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Trip update
Jun. 25th, 2007 08:25I'm not a travellin' kinda guy. I like my journeys short and to the point...as in "point B." We've got a whole alphabet's worth of points to visit, thanks to Michelle who took on the role of Travel Agent. Thanks be to Missy, since I didn't want the job.
It's been a working vacation so far, with me putting a couple hours each night toward fixing bugs that were suppposed to be tested out before I left.
So, a few bullet points to sum up the experience so far.
* If a hotel promises you "free internet access", double check that it's available in your room or at least with a network connection you can access from your own machine. The machines in hotels are severely hobbled so they can only browse the web or run Office. Want to terminal service in to a machine with some real capabilities? Forget it.
* The cost of services is directly proportional to the cost of the hotel room. Cheaper hotels give you stuff for free (i.e. internet connection); expensive hotels charge for everything.
* Nebraska is really damn wide, but geologically interesting once to get to North Platte or so. Before that, you might as well be in Iowa.
* It is interesting to think that during the Cretaceous Period (about 100 million years ago, give or take) this whole area was underwater, called by explorers of the time the Niobraran Sea. One wonders if some of the bluffs and other assorted rock formations were islands.
* Courthouse and Jail rocks look pretty much like I remember them from twenty plus years ago, but Chimney Rock is much eroded and looks markedly different.
* A sod house would be hard to paint, but easy to heat.
* It is astonishing that settlers in the 19th century made this journey without the benefit of roads or accurate maps, or even effective shock absorbers. There are places (such as Windlass Hill) so steep that wagons had to be lowered with ropes and prayers that the livestock wouldn't break limbs going down.
Wyoming today, and a few more letters of the alphabet.
It's been a working vacation so far, with me putting a couple hours each night toward fixing bugs that were suppposed to be tested out before I left.
So, a few bullet points to sum up the experience so far.
* If a hotel promises you "free internet access", double check that it's available in your room or at least with a network connection you can access from your own machine. The machines in hotels are severely hobbled so they can only browse the web or run Office. Want to terminal service in to a machine with some real capabilities? Forget it.
* The cost of services is directly proportional to the cost of the hotel room. Cheaper hotels give you stuff for free (i.e. internet connection); expensive hotels charge for everything.
* Nebraska is really damn wide, but geologically interesting once to get to North Platte or so. Before that, you might as well be in Iowa.
* It is interesting to think that during the Cretaceous Period (about 100 million years ago, give or take) this whole area was underwater, called by explorers of the time the Niobraran Sea. One wonders if some of the bluffs and other assorted rock formations were islands.
* Courthouse and Jail rocks look pretty much like I remember them from twenty plus years ago, but Chimney Rock is much eroded and looks markedly different.
* A sod house would be hard to paint, but easy to heat.
* It is astonishing that settlers in the 19th century made this journey without the benefit of roads or accurate maps, or even effective shock absorbers. There are places (such as Windlass Hill) so steep that wagons had to be lowered with ropes and prayers that the livestock wouldn't break limbs going down.
Wyoming today, and a few more letters of the alphabet.