Photo of the day: open road in Texas

by Elizabeth Seward on


There are plenty of motorcyclists in Texas and there’s also plenty of open road. Texas: where summer never really fully ends. I haven’t ever driven a motorcycle myself, but I have spent hours upon hours hitching rides as a motorcycle passenger–it’s fun. But not only is it fun, it’s also so… summer.

Whether you’re navigating roads this summer on a bike, by car, or on foot, there is something distinctly comforting about the view shown in this shot. The open road is one of the first images that comes to my mind when I think of travel and photographer Dani Way caught this open road image with beautiful accuracy.

Wish we’d feature your photo in Photo of The Day? Just upload your shots to the Gadling Flickr Pool then!

Fly or Drive? I can’t decide. Now I don’t have to

by Chris Owen on

Sometimes it’s hard to decide whether to fly or drive to a destination within the continental United States. Cost comes into play either way and sometimes its the price of gas to be concerned about. Other times, flights are expensive so there’s that too. A new online tool takes some of the guesswork out of it and can steer us in the right direction.

The new Fly or Drive Calculator from BeFrugal.com might be just what the doctor ordered for your ailing travel budget and its easy to use. I entered information on a trip from Orlando to Chicago with just a few keystrokes, added my vehicle information, how many hours a day I might drive and what a hotel might cost along the way. Easy-to-navigate screens then asked for my home airport and the airport at my destination along with how much time I thought I needed for check-in at home and at the destination airport after landing. Finally, I could add in transfer cost to and from the airports, baggage fees and either accept the tool’s estimated flight cost or plug in one of my own. The results looked quite realistic.

So much for saving money by driving huh?

The Fly or Drive calculator also gives me turn-by-turn directions on how to get where I am going should I choose to drive and links to air tickets via Priceline or Travelocity should I choose to fly.

I had fun replacing my 2008 Honda Fit with a 1989 Ford Thunderbird V-8 which ran up the price about $300. That might have been worth it though. The T-bird would probably make for a much more enjoyable road trip.

The Fly or Drive calculator is just one tool at BeFrugal.com. They also have tools to help find out how much to spend on a car or another one that tells if its worth buying an Electric Car instead of Hybrid or Gas. The site has online and printable coupons, discounts and special offers from a variety of sources and a round-up section that has the latest ads on stores from fast food to hardware.

This one is a winner and a great example of social media coming home with something we can use. Gadling got this tip from Chris McGinnis, @cjmcginnis on Twitter. That’s sure a good one to follow, all the way to the bank.

Flickr photo by MSVG

Making Cars in the Great Lakes: Inside Ford’s Chicago Assembly Plant

by Paul Brady on

Before I left Chicago for points east, I had a chance to tour Ford’s Chicago Assembly Plant, a complex that finishes about 1160 vehicles a day. A great majority of those are Ford Explorers, pieced together by line workers wearing safety glasses and headphones, working pneumatic tools in a hypnotizing ballet of endless repetition. Whir, whir, whir.

Walking the floor, following pedestrian pathways marked by bright yellow paint, I watched linemen and women raise engine assemblies into vehicle bodies, hang doors and bolt wheels, as conveyor belts ceaselessly inched the unfinished machines ever forward. (A tip: When touring the plant, one steps over the drive-chains running through channels in the floor.)

My tour guide Larry, a dead ringer for Jesse Ventura, even let me jump in a just-finished Explorer the moment it rolled off the line. Videographer Stephen Greenwood, who’s riding along for this part of my ride, captured the mesmerizing shots after the break.

Traveling the American Road – Ford Assembly Plant Tour


Traveling the American Road Kicks off in Chicago

by Paul Brady on

It was a beer-and-snack-fueled kickoff for Traveling the American Road on Tuesday night at Chicago’s Hubbard Inn.

The launch party took over the top floor of the newish restaurant and bar, and the microbrews and conversation were flowing, with local bloggerati and bon vivants passing me tips and offering advice for the next couple of months. (I’m extra eager to check out some recommended roadside attractions that Val of Silly America sends my way.)

We raffled off some sweet swag including round-trip Virgin America flights-and got pumped for our next meet-up, which is TBA in an Eastern Seaboard city. Stay tuned in for announcements from Traveling the American Road on Twitter by following the #americanroad hashtag.

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VIDEO: 50 state stereotypes in 2 minutes

by Meg Nesterov on

Enjoy poking fun at other American states? You might enjoy this video posted by our friends at Huffington Post Comedy covering all 50 state stereotypes in 2 minutes and change. From Alabama ”

Our state bird is the NASCAR” to Wyoming ”

We don’t have any gay cowboys, alright? Okay, maybe a few gay cowboys…”, no state is left unparodied (read the video transcript here). Lest you think video creator Paul Jury is making snap judgements, you may want to read his new book States of Confusion, chronicling his post-college 48-state road trip.

Have a good sense of humor about how others see your state or country? You might also enjoy this map of US state stereotypes as well as maps from other countries. Follow Gadling and AOL Travel’s Road Trip Across America this summer and see how the states live up to their reputation.