August 2008 – Page 3

Texas/New Mexico Border

So Texas didn’t put up a You’re leaving Texas sign and thus is robbing people of the opportunity to take a picture and remember when they left Texas.

Bronco is the border line according to maps. So there.

So Roswell is pretty much another anytown, USA. Other than little green men painted on every other thing, it’s just another rundown midwest like town. It may not be midwest but sure looks it. US380 was a big disapointment to drive on. It is small and boring and dull. Fun but still boring. Put more wear and tear on the tires driving on some odd incorrectly paved road/street.

Will definitely take the 40 on the way back to Dallas, TX.

So what is so special about little cheesy paintings of aliens? It’s eccentric. It’s still fun to see. The UFO museum was closed by the time I was ready to go to it. Arrived in town 4pm. Got done and headed out 4:30. Saw a museum sign and went it. It was the Roswell Arts Museum or some such. Not the UFO museum. By the time got out, it was closed.

So will post some pictures later.

Leaving

Leaving in 10 minutes, God Willing!

Itinerary

Sat 9th.

Dallas, TX – Roswell, NM.

Departure: 7am.

Arrival: Estimate – 3pm.

Sony w120 so Disappointing

The Sony W120 had good reviews. Went to a store. Played with it. It has fast shooting time between pictures. For someone who wants to snap snap, it’s pretty good speed. The slideshow plays music while showing it. The camera shoots picture using smile detector. That’s a great little toy.

With all those features they forgot to put in some image quality. Squares on images show up and ruin a real nice image. To make matter a tad more interesting, the image looks like it’s painted by hand. Up close, it doesn’t look grainy. That would be still fine. It just looks like smudged colors. If you considered this camera, don’t buy this.

Would be returning it. But now the issue is that I won’t have anything to use on the trip. Plus I can’t stay until the store opens and then return and buy something else and leave. That would just take a lot of time.

Maybe another microcenter will let me return it. Hopefully. Otherwise, this will be listed on craigslist soon enough.

Butterflies

As the time to leave nears, the anxiety increases. The anxious wait for the trip!

Anxious, because I have never done something similar. I fly for business all the time. And that also make me anxious. Always to the point where I can’t sleep the nite before. So tonite will be a fun nite. When I travel for work, the difference is that if the town is not that great, I can just stay at the hotel and order room service. There’s no need to walk. But on a roadtrip the walking is part of the roadtrip. The tourism and such.

I have never been to Roswell or New Mexico. No idea what the people are like. Feeling slight apprehension about that. Hopefully, it will be unjustified.

So they say there’s some aliens in Roswell. All I can think is that those aliens better be legal! Ok, not the best joke but still!

Some UFO convention is going on. That’s what the hotel lady said. Or maybe everyday some UFO thing is big in Roswell. Anyway, only one day to find out!

Road Trip Plan

The current plan is to drive from Dallas, TX to Ontario, CA. The trip will take 19hours some minutes if done in one leg. However, this is not only too much for the driver but also for the car. Some say the new cars are built to be driven so this should not be a problem. However, a break allows the driver to rest and inspect the car and re-energize. It also gives the opportunity to use the digital camera.

Route:

Dallas, TX – Roswell, NM – Leg 1
Roswell, NM – Phoenix, AZ – Leg 2
Phoenix, AZ – Ontario, CA – Leg 3

Ride:

2006 Ford Mustang.

Accessories:

Cell Phone
Music CDs
Chocolate (Thanks Gina!)
Cell Phone Car Charger – To be purchased.

Idea!

In May of 2008, I had this crazy idea. To ask the boss to let me work remote, and travel around and have fun. To have a different schedule than the regular work – home – work – home humdrum.

Then I let this idea simmer for a while. Then I let it go. Then I remembered it again in June. Then I forgot it again. The pattern continued till Mid July. Until someone finally convinced me to take the fantasy and turn it into reality.

08/05/2008 – Asked the boss for permission to work remotely. He agreed immediately. This is the kind of thing that makes you sit back and appreciate a good boss.

08/06/2008 – Started looking at Google Map to chart a route. No Route 66. Need to get there somewhat fast. Also reliably.

08/08/2008 – Made the hotel reservations for the layovers.

On Saturday the drive will begin.