Sunday, December 30, 2007

Roswell rocks!

Today started in one of the greatest towns ever! Roswell New Mexico. There is cool alien stuff everywhere! We had lunch at the place above. Good food and very helpful. Check engine light went on as we were about to leave Roswell. (no anal probing, but it's clear that the aliens wanted us to stay). So some quick internet searches and help from Canyon and Auto Zone found out that it was the IMRC valve. Not a big issue that's pretty much OK now.

We went to the UFO museum and this UFO neon walk thru thing. We found our way by none other than alien ON ON feet.

Inside was pretty cool and cheesy at the same time. $2 well spent! I would like to say more, but it's kind of something one needs to see (and like cheesy alien stuff).
This is some random scene from something like a late 1940's alien movie. Don't know why, but I just like this picture. Also as a camera geek I am really like my Canon G9. Pictures where not easy to take in the neon room, but I put the camera in a ISO3200 mode and the pictures came out pretty well. Wish I had tried this in Carlsbad Caverns.

From Roswell we drove about 200 miles directly north to Santa Fe NM. The drive was great! we saw Sheep, cows, deer, and llamas. Also stopped by Clines Corners for a quick break and some shopping. It was a fun stop and picked up a few gifts.

Not sure what altitude Roswell is at, but the highest point we reached was 7300 feet! (taken from Garmen GPS watch). We're at 6800 now, almost 2000 feet above denver! Tonight we ate at Tortilla Flats. Good local place with good food. Not only did we go out just to eat, but to celebrate Jenn getting an invintation to interview at UCSF for NP grad school. So this means she'll be back in Cali in late jan for a weekend and hopefully attending grad school starting in june!

Tomorrow we'll stop by the Georgia O'Keefe museum, then to the worlds longest tram in Albuquerque, then on to Flagstaff AZ to celebrate new years. More pictures to come!

Saturday, December 29, 2007

Hey hey from Roswell!


Yeah, I'm a dork, but coming so close to Roswell and not stopping to check out some aliens is crazy! So we've decided to spend the night here, watch the pats win, and check out as much alien coolness as possible. So tomorrow we start at the UFO museum and "reseach" center. Not sure how much Jenn is really enjoying this town, but I will say she seems to love the anal probe jokes. They come about once every 10 seconds.

Today was a great day for traveling. We got out of Pecos texas and headed to Carlsbad NM and to Carlsbad cavern. We took 285 notrh from pecos. Thinking it was a smaller road, travel would be slow and we expected a 2 hours ride. Turns out it was a 4 lane higway w/ no cops, no traffic, and no speed limit (it was 80, but who cares). Due to the time change crossing the NM/TX boarder, we arrived close to the time we left.

Before I forget, TX was oil country. These things are everywhere!
Also We stopped in Midland TX, home to George W and Laura Bush. Yeah, this looks like a city, but it's way out of place, there's nothing like it for 100's of miles and there doesn't seem to be any surrounding towns or places to live in town). It has a few big buildings, but the surrounding area seems very impoverished (Roswell is the first town we've seen in 1000 miles that doesnt' seem impoverished).



Carlsbbad cavern was very impressive. The 5 mile drive to the enterance is exception beautiful. We stopped several times to snap a few picts. To enter the cave, you walk down through the natural enterence. A steep winding path that decends 80 stories into the ground.
It's not really possible to descibe what the cave was like in side. We spent about 3 hours walking ~3 miles. Every turn was more impressive than the next. The scale of the this underground cavern was huge. In the Big Room, there is a drop from teh liberity dome to the bottomless pit of ~300 feet! More picts to be posted, but here's a quick pict of the cave towards the end.

The only down side to the cave tour was that they don't let you walk out. They say it's too hard for most people. Fine, but for some it's just fine. Long story short they make you take the elevator. Only 2 of the 4 elevators were running and each elevator can only take 8 people at a time. To make things even better, they had 3o00 people in the cave today. Took over 30min to get out, and that was before the line got big!

So time to head arcross the street and watch the pats win. More updates tomorrow from Santa Fe NM!

Friday, December 28, 2007

Pecos TX


Might have some better pictures coming in a later post. We've stopped for the night in Pecos TX. We're staying at the motel 6 mostly b/c they offer free wireless internet. Can see the wireless thingy but no internet access. So we're logged in via the blackberry. However no verizon EV network coverage here so access is very slow. Kind of reminds me of my TRS80 300 baud days. It may be slow, but their Navajo encryption technology works very well!

To recap the day:
Started out in Longveiw TX. Went about 5 miles west on 20 to Hog's Eye TX. Got some sausage links in a croissant and a very good blended coffee thing. Jenns coffee though brewed fresh was not so good. A quick chat with the locals and we were on our way to ~10 hour drive to Pecos TX. Stopping briefly at two rest stops for gas and food, Midlind TX to say hi to the Pres and Laura, then to Odessa TX to see if we could find the paper factory were the Company hid the virus. No luck.... Then it was a beautiful sunset drive to Pecos.

We ate st the sunset stake house. Had some good stake. Not quite what we expected (we were looking for a traditional texas stake house, this was more of a local low key type place). very good though, salad dressing reminded me of my moms. Also the owners are from worcester. Moved here about a year ago.

And that's where the story ends today. We have a small room w/ a double bed, no internet access and a 6 pack of aged dos equis beer. Tomorrow we are headed north into new mexico. First to Carlsbad to check out the caves, then to Roswell to check out some aliens, then possibly to Santa Fe for some mexican food and hopefully some real 802.11g for proper blogging.

Forgot to mention that we stopped for gas in some tiny middle of nowhere place. Interesting place. About 20 ft from the gas pumps they were smoking beef. Big ol fire... At the time I was not so scared, more interested in getting some real home made beef jerky. We were in luck, they had some. Kept in a card board box, taken out and given to us wapped in a scott towel. Nothing like a slim jim. These were two big long pieces of meat (yeah yeah yeah, I get it....). Not at all easy to eat, but pretty good. Going to try to take another bite tomorrow, I'll let you know how it goes...

Thursday, December 27, 2007

A few words from Jenn...



Hey all! So this is Todd and I heading out of Boston on December 21st. A little later than Todd would have liked, but I wanted him to REALLY think about making the move from Boston. It didn't work. :(

It's now the 27th, 1800 miles and 14 states later, we find ourselves in the middle of east butt-f@*k Texas, and we're still speaking! Only 1400 or so miles to go. We've had a fabulous time so far. The pre-Christmas Christmas was fabulous. The pinky-swear Secret Santa at the Meaney's was a blast, although far from a secret for most. Much to my chagrin, one Mr. Todd Meaney won the 2007 Meaney Scrabble Championship. He was awarded a scholarship and modeling contract to go along with his tiara and boquet of roses.

After a brief visit with the fabulous Sullivan's, we headed south to Atlanta. We stopped in Roanoke, VA for the night where it was a challenge to find food at 10pm. The weather was beautiful on Monday (12/23) to ride through the VA countryside. Lot's of scenery to test out my new camera.

The Hicks family Christmas was low key, relaxing and fun. Jamie was his usually comic self. We had to deal with Petey the wonder-rat. Todd and Dad had a great time sharing in the wonders of the Rhino Liner. (Google it!) It was great to hang out, have a few drinks, and redeem myself from the Scrabble loss by winning at both Trivial Pursuit and my all-time favorite Boggle. (I'll take on all challengers!) I WILL take the 2008 Championship. Start practicing Meaney family!!!

After a few days to recharge, we headed back out on the road today. I even got to drive standard today on the open road. Todd insists that I'm doing well, but I still feel a bit shaky. Just be glad you're not out on the road down here with me!!

After stopping to see the mighty Miss, we headed back on the road. We drove through Shreveport, LA where there are TONS of casinos and where the Independence Bowl is being played. After a failed attempt to find an American steakhouse, we went for the Japanese varietal. The meal was one of the best hibachi dinners ever! We're now at a rad Quality Inn blogging for your entertainment (and ours, I suppose).

I'm now in Texas for the first time ever and looking forward to a long ride through new country tomorrow. We're going to hit Odessa tomorrow to see if we can find out where the virus is being kept in order to save the world (anyone get that reference?!).

On-on to Roswell to find the aliens and their UFOs! Mmm....UFO.

new pictures

http://picasaweb.google.com/todd.meaney/CrossCountryTripSoFar

In Longview texas





Once again it's late and we haven't have much time to blog. Also driving thru parts of the south we lost broad band and only had regular painfully slow internet access. Long trip short, we drove about 750 miles and made it to longview texas. About 120 miles from dallas on RT 20. These picts are not from todays trip but from our ride to ATL and our departure tomorrow. More pictures to follow tomorrow. and maybe another link later tonight.

Above pict is of a steep @$$ runaway truck ramp somewhere in carolina's or virginia.




Big @$$ peach entering GA














Mom and Dad Hicks waving good bye this morning.

Time to up load some more photos.

Broad Band from the road

Hey all, we're just about 20 miles outside of Tuscaloosa AL and up and running on verizons broad band internet connection via a blackberry pearl. Haven't had too much time to blog yet, so we'll start with some catch up. Here's are some picts from Xmas. Started at my parents place in Lenox MA. Had a great time! Left on 12/23 for a 2 day drive to Jenn's parents in Atlanta GA. Met her parents for the first time. They are great! and we had a fantastic low key christmas. Just want we were looking for.

So far we've taken about 300 pictures. We'll get those uploaded soon and post the link. Until then here are a few from Christmas.



Meaney family photo. Notice the 2007 Scrabble champ in the middle :-)


Justin opening his first gift.

Lot's of wrapping paper

Jamie and Jeff dueling cameras
Mmmm beer....

Petey the "wonder" dog.

The Hicks family

Sunday, December 23, 2007

On the road to SLO


Update for Roanoke VA. Stopped here at a holiday inn express after driving 630 miles today. 415 miles to Atlanta. Not sure what amazing thing we'll pull off by sleeping at a holiday inn express, but whatever it is I am sure it will be cool. Stay tuned...

Now a recap of the past few days.
Movers suck, had to ship most of my stuff to SLO. Here's a pict of the last 3 boxes to be shipped and a packed car ready for the trip.
Spent 2 days at Home in Lenox. Had a great time. Lot's of presents exchanged, good food, and of course watched "It's a wonderful life".
A link to more pictures will be posted someday. On our way out of town, Jenn and I stopped in to visit the Sullivan family. Always a fun and educational time. Today we learn that if you boil a sealed can of condensed milk for 3 hours, it's doesn't violently explode like one would think. Rather it turns the milk into caramel. Alchemy at it's best! Don't believe me? he's the picture proof.



Now it's 12:05am and we're off to book Jenn's flights from SLO to Seattle and then to Boston. Jenn will be heading to Seattle to interview at the University of Washington for their Nurse Practitioner program (#1 program in the country!). Mostly it's time to sleep. Keep checking in, more to come!

Monday, December 17, 2007

Moving update






Haven't had much time to post recently. Few things going on...

First the car accident. Don't want to go in to it but everyone was fine, all it takes a lot of money and about two weeks and we're back to normal...


Moving stuff back to Lenox. Wasn't the orignal plan, but turns out the movers couldn't really commit to when they would pick my stuff up or drop it off. Honestly, cable companies give you a tighter window of when they'll be there.

Wouldn't be the holidays with out a redneck christmas party with a visit by cuffy claus.

















Then of course the snow came. In most places, snow fall is usually a sign of fun times to come. Skiing, sledding, peaceful snow covered landscape. In Boston, snow fall sucks @$$. People forget how to drive. There's nowhere to put the stuff, and city plows and @$$hole neighbors pile snow on your car rather than covering up the snow that's already in their yard. Here are before and after picts of Jenn's car after 2 storms. More snow to come wednesday!

















This wasn't so much about the move. Prety much just about all the fun we're having getting ready for the move. This friday around noon Jenn and I are taking off for Lenox, then to Atlanta, then out west. With anyluck we'll have internet access from the car and will be blogging as we drive.

Merry Christmas!!!

Tuesday, December 4, 2007


Here it is. My apt in SLO. Wanna see more pictures? Sure you do, just follow this link. http://picasaweb.google.com/todd.meaney/SLOApartment

Last few days have been busy looking at apts and getting back to boston. Signed my lease around 3:15 on monday. Got a call from united around 3:30 saying that my flight had been cancelled and I was rebooked for an early flight tuesday. Not good. Then they called 60 seconds later tell me that there was a plane leaving in 40min and asked if I could make it. Lucky for me, SLO is small and my office is about 2 miles form the airport. 30 min had passed between the time I talked to united to when I was on the plane. 10 mile later we were off to a 5 hour layover in san fransico (at least I got to watch the Pats game).

Long story short apt hunting was not much fun. Very happy with my place though. It's 1.4 miles from work and 1.8 from all the bars. I did see one other place that was pretty nice. 100 yard fro mthe beach with a great view of the ocean and not to meantion this guy.

The apt was located on the enterence to hte sand dunes, so ATV, 4x4, and dune buggy traffic run 24/7 and get's really bad during the summer.

Now just need to pack, party, and head out west...

Saturday, December 1, 2007

SLO moving, scouting trip day 2


Slo today was the first real day of apt scouting. Ended up going to 5 places. The first place was interesting at best. He said it used to be a garage, I would say by the smell it was a chicken coop. It did have a lot of interesting features, but none of them remotely usable as living space. What does that really mean? It means if for some crazy reason I was drunk I would proably die from trying to navigate all the "interesting" features. Also I find it odd that I have to pass thru a walk in closet to get to the stand up shower thing. I just don't know enough words to continue describing this so I'll just say it was like a 6 year old MC Escher had designed a chicken coop in Visio and some how it actaully got made. At least he wanted a lot of money for it. I don't have a pict, but here's a good drawing. Just imagine all the creepy faceless people aren't there.

The next place actually wasn't too bad. For those newporters out there, think east bay village, but reasonably priced and none of the crazy management. 3rd place was also nice, maybe I'll live there. 4th place was nice but really expensive. It seems prices here aren't really based on location of how nice they are. Price is mostly based on how delusional the owner is what they think the place is worth. Yes, the paint is nice, but not $200/month nice. The fumes, though nice, are not worth giving up beer for.

Dinner tonight was at the only brewey in town. Excellent beer and burger. Even got a tip on a place to live very close to work. A bit more than I was to spend, but it does have a washer, dryer, fireplace, and small airport. I know what you're thinking. Having you own small airport would be great. And it would be except it's only serviced by American Airlines and Southwest. It will be a cold day in SLO before I ever ride those airlines again.

Beer of the night is a porter from Anchor Steam (san fran) and a porter from Firestone (Paso Robles). Drinking the anchor now, very good stuff.

The plan for tomorrow is to check out some apts in the beach communities. Not down town SLO, but on the water and very quiet.

Oh yeah, the flight out. Not bad for free. Bad head winds, took over 7 hours from boston to san fran. So they played two movies. The second, "Shooter" was pretty good, hot chick, lots of action (but if you ask Jenn it was two hours of marky mark). The first movie "No resevations" was a total tear jerking chick flick. I didn't want to watch, but what could I do??? I mean who writes this stuff? Who really thinks it's fun to be emotioinally tortured for 2 hours? Honestly, I think my breast were swollen and sore when the movie was over. Though I find this odd, I am starting to get an idea of why so many male flight attendants turn gay (not that there's anything wrong with that).