If I'm on your AIM/MSN/XFire buddy list, then you'll know that I just got back from the DMV. No, I wasn't getting a driver's liscense, I was getting a Gov't issued photo I.D. I'll be needing it when I go to Canada. :)
My mom and I will be taking Amtrak and Via Canadian Rail across North America for 30 days with a special pass. We're still planning our trip, but we're pretty much done as far as wat trains we're taking. We'll be going everywhere from New York to Toronto and everywhere inbetween.
I'm sure most if not all of you (hopefully) are worried about not hearing from me for a whole month, but don't fret. We'll hopefully be getting a cellular internet card for our laptop so I can access the internet wherever I get cell service. And if that falls through, we'll be stopping every now-and-then in a hotel, where I'm sure they have an internet connection.
We'll be leaving on the 25th of this month, which is still a few weeks away, but I though I'd give you the heads up.
-EDIT-
Trip Report
10/25/06 (http://clockworkmansion.com/forum/index.php?topic=1233.new#new)
10/26/06 (http://clockworkmansion.com/forum/index.php?topic=1233.new#new)
Thanks *hugs tight* Be safe amgio
*hug* have fun! We'll miss you much ;)
Well pre-best wishes I guess :3
River flows as it finds pleasing.
lucky you :) enjoy your trip
See ya later. Is'nt someone else from canada? :januscat
There's a lot of people from Canada.
Bah, some things have come up at my mom's work and we won't be doing the whole monthlong trip. We're still going to Cedar Point in Sandusky, Ohio, though; it closes a few days after we get there and won't be open again until May. Hopefully we'll be taking the monthlong trip in March.
oh hm....... I don't pay atention of where people are in these forums! :januscat
Drop by and say hello sometimes
Hello!
... oh, you meant in person, rather than on the forums? :-)
Now isnt this box deserve an oscar for his best acting*
No! Not really! Uh. :januscat
Well, nevermind then! I guess we're going on our monthlong trip.
Quote from: EveryoneMake up your mind!
:P
*whimper* don't leave me with these psychos >>
:P
Speak for yourself. ;)
Well like I said before, we'll hopefully be getting a cellular internet card, so wherever I get a cell signal, I'll have the internet. :3
We got our cellular internet card yesterday, so don't worry about me leaving you all awone with the psychos, Xze. :P
Connection failure, za?
Anyway, best of wishes from a complete stranger. Here, that means even better luck than those from a friend.
Yayz0rz, today is my last day of school for the next 31 days. :3
D:
You suck! XP
Quote from: ×HaZ×MaT× on October 24, 2006, 10:43:57 AM
Yayz0rz, today is my last day of school for the next 31 days. :3
I envy you s0o0o much. Praise thee to heaven.
Time to kiss some good boots tonights X3
Say what now?
I'm envied! :lol I have to get to the train station by 4:25 AM, which means I have to wake up at 2:30 to make sure everything's packed and what not. I must just stay up all night.
-EDIT-
Ok, on the train and about 30 minutes out of the station. Next stop, Stockton California. :3 This is like home away from home. I have my music, computer, internet, camera, etc, so I can update in real-time throughout the trip. :cool
.. is that a good thing? :-)
Look forward to no internet for about the entire midwest.
I'm not expecting to have the internet the whole trip. I've already lost the connection twice today. :P
Dont get spanked with moon rocks now
Heh, I'm visualizing a old map with a red line being drawn across your route as I read your post.
:mad I forgot about the tunnels. Though I'm actually keeping the signal through some of the shorter ones. It's like a game; "Am I going to lose the signal? :)"
Just be safe now okay dude?
I'm just going on vacation, it's not like I'm going bungie jumping or something. :lol
A hundreth people a year die while travelling on vacantion in west europe alone! :erk
please! Don't be one out of biljons! :< (yeah, I made these numbers up)
10-25-06
6:10 AM
We've been out of the station for a little over an hour, now. It's still dark outside, so nothing really interesting has happened as of yet. We've made several stops so far on our way to Stockton, but I havn't taken the time to check what the stations were. Probably because I don't care, not to mention I have my headphones on so I can't hear the announcements. Up until now I've been ripping music to the laptop and browsing some of my forums. That's pretty much it for now, if you'll excuse me, I need to pop in another CD.
6:18 AM
I got some coffee, not great not bad, though it is the first time I've tried coffee without cream or sugar; I think I may keep my coffee black from now on. I'm sitting in the cafe car on the San Joaquin Valley Line (Amtrak California) and I guess someone ordered some kind of fruit smoothie because the attendant at the cafe is chopping something. It's pretty annoying...
6:52 AM
It's just getting light outside, I'd say the sun still has a while to be up, though. I might take some pictures if I'm not too busy doing anything else... So it's pretty much guaranteed.
6:56 AM
Looks like I was on the wrong side of the car. It's still pretty dark out my window, meanwhile on the other side of the car, it's already bright and orange. I guess the sun will be up earlier than I thought. Also, we're haulin' some serious booty right now, I'd say about 65-70 M.P.H.
7:31 AM
Passing a BNSF intermodel train, if you care. I took some pictures of the sunrise, but there really isn't much to see of it in southern California.
8:03 AM
I think the coffee's wearing off. I'm gonna try and catch some 'z's as soon as I'm done ripping my music.
9:25 AM
We arrived at Stockton a little late, not too surprisingly. That was followed by a short bus ride to Sacramento, nothing interesting there, either.
10:30 AM
We got to the station in Sacramento with quite a bit of time to spare, since our train arrived a tad late. Once again, not surprising.
11:32 AM
The last two time stamps were from memory, as I couldn't get the laptop out during those times. Since then we've gotten on the train to Chicago, and we're back to the present.
12:18 PM
Just outside of Roseville, and I've already lost the internet connection. I hadn't really thought about tunnels and what not interferring with the signal. Luckily listening to music doesn't require an internet connection.
12:24 PM
Sporadic tunnels are a neusance, but the connection seems fine without them.
12:40 PM
The tunnels are becoming more and more frequent. I don't expect to get much done via the internet, so I guess that just leaves me with updating the trip report. My mom's taking some pictures as we pass some small accumulations of farm buildings and dense forest beyond Roseville.
12:45 PM
We have officially entered BFE; We've lost the connection entirely in the open. Though the scenery's interesting. Still more farm buildings, like something out of a jigsaw puzzle. That's pretty much all you can comment on about the scenery, that and lots of trees. I wasn't aware that California had so many trees. If I didn't know any better, and it weren't so warm, I'd say we were in Oregon.
12:52 PM
Arrived at the town of Colfax. ...Cozy.
12:57 PM
Just passed an old, beat up Al Camino in a large ditch by the tracks. There's a narration over the speakers of the route we're taking, but it keeps cutting in and out.
1:23 PM
We're stopped right on a grade crossing in the middle of nowhere. Though we must not be in the middle of nowhere, because the road is paved and the grade crossing has gates. We've been sitting here for several minutes, and I've only seen one car. I'm not complaining, however, the internet connection's blazin'.
5:00 PM
We moved to the next car up, which is right behind the lounge car. Unfortunately, I had to be waken up for this to be accomplished. We're in Nevada now, though I'm not sure where in Nevada. We just came out of a long concrete corridor, maybe you'll know what I'm talking about.
6:18 PM
Vast expanse of Nevada desert...
Not to degrade anything, but I've been seeing an increasing trend lately of TL;DR (http://www.encyclopediadramatica.com/index.php/Tl%3Bdr) posts. (Although I actually read this one and will now proceed to comment on it.)
Of course coffee's meant to be had black.
My work here is done.
TLDR can be made non-TLDR with line breaks, like good-ol, Haz did here.
Quote from: Supercheese on October 26, 2006, 03:05:53 PM
Not to degrade anything, but I've been seeing an increasing trend lately of TL;DR (http://www.encyclopediadramatica.com/index.php/Tl%3Bdr) posts. (Although I actually read this one and will now proceed to comment on it.)
Of course coffee's meant to be had black.
My work here is done.
*clicks*
*reads a bit*
*scrolls*
*scrolls some more*
*scroll, scroll scroll*
*end of page - reads*
This article is a stub. You can help by expanding it.
ROTFLOL!
Have a nice time Haz. :3
TLDR? I have no idea what you're talking about.
-EDIT-
Oh, I see. Well, it's a whole days worth of report.
Also, there's about 2 feet of snow outside wherever it is we are in Colorado. We're about 4 hours behind schedule, which is to be expected, running on Union Pacific lines. We should be getting into Denver hopefully before midnight.
Also again, sorry for not posting in the rest of the forum. The internet connection around here is shoddy and the laptop only has a limited battery life. :|
-EDIT2-
I must have been the only person in the entire city of Denver wearing shorts. :lol
10/26/06
-07:32-
Woke up to fallen snow and cloudy mountains this morning. I was surprised to hear we were still in Utah. It's 9:35 AM now, and not much has happened since then, just enjoying the snowy scenery. We've been following a small river alongside the tracks for well over a half hour by now. Some of the river is startig to ice over. We passed by a flock of wild turkeys and some deer not too long ago, also. We've been taking a few pictures, but not much. It's beautiful to look at, but it's repetitive.
-09:45-
We've passed several makeshift bridges that pass over the river adjascent to the tracks that seem to be made out of old piggyback cars.
-09:51-
We've entered a conyon with an odd sort of porous rock. It resembles a wasp nest, but so far is only in higher in the canyon walls. Now that the sun is out and the snow has melted, the landscape is looking more like Utah. The walls are full of layers of diferent types of rock, most of which are flaky and jagged. Just arrived in Helper, Utah.
-10:04-
Not to self: Opening creamer packages that were packaged in low altitude in high altitude is a bad idea. (High preassure in the creamer.)
-12:19-
We're past Green River, but notto Grand Junction yet. Nt dad called and informed me that parts of Colorado we're passing through have blizzard warnings, and most other parts have heavy snow warnings, so there may be a chance of being snowed in. I'm trying to contact a friend of mine-he's good with weather forecasting and whatnot-via Instant Messenger, but there's little internet connection.
-19:08-
Havn't had a connection since we left Grand Junction, and havn't had the laptop open, so this is a recap. The scenery along the Colorado river is amazing! I'd never seen anything like it. The combination of the red dirt and rocks, green trees and white snow made for a breathtaking view. The further we got up the mountain, the thicker the snow got, but it was still never very thick. We passed several trains and cars that had snow on them, but we never encountered any falling snow ourselves. I saw a variety of wildlife including deers, elk, and a bald eagle. We just stopped at another town, not very big, and I believe it's the last stop before Denver. And even though there is an internet connection now, I can't seem to access it.
-19:39-
Ok, we just made another stop, once again, I don't know where, but I do know it wasn't Denver. Soon we'll be headed through the Continental Divide - Moffet Tunnel.
-21:20-
We can see Denver now, but it's pretty far down, and I'm assuming that it's still going to be a while before we actually get to the station.
-EDIT-
Oh em gee, this guy sitting behind me won't shut up. The train stopped 7 minutes out of Omaha, Kansas for a crew change - The engineers run in 12 hour shifts regardless of if the train is in motion or not, and it's very strictly enforced - and all he's doing is complaining. :mad Him being pissed off is pissing me off!
Yikes
TLDR posts are often read by fellow TLDR posters :P Especially those interested in this particular format.
Will ye be putting pictures up online somewhere?
As soon as I upload them. :P We havn't been taking a lot of pictures recently, though. Not much to look at in the plains.
On your left people is a big patch of sand...To your left...More sand with cacti!
Haha, no, that's the midwest. I'm in Iowa right now.
Tell my aunts and uncles i said hellos..De monis they lives
Well then... As a result of our train being several 6 hours late (Which isn't surprising at all, in fact it should be expected), we missed our connection to andusky, Ohio. Amtrak, however, has booked us in Homewood suites for the night with food and cab fares. Unfortunately, all this means that we won't be getting to Sandusky at all, which means I won't be getting to Cedar Point, which means that I won't be withing 100 miles of Dakata's home town. :(
Dood, if you were to go to Cedar Point I'd probably drag my friend along to go meet you there. For no reason other than "just because."
Where are you going, anyways? :aack
When? We're going everywhere... brb.
Bakersfield, CA -> Stockton, CA
Stockton, CA -> Sacramento, CA (Via Bus)
Sacramento, CA -> Chicago, IL
Chicago, IL -> Sandusky, OH
Sandusky, OH -> Buffalo, NY
Buffalo, NY -> CBN (Dunno what this is.)
CBN -> Toronto, Ontario (Canada)
Toronto, Ontario -> Montreal, Quebec
Montreal, Quebec -> Halifax
Halifax -> Montreal, Quebec
Montreal, Quebec -> New York, NY (United States)
New York, NY -> Washington D.C.
Washington D.C. -> Atlanta, GA
Atlanta, GA -> Greensboro, NC
Greensboro, NC -> Raleigh, NC
Raleigh, NC -> Savana, GA
Savana, GA -> Washington D.C.
Washington D.C. -> Chicago, IL
Chicago, IL -> Albany, NY
Albany, NY -> Boston, MA
Boston, MA -> New York, NY
New York, NY -> CBN
CBN -> Toronto, ON (Canada)
Toronto, ON -> Vancouver, BC
Voncouver, BC -> Seattle, WA (United States)
Seattle, WA -> Eugene, OR
Eugene, OR -> Portlan, OR
Portland, OR -> Chicago, IL
Chicago, IL -> Los Angeles, CA
Los Angeles, CA -> Bakersfield, CA
0.0
YOU WAS IN DENVEEEEERRRRRRR!!!!!????
*starts cursing so much that if she was to type the words, the rating of this forum would go through the roof*
... Holy shit. That is completely insane. It's an exponential road trip D:
Let me know if any future trip brings you to Cleveland :B
Better yet Lansing MI
Quote from: Zedd on October 28, 2006, 12:12:08 AM
Better yet Lansing MI
i'm goin there in november :B
Haz is going every-freaking-where. :O
:lol You'll have to do better than that!
Quote from: Zedd on October 28, 2006, 03:33:58 AM
Quote from: Xze-Xze on October 28, 2006, 01:26:00 AM
Quote from: Zedd on October 28, 2006, 12:22:15 AM
Quote from: Xze-Xze on October 28, 2006, 12:14:03 AM
Quote from: Zedd on October 28, 2006, 12:12:08 AM
Better yet Lansing MI
i'm goin there in november :B
GAH! *runs and hides under basment stairs*
awwww...i feel unloved D:
What part will you be in?
...let me get back to you on that XD
to much quoting! :giggle
Quote from: Xze-Xze on October 27, 2006, 11:57:09 PM
0.0
YOU WAS IN DENVEEEEERRRRRRR!!!!!????
*starts cursing so much that if she was to type the words, the rating of this forum would go through the roof*
I'm coming back. :P
-EDIT-
Oh right, I guess I should mention this before you start wondering where I am...
I'm headed up to Toronto right now, and unfortunately I won't have internet up there. Not the cellular internet anyway. ...Not unless I want to pay $0.15 a minute. :| Though I'm sure they'l have internet service in the hotels there, since they're so nice and all. :3
Wish me luck, ya'llz! La'az, USA! :cool
-EDIT-
Gah, I've been on the train, what, 5 days? I think I'm actualy
sitting too much, my ass hurts! D:
Quote from: ×HaZ×MaT× on October 29, 2006, 12:13:36 AM
Gah, I've been on the train, what, 5 days? I think I'm actualy sitting too much, my ass hurts! D:
Those must be some incredibly comfortable seats. I'm always in much pain after just a car trip to South Carolina. And one time it wore holes through my pants :aack
Quote from: DigitalMan on October 29, 2006, 05:46:38 AM
Those must be some incredibly comfortable seats. I'm always in much pain after just a car trip to South Carolina. And one time it wore holes through my pants :aack
OWCH!
Teehee, I felt so contemporary yesterday. :3 I was in Starbucks drinking a Java Chip Frappucino in my cargo pants and sweat shirt with my pair of big head phones listening to Beck, which happened to be for sale at Starbucks. :P
Aiiii! HazMat the yuppie?
What, may I ask, is a Yuppie?
Sheesh, That's 80's slang, even. Young Upwardly-mobile.
Now, of course, you've got Dinks - Dual Income, No Kids.
Same sort of thing, though. A yuppie is the sort who... well...
Let's just say there were jokes going around about the Yuppie who was out driving, and crashed his beamer. The Emergency services guy was trying to get him into hospital, but he was too busy moaning "My car! My poor, beautiful beamer!"
"Look, man, you've lost your arm!"
"My Rolex! My beautiful brand-new rolex!"
:-)
Hehe, sounds materialistic. That's not me. :P Just because I do have a Beemer doesn't make me a Yuppie. :paranoid
My mom, in her infinite wisdom, packed like 2 weeks worth of food for out trip, and half of it is meats, veggies, and fruits, which we can't take into Canada. So we're sitting here in the Buffalo, NY train station giving away food. :B
Right-o ladies and gents, the Canadian/US border (as opposed to any other border) is up ahead, and I'l be needing to sign off the interweb lest I pay $0.15 a minute. Hopefully they have internet at the hotel. Until then, I bid you all farewell.
...But before I do that, lemme show you some pics of Chicago. :P
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v451/xHaZxMaTx/10-28-06HancockObservatory001.jpg)
I'm standing in fron of the Hancock Observatory. Not quite as tall as the Sears Tower. I wanted to go in the Sears Tower though, just to quote Cameron Fry. "I think I see my dad... ...shhhhit..." :>
They don't call it the windy city for nothing, look at my hair go! :O
Okie, more later.
Wow, nice 'fro. :erk
Hello from Halifax. Sorry I havn't been on, but apparently Canada has never heard of complimentary Wi-FI or breakfast with your hotel room. :B
*Sings* "Show me the way to go home. I'm tired and I want to go to bed." :tired
Would you believe that it hasn't rained, snowed, hailed, etc at all on our trip so far?
Quote from: ×HaZ×MaT× on November 02, 2006, 11:09:00 PM
Would you believe that it hasn't rained, snowed, hailed, etc at all on our trip so far?
No. No I would not, you lying bastard!
How did you escape the snow that just hit us? :dface
Where do you live?
The only place I saw snow was in Denver, and it was only on the ground, it wasn't falling.
Well, it just snowed here in Cleveland Ohio... I think you went under that little storm line. But there's more coming! D:
i never saw snow....not a single time...once i was going to meet Canada but it fail....i wish someday i get to know some North country....till there i can't play Final Fantasy Tactics correctly. :cry
Hey guys, you know what's really fun?! :D Hauling 100 lbs. of luggage uphill for 1 mile!
:rolleyes
SURELY it can't be any more fun than hauling said weight up some stairs every day? D:
yes...snow in Denver... *shudder*
Snow, yay! :3 Snow is t3h awesome. I never get any in CA. :<
i could SO live without it -_-
You don't ski, I presume?
Skiing is bad for you. I've sprained a couple of arms, broken a leg, and most importantly crushed a nut while on the slopes. 'Cept it was on snowboard. It's hazardous anyway. And snow is useless. It just gets in the way. Though I do like the cold...
Quote from: Stygian on November 04, 2006, 08:54:25 PM
Skiing is bad for you. I've sprained a couple of arms, broken a leg, and most importantly crushed a nut while on the slopes. 'Cept it was on snowboard. It's hazardous anyway. And snow is useless. It just gets in the way. Though I do like the cold...
There's your problem. >:3
Winter for teh win!!!11!!1!!eleven!!one
Snow rocks!
No, wait! On second thought: don't throw snowballs when there are rocks in it! They hurt. Badly.
But winter's still the coolest season. Well, um. Not only in temperatures I mean. Sure it's cold and stuff but...err...waaagh!
My point is: The air smells/tastes different in winter. Like it's chrystal-clean. And I just love it.
Yes, cold is good. I've never snowboarded, but I assume sandboarding is close enough. Jst slower, warmer, and it hurts a lot more when you fall . :<
Woah-ho! I just found out the hard way that wearing water-resistant shoes for 2 days at a time makes your feet REALLY pruny! :O I could take a pic if you wanna see. :3
Also, I went to a Canadian pub and had shark. It was yummy. (The chick working there assumed I was over 19. :lol)
You over 19?? Now dont drink it all in one gulp or the mountie weremoose will get you again
Jeez, people outside of California must be dumb or something. People keep assuming that I'm older than I really am (over 21) and that my mom is younger than she really is, and that we're 'together.' *Shudders* Though I supose that wouldn't be too out-of-the-ordinary down here in the south. :B I've seen 2 General Lee's (The Dukes of Hazard) since I've been in Georgia, and someone had a confederate flag in place of their license plate. :rolleyes
Off I go into lovely Canada land, again. No cellular internet for 4 days, so don't expect to see me on in that period of time. Canada seems to be lacking complimentary Wifi. :< And we're staying in the same crappy hotel we did before. The one with two beds, and the bedroom is the same size as the bathroom. Hopefully Vancouver is better than Ontario.
Uh... you're complaining that people are expecting you and your mother to be together...
.. and then objecting to two beds?
Make some sense, man :-)
No, I'm objecting two beds being in such a small room.
*Cough*B.C. > Ontario*Cough* :>
I met some really nice people on the train from Toronto to Vancouver. Apparently Ameicans have an accent to them, something about pronouncing our 'R's weird. Oh well, they pronounce there 'O's funny, and say "eh."
The trip we took is supposed to be really pretty and what not, but I didn't really notice. Lots of lakes and mountains. Whoopdy-effing-doo. :rolleyes
Anywho, last train of the trip, the Southwest Chief. *Sings...* "California here I come, right back where I started from!" Literally. :boggle
*Is home.* *Unchecks 'Don't show other users' avatars' and 'Don't show other users' signatures.'*
Right, would I do it again? If I had a sleeping car, my butt freaking hurts! D:
*gives Hazzy a butt icepack*