Road Trip 2008: 5,000 miles through the Deep South
On Road Trip 2006, I traveled through the U.S. Pacific Northwest, stopping at destinations such as Grand Coulee Dam, Google's Columbia River server farm, and the McMinnville, Ore., home of Howard Hughes' Spruce Goose. During Road Trip 2008, I will journey through the Deep South.
(Credit: Daniel Terdiman/CNET News.com)SAN FRANCISCO--Over the 8,260 miles I've driven on Road Trip 2006 and Road Trip 2007, I've visited, written about, and photographed some of the most interesting destinations in California, Oregon, Washington, Nevada, Arizona, New Mexico, and Utah.
I've also gotten to road-test some really cool gadgets and drive the spiffy and comfortable Infiniti QX56 over some long and very hot distances.
Now I'm getting ready to depart on Road Trip 2008. This year, rather than leaving from my home base in San Francisco, I'll be flying east and starting a grand tour of the Deep South in Orlando, Fla., on June 10.
Last year's trip through the U.S. Southwest was hot, but at least it was dry. This time around, as I meander through Florida, Georgia, Alabama, Kentucky, Tennessee, Texas, Louisiana, and Mississippi, it's going to be both hot and humid. But at least it will be early summer--as opposed to the middle--and the review 2008 Outback 2.5 XT Subaru is providing will be properly air-conditioned.
Last year, I had the good fortune to indulge my inner geek and drop in on some sights and sites I'd long wanted to visit. Among them were the Grand Canyon Skywalk; the incomparable Hoover Dam; the gargantuan meteor crater near Winslow, Ariz.; an amazing collection of vintage commercial and military airplanes in Tucson, Ariz.; the only existing Titan Missile museum in the world; the Top Gun school; a community of off-the-grid sustainable living houses called Earthships; and majestic canyons in Arizona and Utah.
In Las Vegas, I got to walk under the Strip while slogging through a series of graffiti-filled tunnels. I also went on backstage tours of two Cirque du Soleil shows, Ka and Love.
One great thing about my road trips is that I often get behind-the-scenes tours not generally available to the public. An example was a tour last summer through parts of Hoover Dam that have been off-limits to the public since September 11.
(Credit: Daniel Terdiman/CNET News.com)This time around, I'll be making the Cirque part of the experience once again when I go backstage at La Nouba, Cirque du Soleil's long-running Disney World show.
Being in Orlando, of course, no trip would be complete without a lengthy journey through Disney World, and I'll certainly be doing my part.
I'll also be on hand--if the stars align--for the landing of the Space Shuttle Discovery after its trip to the International Space Station.
I haven't finalized my itinerary yet--I will likely be turning to you, dear readers, for some suggestions--but other destinations I know I'll be hitting will be Space Camp in Huntsville, Ala.; UPS' world distribution center and the Louisville Slugger bat factory, both in Louisville, Ky.; the National Corvette Museum in Bowling Green, Ky.; Graceland, in Memphis, Tenn.; Johnson Space Center, in Houston; Fort Benning, in Columbus, Ga.; New Orleans, for a look at the city's post-Katrina recovery, or lack thereof; the Everglades; and more.
As in the previous two years, I will also be carrying around a passel of high-tech gadgetry to test on the road.
The Grand Canyon Skywalk, which juts out over the Colorado River, was a destination on Road Trip 2007.
(Credit: Daniel Terdiman/CNET News.com)One goal of the trip is going to be seeing which cell network has the best 3G Internet service. As such, I'll be using Verizon's USB727 and Sprint's Compass 597 EVDO cards. I'll also have an Apple iPhone, which, of course, features AT&T's Edge network service. While I won't be able to do it every day, I intend to try tests of each network's service in several selected locations to see which one is best.
Apple has also lent me a MacBook Air to try. I'm already well-versed with Macs, as I use a MacBook Pro every day for work. But the Air will be my first test of a computer that relies almost entirely on the Internet--with the exception of input via USB--for its incoming information. Whether this will be a successful test is unclear, but I know I will be happy to be carrying a much lighter machine with me.
Another device I'm looking forward to trying is the Dash Express car navigation system. This is car GPS geekery at its best, a truly interactive system that allows users to send addresses and other data to the device from their computers, and to share data with other users.
At the end of long days of driving, writing, and processing photos, I'll need downtime, and Showtime and HBO have given me DVD sets of Weeds and Oz, respectively. I expect to spend many late-evening hours in front of the MacBook Air--with its external SuperDrive--watching them.
The Titan Missile Museum, near Tucson, Ariz., is the only restored Titan missile silo in the world. I visited the site during Road Trip 2007.
(Credit: Daniel Terdiman/CNET News.com)Last year, I carried my personal Canon Rebel XT and used a couple of lenses Canon lent me. This time around, I'm going to use a loaner Nikon D60 digital SLR and several lenses, including the stock 18-55mm, as well as a 16-85mm and a 70-300mm.
That's for still images. For video, I'm going to be using two systems. The first is the Flip Ultra, the latest model from Flip Video. This gadget will allow me to shoot quick footage and upload it quickly to the Internet and this blog.
In addition, I'll be using Qik's new service. This is live, streaming video from a Nokia smartphone. Qik will allow me to broadcast streaming video from just about anywhere, and then make it possible for viewers to send instant messages while the video is playing. This will be very useful, as it will make it possible for some of the interviews I do during the trip to be interactive. You will be able to view my Qik channel both on the Road Trip package main page, and on my personal Qik page.
By using service from Qik, I'll be able to stream live video to the Internet and make it possible for viewers to interact with me.
(Credit: Qik)Using technology like Qik's is key this year, as one of my goals is to make the trip much more interactive than it's been the past two years. Exactly how that will manifest is still not entirely clear, but there are definitely a few things I know will make it more user-friendly than in the past.
First, I'll be Twittering constantly. You can follow my Twitter feed here.
Another thing I'll do at least a couple of times, if not more, is organize meet-ups along the way. I'll likely announce them on this blog and on Twitter.
I also have some gifts to give away--DVDs from Showtime, video games, one or two iTunes gift cards, and possibly some CNET swag. I'm still working out precisely how I will give this stuff away, but much of it will be based on reader interactivity. As I mentioned above, I'll be asking for some suggestions on things to visit during the trip, and I will likely reward those with the best advice.
Further, I'll be trying out reader-submitted photo galleries. After a week of the trip, I will likely post a blog entry going back over the places I've visited and ask for readers' photos of those places. Then I'll put up a gallery of the best of those images, giving the photographers credit, of course.
To top it off, I may simply ask readers for ideas for adding even more interactivity. I want to bring you along with me, if not in my car, then at least on the Internet.
I'll also be podcasting from the road, blogging constantly of course, and in general, trying to document the trip in as many ways as I can.
All told, I expect to cover nearly 5,000 miles in a large loop out of Orlando. The past two years, I drove almost 200 miles per day, and I don't expect that to be much different this time. I hope you'll come along for the ride.
One of my last stops on Road Trip 2007 was a visit to the Fallon Naval Air Station, in Fallon, Nev., home to the famous Top Gun school.
(Credit: Daniel Terdiman/CNET News.com)
Daniel Terdiman is a staff writer at CNET News covering games, Net culture, and everything in between. E-mail Daniel. 
Your trek also puts you in Orlando during Microsoft's TechEd :)
Also, there are much nicer places to stay than the camp. That's right next to the highway and noisy as hell. If you can reserve one of the cabins in Monte Sano State Park, you'll be up on the hill where the air is better, is quieter and you have miles and miles of biking/hiking trails. The cabins are upgraded quite a bit, but are where the original Von Braun Team stayed when they first came to Huntsville.
I am coming to Huntsville on a photo excursion in late February and staying in the old CCC cabins at Monte Sano. It's great to hear the Von Braun team stayed there! Could you guide us on some great locations to photograph rockets and anything else interesting in the area? And can you recommend some good places to eat? Thank you!
Jim Newbury, jimnewbury@mindspring.com
as you know, most everyone will get a U727 or Compass 597 so they can provide internet access to a single computer (like laptops)...
but some folks need to share their EVDO with more than one computer, (or perhaps share with their iPhone or iPod Touch, via WiFi)
if that sounds like something you would be interested in, then check out EVDO routers like those from http://www.EVDOinfo.com/cradlepoint
groovegeek@gmail.com
509 West Willow St, Scottsboro, AL 35768, (256) 259-1525.
I don't remember whether you dive, but Disney World's Living Seas exhibit is a really fun and unique dive to do. Florida shipwrecks and treasure hunters are also interesting.
As to watching movies on your Air, I hope Apple found a way to give you some iTunes credit for movie rentals and TV show purchases. Watching movies with the external Superdrive is something they are hoping we won't have to do much longer...
For lunch go to Dinglewood Pharmacy for a scrambled dog, a Columbus specialty since 1908.
In Atlanta you should stop at the Varsity for a chili dog, rings, and either a large orange or a PC. The Varsity is a world famous hot dog stand on North Avenue, now separated from the Georgia Tech campus by the downtown connector where I-75 and I-85 run together for a few miles. I sort of wonder how much longer this family owned business will be sitting on a half billion dollar piece of real estate selling hot dogs.
If you should happen by Athens, the Mayflower, across from the U. of GA downtown, is the place for breakfast. There is also a branch of the Varsity here in Athens, but it isn't quite the same.
- by GlennW007 June 4, 2008 6:13 PM PDT
- With all that driving, you will need some tunes. Near the Opryland Hotel, check out the Grand Ole Opry & the Ernest Tubb Record Shop. You may need a laptop to convert some deep catalog CD's for your player. WSM (650AM) does broadcast on satelite radio. THe real test of your GPS will be to see if it can get you lost on Briley Parkway or Old Hickory, since they both nearly circle the city. A neat feature of Google Maps is to check on the weather for each location should you run into any bad storms. At least it may be able to warn you to be safe & off the road should some nasty Tstorms or tornadoes strike.
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