road stories I
SO it takes approx 26 hours to drive from toronto to austin, texas, if you were wondering. the first stop on the way down was Windsor, which was so incredibly windy and filled with trucks (related?) that there was a intensely surreal feeling about the whole place. also maybe indicative that this trip was going to be one for the books, or something.
most american states look the same from US Interstates, though Michigan seemed particularly depressing. Illinois is a very tall state, but quiet outside of Chicago. It took a while to find the perfect balance between refueling, eating, and peeing but a balance was eventually found that kept the bright red grand am on the road as much as humanly possible.
things turned green in missouri, maybe halfway through. arkansas was downright balmy, and as I filled up the car late on the tuesday night in a t-shirt, some guy tried to sell flash-frozen steaks to me at the gas station. I loved arkansas' lushness, and the accents in this state are INTENSE. much more so than in texas and certainly moreso than the northern states. the people are very kind, but at points you think they can't be serious about their accents, but nope, that's how they were. had some weird caffeine overdose moments. stopped in the border town of texarkana on tuesday night (not far from arkadelphia, yes). wanted to explore this place more, but too dead. also: new Sopranos was on HBO.
the most intense driving was that wednesday through texas, Dallas specifically, as even at midday the traffic was heavy but very fast through the city. saw a pretty substantial freeway accident happen. it wasn't pretty, and the thought of more driving wasn't exactly pleasant for a while. texas also has what I dubbed 'shotgun' exits where you can bolt onto the freeway from not the usual interchanges, but small 100' merge lanes from all kinds of country roads. it was a little nuts.
Austin arrival around 1pm. it's warm. went straight to the convention center to take on the legendary registration lineups. ran into canadians instantly. it was actually pretty painless as they had doubled the amount of staff from last year. got the giant bag, went and checked in, and crashed. a full night of bands was to come.
most american states look the same from US Interstates, though Michigan seemed particularly depressing. Illinois is a very tall state, but quiet outside of Chicago. It took a while to find the perfect balance between refueling, eating, and peeing but a balance was eventually found that kept the bright red grand am on the road as much as humanly possible.
things turned green in missouri, maybe halfway through. arkansas was downright balmy, and as I filled up the car late on the tuesday night in a t-shirt, some guy tried to sell flash-frozen steaks to me at the gas station. I loved arkansas' lushness, and the accents in this state are INTENSE. much more so than in texas and certainly moreso than the northern states. the people are very kind, but at points you think they can't be serious about their accents, but nope, that's how they were. had some weird caffeine overdose moments. stopped in the border town of texarkana on tuesday night (not far from arkadelphia, yes). wanted to explore this place more, but too dead. also: new Sopranos was on HBO.
the most intense driving was that wednesday through texas, Dallas specifically, as even at midday the traffic was heavy but very fast through the city. saw a pretty substantial freeway accident happen. it wasn't pretty, and the thought of more driving wasn't exactly pleasant for a while. texas also has what I dubbed 'shotgun' exits where you can bolt onto the freeway from not the usual interchanges, but small 100' merge lanes from all kinds of country roads. it was a little nuts.
Austin arrival around 1pm. it's warm. went straight to the convention center to take on the legendary registration lineups. ran into canadians instantly. it was actually pretty painless as they had doubled the amount of staff from last year. got the giant bag, went and checked in, and crashed. a full night of bands was to come.
posted by YO! at 5:35 PM
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