WE KNOW WHERE WE ARE GOING: 2021 CO Travel thread

[The Stately Rhododendron]

WE KNOW WHERE WE ARE GOING!

Evanston!

With a pocket for my oatmeal and a pocket for my salt, I will be travelling from scenic LaGuardia airport to my friend Naftali's apartment in Logan Square this Friday night. Like Darby Allin, I want to face the "Best in the World," and I know that Chicago is where the "best in the world" play for a jewel in quizbowl's "Triple Crown.'

The last in person quizbowl tournament I attended was in Providence, RI in February 2020. Eating a dollar slice at 5 AM in NYC, I asked Will Alston if he thought the COVID recession would occur. I think he said probably. Makin' History!

Since then, I have mostly been cutting invasive species and carrying heavy logs in various outer boro woodlands.

As the Chloe Zhao to all you "Quiz Nomads," I will keep this thread open. - I would love to capture your profound anecdotes in front of various windswept backgrounds and then narrate them to my cosmopolitan New York friends .

"I can't go back to the homestead, the shack no longer stands/They said I was unneeded, had no claim to the land/They said "come on get moving, it's the only thing for you"/But how can you keep moving unless you migrate too"

[Good Goblin Housekeeping]

I appear to be 4 miles away from tech. Wish me luck in getting there!

[Good Goblin Housekeeping]

I appear to be 4 miles away from tech. Wish me luck in getting there!

[Tippy Martinez]

the one and only DOUG SIMONS and i will be driving from college park to chicago on friday. we will make sure to provide fun anecdotes as we make the journey.

[Zealots of Stockholm]

the one and only DOUG SIMONS and i will be driving from college park to chicago on friday. we will make sure to provide fun anecdotes as we make the journey.

Please deliver Doug safely. Our team is already down one Doug.

[Mahavishnu]

Two hours into our journey: Valdosta fades into the distance. Jonathen points out an imposing purple billboard propped on plywood amidst the endless grass. Many tightly-arranged photos sit below the caption "Happy Birthday Zelda!!!!" Zelda is a dog.

[ValenciaQBowl]

I'll be traveling solo to CO for the first time in my now-20 visits. I've got a book, but if anyone wants to meet up for a beer and some packet reading or chatter about Florida House Bill 233, I'll be at Smylie Brothers Brewing in Evanston around 6-6:30 p.m. FRIDAY for a couple hours (at least!).

Edit: Important to note the day I'm talking about!

PS--I can read in-progress Delta Burke to folks!

PPS--Screw it, my phone # is 407-252-6965.

[Mahavishnu]

Eight hours in. Unsure if perception of time is slowed from staring at the same Penn Bowl answerline for 90 minutes or because my heart has finally seized from adjacent U-Hauls using turn signals to inflict psychic damage. Arby's nuggets are surprisingly good.

[Mahavishnu]

The descending shroud of night accompanies discussion of Florida's most notable triumph of recent; today's QB league match versus the trivia hounds of perfidious Albion. A recollection: I sit in the passenger seat as the British deploy a quip about me quizzing while driving. Everyone laughs but I. Distracted driving is not humorous.

Presently, Jonathen turns red as I ask him to explain another science question.

[Mahavishnu]

Karmic retribution as Jonathen discovers his water bottle fell off the roof of the car 200 miles ago.

[Good Goblin Housekeeping]

anyone wanna get walker bros in wilmette at like 6 am on saturday

[Tippy Martinez]

As I was driving Doug back from the New Carrollton train station, he looks over at me and declares "It feels good to be back in Middle America." I'm so dumbfounded that it takes me a few moments to respond. I think this is what people mean when they talk about so-called "Ivory Towers."

[ryanrosenberg]

anyone wanna get walker bros in wilmette at like 6 am on saturday

yes please

[Mahavishnu]

I spent 50 minutes spoiling the ending of a volleyball anime to Jonathen. The Penn Bowl question remains unwritten.

[Mahavishnu]

As my laptop battery dies, so does my unsaved tossup on the seventh wife of Amenhotep IX. Sidling up to a Hucks in Bowling Green, Jonathen quickly abandons the car, leaving me to keep watch. I find a cool bug. The gas station man forces me to drink sink water, so I purchase a Heath ice cream bar as a second-choice (out of cookie sandwiches). My turn to man the wheel has come. The Heath hits different and I take note of the similarities between the terms "car crash" and "sugar crash".

[The Stately Rhododendron]

Sink water down there hits different, can confirm

[Mahavishnu]

[Aaron's Rod]

anyone wanna get walker bros in wilmette at like 6 am on saturday

yes please

they don't open til 7 =(

[Aaron's Rod]

As my laptop battery dies, so does my unsaved tossup on the seventh wife of Amenhotep IX. Sidling up to a Hucks in Bowling Green, Jonathen quickly abandons the car, leaving me to keep watch. I find a cool bug. The gas station man forces me to drink sink water, so I purchase a Heath ice cream bar as a second-choice (out of cookie sandwiches). My turn to man the wheel has come. The Heath hits different and I take note of the similarities between the "car crash" and "sugar crash".

when does the jonathen liveblog start

[VSCOelasticity]

As my laptop battery dies, so does my unsaved tossup on the seventh wife of Amenhotep IX. Sidling up to a Hucks in Bowling Green, Jonathen quickly abandons the car, leaving me to keep watch. I find a cool bug. The gas station man forces me to drink sink water, so I purchase a Heath ice cream bar as a second-choice (out of cookie sandwiches). My turn to man the wheel has come. The Heath hits different and I take note of the similarities between the "car crash" and "sugar crash".

when does the jonathen liveblog start

im liveblogging in the CO editors packets as we speak

[Mahavishnu]

While Deplorable Jon whittles away changing the phrasing of lead-ins that no one will buzz on, I begin mentally formulating my next poast. Using food as an incentive, I fool Jonathen into navigating me to the nearest McDonald's to write out my fleeting streaks of genius. Failing to enter the dining room, we revert to the drive-through, where I am struck by the fact that they have no McFlurries. A McChicken sounds good, but two sounds better.

Jonathen patronizes a gas station while I patronize my McChickens. Contextually-removed Speed Racer clips are incredibly funny. Too funny. Entering the Circle K to clean sauce from my glasses, I end up leaving with a vanilla Drumstick (still no cookie sandwich) and an uncleaned lens. Jonathen stews silently as I finish my novel. Back on the road.

[Tippy Martinez]

Doug and I leave my apartment ten minutes before I wanted to. An auspicious start, he notes. As we pull into Wawa to get gas and food, Doug (a native New Jersian) insists on pumping our gas. He figures it out on the second try. Ordering breakfast reminds me of how much I miss Sheetz already.

[DogeofVenice]

After drinking an obscene amount of caffeinated beverages yesterday, I am now operating on two hours of sleep. Sadly I-95 is as traffic-clogged down here as it always is in Jersey. Today promises to be a great day for my mob rule once I finally make one.

[Mahavishnu]

4:08 AM (Fla-freedom hours): once, I was Tracy. I am now beyond the meaning of all time. At some moment I drove, and at some moment my drooping eyelids asked me (who relayed their request to Jonathen) to get the fuck off the road. Neverending asphalt but we find our exit. I briefly considered taking a different exit before learning that exit is a tree.

Thoroughly disgusted by all the
H%gggg%gggg%g%g%%%gggggggggg%gg%%g%%%gg%g%gggg%%%%%%g%2 14K

[Mahavishnu]

Above: my masterpost to rule them all. I apparently fell asleep while crafting it, and was able to barely grab it from the ignominy of nonexistence this morning.

[Mahavishnu]

A historically-informed recreation: "I've barely pulled up to the post-freeway stoplight when, thoroughly disgusted by my life-saving actions, Jonathen orders me to exit the car and switch seats with him. A miracle I'm not a stain."

Back to the present. I awaken, slowly, carefully, much like a newborn lamb. It seems we have arrived, in true Florida fashion, with me largely coasting. Truly, how am I not a stain? A brief inquiry reveals that Jonathen fueled himself with watery piss coffee, and when that ran out, telephonic stimulation, and when that ran out, pure unbridled rage. I count myself fortunate that I remain unadulterated. I hibernate until Jonathen returns, and with bad news: check-in's at noon. We trek to an Einstein Bagle. I am remiss to discover that we are in Evanston. A quartet of pigeons eyes my lox cautiously. Jonathen names one of them Naveed.

[Tippy Martinez]

After a quick pit stop on the PA Turnpike, I let Doug take the wheel. He tells me he hasn’t driven in a month and then asks where the accelerator is. Please pray for me.

[Tippy Martinez]

We are at the point of the trip where I’m accumulating new counties for my mob rule map. The thrill I got from coloring in Butler, Beaver, and Lawrence counties was indescribable. 19 more fresh puppies await me on the rest of this journey.

[Aaron's Rod]

Just FYI that the Chicago Air & Water Show this weekend, so if you hear planes going so low you're like "is this a terrorist attack," that's what that is.

[Tippy Martinez]

Doug, as we drive over the Cuyahoga River: “hey let’s throw a match into it!”

[jonpin]

Y'all.

Please don't die driving to a quiz bowl tournament. Get some goddamn sleep before day-long roadtrips.

[1992 in spaceflight]

Y'all.

Please don't die driving to a quiz bowl tournament. Get some goddamn sleep before day-long roadtrips.

This post is endorsed by the CO Editing Team.

[Tippy Martinez]

Y'all.

Please don't die driving to a quiz bowl tournament. Get some goddamn sleep before day-long roadtrips.

Thankfully I was a bit more well rested and let Doug sleep for the first couple of hours. He’s also a much better driver than I gave him credit for!

[The Stately Rhododendron]

Doug, as we drive over the Cuyahoga River: “hey let’s throw a match into it!”

Rewrite the book and rule the pages
Saving face, secured in faith
Bury, burn the waste behind you

[The Stately Rhododendron]

The game is played on terrain.
The one who controls the terrain, controls the game.
So at CO, who will stand taller
Than the one wearing a green collar
And holds three letters (i,K,D) to his name

[Cody]

long time lurker, first time poster

the perfect complement to mob-rule is travelmapping, the much more exclusive (and obsessive) club of people who track the highway segments they’ve driven

i added 795.96 miles and 24 counties for 2021 acf nationals, including 5.8% of US30 (much of which was formerly the very cool Lincoln Highway)

[DogeofVenice]

We are at the point of the trip where I’m accumulating new counties for my mob rule map. The thrill I got from coloring in Butler, Beaver, and Lawrence counties was indescribable. 19 more fresh puppies await me on the rest of this journey.

It has been heartwarming to see Connor get so excited about the new counties

EDIT: Please do not worry about me at the wheel, I would not be driving if I thought it was unsafe for me to be doing so.

[1.82]

I think I have had the longest CO journey of anyone here, having left my home twelve days ago. Right now I am at Carsten's apartment, waiting for Andrew to pick us up for the long drive through Wisconsin (where I can pick up 14 new counties). I was under the impression that Andrew would arrive between 10 and 11 AM. It is 11:54 AM and it does not appear that Andrew has left his home yet.

[LeoLaw]

I spent 50 minutes spoiling the ending of a volleyball anime to Jonathen.

Is it Haikyu!!?

[Tippy Martinez]

Doug and I have a few hours left in Indiana, and we’ve now graciously decided to pick up Chandler from O’Hare. We took a detour through some Williams County, Ohio backroads where all the roads were named after numbers and letters. It was spectacular.

[1.82]

I am at the Culver's in Tomah, which both Andrew and Rob separately remembered is on Wittig Road. As Andrew pulled in he noted that this Culver's has the hottest parking lot in the world, which appears to be true.

[The Sawing-Off of Manhattan Island]

This PHL pizza slaps tbh

[Good Goblin Housekeeping]

In city of Chicago I am somehow now father drom Evanston please send help

[Zealots of Stockholm]

I have now joined the Mayers/Simons caravan, saving me either an expensive Uber or a long bus ride. On to Evanston.

[The Sawing-Off of Manhattan Island]

My flight left almost an hour late and arrived 10 minutes earlier than the original arrival time, saving me some travel headaches and firmly cementing me as the protagonist of reality

[The Stately Rhododendron]

Eating a momo...yearning (i wish my girl could have came)....waiting around in the cavernous and gauche Laguardia terminal....reading Mariarosa Dalla Costa...drinking ginger ale (only thing i drink on planes).

Sitting in the blue...line
Watching all the people
I'll feel much better on the other side
I'll thumb a ride
But we're not in Gorham NH, so i'm riding the rails like Stobe to Logan Square.

Back in Chicago, the city of trivia.
Remember who's shaping the terrain.

What are your predictions for tomorrow? Where should i go for breakfast?

[jonpin]

long time lurker, first time poster

the perfect complement to mob-rule is travelmapping, the much more exclusive (and obsessive) club of people who track the highway segments they’ve driven

i added 795.96 miles and 24 counties for 2021 acf nationals, including 5.8% of US30 (much of which was formerly the very cool Lincoln Highway)

Ooh, I'm familiar with travel mapping (and keep meaning to record and submit an update for end of summer 2021) but didn't know of mob rule. I'll have to spend some time marking that when I get a chance.

[The Stately Rhododendron]

Riding a bus on a muggy morning. I'd love to just walk around in the woods today but i'll be in Evanston instead. By the time I get to Evanston, she'll be....