trips

We got a later start today because one of Nancy's cats, Spencer, came home from the vet this morning. After keeping an eye on him for a couple of hours, we took off at noon.

There seems to be a continuous construction zone starting just before Milwaukee and going to, I dunno, Chicago at least. And we hit Chicago at rush hour, which added about 90 minutes to our driving day. Things finally cleared up somewhere south of Gary, IN, and it was smooth sailing for the rest of the way to Indianapolis.

The best part of the trip today, however, was booking a hotel. Between my Nokia E72, JoikuSpot, my netbook, http://www.betterbidding.com/, and http://priceline.com/, Nancy got a $159 room for $52 at the East Indianapolis Marriott. We booked when we were about an hour out, zipping along at 77 MPH. It got great reviews, and is right on the way out of town (I-70), so it should be easy to hop on and head east in the morning.

Saving money + being geeky = fun.

Big Onion Wrap-Up, from the marketing geniuses who brought you the KFC Double Down...

Chicago is awesome. There's so much to see and do, and so much of it is within walking distance. The food we had was great, and every dining experience was excellent, or at least memorable (in a good way). Nancy covertly snapping photos of ikura and uni at the sushi place. Explaining traffic wave propagation to new friends at an Italian wine bar. Attempting one more bite of deep-dish pizza. Stopping again for one last romantic date with sushi.

For some reason, the city really isn't that intimidating. It really is a whole other world to us Yoopers, but people are friendly, public transportation is easy to use, and business owners are very service-oriented. Drinks are consistently expensive, but food isn't. The 10.25% sales tax takes some getting used to, however.

My favorite part of the trip might be our visit to the Chicago Museum of Science & Industry.

Initially it seemed like a children's museum, because it was swarmed with kids that day and because most of the exhibits we saw first were aimed at young audience. But there were so many other amazing exhibits, including some of the classics like the human body cross-sections (unsettling to me, but very intriguing). Between the rest of the body exhibit, the Farm Tech area (tractors!), a fully-automated working assembly line, locomotives, weather simulations, and newborn chicks, five hours flew by like 30 minutes.

In all, it was a memorable trip, and I'd love to go back soon. It's part foreign and exotic, but part familiar and friendly too, and all thoroughly enjoyable.

Nancy and I are in Chicago for a few days. We're right downtown, and it's been a blast so far.

Yesterday, we went to Millennium Park in the afternoon. It's an amazing park in the midst of the skyscrapers, and also home to a giant metal bean.

We wandered up N Michigan Ave, and met some friends for traditional Chicago-style deep dish pizza at Gino's East. On the way, we stopped in some of the stores on the Magnificent Mile, including the Apple Store.

Yes, I played with an iPad but somehow refrained from buying one. Maybe if it had a Chicago logo on it.

On Saturday, Nancy ran the 2009 Journeys Half Marathon in 2:19:12, continuing her streak of ever-better times. It was a cold and windy day in Eagle River, but it was still fun to be at the race, and to celebrate afterwards.

Nancy at the start, smiling despite a few flakes of snow.

They're off!

I navigate a back road to my spectating point about 4.5 miles in.

At the finish, free food in hand, moments before a quick dash to the hot tub.

Last week, Nancy and I stayed at High Cliff State Park, in Sherwood, Wisconsin. It's the site of an old limestone quarry and processing company, the Western Lime and Cement Company.

Here's the text from a sign by the ruins:

This was once the site of a thriving lime producing business known as the Western Lime and Cement Company. From beginning to end, production here lasted approximately 100 years (1856-1956). All that remains today are the skeletons of the three kilns in front of you.

Niagra Dolostone (limestone) quarried on top of the ledge was maneuvered down treacherous, zigzag trails by horse drawn carts. A pulley system later replaced the horses and made for more efficient transportation. The rock was dropped into the tops of the kilns and after "baking", was drawn out as a powder from the arched doors at the bottom.

The kilns were heated to a temperature of around 2,200 degrees Fahrenheit to turn out a white powdery substance known as "quick lime". Heaps of waste lime are still present on the hill behind you. Wood fueled the kilns until the supply of trees on the ledge was depleted. Coal was later used. Quick lime was barreled and bagged in the Cooper's Shop, the brick structure located to your right. Product was then loaded onto barges and railcars for shipment across Wisconsin.

Good quality lime was used in plaster, cement, and for agricultural purposes. Poorer quality rock was sent to the crusher bin to be made into gravel. If you travel east along the Lime Kiln Trail, you can still see the remains of the foundation for the gyrating crusher.

JP and I are heading to Minneapolis next week to attend Red Hat Enterprise Linux training (RH300), and Nancy's coming along to get in some quality shopping time. Here's our list of things to do in our spare time:

• go to Dinkytown
• eat at Al's Breakfast
• visit an art museum
• peruse Ax Man
• spend money at REI
• spend more money at Northern Tool
• ogle ham radios at Radio City
• go to a running store and shop for shoes for Nancy
• see what the big deal is with Trader Joe's
• buy a canoe or two at Cabela's
• check out the Science Museum of Minnesota
• eat sushi
  

Nancy also put together a Google Map with most of these locations. James also pointed out that the City Pages is another good place to look for entertainment options.

James pointed out that Google now has high-resolution (20-m) imagery of the Huron Mountain Club. It's never too early to plan our second attempt to infiltrate the Huron Mountain Club. Now I need to find the GPS track from our last trip and update our maps. Further bulletins as events warrant.

This might be a little ambitious as a summer motorcycle trip (especially since 6000 miles is about two rear tire's worth, given the speed and terrain). One of the most interesting parts of that route is the Trans-Labrador Highway. Though it is the primary road across Labrador, it's still largely gravel and very remote.

My curiosity was piqued when Google Maps seemed resistant to plotting a route from Lodge Bay, NL to Québec, QC. Zooming in turned up this solitary road, and my next stop was ADVrider to see if anyone had ridden it and posted pictures. This guy had, and now I really want to go. Or at least I think I do. It's a long way away, especially on a dual-sport bike.

One interesting thing I found is that the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador has purchased satellite phones for free emergency use by travelers of the TLH. You can pick up a phone from any of several places along the highway, leave your credit card information, and drop it off again as you leave the highway. So there's really no reason to worry, Mom...

In planning a route for the trip to Georgia in a few days, I remembered about the Great Smoky Mountains Expressway, which is Highway 441 from Gatlinburg, TN to Cherokee, NC.
I drove this route on my way home from my sister's college graduation in Toccoa, GA, in 2004. It was the middle of the night, in my not-so-trusty Jeep Cherokee, with my new kitten, Scout, in tow.

I stopped for a picture of one of the road signs that night. This was just before a loop that crossed over itself. Here it is on Google Maps, though Google's a little confused on the correct way to traverse the spiral.

Driving 441 in my Jeep was fun, but not nearly as fun as it would be on a motorcycle (and in daylight). So it goes on my lists of roads I must ride before I die. James informs me of two others: Pigtail Bridge and Tunnel and Needles Highway. Add to that the Blue Ridge Parkway, suggested by Tori.

Well, I'm back. I did finally make it to Georgia, my sister did graduate from Toccoa Falls College (B.S., Cross-Cultural Communications; magna cum laude), and I did manage to go waterskiing. I got the flu on Tuesday, which knocked me out for two days. When I came back to life yesterday, it was time to leave (my vacation allotment was through Wednesday). I wish I could have spent more not-vomiting time at the lake with my family.

I decided to take back with me the stray kitten my sister found a few weeks ago. Carrie named her Scout after the heroine of To Kill a Mockingbird. Scout didn't like the cat carrier ("Meow. Meow. Meow. MEOW. MEOW. Meowmeow."), but we managed to make the 1200-mile trip without too much trouble.

Anyway, some photos of the trip and the cat are in the Gallery.

This day has really kicked my butt. I woke up this morning, ready for a long day of driving, to find this. A leaky axle seal, and a good portion of the axle oil in a puddle on the ground and splattered all over the wheel well. After calling around to figure out a way to work around this and avoid getting it fixed right now, I decided that the only option was to take it in for repair.

$460 and five hours later, I was on my way again, with new inner and outer axle seals, and plenty of "takin' our time" (at the standard labor rate). And I was right on time for rush traffic in Chicago.

An hour or so into the rush hour crawl, I started smelling burning brakes. Hmm. I rolled down the window. It's my burning brakes. Great. Oh, hey, and it looks like I have only one brake circuit (right front and left rear work; the others don't). Good thing I wasn't going 75 mph at the moment.

So, I exited I-90 at 18th St, and aimed for the nearest gas station. The gas station attendant could barely understand my request for a city map, let alone point me to the nearest service station. After some less-than-successful attempts to comprehend a Chicago map, I noticed a guy in a service garage uniform gassing up his car. He gave me directions to the nearest service station (his), and I limped on over.

The friendly people at the Firestone service station took a quick look at my Jeep. One of the mechanics, a former Chrysler technician, strongly suspected the brake vacuum reservoir, a problem-prone part used by Chrysler for only two years. They couldn't get parts to fix it, but they pointed me to the nearest Chrysler dealer, and didn't even charge me for looking at the Jeep.

The short drive to Midway Dodge was uneventful. The service station was closed by the time I got there, but the sales manager had a service ticket filled out, and was nice enough to have me dropped off at the nearest motel, the illustrious Carlton Inn Midway. Along with my pseudo-swank room I got free Internet access, which allowed me to "wind down" a little thanks to friends on AIM.

Tired and hungry...

Go hotel PBX! 24.0 Kbps!

An uneventful trip so far. Just a few observations: The Wisconsin Speed Zone Game isn't really that fun. Wisconsin radio stations really aren't that good. And the Excel Inn doesn't. Wow, I'm witty.

Okay, well, sleepy time.