I cannot break the laws of physics captain!

[BeenThereDoneThat]

Yes you do.

And not just for watching stupid people not know where they are.
You also get to watch stupid drunks. Stupid punks. Stupid lovers. Stupid mothers. Stupid teachers. Stupid preachers. Stupid florists. And tons upon tons of stupid tourists.
Stupid tourists who ask stupid questions, including (but not limited to):

"Where's the bridge to Cuba?"
<SNIP>
Yeah, you need to get down here. And you have less distance to travel than most.....

Sold!! I might even be able to talk my husband into going under those circumstances...though he'd probably argue (and rightly so) that there is plenty of stupid right here to look at.

[Pagan]

Say what? NM is bigger than AZ? Ah, hell, it is. By almost 8,000 square miles. Damn it!

I was going to be nice and not point that out.

First of all, 2.5 hours to drive 232 miles? I'm sorry, but that's going far more than 85 mph, my friend.

Just figured it out, more like 2hrs 45min.

Secondly, that distance is from Phoenix proper. However, I am from Tempe, east of Phoenix, so in reality it's closer to 390 miles.

Also, you have to get across Phoenix before you can get out of the traffic and hit the higher speed limits. And while you fly across the desert, you start hitting LA traffic in, oh, about San Bernadino.

That's exactly what I mean. The population density of the area you're driving through has a lot to do with it. Once you get south of Los Lunas, there's not a hell of lot between here and Las Cruces. You really only skirt the edge of Socorro and TorC. And the only really twisty part is from the exit for Mitchell Point going around Elephant Butte which only lasts about 20 miles.

When I worked in the call center selling cruises, a co-worker of mine got a call from a lady who was irate that he couldn't book her on a cruise from Arizona. In desperation, he asked his supervisor for help and the sup suggested that he ask her if the map she was looking at showed Mexico. It didn't, and she assumed that everything south of the U.S. was water.

Oh, I've heard of them trying to sail from Santa Fe.

Here's a hint: look outside your window. See all that sand? All those palm trees? All those cacti? Now, ask yourself this simple question: DO YOU SEE ANY FUCKING WATER? No?

I'd say maybe they can't see through the smoke, but Arizona has seen fit to send it all to us! <cough cough>
https://picasaweb.google.com/DracoEy...moke6June2011#

[Lots42]

Just to clarify: Ayers Rock is sacred to the Aborigines so having a hotel within sight of it would be abhorrent.

[scruff]

I was waiting for a late night bus to Scotland in Victoria coach station (Central London) once, and one of the other passengers asked what time we would be getting to Edinburgh. I told her 'around breakfast time'.
After she checked with several other people, she ended up on the phone, saying to her friend hysterically "I'm not going to get there till TOMORROW!!"

She'd thought Scotland was just outside London, and hadn't realised the bus would be travelling over 300 miles, to another country.

[BaristaTrav]

Like This?

http://www.greatlakescruising.com/

Yup.. I realize the GL has cruises on Yachts or 100-500 passenger type vessels. But we're talking about 40,000-100,000 ton ocean liners. Ships that are built in Panama. I'm wondering how they figured we might transport such a ship to the great lakes.

And for her and the woman from Vegas, seriously, how the flying fart monkey do you live in the fucking desert and not know that a cruise SHIP can't get within several hundred miles of you?

Stories like this are not an exaggeration. I got the "cruise to Vegas" stuff too now and then. I guess they assumed Vegas was a port city. Like I said, I gave up a long time ago.

[Seshat]

See, now that I did not know, and would never have guessed. And I am not an idiot, and generally speaking, do know my geography.

(re the closest major city to Perth being in India, not Australia)

I understand. I didn't know that myself until I was told - and even then, I went to my world globe with a piece of string and checked.

It's not a LOT of difference.. but it's enough. It's because of the size (and desert-ness) of the Nullarbor plains, of course.

[Seshat]

To be fair, I have no idea where Ayer's Rock is, either. I know it's out in the boonies somewhere (at least I think it is), but I would have no clue if you could see it from Sydney or not. I would imagine not, but I wouldn't know.

For the purposes of this discussion, it's close enough to the geographic centre of the continent.

Which is almost the same - not quite - as saying the geographic centre of the Australian complex of deserts. (Imagine the continental US was desert or dry savannah from west of the Appalachian mountains, to the Pacific coast. That's Australia.)

[Geek King]

Yup.. I realize the GL has cruises on Yachts or 100-500 passenger type vessels. But we're talking about 40,000-100,000 ton ocean liners. Ships that are built in Panama. I'm wondering how they figured we might transport such a ship to the great lakes.

Well, they are connected to the Atlantic acean through the lock systems. The problem right now is that ships weren't quite so big when they built the things. Apparently there is talk about potentially enlarging the locks so they could move container transports, which would allow for the larger cruise liners to use the route, also. I'd like to be a fly on the wall in those meetings. I can sort of imagine the engineering nightmare of enlarging a working lock system.

[Cerys]

I'd like to be a fly on the wall in those meetings. I can sort of imagine the engineering nightmare of enlarging a working lock system.

Get a SC on to it. They always know how simple these things are.

[manybellsdown]

Not quite as bad as trying to take a cruise to Las Vegas, but when the earthquake hit Japan, and the western U.S. went on tsunami alert, a dozen people posted on my Facebook asking if I was okay.

I live in Pasadena. It's 20+ miles to the nearest beach. Not only that, but I'm 800+ feet above sea level, and all of Downtown Los Angeles is in the way.

I pointed this out to one guy and he said "well you never know!"

[BaristaTrav]

Well, they are connected to the Atlantic acean through the lock systems. The problem right now is that ships weren't quite so big when they built the things. Apparently there is talk about potentially enlarging the locks so they could move container transports, which would allow for the larger cruise liners to use the route, also. I'd like to be a fly on the wall in those meetings. I can sort of imagine the engineering nightmare of enlarging a working lock system.

I wasn't aware of the plan to enlarge the channels.. but I know the GL can be treacherous. Crazy rough waves. I think it would be a nightmare.

[Jester]

We slept in well-lit rest areas in the car. The third time we did it, we actually had a third driver (my then-fiance, now-husband), which greatly reduced the driving time because then we rarely even needed to take the sleep breaks because two would stay awake in the front while the third slept against all our pillows in the backseat.

Ah, you had two (or three) drivers. Makes it easier. My road trips, I was almost always the only driver.

Road Warror Tip: Don't sleep in rest areas. Thieves see a car with the windshield blocker up in a rest area, they know there are people sleeping in there, and are more likely to try to rob you. When I traveled the country, I always slept in motel parking lots. No one questions the out of state plates, and the windshield blocker doesn't scream "sleeping travelers." Of course, if you don't have tinted windows, this is a moot point, but if you do, definitely look for hotels and motels to crash near.

No need to get testy amigo,I was just funnin' ya My wife & I don't kill ourselves on trips (it helped on those trips that I-10 in west Texas was 80 mph) & we enjoy a good lunch in a small town restaurant instead of fast food.

I wasn't being testy (I don't think). But it helped that you had multiple drivers. As I said, I was the only driver on most road trips. Makes it easier to go over 800 miles when you can switch over driving responsibilities.

Sold!! I might even be able to talk my husband into going under those circumstances...though he'd probably argue (and rightly so) that there is plenty of stupid right here to look at.

Trust me, Key West is about more than just watching stupid people, though they are a major bonus. See you here soon!

Just figured it out, more like 2hrs 45min.

Still more than 85 mph.

I'd say maybe they can't see through the smoke, but Arizona has seen fit to send it all to us! <cough cough>

It makes me almost cry whenever I think about those wild fires. And they're burning in the White Mountains and Salt River Canyon, the most beautiful place on Earth that I've ever been. So sad, so sad.

She'd thought Scotland was just outside London, and hadn't realised the bus would be travelling over 300 miles, to another country.

SURPRISE!!!!

I'm wondering how they figured we might transport such a ship to the great lakes.

Thinking is not the strongest suit of these people.

[Alpha Strike]

Re Geography Failures:

I can appreciate and understand folks from other countries not knowing our geography very well. It’s hard to expect someone who is visiting for the first time to realize just how big our country is and how different our perceptions our “long distance” differ from theirs.

It’s Americans failing at American geography that’s a bit annoying. For example, I played poker with a guy last week who insisted that there were 52 states, and 52 stars on the Flag. How did he know this? Because his cousin was a truck-driver and that cousin could drive in 48 of the states – so that meant there were 52 states total. (No, I don’t understand the reasoning either).

My girlfriend – who is a fairly bright lady and a nurse to boot – can’t read a map to save her life, is an awful navigator, and couldn’t figure out the cardinal directions. Trying to talk driving geography with her is… difficult.

And a story I read several years ago that really stuck in my mind – it took place when the Olympics were being held in Salt Lake City. Someone from New Mexico called in to the Customer Service offices in order to purchase some tickets. No problem, they were told. Order was taken, payment was made and everything went fine until the customer provided their address. Sorry, they were told – we don’t ship tickets outside of the United States.


Re Road Trips:

When I was younger I used to take long road trips from Iowa to places around the country – trips where I would drive by myself to states as far away as Texas. I got pretty adept at doing it quickly – being young and in a hurry will do that to you – but I always regretted that I didn’t slow down a bit to enjoy some of the places I zoomed through at 85 MPH.

My hardest road-trip was when my girlfriend and I drove from my Iowa to the Orange Bowl (In Florida) to see our local college team place in a BCS bowl. The driving itself wasn’t too bad but my girlfriend decided that since she didn’t know the places we were traveling through and couldn’t read a map, that I was responsible for driving the entire way. Having to power through that many miles while watching her sleep or listen to the radio did NOT make for a pleasant trip.

[Lots42]

Not quite as bad as trying to take a cruise to Las Vegas, but when the earthquake hit Japan, and the western U.S. went on tsunami alert, a dozen people posted on my Facebook asking if I was okay.

I live in Pasadena. It's 20+ miles to the nearest beach. Not only that, but I'm 800+ feet above sea level, and all of Downtown Los Angeles is in the way.

I pointed this out to one guy and he said "well you never know!"

I get that all the time. People think all of Florida is mowed clean like yard work when a dinky little hurricane roughs up some acres down south.

[Frantic Freddie]

I wasn't being testy (I don't think). But it helped that you had multiple drivers. As I said, I was the only driver on most road trips. Makes it easier to go over 800 miles when you can switch over driving responsibilities.

Nope,do it all myself,can't stand the wife's driving

I couldn't begin to count the times I've driven up to 1500 miles non-stop,after 7-8 weeks on the road with a band I wanted to get home in the worst way & was willing to put up with the hassle.