The chronology of a simple trip to California, and everything that happens in between...
Sunday, September 14, 2008
Stanford
Saturday, September 13, 2008
All the Way to Reno... and California
Unfortunately, after the great salt lake, there wasn't much to see in Utah or Nevada. For the first 300 miles or so there were at least some mountains to look at, but eventually it was all just rolling hills with scrub bushes on them. The worst part was that the road was straight for periods of 30 or 40 miles at a time. Without my IPod, I'm not sure how I would have made it without going crazy.
It was 511 miles just to get to Reno and the R.E.M. song couldn't have been more appropriate. It seemed to last forever, but I got there. I kept myself occuppied racing the freight trains.
I also saw too rather curious things along the way. The first was what appeared to be a random sculpture in the desert. I managed to get a picture of it as I drove by at 75mph. If anybody can tell me exactly what it is I will pay them money. The second was a road sign that I couldn't help, but get a picture of as I drove past. Along the Utah/Nevada border there is a small town named Ola, which I couldn't help but be reminded of a certain computer science professor.
After racing down I-80 out of Reno and finally into California, I stopped by to see Lake Tahoe. It wasn't very far off the highway and to my surprise, there were still people out swimming in the lake. I guess it's a little bit warmer than the ocean this time of year. It really was impressive to see just how big it was. I guess Friday was the day of two lakes. Not many people can claim to have seen both the great salt lake and lake Tahoe both in the same day.
After seeing lake Tahoe, I had a relatively short (150 mile) drive down to Albert's house. Albert is a former Duke grad student that I worked with who is now working for NVIDIA in San Jose. I finally made it to his house around 9pm PDT. I had been driving for 13 hours and I'd gone more than 800 miles, but I made it to California! Now all I've got left is a short 19 mile hop up to Stanford. Whoohoo!
Friday, September 12, 2008
9/11
The power of the choir was remarkable and I'm sad that I won't have the opportunity to hear them on a Sunday morning. Nevertheless it's cool to know that I've at least heard them.
After briefly venturing west of the city I realized I was progressing into the wilderness and retreated back to the safety of the city for the night. After some trouble locating a free hotel I managed to find one near the airport (expensive) and get a little sleep.
Thursday, September 11, 2008
Hail to Yellowstone/ A Day of Interesting Smells
Tuesday, September 9, 2008
To The Brink/Lord of the Flies
Picture Album
http://picasaweb.google.com/michael.edward.bauer/CaliforniaDriving#
Into the Wild
Sunday, September 7, 2008
Waking Before the Rain
After having spent so many nights in a tent in scouts, I had forgetten how different it was than sleeping inside. On Friday morning I found myself strangely awake at 5:20 in the morning. Since I am rarely awake by natural causes at 5:20 in the morning, I was rather confused at my sudden state of consciousness. Needless to say, I decided to take a look outside. Low and behold, on the horizon I could see lightning. I decided to move everything that I didn't need in the tent with me into the car. I then realized I was still tired and went back to sleep.
About 30 mins later the wind kicked up, it started raining in waves, and lightning was everywhere. It never ceases to amaze me the ability of those basic instincts that will wake you up anytime and anywhere whenever something needs to be done to ensure your safety.
When I did eventually get up around 7am, I rushed around quickly to pack my tent away in the rain. I only got a little wet and before I knew it I was on the road again. Driving through the remnants of Hannah was not much fun, but there wasn't much traffic and few turns to be navigated.
The only other interesting event of the day occurred when I came to the border of Illinois and Missouri. I had never actually driven across the Mississippi river. I had seen it from New Orleans, but it is an entirely different thing in the middle of the country. It was very cool to be driving across a river that is an entire mile wide. I tried to take a couple of pictures while driving across the bridge, but I really only captured the guard rail as I was paying more attention to my driving. I'll post some of these later. I hope you all enjoy staring at concrete.
I eventually made it to Kansas City around 5pm central time. Over 11 hours I had driven 650 miles and I felt surprising good. Lauren's apartment was a nice refuge in the center of the city and I was happy just to relax and take a shower. After a quick tour around KC and the suburbs where Lauren used to live, we had dinner at a small restaurant in Parkville, MO. It was a nice American place with an excellent cream of cheese soup. Needless to say, after we were done eating, I was ready for bed.
I promise more pictures and updates soon.
Friday, September 5, 2008
Chasing Obama
After that I got on with the rest of my journey. The Pennsylvania turnpike was pretty boring other than the three mile long tunnels through the mountains. Everything went rather well until I stopped to get gas along one of the 14 miles that I-70 stretches through West Virginia. I swear the sign read Exxon, 1/2 mile on the left. Well half mile to the left took me up the side of a mountain where third gear and 3500 rpms got me all of 25 mph. No gas station! Note to self: never get off in West Virginia. Thankfully, Ohio was more normal.
Well I made it almost all the way across Ohio before it started to get dark. I happened to notice a sign on the side of the road for a state park and decided that it might be a cool place to camp for the night. The sweet British lady on my GPS directed me out to the camp grounds where I managed to locate for myself a nice non-electric camp ground to set up my tent. Here's where I stayed:
http://www.dnr.state.oh.us/tabid/716/Default.aspx
It was nice as I got my tent set up and got something to eat before the sun went down. I even managed to catch the glimpse of a nice rainbow as a couple of showers moved through. All in all, it was a good first day and I even made it to bed before 10pm. Amazing! I'll post some pictures a little later.
Wednesday, September 3, 2008
On the Night Before...
Where to begin? I'm not sure if leaving home for the second time is easier or harder than it was the first time. On one side, there are fewer friends here at home and even some where I'm going; on the other side, there will be no safety net like there was in college. Either way, I think the hardest part is leaving behind all those people that have made your life stable and comfortable for so many years. These people that have formed you into who you are and provided a context for your life give a certain familiarity that is difficult to leave. However, looking at it, I hope that freeing myself from this context will give me the room to have new ideas and experiences that will provide a foundation for how I lead the rest of my life. Here's to dreaming...
As for a more technical matter. The car is packed. Everything fit well and I even managed to get all my cooking stuff into the car! Above is a picture of the trunk (and yes, Matt, that is an 'Italia' jersey) with everything inside in a highly compressed state. I've also programmed all of destination addresses into the GPS and I've updated my IPod with some brand new tunes from several sources. To get a feeling for where I'm going to be spending my time over the next week and a half, here is a picture of the UI (User Interface for all non-computer science people, can you tell I'm excited to get started?). I've had the car checked out, new tires put on, and even changed the oil. Everything should be good to go and I'm hoping my trip is a mechanically sound one.
Baring any unforseen circumstances I plan to update this blog at least once every other day. I'll also be documenting my trip and posting pictures in the album with a link at the bottom of this page. I'll try to label all the pictures so you at least know what you're looking at. If anyone has any questions please comment on stuff and I'll try to answer them the next time I post.
To close this post on the night before I leave, I wanted to share with you two very different and seemingly contradictory quotes with a similar them that seemed especially pertinent to me. The first is from a classic Led Zeppelin song, appropriately named 'Going to California.' It is a song lamenting the loss of an old love and the struggle required to move on in life.
Standing on my heel on the mountain of dreams
Telling myself its not as hard, hard, hard as it seems
As I struggle to get ready for this new part of my life, this quote has a very poignant meaning for me. At the same time, a more uplifting lyric that has also played a major role in my life comes to mind:
We've been on the run
Driving in the sun
Looking out for number one
California here we come
Right back where we started from
California, California, here we come...
This Phantom Planet song never ceases to lift my spirits and give me hope that good things can always come from going to some place new, especially California. As a I goto sleep tonight and prepare to leave tomorrow, I'm sure these two songs will be juxtaposed in my mind, harmonizing and clashing with each other, but all the same reflecting the complexity of emotions that can exist as one phase of life ends and a new one begins. California, here I come...