Liberty Caravan

Holiday Inn Express: 6 people, one cat and 5 beds. Plus free wi-fi and breakfast.

T minus 2 days:

Our plans for moving our mattress didn’t work out, and we had more stuff to move than we thought, so we ended up returning the U-Haul trailer and doing a last minute ReloCube with ABF.  Though it was more expensive than the trailer, it had enough room for our things and makes the ride smoother (not having a heavy trailer in tow). 

T minus 1 day:

Spent most of the day packing the ReloCube, and met up with some of our friends at Rock Bottom Brewery for a final drink before heading east.  With our friends help, we got the last item (our mattress) into the cube before the 11:00 PM cutoff.

Day 1:  Sunnyvale, CA to Barstow, CA

In a mad dash we finished cleaning the apartment and left town around noon.  Peter and I took 101 to 46 and stopped in Bakersfield, where we met up with Graham and Jason for lunch/dinner at Moo Creamery.  This place had the best burgers ever!  Peter called into Free Talk Live (audio) to give an update on the caravan. Other than my purse strap literally breaking (I hope this is not foreshadowing!), day one was pretty low key and fun.

Day 2:  Barstow, CA to Las Vegas, NV

We arrived in Las Vegas around noon, got the cat situated in the room, and did some sight seeing.  In that one day we managed to go to Planet Hollywood’s Spice Market Buffet, drinks at SEVERAL of the places on the strip (including the Hard Rock Cafe and a strawberry daiquiri in a large container shaped like the Eiffel Tower at a dueling piano bar… yes, there are pictures), and massages at Aria.  We managed to get a few hours of sleep before heading out… but even on Sunday night, Vegas is definitely a city that never sleeps.

Day 3:  Las Vegas, NV to Albuquerque, NM

It was like 10+ hours of driving.  Breakfast was at the Peppermill (primarily because Peter wanted me to see the loungy cheeziness).  We got stopped at the Hoover Dam so they (the government’s employees) could make sure the coffee table strapped to the top of our car was not some sort of explosive.  Lunch was just west of Flagstaff, AZ at Cruiser’s Café, a diner along Route 66, in Williams.  It was really cool to see some of the towns along ‘Historic Route 66’.  We were tired by the time we landed, however, the kitty is hanging in there like a trooper.

Day 4 (today):  Albuquerque, NM to Oklahoma City, OK

A new fellow traveler, Brian, met up with us at the hotel and is now on the road with us.  The Verizon MiFi seems to be consistently providing wireless internet service, so we are mostly connected again.  We’re going to stop and see Tucumcari, NM (one of the route 66 towns that the Pixar movie “Cars” was loosely based on), and we’ll stop in Amarillo, TX at The Big Texan to watch people attempt to eat the free 72 oz. steak (it is free if you can eat it all in an hour… it’s like $75 if you can’t!).

Speaking of Texas, we just crossed the NM/TX border so I’ll wrap it up for now.  Pictures and links will follow later this evening.

For the benefit of future movers and since some folks have asked about the technology we’re using on the caravan, I thought I’d give a little overview. Among the current five travelers, we have four 17-inch MacBook Pros, one 15-inch MacBook Pro, and one 12-inch PowerBook G4. Internet access is provided by two Verizon MiFi wireless access points and an AT&T AirCard. Although these provide much more consistent internet access, there are still huge sections of the country where we are completely offline. We’re also almost exclusively patronizing hotels and coffee shops which provide free WiFi. For video we’re using a Canon HD camera, a Nexus One, a mini DV camera, and an iPod Nano. For still photos, a Canon Rebel, Nikon Coolpix, the Nexus One and iPhone 2G. For inter-vehicle communication, we’re using Midland Nautico two-way marine-band radios (which are awesome). One of the challenges any travelers with technology will experience is keeping all of these devices charged. Most of the vehicles have an in-car DC-to-AC inverter which provide up to 300 watts of AC from the cigarette lighter port. The Liberty Caravan website is a simple tumblr.com site with a custom domain name which makes updating easy (once content has been captured, edited, and uploaded). Email and other hosted services are provided free as part of Google’s Apps for Domains.  That’s the majority of our technology, hope you found it useful!

Antigone rolled out in the early morning after the farewell party while Graham is just leaving now. Currently Peter and Lorrie and getting rid of the things that they no longer need for their new life back east. Jason is getting MARV prepped while charging his gear.

Tonight’s Destination: Vegas Baby! We should all be getting there by 9PM this evening.