Sacramento to New York Road Trip
by Alex Cosper, August 12, 2016
Here's video footage of a road trip from Sacramento to New York City. In seven minutes you can get glimpses
of several national landmarks as if you were taking a quick ride aroun the USA yourself. Most of the footage
was captured on my 1997-1998 road trip to Milwaukee. I worked for about six months at radio station WLUM,
which was owned by Green Bay Packer legend Willie Davis. It was a turnaround project to help the station
recover from sinking ratings.
The first part of the road trip shows footage of the San Franicisco Bay Bridge, although this video was
only made a few years ago and wasn't part of my initial road trip in 1997. That trip included driving
through Los Angeles and Arizona to New Mexico and Texas. I visited friends on the way, including Mr. Ed Lambert,
who was my original radio mentor at KWOD in Sacramento. He wound up programming the top hit music station
in Dallas at that time, KHKS.
The raod trip includes scenes of Elvis' home Graceland in Memphis and then a cold snowy night in Chicago.
I did not shoot much video while I worked at the radio station for the next several months. In the summer
of 1998, before returning to California, I decided to expand my U.S. road trip, first with a visit to
Minneapolis, then a longer road trip to the East Coast. I crossed through Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania and
New York, up to Massachusettes. I then headed back going through New York, Ohio and Michigan. The high
point on the trip was definitely Niagara Falls.
Once I got back to Milwaukee it was time to pack up the entire the pickup truck and head back to Sacramento.
The final leg of the trip included Mount Rushmore in Rapid City, South Dakota and Yellowstone National Park.
It was a once in a lifetime adventure and I was happy to get so much of it on video. At the time I wanted
to visit as many football stadiums as possible, including Three Rivers Stadium in Pittsburgh, which no
longer exists.
Total miles from Sacramento to New York City is 2,818 miles. But that's much lower than the number
of miles I put on my truck for the entire trip. While I enjoyed the entire trip, I doubt I will do that
much driving again. It was refreshing to see so much of America that I had previously only
seen on television. After all that driving I still believe that the best drive in America is
Pacific Coast Highway 1, which is full of gorgeous ocean scenery.
The music on the video - the real reason I want you to check it out - is my own original instrumental
called "Radiation Oozing." It's unique and bizarre music that I wrote while living in the Bay Area.