World’s Cheapest Road Trip

Apologies for the tabloid-minded headline, but I wanted to get your attention – which I seem to have. So here’s the deal: for the price of airport shuttle ride, you can rent a car and drive across the country. While springtime traditionally marks the lull between the “winter sun” and “summer vacation” seasons, it is also time to profit from the peculiar logistics of the car rental business. Check around in the next few weeks and you can find some outrageously cheap car rental deals – with rates as low as $1.99 a day, or $10 a week, and no drop-off fees.

These deals are both an eye-catching promotion and a classic “win-win” proposition; you get a low rate, and the rental car company gets their cars moved to locations where they can charge more money for it. There’s only one catch, and it’s not usually a deal-breaker: you have to pick up the car in Florida (and sometimes Arizona), and drive it north (and sometimes west).

I’ve done a couple of these over the years – once in March on a 3-week, 7500-mile meander along the “Old Spanish Trail” from St Augustine / Jacksonville to California (on which the car cost me less than $50!), and another in April, winding north from Miami to Maine, following the Appalachian Trail to watch the rhododendrons and azaleas come into bloom along the Blue Ridge Parkway.

The ad I saw that reminded me of these deals is here:

Go online, or call Hertz in the U.S. at 1-800-654-3131 and mention rate code 1WAY.

And with all the money you save, you can buy a copy of Road Trip USA as your passenger-seat companion.

Happy Trails!

February may be the shortest month, but it’s full of events and activities, so if you feel up to braving the suddenly wet and wintry weather and hitting the road, there’s a lot going on. The week after Valentine’s Day is especially active:




On Sunday, Feb 18th, NASCAR fans flock to middle Florida for the Daytona 500 (And cheer on 72-year-old driver James Hylton, who is trying to qualify by racing in the Gatorade Duel. Hyton was NASCAR’s Rookie of the Year – back in 1966!)




Also on Sunday, the rising New Moon marks the start of Chinese New Year. (In the Chinese calendar, AD2007 is the year 4705, which marks the Year of the Boar, also known as Year of the Pig!). People born in the Year of the Pig are said to be chivalrous and gallant; read here for more. And before you hit the road, remember: you’ll have to wait until the Full Moon on Saturday March 3rd to see the brilliantly colorful 200-foot dragon dancing through the streets of San Francisco (and other cities) as part of the Chinese New Year Parade.

Then comes Monday Feb 19th, the day we celebrate Washington’s Birthday. Though our Founding Father was originally born on Feb 11th, 1731, the date was changed when the new! improved! Gregorian Calendar was adopted in 1752, delaying his 21st Birthday party for 11 days… In 1968, Washington’s Birthday was moved to the 3rd Monday in February, and adding to the confusion, this Monday holiday is sometime celebrated as “President’s Day” to remember George as well as Abe Lincoln (whose birthday was Feb 12th, 1809), even though neither of their “actual” birthdays will ever fall on the 3rd Monday in February. For more on the complicated history of this holiday: click here.


Finally, Tuesday Feb 20th is Fat Tuesday, final night of the many weeks worth of party-hearty Mardi Gras celebrations. After Mardi Gras come the distinctly solemn 40+ days of Lenten sacrifice, ending eventually at Easter (on April 8th this year) , but until then -- Let the Good Times Roll!

Up Next: Spring Training!

Cold Enough for Ya?

Well, Mother Nature seems to disagree with last week’s Groundhog Day prognostications of an early spring – as shown by the 10 feet of snow that got dumped on upstate New York in the past few days. So, if winter is going to be with us for a while, we might as well enjoy it, right? Which is exactly what they’re doing up in Syracuse, in the heart of the Empire State's “lake effect” snow belt. On Thursday, Feb 15th, as part of their annual Winterfest carnival, organizers are hoping to tempt some 4,000 hearty Syracusans to brave the cold and flop in the snow to set a new world “snow angel” record.

Local schoolkids and Syracuse University students are being given the day off their studies, because competition for this record is getting fierce. The original snow angel record holder is way out west, in Bismarck North Dakota, where at 1pm this Saturday Feb 17th locals will attempt to reclaim the world record they first set back in 2002, when 1,791 angels-makers flapped their arms on the snow-covered lawn of the state capitol.

Bismarck held the record until last year, when students at Michigan Tech in the upper Upper Peninsula made more than twice that many angels during their annual Winter Carnival. (They also set a new world record for “World’s Largest Snowball Fight", and for making the “World’s Largest Snowball”).

To my mind, winter is generally not the ideal time for taking long road trips, but if you actually like wearing all your clothes at the same time, you may prefer to think about making a reverse migration and hitting the road to one of these winter celebrations. The oldest and perhaps the biggest winter carnival party (in St Paul, Minnesota) has just come to an end, but there’s still time to make your way to another “cool” capital, Ottawa. Every February, Canada’s national capital city is transformed into a winter wonderland, with dozens of snow slides, ice sculptures and miles of ice-skating along the historic Rideau Canal (the “World’s Largest Skating Rink”, just to keep up the Guinness-powered theme).

Stay cool!

Déjà vu all Over Again

That’s right, folks – it’s that time again: February 2nd, better known as Groundhog Day. One of the quirkier traditions in our quirky old country, Groundhog Day is the mid-winter holiday when, according to legends promulgated by the kind folks in Punxsutawney PA, a small rodent named Phil wakes up from his winter sleep to forecast the coming of spring.

Probably rooted in the European Christian traditions of Candlemas, Groundhog Day is much more secular (and silly!). On the morning of February 2nd, “Punxsutawney Phil”, the famous groundhog, ascends from his winter hibernation to look for his shadow. The official interpretation of all this is somewhat counter-intuitive: If Phil-the-Groundhog sees his shadow, winter will continue for six more weeks; but should he emerge and not see his shadow, then spring is just around the corner. Exactly how we know whether or not Phil has seen his shadow is just one of the many intriguing questions surrounding this midwinter event.

The original and official Groundhog Day takes place in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania (starting at 3am!), though many of us will prefer to stay indoors (where it’s warm) and watch the wonderful Bill Murray movie Groundhog Day, which was set in Punxsutawney (which is about 90 minutes northeast of Pittsburgh…) but filmed in Woodstock Illinois, (which is about an hour northwest of Chicago…).

Woodstock (home of the Dick Tracy museum) is a worthwhile detour north from our US-20 road trip route across Illinois.

Click here to learn Punxsutawney Phil’s prediction for 2007 weather, and for anything else to do with Groundhog Day.