Never Take A "Data-Driven" Road Trip

My late father-in-law was an aerospace engineer, and his adult children still gripe about the trauma of family road trips he planned. We must hit the next sight-to-be-seen! No time for dinner! No, we can't just stop here and enjoy ourselves!

NPR found someone even less likely to plan a good time.
Randy Olson, a Ph.D. candidate at Michigan State University and a self-proclaimed "data tinkerer," believes he's devised a route that could allow a family to hit a landmark in each of the Lower 48 states, from Grand Canyon in Arizona to the Gateway Arch in St. Louis to the Statue of Liberty in New York, in just nine days of driving.

"About 9.33 days, if you drove non-stop," Olson clarifies.

That means no time sleeping or using the restroom — and no bad traffic.
Allow me to suggest: no.

5 comments:

raven said...

There can be only one answer-
Ducati 1099 Panigale.

E Hines said...

He's a computer science PhD candidate. This strikes me as a relatively straightforward exercise in linear programming, with enough waypoints to make it an interesting computer algorithm/programming exercise.

What concerns me is that he (and his team!) apparently are doing this as part of his doctoral research; it strikes me as more of a sophomore/junior computer science or arithmetic exercise.

I'm idly curious about what Federal grant paid for this effort.

But that's the state of our education system these days.

Eric Hines

Dad29 said...

Double-dog-dare him to try it with 3 chilluns under the age of 14.

Texan99 said...

This is why I've never even considered a guided trip or group tour--nor do I want to go on vacation with a "strong colleague."

Vicki said...

What's the point of going on a vacation trip if you can't sight-see, lollygag, goof around, "stop-and-smell-the-roses" etc.? Don't tell me "vacation" and then hustle me from place to place without time to just look around!!