Comet Lulin.

Did you watch Comet Lulin?

Its naked eye object (barely)..binocs help. Easily observable. Take a look and location here.

Pacific To Atlantic - Day 12 - Kennedy Space Center

Jan 03, 2008 Saturday .. (Next day - During flight Atlanta to San Diego, 9:30pm)

RoadTrip Diary - Day 12.. Final day of the roadtrip.. Kennedy Space Center and Sitaram Home touchdown.

Its the last day of the trip..

Day started lil bit late 8:30pm with breakfast in ihop.. ate a lot as i didn't want to waste too much time in KSC just eating :)

Visited the Daytona beach, just next to Ihop.. It was nice.. Again the ocean water seemed similar to tymbee island ocean but this beach seemed commercialized. means it was heavily driven by lot of cars.. they allowed cars on the beach.. lot of cars parked..and people were playing on the beach..

Drove thru Daytona 500 racetrack.. The road to racetrack is called "International Speedway Blvd".. its huge.. bigger than a freeway.. with almost 5-6 lanes on each side.. From outskirts, the speedway seemed to be huge.. crowded with advt portals

Drive to KSC was also nice.. lush greenery on both sides.. and lot of water bodies around.. FL zindabaad !!

Entered to NASA Kennedy Space Center around 10:45pm.. Just along the drive to KSC, I was pretty excited and started taking a lot (i guess).. The astronaut hall of fame outside mentioned abt seaport and showcased the real space shuttle outside the building.. and gave us a hint of what is coming next..

The visitor center had a fuel tank and Solid fuel boosters housed outside..

Close-up-tour to launch pad were already sold out.. so went with general admission ticket.. Closeup tour would have given closed view of the Launchpad LC-32 facility.. but we missed it.. but with normal ticket itself, there were so many things to visit in KSC that we indeed ran out of time later..

Started with "tour of KSC"...The tour bus itself were luxurious and had small screen for quick video infos..

Visited observation gantry of LC39... this is first time, I saw a rocket launching site... and in this case.. it was human space-shuttle launching facility.. At the observation gantry, they showed small documentary abt the launch sequence.. also a small scale model of launch tower, shuttle and launch sequence is showcased... From the observation deck, On northeast and eastern side, both LC39A and LC39B were visible clearly around a mile away.. oxygen and hydrogen fuel bank domes were also visible.. browsed thru binoculars.. nobody was around the launching site.. probably because of sat and Christmas vacation.. Not able to see much details of launch tower... on southwest and southern side, the unmanned rocket launching facilities were also available. probably around 4 of them were visible.. KSC manages manned launching, while cape carneval air-force manages un-manned launches.. On western side, the vehicle assembly building was clearly visible too.. this building felt somewhat familiar, I have indeed seen it in some documentaries.. The huge USA flag and NASA emblems are showcased outside the VA.. Its 16 floor building, to assemble the launch vehicle and shuttle.. Huge crawlers were also nearby..these are required to carry the shuttle and launch vehicle to launchpad. Indian ISRO crawler or Russian crawlers are housed on train track, while KSC crawler drives thru sand road.. I was lil bit surprised why NASA crawler is so different and designed this way.. Need to find out..

On first level of observation gantry, a shuttle main engine and one of its exhaust is on display.. The engine itself is a size of SUV.. Seemed too complicated for novice like me.. Overall, the observation gantry was 3 floor high and the top floor has a temperature controlled glass cabin for comfortable views of launch site.

Next destination of the tour was Apollo/Saturn V center.. They showed short video abt brief history of NASA rocket program, starting from Sputnik, Gemini program, and then abt Apollo mission.. till Apollo 8 ... In the next room, they have simulated "a real experience" of being in mission control facility witnessing last 2 mins of launch sequence of Apollo 8. They have all real videos, actual telemetry and monitor data and real photos.. Mission control seating had computer panels for IBM, McDonald Douglas and Boeing engineers.. It indeed gave the feeling of real launch, observed from mission control.. The sound effects were good.. Also 5 seconds after launch, the glass vibrations in mission control building seemed so real..

Just outside mission control room, in a big hallway, real full-scale Saturn V rocket is showcased.. with all 4 stages placed horizontally.. I was impressed with its enormous size.. It is marvelous. With 5 boosters connected to first stage.. each booster itself is unbelievably huge.. way bigger than space-shuttle engines or the shuttle launch vehicle boosters.

The size of first stage itself shows how much fuel the whole launch consumes.. The power of the Saturn V engine is comparable to 200 FA-18 jets.. Second stage was like space shuttle launch vehicle rocket, with 5 boosters again.. On fourth stage, the navigation and guidance control ring was visible.. At the end, the real lunar service module and command module are visible.. Command and service module seems to be running on single booster.. The capsule, at the top of the rocket is like a small patio.. Its so compact that it provides leg space similar to full size car..no luxuries. A small piece of moon rock is on display.. the best part is you can touch it.. It seemed like a lava rock, black in color, really flat and smooth tile shape.. around the size of poker chip..

Watched Apollo 11 pre-landing events video and then actual visualization of landing.. wasn't that impressive..

Quick shopping session..

Next stop was Space station Processing Facility.. Each and every component, housed in space station, is assembled and tested before the deployment. Saw replicas of multiple space station cabins.. It had waste management, shower, closets, drink fountain, chairs, etc.. These seemed to be real.. also, saw actual lab/workshop where actual assembly and testing is done.. there is a small observation deck for visitors to see what is happening in the workshop.. Nobody was working, when we visited.. because of holidays..

Returned back to visitor center.. directly went for "Shuttle launch experience".. The intro video of shuttle launch activities was impressive.. Huge screen across the room and high-end graphics.. The shuttle launch experience itself wasn't that great.. Sat inside huge cylindrical capsule, like space shuttle cabin.. Launch Sequence simulations of vibrations, sounds, G force and speed.. After the first stage, throttling, stabilization, loss of vibrations and finally the zero gravity effect.. Sudden change to zero gravity was impressive.. The shuttle gallery showcases all previous space shuttle launches from STS-1 to STS-127.. its indeed beautiful..

Near the visitor center, Real space shuttle is available to visit from inside.. Its like huge cylindrical truck.. 80% of inside is empty to house all instruments on the back side, while the front side has two levels.. At bottom level, all astronaut seating arrangement, waste management etc.. while on second level, the actual cockpit for pilots..


Visited the "space mirror", that memorial for all fallen astronauts. the mirror is huge, black and astronaut names are carved on it.. All these names glow only thru sunlight reflection..

It was almost around 5:30.. Rushed to IMax theater to catch the last show of 3D movie "Magnificent Desolation" abt Apollo missions.. it was okay movie.. sort of tuned for 3D effects..

Overall NASA/KSC has showcased all glorious, eye-candy space activities for visitors really well... and everybody visiting KSC, feels like they are part of it and indeed proud of it.. Everybody wants to join this bandwagon of "huge achievements".. and everybody ends up at the "Space Shop" buying some soveniers :)..It was really crowded.. Infact all logistics/maintenance cost for KSC tourism is managed thru these souvenir shop earnings..

End of the NASA tour around 6:30pm.. Single day is indeed not enough to visit KSC..

Outside KSC, had spicy Thai dinner at town of Tutsville,

Started lase leg of of our roadtrip.. to Sitaram's home at Coconut creek.. ~3hrs drive.. On the way, seemed like all three of us were feeling lil bit disappointed because the end of the roadtrip.. We started on the road 12 days back and every day was full of lot of activities.. We ended up discussing things which we liked during the roadtrip.. Zion inspiration point, Smokies Web overlook and Saturn V rocket were 3 most impressive things for me..

final touchdown at Sitram's place ~10:00pm

At Sitarm's two story palace house, the 50" plasma TV kept me awake with SNL and Matrix.. slept around 3pm :) !!

..and that marked our end of roadtrip.. Total 4310 miles in 12 days..

Today's Drive: ~250miles
State: FL

Total Miles: 4310 miles in twelve days
Total States (15) : CA, NV, UT, AZ, CO, NM, TX, OK, AK, MS, TN, NC, GA, SC, FL

Pacific To Atlantic - Day 11 - Savannah

2009, Jan 02 Friday 11:40pm
RoadTrip Diary - Day 11, Savannah & St Augustine..

Yesterday night, decided to catch sunrise on Atlantic ocean next day.. After settling in best-western, browsed thru some maps and realized that the water body we visited was Savannah river and not Atlantic ocean :) ..

Savannah is still 15-20 miles east of the ocean. We need to visit Tymbee island for Atlantic touchdown.

In the morning, when alarm started, took me few minutes to decide if i indeed want to see sunrise.. After 5 hrs sleep, opportunity cost of sunrise vs comfortable drive to Daytona beach.. but finally voted for sunrise..

Tymbee island was around 20miles from the motel.. At the "center state beach", couple of folks were on the beach, jogging, catching sunrise.. we were 10 minutes before sunrise.. but cloud cover was heavy.. 7:25am @ sunrise, only golden lining on the clouds was visible.. sun was hiding behind it.. still after few mins, the yellowish-silver sun rays showed up on top clouds, but still no sun visible.. roamed around the beach for a while browsing thru shells.. felt indeed great after reaching to Atlantic.. water was lil bit brownish in color and not crystal clear.. probably La Jolla shores Pacific ocean is much bluish than this one.. The beach was also lil bit unusual with shell crunch sand..

After half an hour, sun was still under clouds.. so headed back to the motel..

Feeling really exhausted..

Started the day around 9:30am looking for a nice breakfast place near Chatham square, as recommended by the book.. Ms Wilkes restaurant.. but it was closed.. so went to riverwalk st.. yesterday night I was on the same st, but today continued browsing different area near "folkers".. spent around half an hour just walking side by Savannah river.. Container ship was being towed thru narrow river channel.. Savannah seems to be one of the largest port on east-coast for merchant ship traffic.. Visited waving girl statue..

Had nice lunch at Toby's seafood grill place.. Fresh Tuna with cole-slaw was perfect with riverwalk view..



Savannah is exactly at the border of Georgia and South Carolina.. so we went to south carolina just crossing the bridge on Savannah river.. ~1:25pm.. nearby town maybe atleast 25miles from SC border.. so we returned immediately to georgia ~1:35pm and started our way down towards Daytona Beach..

On the way, stopped at "Howlf-Bradfield" plantation historic site, near Dorien town on I95-S.. to catch the glimpse of 1940 rice plantation and slave cabins.. I was expecting more abt slaves and their lifestyle, but the tour turned out to be abt owner house .. The ranger seemed ot be nice guy, but just too talkative.. again.. this house being from 1952 didn't seem really "historic".. but ranger unnecessarily wasted an hour just to see 4 rooms in a house.. Rice fields next to Altahama River, were really huge, around 4 acre area.. Spanish moss oak trees, in open area, were outstanding.

Visited "Fort Fredric national monument" on "Golden Isle Island" near Brunswick GA.. This was ruins of older british settlement fort to fight against spanish invasion and native indian communities.. the whole place is completely under ruins.. literally.. there isn't any "fort" at all.. I was hoping something similar to Nigara fort in Buffalo NY.. but except few walls, no structures around.. Initially, Ranger told me to abt 30mins closing time constraints, but I finished it within 20mins..it was complete wreckage and just so called "national monument"..

Overall, the Golden Isle Island was crowded because of tourists.. mainly for resorts or family fun..

Though we missed the sunrise today, Got a nice glimpse of sunset from the Island and Bay water..

Crossed Florida state line around 6:30pm EST

Reached St Augustine FL really late around 8pm.. The place seems to be similar to Savannah but this one is lil bit older spanish settlement. The St George st is "happening" street.. It is actually a small walkway with small yellowish buildings on both sides.. It indeed gave a feeling of small spanish village..

Had nice dinner at White Lions restaurant..

Visited nearby fort (??) ..was just too dark.. and it was closed from inside.. roamed outside the fort walls well..they were visible because of show lights. The fort was just next to atlantic ocean.. somehow water was really still..must be bay water..

had quick stargazing session with sitaram and meha.. it wasn't too dark.. but good enough for basic constellations..

Had nice ice-cream on St George St again.. and we started heading to Daytona Beach ~10:00pm..

On the way, Another milestone.. 4000 mile mark of the roadtrip..

Reached Daytona Beach travel inn motel around 11pm.. a Gujju guy working here gave heavy discount.. The motel is on US-A1A and ocean is just across street..

Will visit NASA KSC tomorrow..its still around 2hrs drive to KSC.. hopefully should reach there before 10am..

Today's drive: ~250 miles
States: GA, SC, FL

Total Miles: ~4000 miles in eleven days
Total States (15) : CA, NV, UT, AZ, CO, NM, TX, OK, AK, MS, TN, NC, GA, SC, FL

Pacific To Atlantic - Day 10 - Atlanta

Jan 1st 2009, Thursday (late night 1:33am)
RoadTrip Diary - Day 10. Atlanta downtown and Atlantic ocean touchdown

After the stressful previous day, of about 20hrs, we started around 11am today.. wafflehouse brunch was feeling.. Though we had late night dinner at Denny's 2am previous night, I was starving :)..

didn't have any feeling for new year.. just yet another roadtrip day..

Went to Martin Luther King Jr National Historic Site.. but it was closed because of new year day.. totally frustrating.. still we roamed lil bit around it.. there are two statues near visitor center.. At front, there is an african statue called "Behold", sculptured in memory of MLK.. Behind visitor center, second statue of "Mahatma Gandhi" is hosted.. its donated by Govt of India... It seems like MLK was indeed a follower of Gandhi and truly believed in Civil disobedience / Satyagraha philosophy.. i knew very little abt this aspect of MLK.. felt good..

The statue reads: "Nonviolence to be a potent force must begin with the mind. Nonviolence of the mere body without the co-operation of the mind is nonviolence of weak or the cowardly, and has therefore no potency. If we hear malice and hatred in our bosoms and pretend not to retaliate, it must recoil upon us and lead to our destruction."
At the backyard, there is a pathway showcasing footprints of all those who believed/contributed in civil rights movement. e.g. Rosa Parks.. Was lil bit surprised to see Stevie wonder's footprints.. hmmm... On the other side, the old-renovated "Ebenezer Baptist" Church, where MLK was a preacher, is still active..

I wish NHS would have been open today.. I would have loved to see it from inside..

Went to coco-cola headquarters... aquarium and coca-cola museum are at the same location.. Completely lavish surroundings, exotic, & creative decorations.. easily managed with exorbitant entrance ticket prices.. The way history of coco-cola business is portrayed to public is indeed impressive.. it shows how great coca-cola inventors, businessmen are.. lot of memorabilia from older coke advts and older coke products.. they were impressive.. watched some animation video "happiness factory".. was too boring.. Went thru "Taste of coke".. it was impressive.. lot of real drinks from all countries can be tasted here, but not all drinks were mentioned.. Only Indian drink was Sprite.. i tasted lot of drinks, but india's sprite was the only strong one.. might be a bias opinion.. still.. I ended up drinking full glass from Sprite india only.. Most of african drinks were too fruity.. Asian flavors Japanese and chinese were indeed good.. and European flavors, e.g. ikacongla, were nice.. creamy flavor.. Also went to 4D movie.. the 4D effect experience was okay.. documentory/storyline was crappy.. Also most of the 4D effects were just added for sake of it.. Coca-cola tour consumed around 3hrs.. Overall, most of the western visitors knew almost each and every brand of coco-cola, but i wonder how many people knew abt MLK? felt lil bit disappointed, because I am also part of the same community..

We spent around 45mins in nearby Centennial Olympic Park.. It seemed like because of 1996 olympic games atlanta got developed heavily in infrastructure.. and most of it is still intact and is useful to locals.. the large scale replicas of the olympic torch, all around the park, were fabulous.. Sitaram and Meha also had some fun at musical olympic fountains..



Visited Stone mountain, 30 miles outside city of atlanta.. The monolith dome, white-gray in color, is really huge.. The carving on the dome, three generals from civil war, is well detailed and must be arduous work for craftsmen.. apart from the monolith, whole park is completely commercialized.. and it is at a extent where probably people just ignore this stone carvings and spent time in artificial snow or shopping places..

On the way back, Dinner at Sarvanna bhavan was fabulous.. Unexpectedly we ended up at this place, and we found lot of indian restaurants around.. Awesome food here, indeed made our night..

Drive towards Savannah wasn't much impressive..

When we reached Savannah, first thing everybody wanted to do is to touch Atlantic ocean.. so instead of looking for motels, we went to all the way to the End of the freeway (??).. and touched the waterbody.. roamed across riverwalk.. the name "rinverwalk" itself indicated that we are near a river and not ocean.. so we weren't sure where we were.. later found out that its Savannah river and not atlantic ocean..

Savannah being heavy tourist place, all motels were full and no vacancies, after 5/10 phone calls ended up at Best western all the way to the opposite end of Savannah !!

Most probably, will catch sunrise at Atlantic ocean, if I wake up tomorrow..

Total drive: ~300miles
State: GA.. Atlantic ocean (??)

Total Miles: ~3750 miles in ten days
Total States (13) : CA, NV, UT, AZ, CO, NM, TX, OK, AK, MS, TN, NC, GA

Pacific To Atlantic - Day 9 - Smokies & 31st

2008 Dec 31st, Wednesday.. late-late night
Roadtrip Diary - Day 9 - Smokies NP & 31st night in Atlanta..

The day indeed started early.. again i didn't follow the alarm.. late-night 2pm to 7am.. So really had only 5 hrs sleep. ..but still was really enthu to see Smokies NP.

In the morning, we realized that we were staying in a motel owned by indian family again.. gujarati family.. they had sold the hotel to hilton that morning and will be moving to Pigeon forge.. they must have become millionaire.. So on 31st, from now, the motel will be closed.. so ours was indeed a last night in the motel.

We started with "roaring fork motor drive nature trail".. supposed to be nice auto drive.. it was full of orchid trees.. another set of different trees in our roadtrip.. Trees are indeed tall on the mountain slope.. so, previous night, probably we felt complete darkness becasue of these dense trees. After 3-4 miles, the main auto trail was closed due to winter.. so we had to turn back.. actual trail would have given us eastern smokies looks.. so missed it..

again.. the timezone adjustments in the car, messed up my time calculation :).. so we went to "ober gatlinberg" at 9am instead of my pre-planned 8am or 8:30am.

The "Ober gatlinberg" tramway was indeed a good experience.. the tram-operator was also funny and had some bizzare accent texan-country style + german flavor :).. the tram travelled at 12mph for around 15 mins. the top was around 3100ft.. when i was in gatlinberg, i was lil bit disappointed with the commercialization of the whole town and in turn felt bad that somkies is becoming commercialized... but when "ober gatlinberg" tram was climbing up, i found out vastness of smokies and gatlinberg was almost nothing infront of those mountain ranges.. Gatlinberg is set in a valley.. but still local residences and new resorts were showing up their existance on our path on those mountain ranges.

Ober gutenberg is a ski resort.. and have lot of snow tracks.. but it seemed like it hasn't snowed for a while in there.. so all upper/difficult tracks were closed.. only begineer patches were open.. so those snow patches must be artificial.. We tried "alpine way" chairlift.. the top of the alpine pass, indeed showed eastern as well as southern smokies range.. it was completely hazy on top of mountains.. sun was under clouds.. and it created yellow streaks of sunlight on the mountains.. probabaly as name suggests, it was the blue haziness on those moutains.. mountain slopes were too dark/hazy to take any clear picture or observe thru binoculars.. it was really cold up there.. probably around 23F..

Bought tram drive-thru pictures. Coming down from apline pass and then to gatlinberg almost ticked 11:30am.. lunch at flapjack's added an hour.. in flapjack, the water glass shapes were weird..like "baranee"

It was almost 1pm when we entererd smokies NP at Sugarlands visitor center. consideting 4 hrs to sunset, no hike would have been possible.. so only drive thru "Cedar coves" and "Newfound gap" was feasible.. The ranger mentioned that cedar coves roundtrip trail, 24miles one way itself will take around 4.5 hrs.. I just didn't believe him.. but his judgement was almost right.. it took us 4hrs to finish it.. Smokies NP is huge..

The drive to "Cedar cove" is across "little river".. the river was really small and flowing in same direction.. the path was torturous for around 8 miles.. the destination at cedar coves displayed vast fields, open areas and smokies mountain range.. we were sort of in the valley.. the valley has cabins and church buildings from 1860s European settlements, who took over native Cherokee reservations,.. there wasn't a simple glimpse of indian heritage left there.. but whole cedar groves was under heavy traffic to see those old European cabins and churches.. when i went inside "primitive first baptist church", i didn't find anything interesting.. Its not old at all..its completely renovated and probably older desk is displayed.. at back, there was a cemetery of people dead in 19th and 20th century.. infact..one of the graves was built in 2005.. also there were lot of graves of young kids from 2 year old to 6 month old.. i was indeed surpised..

On that drive, we also encountered wild life.. lot of deers.. also some horses (wild life??)

Again, as i mentioned previously, it seems like the concept of "interesting history" is completely messed up here.. Anything older than probably 50 years is a heritage in usa.. and everybody showcases it as "the best thing" on the planet.. means, instead of enjoying the nature within Smokies, tourist were busy visiting so-called-historical buildings or horses.. In Albq NM, when we visited a local church building, it was completely renovated from its 1897 establishment.. In san antonio, Alamo and similar missions are probably way too older than these Cabins/Churches in Smokies, but nobody porbably knows abt San Antonio missions.. there were around 10-15 people in those missions as compared to thousands in Smokies Cedar-Grove church... Definition of "historical" places, is completely mistaken or probably "commercialized"..

I wish if i would have got a chance to camp in Cedar groves.. The place is so beautiful and bountiful that native reservations were wise enough to stay there for their whole lifetime..


It was almost 4:30pm when we came back to visitor center.. and clock indeed started ticking fast..

"Caedar valley" gave the glimpse of valley and riverside views.. but "Newfound gap drive" goes to top of the mountain range and shows complete view of smokies vast mountain ranges.. It gave the real feeling of Smokies.. Drive towards "Newfound gap" was indeed torturous and way too adventurous..and inorder to reach there before sunset, the drive indeed really fast and way above speed limit :) !! At the top, It was crazily windy around 23F.. The "manor overlook (??)" showed western smokies ranges, while the "newfound gap overlook" showed northern-eastern ranges.. THE BEST view of smokies.. just unlimited range of mountains on the horizon.. I was spellbound with that view and binoculars indeed enhanced the vision.. Our forward jounrey US-411 drive was also visible.. and that seemed to be another torturous down-slope and thats also gonna be in dark :).. It was too windy to stay up there for more than 15mins.. I am glad that we made it during day light..

North Carolina and Tennessee border is exactly at "Newfound gap overlook".. Entered NC around 5:30pm EST

On the way down, "Webb overlook" gave marvellous views of Southern Smokies range.. It was yet-another THE BEST viewpoint for the day.. Its not only just mountain ranges, but the sunset dusk light created magic.. after the sunset, sky was all red and yellowish.. and vast southern smokies range was unending on horizon.. God Picasso's paint-brush was producing new posters every now and then .. Our perfect timing made the whole experience to be the "Inspiration point" like Bryce canyon.. Thru binocs was able to capture lot of details.. the village of Cherokee was clearly visible.. Truly inspiring experience..

The drive forward within Smokies, then thru Cherokee village and then towards Atlanta was unbelievably tiring.. I was operating manually.. brain was completely shutoff.. but we really wanted to reach Atlanta for 31st night..

Crossed NC-Georgia state line around 7pm EST.. Reached Atlanta around 9:30pm EST

Atlanta, Motel 6 assistant was really helpful and gave recommendations abt visiting down-town to witness peach-ball drop of 31st.. He also mentioned that ~100,000 people will show up there. considering parking hassle, he also suggested to use local rail-transit MARTA.. Luckily, train station was within ocuple of miles from our motel... When we reached to downtown, I was shocked to see so many people.. Its like "Ganapati-Visrjan-Mirawanuk" in Pune.. so many african-american people at the same time.. specifically, with that "distinctive" accent.. After observing people around me, the way they were behaving, moving, talking/yelling, it seemed like real blue-collar people.. before midnight, usual drunken brawls and yelling was taking place every now and then.. Peach-ball drop was from 500ft tower and we had a side view.. there was a small conert going on.. but considering "discussions" and heavy hassle around us, concert was just in-audible.. Also, coca-cola screen was displaying ~32F and too windy.. but probably because of such a huge crowd, i wasnt feeling any cold winter.. THe 00:00am event of 31st night was marked my huge fireworks and ball drop.. but it got over within few mins.. Also we didn't realize the precise 00:00 moment :) as we didn;t see any counters nearby. because of side-view ?


Return journey was another beast.. Thousands of people getting into small train station, at the same time, created usual hue & cry..

Again, Denny's late night dinner and an un-necassary hour delay in delivering the food, completely knocked us out.. Total 20 hrs day finally ended.. Good night !!

Today's Drive; ~300 miles
States: TN, NC, GA

Total Miles: 3400 miles in nine days
Total States (13) : CA, NV, UT, AZ, CO, NM, TX, OK, AK, MS, TN, NC, GA

Pacific To Atlantic - Day 8 - Tennessee Drive

2008 Dec 30th Tuesday ..late night 1am
Roadtrip Diary Day 8: Tennessee Drive

Stayed in Best-western previous night.. West Memphis in Arkansas.. West Memhis is just across TN state border. The hotel owner was desi.. Interestingly, in the room, there was a copy of bhagvad-gita along with usual bible.

Left AK and entered Memphis TN again around 9am.

Memphis mud island was closed.. so spent some time near riverwalk in downtown.. Bed of Mississippi river is too vast.. It indeed gives feeling of ocean (small scale :)).. An afro-amec man was sitting on the bench enjoying the smooth river flow.. must be pondering over something :)... Quick india phone-call from riverside gave comforting feeling..

Drove thru Memphis downtown for a while.. Was on main street and accidentally entered into the tram station.. initially, the road and rail-track were together and after few moments, felt weird, because i was the only one driving there.. Pedestrian told us that i am going towards tram-station and not supposed to drive here..So a quick anxious reverse-drive was a fun.. surprisingly, GPS didn't warn us either.. Luckily any Cop wasn't around, otherwise.. OR if a train would have entered to tram-station, behind us, then it would have been been adventurous experience :D..

Started driving from Memphis towards Nashville.. 200 miles drive.. Memphis Or TN being "blues music" hot-spot, this part of I-40 is called "Music highway".. quick stop at visitor center on the way to pick up some maps.. Drive was nice.. Initially, it was similar to river-side drive like MS or eastern AK state, but as we started going inland, somehow the concentration of tees started growing.. and becoming dense.. Also lot of state parks on the way like Natchez SP..

On the way, hit 105 mph speed-mark once.. and yes only once.. in whole roadtrip :)

In Nashville, went to Centennial park to visit Athena Parthenon temple.. Exact replica of original Parthenon from Athens, Greece.. obviously, whole site had Greek feeling.. Also a similar replica of "goddess of Athena".. indeed a huge statue.. statue itself is made of plaster.. but decorated with gold polish... sort of cheap.. didn't find it interesting at all.. Lot of fragments from the original Parthenon are also showcased.. They are made of real marble..


Photos of katrina disaster were also displayed.. don't understand the relation..

Centennial park is part of Vanderbilt university.. Dough Schmidt one.. Wanted to visit the university, but we were indeed short of time..

Had a nice sandwich at "which wich" place.. american-german place.. You can make your own sandwich, the final outcome was excellent and nice experience..

Drove thru old state capitol building.. visitors not allowed during week-days..

Left Nashville around 3:15pm and started driving towards Knoxville.. around 200 miles drive again.. nothing much in Knoxville..except riverfront of Tennessee river.. the drive was nice again.. all through mountains.. Reach Knoxville around 7pm

GPS multi-route feature sort of messed up our visiting points. we were planning to go for boat ride on riverfront on a stoned wheel boat, but missed completely. GPS kept us driving towards Smokies NP and we realized the mistake after few miles.. Also we didn't expect timzone change from CST to EST.. and lost an hour again in fraction of a second :).. so it took us 9pm to reach Gutenberg :)

Drive from Knoxville to Gatlinberg was lil bit surprising.. we went thru small towns of Servile and Pigeon-forge.. Because of Smokies NP nearby, both towns are so commercialized that you can find each & every american food chain and shopping place here.. I indeed hated it.. Still, christmas lights on the way were nice. also at every traffic-light, at the center, they have a Smokies mile marker..

Gatlinberg is just outside Smokies..gateway to NP.. I was expecting it to be a small German town, but it turned out to be really commercialized one.. unbelievable.. whole Gatlinberg is like "Tempe downtown at mill avenue" or "SD gaslamp quarters in downtown"..

At local micro-brewery "smoky mountains brewery and restaurant" had nice dinner with Karaoke music. Walked around few blocks in downtown..

Before returning to our motel, we decided to drive thru national park at late night just to get a feel of it.. US-441 thru NP is open 24hrs.. NP entrance is within couple of miles from Gatlinberg downtown.. but surprisingly it was pitch-dark near the entrance itself and obviously we were alone there at 11:30pm.. We drove a mile inside the NP and all of us were scared to death. Darkness and nothing else.. all tall trees around.. no visible light except our car headlights.. It felt like a huge mistake.. Still i kept on driving for few minutes till we hit the NP entrance window.. "Gumnaam song" filled up the env :).. Luckily, from other side, couple of people drove by.. they must be adventurous driving thru NP.. we decided to head back and took a U-turn. Powered off our headlights for couple of seconds to "feel" the darkness :) ..Hssh.. If i would have got some open patch to see the night sky, that would have been the best..but whole view was obstructed by tall-dense forest.

Overall, that 5 mins drive inside NP was scary but awesome :).. It gave me true feeing of a NP.. Being in Gatlinberg, i was lil-bit disappointed with whole commercialization aspect.. and sort of bad feeling for Smokies also.. but this 5 mins drive showed me no hint of civilization inside the NP :) and i was elated for tomorrow..

Staying in "Knights Inn".. "first" hotel at the entrance of the village.. okay place.. but way too cheap as compared to all other motels here in Gatlinberg. Manager told us that motel/land is sold to Hilton now and its there last day.. good deal for us !!

Any way.. tomorrow its gonna be real fun and long day.. Early morning from Smokies to new-year night-out in Atlanta..

Today's Drive: ~450 miles.. I drove all the way :)
States: AK, TN

Total Miles: 3100 miles in eight days
Total States (11) : CA, NV, UT, AZ, CO, NM, TX, OK, AK, MS, TN

Pacific To Atlantic - Day 7 - Memphis Blues

Dec 29th 2008, Monday.. late night
RoadTrip Diary - Day 7 - Mississippi River Drive and Memphis Blues

Finally started getting lil bit hangover of the roadtrip.. feeling lil bit tired.. probably because didn't sleep well in a while.. 12 hrs sleep is must :)..

Today was a nice day too.. At last moment, we decided to drive thru Mississippi state.. so plan was to have "breakfast in AK", "lunch in MS" and "Dinner touchdown in TN" :)

Breakfast at waffle house gave a indication that we are closer to african-american population. Considering their accent and overall appearance, we are indeed in southern region. Everybody in that restaurant, staff as well as customers, were african-americans.

Drive within Arkansas good.. Trees across both sides of I-40, but they were lil bit barren and without any leaves..had a red tinge.. in summer they must me green.. For Mississippi en route, we drove thru Helena AK on US-49.. crossed the river to enter MS.. climbed up north on US-61 towards Tunica MS and then towards Memphis to enter Tennessee..

The US-49 drive was awesome.. driving on local roads, other than freeways, indeed gives real feel of the country/state.. really huge farms.. All farming equipments were also active.. I guess because of nearby Mississippi river, fields were lush green..

Helena is really small town.. it has tobacco supermarket :)

Crossed Mississippi river to enter into Mississippi state around 1:30pm.. Because of the river bank, Mississippi US-61 drive felt similar to AK US-49 drive. We drove towards Tunica, a gambling place in Mississippi.. and only bigger town nearby. Its ranked 3rd overall, after vegas and atlantic city... there were large casinos, different than vegas ones.. Hollywood, Casino Resorts, Sam's Town, Isle of Capri casino etc.. , except familiar "Harrahs".. we went to Cassino Resorts.. again lot of black people playing there.. also lot of aged people as compared to vegas.. probably because of senior and low-income crowd, there were lot of slot machines compared to other games.. Also they had posters of slot machine winners and their lower winning amounts.. bizarre..

Lunch buffet at Tunica wasn't that good either..still good enough to satiate the hunger..

Entered Memphis, TN around 4pm.

Went to Graceland to visit Elvis Presley's house and his death place..

Ticket of $28 is bit expensive.. but the place is really well maintained.. Till now, I was bit ignorant abt Elvis. My impression was that he is yet another artist.. so in Graceland, 2hr audio-tour gave quick glimpse of his life and work.. Considering his one billion record sells all over the world, he indeed seemed like a "King"... Everything in his house is well showcased.. from his TV room, Jungle room, rifle range to his Golden records room ..all his real awards to real costumes from his live shows.. his movie performances.. ..to his burial place, with his parents and grandfather.. surprisingly his typical sunglasses weren't around anywhere.. overall it was a great tour.. need to listen to him more...

After Graceland, our ticket also covered, Elvis car museum, Elvis costumes museum, Elvis airplane museum and Elvis as "private" war soldier museum.. It was just too much.. In the end, i was really bored.. means.. whats the point of learning abt how his house is decorated rather than listening to his music.. Elvis wasn't like Gandhi or martin luther king.. he was indeed a rich kid with "rich kid habbits".. Considering his talent, he indeed achieved great things.. but whats the point of watching his cars or dresses...

any way.. After grace land, we went to Beale street near downtown.. A famous place for blues music.. 2 blocks withlot of blues clubs.. U of Memphis vs Kentucky game was going on nearby Fed-Ex Forum stadium.. so heavy crowd.. We spent couple of hours in B B Kings club.. lil bit expensive for dinner..but live-orchestra was good.. ZDA, The Princess of Beale Street, was singing with blues orchestra.. Also..some celebrity "jon stables" (??) showed up.. he was a drummer.. so these local artists stopped and invited him on stage and played couple of songs with him.. "hound dog" by Elvis was a familiar song.. Indeed felt good after some blues music.. The club itself represents BB style music.. It reminded me of live B B King's concert, which Shaan and I had attended last year..


Again lot of African-American crowd on the street... just everywhere..

Reached to Motel6 in AK.. around 10:30pm

Too tired today... eyes are closing while writing this.. brain is just syncing up with hands while eyes are closed.. so indeed not reading what I am typing.. good night :) !!

Today's Drive: 280 miles
States: AK, MS, TN

Total Miles: 2640 miles in seven days
Total States (11) : CA, NV, UT, AZ, CO, NM, TX, OK, AK, MS, TN