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Knocked off another of The Great Burgers of the World yesterday, the “Hamburger and Fries” from “The Burger Joint” in SF, at the corner of “Haight” and “Pierce”. (Would’ve put SF in quotes, but it seemed too obvious.)

Here’s what it looked like part-way through:

The now-traditional bad cell phone hamburger photo.

You can check out other blog entries (of mine) regarding GQ Top 20 hamburgers on my other blog here, if you’re so inclined (and who wouldn’t be?). Plus you can encounter my raving narcisissm more clearly on display.

As for this burger — I don’t know any more whether any burger deserves to be in the Top 20 of anything. That said, it was a really good burger. Very straight-up, nothing fancy about it: burger, lettuce, tomato, onion, pickle. Was fried-to-order, medium-rare (and a little on the rare side at that!). Cost like $11, which would be steep if it weren’t in “San Francisco”. Fries were big, but average. Only issue with the burger was a little bit of disintegrating bun syndrome, though not as bad as some I’ve had and probably hard to avoid given how much blood was still seeping out of the patty.

And I tried to get the #11 burger for dinner tonight in Napa, but was told that they “sold out of hamburgers at lunch”. I think that disqualifies that one from the list.

Having now showered for three nights in a row (!) and therefore going soft,

bkd

(Side note: very, very good-looking cashier — sorry, no photo. If it’d been LA, I’d have assumed she was an “actress”; not sure what the SF equivalent is.)

I figure there are a number of you out there who would like my 121-day road trip to be more meaningful to you, but currently don’t have enough at stake for it to feel that way. So I’m providing odds and you can bet.

Number of Bears I Will Have Seen
0 –> 2 to 1
1 –> 4 to 1
2 –> 7 to 1
3 –> 15 to 1
4 or More –> 3 to 1

Mileage At Which Point I First Utter “Man, This Was a Stupid Idea” (or similar)
Over/Under –> 4,812

Will I Have a Mechanical Breakdown?
Yes/No –> 2 to 3

Number of Comments Received About My California License Plate
Over/Under –> 29

Number of National Parks Actually Visited
Over/Under –> 21 (23 are currently in the itinerary in some way or other)

Number of Times Pulled Over
0 –> 2 to 1
1 –> 3 to 1
2 –> 5 to 1
3 –> 10 to 1
4 or more –> 21 to 4

First Infraction for Which Pulled Over
Speeding –> Even
No Front License Plate –> 3 to 1
Weaving –> 9 to 1
Failure to Stop –> 20 to 1
Field –> 9 to 1

Will I Actually Use My Inflatable Kayak?
Yes/No –> 5 to 3

Will I Actually Use My Bike?
Yes/No –> 7 to 5

Will I Actually Fish?
Yes/No –> 5 to 1

Number of Posts to This Blog  That I’ll Write During the Trip
Over-Under –> 70

Number of Actual Days I’ll Be on the Trip
Over-Under –> 122

State That, Immediately After the Trip, I’ll Say Was My Favorite
Washington –> 5 to 1
Oregon –> 7 to 1
Montana –> 9 to 1
California –> 10 to 1
Minnesota –> 20 to 1
New Hampshire –> 20 to 1
North Carolina –> 25 to 1
Virginia –> 25 to 1
Tennessee –> 30 to 1
Michigan –> 40 to 1
Vermont –> 40 to 1
Maine –> 40 to 1
South Carolina –> 50 to 1
South Dakota –> 50 to 1
Wyoming –> 60 to 1
West Virginia –> 60 to 1
North Dakota –> 60 to 1
New York –> 100 to 1
Mississippi –> 100 to 1
Kentucky –> 100 to 1
Illinois –> 100 to 1
Georgia –> 150 to 1
Texas –> 150 to 1
Utah –> 150 to 1
Field (other 24 states) –> 12 to 1

Site That, Immediately After the Trip, I’ll Say Was My Favorite
Glacier National Park –> 14 to 1
Olympic National Park –> 20 to 1
Boundary Waters –> 20 to 1
Oregon Coast –> 20 to 1
Yosemite National Park –> 20 to 1
USAF Museum –> 25 to 1
Charleston –> 25 to 1
White Mountains (New Hampshire) –> 25 to 1
Natchez Trace –> 50 to 1
Mt. Baker Area –> 50 to 1
Great Smoky Mountains National Park –> 50 to 1
Field –> Even
(This one’s dodgy — the state one is probably better.)

Number of “Click-It or Ticket” Signs I See
Over-Under –> 187

Will I See a Car on Fire?
Yes/No –> Even

Actual Number of Gallons of Gas Put into Tank
Over-Under –> 1,345

Actual Number of Miles Driven
Over-Under –> 21,844

Actual Number of Miles Hiked (Doesn’t Include Walking Around in Cities)
Over-Under –> 480

Should be enough to get things started. Am open to suggestions on other possible wager subjects. Enjoy.

bkd

It’s not the checklist of things that I think are necessarily great, it’s more just the collective “wisdom” (or my interpretation thereof) of the most famous sites in the USA:

• The Alamo
• The Empire State Building
• The French Quarter
• Golden Gate Bridge
• The Grand Canyon
• Hollywood — It’s a ghetto, but it’s an iconic ghetto to which people attach unrealistically romantic expectations. Ergo: checklist.
• Hoover Dam
• The Liberty Bell
• Mount Rushmore
• The National Mall (Washington Memorial, Lincoln Memorial, Capitol, Smithsonian)
• Niagara Falls
• Old Faithful
• St. Louis Arch
• Statue of Liberty

The Next Flight: Alcatraz, Arlington National Cemetery, Broadway (Times Square), the Brooklyn Bridge, Cape Canaveral, Central Park, Death Valley, Disneyland, Ellis Island, the Everglades, Fisherman’s Wharf, the Freedom Trail, Gettysburg (although it’s not like there’s anything to see…), Kitty Hawk, the Las Vegas Strip, Metropolitan Museum of Art, Miami Beach, Pike Place Market, the San Diego Zoo, the Sears Tower, Waikiki Beach, the White House, Wrigley Field

Thoughts?

bkd

Had a few ideas for themes that are photo-related.

Take a photo of…

1. Every falling-down barn I see (not sure I have the patience for this one).
2. Every lighthouse I see (I’d be doing this one regardless of formal theme designation).
3. Every gas station I fill up at.
4. Every place I sleep.
5. All the trailhead signs for trails I hike.

Maybe.

bkd

I’ve had a few people ask me about whether I was going to try and “hit all x of y” during the trip. Actually, I’ve had two people ask me this and both with the same example: catch a game at all 30 Major League baseball parks. So: I’m not doing that. But I still have some themes lined up. Ready?

You sure?

Cuz I can do this later if you want.

K, ready?

Themes currently planned into the itinerary:

• The 20 Best Hamburgers (as defined by this article from GQ): SF, Napa, Seattle, Chicago, Ypsilanti or Dearborn, Newport RI, New Haven, NYC (x2?), Philly (x2?), San Antonio NM, and Santa Fe. I’ve hit a few of the others, but if I do all of the above, I’ll only be missing the one in Hackensack, NJ and Hollywood, FL. (I probably won’t hit all of the above — they’re uncomfortably concentrated in a few cases.)
• National Parks  — per the as-yet unpublicized Ninth Itinerary, I’d hit as many as 24 of the 58, including (only?!) 17 that I haven’t visited before.
• “Great Day Hikes” — There was an article about The 100 Greatest Day Hikes in the last Backpacker magazine. I’m not really using that as a checklist, but I like the concept and day-hiking is kind of the skeleton around which the rest of the trip has been planned.
• Military and Flight Museums: McMinnville maybe, USAF in Dayton, USMC in Quantico, USN Flight in Pensacola.
• US Tourist Checklist Stuff I Haven’t Done Before — although, I’m not sure what I’d count under this other than Mt. Rushmore, Niagara Falls, the Statue of Liberty (and I *lived* there even), the French Quarter, and The Alamo. Maybe that’s enough — but if I go just three hours out of my way, I can also see the St. Louis Arch! (Meh.)

Had some other theme ideas also that are sort of in the hopper, although I worry that they’ll get in the way of having an actual semi-relaxing, enjoyable trip. Ah well. They would be:

• Photographing every broken-down farm building that I see.
• Photographing every gas station I tank up at.
• Photographing every state line crossing (so trite).
• Collecting a shot glass (or key chain or baby spoon or hat pin or…) from each state and/or Sehenswürdigkeit.

Any further thoughts appreciated. Unless they’re no good.

bkd