32 counties have fallen, and the second gas stop has been made, accruing 5:06 more pansy time.
We are roughly 1 hour, 45 minutes ahead of schedule, which allows us for three key delaying factors: potential traffic delays as we move into Birmingham, tornado warnings and storms throughout the state, and Dan taking the wheel, with his aching hip and AARP card.
Adam was a fantastic driver, lopping several minutes off of the projected times during each leg of the trip.
To Dan's credit, he can't be blamed for the slow-going traffic right now. We're pinned at a few miles per hour under the speed limit.
Google's traffic maps are not to be trusted. They've been wholly inaccurate so far.
I'm going to be driving the anchor leg, once Dan's shift is up. I still think we're going to finish this thing before the sun rises. Sunrise is at 6:17 a.m., which would be a finish time of 21:58. As I type this, traffic has slowed to its most glacial crawl, and we have also crossed into Shelby County (named after former Governor of Kentucky Isaac Shelby).
I think we've seen the worst of any traffic and tornados that might befall us, and I'm thinking that we're still looking at a 20-hour finish.
- Jim
Friday, February 27, 2009
Update - county count 30
Thought we'd give an update.
County count - 30
We are on I-65 heading down from Huntsville. We'll be on this for over 100 miles, hitting all the middle counties from north to south. We'll pass Birmingham and Montgomery and exit SE of Montgomery, heading to the SE corner before coming up the eastern edge of the state and ending in the NE
Rain has started again but we're making good time due to being on the Interstate.
Still making great time.
County count - 30
We are on I-65 heading down from Huntsville. We'll be on this for over 100 miles, hitting all the middle counties from north to south. We'll pass Birmingham and Montgomery and exit SE of Montgomery, heading to the SE corner before coming up the eastern edge of the state and ending in the NE
Rain has started again but we're making good time due to being on the Interstate.
Still making great time.
Boring update
A request came in for more updates of what we were doing.
We are driving around. We have gone up the west side of Alabama, pretty much from the whole south to north.
We just hit our 25th county - Lawrence. We're soon to be heading towards Huntsville where we'll hit I-65 down nearly the entire of the center of the state. We are hoping to avoid rush hour in Birmingham.
We are driving around. We have gone up the west side of Alabama, pretty much from the whole south to north.
We just hit our 25th county - Lawrence. We're soon to be heading towards Huntsville where we'll hit I-65 down nearly the entire of the center of the state. We are hoping to avoid rush hour in Birmingham.
Build me a depot Phil Caaaampbell
So we just passed through the thriving metropolis of Phil Campbell, Alabama. Not Campbellsvile, or Campbellton or Campbell's Crossings. But Phil Campbell, Alabama.
So we managed to do a quick lookup of its wikipedia page.
Guy promised Phil Campbell if he built a depot and spur to the railroad track that he would name the town after him. So he did and then he did.
Sing it with me (to the tune of Bill Bailey)
Build me a depot Phil Caaaaaampbell
You'll bring the train right throuuuuuuuuuuugh
Build me a depot Phil Caaaaaampbell
We'll name the towwwwn for youuuuuu.
Doesn't it sound like an old time victrola?
There was a "Phil Campbell Day" in 1995 where 22 people named Phil Campbell got together.
Current County count - 24 (in Colbert county - in the NW corner)
Ahead of pace by - 1:42:19
So we managed to do a quick lookup of its wikipedia page.
Guy promised Phil Campbell if he built a depot and spur to the railroad track that he would name the town after him. So he did and then he did.
Sing it with me (to the tune of Bill Bailey)
Build me a depot Phil Caaaaaampbell
You'll bring the train right throuuuuuuuuuuugh
Build me a depot Phil Caaaaaampbell
We'll name the towwwwn for youuuuuu.
Doesn't it sound like an old time victrola?
There was a "Phil Campbell Day" in 1995 where 22 people named Phil Campbell got together.
Current County count - 24 (in Colbert county - in the NW corner)
Ahead of pace by - 1:42:19
The republic of Winston
So as part of our county trivia, just recently we learned that when Alabama seceded from the US, that Winston County seceded from Alabama and declared itself the Republic of Winston.
It is also 97% white, and judging from the Wikipedia demographics, there are 9 African Americans in the entire county.
County count is 21, and we are currently 1:33:25 ahead of pace. We're definitely looking like a potential sub-20 hr time.
It is also 97% white, and judging from the Wikipedia demographics, there are 9 African Americans in the entire county.
County count is 21, and we are currently 1:33:25 ahead of pace. We're definitely looking like a potential sub-20 hr time.
Some updates / responses
To answer Jay's comments on this earlier post:
1. Adam is currently driving and has been since the start. We discussed switching at our last gas stop but Adam decided to carry on.
2. No black bean pueblo pie nor beef jerky. Jim is definitely tearing through the gold rold pretzel rods though.
3. There are 67 counties in Alabama, we just whipped through Fayette, county #19. That is one more than our last post.
4. I brought along 2 binders. One map binder and then a backup binder. I also had Carey print out and bring the wikipedia county pages for each county, for appropriate demographic trivia.
1. Adam is currently driving and has been since the start. We discussed switching at our last gas stop but Adam decided to carry on.
2. No black bean pueblo pie nor beef jerky. Jim is definitely tearing through the gold rold pretzel rods though.
3. There are 67 counties in Alabama, we just whipped through Fayette, county #19. That is one more than our last post.
4. I brought along 2 binders. One map binder and then a backup binder. I also had Carey print out and bring the wikipedia county pages for each county, for appropriate demographic trivia.
Jim - king of county sign photography
Jim is in fact the king of photographing county signs. It is unfortunate that I can not upload the photo he just snagged.
You may be able to see up on bliin.com the photo that Carey just snapped of the logging truck we were stuck behind, whipping up spray in a torrential rainstorm. Just to give you an idea of conditions.
But despite that, Jim snagged a perfect shot of the Welcome to Lamar county sign (#18). I bow to his mad skills.
The rain has slowed down quite a bit. And actually it just appeared a lot worse because the truck in front of us was whippin up spray like there was no tomorrow.
Currently we are ahead of pace by 1:20:55
You may be able to see up on bliin.com the photo that Carey just snapped of the logging truck we were stuck behind, whipping up spray in a torrential rainstorm. Just to give you an idea of conditions.
But despite that, Jim snagged a perfect shot of the Welcome to Lamar county sign (#18). I bow to his mad skills.
The rain has slowed down quite a bit. And actually it just appeared a lot worse because the truck in front of us was whippin up spray like there was no tomorrow.
Currently we are ahead of pace by 1:20:55
Additional pansy time
2 recent occurrences have added 46 seconds of pansy time.
9 seconds at a toll booth on the Black Warrior parkway west of Tuscaloosa. The toll booth operator was manning both sides and refused to acknowledge us for 9 seconds.
Then just now a truck was trying to fit under a 13'6 railroad bridge and all turning around and backing up and blocking the road - 37 seconds.
We're currently in Pickens county, county #17. Last schedule was 1:12:52 ahead of schedule / pace.
9 seconds at a toll booth on the Black Warrior parkway west of Tuscaloosa. The toll booth operator was manning both sides and refused to acknowledge us for 9 seconds.
Then just now a truck was trying to fit under a 13'6 railroad bridge and all turning around and backing up and blocking the road - 37 seconds.
We're currently in Pickens county, county #17. Last schedule was 1:12:52 ahead of schedule / pace.
Sumter county - county count of 14 - first gas stop
We just had our first gas / bathroom stop. It took us 4:36 at the gas station, so our current TPT (Total Pansy Time) is now 4:39.
Carey was assessed $1.60 pansy dollars for looking up on Google and telling us there were no gas stations at AL-28 and I-20/59. So we stopped earlier for $1.79 a gallon when in fact there was a gas station right by the highway selling gas for $1.69.
1:11:59 ahead of estimates. Current county count is 14 and we are in Sumter county. Approaching Greene on I-20/59 East.
To follow along check us out at bliin.com - see earlier posts for instructions.
Carey was assessed $1.60 pansy dollars for looking up on Google and telling us there were no gas stations at AL-28 and I-20/59. So we stopped earlier for $1.79 a gallon when in fact there was a gas station right by the highway selling gas for $1.69.
1:11:59 ahead of estimates. Current county count is 14 and we are in Sumter county. Approaching Greene on I-20/59 East.
To follow along check us out at bliin.com - see earlier posts for instructions.
County count 13
We just zipped through Perry County and back into Marengo county and then into Hale county, for county #13
We are continuing to make astonishing time. We are now up to over 1 hour ahead of pace. Jim threw out the possibility that we could finish in under 20 hours. That would get us finishing around 4 am on Saturday.
We'll keep you posted. To see our live status, go to http://bliin.com/?user=careyj then click on careyj, then click on trips then click on EFALC. Or click on Careyj and go to live! to see current location.
Note - no www on that bliin link.
We are continuing to make astonishing time. We are now up to over 1 hour ahead of pace. Jim threw out the possibility that we could finish in under 20 hours. That would get us finishing around 4 am on Saturday.
We'll keep you posted. To see our live status, go to http://bliin.com/?user=careyj then click on careyj, then click on trips then click on EFALC. Or click on Careyj and go to live! to see current location.
Note - no www on that bliin link.
Choctaw - County Count 8
We just passed Zimco. We are wondering if that is the alphabetically last city / town in Alabama. Perhaps some intrepid reader can check for us and post in the comments.
Our thoughts were that it would certainly be a competitor, if perhaps there were no Zorn or Zutroffs (or Zwyckzwck)
There was 3 seconds pansy time accumulated when Adam thought that we were turning around at the Clarke county line and so slowed down (so as to turn around) before we let him know that we were continuing straight until Choctaw.
We just hit Choctaw county, #8. We are murdering all pace records - currently 30:46 ahead of pace.
Our thoughts were that it would certainly be a competitor, if perhaps there were no Zorn or Zutroffs (or Zwyckzwck)
There was 3 seconds pansy time accumulated when Adam thought that we were turning around at the Clarke county line and so slowed down (so as to turn around) before we let him know that we were continuing straight until Choctaw.
We just hit Choctaw county, #8. We are murdering all pace records - currently 30:46 ahead of pace.
Carey update and Clark-ee county
Time for a Carey update. First of all, two lane roads and white trucks suck.
But first, background. My trip over to the starting point was fun, but I didn't get to pick up any new counties beacuse we had a late start. We stopped in Beaumont to check out an awesome fire museum. They had a fake front of a firetruck with flashing lights and a tiny house with safety tips to play in. Next up we stopped east of Lafayette at a small cajun restaurant called Boudin King, which had pretty horrible gumbo (some of the rice was uncooked even). After that it was pretty much a straight shot in the dark all the way to Mobile. We stayed for free with my new couchsurfing friend Chris, and in the morning, David and Conan dropped me off at the starting point. We beat Dan there by 5 minutes.
We're now 7 counties in, in Clarke county, and we're about 20 minutes ahead of schedule (I'm not quite as precise as Dan is).
Here's more instructions on how to use bliin, beacause it can be kind of confusing. Go to http://bliin.com/?user=careyj
To see where we are, click on "careyj" and click "Live!" and the map should center on us. Right now we're at 3 second interval updates, but we have to turn it off to update the blog. Click the "M" on the left control panel if you prefer street maps instead of satellite view.
In order to see the "trip" so far, click on "Trips" underneath "careyj" and open up the EFALC (not EFCAL).
Stay tuned for more updates, I'm sure there will be many more.
But first, background. My trip over to the starting point was fun, but I didn't get to pick up any new counties beacuse we had a late start. We stopped in Beaumont to check out an awesome fire museum. They had a fake front of a firetruck with flashing lights and a tiny house with safety tips to play in. Next up we stopped east of Lafayette at a small cajun restaurant called Boudin King, which had pretty horrible gumbo (some of the rice was uncooked even). After that it was pretty much a straight shot in the dark all the way to Mobile. We stayed for free with my new couchsurfing friend Chris, and in the morning, David and Conan dropped me off at the starting point. We beat Dan there by 5 minutes.
We're now 7 counties in, in Clarke county, and we're about 20 minutes ahead of schedule (I'm not quite as precise as Dan is).
Here's more instructions on how to use bliin, beacause it can be kind of confusing. Go to http://bliin.com/?user=careyj
To see where we are, click on "careyj" and click "Live!" and the map should center on us. Right now we're at 3 second interval updates, but we have to turn it off to update the blog. Click the "M" on the left control panel if you prefer street maps instead of satellite view.
In order to see the "trip" so far, click on "Trips" underneath "careyj" and open up the EFALC (not EFCAL).
Stay tuned for more updates, I'm sure there will be many more.
Sense of urgency - county county 4
We are driving with a sense of urgency. We are in our 3rd county with an elapsed time of 26 minutes, 22 seconds. Which isn't that impressive given that we had 2 counties in the first 2 seconds.
But we are 4:03 ahead of pace after the first road (US 43)
UPDATE - while waiting for this to connect we reached our 4th county and nearly 5th (Conecuh)
But we are 4:03 ahead of pace after the first road (US 43)
UPDATE - while waiting for this to connect we reached our 4th county and nearly 5th (Conecuh)
First update
Okay we are out exactly 2 minutes 30 seconds into the trip right now. We started at officially 8:19:52 Central time.
After some debate, Jim, Adam and I decided to get a hotel room. There was talk of some sleeping in a van, for some restful coma-inducing "van sl.eep". In the end, we got into not a Motel 5, not a Motel 7, but a Motel 6.
It was approximately what you might expect from a $33.99 hotel room. We made a reservation before we left Montgomery, but when we got to mobile, the clerk informed us that he had just sold his last room. The gentleman was not fazed when informed of our so called "reservation". Very reminiscent of last time with the van. In the end, he told us that he could sell us a room that "had something wrong with it".
Naturally the appropriate first question is "well what is wrong with it". Jim's first thought was a room with tigers inside. In the end, we had our choice between a room with purple dye on the bathtub or one with dirty carpets. We went with the dye. I have a picture that I'll upload later.
Jim also wants to point out that the desk clerk made him give his key back, depriving him of an addition to his hotel key collection.
While in the car, we were playing some of those "lateral thinking" puzzles, like "a man has hung himself and there's a puddle of water underneath him". We stayed up way too late trying to find out why a man killed himself after eating abalone.
I will keep you posted. Also, if you check out http://bliin.com/?user=careyj you can see the photos that we uploaded, as well as if you click on trips it will show our current location.
After some debate, Jim, Adam and I decided to get a hotel room. There was talk of some sleeping in a van, for some restful coma-inducing "van sl.eep". In the end, we got into not a Motel 5, not a Motel 7, but a Motel 6.
It was approximately what you might expect from a $33.99 hotel room. We made a reservation before we left Montgomery, but when we got to mobile, the clerk informed us that he had just sold his last room. The gentleman was not fazed when informed of our so called "reservation". Very reminiscent of last time with the van. In the end, he told us that he could sell us a room that "had something wrong with it".
Naturally the appropriate first question is "well what is wrong with it". Jim's first thought was a room with tigers inside. In the end, we had our choice between a room with purple dye on the bathtub or one with dirty carpets. We went with the dye. I have a picture that I'll upload later.
Jim also wants to point out that the desk clerk made him give his key back, depriving him of an addition to his hotel key collection.
While in the car, we were playing some of those "lateral thinking" puzzles, like "a man has hung himself and there's a puddle of water underneath him". We stayed up way too late trying to find out why a man killed himself after eating abalone.
I will keep you posted. Also, if you check out http://bliin.com/?user=careyj you can see the photos that we uploaded, as well as if you click on trips it will show our current location.
Wednesday, February 25, 2009
Every County in Alabama
Preparations are being made, trips are being planned, rental vans have been rented, and all systems are go for visiting every county in Alabama this Friday (the 27th).
Stay tuned for more updates
Stay tuned for more updates
Monday, February 23, 2009
Alabama county trip is on!
As posted last fall, wheels have been in motion for an Every County in Alabama trip.
After weeks / months of speculation, the trip is on. It is happening this Friday, February 27th. The route is pretty similar to the one posted in that earlier trip.
So stay tuned to www.everywhatever.com for updates.
You can also join our Facebook group
After weeks / months of speculation, the trip is on. It is happening this Friday, February 27th. The route is pretty similar to the one posted in that earlier trip.
So stay tuned to www.everywhatever.com for updates.
You can also join our Facebook group
Tuesday, February 17, 2009
Every Super Neighborhood in Houston - Trip 4
Well, it's a long time coming, but it's finally here. Trip 4. Now that marathon season is over, I'm hoping to do these at least every other week. Drew and I have all the way up to Trip 11 by the end of April scheduled.
I'm going to have to stop doing a regular google map, because there are too many points to fit all in one. You can still view the Super Neighborhood Map of the trip.
The day started off with Drew and I messaging each other that we both wanted to start about 30 minutes late, so that's what we did.
The first stop was an easy one, I drive by this sign almost every day. It's for #14 Lazy Brook/Timbergrove, right across from my grocery store.
Less than a mile from my house
The neighborhood was a lot nicer than our previous rides through impoverished Houston. The small two bedroom houses around here go for about $280k.
Our next stop was at Houseman Elementary, which is in the Spring Branch school district. We rode up and down and all around the school and didn't see a single sign that said Spring Branch ISD on it. Since it wasn't that far from my house, I wasn't going to freak out about having to pick it up later. We continued on down the route and came across the sign below practically smacking us in the face. I wasn't completely sure it was in #86 Spring Branch East, but when I got home, I verified that it was.
I hate deed restrictions almost as much as I hate zoning
We decided to take a shortcut on a busy road instead of taking the marked bike route. The shortcut saved us about a mile and a half, but we had to ride on a 40 mph road (where people go 50) with no sidewalk or shoulder. We survived, but I don't think I'll be doing that again unless I have to. In one of the detours from the main road, we went up to Langwood Baptist church, which was supposed to be in Langwood, but was actually a block away from Langwood. We're going to have to revisit this one in trip 6 when we go up to Willowbrook.
It took us a while to figure what the sign meant. Stupid church not being in Langwood.
Along the main fast road, I came to a screeching halt when I saw this place, since we were supposed to be looking for #4 Fairbanks/North Crossing. I wasn't sure if it was actually in Fairbanks, so we continued on to Dean Middle School, which had "Cypress Fairbanks" ISD in the title, like schools should have (stupid Spring Branch). So we got this one twice.
There was actually a guy hauling trash behind the fence, but he didn't seem to take notice of us
This is about the point where you can see me progressively getting more and more tired
After a serious wrong turn which added about a mile to our trip, we got to Carverdale Community Center in #3 Carverdale. We were starting to get really tired, because the 20mph winds were no longer at our backs, but we were going directly into it. You can tell from the next picture, I look a little more worn out.
"I can't believe we're only half way"
Drew pointed out this sign was more interesting, so I took a pic of him with it.
Back into the wind, we went south toward #8 Westbranch, intending to go into the subdivision and look for the Westbranch Recreation Center, but luckily found this sign early and saved a little bit of precious milage.
Is it over yet?
We definitely needed a break to recharge, so we rode down Gessner (on the sidewalk, because it was very very busy road) and looked for a place to eat. We found a little donut shop called Donut World, which had amazing donuts and good kolaches. The donuts were all warm and soft but not undercooked *drool*. Although we made the mistake of both of us getting orange juice, which was not a good choice with 12 miles into the wind to go.
We went back to kempwood, seeing Spring Shadows signs everywhere (but I didn't feel like stopping because I knew there was a school ahead and I knew it was in the superneighborhood). After getting nearly all the way through the super neighborhood, we came across Spring Shadows Elementary in #84 Spring Shadows.
Wildcats, rwar!
It was an uneventful quater mile to the next stop at #85 Spring Branch Central
Getting tired again.
And just for good measure, I got this one on the way back in Spring Branch East, just in case.
My sweat pattern looks like Kazakhstan
The ride home was brutal. We had a wrong turn which took us to Ikea (all in 20mph head winds). At some points it felt like if we stopped pedaling, we would roll backwards! But we finally made it, crashed on the couch with a lot of water, and that was it.
It took about 4 hours and 30.1 miles to pick up these 7 new Super Neighborhoods. Next trip is going to be roughly the same distance, but only 3 new Super Neighborhoods. It's also going to be back out in the east (low-income) area.
I'm going to have to stop doing a regular google map, because there are too many points to fit all in one. You can still view the Super Neighborhood Map of the trip.
The day started off with Drew and I messaging each other that we both wanted to start about 30 minutes late, so that's what we did.
The first stop was an easy one, I drive by this sign almost every day. It's for #14 Lazy Brook/Timbergrove, right across from my grocery store.
Less than a mile from my house
The neighborhood was a lot nicer than our previous rides through impoverished Houston. The small two bedroom houses around here go for about $280k.
Our next stop was at Houseman Elementary, which is in the Spring Branch school district. We rode up and down and all around the school and didn't see a single sign that said Spring Branch ISD on it. Since it wasn't that far from my house, I wasn't going to freak out about having to pick it up later. We continued on down the route and came across the sign below practically smacking us in the face. I wasn't completely sure it was in #86 Spring Branch East, but when I got home, I verified that it was.
I hate deed restrictions almost as much as I hate zoning
We decided to take a shortcut on a busy road instead of taking the marked bike route. The shortcut saved us about a mile and a half, but we had to ride on a 40 mph road (where people go 50) with no sidewalk or shoulder. We survived, but I don't think I'll be doing that again unless I have to. In one of the detours from the main road, we went up to Langwood Baptist church, which was supposed to be in Langwood, but was actually a block away from Langwood. We're going to have to revisit this one in trip 6 when we go up to Willowbrook.
It took us a while to figure what the sign meant. Stupid church not being in Langwood.
Along the main fast road, I came to a screeching halt when I saw this place, since we were supposed to be looking for #4 Fairbanks/North Crossing. I wasn't sure if it was actually in Fairbanks, so we continued on to Dean Middle School, which had "Cypress Fairbanks" ISD in the title, like schools should have (stupid Spring Branch). So we got this one twice.
There was actually a guy hauling trash behind the fence, but he didn't seem to take notice of us
This is about the point where you can see me progressively getting more and more tired
After a serious wrong turn which added about a mile to our trip, we got to Carverdale Community Center in #3 Carverdale. We were starting to get really tired, because the 20mph winds were no longer at our backs, but we were going directly into it. You can tell from the next picture, I look a little more worn out.
"I can't believe we're only half way"
Drew pointed out this sign was more interesting, so I took a pic of him with it.
Back into the wind, we went south toward #8 Westbranch, intending to go into the subdivision and look for the Westbranch Recreation Center, but luckily found this sign early and saved a little bit of precious milage.
Is it over yet?
We definitely needed a break to recharge, so we rode down Gessner (on the sidewalk, because it was very very busy road) and looked for a place to eat. We found a little donut shop called Donut World, which had amazing donuts and good kolaches. The donuts were all warm and soft but not undercooked *drool*. Although we made the mistake of both of us getting orange juice, which was not a good choice with 12 miles into the wind to go.
We went back to kempwood, seeing Spring Shadows signs everywhere (but I didn't feel like stopping because I knew there was a school ahead and I knew it was in the superneighborhood). After getting nearly all the way through the super neighborhood, we came across Spring Shadows Elementary in #84 Spring Shadows.
Wildcats, rwar!
It was an uneventful quater mile to the next stop at #85 Spring Branch Central
Getting tired again.
And just for good measure, I got this one on the way back in Spring Branch East, just in case.
My sweat pattern looks like Kazakhstan
The ride home was brutal. We had a wrong turn which took us to Ikea (all in 20mph head winds). At some points it felt like if we stopped pedaling, we would roll backwards! But we finally made it, crashed on the couch with a lot of water, and that was it.
It took about 4 hours and 30.1 miles to pick up these 7 new Super Neighborhoods. Next trip is going to be roughly the same distance, but only 3 new Super Neighborhoods. It's also going to be back out in the east (low-income) area.
Thursday, November 13, 2008
Every Contiguous State with a Twist
I came across this post, which describes a plan for the world record for visiting all 48 contiguous states using the highest fuel efficiency possible. They plan to do it in 2 weeks. The previous record is 58.82 mpg. I didn't even know such a record existed... awesome!
There is a nice map on the post as well.
There is a nice map on the post as well.
Monday, November 10, 2008
Old comment
Just thought I would point out a comment that was received on a very old post about our Ohio county trip.
I randomly came across your blog while googling something completely unrelated about PC. I'm from West Alexandria and I find it totally hilarious that you ended your trip through every county of Ohio in the extremely small town I grew up in! Great blog and great idea for a mini-road trip! My friends and I might just have to attempt to do it ourselves. Oh and for the record, there are "Welcome to Preble County signs" elsewhere, just not on 35 for some strange reason! ODOT works in mysterious ways!
Good times!!
I randomly came across your blog while googling something completely unrelated about PC. I'm from West Alexandria and I find it totally hilarious that you ended your trip through every county of Ohio in the extremely small town I grew up in! Great blog and great idea for a mini-road trip! My friends and I might just have to attempt to do it ourselves. Oh and for the record, there are "Welcome to Preble County signs" elsewhere, just not on 35 for some strange reason! ODOT works in mysterious ways!
Good times!!
Friday, November 07, 2008
Soccer Golf
Not quite an Every Whatever, but a game / competition in the same silly vein. Myself and 2 co-workers set out yesterday on a round of soccer golf. I didn't think that we invented the sport, and I see now that there are several instances - (reference Dan's first law of the Internet).
But the game we played is slightly different. First, here are the codified rules:
1. Game starts when each player kicks a soccer ball from the same "tee"
2. Game ends when each player kicks the ball into a pre-determined "goal", which can be set up in any manner that is agreed to by all participants.
3. Players are allowed to take any route they choose.
4. Each time a player touches the soccer ball with their foot, it is counted as 1 stroke. Players are not allowed to throw, head, or otherwise propel the ball besides kicking it. No outside transportation (kicking it into your truck, etc) or help from other people is allowed, except as detailed below.
5. No mulligans are allowed.
6. Players are allowed to, at their discretion, either allow the ball to come to a complete stop, stop the ball manually with their foot (counts as a stroke), or kick the ball again while it is rolling (also counts as a stroke). Players are advised to be aware of potential obstacles in the path of a kicked ball (cars, houses, trees, other people, etc) - all objects are in play.
7. If a ball should have to be extricated from an unplayable position (lake, in a tree, under a car, etc), there is a 5 stroke penalty, and the ball is placed where it entered the unplayable position. If that is on a hill or otherwise causes the ball to move once it is placed, the ball may be allowed to come to rest or kicked while in motion (counts as a stroke).
8. Touching the ball with your hands or any other part of your body (besides the foot) is a 1 stroke penalty. Should the non-foot touch be ruled by the other players to have been intentional, a 5 stroke penalty will be assessed.
9. If an outside participant touches or affects the ball, it is in play (see Rule 6). However, if in the opinions of the other players, an outside person is a "plant" or unfairly aids the player, the ball will be considered dead at the point of the outside person touching it.
10. If a player touches something that inadvertently affects the ball (e.g. the ball is laying in some tall grass on a hill and as the player walks near the ball, it causes the grass to shift and the ball to roll), no stroke will be assessed unless in the opinions of the other players it was egregious and intentional, in which case it will count as 1 stroke.
In our case, we set the course as from Randy's house to our work (about 0.95 miles as the crow flies, or about 1.5 miles with the route we played). Here is an approximation of the route. The colored circles denote interesting events which I will explain below:
We started down at the A marker. First few kicks were pretty easy as the road slopes in the direction we wanted to travel. Randy was able to kick it all the way down his street and around the corner on his "tee shot". Clearly that's because he was cheatingly practicing beforehand. At the orange circle a few things happened. First of all Doug kicked his ball into a parked Mustang whose owner was out mowing his grass. Then a lady walking her baby in a stroller stopped to talk to us and look how weird we were looking. Then Doug kicked his ball right into a tree, causing it to bounce backwards. This caused our spectactors / folks who drove us to the starting line (Molly and Elizabeth) much amusement and caused me to fall to the ground laughing. Then as Randy's ball was rolling down the street, a "helpful" man in a truck got out and stopped the ball as Randy yelled "No no no leave it"
I was in the lead as we made our way out of Randy's development towards the pinkish circle, 1 stroke ahead of Randy and 3 ahead of Doug. This was aided by a beautiful kick over a ditch that Doug and Randy got caught in. We made our way across an open field and towards a small (10-15 foot wide) covering of trees that separated us from the access road that would take us to Innovation Way. We all tried to kick over the trees but none of us were successful. Randy in particular got stuck in a really bad place in the middle of the trees. He pondered taking the 5 stroke penalty but in the end decided to just kick forward. He managed to get through the trees in only 1 or 2 additional kicks, whereas Doug and I used multiple kicks to try and finesse our soccer balls through the small path through the trees. This gave Randy a lead he would not relinquish.
The access road was gravel and the ball did not roll as well as we initially thought that it might. We all took many kicks to try and get the ball down to Innovation Way. Then, the "dodging moving cars" part of the fun began. We got a little separated as we all tried to make sure none of our balls got run over by cars. In particular I had quite a bit of problem getting my ball successfully rolling down the street (slight down grade for the first part of Innovation). At the yellow circle, again a "helpful" runner stopped Randy's ball from rolling down the street.
Being several strokes behind at this point, you can see the darker blue line where I deviated course from the other 2. I kicked my ball over a barbed-wire fence and through some grass. I think that this saved me a few strokes. At this point I was on about 55, with Doug at about 51 and Randy around 40. At the green dot, as I kicked my ball across Western Row, a "helpful" construction worker thought it would be funny to give it a good boot back over Western Row, costing me 1-2 strokes as I had to re-kick it across the street.
As we got through the back lawn of where we work, we faced another dilemma. Separating the "goal" of the back patio from where we were is a decent-sized ravine. Over, or around? Doug and Randy went around where again, needing to do something different to get myself out of last place, went over. Well, I tried to go over. Mostly I went through. Again though, after I found my ball through the heavy underbrush (pricker bushes!) it only took me 1 additional stroke to "chip" it out of the weeds and up over a bench and on to the patio. Doug went off the side of the path into the other side of the ravine, whereas Randy got his ball stuck in not one but TWO trees, costing him 10 strokes.
I avoided the dirty looks of the people eating lunch on the patio as I kicked my ball into the goal, finishing last time-wise but in 2nd place with 71 strokes. Doug was last with 75 and Randy was first with a world record of 67 strokes.
All in all a very fun happening and hopefully not the last!
But the game we played is slightly different. First, here are the codified rules:
1. Game starts when each player kicks a soccer ball from the same "tee"
2. Game ends when each player kicks the ball into a pre-determined "goal", which can be set up in any manner that is agreed to by all participants.
3. Players are allowed to take any route they choose.
4. Each time a player touches the soccer ball with their foot, it is counted as 1 stroke. Players are not allowed to throw, head, or otherwise propel the ball besides kicking it. No outside transportation (kicking it into your truck, etc) or help from other people is allowed, except as detailed below.
5. No mulligans are allowed.
6. Players are allowed to, at their discretion, either allow the ball to come to a complete stop, stop the ball manually with their foot (counts as a stroke), or kick the ball again while it is rolling (also counts as a stroke). Players are advised to be aware of potential obstacles in the path of a kicked ball (cars, houses, trees, other people, etc) - all objects are in play.
7. If a ball should have to be extricated from an unplayable position (lake, in a tree, under a car, etc), there is a 5 stroke penalty, and the ball is placed where it entered the unplayable position. If that is on a hill or otherwise causes the ball to move once it is placed, the ball may be allowed to come to rest or kicked while in motion (counts as a stroke).
8. Touching the ball with your hands or any other part of your body (besides the foot) is a 1 stroke penalty. Should the non-foot touch be ruled by the other players to have been intentional, a 5 stroke penalty will be assessed.
9. If an outside participant touches or affects the ball, it is in play (see Rule 6). However, if in the opinions of the other players, an outside person is a "plant" or unfairly aids the player, the ball will be considered dead at the point of the outside person touching it.
10. If a player touches something that inadvertently affects the ball (e.g. the ball is laying in some tall grass on a hill and as the player walks near the ball, it causes the grass to shift and the ball to roll), no stroke will be assessed unless in the opinions of the other players it was egregious and intentional, in which case it will count as 1 stroke.
In our case, we set the course as from Randy's house to our work (about 0.95 miles as the crow flies, or about 1.5 miles with the route we played). Here is an approximation of the route. The colored circles denote interesting events which I will explain below:
We started down at the A marker. First few kicks were pretty easy as the road slopes in the direction we wanted to travel. Randy was able to kick it all the way down his street and around the corner on his "tee shot". Clearly that's because he was cheatingly practicing beforehand. At the orange circle a few things happened. First of all Doug kicked his ball into a parked Mustang whose owner was out mowing his grass. Then a lady walking her baby in a stroller stopped to talk to us and look how weird we were looking. Then Doug kicked his ball right into a tree, causing it to bounce backwards. This caused our spectactors / folks who drove us to the starting line (Molly and Elizabeth) much amusement and caused me to fall to the ground laughing. Then as Randy's ball was rolling down the street, a "helpful" man in a truck got out and stopped the ball as Randy yelled "No no no leave it"
I was in the lead as we made our way out of Randy's development towards the pinkish circle, 1 stroke ahead of Randy and 3 ahead of Doug. This was aided by a beautiful kick over a ditch that Doug and Randy got caught in. We made our way across an open field and towards a small (10-15 foot wide) covering of trees that separated us from the access road that would take us to Innovation Way. We all tried to kick over the trees but none of us were successful. Randy in particular got stuck in a really bad place in the middle of the trees. He pondered taking the 5 stroke penalty but in the end decided to just kick forward. He managed to get through the trees in only 1 or 2 additional kicks, whereas Doug and I used multiple kicks to try and finesse our soccer balls through the small path through the trees. This gave Randy a lead he would not relinquish.
The access road was gravel and the ball did not roll as well as we initially thought that it might. We all took many kicks to try and get the ball down to Innovation Way. Then, the "dodging moving cars" part of the fun began. We got a little separated as we all tried to make sure none of our balls got run over by cars. In particular I had quite a bit of problem getting my ball successfully rolling down the street (slight down grade for the first part of Innovation). At the yellow circle, again a "helpful" runner stopped Randy's ball from rolling down the street.
Being several strokes behind at this point, you can see the darker blue line where I deviated course from the other 2. I kicked my ball over a barbed-wire fence and through some grass. I think that this saved me a few strokes. At this point I was on about 55, with Doug at about 51 and Randy around 40. At the green dot, as I kicked my ball across Western Row, a "helpful" construction worker thought it would be funny to give it a good boot back over Western Row, costing me 1-2 strokes as I had to re-kick it across the street.
As we got through the back lawn of where we work, we faced another dilemma. Separating the "goal" of the back patio from where we were is a decent-sized ravine. Over, or around? Doug and Randy went around where again, needing to do something different to get myself out of last place, went over. Well, I tried to go over. Mostly I went through. Again though, after I found my ball through the heavy underbrush (pricker bushes!) it only took me 1 additional stroke to "chip" it out of the weeds and up over a bench and on to the patio. Doug went off the side of the path into the other side of the ravine, whereas Randy got his ball stuck in not one but TWO trees, costing him 10 strokes.
I avoided the dirty looks of the people eating lunch on the patio as I kicked my ball into the goal, finishing last time-wise but in 2nd place with 71 strokes. Doug was last with 75 and Randy was first with a world record of 67 strokes.
All in all a very fun happening and hopefully not the last!
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