Like a lot of other people in the world right now, I just finished my first week of working from home due to COVID-19. I’m a little luckier than most in that I’ve already had a lot of experience working from home, and my job as a systems administrator lends itself to working remotely easily. I also already had a home office area and relatively robust home network. Still, working from home every now and then is a lot different than doing it for (at least) three weeks straight during this time of “social distancing” and “sheltering in place.” I’m not supposed to return to the office until April 6, so what technology am I using to stay connected and keep doing my job?
college
A quick weekend road trip
This past weekend involved another road trip (July has been a busy travel month for us!).
My wife and daughter flew out to Houston on Thursday to kick off another week-long college visit road trip that will take them from Texas to Ohio. Friday evening, after work, I flew to meet them in Dallas. It had been probably over 10 years since I’d last been to DFW and was surprised to learn that you have to pay to go into the airport even if you’re just going to pick someone up! It cost my wife $2 to come in with the rental car and get me.
On Saturday, while my daughter was visiting with her boyfriend at UT Dallas, my wife drove me through the campus of SMU, which they had toured yesterday. We all met for lunch, and then at 1:30pm were on the road, heading north out of Dallas on US-75. At 2:20pm we crossed into Oklahoma and then three hours later were in Arkansas. We stopped for dinner in Fayetteville at Tacos 4 Life (great tacos!) at 6:30pm.
Back in March during our southwest road trip we had visited Four Corners. On this trip we wanted to stand on three states: Kansas, Missouri, and Oklahoma. At this point we were racing the sun because the “monument” was (according to Google Maps) down a dirt road in a clearing in the woods and was not lit. We crossed the Missouri border at 7:45 and made it to the three states area at 8:30pm. There was still enough light to get our family photo with each of us in a different state. Heading east again on I-44, we stopped for ice cream at Andy’s in Joplin. We finally made it to our hotel in Springfield by 10:15pm. So it was a long driving day, but we hit five states!
Sunday morning we were on the road by 8:15am because I had a 1:00pm flight home out of St. Louis. We got to Lambert by 11:45am so I had no problems making it to the plane. However, I was delayed in Atlanta and didn’t make it home until 8:00pm.
So I’m back, but my wife and daughter still have a few days of driving (and four more college visits) ahead of them.
July 4th Road Trip: Day 6
Denver, yeah! Today we spent the day in the Mile High City.
First on the agenda was another college visit at the University of Denver so we walked back to the airport, picked up a rental car for the day, and then drove to campus. The information session and tour took most of the morning. Afterwards, we grabbed lunch at the Denver Biscuit Company and then had to book it north to Boulder for our next tour at the University of Colorado. DU was nice, but the campus and surrounding areas of CU are incredible. That tour took up the afternoon so before we knew it it was 5:00pm. We braved the rush hour traffic back to Denver where we were having dinner with old friends at their house. It was nice to have a relaxing evening watching the sun set behind the mountains.
After dinner and visiting, we drove back to the airport, turned in the rental car, and walked back to the hotel. Tomorrow we fly home …
July 4th Road Trip: Day 2
Today we got up and drove over to Macalaster College where we spent the morning in an information session and taking a tour of campus. By 11:15am we were on the road, heading northwest out of Minneapolis/St. Paul on I-94.
At 2:15pm we made a stop in Fergus Falls to see the library sign and continental divide markers (thanks to Roadside America). We also made quick roadside stops in Moorhead, MN to see a replica viking ship, and then across the border in Fargo, ND where the wood chipper from the movie “Fargo” is kept. At 4:15pm we had a late lunch/early dinner at the Mediterranean Grill before getting back on the interstate.
We also made a stop in Jamestown, ND to see the world’s largest buffalo and check out the Buffalo Museum. This turned out to be a really cool stop, and we caught a glimpse of Dakota Miracle, calf of the albino buffalo White Cloud.
Just before getting to Dickinson, ND as the sun was setting, we spotted Geese in Flight marking the start of the Enchanted Highway. According to Roadside America this is a pretty cool set of large sculptures along 32 miles of a county highway. Unfortunately, it heads directly south and wasn’t along our way so we only saw this first sculpture. By 9:00pm we were in Dickinson and checked into our hotel for the night.
Tomorrow is the Fourth of July, and we’ll spend most of it in the car. 🙂
Thanksgiving 2016 Road Trip: Day 4
Another college visit today. This morning after breakfast we drove down to Oberlin to visit Oberlin College (my daughter’s first choice currently) for a tour. It was a lot colder here than in Dayton yesterday and there was a lot of snow on the ground. It was good for my Florida girl to see what she’d be getting into, picking a school in northern Ohio 🙂 . It was another informational (and brisk!) tour and afterwards we had Mediterranean for lunch at Aladdin’s before the information session later that afternoon at the Admissions office.
In the late afternoon we went over to my brother’s house to visit with my sister-in-law, niece, and 6-month old nephew. Then it was a late-night dinner at Strip where we were joined by my sister who had had a long day. So it was nice to finally see family on this trip.
Today also happened to be Dick Goddard’s last broadcast on Channel 8 after 55 years. I grew up watching Dick do the weather and hosting his Woollybear Festival every year. Wow.
Thanksgiving 2016 Road Trip: Day 3
Today was our first official college visit at the University of Dayton. We woke up early and were on the road at 7:30am. We crossed the Ohio River into Cincinnati an hour later and at 10:00am were pulling into the visitor parking lot at UD, on-time for our 10:30 tour and information session.
I thought it would be a little weird going on a tour of the college where I had gone to school (met my wife, and even got married!) with my daughter, but it wasn’t that odd. It was cool to see all the changes around campus, and what had stayed the same since I had graduated. It was another beautiful brisk fall day and walking around the campus to see the dorms, library, and buildings was very pleasant.
After the tour we hit all our old haunts which included lunch at Marion’s Piazza and dessert at Young’s Jersey Dairy in Yellow Springs (where we also briefly drove past Antioch College just to see a really small school). Then it was back to driving … I-675 to I-70 East over to Columbus, and then I-71 North to Cleveland.
By 6:00pm were were in the vicinity of our hotel for the rest of the week on the west side. We stopped at Crocker Park to do some grocery shopping and pick up dinner. Then we checked into the hotel and ate before unloading everything out of the car and getting settled.
Tomorrow is another college visit and then we’ll actually see family.
Driving stats: 7 hours; 350mi
Thanksgiving 2016 Road Trip: Day 2
Today was a full travel day.
We were back on I-75 North at 9:30am after having breakfast at the hotel. At 11:30am we passed through Macon and decided to make our first unplanned detour of the trip. In addition to going to see family up north on this road trip, we’re doing a few college visits (on Monday and Tuesday) with our daughter. Since we going through Atlanta, we decided to make a quick stop at Emory University just to quickly check it out. We spent about an hour or so wandering around campus checking out the Quad, some of the classroom buildings, the DUC, etc. It was a beautiful fall day, perfect for a nice self-guided walk around campus.
After lunch at Mellow Mushroom (where I got to watch a little of the Browns game), it was back onto I-75 North. 5:00pm saw us passing through Dalton, GA and 45 minutes later we were over the border into Tennessee as the sun was setting. We saw warning signs about heavy smoke in northern Tennessee and at 8:00pm starting driving through it. 15 minutes later we were out of the smoke and over the border into Kentucky.
We tried to make a late stop for dessert at Greater’s in Lexington, but we had misread the hours on the web site and arrived 15 minutes past closing. Oops! So instead we pushed on to our hotel north of Lexington and were checked in by 10:20pm.
Driving stats: 10 hours; 636mi
