Sunday, January 13, 2008
Friday, January 11, 2008
EPIC ROAD TRIP: DAY 2
Whew, what a day! We left our hotel in Tulsa, Oklahoma at around 10am, and arrived at our hotel in Albuquerque, New Mexico around midnight (including time difference). Loooots of time on the road. Some highlights include:
Muffler trouble: Somewhere in Middleofnowhere, Oklahoma, the car suddenly started running VERY loud with lots of vibration. We pulled over to the side of the road and discovered that a big hole had formed in one of the pipes in the exhaust system. Drew knew exactly what it was...I mostly just know that it has to do with the muffler. Luckily, we were half a mile away from an area with like, three mechanics, two auto supply shops and a Wal Mart. Woo hoo! The repair turned out to be relatively easy (and cheap!) so we only were there for about an hour and a half. Whew!
Steeeeeaaaaak: So, there's this place in Texas where one can acquire a 72oz (that's 4 1/2 pounds) steak, and if one consumes that steak in an hour, one gets it for free. The Big Texan, pictured above, is pretty much the best road house ever. The servers all dress like cowboys and prairie women, they have free limo rides to the hotel (big white cadillacs with steer horns on the front), and yes, the 72oz Steak Challenge. Naturally, Lily wanted to try this, because she loves to eat and also loves steak. Drew, not to be outdone, also decided to try it. I decided that I like my digestive system functional, so I elected to eat a normal sized steak and document their event instead.
The Rules: You have to finish your entire meal (that's the 72oz steak, a baked potato, a salad, a side of fried okra, and a dinner roll) in 60 minutes. Nobody can help you eat or cut your food. You have to sit up on a stage so that everyone in the restaurant can see, and so that everyone can make sure you're not cheating. If you don't finish, you lose. If you throw up, you lose. If you have a mouthful of food at the 60 minute mark, but it's not swallowed, you still lose.
This is the full spread, at the start of the challenge. It is approximately a metric ass-ton of food.
During the challenge, everyone in the restaurant stopped by at some point to check in, see the food, and wish the competitors luck. Some guys were gearing up to do their own challenges later in the night or week, so they stopped by several times to see how it was going. Note the stage, the timer in the back, and the garbage cans by each seat (for any necessary sick-ing).
Unfortunately, the challenge was too great for our competitors. They both made a valiant effort, but in the end, the human stomach isn't designed to hold 4 1/2 pounds of steak AND a whole mess of sides.
The results: Drew ate all but 15oz of his steak, which comes out to him eating approximately 3.5 lbs of steak. He also got about halfway done with all those sides. Lily had 37.2 oz of steak left, so she got about halfway through the steak. She also managed to finish all her sides. Good job guys!
After picking up some Pepto Bismol for the road, we got back in the car and headed for Albuquerque. We stayed in a really cute little motel, the Monterey Non Smokers Motel. I'll have pictures and stuff about this adorable place in the next post. See you all then!
Whew, what a day! We left our hotel in Tulsa, Oklahoma at around 10am, and arrived at our hotel in Albuquerque, New Mexico around midnight (including time difference). Loooots of time on the road. Some highlights include:
Muffler trouble: Somewhere in Middleofnowhere, Oklahoma, the car suddenly started running VERY loud with lots of vibration. We pulled over to the side of the road and discovered that a big hole had formed in one of the pipes in the exhaust system. Drew knew exactly what it was...I mostly just know that it has to do with the muffler. Luckily, we were half a mile away from an area with like, three mechanics, two auto supply shops and a Wal Mart. Woo hoo! The repair turned out to be relatively easy (and cheap!) so we only were there for about an hour and a half. Whew!
Steeeeeaaaaak: So, there's this place in Texas where one can acquire a 72oz (that's 4 1/2 pounds) steak, and if one consumes that steak in an hour, one gets it for free. The Big Texan, pictured above, is pretty much the best road house ever. The servers all dress like cowboys and prairie women, they have free limo rides to the hotel (big white cadillacs with steer horns on the front), and yes, the 72oz Steak Challenge. Naturally, Lily wanted to try this, because she loves to eat and also loves steak. Drew, not to be outdone, also decided to try it. I decided that I like my digestive system functional, so I elected to eat a normal sized steak and document their event instead.
The Rules: You have to finish your entire meal (that's the 72oz steak, a baked potato, a salad, a side of fried okra, and a dinner roll) in 60 minutes. Nobody can help you eat or cut your food. You have to sit up on a stage so that everyone in the restaurant can see, and so that everyone can make sure you're not cheating. If you don't finish, you lose. If you throw up, you lose. If you have a mouthful of food at the 60 minute mark, but it's not swallowed, you still lose.
This is the full spread, at the start of the challenge. It is approximately a metric ass-ton of food.
During the challenge, everyone in the restaurant stopped by at some point to check in, see the food, and wish the competitors luck. Some guys were gearing up to do their own challenges later in the night or week, so they stopped by several times to see how it was going. Note the stage, the timer in the back, and the garbage cans by each seat (for any necessary sick-ing).
Unfortunately, the challenge was too great for our competitors. They both made a valiant effort, but in the end, the human stomach isn't designed to hold 4 1/2 pounds of steak AND a whole mess of sides.
The results: Drew ate all but 15oz of his steak, which comes out to him eating approximately 3.5 lbs of steak. He also got about halfway done with all those sides. Lily had 37.2 oz of steak left, so she got about halfway through the steak. She also managed to finish all her sides. Good job guys!After picking up some Pepto Bismol for the road, we got back in the car and headed for Albuquerque. We stayed in a really cute little motel, the Monterey Non Smokers Motel. I'll have pictures and stuff about this adorable place in the next post. See you all then!
Wednesday, January 09, 2008
EPIC ROAD TRIP 2K8: DAY ONE
Man, this day took forever! We got up at about 8, had breakfast at home (Mom made gooey butter cake...yum!), and then packed our massive amounts of luggage into the car and headed out. After running about a million errands in Peoria, we got on the road, headed south on 55 toward St. Louis. To give you an idea of how much stuff we have in the car, here's a picture of me in the back seat:
As you can see, there is literally a Diana-sized space in the back, with the trunk, the floor, and the rest of the back seat covered in luggage, a cooler, etc. In retrospect, we probably should have planned for all of us to NOT have three weeks' worth of luggage each. I'm getting strong hints that I'll be riding in the back a lot, haha. Also in this picture is Lily's hand, continuing with our theme of taking at least one picture a day where one of us is pointing and laughing at something.
55 is pretty uneventful, so I slept the whole way down to St. Louis. Also pictured here is Slumbers McWorthington, a stuffed cat that I got for Christmas and our mascot on this trip. It's a little bit creepy how real Slumbers looks. We like to leave him in the back window to see if anyone notices the kitten mysteriously sleeping in our car :-)
The White Castle Odyssey: So one of our goals on this trip is to eat iconic American food at every opportunity. Lily is from Los Angeles, so she was pretty eager to try White Castle, since they don't exist in California. I suggested that we find one in St. Louis, since I knew there were several in that area. Now keep in mind, I fell asleep somewhere along 55S, and therefore was still out when we arrived in St. Louis. I woke up to find that we were sitting in a White Castle parking lot, with both Drew and Lily looking rather concerned. I looked around and realized we were surrounded by burned buildings, shady people, and just generally a crappy neighborhood. I asked "Um, guys? Where are we?" They told me St. Louis. I inquired further "Um...this looks like East St. Louis. Is that where we are?" They said yes, they had headed east once they got in the city. I had to explain that East St. Louis is notorious as one of the worst urban areas in the country, and that we did NOT want to be there. Eep! Apparently, when we got into the city, they didn't want to wake me up so they just put "White Castle" into our GPS unit and followed directions. Needless to say, we didn't stick around. We did another search in the GPS and headed for the next closest White Castle. Turns out this one was in an even worse area than the last. So we decided to head back to the freeway, get out of the city, and THEN find a White Castle someplace in the suburbs. This ended up being a much better plan. White Castle #3 was in the city, but in a much nicer area. We sat near the window so we could keep an eye on the car, just to be safe. Mission accomplished: we got a whole mess of tiny burgers and then built a pyramid out of the empty cardboard boxes (picture's in my cell, I'll upload that one once I figure out how). We have certainly learned our lesson: do not just follow the GPS!
The rest of the day has been uneventful. It's about 6 hours from St. Louis to Tulsa, and I slept through just about all of it. We're leaving around 9 tomorrow morning, hoping to be in Amarillo in time for a late lunch, then pushing on to Albuquerque to stay the night. It's gonna be a loooong day, with an expected 12+ hours of car time. Expect many pictures, as I'm going to need something to keep me entertained. Have a good night everyone!
Man, this day took forever! We got up at about 8, had breakfast at home (Mom made gooey butter cake...yum!), and then packed our massive amounts of luggage into the car and headed out. After running about a million errands in Peoria, we got on the road, headed south on 55 toward St. Louis. To give you an idea of how much stuff we have in the car, here's a picture of me in the back seat:
As you can see, there is literally a Diana-sized space in the back, with the trunk, the floor, and the rest of the back seat covered in luggage, a cooler, etc. In retrospect, we probably should have planned for all of us to NOT have three weeks' worth of luggage each. I'm getting strong hints that I'll be riding in the back a lot, haha. Also in this picture is Lily's hand, continuing with our theme of taking at least one picture a day where one of us is pointing and laughing at something.
55 is pretty uneventful, so I slept the whole way down to St. Louis. Also pictured here is Slumbers McWorthington, a stuffed cat that I got for Christmas and our mascot on this trip. It's a little bit creepy how real Slumbers looks. We like to leave him in the back window to see if anyone notices the kitten mysteriously sleeping in our car :-)
The White Castle Odyssey: So one of our goals on this trip is to eat iconic American food at every opportunity. Lily is from Los Angeles, so she was pretty eager to try White Castle, since they don't exist in California. I suggested that we find one in St. Louis, since I knew there were several in that area. Now keep in mind, I fell asleep somewhere along 55S, and therefore was still out when we arrived in St. Louis. I woke up to find that we were sitting in a White Castle parking lot, with both Drew and Lily looking rather concerned. I looked around and realized we were surrounded by burned buildings, shady people, and just generally a crappy neighborhood. I asked "Um, guys? Where are we?" They told me St. Louis. I inquired further "Um...this looks like East St. Louis. Is that where we are?" They said yes, they had headed east once they got in the city. I had to explain that East St. Louis is notorious as one of the worst urban areas in the country, and that we did NOT want to be there. Eep! Apparently, when we got into the city, they didn't want to wake me up so they just put "White Castle" into our GPS unit and followed directions. Needless to say, we didn't stick around. We did another search in the GPS and headed for the next closest White Castle. Turns out this one was in an even worse area than the last. So we decided to head back to the freeway, get out of the city, and THEN find a White Castle someplace in the suburbs. This ended up being a much better plan. White Castle #3 was in the city, but in a much nicer area. We sat near the window so we could keep an eye on the car, just to be safe. Mission accomplished: we got a whole mess of tiny burgers and then built a pyramid out of the empty cardboard boxes (picture's in my cell, I'll upload that one once I figure out how). We have certainly learned our lesson: do not just follow the GPS!
The rest of the day has been uneventful. It's about 6 hours from St. Louis to Tulsa, and I slept through just about all of it. We're leaving around 9 tomorrow morning, hoping to be in Amarillo in time for a late lunch, then pushing on to Albuquerque to stay the night. It's gonna be a loooong day, with an expected 12+ hours of car time. Expect many pictures, as I'm going to need something to keep me entertained. Have a good night everyone!
EPIC ROAD TRIP 2K8
Hey all. For those who missed it, for the next four days, my friends and I are driving from Illinois to Los Angeles, following the old Route 66 path. We'll be taking pictures and collecting stories as we go, and uploading at night (assuming all our hotels have internet access, of course). So, some preliminary details:
The cast: Lily Cheng (friend from USC), Andrew Stiegman (friend from USC), Slumbers McWorthington (a stuffed cat), and me
The car: Ford Aspire
Pictured here when I retrieved Drew and Lily from O'Hare. As you can see, Drew finds the size of the car rather amusing. Probably because he's as big as it is.
The Route: The old Route 66, which is now several interstates.
We'll be staying in Tulsa, Albuquerque, and Tempe, and stopping in Amarillo long enough to have a gigantic steak. Mmm, steak.
We're planning to stop along the way as we see things that strike our interest (world's largest ball of yarn anyone?), as well as eat as many iconic American foods as possible. Just to bring you up to speed, Lily and Drew got in yesterday to O'Hare. We stopped at a Portillo's to enjoy Chicago style hot dogs, then headed for Pekin. Went out for Chicago style pizza for dinner (in Peoria, but close enough), and stayed the night at home. I'll talk about each day of the actual road trip in separate posts, so check back to see our progress and what ridiculous things we've discovered!
Hey all. For those who missed it, for the next four days, my friends and I are driving from Illinois to Los Angeles, following the old Route 66 path. We'll be taking pictures and collecting stories as we go, and uploading at night (assuming all our hotels have internet access, of course). So, some preliminary details:
The cast: Lily Cheng (friend from USC), Andrew Stiegman (friend from USC), Slumbers McWorthington (a stuffed cat), and me
The car: Ford Aspire
Pictured here when I retrieved Drew and Lily from O'Hare. As you can see, Drew finds the size of the car rather amusing. Probably because he's as big as it is.The Route: The old Route 66, which is now several interstates.
We'll be staying in Tulsa, Albuquerque, and Tempe, and stopping in Amarillo long enough to have a gigantic steak. Mmm, steak.We're planning to stop along the way as we see things that strike our interest (world's largest ball of yarn anyone?), as well as eat as many iconic American foods as possible. Just to bring you up to speed, Lily and Drew got in yesterday to O'Hare. We stopped at a Portillo's to enjoy Chicago style hot dogs, then headed for Pekin. Went out for Chicago style pizza for dinner (in Peoria, but close enough), and stayed the night at home. I'll talk about each day of the actual road trip in separate posts, so check back to see our progress and what ridiculous things we've discovered!
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