As I was on a short-timer's schedule, I called Roberts Camera of Indianapolis, Indiana to see if they had a GH4 and would do a trade-in of my GH3.
It seemed a bit confusing to the first person to answer the phone, but the second person made it clear--they had no GH4s in stock and three on the waiting list.
Today, I'm nowhere close, though I may try a dealer in New Jersey where they've also done Panasonic presentations. I believe they are Unique Photo. Equally, Adorama is across the river in Manhattan. I trust Adorama to help me, but I hear about many bad experiences dealing with the various personalities in the store. Maybe, the people are not from the Northeast. I used to hear many stories about people from New Jersey, New York, or Philadelphia. In my experience, they were misinformed. These rude, hateful people are some of the most genuine, loveable people you'll ever know. They just say what they mean, and so do I. I lived in Philly for eight years, and supposedly, my biological father came from Philly.
In any case, I want to trade the GH3 and the closest dealer in California to where I'll be living does not trade. That doesn't mean I won't be able to find a shop, but I'd rather deal with New Jersey or New York where I can trust the person will show me the contempt, rather than try the schmooz me into doing what they want. (I really liked Roberts Camera for their no-nonsense approach to dealing with people and cameras--give the customer good advice and a good deal.)
Maybe, Unique Photo will be able to help. I really hate driving into and out of the city (New York City) but parking is worse. Of course, if New Jersey Transit is working, it might be a piece of cake in a few days, to get to Adorama.
Update 2014.06.08: I was at Unique Photo this morning. They were friendly and knowledgeable. They expected a shipment last week and didn't get it. They have 3 people on the list ahead of me. It sounded as though they had a significant quantity arriving, so I may just get the body this week.
They also tempted me with the Panasonic GM1, which is clearly a dear and tiny camera body. I'd really like to see it on the end of my Olympus 35-100mm f/2.0, with the tripod mount attached to the tripod, of course. Otherwise, it's not quite balanced. I was impressed with how very tiny the Olympus 60mm f/2.8 macro was.
Update 2014.06.11: I returned to Unique Photo since I hadn't heard anything and I wanted to make sure that they weren't going to send a GH4 to an address I no longer occupy.
They didn't get their shipment yet. Maybe, they'll get it this week. They didn't know. Rather than have the GH3 and a GH4, I traded the GH3 for US$500, which is low, but you can sometime get a new GH3 for under US$900, so it's better to get US$500 than having it collect dust. I bought an Olympus E-M1, which I will still use after I buy a GH4.
I still feel that the E-M1's battery and grip are too small, but I was tempted to buy a Panasonic GM1, so what's more weird? I don't know. Hopefully, the E-M1 will work well with my Four-Thirds lenses in real-life situations. I still have my E-5 and E-1.
It's taking a while to charge the battery, so maybe it will last longer than I remember. I hope Panasonic will have their stock soon.
Update 2014.11.30: A few days ago, I finally got my GH4. Stock is not only good, but they've had a $200 instant rebate on the camera body. When I tried my extra GH3 battery in the GH4, it seemed to be full, after nearly six months.
Mike's camera was fairly close--about 33 miles from where I live now. Their people are not brand fanatics and are willing to talk intelligently about any brand you might want to buy.
It's a long time to go without. The E-M1 has been good and the GH4 seems to be everything the GH3 was but better.
Showing posts with label Indiana. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Indiana. Show all posts
Friday, June 6, 2014
Friday, February 21, 2014
Sprint, it's been a month (4 actually), where are the enhancements?
When I was in Eaton, Ohio earlier, I noticed that their LTE services have degraded dramatically to what should have been good 3G/EVDO speeds. I was in Indianapolis, Indiana the other day and they've had their LTE upgrades for about 1 year and I was getting many timeouts.
The coverage map has changed, though the LTE indicator did not indicate LTE in some of the places. In fact, actual coverage seems spotty, even in small towns, as though the equipment they're using isn't as powerful as the 3G/EVDO equipment they were previously using.
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| Closing from the west a while back |
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| LTE stops close to the state line |
The cows and horses really don't seem to have LTE available, as it wasn't indicated on the phone as I drove through that area. As soon as I crossed the state line, though, the 5 bars turned to 1, then zero. Obviously, LTE is closing in on the area but it's got some distance to go, and probably, a lot of time until it's really stable.
Of course, part of the problem is that Sprint is claiming that LTE is 10x faster than 3G. Since their 3G speed is in the basement (0.10 Mbps?) many days, I guess 10x (1.0 Mbps) isn't out of reach. If it's to be believed, the new AT&T/SBC said during their latest financial call that something like 97% of new phone purchases in the latest quarter were smart phones. Maybe obviously, that would be a lot of potential data usage.
As I checked the coverage in rural Ohio near me (5 miles east?) in more detail, I discovered that they have Good and Fair ratings to LTE service--these were in the fair rating. Is pathetic LTE coverage with little hope of better coverage better than no LTE coverage?
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The PING response is slow but I can't complain otherwise
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Update 2014.03.01: I was in the Sprint store today, trying to cancel the contract for my problematic Tri-Fi mobile hotspot. They suggested that I call customer service, as they were not authorized. When I was talking to the customer service representative about canceling, she said that it usually takes 30 days from the finish of the upgrades for things to show up. Of course, I mentioned about the text message and how it's been 30 days. Things may look better soon, but the mobile hotspot couldn't even connect partway through the day.
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| Verizon's LTE seems to be fine here |
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| Downtown Hamilton, OH |
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| West Main St, Hamilton, OH |
Update 2014.03.05: I noticed LTE in Hamilton, Ohio, which seemed to have been ignored, even though it was in-between cities that already showed LTE was in the testing phase. It looks as though it will be a big summer for Sprint.
Update 2014.03.09: More of the Dayton, Ohio area is covered now, and it seems that even more cows and horses in the country have LTE, even if some parts of towns are not yet covered. I guess they're making better milk because they're happy, well-connected cows.
Update 2014.03.12: I went to Winchester, Indiana and while I was eating enchiladas, I thought that they might have LTE available, since the "data speed upgrades" have been done, but the coverage map shows LTE just outside of town, but not reaching the town itself. In many parts of my travels of Indiana and Ohio, I still find service practically non-existent or on roaming because Sprint just doesn't have coverage.
I've only ever been two places in the past five years where the phone said "NO SERVICE" and they were both in the tri-state area. I could almost understand about a state or national forest but near a U.S. highway? I suppose it's like the cable companies not wanting to pay for wiring to low density areas because it doesn't pay, but I could swear that there were provisions in spectrum agreements that wireless carriers would provide service. I may be confused but are there loopholes that say if 1 of the big 4 have service in the area that none of the others need bother?
Update 2014.03.25: Two months have passed and still nothing. Performance is generally acceptable overnight, but just that--acceptable. The best I see now is about 30% of what it was at its best, which was close to the limits, and it's about half of the typical during that same time frame. Am I to believe that there are hundreds of people using their data-sucking devices in the middle of the night?
The whole "up to 10 times the speed of 3G" is something that they did with WiMAX. They're saying that only the Spark areas (three LTE bands, 800 MHz, 1900 MHz, 2500 MHz) will see the maximum speed, which makes sense if they can use all three frequency bands at once. With the Tri-Fi mobile hotspot, I was only getting WiMAX over the 2500 MHz band and I regularly saw between 5 Mbps and 10 Mbps, depending on the area, and that was inside a building (motel, restaurant, etc.) where the signal had a lower ability to penetrate.
What I'm seeing from Verizon LTE at home (about 2 miles from the same tower Sprint is using) is anywhere from 12 Mbps to 15 Mbps. This is likely from two bands, including 700 MHz, which has an easier time of getting into a building than 1900 MHz or whatever they're using on the higher end. Maybe, next month.
Update 2014.03.27: An hour ago, I got a text message from Sprint saying that I should expect more service interruptions and the wait will be over in the next few days. What that really means, I don't know. What I hope is that dual-band LTE will be here, active, and as fast as it should be. Hopefully, this is the beginning of the end of bad service from Sprint. I was still getting 1xRTT service in some locations in the past two weeks. They ought to have enough old equipment now that they can push it out to the towers that don't have equipment from, say, 2006 or 2007.
Oh geez. I went to Eaton, Ohio to get a haircut and eat pizza. The LTE didn't reach nearly as far and was only really available on the main north-south road through town. A month ago, it reached well into the countryside.
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| It's there on Main Street |
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| The speed does look like 10 times 3G |
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| Except that the 3G speed is really good right now |
When I returned to Richmond, Indiana, I got a bit of a surprise sitting at the stop light: LTE. I went to my Speedtest app and before I went far past the next light, about 200 feet from the main road, LTE was gone. I guess they'll have it at full power in a few days, as they mentioned. I guess they wanted the store staff to try it.
Update 2014.03.30: I'm seeing LTE show up for an instant several places, including home but as soon as I try to use it, it disappears. I've checked the updates on the map and where there were none two weeks ago, there are
Update 2014.03.31: As I was sitting at the stop light where I first discovered LTE in town, I used Speedtest.net to measure it. The PING was 51ms, downlink was 4.78 Mbps, and the uplink was 0.74 Mbps. Once again, LTE disappeared about 200 feet from there. I hope this isn't full strength because it certainly doesn't match anywhere else I've tried and Verizon's signal certainly goes further--i.e., to my house about 2 miles away. The towers with 2 data speed upgrades each are in the least congested areas, so that might be helpful to people who don't have a device to take advantage of it for a year or two. I mentioned to the @sprintcare people that I figured LTE would be enabled about the time I was moving away, and that it wouldn't be active where I was moving. It may be better than that, but if the current situation is all they'll do, it's a sad, sad state of affairs. I hope they'll yell "April Fools!" and turn up the power on April 2nd.
Update 2014.04.30: Yesterday, this town was moved to the active LTE list, even though not much is covered and the tower near the Sprint store is barely working with LTE. It is better lately for 3G service but putting it back to not quite the best performance is a bit underwhelming.
Wednesday, February 19, 2014
Olympus 12-40mm f/2.8 is in my bag (usually in use though)
Today, I took a drive to get some Asian groceries and enjoy the not-so winter weather. It was above freezing, and the snow was melting, and given how many days we had well below freezing, it was time for a break.
I first went for a fake cheese steak. I lived in Philadelphia for eight years, and there is yet to be a place 100 miles or further from Philadelphia that can produce a good cheese steak. Some of them claim to be famous even--that's just odd. Lenny's Subs has been advertising about how great their sandwiches are. The founder moved to Memphis, Tennessee and wanted an authentic cheese steak, so he had to create it.
As you probably didn't read in my earlier diatribe on getting it right, you have a roll/bun, thin steak, and mozzarella or provolone cheese or cheese whiz to top it and onions are an option, grilled or raw. These people had the meat, a too soft roll, and Swiss cheese (although I was able to order provolone) and grilled onions. It was a let down.
So, not far from the sub shop was a branch of the camera shop where I have recently enjoyed some photographically-related social activities. Well, it wasn't there any longer. They'd moved. I called. They answered, and they gave me their new address. Strangely, they seem to be on the edge of a roundabout/traffic circle/rotary, in a small strip mall.
They had quite a lot and it was displayed quite nicely. With high ceilings, it wasn't nearly as claustrophobic as their old (1920s?) store in downtown Indianapolis.
I talked to one of the people who ran the Olympus photo walk. He even remembered me. I'm not sure if that was good or bad.
We talked about FujiFilm mirror-less cameras, since they were next to Olympus' case. He really likes the X-E2, which I think is quite advanced, but not quite the right shape for me. He said that the downtown store was getting two X-T1 bodies, but they're already promised to someone. I told him that I was waiting on weather-sealed lenses and he reminded me that not everything goes as planned. The 50-140mm f/2.8 and 16-55mm f/2.8 fit me reasonably well. I'd like to see how the FujiFilm16-55mm and Olympus 12-40mm are in an optical comparison.
In the end, I bought the only 12-40mm f/2.8 lens that they had. It was made in China, if that's important to you. It feels just as good as my Four-Thirds HG and SHG lenses. These 12-40mm lenses have been selling almost as quickly as they can get them. After all the screaming about fixed focal length lenses, I'm surprised that people are buying the 12-40mm lens. I suspect people on that photo walk were thrilled with the lens, as it is better than other choices. (Yes, this is my opinion. It's my blog--practically everything is my opinion. My opinion about Panasonic micro Four-Thirds lenses may improve once my 35-100mm f/2.8 is back in my hands. My other micro Four-Thirds lens, the Panasonic 45-200mm f/4.0-5.6 does not help.)
I don't buy lenses often, but I spend quite a bit on each. I almost always buy weather-sealed zoom lenses because of sports, but also because I like the flexibility in other situations, such as quick portraits, food photography, and building exteriors. Olympus' HG and SHG Four-Thirds zooms can be used wide open, unlike other brands, because they're sharp across the frame. That's another reason I've been slow to buy micro Four-Thirds equipment. The zoom lenses sucked--until now. Once again, my Panasonic 35-100mm didn't impress me except in focusing speed and that doesn't really lend much to image quality. Perhaps when it is returned to me after the repair for the ugly, nasty lens flare (with lens hood and sun out of frame), it will be a much better lens.
Of course, with a busy day, I didn't have time to photograph anything, but I brought it home, mounted it, and took a few photos of the Olympus E-5 with the Leica/Panasonic 25mm f/1.4. The 12-40mm f/2.8 doesn't seem to like the dark much (what f/2.8 lens does?), but I'm sure I'll find it extremely useful. This is the first time I've had a 24mm (135 format) equivalent available since the 1970s. I have two lenses that start at an equivalent 28mm but that's just not quite wide enough in some situations, and you can't always walk further back. Of course, 14mm (Olympus, Panasonic) or 15mm (FujiFilm) would be amazing in constant aperture zoom lenses. Given the 7-14mm f/2.8 zoom Olympus has shown as a mock up, I'm inclined to wait. It is supposedly due in 2015, but because of the aperture and weather-sealing, it's a better choice for me.
This will also be the first time I'll have a truly light lens on the GH3. Olympus' 14-54mm f/2.8-3.5 isn't bad on it but the 14-35mm f/2.0 is heavy and the Leica 25mm f/1.4 is almost that heavy and it's huge for a fixed focal length lens with that 62mm filter size but not as big as the 67mm or 77mm filter sizes of the two zooms. The 12-40mm is tiny but it also has a 62mm filter size. The Four-Thirds Olympus 50mm f/2.0 macro may still be my smallest lens.
The lens hood is rather small, but I don't see it as ineffective. The lens hood for the 14-54mm is a reasonable size but shows up in the photo at some focal lengths, and the lens hood for the 14-35mm is huge but is still dwarfed by the lens hood for the 35-100mm f/2.0 lens.
The focusing mechanism reminds me of the 14-35mm lens. It extends on both ends of the zoom range.
The size difference between the E-5/14-35mm and GH3/12-40mm is amusing, much like the comparison with the E-5/35-100mm f/2.0 and GH3/35-100mm f/2.8.
I live about 70 miles northeast of San Jose, California, past the foothills, into the farm land. The sun and heat are strong through summer, and even though we've passed into autumn/fall, the light is still quite bright and during the afternoon, it is difficult to keep exposure even.
I first went for a fake cheese steak. I lived in Philadelphia for eight years, and there is yet to be a place 100 miles or further from Philadelphia that can produce a good cheese steak. Some of them claim to be famous even--that's just odd. Lenny's Subs has been advertising about how great their sandwiches are. The founder moved to Memphis, Tennessee and wanted an authentic cheese steak, so he had to create it.
As you probably didn't read in my earlier diatribe on getting it right, you have a roll/bun, thin steak, and mozzarella or provolone cheese or cheese whiz to top it and onions are an option, grilled or raw. These people had the meat, a too soft roll, and Swiss cheese (although I was able to order provolone) and grilled onions. It was a let down.
So, not far from the sub shop was a branch of the camera shop where I have recently enjoyed some photographically-related social activities. Well, it wasn't there any longer. They'd moved. I called. They answered, and they gave me their new address. Strangely, they seem to be on the edge of a roundabout/traffic circle/rotary, in a small strip mall.
They had quite a lot and it was displayed quite nicely. With high ceilings, it wasn't nearly as claustrophobic as their old (1920s?) store in downtown Indianapolis.
I talked to one of the people who ran the Olympus photo walk. He even remembered me. I'm not sure if that was good or bad.
We talked about FujiFilm mirror-less cameras, since they were next to Olympus' case. He really likes the X-E2, which I think is quite advanced, but not quite the right shape for me. He said that the downtown store was getting two X-T1 bodies, but they're already promised to someone. I told him that I was waiting on weather-sealed lenses and he reminded me that not everything goes as planned. The 50-140mm f/2.8 and 16-55mm f/2.8 fit me reasonably well. I'd like to see how the FujiFilm16-55mm and Olympus 12-40mm are in an optical comparison.
In the end, I bought the only 12-40mm f/2.8 lens that they had. It was made in China, if that's important to you. It feels just as good as my Four-Thirds HG and SHG lenses. These 12-40mm lenses have been selling almost as quickly as they can get them. After all the screaming about fixed focal length lenses, I'm surprised that people are buying the 12-40mm lens. I suspect people on that photo walk were thrilled with the lens, as it is better than other choices. (Yes, this is my opinion. It's my blog--practically everything is my opinion. My opinion about Panasonic micro Four-Thirds lenses may improve once my 35-100mm f/2.8 is back in my hands. My other micro Four-Thirds lens, the Panasonic 45-200mm f/4.0-5.6 does not help.)
I don't buy lenses often, but I spend quite a bit on each. I almost always buy weather-sealed zoom lenses because of sports, but also because I like the flexibility in other situations, such as quick portraits, food photography, and building exteriors. Olympus' HG and SHG Four-Thirds zooms can be used wide open, unlike other brands, because they're sharp across the frame. That's another reason I've been slow to buy micro Four-Thirds equipment. The zoom lenses sucked--until now. Once again, my Panasonic 35-100mm didn't impress me except in focusing speed and that doesn't really lend much to image quality. Perhaps when it is returned to me after the repair for the ugly, nasty lens flare (with lens hood and sun out of frame), it will be a much better lens.
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| Olympus 12-40mm f/2.8, extended, with lens hood |
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| Olympus 12-40mm f/2.8 without lens hood |
Of course, with a busy day, I didn't have time to photograph anything, but I brought it home, mounted it, and took a few photos of the Olympus E-5 with the Leica/Panasonic 25mm f/1.4. The 12-40mm f/2.8 doesn't seem to like the dark much (what f/2.8 lens does?), but I'm sure I'll find it extremely useful. This is the first time I've had a 24mm (135 format) equivalent available since the 1970s. I have two lenses that start at an equivalent 28mm but that's just not quite wide enough in some situations, and you can't always walk further back. Of course, 14mm (Olympus, Panasonic) or 15mm (FujiFilm) would be amazing in constant aperture zoom lenses. Given the 7-14mm f/2.8 zoom Olympus has shown as a mock up, I'm inclined to wait. It is supposedly due in 2015, but because of the aperture and weather-sealing, it's a better choice for me.
This will also be the first time I'll have a truly light lens on the GH3. Olympus' 14-54mm f/2.8-3.5 isn't bad on it but the 14-35mm f/2.0 is heavy and the Leica 25mm f/1.4 is almost that heavy and it's huge for a fixed focal length lens with that 62mm filter size but not as big as the 67mm or 77mm filter sizes of the two zooms. The 12-40mm is tiny but it also has a 62mm filter size. The Four-Thirds Olympus 50mm f/2.0 macro may still be my smallest lens.
The lens hood is rather small, but I don't see it as ineffective. The lens hood for the 14-54mm is a reasonable size but shows up in the photo at some focal lengths, and the lens hood for the 14-35mm is huge but is still dwarfed by the lens hood for the 35-100mm f/2.0 lens.
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| Olympus 14-35mm f/2.0 |
The focusing mechanism reminds me of the 14-35mm lens. It extends on both ends of the zoom range.
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| GH3 with 12-40mm, E-5 with 14-35mm |
The size difference between the E-5/14-35mm and GH3/12-40mm is amusing, much like the comparison with the E-5/35-100mm f/2.0 and GH3/35-100mm f/2.8.
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| 58mm vs 77mm filter size |
I am thrilled to say that I'm taking advantage of the wider angle. It's certainly been useful.
I've photographed this court house a few times but was never able to get a whole side of it at once.
As I noted during the photo walk, the flare resistance is quite good, although I tweaked this photo to dial down the overwhelming sunshine. You can't have a miserable, cloudy day and then, have sunshine, correct, when you'll just return to misery? Now, that I look again, it has a bit too much of an unnatural look to it in the smaller size. It's just great to be able to handle larger structures without stitching.
I'm liking the color, also. I've had poor luck with the Panasonic lenses and the color, although I suspect that will be the case, even if they're perfect. This is the first time that I've felt that the GH3 was giving its all with native lenses.
Just thinking about it, this is the first time since November 2011 that I have not had any image stabilization, in the lens or moving the sensor. Of course, I haven't had any terribly dark situations yet, but I never saw the E-5's IS helping me through difficult times.
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| Even near sunset, the color is good |
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| Interesting that Google's Blogger has changed the photo from silhouette on import |
Update 2014.02.26: I haven't removed the lens from the GH3 yet. I've been testing to see if there is a real problem with it breaking. It's certainly better to find the problem in the first few days, rather than after the warranty is finished. The lens continues to impress me and it feels as though the GH3 is totally different.
Update 2014.03.05: I can't express fully how happy I am with the 12-40mm lens. Ultimately, it's not a lens for the dark (could they have coaxed f/2.5 out of a lens with a 67mm filter size?), but my tripod could help with that, once it's a bit warmer outside. My feelings about the GH3 have become warmer, though. I find the lens to be extremely useful and it's so light that I don't seem to miss image stabilization, not that I knew when it was helping on the E-5 or within the Panasonic lenses.
The image quality seems to be so much better now that my regrets about buying a Panasonic body are completely gone. It really has taken me back to the days in 2004 when my Olympus E-1 was new and I only had the 50-200mm and 14-54mm lenses. I expect the 40-150mm f/2.8 to be equally engaging, so maybe work will just be joy. If the GH4 turns out to be wonderful, I may not have any need for the FujiFilm X-T1.
Update 2014.03.19: Are they sure this aperture is f/2.8? I seem to be getting clear shots that don't seem possible with f/2.8, especially since I'm doing it without any image stabilization.
Update 2014.07.27: I've been using this lens with the Olympus E-M1 (I traded my GH3 in anticipation of a GH4) for the skate park and the extra little bit of the wide angle has been great. It has some of the typical wide angle distortion, which gives close up shots something close to the skate park style that people love without the fisheye. It obviously hasn't broken and it's been a good companion. If there is a everyday problem, it's that the AF ring/clutch is too easily moved while I'm shooting, and I haven't spent a full day trying to manually focus it. The micro Four-Thirds lenses are all too tiny for me, but at least this one is a bit bigger than most. I still prefer the ZD 14-35mm f/2.0 though.
Update 2014.10.02: By now, I've shot over 10,000 photos with this lens, most of them related to skate parks. It has done well, but it hasn't been quite as wonderful as it initially seemed. However, real-life problems have been few.
There have been two situations that have caused me to wonder.
- In rare strongly-lit situations, lens flare is a problem
- In mixed light, where strong light is bordered by deep shadow, auto focus with the E-M1 fails occasionally
Otherwise, the lens has been an excellent example of any lens so small. I must say that I don't feel it's nearly as good as any of my Four-Thirds HG or SHG lenses. However, it is quite amazing, especially at 12mm, a focal length I don't have with any other lens.
During a trip to Santa Cruz, the skate park's pipe was enough to channel the sunlight into a form that caused lens flare that I didn't expect. I didn't think that the lens was perfect but it was more than I'd seen from any Four-Thirds Olympus lens.
More recently, in early evening, when harsh light meets harsh shadow, the auto focus with the E-M1 suddenly changes at that moment when I'm ready to take a photo. I'm not sure whether this is a problem with the lens, the E-M1, or the combination. The only other micro Four-Thirds lens I use on the body is the Panasonic 35-100mm f/2.8 and I use it so rarely that I can't make a direct comparison. There is a huge difference in the responsiveness, though, with the 35-100mm being significantly less responsive.''
Update 2015.09.07: It's been almost 1.5 years now since I got this lens. It has been used almost every day--on the Panasonic GH3 first but lately on the Olympus E-M1 and Panasonic GH4.
There were early warnings about the build quality of the lens, claiming that it simply fell apart without any unusual circumstances. I have tortured the lens in many situations and it has been great. The front lens cap has fallen apart. There is a little wear on the bottom, as I have put it down at skate parks. (I wish the E-M1 was as healthy. I have over the 150,000 shutter actuations apparently and it needs a replacement, along with a new eyecup mount.)
Monday, January 27, 2014
Sprint LTE: +40 = 340 locations
Sprint continues to make progress on LTE implementation, adding 40 more locations.
The locations seem odd but it looks as though they're just on the way to converging with other implementation paths. The University of Oregon and Walmart central country (Northwest Arkansas) have Sprint LTE now.
I'm amused that the person who wrote the press release missed the mistake with Mobile, Alabama. Besides that, where are they finding these new state abbreviations?
At least, a few of the smaller metro areas have gone live. Hopefully, they're able to learn from the implementations and make the upgrades go more smoothly. It would be good if they could make them go more quickly but accuracy is more important. What good is a quick implementation if it's down after they go live with it?
I'm still expecting this area to go live in 3-4 months with Dayton and Eaton, Ohio already showing some LTE (even where the cows and horses roam), along with parts of the Cincinnati area but with the bitter cold (-14 to -18 degrees F tonight), I doubt much is being done. Hopefully, they installed the new antennas/antennae during the summer, since it's much easier to work in the climate-controlled electronics room.
Even after they go live, they need to finish what they started, as it's hardly complete. If they can go live and issue a press release on only 30% coverage, they certainly need to do a lot to finish. Still, with the data upgrades on network.sprint.com it's easy to see that they're making quick progress before they are ready to go live with anything. As I've seen in certain locations, they seem to be re-distributing old equipment in order to increase 3G/EVDO coverage instead of remaining with 1xRTT in certain backwoods locations.
Update 2014.03.15: I've seen more of Indiana and Ohio lit up with LTE, at least in test mode. Coverage is mixed, meaning a few feet can mean a huge difference. I was trying to use Yelp in a parking lot and couldn't get anything and it was showing 3G on the phone. As I was leaving, at the stop light on the main road, I had LTE and while it was slow, it was responding. I was surprised that I had a call dropped yesterday, but of course, it was at a critical time and the indicator showed 1 bar and 1xRTT. I can count the number of dropped calls in 13+ years on one hand, and most of those were on the other end. This time, the other end was a land line. I wonder if most of Ohio will have LTE by summer. It looks as though southwestern Ohio and the adjoining areas in Indiana will, although coverage will be variable, as always. There aren't enough towers.
I checked coverage for two areas I have frequented in Indianapolis since LTE went live there. One is in a strong area with several tall buildings. Performance is bad. The other area, including the Sprint store, is in a weak part of the coverage for some reason and it's only a few miles apparently, but it's bad enough if you happen to shop in the area.
The locations seem odd but it looks as though they're just on the way to converging with other implementation paths. The University of Oregon and Walmart central country (Northwest Arkansas) have Sprint LTE now.
I'm amused that the person who wrote the press release missed the mistake with Mobile, Alabama. Besides that, where are they finding these new state abbreviations?
At least, a few of the smaller metro areas have gone live. Hopefully, they're able to learn from the implementations and make the upgrades go more smoothly. It would be good if they could make them go more quickly but accuracy is more important. What good is a quick implementation if it's down after they go live with it?
I'm still expecting this area to go live in 3-4 months with Dayton and Eaton, Ohio already showing some LTE (even where the cows and horses roam), along with parts of the Cincinnati area but with the bitter cold (-14 to -18 degrees F tonight), I doubt much is being done. Hopefully, they installed the new antennas/antennae during the summer, since it's much easier to work in the climate-controlled electronics room.
Even after they go live, they need to finish what they started, as it's hardly complete. If they can go live and issue a press release on only 30% coverage, they certainly need to do a lot to finish. Still, with the data upgrades on network.sprint.com it's easy to see that they're making quick progress before they are ready to go live with anything. As I've seen in certain locations, they seem to be re-distributing old equipment in order to increase 3G/EVDO coverage instead of remaining with 1xRTT in certain backwoods locations.
Update 2014.03.15: I've seen more of Indiana and Ohio lit up with LTE, at least in test mode. Coverage is mixed, meaning a few feet can mean a huge difference. I was trying to use Yelp in a parking lot and couldn't get anything and it was showing 3G on the phone. As I was leaving, at the stop light on the main road, I had LTE and while it was slow, it was responding. I was surprised that I had a call dropped yesterday, but of course, it was at a critical time and the indicator showed 1 bar and 1xRTT. I can count the number of dropped calls in 13+ years on one hand, and most of those were on the other end. This time, the other end was a land line. I wonder if most of Ohio will have LTE by summer. It looks as though southwestern Ohio and the adjoining areas in Indiana will, although coverage will be variable, as always. There aren't enough towers.
I checked coverage for two areas I have frequented in Indianapolis since LTE went live there. One is in a strong area with several tall buildings. Performance is bad. The other area, including the Sprint store, is in a weak part of the coverage for some reason and it's only a few miles apparently, but it's bad enough if you happen to shop in the area.
Sunday, November 10, 2013
I bought an iPhone 5c (over the LG G2) and stayed with my carrier, Sprint
There is always hope, but sometime, it's almost minimal. That's how things are today.
Friday, I went back to the local Sprint store and traded my iPhone 4S for an iPhone 5c. Everyone working at the store was wearing an LG G2 t-shirt. I really thought about buying a G2 or the Google Nexus 5. I wasn't 100% sure about either for various reasons. They're both big. The Nexus 5 didn't have Otterbox or similar brand cases, and it only came in a 16 GB capacity. The G2 had 32 GB capacity but I was uncertain about operating system updates and the various complaints against the interface, even though it has the Sprint ID crap on top of the Sprint version--something I know that didn't get in the way too much.
You can call me cheap but the iPhone 5c fits my conservative feeling about technology. I've already read too much about weirdness with the iPhone 5s, as I read about troubles with the iPhone 5 when it was new, and I generally don't go for the first of Apple's trial runs because I've paid painfully for being first.
The iPhone 5c is slightly more technically than the iPhone 5, in a newer design. It has 2 bands for LTE, rather than 1. If Sprint were deploying all 3 bands soon, and LTE was my main goal, then the G2 or Nexus 5 would have been better choices. However, the 1900 MHz and 2500 MHz bands will do, with the 800 MHz band coming later. The Sierra Wireless/Netgear mobile hotspot I have only does 1900 MHz for LTE and 2500 MHz for WiMAX, and only 1900 MHz for EVDO. By the time I get my next phone, everything will be settled.
Still, US199.99 for the 32 GB iPhone 5c and a trade-in value of $143 for my iPhone 4S, made a difference of $56.99, which is a cheap price to switch a generation (or two, if you look at the timing). Of course, I had to buy another AppleCare+ plan for $99.00 but that's not bad, and then, a cable with a Lightning connector. It wasn't cheap, but for the quality, it wasn't expensive really. Monoprice would have a better deal, but I didn't order it ahead of time and deals at Target or Best Buy were worse than Sprint. I ended up giving all of my extra iPhone 4S accessories to a friend who still has his. At some point, Lightning cables and accessories will become common, and therefore, inexpensive.
The only thing that doesn't seem a great deal is the Ottberbox Defender case for US$49.99. Of course, it's changed for the new form. What seemed sloppy in the iPhone 4S case is taut and what was taut in that case is now loose. The screen protector is no longer hard plastic and there is a gap, so you must press the plastic against the display. Does this protect it better? I don't think so because dust can enter through the opening for the Home button and the speaker/front camera opening. Oddly, the porthole for the Apple logo is not correctly placed.
The fit of the case is so much better overall and the Lighning port cover doesn't close accidentally as did the cover for the 30 pin connector. The case is gray and white, so that seems a bit more appealing (at the moment) than the older, black-only case. In fact, Otterbox has several color combinations available by special order. I doubt retailers will carry them all. (Update 2014.01.05: I've changed to the Ballistic SG MAXX, which has apparently been renamed Hard Jacket Maxx or something like that, plus added an Invisible Shield screen protector because the Defender screen protector made it difficult to work the phone.)
As far as usage goes, the phone feels faster, as it should stepping from the A5 processor to the A6 processor. It would have been nice to get the A6x but it probably generates too much heat in a small package. Besides, the cost was likely too much to add it and price the phone were it is.
I had a chance on Saturday to gauge LTE, when I was at a Panasonic photo/video workshop at a camera store in downtown Indianapolis, Indiana. I was recently at that store for a product introduction for Olympus, and LTE wasn't healthy. At 0.75 Mbps, I found it mostly useless. Sprintcare advised me that two towers were down and putting strain on single tower. Saturday, a couple of months later, I got 1.0 Mbps, which certainly doesn't even look like 5 Mbps or 10, 15, 20, or 25 Mbps that this technology is supposed to allow. Obviously, the buildout is still in its infancy.
Further into the suburbs, I got not quite 3 Mbps, and there were gaps in coverage along the way. When I was in Greenwood Park mall, one end switched all the way down to 1xRTT (thankfully not the circle since iOS 7 but it's labeled 1x), but near the Sprint kiosk, there was LTE available, not that it worked very well, but it was present.
I was told to expect LTE here in 6 months. Given my 60+ mile drive home, I have no doubt that it will be deployed along I-70, as it went quite a way, covering several small towns along the interstate highway. It stopped in the middle of nowhere, not at an intersection along the highway, which seemed odd to me, but I'm not a communications planner. With about 38 more miles to get to the town where I am now, it looks like progress is actually happening in a very backward area that only got 3G service in early 2009.
When I was outside Cincinnati today, in the Springdale area, I noticed the LTE indicator on the phone. Cincinnati is not an announced area, as far as I know, and the WiMAX there is more overloaded than the 3G service, so it was surprising to see the results.
As for the increased resolution, there is room for an extra row of icons and using my backup from the iPhone 4S, it looks a bit lonely toward the bottom. I wish that they would let me expand the favorite apps at the bottom into two rows. It's not as though it's a hardship, but it could be more convenient. Apple is learning, but learning so slowly that the rest of us need a class on patience.
I'm sure someone out there thinks that I'm ridiculously stupid for staying with a CDMA phone. Here is my reasoning: There was a demonstration of how you could use a $15 phone and a little bit of knowledge to fake a GSM tower and listen to conversations. It's not that I make a lot of conversations, secretive or otherwise, but it's ridiculous to open yourself up when you give that credit card number over the phone and a third party is listening.
They call CDMA old, but GSM goes back to the 1980s--further than CDMA really. I'm excited about VoLTE--voice over LTE technology, where we can give up both GSM and CDMA but it's going to be later in the decade.
Update 2013.11.26: Two weeks have passed already? The phone has proven itself. LTE, where available, works well. I don't see that the phone can fix communications problems but at least, it's not making them worse, as it seemed to be with the iPhone 4S or the LG Optimus S. Perhaps, Qualcomm is better now or it's just that the antenna configuration is much better. I'm holding the phone the same way as always. For a moment yesterday, I was thinking of my Sanyo PM-8200 with the pull-out antenna. That phone had amazing sound but flip phones could be thicker then. Having a phone that sounded better than a landline phone was incredible at that time. It was only when I got to the premium Samsung A900 that my expectations went down.
I was going to say that my problem with compass interference had completely gone away, but I can only say that it's minimized. I haven't seen the actual message about compass interference, but I find that the map is looking the wrong way occasionally.
I haven't seen anything terrible, which is both great and expected of what is mostly a 1 year old phone with some enhancements. When iOS 7 is more mature, I expect that it will be as good as a phone can be.
My 2013 Google Nexus 7 tablet will fill my need for Android.
Update 2013.12.06: My pro rata bill came and that's always a time for panic as it is big. The bill was almost exactly the same, except for the US$36.00 activation fee and AppleCare+ for US$99.00, and of course, there was additional tax because of those two. It's a bit more (~US$60+) than my bill from two years ago when I got the iPhone 4s when they started charging the smart phone premium data fee but I don't recall much about the changes.
Service has been unhappy and great in alternating cycles. LTE is still months away, though it works in the small town of Eaton in Ohio about 12 miles away, though no longer in the Cincinnati area. It would be great to have a really good response from the devices, although the iPhone 5c generally works better than the mobile hotspot. How any carrier buys products to work with their supplied connections, and they don't really work together well, I will never understand. All the carriers seem to have the same problems and it's never their fault, just like the cable company.
Update 2014.01.05: I am definitely not pleased with service lately. It's likely because of holiday shopping and ongoing upgrade work, but service at home is unusable at times. I don't mean that it's pathetically slow. I mean that it's time to shut off the phone slow because nothing is getting data. The mobile hotspot is worse for whatever reason. Checking the network.sprint.com website shows me that cows and horses about 6 miles east of here have LTE service and it's arriving from all sides, but when tiny towns have the service and a town of 35,000 doesn't, it makes me wonder what the priorities are. The phone is great however and hasn't disappointed at all.
Update 2014.03.26: After spending several months with the latest version of Android (4.4.2) and recently updating the iPhone 5c to iOS 7.1, I couldn't be more pleased that I didn't get an Android-based phone. There is always something just a little bit off about Android. Thankfully, the tablet isn't bad as its 2012 counterpart was. I like the 2013 Nexus 7, and it's a much better piece of hardware than the iPad mini but it would be good if Google fixed the operating system, so it wasn't a pig and the battery wasn't half depleted if I leave it off the charger all night.
The iPhone 5c has recently taken up mobile hotspot duties and it works well enough, but there seem to be some flaws in the functionality in iOS 7.1. Otherwise, the phone is quite good, which should be expected since it is a warmed-over iPhone 5 with dual band LTE. LTE works quite well, and I've seen over 12 Mbps with it. However, at home, I'm still struggling with service. I suspect the technician is the same one who couldn't get 3G/EVDO working on schedule, and can't keep the network working consistently either.
I'm no longer using the Otterbox Defender case. I switched to a Ballistic SG MAXX case, tossed the screen protector, and bought an Invisible Shield screen protector. It was a lot of money, but not wasted.
Update 2014.11.26: It's been over a year with the iPhone 5c and it's still a good phone. Thankfully, the rather broken iOS 7.x has been replaced with the somewhat broken iOS 8.1.1 finally. I think Sprint is still my biggest hurdle, but I don't see good alternatives. My service is only really bad at home.
Given that I'm using the SG MAXX case (and they've changed the name of that model), there have been no destructive drops. I'm pleased that the case is both strong and that I can remove it easily.
If there is one odd problem with the phone, it's something that seems to have happened recently. Syncing with the computer has become flaky. I switched from the long, Sprint-supplied cable to the original, short Apple-supplied cable and it is more reliable, but not 100%.
However, part of the problem could be that I upgraded to OS X 10.9.5 about the same time as I upgraded the phone to iOS 8.1. It could also be that my MacBook Pro is often in the backpack with me, but that shouldn't loosen just the USB ports. I'd expect that it would loosen practically everything.
32GB seems not to be quite enough, possibly because the apps are arriving in 32-bit/64-bit combos with enhanced artwork for the upgraded resolutions for the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus. I have a little bit over 16 GB of music (256 Kbps mp3 encoding), so the rest of the storage is related to apps. Asphalt 8 and Galaxy on Fire 2 (HD) take a lot of storage for data.
In any case, I'm still pleased with the iPhone 5c.
Friday, I went back to the local Sprint store and traded my iPhone 4S for an iPhone 5c. Everyone working at the store was wearing an LG G2 t-shirt. I really thought about buying a G2 or the Google Nexus 5. I wasn't 100% sure about either for various reasons. They're both big. The Nexus 5 didn't have Otterbox or similar brand cases, and it only came in a 16 GB capacity. The G2 had 32 GB capacity but I was uncertain about operating system updates and the various complaints against the interface, even though it has the Sprint ID crap on top of the Sprint version--something I know that didn't get in the way too much.
You can call me cheap but the iPhone 5c fits my conservative feeling about technology. I've already read too much about weirdness with the iPhone 5s, as I read about troubles with the iPhone 5 when it was new, and I generally don't go for the first of Apple's trial runs because I've paid painfully for being first.
The iPhone 5c is slightly more technically than the iPhone 5, in a newer design. It has 2 bands for LTE, rather than 1. If Sprint were deploying all 3 bands soon, and LTE was my main goal, then the G2 or Nexus 5 would have been better choices. However, the 1900 MHz and 2500 MHz bands will do, with the 800 MHz band coming later. The Sierra Wireless/Netgear mobile hotspot I have only does 1900 MHz for LTE and 2500 MHz for WiMAX, and only 1900 MHz for EVDO. By the time I get my next phone, everything will be settled.
Still, US199.99 for the 32 GB iPhone 5c and a trade-in value of $143 for my iPhone 4S, made a difference of $56.99, which is a cheap price to switch a generation (or two, if you look at the timing). Of course, I had to buy another AppleCare+ plan for $99.00 but that's not bad, and then, a cable with a Lightning connector. It wasn't cheap, but for the quality, it wasn't expensive really. Monoprice would have a better deal, but I didn't order it ahead of time and deals at Target or Best Buy were worse than Sprint. I ended up giving all of my extra iPhone 4S accessories to a friend who still has his. At some point, Lightning cables and accessories will become common, and therefore, inexpensive.
The only thing that doesn't seem a great deal is the Ottberbox Defender case for US$49.99. Of course, it's changed for the new form. What seemed sloppy in the iPhone 4S case is taut and what was taut in that case is now loose. The screen protector is no longer hard plastic and there is a gap, so you must press the plastic against the display. Does this protect it better? I don't think so because dust can enter through the opening for the Home button and the speaker/front camera opening. Oddly, the porthole for the Apple logo is not correctly placed.
The fit of the case is so much better overall and the Lighning port cover doesn't close accidentally as did the cover for the 30 pin connector. The case is gray and white, so that seems a bit more appealing (at the moment) than the older, black-only case. In fact, Otterbox has several color combinations available by special order. I doubt retailers will carry them all. (Update 2014.01.05: I've changed to the Ballistic SG MAXX, which has apparently been renamed Hard Jacket Maxx or something like that, plus added an Invisible Shield screen protector because the Defender screen protector made it difficult to work the phone.)
As far as usage goes, the phone feels faster, as it should stepping from the A5 processor to the A6 processor. It would have been nice to get the A6x but it probably generates too much heat in a small package. Besides, the cost was likely too much to add it and price the phone were it is.
I had a chance on Saturday to gauge LTE, when I was at a Panasonic photo/video workshop at a camera store in downtown Indianapolis, Indiana. I was recently at that store for a product introduction for Olympus, and LTE wasn't healthy. At 0.75 Mbps, I found it mostly useless. Sprintcare advised me that two towers were down and putting strain on single tower. Saturday, a couple of months later, I got 1.0 Mbps, which certainly doesn't even look like 5 Mbps or 10, 15, 20, or 25 Mbps that this technology is supposed to allow. Obviously, the buildout is still in its infancy.
Further into the suburbs, I got not quite 3 Mbps, and there were gaps in coverage along the way. When I was in Greenwood Park mall, one end switched all the way down to 1xRTT (thankfully not the circle since iOS 7 but it's labeled 1x), but near the Sprint kiosk, there was LTE available, not that it worked very well, but it was present.
I was told to expect LTE here in 6 months. Given my 60+ mile drive home, I have no doubt that it will be deployed along I-70, as it went quite a way, covering several small towns along the interstate highway. It stopped in the middle of nowhere, not at an intersection along the highway, which seemed odd to me, but I'm not a communications planner. With about 38 more miles to get to the town where I am now, it looks like progress is actually happening in a very backward area that only got 3G service in early 2009.
When I was outside Cincinnati today, in the Springdale area, I noticed the LTE indicator on the phone. Cincinnati is not an announced area, as far as I know, and the WiMAX there is more overloaded than the 3G service, so it was surprising to see the results.
As for the increased resolution, there is room for an extra row of icons and using my backup from the iPhone 4S, it looks a bit lonely toward the bottom. I wish that they would let me expand the favorite apps at the bottom into two rows. It's not as though it's a hardship, but it could be more convenient. Apple is learning, but learning so slowly that the rest of us need a class on patience.
I'm sure someone out there thinks that I'm ridiculously stupid for staying with a CDMA phone. Here is my reasoning: There was a demonstration of how you could use a $15 phone and a little bit of knowledge to fake a GSM tower and listen to conversations. It's not that I make a lot of conversations, secretive or otherwise, but it's ridiculous to open yourself up when you give that credit card number over the phone and a third party is listening.
They call CDMA old, but GSM goes back to the 1980s--further than CDMA really. I'm excited about VoLTE--voice over LTE technology, where we can give up both GSM and CDMA but it's going to be later in the decade.
Update 2013.11.26: Two weeks have passed already? The phone has proven itself. LTE, where available, works well. I don't see that the phone can fix communications problems but at least, it's not making them worse, as it seemed to be with the iPhone 4S or the LG Optimus S. Perhaps, Qualcomm is better now or it's just that the antenna configuration is much better. I'm holding the phone the same way as always. For a moment yesterday, I was thinking of my Sanyo PM-8200 with the pull-out antenna. That phone had amazing sound but flip phones could be thicker then. Having a phone that sounded better than a landline phone was incredible at that time. It was only when I got to the premium Samsung A900 that my expectations went down.
I was going to say that my problem with compass interference had completely gone away, but I can only say that it's minimized. I haven't seen the actual message about compass interference, but I find that the map is looking the wrong way occasionally.
I haven't seen anything terrible, which is both great and expected of what is mostly a 1 year old phone with some enhancements. When iOS 7 is more mature, I expect that it will be as good as a phone can be.
My 2013 Google Nexus 7 tablet will fill my need for Android.
Update 2013.12.06: My pro rata bill came and that's always a time for panic as it is big. The bill was almost exactly the same, except for the US$36.00 activation fee and AppleCare+ for US$99.00, and of course, there was additional tax because of those two. It's a bit more (~US$60+) than my bill from two years ago when I got the iPhone 4s when they started charging the smart phone premium data fee but I don't recall much about the changes.
Service has been unhappy and great in alternating cycles. LTE is still months away, though it works in the small town of Eaton in Ohio about 12 miles away, though no longer in the Cincinnati area. It would be great to have a really good response from the devices, although the iPhone 5c generally works better than the mobile hotspot. How any carrier buys products to work with their supplied connections, and they don't really work together well, I will never understand. All the carriers seem to have the same problems and it's never their fault, just like the cable company.
Update 2014.01.05: I am definitely not pleased with service lately. It's likely because of holiday shopping and ongoing upgrade work, but service at home is unusable at times. I don't mean that it's pathetically slow. I mean that it's time to shut off the phone slow because nothing is getting data. The mobile hotspot is worse for whatever reason. Checking the network.sprint.com website shows me that cows and horses about 6 miles east of here have LTE service and it's arriving from all sides, but when tiny towns have the service and a town of 35,000 doesn't, it makes me wonder what the priorities are. The phone is great however and hasn't disappointed at all.
Update 2014.03.26: After spending several months with the latest version of Android (4.4.2) and recently updating the iPhone 5c to iOS 7.1, I couldn't be more pleased that I didn't get an Android-based phone. There is always something just a little bit off about Android. Thankfully, the tablet isn't bad as its 2012 counterpart was. I like the 2013 Nexus 7, and it's a much better piece of hardware than the iPad mini but it would be good if Google fixed the operating system, so it wasn't a pig and the battery wasn't half depleted if I leave it off the charger all night.
The iPhone 5c has recently taken up mobile hotspot duties and it works well enough, but there seem to be some flaws in the functionality in iOS 7.1. Otherwise, the phone is quite good, which should be expected since it is a warmed-over iPhone 5 with dual band LTE. LTE works quite well, and I've seen over 12 Mbps with it. However, at home, I'm still struggling with service. I suspect the technician is the same one who couldn't get 3G/EVDO working on schedule, and can't keep the network working consistently either.
I'm no longer using the Otterbox Defender case. I switched to a Ballistic SG MAXX case, tossed the screen protector, and bought an Invisible Shield screen protector. It was a lot of money, but not wasted.
Update 2014.11.26: It's been over a year with the iPhone 5c and it's still a good phone. Thankfully, the rather broken iOS 7.x has been replaced with the somewhat broken iOS 8.1.1 finally. I think Sprint is still my biggest hurdle, but I don't see good alternatives. My service is only really bad at home.
Given that I'm using the SG MAXX case (and they've changed the name of that model), there have been no destructive drops. I'm pleased that the case is both strong and that I can remove it easily.
If there is one odd problem with the phone, it's something that seems to have happened recently. Syncing with the computer has become flaky. I switched from the long, Sprint-supplied cable to the original, short Apple-supplied cable and it is more reliable, but not 100%.
However, part of the problem could be that I upgraded to OS X 10.9.5 about the same time as I upgraded the phone to iOS 8.1. It could also be that my MacBook Pro is often in the backpack with me, but that shouldn't loosen just the USB ports. I'd expect that it would loosen practically everything.
32GB seems not to be quite enough, possibly because the apps are arriving in 32-bit/64-bit combos with enhanced artwork for the upgraded resolutions for the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus. I have a little bit over 16 GB of music (256 Kbps mp3 encoding), so the rest of the storage is related to apps. Asphalt 8 and Galaxy on Fire 2 (HD) take a lot of storage for data.
In any case, I'm still pleased with the iPhone 5c.
Sunday, August 18, 2013
5702 miles
That's a long drive.
Of course, it wasn't coast-to-coast, as I'd be in the ocean but even round trip, that sounds like a lot. I remember 2800 miles from the Orlando, Florida area to Los Angeles, California in 2005/2006. My car (2012 VW Golf TDI) averaged just under 40 mpg with air conditioning, compared to the 1999 VW Golf 2.0, which likely averaged 28-29 mpg with some use of air conditioning.
My latest drive took me on:
I-70
I-57
I-55
I-40
U.S. 64
U.S. 71
U.S. 66
U.S. 60
California SR 99
California SR 58
California SR 46
California SR 152
U.S. Hwy 101
I-5
I believe that was the order. I started on the edge of Ohio/Indiana, traveled into Illinois, through Missouri, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, and finally into California.
A lot of I-40 crosses/replaced U.S. Highway 66 but not in the hearts and minds of those who were young at the time. There seemed to be a lot of nostalgia from Arizona to Oklahoma--diners, casinos, museums, and gift shops.
I seem to remember my parents going this way (on U.S. 66, calling it the southern route, compared to taking U.S. 40 through Denver) when I was a small child, and we spent some time on I-40 in 1977 on a trip to/from Mexico. I was surprised to see how Tucumcari, New Mexico had grown from a restaurant on one side of the road and filling station on the other side to something like 30 restaurants, including all the chains you'd expect.
It wasn't a bad drive, although rain and other situations caused my trip to be lengthened. e.g., I stopped in Conway, Arkansas due to massive thunderstorms, when I wanted to be on the western edge of the state. I had planned to stop in Albuquerque but the motel ratings were so low that I stopped in poor, little Moriarty, NM instead.
I had somehow planned that I could go from Albuquerque, NM to San Jose, CA in one 13 hour drive. However, I wanted to photograph two Madonna of the Trail statues (one in Albuquerque, NM and another in Springerville, AZ). I stopped in Gallup, NM at Plaza Cafe for breakfast since it was so highly rated and it was worth the trip, but photographing the statue in Arizona was a huge detour (100 miles each way, maybe), and I lost time, especially with construction, more rain, and bad roads. Had there been flooding along those U.S. highways to Springerville, I'd been in real trouble. So, I ended up in Barstow, California for the night. That meant I'd have a 6 hour drive to San Jose.
Getting to Barstow was interesting because it meant crossing the Mojave Desert. It wasn't a problem, but in fact, a delight to view the sunset behind the small mountains and other geological formations. Of course, you could claim that I had been in the desert from about Oklahoma, so it shouldn't have been a big deal.
When people think of California, they think of Marina del Rey or the beach at Santa Monica or the palm trees somewhere in Los Angeles. They don't think of farm country or desert. For the next 6 hours of my drive, I saw practically nothing but farm country or desert.
My parents never drove from San Jose to Los Angeles, so I didn't know which way to go. I used Google Maps to print a some directions for different portions. I used a combination of Apple's Maps app plus Waze to get me where I was going.
North of Tehachapi, it became interesting as the mountains and canyons showed themselves. Along SR 152/Pacheco Pass Highway, things moved very quickly and it was apparently a typical business route for big rigs, as well as people trying to take their boats and RVs to a state recreational area. I'm not sure how they got across the traffic as it seemed no one slowed below 65 mph at any time, and some were probably going 90 mph in the occasional Audi or Mercedes-Benz or Porsche.
By the time things were flattened, I'd reached Gilroy and Hollister. Despite the clothes company's marketing, Hollister, California is not near the beach. It's a farming community, which may not be as glamorous but it pays the bills. While traveling through the area, I was treated to many fruit stands offering apricots, pistachios, etc. Unfortunately, I didn't stop. It would have been a good way to get fresh pistachios, rather than those things in stores that could be a year old.
San Jose wasn't far. It was just a trip up U.S. 101. When I was young, that was the highway. There was no I-80, I-280, I-680, I-880--or any other 80. According to my parents, that was El Camino Real--the royal road, and we used it a lot apparently. It was my first experience in the driver's seat. I'm fairly sure it was re-shaped, as there was a Bayshore Freeway and Old Bayshore Freeway on this trip.
Finding my way to a motel on North First Street wasn't difficult but neither was amusing myself with the notion of staying in a bad area that didn't seem particularly bad. The motel was particularly convenient as there was a Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority (VTA) light rail stop just across from the motel.
It was a cheap motel using Booking.com through Trivago.com (how many travel aggregators are there now?) which saved about $9.99 per day. I hardly needed luxury since I wouldn't be in the motel most of the time. As long as the air conditioning and plumbing worked, and I wouldn't be fighting with multiple-legged visitors, I'd be fine. As with cheaper motels and smaller chains, internet access was an extra expense, but I have a mobile hotspot.
That first evening, I found my way back to the old neighborhood, and it was somewhat disturbing and reassuring. I didn't expect to be welcomed. I was too small and it was too long ago. If anyone remembered me, that would have been shocking. Even people from high school don't often remember me. However, I stopped at a certain point, remembering where we were when Overfelt High School was being built. It's odd to remember such things from a very young age. There was a many washing his driveway and he was curious as to what I was doing, as I was curious about the house.
I finally walked across the street and walked over to the house, trying to find some fragment of familiarity. I told him what I was doing to alleviate any concerns he might have. He was friendly about it. I couldn't remember the house number. I'm not sure if I even saw it as an adult. I commented about the palm trees on the other street. He mentioned that the yards didn't go back that far, and I mentioned Darwin Way, which was the next street. He didn't seem to know. I walked around the block and paused at the intersection at Bermuda Way. I remember sitting there in a stroller with my mum talking to a Japanese woman named Taka but it was opposite the end of the street, facing the opposite direction, than where I expected to have the feeling. I never found the palm tree my dad helped plant that was in someone's back yard. The trees on Darwin Way were out front of the houses. Maybe, my parents told me differently, or I just didn't remember correctly.
I've had an online acquaintance in the area and he gave me some restaurants to try. I also made an acquaintance on Yelp and she told me an up-and-coming area, San Pedro Square Market. I tried my buddy's suggestion for tacos before going to the old neighborhood and it was okay, but such trouble getting there and there was barely any parking. The next morning, I called VTA and had a little session on how to use their services. 30 minutes later, I was in downtown San Jose looking for San Pedro Square Market. On the way, I could see multiple Bail Bonds offices. Uh Oh! I've been in those areas in other cities and they're not all that great...or safe.
Expectations are everything and expecting San Pedro Square Market to be like Reading Terminal Market in Philadelphia was a huge mistake. There wasn't really anything integrated. I went into an entrance under the big sign and found a coffee place and a closed bar. I talked to someone at the coffee place and he was genuinely friendly and interested and then, I got a reasonably-priced, mediocre coffee. I guess I'm just not a hipster, as the coffee was supposedly really good.
The rest of the area was made up of bars and over-priced restaurants, so I think it's all about perception, and perhaps, how much alcohol you've had. Of course, friends make the experience more entertaining. If you don't know how to cook, I'm sure the food tastes better.
I found the whole area to be great, reassuring, and chill. People were friendly beyond belief. Los Angeles can be confrontational and to be certain New York City/Philly/New Jersey can be. During my day in San Francisco, I didn't feel that people were close to friendly, except for a female store owner in Chinatown.
My day in San Fran was spent hoofing it here, hoofing it there, up, up, up, down, down, down and asking "where the hell am I?" far too much. I ate Italian food in one of the apparently more impoverished neighbourhoods (Tenderloin), and the trick was that it was run by Chinese people. I was saddened to see another baby formula scandal on the Chinese TV channel while I was there. The food wasn't bad, especially for the price and the quantity, and every time I looked over at the TV, someone came to fill my iced tea, which was amusing.
I never found Ghiardelli or Apple or Fisherman's Wharf or Cliff House or those things that really make San Francisco. Apparently, I missed Union Square when I was busy taking photos of a cable car across the street. Had I turned right, instead of heading toward Tenderloin, I would have found Union Square. I spend some time on the loading dock (Embarcadero), which was somewhat entertaining but by that time, my feet didn't work well (purple toe?!) and I got all the way to Pier 39 and headed back to the Caltrain station.
Caltrain went from San Jose Diridon station to 4th Street in San Fran for $9.00 each way. That's a huge bargain. Parking is more expensive. Is it a wonder one of the world's larger economies (California) is in such trouble. They take care of people. Public transport is a wonderful thing and making it inexpensive is a wonderful but disastrous thing. Until fuel becomes free, it's expensive to run. Reading the reviews, I expected that Caltrain was horrible and smelly and it didn't turn out that way at all, but that was one day.
The highlight of San Jose came in two steps: meeting my online buddy, and finding a late night taco place in the old neighborhood that made tacos similar to what my mum learned to make in San Jose. I only took a few photos and three of those were of the house and the high school and foothills in the old neighborhood.
After that, it was a road trip again. I returned to the motel at Barstow to collect the pillow I left there. That was quite reassuring that the motel cleaning staff were so helpful. I then stopped at the craziest, busiest In-N-Out store to eat, and headed toward Indiana on I-40, once again, across the Mojave Desert.
I stopped at Flagstaff, AZ for the night, ate lunch the next morning at Plaza Cafe in Gallup, NM again, and stopped in Amarillo, TX. The next night, I stopped early in Alma, Arkansas. Since I photograph high school sports, a couple of athletes had asked me to consider photographing them during the school year. Since it was along I-40, it was no big deal to stop to see the town. It's about 13 hours' drive from home, which isn't terrible.
I used to think that Arkansas was the most backward state. That's just not true--Indiana is more backward than Arkansas. It was surprising in a town of 4700+ that they had 2 Mexican restaurants, 4 pizza places, Sonic, and much more. Plus, they were close to the cities of Fort Smith, Fayetteville, and Bentonville--it was Walmart territory, for sure.
I made an appointment with a Volkswagen dealer for my free 20,000 mile service, thankfully, on Wednesday. There was a defective part and they resolved it the next day at some loss of fuel for me, and loss of time for both of us. It gave me time to see the town. Their bad Walmart was better than any other I've seen. The local Target store was not nearly as wonderful. Fort Smith wasn't nearly as friendly as Alma, but overall, the area was quite friendly, neat, and clean--way ahead of Indiana.
I seriously thought about living there but it's not an Asian life, and it's too far from either coast. I don't hunt or fish, unless you include "shooting" animals with my camera. Taking two days to get to either ocean wouldn't be my preference. I have a Yelp friend in Oklahoma City and I've learned a lot about that area and it seems to be full of fake Asian places. i.e., Japanese places run by Koreans or Chinese, Chinese places run by VietNamese, etc.
I headed home on Friday without trouble. The car did really well and now has over 22,000 miles on it. That's about 17,000 considering that I got it around the first of February but it hasn't been nearly as much fuel as the gasoline-powered car, thankfully. I congratulate Volkswagen on making a diesel engine as easy as a gasoline engine. I still remember the days when you had to heat the glow plugs and wait (20-30 minutes?) and wait and wait. Of course, at that time, the price of fuel was much cheaper than gasoline, but at least now, it fuels 50 state, Clean Diesel cars.
The trip averaged 38.67 mpg with a total of $565.50 on fuel. It could have been $25-$30 less but for the fuel leak. Considering that the gasoline-powered 1999 Golf GLS averaged a little over 30 mpg on road trips, there was significant savings with 8 mpg more. It was certainly better mentally to have more range, as certain areas tended to have less of everything available--no restaurants, truck stops, fuel of any kind.
Update: 2013.09.06: I took the car to the local dealer after the problem with the 20,000 mile service. They said that they didn't find anything wrong but it still has an odd stuttering. The service adviser and I were talking about the car. I bought it around the first of February with over 5500 miles on it--it was a demonstrator. The day I called for the appointment, I mentioned 23232 miles, as that had just happened and was memorable. At roughly 18,000 miles extra in 7 months, that's a lot, about 10,000 of which were driven in Indiana, Ohio, Kentucky, and Illinois.
 |
| You can see from my iPhone photos how far I've been |
Of course, it wasn't coast-to-coast, as I'd be in the ocean but even round trip, that sounds like a lot. I remember 2800 miles from the Orlando, Florida area to Los Angeles, California in 2005/2006. My car (2012 VW Golf TDI) averaged just under 40 mpg with air conditioning, compared to the 1999 VW Golf 2.0, which likely averaged 28-29 mpg with some use of air conditioning.
My latest drive took me on:
I-70
I-57
I-55
I-40
U.S. 64
U.S. 71
U.S. 66
U.S. 60
California SR 99
California SR 58
California SR 46
California SR 152
U.S. Hwy 101
I-5
I believe that was the order. I started on the edge of Ohio/Indiana, traveled into Illinois, through Missouri, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, and finally into California.
A lot of I-40 crosses/replaced U.S. Highway 66 but not in the hearts and minds of those who were young at the time. There seemed to be a lot of nostalgia from Arizona to Oklahoma--diners, casinos, museums, and gift shops.
I seem to remember my parents going this way (on U.S. 66, calling it the southern route, compared to taking U.S. 40 through Denver) when I was a small child, and we spent some time on I-40 in 1977 on a trip to/from Mexico. I was surprised to see how Tucumcari, New Mexico had grown from a restaurant on one side of the road and filling station on the other side to something like 30 restaurants, including all the chains you'd expect.
It wasn't a bad drive, although rain and other situations caused my trip to be lengthened. e.g., I stopped in Conway, Arkansas due to massive thunderstorms, when I wanted to be on the western edge of the state. I had planned to stop in Albuquerque but the motel ratings were so low that I stopped in poor, little Moriarty, NM instead.
I had somehow planned that I could go from Albuquerque, NM to San Jose, CA in one 13 hour drive. However, I wanted to photograph two Madonna of the Trail statues (one in Albuquerque, NM and another in Springerville, AZ). I stopped in Gallup, NM at Plaza Cafe for breakfast since it was so highly rated and it was worth the trip, but photographing the statue in Arizona was a huge detour (100 miles each way, maybe), and I lost time, especially with construction, more rain, and bad roads. Had there been flooding along those U.S. highways to Springerville, I'd been in real trouble. So, I ended up in Barstow, California for the night. That meant I'd have a 6 hour drive to San Jose.
Getting to Barstow was interesting because it meant crossing the Mojave Desert. It wasn't a problem, but in fact, a delight to view the sunset behind the small mountains and other geological formations. Of course, you could claim that I had been in the desert from about Oklahoma, so it shouldn't have been a big deal.
When people think of California, they think of Marina del Rey or the beach at Santa Monica or the palm trees somewhere in Los Angeles. They don't think of farm country or desert. For the next 6 hours of my drive, I saw practically nothing but farm country or desert.
My parents never drove from San Jose to Los Angeles, so I didn't know which way to go. I used Google Maps to print a some directions for different portions. I used a combination of Apple's Maps app plus Waze to get me where I was going.
North of Tehachapi, it became interesting as the mountains and canyons showed themselves. Along SR 152/Pacheco Pass Highway, things moved very quickly and it was apparently a typical business route for big rigs, as well as people trying to take their boats and RVs to a state recreational area. I'm not sure how they got across the traffic as it seemed no one slowed below 65 mph at any time, and some were probably going 90 mph in the occasional Audi or Mercedes-Benz or Porsche.
By the time things were flattened, I'd reached Gilroy and Hollister. Despite the clothes company's marketing, Hollister, California is not near the beach. It's a farming community, which may not be as glamorous but it pays the bills. While traveling through the area, I was treated to many fruit stands offering apricots, pistachios, etc. Unfortunately, I didn't stop. It would have been a good way to get fresh pistachios, rather than those things in stores that could be a year old.
San Jose wasn't far. It was just a trip up U.S. 101. When I was young, that was the highway. There was no I-80, I-280, I-680, I-880--or any other 80. According to my parents, that was El Camino Real--the royal road, and we used it a lot apparently. It was my first experience in the driver's seat. I'm fairly sure it was re-shaped, as there was a Bayshore Freeway and Old Bayshore Freeway on this trip.
Finding my way to a motel on North First Street wasn't difficult but neither was amusing myself with the notion of staying in a bad area that didn't seem particularly bad. The motel was particularly convenient as there was a Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority (VTA) light rail stop just across from the motel.
It was a cheap motel using Booking.com through Trivago.com (how many travel aggregators are there now?) which saved about $9.99 per day. I hardly needed luxury since I wouldn't be in the motel most of the time. As long as the air conditioning and plumbing worked, and I wouldn't be fighting with multiple-legged visitors, I'd be fine. As with cheaper motels and smaller chains, internet access was an extra expense, but I have a mobile hotspot.
That first evening, I found my way back to the old neighborhood, and it was somewhat disturbing and reassuring. I didn't expect to be welcomed. I was too small and it was too long ago. If anyone remembered me, that would have been shocking. Even people from high school don't often remember me. However, I stopped at a certain point, remembering where we were when Overfelt High School was being built. It's odd to remember such things from a very young age. There was a many washing his driveway and he was curious as to what I was doing, as I was curious about the house.
I finally walked across the street and walked over to the house, trying to find some fragment of familiarity. I told him what I was doing to alleviate any concerns he might have. He was friendly about it. I couldn't remember the house number. I'm not sure if I even saw it as an adult. I commented about the palm trees on the other street. He mentioned that the yards didn't go back that far, and I mentioned Darwin Way, which was the next street. He didn't seem to know. I walked around the block and paused at the intersection at Bermuda Way. I remember sitting there in a stroller with my mum talking to a Japanese woman named Taka but it was opposite the end of the street, facing the opposite direction, than where I expected to have the feeling. I never found the palm tree my dad helped plant that was in someone's back yard. The trees on Darwin Way were out front of the houses. Maybe, my parents told me differently, or I just didn't remember correctly.
I've had an online acquaintance in the area and he gave me some restaurants to try. I also made an acquaintance on Yelp and she told me an up-and-coming area, San Pedro Square Market. I tried my buddy's suggestion for tacos before going to the old neighborhood and it was okay, but such trouble getting there and there was barely any parking. The next morning, I called VTA and had a little session on how to use their services. 30 minutes later, I was in downtown San Jose looking for San Pedro Square Market. On the way, I could see multiple Bail Bonds offices. Uh Oh! I've been in those areas in other cities and they're not all that great...or safe.
Expectations are everything and expecting San Pedro Square Market to be like Reading Terminal Market in Philadelphia was a huge mistake. There wasn't really anything integrated. I went into an entrance under the big sign and found a coffee place and a closed bar. I talked to someone at the coffee place and he was genuinely friendly and interested and then, I got a reasonably-priced, mediocre coffee. I guess I'm just not a hipster, as the coffee was supposedly really good.
The rest of the area was made up of bars and over-priced restaurants, so I think it's all about perception, and perhaps, how much alcohol you've had. Of course, friends make the experience more entertaining. If you don't know how to cook, I'm sure the food tastes better.
I found the whole area to be great, reassuring, and chill. People were friendly beyond belief. Los Angeles can be confrontational and to be certain New York City/Philly/New Jersey can be. During my day in San Francisco, I didn't feel that people were close to friendly, except for a female store owner in Chinatown.
My day in San Fran was spent hoofing it here, hoofing it there, up, up, up, down, down, down and asking "where the hell am I?" far too much. I ate Italian food in one of the apparently more impoverished neighbourhoods (Tenderloin), and the trick was that it was run by Chinese people. I was saddened to see another baby formula scandal on the Chinese TV channel while I was there. The food wasn't bad, especially for the price and the quantity, and every time I looked over at the TV, someone came to fill my iced tea, which was amusing.
I never found Ghiardelli or Apple or Fisherman's Wharf or Cliff House or those things that really make San Francisco. Apparently, I missed Union Square when I was busy taking photos of a cable car across the street. Had I turned right, instead of heading toward Tenderloin, I would have found Union Square. I spend some time on the loading dock (Embarcadero), which was somewhat entertaining but by that time, my feet didn't work well (purple toe?!) and I got all the way to Pier 39 and headed back to the Caltrain station.
Caltrain went from San Jose Diridon station to 4th Street in San Fran for $9.00 each way. That's a huge bargain. Parking is more expensive. Is it a wonder one of the world's larger economies (California) is in such trouble. They take care of people. Public transport is a wonderful thing and making it inexpensive is a wonderful but disastrous thing. Until fuel becomes free, it's expensive to run. Reading the reviews, I expected that Caltrain was horrible and smelly and it didn't turn out that way at all, but that was one day.
The highlight of San Jose came in two steps: meeting my online buddy, and finding a late night taco place in the old neighborhood that made tacos similar to what my mum learned to make in San Jose. I only took a few photos and three of those were of the house and the high school and foothills in the old neighborhood.
After that, it was a road trip again. I returned to the motel at Barstow to collect the pillow I left there. That was quite reassuring that the motel cleaning staff were so helpful. I then stopped at the craziest, busiest In-N-Out store to eat, and headed toward Indiana on I-40, once again, across the Mojave Desert.
I stopped at Flagstaff, AZ for the night, ate lunch the next morning at Plaza Cafe in Gallup, NM again, and stopped in Amarillo, TX. The next night, I stopped early in Alma, Arkansas. Since I photograph high school sports, a couple of athletes had asked me to consider photographing them during the school year. Since it was along I-40, it was no big deal to stop to see the town. It's about 13 hours' drive from home, which isn't terrible.
I used to think that Arkansas was the most backward state. That's just not true--Indiana is more backward than Arkansas. It was surprising in a town of 4700+ that they had 2 Mexican restaurants, 4 pizza places, Sonic, and much more. Plus, they were close to the cities of Fort Smith, Fayetteville, and Bentonville--it was Walmart territory, for sure.
I made an appointment with a Volkswagen dealer for my free 20,000 mile service, thankfully, on Wednesday. There was a defective part and they resolved it the next day at some loss of fuel for me, and loss of time for both of us. It gave me time to see the town. Their bad Walmart was better than any other I've seen. The local Target store was not nearly as wonderful. Fort Smith wasn't nearly as friendly as Alma, but overall, the area was quite friendly, neat, and clean--way ahead of Indiana.
I seriously thought about living there but it's not an Asian life, and it's too far from either coast. I don't hunt or fish, unless you include "shooting" animals with my camera. Taking two days to get to either ocean wouldn't be my preference. I have a Yelp friend in Oklahoma City and I've learned a lot about that area and it seems to be full of fake Asian places. i.e., Japanese places run by Koreans or Chinese, Chinese places run by VietNamese, etc.
I headed home on Friday without trouble. The car did really well and now has over 22,000 miles on it. That's about 17,000 considering that I got it around the first of February but it hasn't been nearly as much fuel as the gasoline-powered car, thankfully. I congratulate Volkswagen on making a diesel engine as easy as a gasoline engine. I still remember the days when you had to heat the glow plugs and wait (20-30 minutes?) and wait and wait. Of course, at that time, the price of fuel was much cheaper than gasoline, but at least now, it fuels 50 state, Clean Diesel cars.
The trip averaged 38.67 mpg with a total of $565.50 on fuel. It could have been $25-$30 less but for the fuel leak. Considering that the gasoline-powered 1999 Golf GLS averaged a little over 30 mpg on road trips, there was significant savings with 8 mpg more. It was certainly better mentally to have more range, as certain areas tended to have less of everything available--no restaurants, truck stops, fuel of any kind.
Update: 2013.09.06: I took the car to the local dealer after the problem with the 20,000 mile service. They said that they didn't find anything wrong but it still has an odd stuttering. The service adviser and I were talking about the car. I bought it around the first of February with over 5500 miles on it--it was a demonstrator. The day I called for the appointment, I mentioned 23232 miles, as that had just happened and was memorable. At roughly 18,000 miles extra in 7 months, that's a lot, about 10,000 of which were driven in Indiana, Ohio, Kentucky, and Illinois.
Monday, August 12, 2013
Do you know the way away from San Jose? (updated with photos)
I hit the road Sunday morning, missed all the good traffic on U.S. 101 south of San Jose. Found Gilroy, but I was too early to buy pistachios or anything fruit or nut-related. Durn. I stopped a few times along the way. It's quite boring on U.S. 101, I-5, SR 99, or SR 58 (except for Pacheco Pass Highway, which has some good vertical angles and some decent speed) on the 6 hour drive from the San Fran Bay Area to Barstow or the Los Angeles area. You see a lot of farms, which is good because there are a lot of people to feed in California.
I had to laugh at a place in Wasco, CA because I couldn't believe that they were selling Pastrami and Teriyaki at the same place. I can't imagine a Jewish deli having Japanese food--although I've seen some Kosher-version of a Teriyaki sauce--but not the real marinade.
In fact, there were a lot of Pastrami places along State Road 46 in Wasco. The Carl's Jr. there had a copy of the original menu with Pastrami on it. I should have tried it, but I wasn't sure of the quality and being sick on the road is not something I wanted to do.
I stopped briefly at Tehachapi to get fuel and admire the scenery. It's very pleasant, even at the Love's Travel Stop. (I've been to plenty of them lately, because they're consistent and do what they say they will. Besides, getting diesel fuel is still a bit hit-or-miss and I want to make it to the next fill up, even if it is 600 miles away.)
I stopped at the Super 8 motel in Barstow and they still had my special memory foam pillow that's been so good and would be difficult to replace. I didn't expect that they would be so good.
I went from there to In-N-Out on Lenwood Avenue. I have never seen such a crowd. It was difficult to find a parking place at all, but it was attached to a craptacular outlet mall (across from Tanger Outlets), and I parked further away. Walking into the store (only one of two I've seen with an inside) was even more spectacular with maybe 100 people, more people at outdoor seating, and more yet in the drive-thru line.
It didn't take long to order but getting food took a while, and my food wasn't hot. In any case, it was better without the spread, California tradition or not. Carl's Jr./Hardee's has better sandwiches and so does Checkers/Rally's, in my opinion, of course.
I stopped at Del Taco in Kingman, Arizona a second time to get my $1.00 off from my feedback, and had fish tacos that weren't bad. Safeway grocery store was interesting, trying to look all upscale with the dimmed lighting. I hadn't been in one since I was a child, although they are Vons in Southern California, for whatever reason.
Had some weird contact with drivers on I-40. Sunday night, someone with a Kia from California with a pillow where the rear view mirror would go, just wouldn't leave the passing lane. When I went around him, he had to pass me. It went on for a while. Then, Monday morning through Arizona, two men in a Ford crossover from Florida passed me, pulled in front, and slowed down, causing me to change lanes. This continued for a while. Finally, I'd had enough and I was speeding at 90 mph for a while. I slowed down for some construction and guess who was there? I ended up pulling off at Gallup, New Mexico for lunch, and never saw them again, thankfully but on the way through Texas, someone pulled in front and forgot was speed he was going. I only had the cruise control set to 76 mph, and he apparently was upset when I had to jump around him to avoid a collision. Weird. Then, the same kind of behaviour again. I swear, I didn't do anything to provoke it.
I had an odd feeling about Tucumcari, New Mexico. My parents and I had stopped there on the way to Mexico. There was a restaurant on one side of the road and a filling station with two pumps on the other side of the road--in 1977. It was 104 degrees F at the time and we got drinks and the ice melted immediately. Now, they have 3 or 4 exits on I-40 and 30 restaurants, plus motels, trucks stops, etc.
Anyway, I stopped for the night in Amarillo. I could see a storm in the distance, and I really like to see the road, or after the storm in Arkansas the other night, I like to see the hood of my car. It was pouring like mad.
Hopefully, from Amarillo, I can make the drive home in one day, 15 hours maybe. Hopefully, not more than that because I will have to stop.
I made it to Alma, Arkansas in about 6 hours. I have an acquaintance there and we wanted to spend some time but didn't know about getting together because of schedules. I ended up staying a couple of extra days and it was good to make a new friend. It was good that I stayed the extra time, but it didn't go smoothly.
I found a Volkswagen dealer to do my free 20,000 mile maintenance in Fort Smith, AR, but there was a defective part in what was changed and I had a massive fuel leak. I had more than half a tank with about 245 miles (half a tank is usually 300 miles), and when I got the car I thought that someone had taken a joy ride because it was somewhat below half.
The next day, they fixed the problem, but it bothered me that they didn't notice the problem before I left the dealership. I'm not blaming anyone, but it was an oversight that cost everyone. In the end, they did the right thing and fixed it for free, even allowing me a loaner car for a while. They even apologized almost as much as I do, which was comforting. However, the technician did not re-fill my tank, even to half, which is close to where it was, despite being told to do so.
I really appreciated the people in the northwest part of Arkansas. I really didn't expect people to be so friendly. Sure, people in restaurants and other businesses are supposed to be friendly but that never stopped anyone in Florida from being rude. I think my only bad experience was when I walked into one of Alma, Arkansas' 4 pizza places (with a population of 4700+) and someone looked at me and laughed. Whether she was actually laughing at me, I don't know, but it was a rare moment.
People cared and that was something unusual for me. People in Indiana will do for you in a take-it-or-leave-it fashion, which changed a lot from the 1960s. Even some people around Philly and New Jersey act that way, although I trust that I know how people feel at all times. I think people in Florida, Texas, and Arizona just don't give a damn about anything. San Jose, California seemed a very caring place and they were all friendly to me. San Francisco wasn't quite as friendly, and Los Angeles can be downright confrontational at times. San Diego was too sedate to be bothered. I don't think they help anyone, not even themselves.
If I were to move today, I would hope that I could afford something near San Jose or somewhere in New Jersey not far from the coast.
Update 2015.03.11: I live in a small city in Northern California, as I couldn't afford to live in San Jose. San Jose is one of the more expensive places in California, and in the country. This small city is adjacent to another, smaller city, so the area has an aggregate population of around 100,000 people.
I miss the Philly and New Jersey terribly, but the weather they've experienced has confirmed that my decision to live here is a good one.
My trip here was as odd and interesting as the trip in August 2013 was, even though I took a few different paths.
One thing that always resonated with me from the song "Do You Know the Way to San Jose?" was the line "LA is a great big freeway, put a hundred down a buy a car." San Jose has some crazy freeway action, and I'm there often enough to know that it's probably still not as bad as LA from the 1960s. Having sat on the Hollywood Freeway, inching along, I don't think there is any other place on the west coast that is quite so bad, though crossing the metro LA/OC area took around one hour, mostly sticking close to I-5.
I had to laugh at a place in Wasco, CA because I couldn't believe that they were selling Pastrami and Teriyaki at the same place. I can't imagine a Jewish deli having Japanese food--although I've seen some Kosher-version of a Teriyaki sauce--but not the real marinade.
In fact, there were a lot of Pastrami places along State Road 46 in Wasco. The Carl's Jr. there had a copy of the original menu with Pastrami on it. I should have tried it, but I wasn't sure of the quality and being sick on the road is not something I wanted to do.
I stopped briefly at Tehachapi to get fuel and admire the scenery. It's very pleasant, even at the Love's Travel Stop. (I've been to plenty of them lately, because they're consistent and do what they say they will. Besides, getting diesel fuel is still a bit hit-or-miss and I want to make it to the next fill up, even if it is 600 miles away.)
I stopped at the Super 8 motel in Barstow and they still had my special memory foam pillow that's been so good and would be difficult to replace. I didn't expect that they would be so good.
I went from there to In-N-Out on Lenwood Avenue. I have never seen such a crowd. It was difficult to find a parking place at all, but it was attached to a craptacular outlet mall (across from Tanger Outlets), and I parked further away. Walking into the store (only one of two I've seen with an inside) was even more spectacular with maybe 100 people, more people at outdoor seating, and more yet in the drive-thru line.
It didn't take long to order but getting food took a while, and my food wasn't hot. In any case, it was better without the spread, California tradition or not. Carl's Jr./Hardee's has better sandwiches and so does Checkers/Rally's, in my opinion, of course.
I stopped at Del Taco in Kingman, Arizona a second time to get my $1.00 off from my feedback, and had fish tacos that weren't bad. Safeway grocery store was interesting, trying to look all upscale with the dimmed lighting. I hadn't been in one since I was a child, although they are Vons in Southern California, for whatever reason.
Had some weird contact with drivers on I-40. Sunday night, someone with a Kia from California with a pillow where the rear view mirror would go, just wouldn't leave the passing lane. When I went around him, he had to pass me. It went on for a while. Then, Monday morning through Arizona, two men in a Ford crossover from Florida passed me, pulled in front, and slowed down, causing me to change lanes. This continued for a while. Finally, I'd had enough and I was speeding at 90 mph for a while. I slowed down for some construction and guess who was there? I ended up pulling off at Gallup, New Mexico for lunch, and never saw them again, thankfully but on the way through Texas, someone pulled in front and forgot was speed he was going. I only had the cruise control set to 76 mph, and he apparently was upset when I had to jump around him to avoid a collision. Weird. Then, the same kind of behaviour again. I swear, I didn't do anything to provoke it.
I had an odd feeling about Tucumcari, New Mexico. My parents and I had stopped there on the way to Mexico. There was a restaurant on one side of the road and a filling station with two pumps on the other side of the road--in 1977. It was 104 degrees F at the time and we got drinks and the ice melted immediately. Now, they have 3 or 4 exits on I-40 and 30 restaurants, plus motels, trucks stops, etc.
Anyway, I stopped for the night in Amarillo. I could see a storm in the distance, and I really like to see the road, or after the storm in Arkansas the other night, I like to see the hood of my car. It was pouring like mad.
Hopefully, from Amarillo, I can make the drive home in one day, 15 hours maybe. Hopefully, not more than that because I will have to stop.
I made it to Alma, Arkansas in about 6 hours. I have an acquaintance there and we wanted to spend some time but didn't know about getting together because of schedules. I ended up staying a couple of extra days and it was good to make a new friend. It was good that I stayed the extra time, but it didn't go smoothly.
I found a Volkswagen dealer to do my free 20,000 mile maintenance in Fort Smith, AR, but there was a defective part in what was changed and I had a massive fuel leak. I had more than half a tank with about 245 miles (half a tank is usually 300 miles), and when I got the car I thought that someone had taken a joy ride because it was somewhat below half.
The next day, they fixed the problem, but it bothered me that they didn't notice the problem before I left the dealership. I'm not blaming anyone, but it was an oversight that cost everyone. In the end, they did the right thing and fixed it for free, even allowing me a loaner car for a while. They even apologized almost as much as I do, which was comforting. However, the technician did not re-fill my tank, even to half, which is close to where it was, despite being told to do so.
I really appreciated the people in the northwest part of Arkansas. I really didn't expect people to be so friendly. Sure, people in restaurants and other businesses are supposed to be friendly but that never stopped anyone in Florida from being rude. I think my only bad experience was when I walked into one of Alma, Arkansas' 4 pizza places (with a population of 4700+) and someone looked at me and laughed. Whether she was actually laughing at me, I don't know, but it was a rare moment.
People cared and that was something unusual for me. People in Indiana will do for you in a take-it-or-leave-it fashion, which changed a lot from the 1960s. Even some people around Philly and New Jersey act that way, although I trust that I know how people feel at all times. I think people in Florida, Texas, and Arizona just don't give a damn about anything. San Jose, California seemed a very caring place and they were all friendly to me. San Francisco wasn't quite as friendly, and Los Angeles can be downright confrontational at times. San Diego was too sedate to be bothered. I don't think they help anyone, not even themselves.
Update 2015.03.11: I live in a small city in Northern California, as I couldn't afford to live in San Jose. San Jose is one of the more expensive places in California, and in the country. This small city is adjacent to another, smaller city, so the area has an aggregate population of around 100,000 people.
I miss the Philly and New Jersey terribly, but the weather they've experienced has confirmed that my decision to live here is a good one.
My trip here was as odd and interesting as the trip in August 2013 was, even though I took a few different paths.
One thing that always resonated with me from the song "Do You Know the Way to San Jose?" was the line "LA is a great big freeway, put a hundred down a buy a car." San Jose has some crazy freeway action, and I'm there often enough to know that it's probably still not as bad as LA from the 1960s. Having sat on the Hollywood Freeway, inching along, I don't think there is any other place on the west coast that is quite so bad, though crossing the metro LA/OC area took around one hour, mostly sticking close to I-5.
Saturday, June 29, 2013
Madonna of the Trail: Statue of The Pioneer Woman
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| Springfield, Ohio |
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| Beallsville, Pennsylvania |
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| Wheeling, West Virginia |
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| Richmond, Indiana |
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| Vandalia, Illinois |
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| Albuquerque, New Mexico |
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| Springerville, Arizona |
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| Upland, California |
They depict the struggles of the pioneer women as they crossed the fledgling country with no highways.
Update 2016.04.23: I photographed the statue in Upland, California on February 1, 2015, but I forgot to update this blog entry until now. I also tried to find the one in Maryland, but the location I had was the preliminary location and it was changed to be closer to Washington, DC. However, this gave me the opportunity to see the starting point of the National Trail instead.
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