Lincoln Highway Journal

7 Oct 2022: Cinnaholic Knoxville

Reed Piernock — Sat, 26 Aug 2023 11:00:00 +0000

The choices were overwhelming, but oh my goodness those cinnamon rolls.

7 Oct 2022: the Grind

Reed Piernock — Tue, 09 May 2023 14:00:00 +0000

Disappointed finding no giant pencil. Delighted finding delicious lattes.

6 Oct 2022: EconoLodge Christiansburg-Blacksburg

Reed Piernock — Mon, 08 May 2023 14:00:00 +0000

I was so tired by the time I got here, and the staff were oh so nice to me.

omg I took so many photos

Reed Piernock — Fri, 05 May 2023 16:00:00 +0000

Six months since I’ve been home from my trip, and I’m still catching up. I’m finally organizing everything, instead of having the nearly 3,000 photos all stuck on my hard drive. There is a mix from my mobile phone, my old mobile phone, and my actual camera (OK, really my wife’s camera that she graciously let me use).

In addition to organizing and uploading photos, I’m writing up reviews on Tripadvisor that will show up in the blog’s feed.

I also really don’t know what ever possessed me to think that I could have done all of this while on my trip.

6 Oct 2022: Roanoke Star

Reed Piernock — Mon, 01 May 2023 14:00:00 +0000

If a stoned Gen Z-er exclaims “Dude, it’s so fucking beautiful up here,” believe him.

Vacation yarn

Reed Piernock — Fri, 10 Mar 2023 11:00:00 +0000

I have been knitting for over 15 years, and one of the most exciting things about travelling is buying vacation yayarn arn. Starting a few months before I left on my trip, I put together a list of all the local yarn shops on my route. I knew I wouldn't be able to visit all of them, but definitely had a goal of checking as many as I could. There were quite a few closed as I was passing through — I should have figured yarn shops might be closed on Sundays in Salt Lake City — but I was still absolutely pleased with the ones I could visit.

My other goal was to buy local yarn as much as possible, and nearly every place had a corner or at least a few shelves of local or local-adjacent yarn. Almost everyone I met was more than happy to talk with me about their yarns and their shops, and excited to hear about my journey. A few asked me which shop was my favorite, but I couldn't choose! Each one had something so delightful about it, unique to the area and its keepers. I loved every single one.

The Yarn Store at Nob Hill

Zia Woolz Sandia in Pink 213 (superwash merino and nylon)

Zia Woolz Cozy in Believer (superwash merino and nylon)

The first shop I stopped was The Yarn Store at Nob Hill in Albuquerque NM. My hotel was just around the corner, and they were kind enough to let me stay parked there while I explored the neighborhood. I had a wonderful breakfast, but yarn first! As a lovely coincedence, I was getting there in the morning just as my work knitting circle was meeting back home. Since our team is nearly all remote, we have our meetings via Zoom, so I asked the folks there if they would mind if I phoned in and showed them around. The shop had a larger main room with a table for hanging out, a side room with even more yarn, and another with just notions like needles and buttons. Oh! and a sweet shop cat.

Imagiknit

Twirl Yarn Ditto in Carmel Sunshine and Alberta's Pool (wool, alpaca, and kid mohair)

I had two full days to spend in San Francisco CA and planned to visit a few yarn shops, but was only able to get to ImagiKnit. It was small but mighty, with an amazing selection of yarn in a bright and airy space. There were able to show me some of the little local yarn they had, but what they had was great.

Cowgirl Yarn

Mountain Meadow Wool Green River in Marigold and Meadow (bamboo and merino)

Brooklyn Tweed Tones in Granita Undertone and Wallflower Overtone (wool)

Laramie WY is way more than I thought it was. I figured everything there was just the university, but the downtown area has a bunch of neat restaurants and shops, one of which was Cowgirl Yarn. There were tall tables of yarn as soon as I walked in, with shelves lining every wall and stretching far into the back. They seemed to be getting ready for some classes later in the day, and I think those may have been held downstairs.

I picked up the Brooklyn Tweed because, even though the company headquarters is in Portland, the fiber comes from Wyoming!

The Knittery Nook

Comma Chameleon Handy Sock in Citron (superwash merino and nylon)

PacaLand Worsted in Fawn (alpaca)

I had a rough night finding lodging in Ames IA, but I was able to stop at The Knittery Nook the next morning, so that made up for it. I loved touching every yarn there, and I chatted with the woman there for a long time. They had small area just for showcasing local art and local pottery, like yarn bowls.

Knitting Off Broadway

Turkey Creek Alpacas Baby Fine Sport in Herd Blend (alpaca)

Bella Filato Studio Solo DK in Fishtown (superwash merino)

Knitting Off Broadway in Fort Wayne IN was around the corner and down an alley, but luckily had parking just in front. The shop was large yet the decor and lighting made it wonderfully cozy. They didn't have local-local yarns, but had some from, what I found out is called, the Michiana area.

Bare Naked Wools

Bare Naked Wools Better Breakfast Fingering in Biscotti (merino, alpaca, and nylon)

Feederbrook Farm Entropy DK in Flash Point (bluefaced Leicester wool)

I drove through Canton OH to the place my GPS directed, but it took me a moment to figure out exactly where Bare Naked Wools was. There were a lot of fall leaves in the front and semi-blocking the doorway, and I was little confused once I walked in, because the shop is in the basement and I initially didn't see anyone! But a few minutes later, they came over to show me around and explain about their yarns. There was also a really small room in the back with file folder boxes filled with tons of patterns. I picked one out a lovely stole pattern first and then bought the yarn for it.

The Entropy DK actually comes from Maryland, but it was on sale here. It's one of the few yarns I bought that wasn't local to the yarn shop.

Tiny bubbles

Reed Piernock — Tue, 10 Jan 2023 15:00:00 +0000

It’s been a few months since I’ve been home now, and a lot has kept me from making updates on the blog! My goal is to get a few more posts up this month, because as I found out on my road trip itself, it was overly ambitious to think I could blog every day.

There are plenty of things I brought home from the road, tokens and remembrances from all the various places I travelled. First up, I would like to post about the most important thing that anyone anywhere brings home from vacation: tiny hotel soaps.

Of course, my collection of toiletries includes much more than tiny hotel soaps, and when I got home and asked people to guess what was in this heavy square box, no one got it right, and when they found out the contents, their minds were blown.

Here is a list of all the hotel toiletries I ~~stole~~ gathered from the 29 hotels I stayed.

25 bottles of shampoo
16 bottles of conditioner
52 bars of soap
2 bottles of body wash
4 shower caps
7 makeup remover towelettes
22 bottles of body lotion
1 bottle of mouthwash

If you need to get clean, I’ll hook you up.

16-19 October in San Francisco

Reed Piernock — Tue, 25 Oct 2022 17:00:00 +0000

(All photos for these days are available on flickr.)

I got into San Francisco late-ish on Sunday night and immediately went to the hotel. The roads from Santa Cruz were more hill-y and wind-y than I’d realized, and while I was white-knuckled driving the speed limit, there were cars vrooming past me so fast I felt the car shake. I just wanted a bed.

The hotel was gorgeous. It had an antique-style decor, complete with gated elevator. The room was about the size of my last studio apartment, with closets that could be small bedrooms if buildings could zone them without windows. I loved it.

I will always take public transit over anything else, if I can, and was disappointed that San Francisco, like most cities, is moving to app-based fares, and I couldn’t easily find a place to buy a Clipper card to add to my collection of vacation transit cards. I then had a late start in the morning because I had trouble locating the correct bus stop. The one just down the block from the hotel said it was closed and to board the bus at another stop. I walked around for at least half hour looking for one that was the route in the direction I needed. Eventually the bus came, and for fucks sake, it dropped off and picked up passengers at the very stop I originally went to.

First I went to the original Philz location in the Mission district; I could easily go to a Philz shop at home, but this was the original Philz! The coffee and the plant-powered breakfast sandwich made me happy. I had a leisurely sit outside in the sunny afternoon.

Vacation yarn is the best yarn, so next stop was ImagiKnit where I bought Twirl yarn in Carmel Sunshine — each yarn is named after the animal the fiber came from!

I took the next bus over to Golden Gate Park, but I should have looked up some information sooner, because the carousel is closed on Mondays. I grabbed a coffee and walked around the park anyway because it was lovely. I didn’t explore the whole park because I wanted to go to Good Vibrations before they closed, to visit the Antique Vibrator Museum. What an amazing experience! Seeing the devices paired with their advertising was really something, since those older models weren’t explicitly marketed toward sexual activities.

I had a quick dinner at Rad Radish and went back to the hotel. The next day, I had absolutely no pepper. I hoped a shower would wake me up, but it only made me sleepier. I’d wanted to do more sightseeing, but a three-hour nap took over instead. I checked out Nourish Cafe for dinner, and the "tuna" sandwich definitely hit the spot. Still didn’t give me any pepper though.

I packed up most of my things so I wouldn’t have to do too much the next morning, and went to sleep earlier than I usually do, even taking the time difference into consideration. Luckily it was pretty decent sleep, and when I woke up on Wednesday, checked out of the hotel as soon as I could, and booked it over to the Legion of Honor museum to start the official Lincoln Highway portion of the trip!

Pre-highway road trip highlights

Reed Piernock — Mon, 24 Oct 2022 18:00:00 +0000

I’d like take the time while I’ve got wifi to write a bit about the trip between Little Rock and San Francisco. Before the adventures, there were adventures. I got the chance to revisit a couple sights and to check out new ones.

Most of the photos I took in Little Rock were of food! I spent most of my time at the HighEdWeb annual conference. This was my first time speaking at an in-person conference! My talk went over pattern libraries and style guides, and how we set one up at Georgetown for our websites. I was absolutely terrified but once I got going and saw that people were not just paying attention but also taking notes, I felt much better! I know I have room to grow and getting those feedback notes will be so helpful for the future.

All the other sessions I attended were pretty great, and I’ve got pages and pages in my notebook with all kinds of interesting things! Eventually I’ll type up all those notes and set up some time at work to share new knowledge, and also play around with some of the front-end-y things I learned.

Breakfast and lunch were slim pickings. Since dinner was on our own every night, I put a call out to other vegans at the conference, and that Monday night we went to Camp Taco where we shared guacamole, hot potatoes, and vegan queso. That Tuesday I attended a pizza party hosted by HigherEd.pizza where I had a delightful cocktail called Smoking Kills, made of lapsang souchong tea syrup, apple cider, and lemon.

I didn’t see much of Little Rock aside from the conference center, although I did meet some nice puppers!

Each day’s drive from Little Rock to San Francisco took way longer than expected. First night after the conference was Elk City OK, a bit west of Oklahoma City. Until I got to OKC, I’d only stopped at the welcome center. But I was able to grab dinner at Pop’s! I had a veggie burger (of course, that’s the only vegan option) with a peach root beer, then I selected some bottles for a make-your-own six-pack — one for each color of the rainbow.

The large ringed lights that make up the iconic bottle identifying Pop’s change color over time, and the whole thing is more impressive that photos on the internet made it out to be. I knew I wanted to see this for myself because, well, roadside kitch, and this is all that and more.

I passed through the Texas panhandle after leaving Oklahoma, and very excitedly visited the historic Conoco Tower in Shamrock. I’d been there once before on a road trip to Las Vegas just over ten years ago. This time, I had a much better phone camera, and an actual camera that my wife lent me.

Also in Texas, in the south when leaving Amarillo, is Ozymandias, an art installation by the awesomely named Lightnin’ McDuff. I used the camera’s zoom to get closer to the sculpture, since the area is fenced off and I didn’t want to be caught tresspassing.

I didn’t stay very long since I wanted to make it to Albuquerque and have dinner with friends! They moved away from the DMV earlier this year, and I hadn’t seen them since before the pandemic. It was really good to have dinner with friends. There was a yarn shop practically around the corner from my motel, and it so happened to be while my knitting group at work always meets, so I zoom-ed into the meeting and showed them around the place and told tales of the road so far.

I had coffee in Gallup NM and a soda in Winslow AZ — yes, I did stand on the corner.

Warning lights came on in the rental car, and with it being a Saturday, the closest open location to Williams AZ was Bakersfield CA, which luckily was my next planned sleep. I was awfully stressed, and when I ran into road closures that prevented me from seeing the guardian lions, I nearly cried. I needed a break, and treated myself to an ice cream cone at EddieWorld, a ridiculous place with a food court, restrooms, souvenirs, and aisles and aisles of candy. Still made it to the Bakersfield airport before the rental counter closed!

I spent several hours on the boardwalk earlier and I saw neither vampire nor Tethered. pic.twitter.com/qezfvIVrd4
— Reed (@LincHwyJournal) October 17, 2022

I’d originally planned to hit the Winchester Mystery House on my way to San Francisco, but I was fairly confident I would miss the last ticket time, so I detoured instead to Santa Cruz and spent a few hours on the boardwalk. It was the perfect way to end the first leg of the journey.

Uploading photos

Reed Piernock — Fri, 21 Oct 2022 18:00:00 +0000

I’m slowly uploading photos from the trip so far. It’s easiest to get shots from my phone backed up or into flickr, since it can connect to wifi and upload when it can. The actual camera is taking amazing photos, but transferring them to anything involves taking out the SD card, putting the card into a card-to-USB converter, then sticking that into a USB-to-USB-C converter.

I’m also slowly updating the photos on flickr so they have not only proper location tags but good descriptions as well. flickr doesn’t have alt text on photos, and using the description field to be as detailed as possible is at least a bit more accessible.

Photos from the trip are grouped into albums on my flickr account. Updates with reviews for dining and lodging are slow-going too, but when they are done, I hope they will be helpful for someone!

Don’t talk to cops

Reed Piernock — Thu, 20 Oct 2022 19:00:00 +0000

I was pulled over while driving earlier today, and I wanted to take the opportunity to remind folks of what to do when stopped by a police officer while driving.

you have a right to remain silent
you are not required to answer any questions
you may need to provide driver’s license

There is good information on knowing your rights at the ACLU website.

The beginning of the journey

Reed Piernock — Mon, 17 Oct 2022 00:00:00 +0000

Here we are! I made it to the west coast for adventure in San Francisco. It’s been quite a time just getting here. Longer than expected drives, torrential downpours, and car issues troubled the trip, but I made it through.

The biggest issue was the rental car; several warning and maintenance lights came on, and I wasn’t sure if it was safe to continue in that car. Luckily, I was able to stop at a rental counter at the Bakersfield airport, and they switched me to a hybrid compact SUV. It’s taking some time to learn how to handle it when I’m used to compact sedans.

My first stop in town is Philz, and even though I can get Philz back in DC, this is the original Philz in the Mission. I’m in a very happy place.

There will be more blogging, at least over the next couple days, while I have fairly reliable wifi access. I’ve had dinner with friends, a delightful brunch, and a detour to Santa Cruz. There is much to tell! and so many photos to upload.

First stop, Little Rock

Reed Piernock — Sun, 09 Oct 2022 18:00:00 +0000

I left DC just after noon on Thursday, and I am writing from Little Rock right now. I spent a few days on the road, stuck in traffic of one form or another. I’d planned on 6-7 hours of driving per day, and I thought I had accounted for things like stops, food, and traffic, but maybe not enough. I mean, even Thursday, it look me nearly 5 hours just to get from DC to Warrenton, VA. But that was my stop for the last Wawa on my way out west so it was pretty worth it.

Eek. I am so very tired.

It was getting late Thursday night and as much as I wanted to get into a cozy bed, I wanted at least to have one sightseeing stop, so I detoured into Roanoke, went up Mill Mountain, and got a most spectacular view of the city all lit up at night. The Roanoke star is also an amazing sight to behold. So amazing, in fact, that there were a bunch of late teen guys getting high for one of their birthdays, and one of them shouted out, "Dude, it’s so fucking beautiful up here." Dude wasn’t lying.

The next morning, I drove down to Wytheville because I wanted to see the giant pencil at the office supply store, but it was no longer there, although it seems it’s being fixed and will return again soon! Since I was stopped, I looked around for a coffee shop and found The Grind, which has delightful lattes, even thought I was slightly confused by the touchscreen ordering. Next up after that was the Virginia-Tennessee state line in Bristol. Just as I was getting out of the car, a very long train came by, and I was easily able to take a crapton of photos.

I tried to check out the Parthenon in Nashville. I figured it would be closed by the time I got there, but thought it would still make for neat photos at night, except there was a party or private event, meaning absolutely no parking! I wasn’t familiar with the area at all, and wasn’t sure where to park, and continued on to my next hotel for the night. I woke up in the morning and decided on impulse hair cut, then made it to Memphis for dinner at Imagine Vegan Cafe. After living on snacks and smoothies, sitting down for a meal was sorely needed. I ended up with more food than my stomach needed in that moment, and got to take all the leftovers back with me, for breakfast this morning.

I didn’t want to venture too far around today, and it was mostly spent checking out preliminary conference stuff, like registration, lunch, and a tech check. After doing some last minute edits on my presentation for the morning, I hit the welcome reception, which was a lovely time. Hello, new friends from Clemson University and the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga!

I’m hoping to do more blogging from the road when I leave Little Rock on Wednesday, but again, I may be overestimating how much pepper I’ll have when I stop for the night.

Tasty trail mix recipe

Reed Piernock — Wed, 21 Sep 2022 15:00:00 +0000

I mentioned in my last post that trail mix is a classic road trip food. I wanted to make my own, since many store-bought ones include peanuts or milk chocolate. This is a rough recipe that is easily adapted to your favorites! The main things to include are nuts, dried fruit, something crunchy, and something sweet.

Reed’s tasty trail mix recipe

2 cups roasted salted cashews
1 cup cinnamon cruch cereal
1 cup raisins
1 cup dried blueberries
1 cup sesame sticks
1/2 cup roasted sunflower seeds
1 cup chocolate chips

Measure out the ingredients and throw into a large container or storage bag. Mix, mix, mix until everything is good and scattered. Eat!

Do I have enough food?

Reed Piernock — Sun, 18 Sep 2022 14:00:00 +0000

I’ve been stocking up on food since about May, around the time of graduation. Besides having the usual road trip snacks like trail mix and dried fruit, I’ve also got myself so much food that I’m wondering if it will all fit in the car! Normally, I wouldn’t even think to bring this much along, but since I will be traveling for over five weeks, I want to be prepared. When you’re a vegan with food allergies, gotta make sure there’s plenty to eat.

I’ve been keeping in mind that there will very most likely be long sections of the drive where nothing will be available for me. My main allergies are soy and peanut, and, well that could be the only option in some areas. This cooler alone holds:

two dozen applesauce pouches
four dozen fruit strips in various flavors
16 GoMacro oatmeal chocolate chip bars
18 Nature’s Bakery fig bars
two 4-pack rice ramen
a very large canister of old-fashioned oats
dried blueberries and cranberries for the oats
farro and quinoa lunch meal with artichoke and garlic
three chili pouches with Beyond crumbles
several pouches of beans and lentils
two microwave rice pouches
a dozen dried meals from Patagonia and Good to-Go
a jar of cinnamon almond butter

But... this is only the food from the cooler! I’ve also got a huge bag full of veggie straws, cheeze pretzels, orange chips, toasted corn, rice cakes, garlic pretzels, Majool dates, and dried apricots.

Earlier this year, I wasn’t feeling well one day, and as I lay on the couch I scrolled through Instagram. As usual, there were 87 million ads, but the one for kencko stuck out to me, and before I knew it I was hitting "pay now". kencko makes powdered smoothie packs, with each individual flavor jammed with fruits and vegetables. Mix with water or milk, and there’s a beverage! I figured they’d work for road trip quick breakfast and that trying them out wouldn’t hurt. Whelp, now I’ve got a subscription and the boxes keep coming every month.

I also did a lot of hunting for a vegan powdered milk to bring, and I tasted a few before settling on Laird’s Aloho Oatmac. I’d had their coffee creamer before (which I also bought, but coffee is another post!) and I loved this one so much, I started a scubscription for this one too! But sadly they announced only a few weeks ago they were discontinuing the oatmac. Luckily, I have plenty in the beverage box. Besides the smoothies, I also plan to use the milk to make overnight oats, when I have a fridge available wherever I end up for the night.

This isn’t to say I won’t ever stop for food along the way. Just the opposite! I am so much looking forward to hitting diners and restaurants all over the drive; that’s part of the adventure. It’s just the anxiety in me that keeps reminding me of my restrictions.

Documenting the journey

Reed Piernock — Mon, 05 Sep 2022 14:00:00 +0000

Part of the journey is not just experiencing adventures, but documenting them. Writing things down or taking photos will remind future-me of everything that happened, and will also provide updates for my friends and family.

It’s been years since I’ve journaled regularly, and I’m looking forward to the opportunity to write again. I love leuchtturm1917 notebooks and have used them the past few years for keeping track of to-dos, or organizing notes from grad school courses. It seemed an obvious choice for my travel journal.

In addition, I bought a smaller notebook to act as an actual travelog, recording dates of travel, miles driven, times of breaks, gas prices, etc. Part of this is the fun of maintaining a register (we’ll see how that changes along the way!) and part is reporting expenses; since I’ll be traveling to a conference, work is sponsoring that part of the trip.

The minutiae of travel fascinates me, especially over time as roads have been improved and cars have advanced technology. I have a copy of Across the Continent by the Lincoln Highway, a 1914 account of the cross-country road by Effie Price Gladding. I’m waiting until the trip starts to read it!

I further hope to document what it will be like to travel during a pandemic. Although the worst of it is over, covid-19 is still a thing, and I’m taking as many safety measures as I can. There is risk involved, for sure, and I’ll do my best to mitigate that.

If there are things you’d like to read on the blog, let me know! Find me on Twitter or send an email. I can’t wait for October to come.

I’m headed for adventure!

Reed Piernock — Mon, 05 Sep 2022 08:00:00 +0000

I’ve been planning this trip for over three years, and now it’s nearly here. If you consider daydreaming about doing this, then I’ve really been "planning" for about 25 years.

I grew up in Philadelphia and attended college on the Main Line, an area along Route 30 from Malvern stretching into Philadelphia, named for its association with the old Pennsylvania Railroad and the wealthy communities along it. Most of this section runs right along the Lincoln Highway, and some portions are still named that (while others are named after the old Lancaster Turnpike). When going to school, I often took the SEPTA train into the city, which shares the tracks with Amtrak today. I loved that ride and the road it parallels.

I read Brian Butko’s The Lincoln Highway: Pennsylvania Traveler’s Guide back in the late ’90s, and learned that what was Lincoln Highway or Lincoln Ave around my way was not only a route through Pennsylvania, but the whole United States, from Times Square in the east to the Legion of Honor in the west. Fascinated with its history, I dreamed of one day roadtripping the entire length.

When I entered graduate school in 2019, my wife and I discussed what I wanted to do once I’d completed my degree. After pondering it over, I settled on this adventure: finally driving the entirely of the Lincoln Highway! Many spreadsheets were created, including one with the average high and low temperatures in each state along the route. I choose October for its most appealing temps, and riding in fall meant gorgeous autumn leaves along some parts. I’ve lived among a plethora of spreadsheets, documents, wish lists, to-dos, sticky notes, and maps over the past three years.

A session proposal for a tech conference was accepted, and I had to adjust my timing and my route. My journey begins in Arkansas at the conference, then takes me out west, stopping to visit friends along the way. The official Lincoln Highway section of my adventure starts mid-October at the western terminus at the Legion of Honor in San Francisco. I expect to make it to Times Square in New York City in time for my birthday!

I’m excited about this trip, and also looking forward to documenting the travel, the food (so much food!), the weird little things roadside, sweet little local shops, and everything else. One month to go!