"Have you written the final entry in your road trip blog?"
"No."
"Well, you should . . . after you get some rest."
I actually don't remember a lot about the fourth day of driving. I do remember wonderful breakfast of banana pancakes at Eric and Kristin's and forcing ourselves to leave early because we didn't know how much snow had fallen to the south of Bloomington. I remember looking out the windows at the Smoky Mountains and really seeing them for the first time. I'd visited them and drove through them throughout my teenage life, but I didn't realize how beautiful they were until Sunday. I remember Todd driving a lot and being a total champ. I remember asking Todd if he recalled a time when we didn't spend all day driving. He laughed and said he didn't.
When I do something big in my life, I get worked up for it, do it, and then afterwards feel tired, empty, and often depressed. I felt that as soon as we stopped in Derek's driveway. My mission was complete; I got my brother to Hickory, North Carolina in as many pieces as we started, but for some reason I felt terribly sad. Even though Todd is a lot closer now and in the same time zone, I knew I was going to miss him a lot. I shed the foretold tears when I asked Dannon (Derek's son, who is working on being 2 years old, I think) to "take care of my brother".
I'm glad I got to drive with Todd across the US. Derek, Ginny, Todd, and I played Empire Builder, which is a board game where you build train tracks and drive trains across North America, after dinner on Sunday. Ginny asked us to show our route, and I pointed it out on the game board starting in Seattle, going through Boise, Salt Lake City, Kansas City, St. Louis, and then across and down to North Carolina. I was astonished as I traced it, thinking to myself "we did that? In four days? That's crazy!" There is one thing to know in your mind that from every road, you can get to almost every other road; when you demonstrate it to yourself, it is an entirely separate and more potent realization.
This is the last entry in the blog. It's been a struggle to type out entries after 12+ hours of driving, but I've enjoyed writing it. Hopefully you've enjoyed reading it as well. With all my mind, spirit, and body, I pray that Todd and Derek are able to do something great with Gopherwood Studios and sustain themselves full-time. They are reaching for a big goal - far bigger than driving across country. I hope that no matter what Derek and Todd remain friends and are able to laugh, smile, and enjoy each other's company even during the tough days before deadlines.
Tuesday, March 29, 2011
Sunday, March 27, 2011
On the final leg
9 hours from Bloomington to Hickory, North Carolina. We would take it easy if I didn't have a plane to catch.
Leaving Eric and Kristin's was tough, would have loved to stay another day at least.
-scott-
Saturday, March 26, 2011
Day Three Complete!
Whew! Today was our shortest trip so far, but our most stressful. I drove first in the morning, making good time, then Todd took over around 10:30 and I passed out in the passenger seat.
Todd woke me up with saying something along the lines of "We're getting lunch and it's snowing." I looked out the windshield and saw a gas station framed in white. snow had accumulated a few inches on some nearby cars. We knew Bloomington was likely to get some snow, but we didn't expect to see it outside Of Kansas City.
When we got back on the highway, the roads were fine but visibility was a serious concern. We couldn't see more than a couple hundred feet in front of us and the snow continued to fall. After a while, the roads got bad too and things were pretty scary; icy sludge was accumulating between the lanes and areas of the road were clearly slick. It was the most stressful part of the trip.
The snow let up about half an hour After St. Louis, and while there was snowy precipitation the rest of the trip, we were able to travel fast and get to Bloomington around 9:30, only an hour and a half after our first calculations.
The day ended wonderfully though. I'm now typing away at Eric and Kristin's house with my belly full of great pasta and some amazing homemade ice cream and warm brownies. I always forget how great it is to visit Eric and Kristin and it breaks my heart we have to leave so early in the morning to catch my flight tomorrow night from Charlotte back to Baltimore.
Most surprisingly, Todd and I are still talking. There have been some tense moments, but overall it's been really wonderful, better than I anticipated. It's been a wonderful adventure, and while I may get teary-eyed leaving tomorrow, my backside will be delighted to get out of that stupid Honda Civic.
-scott-
Todd woke me up with saying something along the lines of "We're getting lunch and it's snowing." I looked out the windshield and saw a gas station framed in white. snow had accumulated a few inches on some nearby cars. We knew Bloomington was likely to get some snow, but we didn't expect to see it outside Of Kansas City.
When we got back on the highway, the roads were fine but visibility was a serious concern. We couldn't see more than a couple hundred feet in front of us and the snow continued to fall. After a while, the roads got bad too and things were pretty scary; icy sludge was accumulating between the lanes and areas of the road were clearly slick. It was the most stressful part of the trip.
The snow let up about half an hour After St. Louis, and while there was snowy precipitation the rest of the trip, we were able to travel fast and get to Bloomington around 9:30, only an hour and a half after our first calculations.
The day ended wonderfully though. I'm now typing away at Eric and Kristin's house with my belly full of great pasta and some amazing homemade ice cream and warm brownies. I always forget how great it is to visit Eric and Kristin and it breaks my heart we have to leave so early in the morning to catch my flight tomorrow night from Charlotte back to Baltimore.
Most surprisingly, Todd and I are still talking. There have been some tense moments, but overall it's been really wonderful, better than I anticipated. It's been a wonderful adventure, and while I may get teary-eyed leaving tomorrow, my backside will be delighted to get out of that stupid Honda Civic.
-scott-
You got to be kidding me
Day Two Complete!
That was rough. 900 miles between Ogden, Utah and Licoln, Nebraska and we covered it in 16 hours. Neither of us has tried to kill the other yet, but Todd threw me another dirty look when we were driving around Lincoln and his fuel light came on; I'd been trying to get to the hotel ASAP before we passed out and didn't want to slow down at all. We have gas now and everything is ok.
Highlights from today:
- Ogden, Utah (and Salt Lake City) is pretty darn beautiful. The whole city being surrounded by the Rocky mountains is breathtaking. I hope I have a chance to visit again.
- A semi that was carrying tons of dog food caught on fire right next to the highway. We didn't get to see it on fire, but we saw the black husk, dozens of dog food bags, and smelled lots of burnt meat. I really hope the driver was ok, because I'd feel horrible for laughing so much if he wasn't.
- Todd's Pokemon slapping all the other Pokemon. We were probably punch-drunk at that point, but I laughed a lot.
- We found a place where iPod FM transmitters work: it's called Wyoming. Too bad they're so fussy and high maintenance near cities.
- Wyoming was nice to drive. I wouldn't say beautiful, but nice rolling hills. Nebraska? Uhhhh, thank goodness the speed limit is 75?
Alright good people, I'm off to bed. Tomorrow will be a great night because we're going to Bloomington, Indiana to stay the night with my brother Eric and his wonderful wife, Kristin. I hope they'll be ok with us showing up bearded and grumpy!
-scott-
p.s. Sincere thank yous to those who have invited us to dinner, to stay the night, and to have lunch with us. If we weren't in such a hurry (so that I don't miss too much work) I wish I could hang out with all of you. It means a whole lot; thank you so much and I'm sorry we weren't able to do any of them.
Highlights from today:
- Ogden, Utah (and Salt Lake City) is pretty darn beautiful. The whole city being surrounded by the Rocky mountains is breathtaking. I hope I have a chance to visit again.
- A semi that was carrying tons of dog food caught on fire right next to the highway. We didn't get to see it on fire, but we saw the black husk, dozens of dog food bags, and smelled lots of burnt meat. I really hope the driver was ok, because I'd feel horrible for laughing so much if he wasn't.
- Todd's Pokemon slapping all the other Pokemon. We were probably punch-drunk at that point, but I laughed a lot.
- We found a place where iPod FM transmitters work: it's called Wyoming. Too bad they're so fussy and high maintenance near cities.
- Wyoming was nice to drive. I wouldn't say beautiful, but nice rolling hills. Nebraska? Uhhhh, thank goodness the speed limit is 75?
Alright good people, I'm off to bed. Tomorrow will be a great night because we're going to Bloomington, Indiana to stay the night with my brother Eric and his wonderful wife, Kristin. I hope they'll be ok with us showing up bearded and grumpy!
-scott-
p.s. Sincere thank yous to those who have invited us to dinner, to stay the night, and to have lunch with us. If we weren't in such a hurry (so that I don't miss too much work) I wish I could hang out with all of you. It means a whole lot; thank you so much and I'm sorry we weren't able to do any of them.
Friday, March 25, 2011
Alive in North Platte, Nebraska
We're alive and are currently waiting for our food at Arby's. We were going to Wendy's, but Todd couldn't figure out the one-way roads.
He was a hero today; I was trying to sleep while he drove and he slammed on the brakes and swerved. A grill fell from a vehicle in front of us and Todd smoothly dodged like a cat or something. We eventually passed the vehicle-now-without-a-grill, it was a truck towing a trailer that had a truck in it, and we think the grill was in the bed of the second truck! Crazy.
4 hours to Lincoln. We'll sleep well tonight.
-scott-
Why I haven't posted today
I'm not tired and cranky! Just let me sleep some more! Get me out of the car! Ahhhh!
-scott-
Day One Complete
800 miles from Bellevue, Washington to Ogden, Utah and we made it. Still have a challenging day coming up tomorrow; perhaps the toughest of the trip. ~900 miles across all of Wyoming and most of Nebraska that Google maps says will take 14 hours to drive without stops. Thankfully the two days after that should only be 11 and 9 hours respectfully.
Morale hit a bump when we pulled into the hotel parking lot. I couldn't remember which hotel I booked and we were in front of a really strange hotel-like building with sort of a neon-sign that said "VALUE!!" and "Monthly Rates start at $169!" I was really confused because I didn't think that was the hotel I reserved and I also was having a hard time figuring out where the lobby was at. Todd looked about as cross as I've seen him quite a while because he thought the hotel looked like a dump and I wasn't totally sure that it was the right one anyway.
After a few minutes, we figured out that we were at the wrong hotel (or whatever that place was) and went down the street to our Comfort Suites hotel. Todd apologized for getting upset, but I don't blame him; we both just want to end the day and go to bed.
I'm looking forward to a few things tomorrow:
1. Driving through the Rockies in the morning. Hopefully we didn't miss the great views while driving into Ogden tonight.
2. Playing Pokemon and Swords & Sworcery tomorrow. Today had a lot of great scenery to look at and talk about. I'm thinking Wyoming and Nebraska may not be as compelling.
3. Talking with Todd more.
I probably won't blog tomorrow morning when we get up, so I'll write something later in the day.
Morale hit a bump when we pulled into the hotel parking lot. I couldn't remember which hotel I booked and we were in front of a really strange hotel-like building with sort of a neon-sign that said "VALUE!!" and "Monthly Rates start at $169!" I was really confused because I didn't think that was the hotel I reserved and I also was having a hard time figuring out where the lobby was at. Todd looked about as cross as I've seen him quite a while because he thought the hotel looked like a dump and I wasn't totally sure that it was the right one anyway.
After a few minutes, we figured out that we were at the wrong hotel (or whatever that place was) and went down the street to our Comfort Suites hotel. Todd apologized for getting upset, but I don't blame him; we both just want to end the day and go to bed.
I'm looking forward to a few things tomorrow:
1. Driving through the Rockies in the morning. Hopefully we didn't miss the great views while driving into Ogden tonight.
2. Playing Pokemon and Swords & Sworcery tomorrow. Today had a lot of great scenery to look at and talk about. I'm thinking Wyoming and Nebraska may not be as compelling.
3. Talking with Todd more.
I probably won't blog tomorrow morning when we get up, so I'll write something later in the day.
Thursday, March 24, 2011
How long since Todd has shaved?
B. Monday
C. Saturday
D. Two weeks ago
E. Thanksgiving 2009
(He's finishing his sensible salad from Wendy's with some orange slices! Oh, yeah!)
I hate Todd
We hey in the car and I start driving. I go to take off my shoes and proceed to spill at least a fourth of the drink on the "I wet myself" part of my pants. (I'll just say I was cold on both sides.)
Todd found this hilarious and demanded to take the picture.
"At least it was diet!"
"How does that help? It's freezing!"
"Well, it won't be sticky and mess up the car."
Thanks, Todd.
-scott-
Seattle
I forgot how much I love this part of the country. I'm going to miss having an excuse to visit.
Poor Planning and Lack of Sleep
I'm in the hotel room with Todd in Bellevue, Washington. It's 4:30 am local time, 7:30 am Scott Lewis eastern time and I really should be in bed because I have over 800 miles to cover today that aren't going to get any shorter by me typing in a blog. 800 miles that, according to Google maps, will take around 13 hours to cover without accounting for food, gas, or bathroom breaks.
That's a lot of driving.
The tactical kicker is that we're losing time driving east. We initially stated a goal to get into Ogden, Utah, where our next hotel is located, at 8pm to avoid too much night driving and having some time to unwind before going to bed. The 13+ hour drive sort of sank that plan already, but the time zone change from Pacific to Mountain means that we're going to be losing an hour off the clock each time we cross a time zone. According to our estimations, we'll be getting to the hotel sometime around 11pm if not later. In some sort of cruel symmetry by my lack of planning, we're going to be losing an hour each day of this four day trip. This would be not as worrying if I did not have my flight scheduled from Charlottesville to Baltimore scheduled, so we're losing three hours of real time on our drive.
Oh boy.
I'm going to climb back in bed to try to get some rest before this big day. I honestly don't know how much I'm going to be able to write in this blog. I sense that this will be a serious physical strain to get to our destination each night and I can't see that sharing my feelings will be the top of my list of things to do. I hope that's not the case, but we'll see.
Alright, back to bed. I hope I get some sleep.
-Scott-
That's a lot of driving.
The tactical kicker is that we're losing time driving east. We initially stated a goal to get into Ogden, Utah, where our next hotel is located, at 8pm to avoid too much night driving and having some time to unwind before going to bed. The 13+ hour drive sort of sank that plan already, but the time zone change from Pacific to Mountain means that we're going to be losing an hour off the clock each time we cross a time zone. According to our estimations, we'll be getting to the hotel sometime around 11pm if not later. In some sort of cruel symmetry by my lack of planning, we're going to be losing an hour each day of this four day trip. This would be not as worrying if I did not have my flight scheduled from Charlottesville to Baltimore scheduled, so we're losing three hours of real time on our drive.
Oh boy.
I'm going to climb back in bed to try to get some rest before this big day. I honestly don't know how much I'm going to be able to write in this blog. I sense that this will be a serious physical strain to get to our destination each night and I can't see that sharing my feelings will be the top of my list of things to do. I hope that's not the case, but we'll see.
Alright, back to bed. I hope I get some sleep.
-Scott-
Wednesday, March 23, 2011
Phone testing
This is a test to see if I can post from my phone! I'm getting on a plane in a few hours to fly to Seattle, then tomorrow, drive to Salt Lake City!
-Scott-
Monday, March 14, 2011
A Long Road to Independence
This blog is to record a road trip I'm taking with my brother, Todd, in two weeks across the United States from somewhere around Redmond, Washington to Hickory, North Carolina. Google maps says that there will be 46 hours of driving and we're going to try to do it in 4 days. I hope that Todd and I can take turns to post on this blog as we take our trip. It will begin with sweet sentimentality and big hugs, but I predict by 2:30pm on the 2nd day in the car we'll have some real Lord of the Flies action going down. What mental and physical state we arrive in Hickory in will be something to behold. I hope we can capture some of the craziness that goes on in the car, hotels, rest stops, and on the side of the road in the blog to entertain ourselves and some people out there. Hopefully we'll both be able to look back on this and laugh, presuming we don't kill each other before we get to North Carolina.
The reason we're taking this trip is that Todd quit his job as a game designer at 5th Cell and is going to work with Derek Detweiler at Gopherwood Studios, where he will be CFO, game designer, programmer, artist, vice-president of customer service, receptionist, and third-string dog washer. He is, as those in the game industry say, "going indie".
"Going indie" for most game developers is similar becoming a monk. It is a calling followed by those devoutly dedicated to making games because they love them. There is no need for independent game developers to take the vows of poverty and chastity - those are implied. Independent developers tend to have the opposite of the vow of silence; they yap all-to-much about what they think and what they're doing, trying to shout above all the others straining for attention and money. This is not my brother's nature, but he may have to change to keep the faith.
What does "indie" mean anyway? "Indie" is shorthand for independent developer, beyond that it is tough to find a widely agreed upon definition. In my broadest attempt, it is an individual or team involved in developing games that is not owned or subsidized by a major game publisher (like Activision, EA, or Ubisoft) nor a platform provider (Nintendo, Microsoft, Sony, or Apple). Are Valve and Zynga indie? Not to me, but they could be seen as one to some. I feel it's mostly about young people going on their own to make games they are excited about. Some of the most interesting, and successful games in the last few years have been made by "indie" groups, including Angry Birds, Minecraft, and Dwarf Fortress.
Anyway, I am looking forward to the trip. I am tremendously proud that Todd is taking this huge step and following his dreams. He's compared it to jumping off a bridge, and I understand why. There is no guarantee of success, but my brother took the leap anyway because it's what he had to do. I feel honored that I can usher him across the country to his new life.
Well, I feel that now. We'll see what happens at 2:30 on the second day.
-Scott-
"Going indie" for most game developers is similar becoming a monk. It is a calling followed by those devoutly dedicated to making games because they love them. There is no need for independent game developers to take the vows of poverty and chastity - those are implied. Independent developers tend to have the opposite of the vow of silence; they yap all-to-much about what they think and what they're doing, trying to shout above all the others straining for attention and money. This is not my brother's nature, but he may have to change to keep the faith.
What does "indie" mean anyway? "Indie" is shorthand for independent developer, beyond that it is tough to find a widely agreed upon definition. In my broadest attempt, it is an individual or team involved in developing games that is not owned or subsidized by a major game publisher (like Activision, EA, or Ubisoft) nor a platform provider (Nintendo, Microsoft, Sony, or Apple). Are Valve and Zynga indie? Not to me, but they could be seen as one to some. I feel it's mostly about young people going on their own to make games they are excited about. Some of the most interesting, and successful games in the last few years have been made by "indie" groups, including Angry Birds, Minecraft, and Dwarf Fortress.
Anyway, I am looking forward to the trip. I am tremendously proud that Todd is taking this huge step and following his dreams. He's compared it to jumping off a bridge, and I understand why. There is no guarantee of success, but my brother took the leap anyway because it's what he had to do. I feel honored that I can usher him across the country to his new life.
Well, I feel that now. We'll see what happens at 2:30 on the second day.
-Scott-
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