Zyx's Road Trip: Day Six

Technical problems, offline regions, and some frights made Zyx Flux's 6th day on the road rather trying, it seems, but she and her pack snail, Shelly, soldiered on and took in some interesting sights. Here's her report:

Shelly and I left Smaug (SLurl) after good breakfast with the elves and a morning workout in the garden, heading Southwest on Route 9 into Granmyr and Quetzal. Nothing exciting there, but more structures showed up when we entered Malchior (SLurl). It wasn't until arriving in Gorynych (SLurl; profile feed), though, that the first of the ubiquitous purple crystals showed up. Shelly wanted Second Breakfast so we stopped and I wrote to the crystal maker, Plexore Lumiere, sending the message off by speedy dragonfly. I thanked him for helping make this road trip fun by sharing his crystals and asked if he put them out for fun or for part of a large art project. If I get a reply I'll post the information here or in my Profile Feed.

Mostly the trip so far has been billboards, empty land, screened properties, and landmark auto-givers, before coming across the second crystal of the day in Piserchia (SLurl). There is a small lake in Foyle Gully (Slurl) with some furniture just floating in place and a really, really cool temple-like structure. I don't know how the furniture is just hanging there, but by the looks of the structure (made by the super-talented Elicio Ember), there must be some magics at work. Shelly was skittish just looking so we moved on. She got scared again at the intersection of Route 9 and West Coast Road in Dewey (SLurl) when she saw dragon statues at a Halloween store. She moved so fast I didn't even get a picture.

When Shelly finally slowed down we were in Strata (SLurl) and she needed a rest, so I pulled her over and decided to stretch my wings while she snoozed on the road side. I saw a distant city to the West and decided to check it out, but it turned out to be very near and miniature, only making it look far away. I quickly went back to get Shelly, struggling to fly her there, but it was worth it. We rode about "United States of America USA ($) (USD) Calling Code 001 / +1", terrorizing the town. Even the miniature tanks weren't enough to fend off our assault. We had a grand time, but eventually we had to get back on the road. The radio reports of down regions all around us made us want to get moving.

The citizens have fled in terror before the might of the giant snail and pixy.

The filling station should make for a satisfying explosion ...

In Reverie, one of the regions that was reported as down, we found Gion Higashi (SLurl), a beautiful Japanese home with gardens. I didn't understand all the paths being badly textured Zen gardens, but on the whole it is a very pleasant place to visit. Not far down the road to the South is another rez zone so you can rez your own vehicles and in intersection with The Moleway (SLurl), a little road extension into the Exxilon region that has some abandoned land I'm really tempted to buy.

A few regions ahead were offline, but that wasn't a hardship because in Zeds Pitch, Shelly and I found Jasmine's Hollow (SLurl), a fabulous little natural park just filled to the brim with flowers, trees, and grasses. Before bedding down for the night in a hollow log, Shelly and I chased butterflies in the meadow, bathed in the pond, and danced in the waning sunbeams. This place is quite stunning and I'm really tempted to put it in my Profile Picks.

The meadow is rampant with flowers and lush grasses, more than enough to keep the roaming deer happy.

I love this little cottage. Its for "biggies," but it's almost a good size for a petite pixy like me.

Zyx's Road Trip: Day Five

Zyx Flux, my wee pixy friend, is on a road trip to travel the length of Route 9 on the Second Life mainland. On Day 5 she really racked up the miles, as you can see on this map:

Here's here report:

Left the petting zoo (SLurl) after a good night's sleep and moved south-by-southwest on Route 9 to immediately find two more shops for Outy's particles and scripts (SLurl) and another giant purple crystal. What was more impressive, though, was an amazing techno-medieval-fantasy-goth complex in Giyeok behind one of the shops. It was behind a ban line so we turned around and went across the road to a re-creation of Egypt behind the other Outy's shop.

Entrance to the amazing techno-medieval-fantasy-goth "thing" I found.

Part of Egypt, inside a giant box. There is a wonderful house with pool, some bedouin tents, lots of camels, and even more sand. Shelly, my pack snail spent most of her time at the pool so she wouldn't dry out.

Pretty landscape in Kenfield and a vehicle rez zone rest stop (SLurl) just before a bridge with a great view of the the ocean to the West. We stopped mid-way across the bridge and I could just barely make out something under the water's surface, below a salvage buoy, so I tethered Shelly, my pack snail, to the railing and spun some pixy magic to make an air bubble to wear while I checked out what I saw. It turned out be a derelict submarine, sunk to the seabed and decaying. Some sort of green haze was spewing from the side and I can guess from the size of the enormous jellyfish nearby that it was somehow nutrient-rich. Because of the fierce creatures I didn't stay to investigate long, but I was able to nick some coins from a treasure chest I found.

I have to wonder if the Linden Moles were building a Navy to invade the private estates and bring them into the Mainland.

Lovely sunrise over the bridge. This is from the overlook on the Western end, above a small beach.

After relaxing on a little beach and enjoying a scenic overlook, Shelly and I decided to just put on a few miles, enjoying the sites but not stopping. The journey has been taking too long and we both miss our homes. We did see some beautiful buildings, though, including a fabulous castle (behind ban lines, naturally) and some pretty private homes with gardens and courtyards. We came across the other end of Route 10 and stopped for a rest and a debate about how much time it would have saved us by taking that road instead. We concluded that the only way to know was to try it sometime then we laughed at the absurdity and went on our way. I think we are both tiring of the trip at this point. There was another Outy's shop in Quinglong (SLurl) but not much else, so keeping our pace wasn't a problem until we came across a nice Scottish parkland at the Institute of Cyberculture Studies in Elvarg (SLurl). There was lots of pretty, but the greenhouses were empty. I wonder if they need a pixy gardner? The whole region, apparently controlled by the Institute, is very attractive and pleasant, but totally devoid of students. I was hoping to meet some people so I could hear more of the Scot's dialect so I could better understand my friend, Kerrie. She's from Scotland and she's hard to understand sometimes.

Reluctantly we left the Institute and moved into the vast empty that is the Xenosaur region, but at least we did get to speak to some actual people. One was half-naked and dressed like a pony but both ladies were pleasant. We didn't stay long as Shelly was eager to get moving, so on we went. The landscape was so bleak that we almost turned East on another Route 10 (SLurl) to checkout the beaches but I reminded Shelly that our goal was to follow Route 9 all the way. Good thing I coaxed her back to our intended route because we came across a beautiful magical forest in Smaug (SLurl). Shelly and I romped in the fields of flowers, played Tag with the deer, talked to the fairies and mermaids, and fell asleep in the castle. What a great ending to the day!!

Sunset on the elve's castle. A very lovely spot.

Zyx's Road Trip: Day Four

How the heck does a pixy work an iPhone? According to the e-mail I received, Zyx Flux's road trip report for today was "sent from my iPhone." Those things are huge compared to her. And I'm jealous. I want one. *sigh*

Started in Maeshil (SLurl) and headed up a hill into another urban area in the Saengseon region past billboards (I thought that 'land cutting' was banned, but I guess if it is for billboards, its okay) and shops. It wasn't all developed land, though, as the Dutch pride filled Theresia Park (SLurl) shows. Some of it looked planned out, but here are a lot of sheep grazing there and chickens strutting about. Some of the structures? A tasteful memorial, a church, and a synagogue. Visitors can take advantage of the couples dancing and even special animations for walking hand-in-hand with your sweetie.

The park is at the intersection of Route 9 and Route 10, a spot (SLurl) you can rez your own vehicle if you don't want to wait for one to pass by — I saw a Sherman tank and a wheel-burning Cadillac. Just past that intersection are some buildings that will look familiar if you spent any time in "Occupied Squares" (see yesterday's report) and the same rune stones I saw earlier.

After Saengseaon, Shelly my pack snail and I passed through the generally well-developed regions of Yeot, Bun Shik, and Yangbaechu. Lots of shops and homes and totally empty structures, but nothing remarkable until I came across some parkland in Yangbaechu (SLurl), courtesy of a near by vehicle dealer. While I visited the swans, I couldn't help but meditate on the variety of construction techniques I've seen on my journey and how this park reflected the diversity. Good quality sculpted rocks were set into an artificial pond which had comparatively amateurish construction: slapped together docks, badly set textures, and the like. Adjacent to all this and in contrast are some  fairly high-quality pre-fabs with nice textures. Unlike most private estates, mainland readily shows this varied mixture of land decorating skills, yet some how it is exciting to see items that appear to have been around since the Dawn of Second Life Time — and set in place since the, too — near the latest products available to land owners. With the jumble of parcels abutting each other holding the various tastes and styles creates an environment unlike anything you'll see in Real Life. Mainland is almost an art form unto itself.

Leaving my musings behind, I loaded Shelly onto the back of a Go-Kart I found in Eunhaeng (SLurl) and headed out again. We got about 15 meters away, crashed, and decided to proceed under our own steam, vowing to avoid human transportation from then on. More shops and homes along the roadside as we moved through other regions and we came across another of the ubiquitous crystals I've written about in Sanddaigi. I suppose we'll see those everywhere we go. In fact, a crystal was near a stonehenge-like construct at the intersection of Route 9 and Route 9a in Mogwa (SLurl). It was part of the Winthrope Industries land, a shop with a really attractive building but that I failed to enter. Across the street is a really large shopping complex with a huge swimming pool! Shelly wanted to move on, though, as it was a salt water pool and snails don't care for them. After a brief lunch under an enormous tree, we set out again and a fair pace.

It wasn't too long before we entered the Hae An region and found The Snake Pit (SLurl), a place that seemed to be part residence, part snake shrine, and part night club, but as the landowner had set "free rez" on the land, it was also an ersatz sandbox littered with various prims. Curious about how often the land owner checks his/her parcel, I razzed a fresh one named and named it "A prim I left at the Snake Pit 3/3/12" so I could track when it is returned. Then I looked around a bit at all the snake decorations and pretty Bird of Paradise plants and rode a couple of the turtles for a while. Leaving there we travelled through the Choi region which seemed to be filled with private homes, billboards, and lots of "meh."

In Haman, I poked around inside another Outy's scripting shop (SLurl) before moving on again to the next Outy's location a few hundred meters away in Asan (SLurl). There must be good money in scripts and particles to be able to afford what seems to be thousands of small shops all across the mainland. On the whole, today's journey has been fast and un-remarkable, though I did enjoy finding two classic noobie buildings in Hwaryeo.

Shelly and I made good time as we passed a number of attractive homes, many with nice gardens, and quite a few rental properties. We were headed to Solbim and the Petting Zoo (SLurl) we had read about in some guide book that was laying discarded at a roadside rest. It sits on some abandoned land and turns out to be just a group of animal-shaped sculptures. But they were cute and Shelly felt right at home. I petted her for a while like she was one of the critters then settled down to write this report before setting up a bed for my pack snail and myself in a Volkswagen Beetle "replicar" parked next to the zoo.

Zyx's Road Trip: Day Three

Looking at the map, I'd say that my pixy friend Zyx Flux is making good time on her journey. Her report indicates she flew for a bit of time so that might explain it.

Started on the Bbang - Salgu border (SLurl) and proceeded North on Route 9.

Found a nameless parkland in Salgu (SLurl), across the road from the shopping area in my last report (didn't realize I was in Salgu for that part of the trip nor did I see the large Christian church on the grounds of the retreat ... I'll have to stop back for a look at another time). There are grasses, flowers, trees, and large rune stones of some sort — and a crude (in a couple senses of the word) statue that might offend some girls. Or not. But it wasn't for me. Despite the lack of name and any clear purpose, I enjoyed my visit. Any time I find a nice meadow or park land, I have to stop and investigate. I am a gardner, after all.

After passing into the Caeshu region I came across a young lady just sitting — well, floating, actually — on some abandoned land (SLurl). What struck me is that she had a "Movie Star" group tag. I'd seen two others in a similar situation, one on each of my previous two days. I can't say for sure if it was the same girl or not, but her look today wasn't familiar. She didn't reply to my greetings, however, so maybe she was one of those "land bots" I've heard about. Otherwise, Casehu is a dull place filled with ban lines and games of chance along the roadside. Much of this trip was a battle with ban lines, I'm sad to say.

In Doomaekkot nothing much happened for the whole 2 minutes I was there except the road bent Westward to the Dacham region, both filled with ban lines, too. But in the latter sim I came across another so-tagged Movie Star, and I hadn't seen her before, either!  These girls are becoming as regular as those mysterious purple crystals I've been seeing. This one, too, was just sitting on the ground, ignoring everything. Quickly I composed a message on some parchment I had and stuck it to her with some slime from Shelly, my pack snail.

[16:53] Zyx Flux: Hello! I'm a traveller along Route 9 here on the mainland and I keep coming across attractive young ladies like yourself, simply sitting on the ground and seeming oblivious to everything. Each of you has the "Movie Star" name tag but the group isn't listed in your Profiles. May I ask, are you some sort of 'Land Bot' or other automaton? I'm very curious :D Thank you for your time and have a great day!

I also took a pic for my Profile Feed and gave her the URL. Hopefully she'll reply sometime.

Having dismounted from my pack snail, I flew on to the Bam region and into the Mandu region having told Shelly to catch up when she could (with the cab fare I had given her with her lunch). The map showed these regions to be filled with an urban landscape and I felt flying around would be best. The crystals that I've seen the whole trip thus far were here, too, and looked out of place even amongst the eclectic architecture styles. An automated note card giver told me that the buildings are part of a complex for the "Occupied Squares Project" (and that they have a Web page).

The goal of the "occupied squares" project is to enable social media, and the use of the Internet, in such a way that we can create an actual virtual-world governing and policy making institution that is transnational, non-hierarchical, and barrier-free to all participants.

Sounds verbosely noble to me, but I was more fascinated as to how they fit all the buildings around the Linden-owned road. Everything appeared to be laid out by professional planners and architects with a mix of well-made prefabs beside amateurishly-made custom builds. On the whole, though, it was quite impressive. I used the ultra wide lens on my camera for this shot:

Some really cool architecture is "spoiled" by well-laid out but not-so-well-executed water features. I'm tempted to offer my services as gardener — I can probably carry off some nice water works.

Eventually I wound up in Maeshil I where I found a delightful little gazebo on some land called "Ikaika's Place" (SLurl). There I tended a few pretty plants in need of some love and waited for Shelly to catch up. This is one of those comforting spots along the roadside that just beg travelers to drop in and share the owner's space, if only for a short time. I rather wish the land I call my home (and share with this blog's owner, Uccello, plus her brother) was on the roadside for just this purpose. Shelly eventually arrived (with change left over to handsomely tip the cab driver) and we decided to spend the night. So after supper and a (very slow) game of Tag (that she won) in the tall grasses, we bedded down to pen this report and fell asleep under a warm blankie.

Zyx's Road Trip: Day Two

I woke up this morning to find a folder of pictures and some rough notes from Zyx Flux about Day Two of her Road Trip up Route 9 on the mainland. Hopefully I was able to make some sense of her scribblings.

Started in Chindo (SLurl) again and shortly thereafter found what has to be location #2349838 for Outy's Particle Paradise. Those shops are everywhere. Next door was a shop with textures and lots of vendors that refused to rez, so I moved on.

Mystery crystal.

Another purple crystal by Plexore Lumiere (SLurl). They seem to appear every few hundred meters now in every region I visit. Sometime I'm gonna have to send off a dragonfly messenger to the maker to find out the backstory. Are they to help wayward travelers? Are they roadside shrines? Are they part of a giant, grid-wide art installation? Are they supposed to make me write lots of interrogatives starting with 'Are they ...'? I don't know. They certainly are more regular than any other feature on this route and I don't remember seeing them on any other Linden roadway. Sometimes I see 64m² parcels for billboards from a particular company I won't name, but nothing is as regular as these crystals.

At Sammy-n-Jenna's.

Maybe I was bored on Day One because I tried to focus on what was immediately along the roadside. When I reached the Mumun region and another crystal I decided to check out interesting things farther from the road. That lasted about 15 seconds when I came across "Sammy-n-Jenna's Road-Side Lake" abutting the road. This is a cute little strip of land no deeper than about 15m but running quite a ways, featuring Asian-inspired structures and a pretty artificial lake (SLurl).  One of the joys of mainland is sharing your property with others and this is a perfect example. Sometimes I wonder why I have a home when I can just use "common" properties like this. Then there is the opposite — putting your land behind Ban Lines. Right behind Sammy-n-Jenna's is a nice, giant genie bottle, but I could only look at it behind the electronic barrier. Such a shame, but it was one of the few Ban Lined properties I've seen so far.

Just across the sim border in Yeodeol is a giant UFO-like structure with a pottery museum inside and a mini-railroad outside as part of "Prinsengracht, A real Dutch canal with 16th Century buildings." Sadly, I couldn't find a working train to ride despite flying over the tracks across several parcels with various bits of "junk" ranging from camels to broken helicopters. But I was pleased to find what might have beenThe Church of Ruth (SLurl). I'd heard of such places in Second Life, but had never seen one. I think was one. All the "stained glass" windows were pictures of a Ruth-like avatar, but not the infamous Ruth most Oldbies would remember. Search your Inventory for Ruth and you'll find that you have a copy of this nearly prehistoric avatar.

I might need blocks on the pedals.

Not far down the road, at the Yeodeol Apolon Shop (these folks seem to own everything in the sim; SLurl) you can test drive one of several different vehicles, including a Jeep Renegade, and drive them down Route 9! I tried the Jeep but eventually went back to get a motorized scooter for my travels when I found I couldn't quite reach the pedals and steer at the same time. Interesting to note, the road surface changed when entering Yeodeol and again further down in Hobak, where I lost control of my scooter near another Linden Roadside Rest (SLurl). So I waited for Shelly, my pack snail, to catch up with me in Hobak, let her graze and roll around in the moss for a bit, then continued my journey with reliable transportation.

Another crystal upon entering Bbang (SLurl) and then I stopped to explore Lilipily Spirit - Temple of the Goddess of Living Light (SLurl), an Indian meditative garden (according to the land description). The lush grounds only start in Bbang with most of the property covering a very large part of Omurice and called "Lotus of the Soul." Part of the property goes in Gimichi and includes some interesting shops in "Desire of the Hearts Gardens." At one point, after I passed a replica of the H.G. Wells Time Machine movie prop, an automated system offered me a HUD to help explore and I thought it best to just quickly fly about, take a few snaps, and be on my way.

Lots of alpha textures and structures that could be updated with sculpties or newer techniques to reduce prims and improve appearance, but there are still impressive sites everywhere.

The shops are very colorful while the shopping district commons are warm and inviting.

Traveling is hard on a pixy!