trip

America's Fortress: Cheyenne Mountain, NORAD live on

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo.--If there are two things that drive the folks at the world-famous Cheyenne Mountain complex crazy, it's the widely held public perceptions that, for one, the complex has shut down altogether, and that it is synonymous with NORAD, the North American Aerospace Defense Command.

After visiting as part of my Road Trip 2009 project Friday, I'm here to report that both perceptions are quite incorrect.

For one, the Cheyenne Mountain complex is very much still operational. In some ways, in fact, in a world where existential threats come not from the Soviet Union but from … Read more

Five must-have iPhone apps for your next trip

I'm winging my way to San Francisco in a couple weeks, so I've been rounding up apps that'll make my trip easier and more enjoyable.

Obviously I'll stock up on e-books and movies for the flight (Wondershare's DVD Ripper Platinum is proving a great choice for copying my DVDs to my iPhone), and I've already got old standbys like Urbanspoon and Yelp for finding local grub and businesses.

But there's more to a trip than just food and in-flight movies. Here's a list of the iPhone apps I've decided to pack:

HazelMail Postcards Sure, you can always e-mail photos of your trip, but doesn't grandma deserve a good old-fashioned postcard? HazelMail turns any iPhone snapshot into the real deal, then mails it (along with your custom wish-you-were-here message) to any address. First one's free; after that, each card costs $1.50 (or get 12 for $12). TravelTracker Pro A bit more robust than competitors SplashTravel and Travel Assistant, TravelTracker Pro helps you keep tabs on every aspect of your trip: flights, car/hotel reservations, weather, and even currency exchange rates. Plus, it integrates with the excellent TripIt service to automatically import/update your travel plans, and provides live flight tracking via FlightStats. Only gripe: It's a little pricey at $12.99. GadgetTrak A stolen iPhone could put a major damper on your trip. Free app GadgetTrak aims to help you get it back, and while it's not quite as effective as MobileMe, it can't hurt to install it before leaving.… Read more

Welcome to the Air Force Academy. You're doing everything wrong!

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo.--"Get off my bus!"

As the door opened, those words exploded out and it seemed that everyone within a few hundred feet must have heard them. But there was no doubt the two or three dozen on board did, as they came scurrying off at high speed.

These were one busload of the 1,376 members of the United States Air Force Academy's class of 2013, and, less glamorously, the brand new basic cadets who had arrived here Thursday, many just weeks out of high school.

Accustomed to being on top of their … Read more

What happened to Mars?

BOULDER, Colo.--As anyone who spent a lot of Saturday mornings watching cartoons knows, Martians are for real, and they're green. But for scientists, things aren't quite as certain. So now, a group is setting out to find out whether the Red Planet could in fact have supported life.

In September, NASA awarded the University of Colorado the biggest research grant in the school's history for a project led by professor Bruce Jakosky to investigate the history of the climate on Mars. The idea behind the $486 million project--known as Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution mission, or … Read more

Road Trip meetup goes off without a hitch

BOULDER, Colo.--When I polled a series of social-media experts about how best to build buzz for my Road Trip 2009 project, one of the strongest suggestions was to host meetups along the way.

I'd thought to do that last year, on Road Trip 2008, but never felt like I had enough time to do so. Or, frankly, the network to organize anything worthwhile.

This time, however, I knew I had to do it. So as the trip got close, I reached out to some folks who seemed well connected in Boulder, told them I was coming to town, … Read more

Transitioning to a post-peak oil world

BOULDER, Colo.--The age of peak oil is coming, and some say we're already there. So when the effects of rapidly rising oil prices start to seriously affect the world, will your community be ready?

To Michael Brownlee, a driving force behind a nonprofit here currently known as Transition Boulder County, there is no time to lose in answering that question.

Transition Boulder County is the local outcrop of a growing international movement built around the concept of Transition, or getting ready for a post-peak oil world, and the concern that the effects of such an environment could wreak … Read more

Touring the ultimate 'green' house

SNOWMASS, Colo.--Residential living doesn't get much more efficient than this.

Here, out in the country not far from the ritz and glamour of Aspen, you're more likely to find ranchers and wide-open farmland than movie stars. But what you will find, at the original headquarters of the Rocky Mountain Institute, a nonprofit sustainability think tank, is a house that could teach us all a few lessons in energy efficiency and comfort.

It is the home of RMI founder Amory Lovins and also serves as office space--though RMI's official headquarters is now nearby in Snowmass on a … Read more

Tweeting, video chatting atop North America

MOUNT EVANS, Colo.--It's the first day of summer, and I'm driving through a snowstorm.

I'm here, on the highest paved road in North America, and my fingers are numb from the cold. But I'm online, and I have to say, that's pretty cool.

This was supposed to be a live-blog, but circumstances got in the way. More on that later.

I drove to just below the summit of 14,264-foot Mount Evans (see video below, with audio affected by heavy wind) on Sunday, the first official day of Road Trip 2009, my journey through … Read more

Verizon MiFi lets iPhone download big files on the go

OAKLAND INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT--When I wrote to Verizon, asking for a MiFi 2200 mobile hotspot review unit for my upcoming Road Trip 2009 project, the response I got back was, basically, "Why would you want that?"

The MiFi operates on Verizon's EV-DO network, and converts that mobile broadband signal into a Wi-Fi signal that up to five people can use. So the question really was, Why would I, one person, find useful an Internet connectivity technology designed for multiple people?

I've just started using the device, so I've hardly scratched the surface of its potential, but … Read more

Road Trip 2009: Across the Rockies and Great Plains

In the United States, the major east-west Interstate highways are denominated by multiples of tens: I-10 goes from Los Angeles to Jacksonville, Fla. I-40 goes from Barstow, Calif., to Wilmington, N.C. I-80 goes from San Francisco to New York.

The north-south Interstates, meanwhile, are denominated with fives. I-5 goes from the U.S.-Mexico border, through San Diego, Los Angeles, Portland, Ore., and Seattle and ends at the U.S.-Canada border. I-15 goes from from San Diego to the Canadian border near Sweetgrass, Mont. And I-95 heads north from Miami all the way to northeast Maine.

Over the … Read more