Cross Country in 4 Minutes

September 9, 2009 12:06 PM

A road trip from San Francisco to Washington D.C. in time lapse.
posted by The Devil Tesla (24 comments total)

Previous roadtrip time lapse video FPPs -1 | 2.
posted by ericb at 12:11 PM on September 9 [1 favorite]

This concept has gotten played out.
posted by cashman at 12:24 PM on September 9

great video. Is it edited or really a picture every x seconds?
posted by milestogo at 12:25 PM on September 9

I still enjoy this concept although it certainly isn't new anymore.
posted by josher71 at 12:26 PM on September 9

Did you see me? I waved from the boring middle part.
posted by roue at 12:26 PM on September 9

The youtube comments say the "boring" stuff (Kansas) has been edited out. Nice vid, thanks.
posted by jontyjago at 12:33 PM on September 9

Funny how so much of our country is just miles and mile of miles and miles.

I've taken this trip quite a few times and about 3 days in you start jabbering.

I've done LA to Miami, you'd want to edit Texas out. I sure did.
posted by Ruthless Bunny at 12:37 PM on September 9

I'm actually kind of annoyed that he cut out the boring stuff. The whole point to me was getting a proportional sampling of pictures. I wanted to see just how big the boring part of the trip was!
posted by dfan at 12:38 PM on September 9 [4 favorites]

^ ++
posted by Palamedes at 12:40 PM on September 9

Yes, a bit played out, but always fun.
posted by Lacking Subtlety at 1:05 PM on September 9

Is that an upside-down car near the middle?
posted by gottabefunky at 1:06 PM on September 9

I could swear I saw some city scenes twice...

He does get major props for stopping off in Metropolis, IL, though.
posted by 1f2frfbf at 1:07 PM on September 9 [1 favorite]

I like the part where they're driving.

No seriously though, I'm hopefully going to be doing the long version of that exact trip in a year! I liked getting a 4-min. preview.
posted by iamkimiam at 1:33 PM on September 9

The music is Michael Nyman's An Eye for Optical Theory (from Peter Greenaway's film "The Draughtsman's Contract".)

It's a nice piece, but I wouldn't recommend traveling across the country with that on a loop. Not if you want to finish your trip sane.
posted by twoleftfeet at 1:42 PM on September 9

I was hoping I could identify the Missouri part and maybe catch a glimpse of an exit or two near me, but alas, it was probably edited out.
posted by schyler523 at 1:49 PM on September 9

That video gave me epilepsy.
posted by Pecinpah at 1:57 PM on September 9

I am glad I saw this - saved me the trip.
posted by Quillcards at 2:57 PM on September 9

Am I the only person that looked at this and thought "Christ, what an asshole, he stays in the left lane the entire trip!" I bet his blinker was on too.

Doesn't anyone KEEP RIGHT EXCEPT TO PASS anymore? Isn't that the law in the US? I know it is in NJ.
posted by Geckwoistmeinauto at 3:12 PM on September 9 [2 favorites]

I know keeping to the right to pass is the law in PA, but in MD, it's every car for their own goddamned self.
posted by sperose at 3:52 PM on September 9

Geckwoistmeinauto: (eponysterical?)

He was driving an M3 with a radar detector mounted, so it's entirely possible that while executing passing maneuvers, he was rarely in the right lane for more than 10 seconds at a time.
posted by zeypher at 4:49 PM on September 9

I went through Texas about that fast back in '92, but a time lapse of that would have looked like a still picture with flickering oil pumps.
posted by Jimmy Havok at 6:12 PM on September 9

Geck, I was about to post the same comment.
posted by maxwelton at 7:38 PM on September 9

I've done DC to San Diego twice now. The first time, at Day Three we bought a Harry Potter book and I spent the next two days reading it outloud. The second time, Days 3-4-5 came after being stuck in Kansas City in a very bad snowstorm, so the jabber had been paused by three days of spending time with the friend we were crashing with.

In hindsight, except for the crashing my car in said snowstorm (we and my stuff were fine, the car not so much. Rented an SUV to get the rest of the way), the latter trip was less jabber-worthy. But next time I get some of the Dresden Files and read those outloud. I got really sick of doing the Snape Voice. Hell on the throat.
posted by FritoKAL at 9:52 PM on September 9

Nothing beats the real thing - the heat, the annoying drivers, the smell of exhaust, the heat, the annoying drivers, the delirium.
posted by Frugalforlife at 11:21 AM on September 10