Day 5 - Home Sweet Home

If anyone works at Guinness' Book of World Records, please head over to Toledo, OH to find what has to be the loudest swarm of cicadas on the planet. My campsite was louder than a frat-house after a football game, which was quite an annoyance to someone who desperately needed sleep(hint: me). Luckily, my body was so exhausted I managed to pass out for a good 5 hours before the annoying droning coming from the woods awoke me. I should've recorded them for an alarm ringtone...

So at 4am, I impressed myself with packing up my airbed and tent in the darkness and set off to finally complete my journey home. I'm not sure what surprised me more; the fact that I didn't forget anything at the site or that I managed to make a mess of my car in less than five minutes when I thought I forgot my wallet (it was in my glove compartment). After that minor heart attack, I was definitely awake enough to bang out the rest of I-90 before breakfast. Once again Ohio, you're highway tolls are straight-up highway robbery.

Cleveland was pretty cool looking all lit up before dawn, but unfortunately I don't have any good pictures, as it was dark and camera doesn't like that.

Seriously, this is the best I could do

Around 9am, I saw what I longed for since I hit the corn fields of Nebraska:

 "New York Welcomes You!"

I was finally on the home stretch. Emphasis on home. I didn't really realize how much I loved the woodlands of New York until I was away from it for a long time. The long, rolling hills of oaks, birches, and evergreens and nice, winding highways through the hills... ah nostalgia...

It's....It's just so beautiful...

I decided to make a pit stop at good 'ol Alfred State, my first college where I got my Associates, to say hi to some of my old professors, and reminisce of the good old days of studying at a school that didn't put me into incredible debt.

An hour later, I was home. It was so good to see my parents again. And... my siblings... I suppose.

And then two hours after that, I'm up at my uncle's cottage, with a beer in my hand and the lake in my sights. 

Gotta love this view

Thanks to everyone who've followed me on this trip, and encouraged me along the way. 

Day 4 - Is There Anything That's NOT Corn East of Colorado??

Thank heavens for air beds. I finally caved and bought one yesterday, as my sleeping pad and sprung a leak, and wasn't really serving its purpose in the first place. I woke up this morning feeling so much better than I had the past two days, and had even had over 5 hours of uninterrupted sleep, a first for this trip. Still, I packed up an hour or so before dawn, and set out to bang out a few more states on my way home.

The rest of Iowa was corn. All of Indiana was corn (and obnoxious highway tolls). And the half of Ohio I managed to get through was, you guessed it, corn (and equally obnoxious highway tolls).

As such, I took even less pictures today than I did yesterday, and I'm sorry to say I don't really have too many scenic pictures of my drive. I did, however pass the couple trucks hauling these suckers down the highway:

Gigantic blade of a wind turbine

Wind power is pretty big out here, which is cool. I saw a bunch of wind farms in Iowa, and it was a common site to see a wide-load truck loaded with turbine equipment every hour or so. And no, I not get the so-called "wind turbine syndrome" headaches. Though that may be because I couldn't hear anything over my car shaking. I really got to get those bearings replaced...

Anyway, now I'm all set up just east of Toledo, Ohio. It's a big humid here, which sucks. I'd forgotten just how much humidity makes every extra degree so much worse. If only I had an air conditioned tent. But, if I could afford one of those (if they exist), I probably wouldn't be camping in the first place.

I decided to head into the nearby small town to see if there were any neat places I could get dinner. And boy, did I hit a road trip jackpot:

Say hello to the Speedtrap Diner!

 This place was just the thing you'd hope to find in Smalltown, USA. A backroads diner with license plates covering the walls, coffee served all day, and nothing but straight-up American food. Like this gem of a burger:

It wasn't the best I've ever had, but it certainly wasn't the worst. And for less than $10, I was pretty happy. And full. 

Tomorrow, I'll be waking up bright an early and complete my trip home! And then immediately do laundry, re-pack, and head to my Uncle's cottage for the weekend... 

Day 3 - So. Much. Corn.

Here's a word to the wise. Do no put a camp site in between a freeway, railroad, and distribution center that runs 24 hours. Between the sounds of the trucks barreling down the highway, the shift alarms blaring every 6 hours, or the train that just had to honk 15 times at 3 am, I did not get much sleep.

No matter, I had a Kickstart and cereal bar for breakfast, and once again set up on my journey East. Within an hour I was out of Wyoming (thankfully) and into what has got to be the most boring state in the country, Nebraska.

This was my view. For 600 miles

Look to your left. Now to the right. Now back to the left. If all you see is corn, chances are you're in Nebraska. This was such a huge contrast from the scenic views of Utah and Colorado, I honestly didn't know what to take for pictures. I never even stopped once for a "scenic view." I took maybe 20 pictures the whole day, and when I look back at them, they all look the same. Corn on my left, corn on my right. The highway was so straight, if it weren't for the occasional gust of wind, I could've set the cruise control, wedged my leg under the steering wheel and taken a nap! 

After hitting Omaha, which was a welcome reprieve from country freeways, I crossed over into Idaho, where to my un-surprise, I saw more corn. There's even a corn field 100 feet from my tent! Hopefully tomorrow will bring about a change of scenery, as I make my way to Ohio. Maybe this time when I drive through the state, at least one Ohioan will know how to use a turn signal. Maybe.

This is the view from my tent. Scenic, no?

Day 2 - The Search for More Oxygen

After getting roughly 4 hours of sleep, thanks to both the weather and my horribly uncomfortable sleeping pad, I set off in the wee-hours of a calm, Utah morning to complete the second leg of my journey. It was a long day, both physically and mentally exhausting, and I'm glad to finally be in my tent, writing this post before passing out.

The rest of Utah was just as beautiful as the first part, if not more so. The section of I-70 going from I-15 to Grand Junction is breath-taking. Huge, flat mesas, hundreds of feet above the wide swath of plains the interstate lain on, red stone contrasting with the light green brush. For the first part of my morning, I found myself stopping at every other scenic view rest stop just so I could take a few pictures that didn't have my windshield in the way. I haven't gotten the pics of my camera yet, so I'll update this after my drive tomorrow.

Edit: Here are the promised pictures

Colorado also has great looking country, though with less red stone, and MUCH higher peaks. The Rocky's are so much bigger than anything I'd driven by, and there were times the roads were so close to the base I couldn't see the sky out of my windshield. Just mountain. Speaking of mountains, how come nobody warned me about elevation fatigue?? I figured I'd be OK, since I wasn't exactly exerting myself driving, and the climb was relatively shallow. Then, I got above 8000 ft. Then 9000. It was about then I figured out the weird light-headedness I'd been feeling was the altitude. It was also the same time my car was also having breathing issues, barely making it up the hills, and having to constantly downshift to keep up the speed, even in relatively flat areas. When I saw the 10,800 ft peak sign, I knew my blurry vision wasn't my contacts.

After that wonderful ordeal, I had the pleasure of driving through Denver. By far, the cleanest city I've ever driven through. Even the run down areas looked clean, it was weird.

Now, I'm holed up in Cheyenne, Wyoming. A quaint, little city, with some rather, ah, interesting people... I went to the pub downtown to grab a my first meal in two days that wasn't out of my cooler, and had an awesome 1/2 lb Cajun burger with roasted garlic and melted bleu cheese. Oh, and a beer. Served in a mason jar...

So classy

Day 1 - The Long Desert Road...

Today, I began my long journey back to New York. At 4am. On a Monday. Not one of my best ideas, but I survived so I must've done something right. My 9 hour drive consisted almost entirely of desert landscapes, an almost-overheating car, and snapping random pictures out my windows when traffic wasn't too bad. 

Have you ever taken the same interstate for 500 miles? It's not exactly a riveting experience. But it was the easiest and fastest way for me to get out of the desert and into territory where grass is actually the default environment. That being said, there were some interesting moments and views.

Watching the sunrise over the mountains was an awesome experience

These solar power plants look so sweet!

The only part of Vegas that actually caught my eye. Yes, that's Trump Tower. Yes, it's completely clad in Gold. Subtle, Trump. Very subtle.

Got passed by a Ferrari 458....

And then an Aston DB9 30 seconds later

The pass through the mountains was awesome! There were mountain walls 100s of feet high on either side of the road

Then I got into Utah. Man, what beautiful country

Big, fluffy clouds! It was just perfect weather

Oh, I'd like to give a special shout-out to Jen at HME. I was rocking out to her driving mix CD's all morning. And Steve, I'm sorry, but I will never like Lady Ga-Ga.

It's Almost Time...

I can't believe it. I've only got a week left here in California. These past 7 months have been crazy, from adjusting to city life to discovering the wonderful California Burrito. I'd say I wish it never to end, but to be honest, I'm quite happy to leave.

Don't get me wrong, I've had an amazing time here. I've gotten more sun since January than I had the previous 10 years.  I've met some great people and done some pretty cool things. But we've had a rocky relationship, San Diego, and I think it best we parted ways.

We're just too different. You like warm, sunny weather. I prefer the cool Autumn breeze and the crisp, fresh snows of the northeast. You enjoy the constancy of never-changing weather, while I prefer the varying sky of central NY. There's nothing wrong with either, just different strokes for different folks. While I didn't realize it when I first left home, I'm a Winter boy, through and through. And January in San Diego just isn't Winter, in my book. 

THIS is Winter!

That being said, the people I met here will be that which I will miss the most. Friends I've made at work, strangers I've chatted with at the beach, and the occasional polite homeless man asking for money. Alright, that last one I probably won't miss, but it was a memorable experience, nonetheless!

Bacon, Goats, and A Capella. Weird Combo, Great Results

In the month leading up the San Diego County Fair, all my co-workers kept telling me was, "Oh, you have to go to the fair!" "They have great food at the fair!" They have all kinds of beers at the fair!" So, with the thought of good food and beer in mind, and some free tickets I won on from a radio station in hand, I set off to see what the hullabaloo was all about.

So. Many. People.

Seriously, it was absolutely nuts how many people were walking through the fairgrounds at any one time. It was like a sea. If the crowd has willing, one could probably crowd surf for over a mile without hitting a sparse area. 

But my crowd anxiety abated rather suddenly when I saw THIS:

Complementary cardiologist referral with every purchase!

I needed it. All of it. In my mouth. Fortunately, I had the sense to realize that would probably kill me. So I settled with just these:

Yeah, I'm gonna need that cardiologist

On the left, you've got french fries, fried in fortified bacon grease, covered in sour cream and bacon. On the right, bacon-bombs - bacon wrapped, deep-fried, beer-battered cheese balls, literally floating in melted garlic butter. If you're not drooling by the third hyphen, you're not American.

Do I regret my decision? No. Did I have to do extra 2 hours of cardio at the gym just to make myself feel OK with my decision? Yes.

There were other great things about the fair as well, including a large petting zoo, several as-seen-on-TV vendors, and a pretty decent Pentatonix concert that was also included in my free ticket.

From the pic's vantage point, you can tell the tickets were free

Must. Squish. Face.

Up-cycling Before Recycling - Heineken Mini-Keg Speaker

One of the big things they don't tell you about doing an internship is how much free time you end up having, compared to the crazy flying-by-the-seat-of-your-pants rigor of your Junior year engineering curriculum. It actually quite unsettling to come home after work and have nothing to do. No homework, no projects, no studying. So to combat the stir-craziness I was experiencing, I started trying a multitude of hobbies, such as learning a new programming language, trying my hand at app development, blogging (duh), and a few DIY projects.

One of the projects that really took my interest was turning a Heineken mini-keg into a standalone speaker. It made perfect sense to me. I like beer. I like music. It's only natural that I'd want to combine the two.

Borrowing heavily from gilgonza3's project on Instructables, I set off on creating my own boozy jam box. And let me tell you, it was an eye-opening experience, beset with several problems (mostly of my own making), but I'm damn proud of the result, and I'm so glad I did it. Here are some pictures documenting the build.

Opening up the keg

Gluing the speaker support ring

Getting ready to drill holes for the connectors

Wiring going between back of keg and amp

Mounting the amp

Installing the amp and connectors

Finished product

There are still some things I want to do with the speaker, namely reinforce the stands and put a protective grill on the speaker, but that stuff can wait. This speaker is loud, proud, and ready for a party!