I’m starting to get excited about the trip across the country in a few weeks. Am considering a Dave Winer-style travelogue complete with moblogging. We’ll see.
I went to AAA.com today and saved a TripTik® (map pictures don’t work on the linked pages, unfortunately) of the planned journey. (FYI, the service is for AAA members only.) I have such fond memories of those TripTiks from my childhood, when, on big family road trips, I’d follow the highlighter marks, flip the pages, and read aloud descriptions of the countryside.
From: Stanhope to Pennsylvania border
Description: This byway takes you through the Allamuchy Mountain Park. Gray, rocky mountains peek over the top of evergreen forests leading to and from the park. A pastoral setting comprises the majority of the byway, gently meadering over hills. The Delaware River borders the western portion of the route, providing attractive views of the water.
We drove from Texas to Yellowstone National Park when I was a kid and I haven’t seen such gorgeous scenery since. I’m looking forward to showing off the Rocky Mountains to my Scottish husband, who has now seen both U.S. coasts. A cousin has moved to Colorado so we’ll be staying overnight in the Rockies.
It’s funny how an electronic version of a classic favorite, the TripTik, can still get me all misty eyed. Sure there’s Mapquest and Yahoo! Maps, but they don’t measure up. The TripTik app lets you set up multiple destinations — handy on a long journey like this one. It also provides you with indications of which exits have food and lodging, and warns you of potential delays:
Detour and Construction Info:
Construction/delays possible: INT-70; Milepost 51 to milepost 56.
It’s wonderful, when stuck in slow construction traffic, to know it’ll be over by milepost 56, especially when you’re trying to make good time. And we will be… in just a few weeks. TripTik says it’ll be 45 hours and 39 minutes of driving. We’ll be loading up plenty of CDs with audiobooks from Audible.