{"id":1659,"date":"2017-08-27T23:54:23","date_gmt":"2017-08-28T03:54:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.jonesling.us\/?p=1659"},"modified":"2017-09-02T15:07:02","modified_gmt":"2017-09-02T19:07:02","slug":"eclipse-2017-road-trip-edition","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.jonesling.us\/?p=1659","title":{"rendered":"Road Trip 2017: Eclipse Edition"},"content":{"rendered":"

There’s a back-story to this trip.\u00a0 My grandfather served on the USS Cobia<\/a> during World War 2.\u00a0 Through an accident of history, that very submarine is preserved as a floating museum in Manitowoc, Wisconsin<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Grandpa died over a decade ago.\u00a0 I found out about the Cobia several years after he died.\u00a0 Grandpa never mentioned that it still existed, though he had attended crew reunions there.\u00a0 I think he considered his service to be very personal and never spoke of it much.\u00a0 I’ve wanted to visit, to make a pilgrimage if you will, but I wanted to take the girls when they were old enough to remember and appreciate the history of the thing.<\/p>\n

I took advantage of a confluence of events this year to do it: 1) Alpha is old enough, 2) an impending total eclipse would pass (relatively) close by, and 3) I wanted a vacation and a road trip.\u00a0 Alpha was agreeable to going, and she too wanted a road trip, so boom it was on.<\/p>\n

As a side note, Alpha handled this trip with aplomb.\u00a0 She has a bladder of iron, remained agreeable even when things went sideways, and is generally helpful around the car.<\/p>\n

Overall Trip Statistics: 5 days, 10 states, 2700 miles, 2900 feet at highest pass.<\/p>\n

Day 0: Destination Erie, Pennsylvania<\/h2>\n
\"\"
The first day of the trip started with overcast skies that swiftly turned to rain — but the day ended with sun<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

We chose to leave on a Friday.\u00a0 I put in enough of a day at work to count it as a full day and avoid using another vacation day, which meant leaving around lunch time.\u00a0 Alpha and I were packed and ready to go by 1 pm.\u00a0 A final stop to see Meghan at work, and we hit the highway… and traffic.<\/p>\n

I made the mistake of assuming that traffic would be moderate at mid day.\u00a0 Friday afternoon rush hour tends to be nasty, especially so in summer, but it begins earlier than I know.<\/p>\n

As we crawled our way down the turnpike we witnessed an almost-crash in front of us.\u00a0 We mostly idled our way until Charleton.\u00a0 I guess that house rentals in Maine must run from Saturday to Friday, since a large portion of the cars around us were from NY, NJ, and PA and they all peeled off at the I-84 exit.<\/p>\n

\"Cruising
We found lots and lots of construction, but we never slowed down in New York<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The rain moved in as the traffic cleared.\u00a0 We made fair time for a couple of hours as we skipped into New York state under showers.<\/p>\n

Skies cleared by mid-state, with a few hours of sunlight left.\u00a0 After dark we cruised through the Seneca reservation.\u00a0 All of the road signs were translated into Seneca<\/a>, which was kind of neat.\u00a0 They also have a casino that, much like Foxwoods<\/a>, rises out of the forest in a jumble of incongruence.<\/p>\n

We made Erie<\/a> at about 9:30 that night – a Motel 6 alongside Interstate 90.\u00a0 It was a plain, but clean and serviceable hotel.\u00a0 We turned in sans dinner and slept well.<\/p>\n

Travel Report:<\/h3>\n

Central and western New York are very boring.\u00a0 We didn’t get cell phone service anywhere and the highway just seems to go forever.\u00a0 There are some peculiar town names in western New York, ‘Horseheads<\/a>‘ was a particular favorite.<\/p>\n

Day 2: Destination Chicago<\/h2>\n
\"Breakfast
Breakfast at the Zodiac Dinor (sic). It was delicious and huge; we never did care to eat lunch that day.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

We had a fantastic breakfast at a local diner<\/a> and set off on the scenic route<\/a> for a little while.\u00a0 We wanted to see Lake Erie.<\/p>\n

Along the way we found some sites and some sights.\u00a0 The day was warm but a little cloudy, which meant that it never got too hot.\u00a0 I was looking forward to rolling with the top down on this trip and I was not disappointed.\u00a0 We hit the sweet spot for a convertible: 50 mph @ 72 F, moderate humidity.<\/p>\n

Before we left Conneaut, Ohio we stopped at a lemonade stand; the kids even served us in the car.\u00a0 (I’ve made it a policy over the years to always stop for lemonade.)\u00a0 The roads were beautiful, alternating between showing us the lake and just being green.<\/p>\n

\"D-Day<\/a>
We drove by a D-Day re-enactment in Conneaut, OH [click to enlarge]<\/figcaption><\/figure>
\"D-Day<\/a>
A better view of the D-Day Re-enactment. It appears to be a yearly event. [click to enlarge]<\/figcaption><\/figure>
\"chicago<\/a>
Looking over the highway near our hotel. Chinatown is a little further left than is visible. [click to enlarge]<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/p>\n
\"Lake
The scenic byway made some very close passes to the coast and we saw some great views of the lake.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Lake Erie itself is gorgeous.\u00a0 The towns that border the lake are a mix of quaint, middle-America, and gaudy: some reminded me of Cape Cod, some reminded me of the over-commercialized beach town of Misquamicut, RI, and some reminded me of any number of nondescript towns that I’ve encountered along my travels.<\/p>\n

We switched over to the highway around Geneva-on-the-Lake, Ohio, as we became conscious of the time: I wanted to get into Chicago before sundown.\u00a0 Being Saturday we didn’t have to worry about rush hour.\u00a0 We rolled into town around 5:30, which was perfect.<\/p>\n

\"Dinner<\/a>
Our meals at Tasty Place. As the name suggests the meals were, in fact, very tasty. [click to enlarge]<\/figcaption><\/figure>Our hotel in Chicago was right next to Chinatown, so we took a walk to find some dinner.\u00a0 We found a hole-in-the-wall<\/a> with some of the best Chinese food I’ve ever had.<\/p>\n

We turned in no long after dinner; we had a full day ahead.\u00a0 We spent a little time unwinding and calling home.\u00a0 Earlier in the day we had found out that the USS Indianapolis had been located, and shared the news with Meghan and Beta.\u00a0 They proceeded to watch Jaws (with the Indianapolis scene<\/a>) and brag to us about doing so.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Travel Report:<\/h3>\n

Route 531 along the coast of Ohio is beautiful.<\/p>\n

\"Indiana
We stopped to rest for a bit in Indiana. The turnpike was single-lane (for construction) and bordered by jersey barriers on both sides for miles, which does weird things to your brain after a while.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The Indiana turnpike is bumpy as hell, and boring, until you approach Elkhart.<\/p>\n

Day 3: Destination Cobia<\/h2>\n

This was the main event.\u00a0 We arrived around lunchtime.<\/p>\n

\"USS
USS Cobia, positioned at the stern and looking towards the bow.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

There are regular tours of the submarine, from forward torpedo room to aft torpedo room.\u00a0 They’ve restore the submarine to about 80% working condition.<\/p>\n

\"uss
The forward torpedo room<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

We found at least three, possibly four, photos with Grandpa in them.\u00a0 The questionable photo is from a reunion photo, not everyone was looking at the camera and, sad but true, old men all start to look alike after a certain age.\u00a0 One other photo that we saw him is from a reunion, the final two are from his time on the submarine.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Alpha, with the Cobia’s stern in the background [click to enlarge]<\/figcaption><\/figure>Our tour guide was new – his first day! – and he wasn’t familiar with any of the crew besides the captain.\u00a0 Grandpa, being an officer but not the captain, wasn’t a name he knew.\u00a0 The tour was about twenty minutes from bow to stern.<\/p>\n

Being a real WW2 submarine the quarters were very cramped; I’m not sure how my grandfather, being a few inches taller than I am, was able to fit through the tiny intra-compartment doorways.<\/p>\n

The submarine part of the museum is a little small; there’s a somewhat larger section devoted to boats on Lake Michigan and the various wrecks.\u00a0 Alpha and I agreed that we’d like to come back another time to view the lake history in more detail.<\/p>\n

We ate dinner in Chicago, a pizza place of course.\u00a0 After we got back to our room Alpha wanted to veg out.\u00a0 I felt cooped up by the car all day, so I went out for a walk around the neighborhood.\u00a0 I took some photos but they were terrible; I need a new phone with a better camera.<\/p>\n

Travel Report<\/h3>\n

The state of Wisconsin replaced a large section of the pavement on Interstate 43, both northbound and southbound, with a concrete washboard.<\/p>\n

The car’s computer calculated our average MPG to be north of the 30 mark sometime this day.<\/p>\n

Day 4: The Eclipse<\/h2>\n

Alpha and I got going a bit later than I had originally planned, and had a smashing breakfast at a market that’s a block from the hotel.<\/p>\n

\"Clouds<\/a>
The clouds became progressively more forbidding as we raced south to meet the eclipse. The weather report for southern Illinois was clear skies, so we pressed on. Skies grew even darker shortly after this photo was taken, but we never got more than a sprinkle in the morning. [click for a very-hi-res version.]<\/figcaption><\/figure>Getting close to or under the eclipse path was a bonus, so we didn’t have any specific destination to reach, just “as close as we are able or choose to get.”\u00a0 I picked Marion, Illinois as a target and we started driving.<\/p>\n

We hit some traffic along the way, not due specifically to the eclipse but around construction along the highway.\u00a0 I don’t know if traffic would have been lighter and we would have slipped right through if it hadn’t been for the eclipse.\u00a0 We probably spent an hour and a half sitting in various stand-stills, and 30 minutes more finding detours, and were about an hour outside of Marion when we decided to stop to watch the eclipse in Effingham.\u00a0 It was a fair place to stop, with fuel and food, and we weren’t the only ones peering up at the sun.\u00a0 While it wasn’t directly in the path of totality the sun was reduced to a tiny hair-like sliver.<\/p>\n

\"eclipse
The clouds proved to be a mixed blessing by obscuring the view but allowing us to take unfiltered photos of the eclipse. I was too busy taking in the moment to photograph the actual peak — this was from about four minutes before the peak. The eclipse was moving from left to right in this photo, and the top was the only bit visible at the peak.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

From the stopping point, our next destination was Lexington, Kentucky.<\/p>\n

\"Downpours
We ran into thunder and lightning as we moved east through Illinois<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

We got into Lexington late, due in part to rain.\u00a0 A large part of our drive was on country roads which, more than the interstates, are long, straight, and surrounded by corn.<\/p>\n

We arrived in Lexington after 7 pm.\u00a0 It’s a college town and we ate dinner at a joint that caters to the college crowd<\/a>.\u00a0 It was delicious.\u00a0 Alpha had breakfast for dinner and I had a burger.\u00a0 As we walked out the door Alpha remarked how good it was.\u00a0 The person walking out behind us was, unbeknownst to us, one of the cooks heading out for a break; she flashed a huge smile and said “thanks!”<\/p>\n

Alpha stayed in our room while I took a swim in the hotel pool.\u00a0 We were in bed and lights-out before 9 pm, as we were leaving very early the next morning.<\/p>\n

Traffic Report<\/h3>\n

Midwestern seasons seem to be like New England: almost-winter, winter, still-wintery, and road construction.\u00a0 The side roads are much better for driving than the interstates, and almost as fast and direct.<\/p>\n

Indiana doesn’t seem to understand the concept of interstates.\u00a0 They have traffic lights and intersections on I-64.<\/p>\n

Day 5: Destination Home<\/h2>\n

\"AlphaThis was the longest, hardest drive of the trip: almost a thousand miles in one day.\u00a0 Under the best of conditions it would be a fourteen-hour trip.\u00a0 Alpha and I discussed doing it in one day or breaking it into two, and her answer was firm: lets go home today.\u00a0 So we did, come hell or high water.<\/p>\n

We didn’t take any scenic routes or make any unnecessary stops, it was just pounding the pavement (so to speak).\u00a0 We left Lexington at 7:30 am and made it home around 11:30 pm.\u00a0 We texted Meghan every time we crossed a state line, and she was reposting our updates to Facebook.<\/p>\n

Travel Report<\/h3>\n

Somewhere in eastern Kentucky we passed a field that could have been straight out of a Bob Ross painting, with a shed or small barn, happy little trees, and a small mountain in the background.<\/p>\n

West Virginia is beautiful, even from the highway, though cell phone reception is non-existent.\u00a0 We suddenly had great coverage when we entered Maryland, even though the mountains didn’t stop, so it seems to be a political issue not a geographic one.<\/p>\n

We reached a peak mileage of 31.8 MPG, according to the car’s computer.\u00a0 My back-of-the-envelope math came up slightly lower at our last fill-up, but close enough.<\/p>\n

The climate control system lost it’s mind somewhere in Kentucky and was alternately blowing cold and warm, regardless of actual setting, for the rest of the ride.\u00a0 Things got a bit warm and sweaty, but not the worst I’ve ever had.<\/p>\n

Pennsylvania doesn’t know how to manage traffic around construction, of which the was plenty, including some standstills well before rush hour.\u00a0 Neither does Connecticut, where we were hitting standstills at 9 pm.\u00a0 That shouldn’t happen on a Tuesday night.<\/p>\n

Sixteen hours of straight driving is very, very tiring.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

There’s a back-story to this trip.\u00a0 My grandfather served on the USS Cobia during World War 2.\u00a0 Through an accident of history, that very submarine is preserved as a floating museum in Manitowoc, Wisconsin. Grandpa died over a decade ago.\u00a0 I found out about the Cobia several years after he died.\u00a0 Grandpa never mentioned that … Continue reading “Road Trip 2017: Eclipse Edition”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":1671,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_crdt_document":"","wprm-recipe-roundup-name":"","wprm-recipe-roundup-description":"","advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[214],"tags":[107,371,373,360,374,384,378,386,379,382,383,100,388,381,380,385,99,375,387],"class_list":["post-1659","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-travel","tag-alpha","tag-chicago","tag-cobia","tag-connecticut","tag-eclipse","tag-erie-pa","tag-illinois","tag-indiana","tag-kentucky","tag-lexington-ky","tag-manitowoc-wi","tag-maryland","tag-massachusetts","tag-new-york","tag-ohio","tag-pennsylvania","tag-road-trip","tag-solar-eclipse","tag-west-virginia"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/blog.jonesling.us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/20170820-USS-Cobia-Banner.png","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4o3FW-qL","jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.jonesling.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1659","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.jonesling.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.jonesling.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.jonesling.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.jonesling.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1659"}],"version-history":[{"count":16,"href":"https:\/\/blog.jonesling.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1659\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1693,"href":"https:\/\/blog.jonesling.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1659\/revisions\/1693"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.jonesling.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1671"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.jonesling.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1659"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.jonesling.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1659"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.jonesling.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1659"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}