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| These first two pictures were taken on I-84 in Eastern Oregon. | I-84 in Idaho, east of Boise | |
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| Unnamed person. | ||
It has been my intention to wander around the country by car this summer. It has also been my intention to see as many space shuttle launches in person as I could this summer. The first major driving trip for me brings those two things together. The proximity of the next shuttle launch meant that I wouldn't be so much wandering for the first leg of the trip -- I would be hurrying. I needed to get back to Titusville, Florida, by early on the morning of July 20th.
These pictures were taken mostly at random, except for the last picture which was deliberately taken to illustrate reaching Kennedy Space Center.
The first day I drove for the longest time of any of the days and I got the farthest. But that was because nothing was stiff yet. I was pretty whipped when I stopped in Laramie. The drive itself was relatively simple to navigate; nevertheless, I made a couple of navigational mistakes. The only tricky part was bypassing Salt Lake City and using an alternate route. The pictures below were representative of large parts of the trip -- I ended up driving on mostly flat terrain.
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| These first two pictures were taken on I-84 in Eastern Oregon. | I-84 in Idaho, east of Boise | |
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| Unnamed person. | ||
After fitful sleep at normal hours, I took off from Laramie for Denver around 8 in the morning local time. I got through Denver just prior to lunch time and then it was a windy trip across Colorado and Kansas on I-80. I only screwed up once, in Kansas City, but luckily all the mistakes on this trip were correctable. But I didn't have nearly the endurance of the first day and so I stopped just outside of Kansas City after more than 12 hours or so...
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| The Rockies? | Denver in the distance from I-25 |
Up and out of Kansas City at around 2 am -- this to get through St. Louis before the morning rush. And I did -- just barely. From there, it was a series of freeways that ultimately got me to I-75 pointed to Atlanta by mid-afternoon. Given where I was and the stiffness in my neck, I quit for the day about 30 miles short of Atlanta. By the end of the third day of sitting in one position, the only things that weren't stiff were my arms and legs, which I could move around.
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| Passing through St. Louis on I-64. Pretty bad aim, huh? | |
I started the last leg of the trip around 2 am and the rest of the drive was pretty much uneventful. I got to the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Center at 10: 15 am EDT -- 7:15 am PDT. So the total time taken was just less than 77 hours.
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| In the parking lot at the KSC Visitor Center: I made it. |
Last Revised: 18 July 1999
Complaints: blupwa@lupwa.org
