I need a spot of help before the 1st...

[luciazephyr]

My NaNoWriMo novel revolves around a road-trip up the east coast of the US. Anyone who lives there or has visited and doesn't mind helping me out, I need some research info.


Tell me anything you can about the culture, attitude, landscape, roads, and people of the following states, please. My current notes are as follows.

South Carolina:

North Carolina:

Virginia:

Maryland: Take 95 North. Land's flat. All small towns sans Baltimore. Everything from the Beltway into DC, from the Beltway out for perhaps 20 miles, plus everything between DC and Baltimore, is a fairly unbroken mass of strip-mall suburbia. "Small town" really doesn't apply.

Pennslyvania: Take 476 North to New York State. Roads have tolls, usually $1.50. Costs $8 to cross state. Tolls are more expensive in NY. AMISH IN LOWER STATE. Hilly highways, roads have concrete dividers. Lots of hills, evergreen trees, maple, pine. Few animals, deer, turkey. Few tiny mountains, some rivers, mostly small towns, sans Philly. Deer and other animals like to be in the middle of the damn road, so swerving occurs. Also, highways through hills can be narrow and claustrophobic.

New York:

Massachusetts:



So. NaNo. *frets* I'll be spending the next three days on Wikipedia and Google, looking up things for NaNoWriMo, forgetting to takes notes over them, then having to re-research them while I'm fighting to get my 1600 per day wordcount.

-Luce

Comments

[isiscolo.livejournal.com]

[via friendsfriends]

Um. Have you ever BEEN to Maryland? Everything from the Beltway into DC, from the Beltway out for perhaps 20 miles, plus everything between DC and Baltimore, is a fairly unbroken mass of strip-mall suburbia. "Small town" really doesn't apply.

(I grew up there.)

[http://users.livejournal.com/_archaicangel_/]

I live in PA, and I've been up and down the east coast a lot so I consider myself an expert. And if your novel is about a road trip you should note that one of the big things about driving in PA especially is that the deer and other animals like to be in the road. And that most people will swerve into a tree rather than hit them, it actually kills a bunch of people (so does hitting deer and other large animals). The highways can be really narrow in some hilly areas and sometimes it feels like you're in a cattle chute (esp if you're on the turnpike).

I'm not sure how much of that is relevant, if you need more just ask.

[cobrasnaps.livejournal.com]

If you're hitting up DC, give me a holler. ;D