On the Road (Day Three)
Took the Ohio Coastal Trail on the way to Oberlin in the hope I’d get to see something interesting along the way. The only thing that got my attention was the Davis-Besse nuclear power plant. I don’t think I’ve ever been that close to one before. Spent most of the afternoon doing research at the Oberlin Conservatory’s music library. They have a beautiful goldfish pond outside the building, where I ate lunch and enjoyed the fish. Found a number of scores by Margaret Bonds, R. Nathaniel Dett, William Grant Still, Edward Boatner, and Wiliams Arms Fisher that I didn’t have. Got to Erie, Pennsylvania, in the early evening and found the campus identified on the Web as connected with the H. T. Burleigh collection. However, as I suspected, it was too late to find anyone around to ask about it. So, checked into my home for the night. Decided it…
On the Road (Day Two)
Got an early start from Princeton. There was lots of construction along I-80. Illinois has definitely taken advantage of federal stimulus money. If I-80 looks and drives as well when it is finished as I-74 now does–talk about a nasty ride before the construction, it’d be worth the cost and current inconvenience. Speaking of driving, I’d love someone to explain why drivers who–at best–are driving speed limit settle into the left lane and won’t move out of the way. I was taught that slower drivers should be in the right lane or at least should move over and allow the faster driver to pass. After being stuck behind slow drivers more times than I can count, I find it rather frustrating. My pet peeve, I suppose. On a much better note, I reached the University of Michigan this afternoon. After a brief visit to the school’s music library–where I found…
On the Road (Day One)…
Well, I’m on the road to Canada!! Went to work for a few hours this morning. One of my co-workers took this picture just as I was leaving for the trip. Had a pretty good voice lesson at the University of Iowa this afternoon. Final hearing of the four spirituals I’ve prepped for the symposium. At least that part of my presentation is in very good shape. Immediately afterward, started heading East. With only two hours of sleep last night (really this morning), it was no surprise that I only got as far as Princeton, Illinois, before I was too tired to safely continue onward. Princeton, by the way, is proud to say it’s the hometown of President Ronald Reagan. I won’t hold that against them as long as they have a clean place for me to sleep. The route for Day 1: http://mapq.st/nsXTYv Off to a (hopefully) good night…
Readying to Go!!
Well, I finally understand why some say they need a vacation from their vacation! The RB is cleaned out. With what had to be at least 50lbs of books, music, etc., gone from the trunk, I’ll be curious what her gas mileage will be. If only *I* could healthily shed 50lbs that easily! Looked at the weather forecast for St. John’s, and it appears that they’re calling for rain and cooler temps pretty much the entire time. Just as I’d guessed, the wardrobe for that part of Canada will have to be very different from the warmer, drier climes I hope I’ll find along the way. Nice thing about driving, though, is that I can pack more liberally than if I was flying. Around 3 a.m. this morning, I finished recreating my driving music playlist. With nearly 10 GBs–from Scott Joplin to Janis Joplin, Glenn Miller to 50 Cent–I’ll be…
Readying to Go (More the Weekend Before)
Well, got a little packing done. Then, decided to go on a little ride. (Strange I’d want to do that considering the coming trip, but I do enjoy driving.) With no destination in mind, I ended up at a nearby state park. For some reason, I’d never visited it before today. Beautiful site. While I was parked within a few feet of a lake, a truckload of men got out and started tossing floating objects into the lake for their pair of dogs to retrieve. Looked like a great way to cool off. As I was driving back, I noticed how green the hills looked with all the corn coming up around the whole area. (You may now insert your favorite corn joke here.) The first time I drove into the state (yep, the moving van and I crossed the country from the D.C. metro area), I found two things…
Readying to Go (the Weekend Before)
As I’m writing this, I’m sitting in a quiet place reconstructing my playlist for the trip. It won’t be as good as the first version because I’m doing a quick and dirty job rather than taking my time as I was able to do with the first. Still, I should have plenty to keep myself musically occupied on the road. And there’s popular music spanning from the 1900’s to today. Jazz, R&B, Country, Rock, Gospel,… there’s not much that’s not represented. Someone asked me why my driving playlists don’t include Classical music. The simple reason is it creates the wrong response from me at the wrong time. I need to be analyzing the road, not the music. My new GPS arrived yesterday afternoon–thank goodness for overnight shipping, and I programmed my itinerary into it last night. The irony is that I’d intended to do that with the “old” GPS the…
Readying to Go (Less than one week to go)
Had a bit of a setback this morning. Someone broke into my car, the Red Barron, during the night last evening and stole both my GPS and portable sound system with eight GBs of music specifically created for the trip. Thankfully, though, the thief didn’t damage the RB, and the thief will be less than satisfied with the GPS because the manufacturer assured me it’ll stop functioning the first time it’s plugged into the Web for an update or anything else. I have a second sound system and will recreate as many of the music selections as I can. And if this is the worst thing that happens related to this trip, I will be most thankful. On a much more positive note, the RB got a clean bill of health from the dealership yesterday. She’s ready to hit the road!!
Readying for the Road (1 Week to Go)
My preparations are well underway. The Red Barron will be serviced on Tuesday, I’m going to clean her trunk out today to lighten the load as much as possible and save some gas. I’m grateful to see the gas prices dropping. As of today, the local price is $3.36/gal, down over 50 cents from its high about a month ago. The last time I went on an extended driving vacation, the prices were near or above $4.00/gal.!! Looking at my gas receipts afterwards, I decided not to total them up because I really didn’t want to cry. Speaking of that July 2008 trip, I put up a Web page about it shortly after it was done. Want to see it? Like the man for whom Grinnell is named, we were Goin’ West. However, we went to see Mount Rushmore–something I’d wanted to do ever since seeing the movie North by…
Readying for the Road (Two Weeks to Go)
Greetings! Still two weeks before I leave, and there seems to be so much to do!! I got my new GPS last Monday and am quickly learning to make it work the way I want it to do. I’ve also gotten both my AAA and AARP memberships up-to-date so that I can take advantage of any travel services the two provide. Last night, I updated my playlists of nearly 8 GBs of R&B, Rock, Jazz and more. That should be enough to keep me musically occupied the entire trip. This week–starting tonight, I need to finally put all of my thoughts about the symposium presentation down on paper and begin gathering any books, scores, equipment and other resources I think I will need to take for that presentation. If I can do this now, perhaps I will have enough time to weed out stuff that isn’t needed and be less…
Readying for the Road
Greetings! This first post is to invite you to share the images and notes about my upcoming trip to St. John’s, Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada. Won’t be leaving until July, but I’m really looking forward to a fun adventure. I’m attending The Phenomenon of Singing International Symposium VIII where I’m scheduled to present a lecture-recital on interpreting Negro spirituals. Four days driving from Iowa in my faithful Ford 500–aka Red Barron–four days for the symposium, and four days back. My route? Your guess is as good as mine, but the tentative route is: http://www.mapquest.com/embed?hk=jJlSzy See you soon!