And the winner is … Sirius

Posted on by Ian C.

As I discussed a couple weeks ago, I purchased both loww cost Sirius and XM receivers to try during The Great Ice Cream Run … I basically planned to stick with XM because it receives under trees on my work route, while Sirius doesn’t.

Well, by the second day of the drive, my decision was made:
I ripped out the XM antenna and receiver, and have been on Sirius ever since!

I found with XM that I frequently had to switch to another channel, because the music style I was listening to didn’t suit me; I just couldn’t find channels I was happy with for long periods.
With Sirius on the other hand, I could select for example channel 22 (my current fave) and basically leave it tuned all day, or at least till I fancied a different style.
For me, the XM programming doesn’t have enough consistency – the DJs aren’t as interesting to listen to either.

So, I’m stuck with a new choice: pay for Sirius and live with it cutting out on my drive to/from work, or give up satellite radio once again … curiously, Sirius received PERFECTLY all through the Blue Ridge Parkway and Skyline Drive, both heavily tree covered.
The trees in Essex must be really thick, or it’s the more northerly angle to the satellites …

Anyway, if anyone wants an XM receiver going cheap … 😉

TGICR day 5 – not so fun

Posted on by Ian C.

Today was too much non-highway driving, and not so much fun – although the ice cream was excellent!

The first part of the drive, to the ice cream at The Riverside Creamery in Port Jervis, was deliberately off-highway and was a nice drive … after lunch I fancied a straight highway haul to Sturbridge, but it would have got us in at 2pm. A couple of people suggested US 7 up Connecticut instead (“very pretty”).
Well, it might be pretty in parts, but if you get tired of it or stuck with traffic – and we did – there’s no other option; we were behind slow vehicles for a long time, encouraging one driver to get crazy. I think some MINI folks forget that we have to respect other road users, even if they’re going slower then we’d like.

When we finally reached highway, we still had 90 miles on the Mass Pike, with regular police activity too … so we finally made it to the hotel at 4:30, and then spent ages doing room swaps to try and find working internet. Not my hotel of choice (last nights Holiday Express was so much nicer!)

Anyway, MINIs are arriving, and some folks from OceanStateMINI are here to greet us – and it’s damn cold (low 50s) so back to long trousers before I go out.

 

This evening, we swamped Enricos – but they handled us extremely well; and their pizza was incredibly good :); we missed the evening ice cream – they were closing before we could make it to them – so we hung out in the motel parking lot and enjoyed chatting, till the Florida folks got too cold 😉