall. I had forgotten how exciting Sam’s Club is in a different market!
Hannah’s Ready to Eat Pickled Eggs
Heavy rain continued to hamper visibility as we forged on (video taken along I-59N, Purvis, MS), and led to traffic delays (18-wheeler)
Welcome to Sweet Home Alabama
We overnighted at Hyatt Place in Birmingham, Alabama. High humidity, the carpet felt moist.
The next day, we set out after breakfasting at the hotel, stopping for a late lunch at Arby’s in Bristol, VA, where we managed to catch the tail end of happy hour: $1 sliders and $1 small Jamocha shakes! I didn’t even know that Arby’s served sliders…
“PORK BELLY IS BACK”
Stopped at Radford Rest Area North.
KFC signage
The three of us enjoyed dinner at Cracker Barrel Old Country Store (200 Front Royal Pike, Winchester, VA 22602). I had a chicken-fried steak.
We made it to Princeton, NJ on the afternoon of June 5, in time to catch Alice’s Class Day reception.
Ba checks out a Princeton class mug
Ba and I attended the event, finding it quite disorganized, owing perhaps to the explosion of Computer Science students within the ranks of Princeton University’s engineering department.
Alice took us into the engineering library. I observed that most of the task seating was Herman Miller.
I was especially taken with the material library.
In preparation for Alice’s small celebration that night, Ba and I took Alice to McCaffrey’s to pick up some last-minute items, including chips.
Ba gravitated towards the Lays chips
We met some of Alice’s friends from Princeton, and I was glad to see Uncle Charles, Stephen, and Auntie Sun once again.
Princeton University’s 217th commencement ceremony took place on June 6th under overcast skies.
We lingered on Princeton’s campus a while to take some pictures
Afterwards, we helped Alice pack and load her things into the back of the minivan.
Dodge Caravan saddled down during loading
We had dinner together at Shanghai Park (not Alice’s first choice) and spent the night at the hotel.
On June 7th, Ba and Alice flew together to Denver, CO, to scout ahead, while Ma and I began the drive from Princeton, NJ to Denver, CO, stopping over in Columbus, OH and Kansas City, MO.
Pennsylvania toll road – Ma remarked that the toll was especially high (~$30), and posited that there must be limited revenue from other sources for roadway maintenance.
Heeded roadside banner ads for Blue Springs Café’s famous foot-high pie. Seeing traffic slowed down along the interstate made my decision to turn off that much easier.
We made a fuel stop at QuikTrip in Columbia, MO. The building had changed completely since I last saw it.
Overnighted in Independence, MO, where Ma and I ate at Smokehouse Barbecue, I took some photos of the Logitech G900 Chaos Spectrum, and we enjoyed the best hotel breakfast that we had along the entire trip, during which I learned about “Brie” in America.
http://www.slate.com/blogs/entertaining/2013/09/12/_slate_s_rules_for_entertaining_never_bring_brie_cheese_to_a_party_it_s.html
This was my first time driving this far west along I-70 – I saw road signs for Manhattan, McPherson, and Wichita, and smiled a bit as I remembered Joseph J and his brother, Jesse.
Wind turbines have become a common sight, dotting the landscape around I-70. I first encountered them when visiting the Netherlands, and didn’t see them stateside until we visited Big Bend National Park in December 2015.
We arrived in Denver on the afternoon of June 9th. Ba had rented a pickup truck, which turned out to be a handsomely-equipped Ford F-150 4×4 crew cab.
Alice had settled on an apartment that she liked: a modern loft located near her workplace. I was very fond of the exposed HVAC ducting – I would love to have sheet metal ducting in my own home.
Ba flew back to Houston, TX on June 11th, while Ma and I stayed and helped Alice get settled in to her new digs.
We slept on air mattresses that we picked up at Wal-Mart (the area Sam’s Club didn’t stock any).
On June 12 I finally responded to the voicemails left by area Mazda dealers, went for a test drive in a 2017 Mazda3 Grand Touring hatchback followed by a 2017 Mazda CX-5 Touring, visited an area Honda dealer for comparison’s sake, and brought back a sleeper sofa from IKEA.
The Colorado DMV stopped taking walk-ins for learner’s permits and new driver’s licenses on June 1st, and the first available appointment in the Denver metropolitan area wasn’t until July, so we made the drive to Pueblo, CO on June 13th. Alice successfully passed the written test, and with her new learner’s permit, we immediately sat her behind the wheel. She drove on the highway for the first time in her life, taking us to Colorado Smokehouse, where we had lunch.
I took over from that point onward. We stopped by the U.S. Air Force Academy (USAFA) on the way back where we watched the short film showing the life of a cadet, visited the cadet chapel, and stopped to take pictures by the B-52 on display.
This visit started me on a bit of a history tear. I found this particular article very interesting: http://www.historynet.com/mig-madness-the-air-war-over-korea.htm
I made a long-overdue pilgrimage with Alice to the Apple Store to see if they would help her out with her compromised Apple Watch. I walked away very impressed by Devialet Gold Phantom (Amazon.com) and DJI OSMO Mobile (Amazon.com). I also tapped away briefly on the recently-updated 12″ MacBook with second-generation butterfly mechanism. Really dug what Apple have done with their Bluetooth keyboard and trackpad.
On June 15, Alice received shipment of the Ghostbed that she ordered and picked out her first car, a 2017 Mazda CX-5 Touring with Preferred Equipment Package in Soul Red Crystal. I met up with Forrest “WrinkledCabals” O., a friend that I met through streaming, and we enjoyed Wagyu burgers together at Metropolitan Bar & Grill.
Cheers @WrinkledCabals for burgers, beer, and vapes! I hope the rest of your night was fun and memorable 😁 pic.twitter.com/Tt47DJICpU
— yetieater (@yetieater) June 16, 2017
I briefly considered not sharing my goofy grin, but decided that I may as well.
By the time that Forrest dropped me off back at the dealership, Ma and Alice were on their way out of the box.
On June 16, Ma and I took the day off from helping Alice and engaged in some sightseeing of our own. We visited downtown Denver. Unfortunately, the Mint is closed on Friday for inventory, so all our talk of buying gold coins was for naught, but we did enjoy touring the (very stately!) Colorado capitol building and walking the 16th Street Mall.
We had lunch at Rialto Café, where you can get a beer on the house on Fridays.
I requisitioned Alice’s Apple Watch that evening wore it on the way back, setting aside my Seiko Arctura SNG045 for the time being.
We started our journey home on June 17, overnighted in Wichita Falls, TX where we had dinner at Cotton Patch Café, and reached Houston in the afternoon of June 18.
Trip total: 4851.4 miles
There were times during our roadtrip where having lane keep assist would have been very helpful: long stretches of straight highway as far as the eye could see
