On Tour in the USA
Hi Cellarites,
Let me introduce myself.I'm diminished,and I'm currently touring the U.S (Lower 48 States only) with my better half,Persistence.I was recommended to come here by an old friend who thought that this may be the place to clear up some of the cultural differences and difficulties I'm having in adapting to American life.
We're on a 4-month vacation (currently just shy of 2 weeks in) ,having quit both of our jobs,and are in the process of spending every penny we have in our sacred quest.We figured we'd do this before we got too old to enjoy it.
We're looking for sites of High Weirdness and uncanny happenings (with a sideline in Big Things,),and wondered if The Cellar had any suggestions.We've progressed as far as southern Ohio so far.(Today we visited the Mothman Museum in Point Pleasant,WV,tomorrow we move onto the Serpent Mound in Ohio).We're moving east->west,with plenty of north and south in between,much like a drunk trying to find his way home,which isn't too much of a difference from how I move back in the UK.
Any and all advice received with gratitude,upon how to behave in America (Home of Cheese in a Can!Genius!).
welcome!
we did a tour of some of the states when we were young, too. mainly following the grateful dead, and rainbow family tours....
Philadelphia has some interesting things....but, for my money the area around the
4 corners' is the most beautiful.
the grand canyon, brice canyon, zion, mesa verde, etc.
do you want to see sights, or historical things...or party?
Touchdown Jesus is a must see for western Ohio.
the Roadside America site is great. try visit a few shoe trees... we've failed in that so far. car henge you know about -also cadillac ranch in amarillo texas if you go that far south....
...yes, amarillo
[youtube]ZBckvEkva5s[/youtube]
Wall drug... of course. Rock city.
Which "bible" do you have? for the USA, we like Lonely Planet, although generally we prefer the Rough Guides.
The rail reclassification yard in North platte, Nebraska is interesting, but last time we visited there wer no observation platforms available.
ooh, the tow truck museum in chatanooga is pretty neat-for 10 minutes. some coooool stuff on the old Route 66. we're speed tourists, works for us.
maple syrup on bacon, I'm telling you......
funny that an immigrant brit knows more to see in our country than we do.
funny strange.
I don't think it's that strange... I've never done any of the major tourist attractions even in my own city. Plus, the beestmonster clan likes to roadtrip.
funny that an immigrant brit knows more to see in our country than we do.
funny strange.
We've probably been to more states than you, too. ;). When you emmigrate without much warning, it makes you sit up and take notice. who knew how long we'd be here. we decided to make the most of it plus the "Great American Roadtrip" was made for us. We're traveller types anyway.
How many guides to the US do you own? I don't have any guides to the UK, that's where to find the off-the-beaten path stuff.
ftr, I think we're nearing 40 states now.
I need to go see touchdown jesus now.
[COLOR="Wheat"]sorry, my shift key is sulking tonight[/COLOR]
oh and ..of course, if you get over here, there's the Motown museum -stad in the original recording studio. And Greenfield Village which has the original firestone Farm, Edison's laboratory, Wright brothers bike shop, Ford workshop......
so....was it you that referred this dwellar,. monnie?
me? no, I'm sure this one's sane. ish. well maybe. mmm ... 5th?
Welcome the the Cellar, and the USA, diminished. :D
Oh, and hi to Persistence, too.
As you enter each state you should see signs for "Welcome Centers". They usually have tons of free brochures on the attractions in that state.
Keep an eye out for signs and billboards advertising local things to see, too
How are you traveling? I assume you're driving or cycling, but staying in motels? hostels? camping? Ask the locals where you stay, what's interesting in the area.
Have fun and report back what you find, please.
nick-named ... "Drowning Jesus" "Quicksand Jesus".....The statue is located in front of Solid Rock Church
:lol:
As you enter each state you should see signs for "Welcome Centers". They usually have tons of free brochures on the attractions in that state.
Keep an eye out for signs and billboards advertising local things to see, too
.
ooh yeah, those places also have mini newspaper things with "coupons" in for deals on motels in the local area. sometimes these can get you a better price.
Thankyou,all for your kind welcomes.
Looking at those two sites Tiki posted,it seems we've totally underestimated the task at hand,and there's far more weirdness than we ever anticipated.And Touchdown Jesus is now a major must for us,I remember now reading about that a while ago.
We've largely been working from the Rough Guide,but we've also got 'Road Trip USA' packed somewhere,although it hasnt surfaced amongst my bag of pants yet...
We're Motelling it,as far as accomodation goes,with our favourite being Super 8's so far (reasonable price,dependable wifi,decent breakfasts), although the staff do find our accents either alarming or unfathomable:) I get Persistence to translate for me,usually,as she's much better spoken than I.Charmingly,we've been misidentified as first Canadians,then Irish...I'm waiting to be asked if I'm Autralian next so I can get the whole hat-trick.Geordie (NE England,around Newcastle-upon-Tyne) accents are pretty difficult even for fellow English to understand.
We're a little to old to party (for extended periods,at least) so we're settling for sights and historic stuff.And what is it with American Beer?It must be much more calorie-rich than what I'm used to.It bloats me up something terrible..lol ;)
Easton, PA has the Crayola Crayon museum, and the Pez Candy Dispenser Museum. (Disclaimer: I've never been to either one.)
(Today we visited the Mothman Museum in Point Pleasant,WV,tomorrow we move onto the Serpent Mound in Ohio)
If you are still in that area, you are pretty close to the Blenko blown glass factory in Milton WV. It has an observation deck where you can watch the Blenko guys blowing glass all day long. It's very interesting. I highly recommend it if you haven't left the area yet.
http://www.blenkoglass.com/blenkocowebsite/visitorscenter.htmGotta post my thanks to Tiki once again,for showing me those websites.We were visiting the World's Largest Horseshoe Crab in Blanchester,and spoke to one of the guys we found painting it,he ran off and rang his Pastor (the crab is part of a church garden) who came running to see the two strange folks from England who had come to admire his crustacean.We spent a pleasant hour chatting and being shown around his church.Apparently we're now the current record-holders for those who have travelled furtherest to see it. We're not especially religious types ourselves,but we are polite,and it was nice to stop and shoot the breeze.I'd have never found such a thing without those websites,so thanks once again Tiki :) Ohio must be the friendliest State we've encountered so far.
Oh yes,and Touchdown Jesus is remarkable,well worth a visit if anyone finds themselves around Monroe (OH),pull into the church he's out in front of,(for some reason they have a very large parking lot),and you can get pretty close.Watch out for the Geese as you approach tho,they're stroppy.
Apologies to Glatt...we'd spent 3-4 days in WV,it was starting to get a bit oppressive.
By the way,are there any actual real live Raccoons is the U.S,or do they just appear spontaneously dead on the roadsides?They're by far the most common roadkill we see.
go to any campground. wait until midnight, and take the trash to the dumpster.
be careful....they will bite your ass right off.
If you raise your arms up to scare Floridian raccoons away, odds are they will raise their arms right back. And you will run, because they are bigger than house cats and have creepy hands.
If you raise your arms up to scare Floridian raccoons away, odds are they will raise their arms right back. And you will run, because they are bigger than house cats and have creepy hands.
Touchdown Jesus bred with a racoon?
[ATTACH]23462[/ATTACH]
We call ours "The Church of the Holy Touchdown." La Canada Flintridge, CA.
Hey my buddy lives in La Canada Flintridge!
Do you know some guy named Brady?
... who was bringing up three boys on his own?
I did go to high school with a Brady F.
No he moved there later.
[SIZE=1]he got rich[/SIZE]
Hiya Diminished (and Persistence!) I have no advice to offer I'm afraid; but a hearty welcome to the Cellar ... which is chock full of enough weirdness to keep anyone occupied for weeks :P
Well slap us sideways, they were with us all afternoon and evening and we never thought to get a photo. Now you have to come back tomorrow, guys.....
Diminished and I were at school together for one year back when we were 12/13/something like that, but he and P are so cool, it felt like we'd all known each other for a lot longer than that.
By the way,are there any actual real live Raccoons is the U.S,or do they just appear spontaneously dead on the roadsides?They're by far the most common roadkill we see.
[diminished]
This is a result of an ongoing competition between them and the poultry population.
beest just remembered the Mitchell Corn Palace in South Dakota to add to your list of weirdness. And -as we discussed last night but also mentioning here in case other travellers use this thread- you should probably try and take in a rodeo in Nebraska.
beest just remembered the Mitchell Corn Palace in South Dakota to add to your list of weirdness. And -as we discussed last night but also mentioning here in case other travellers use this thread- you should probably try and take in a rodeo in Nebraska.
is that still around? I saw it when i was a kid, and loved it. But I heard it had burned down.
It has? aw. we saw it about 7 years ago
Hmmm, seems to be still going....Nebraska burned down? OMG!
I just googled it. I saw it in 75 and it burned down in 79, but they rebuilt it in 81. I guess the press only reports fires, and not rebuilding. So I never heard it was rebuilt. Awesome place. I recommend it.
Geordie (NE England,around Newcastle-upon-Tyne) accents are pretty difficult even for fellow English to understand.
Naw. After a year of living in Newcastle, I could understand a strong Geordie accent as long the speaker was sober and talking slow.
If you get to Montana you can't miss our world famous Buffalo Jumps.
as long the speaker was sober and talking slow.
ah.
Well we just waved them off as they are heading for the upper peninsula. We took a pic, but I forgot to check I had permission to post, so you'll just have to wait a little longer....
Deffo got my permission to post that pic m8,and thanks once again for a great weekend.You and yours were the perfect hosts,and all your neighborhood (look at me adapting to the local spellings) friends were great.You took us in,and got us drunk,which is the epitome of hospitality,as far as we're concerned.We were so enchanted,it took us about 30 minutes to adapt to being back on the road and make it away:)
Due to circumstances beyond our control,we only got as far as Holland today.Alarming lights began to flash on the dashboard,and I had to find free wifi and search quickly for solutions with a rapidly draining battery,it all turned out to be a storm in a teacup,but when you concentrate that into the crucible of a car's front seat,things get...tense..lol.Cigarettes and a nap have calmed things down now.
Monster and Co. have given us shedloads of information,enough to keep Persistence the mileage junkie very busy for the next week.We've had to mail out another version of the route we're following to the folks back home (the 4th so far,and warned them that a 5th is probably not too far behind it),and every detour adds more possibilities from other Cellarites.Thankyou all for your input :blush:
and lol@ Perry Winkle....we still tend to talk like we're nailing each word we say onto the listeners forehead :D
I'm going to visit monnie.....:guinness:
heehee. I'll get to work on that pic. Holland is full of.... windmills, tulips and clogs. and tourists. Really. Not much of the wacky baccy, though. Or the liberal attitude. :lol:
.... btw, did you risk the cruise control yet? :lol:
We're waiting until tomorrow to try that,after today's mechanical non-crisis.Persistence thinks she's got it sussed,but we need clear and open roads to try it,in case of catastrophic failage.
[COLOR="LemonChiffon"]must lose weight :eek:[/COLOR]
Looks like you're all having fun. What a cool thread!
Persistence likes cruise control :D
And Lake Michigan is...I want to use the word 'awesome',but its very overused these days,but there it is.Awesome.And big.And cold.Which was great,as we'd just climbed and descended the massive sand dune outside of Saugatuck to get there.We did the very British thing of stripping off our socks and boots and having a paddle.Only wish I'd had a deckchair and a white hankie to put on my head and knot at the 4 corners.
Did you find the chain ferry thing?
We did,but it was closed,it only seems to run weekends at the minute.There was a number pinned to a noticeboard to ring,but it seemed a bit churlish to drag someone out for $2.We got a few snaps of it tho.Mount Baldhead and the lake were far more interesting,and took up a lot more of our time,the climb back up from the beach almost killed me.
I must mention,we got some damned fine Ice-Cream down in the town too,which has a lot of nice shops and galleries.
Persistence is badgering me to mention that she scrawled our names onto the railings at the top of the Mt.,and that we found a scraffito informing us that 'Kelse made an excersise video that you will never see'.We were unsure as how to act upon this information,but thought you may all like to know. :D
Sand dunes, beach ....bit of a busman's holiday today then? :lol:
btw, we need pics so far. upload and post IMMEDIATELY.
Top tip: When you've got your boots tied around your neck by the laces,do NOT bend down quickly whilst walking.Oh,how we laughed as we searched amongst the sand for a lens from my glasses and the tiny tiny screw that holds it in place.
the lens, not good, the screw -replaceable at most dollar stores :)
[COLOR="Silver"]unless there's a metric size thing going on.....[/COLOR]
Pics coming up,think I've managed to get them down to reasonable sizes.
Christian Crustacean
Touchdown Jesus
Saugatuck Chain Ferry
As close as I got to finding the Mothman
'Big Temptation',an Art we found on the streets of Saugatuck
Halfway up Mt.Baldhead
'One man and his log',shores of Lake Michigan
I love Saugatuck! This is a great thread thanks for sharing your road trip with us!
We've made it as far as Mackinaw today,just short of Michigans Upper Peninsula,but hit a few things on the way.We caught 'The Bottle House',a house constructed from old glass pop bottles in Kalena,well worth the 5 minute detour,then spent a pleasant hour rolling 'backwards' uphill, at a Mystery Hill near Malcolm (MI),that had to be one of the most bizarre experiences I've ever had.Persistence giggled her ass off,but it left me feeling a bit disorientated.
We also visited a Shoe Tree near Kalkaska (about 3 miles north of the town,along US-31),finally finding one at the third time of asking (First time was the wrong place - honestly,who has 2 towns named the same in the same state..lol,second time we tried in the right place,the road was shutoff due to maintainance,third time's the charm.).
We rounded off the day with Persistence haggling a motel down from $99 to $69 for a 3-room suite,with not 1,but 3 TV's,I can watch 'Family Guy' on the toilet,later.Thats been a pretty fine day,even tho its been our first day of cold and lousy weather,but as Brits,we're well hardened to such conditions :D
If you get to my corner of the Rockies (Helena, Montana), give a shout. We don't have healthy food. We don't have beautiful people. But we've got plenty of good hiking and fabulous weather along side a heaping helping of gallows humor from the mining days--Last Chance Gulch, a bullwhacker statue and oversized metal cattle skulls.
Thanks Perry Winkle,we'll bear that in mind...we are visiting Montana later in the trip.
Right now,we're negotiating Illinois,after doing Michigan's U.P and Wisconsin.
Despite the claims of the locals around Mackinaw City,we found plenty to entertain us on the Upper Peninsula...Painted Rocks Lakeshore was spectacular (thanks for the tip Monster),and Lakenenland,a collection of junk-art outside of Chocolay,was well worth a visit.'Da Yoopers Tourist Trap' (I forget where) was an unashamed attempt to cash in on...well,not much,but it made us laugh (especially the 'Dinosaur Gonad' - a round rock - 'excavated' whilst they were building the establishment,) and we spent some money there.'Yooper' philosophy seems to be pretty close to Geordie,maybe they're a lost tribe of Northerners.
Highlights of Wisconsin included the Nightfall Motel (Woodruff),where we received the warmest of welcomes from the people who run it,and The ForeverTron (another collection of junk-art,constructed from old fairground and carnival equipment) which was simply jaw-dropping.Oh yes,and a model of a Giant Badger which guards a 'Gentleman's Club'.Low points were Wisconsin Dells,which alleges itself the 'Waterpark Capital'.I'm sure its fine for those seeking that kind of entertainment,but the sheer quantity of billboards per mile set my teeth clean on edge,it reminded us too much of home (the worst kind of tourist trap).
We're finding Illinois a bit more puzzling.Probably due to the 90+ degrees of heat.We had to abandon ship and pull in to a motel early today,and I'm sitting typing half baked down my right hand side,from sitting in the passenger seat.That was through the window glass too.
I am,however,soothing the pain.We've discovered that Walmart (oppressors of the working man they may be,but I have very few ethics when it comes to spending our accumulated hard-earned cash) sells Wild Turkey Whiskey for under $20 a bottle.We'd usually pay around 25 UKP (about $40,I think at current exchange rates) at home,thats if we could find a store that stocked it on a regular basis.
I'd type more,but I feel a drunkening coming on :D
*burp
Cheers!
Dim&Persistence
Didn't we warn you about Wisconsin Dells? we meant to, sorry :o
Must have been the Budweiser that made me forget.:blush:
Our motel even had some sort of local band playing outside until about 11-30.I have no objection to live entertainment,but it has to be music I like,and I'm not much into 80's Hair Rock,Persistence was a little entertained tho.I was more freaked out to walk past and see many bikers,with no beer coolers,and not a whiff of anything illicit upon the breeze.
No offence meant to anyone who lives there,but it was a bit like Blackpool,minus the charm,but cleaner.
If you do go to Mammouth Caves, expect more of the same.....
*crosses Mammoth Caves off the list.
After googling ticket prices...
*crosses Graceland off the list.
I still think Graceland's worth visiting -yeah $28 is a lot of moolah, but it is interesting, even if you weren't a fan. Maybe sleep in your car one night and use the motel money? :lol:
Too late,we've already busted westward :(
On the outskirts of St.Louis now,after visiting the 'Our Lady of the Snows' shrine,Cahokia Mounds and trying to track down a painting of a Piasa Bird in Alton (tonight's motel has a guide with the address for that one,we'll get it tomorrow.).
I'm quite unsure about St.Louis,we've either been circling it all day,like a predator circles its prey,or its slowly sucking us in,like we're caught in its gravitational pull.
I'm wanting to go visit the Gateway Arch tomorrow,after laundry duty and that painting,Persistence keeps pulling faces tho,I dont think she wants to get any closer to the city than we already are.
...free beer at the factory......
you gotta go up the arch. the stick you in a pod like the inside of a cable reel.....
Didnt realise you could get to the top of the arch,and it looks like we get a discount for our Annual National Parks Pass thingy,that might have just sealed the deal for Persistence.
The Garden of Eden is a probable too,but I'm finding that Hair Museum just a little too creepy.Maybe its a European thing.If I could get a haircut while I was there,I'd probably be up for it tho.I'm gonna need to get sheared pretty soon :D
hey yo, dwellars, these people are cool... if anyone can see their way to offering them a bed for the night, I'm pretty sure they won't steal the family cat and they'd have more $$ to experience the real weirdness that you Merkins have managed to throw together. or if not a bed, then at least a meal with veggies. I think they've had three vitamins between them since they landed -two when they can to see us and one by accident in a McDonald's salad for which the manager heartily apologised......
[SIZE=1]*sigh* another thing we could do if the damn boy wasn't living here[/SIZE]
Ya know, Sundae Girls' parents could give you a few pointers for dealing with that situation.
Monster. I'm up, if they pass this way.
I believe they're afraid of The South.... :lol:
It's been 3 days.... maybe they're stuck in the Arch? Sycamore! Send out a search and Rescue party! don't forget to check under the vats at the Bud factory....
Good thing the Bud factory aint in the south.
Yeah,we've had a bit of 'Misery in Missouri'.I wasnt feeling well a couple of days ago and Persistence took charge of the navigation for a night,planning our route through that state.
Not to impugn her abilities (its a long walk home!),but we ended up in SW Missouri,at Branson.I'll apologise to anyone in advance who may be from there,or has family there,or if their dog has bitten someone from there...I'm not taking a pop at them,its all in good fun :D
If I was rattled by Wisconsin Dells,Branson definately gave me 'the fear'.Its like Hillbilly Las Vegas.Thats an unfair comment,actually,as I havent been to Vegas yet.Missouri is an otherwise delightful state,green and lush,but Branson seems like an infection (its expanding too,heavy-plant machinery happily chomps away at the hills that surround it,making room for more motels and theaters)...it must be something of a Mecca for Country and Western fans,which in itself isnt bad (tho not to my taste)....ageing Stars perform alongside the revenants of Stars long-dead.I thought I could take it,but I soon started pounding my head on the passenger window in an attempt to knock myself out (having finished the whiskey last night).The faces of Acts unknown outside of America start gurning down from billboards some 50 miles outside of town,and they vie each other for frequency as the distance to town decreases.Scary stuff.
I shouldnt really have a pop at them,as I didnt stay long enough in town to investigate them thoroughly enough,they may well have been quite entertaining.Its 'Family Fun' on an industrial scale,terrifying in magnitude.I'm glad I visited tbh,I would not have believed such a place existed had I not witnessed it myself.
We panicked,snapping photos from the car drive-by fashion at the things we'd come to see,and fled,thoroughly disturbed.Tensions rose as the SatNav became confused at the ever-changing layout of the roads,and escape seemed unlikely,until I guessed at a road and got lucky.
Running aimlessly,we scuttled past Springfield,making it to Joplin.I didnt fancy the motel there much,it was painted the same shade of lurid yellow that we'd witnessed earlier,and we were afraid of the possibility of flash-backs.I've dragged us about another 50 miles north to somewhere semi-sane,near the Kansas border,and we've spent the evening planning our path across there.And watching Disney's 'Up',which is actually a very good movie for young and old alike.
Forgive me Branson,you'll live with for a long time.You and I are at odds on what qualifies as entertainment,you represent what my home town aspires to be.May it never come to pass,and may you remain...maginificent?
Well there's the Dog Bark up north. :D
Oh yes, Branson is very weird. As a general rule, old people think it is the best place to vacation ever.
During the Christmas season it's nice. I had a horse drawn sleigh ride to see the deco one year quite a while back. Very old fashioned and indicative of what the season is in my mind. Peaceful and nostalgic.
Just been outside for the last 2 hours admiring an excellent electrical storm over Junction City,Kansas....tried to get a few shots of the lightning with mixed success.Free entertainments always are best :D
It's hard to beat the heartland/southwest for spectacular thunderstorm watching. Sometimes you can see them coming at you for half a day before you're in it.
You can come to NM and meet me in Taos. :) There is a tiny museum there with a stuffed 8 legged lamb. The museum is a a dedication to the "Bent" massacre. I am not really sure if it is commemorated to remind the gringos not to get out of line, or if people really did feel bad for the situation....Interesting town.....
There is also a graveyard where they don't bury their dead very well, and not very deep, in the middle of the city. The groundhogs dig holes right into the graves and come out another side with fresh dead. This creates ventilation for the smell of death that they try and cover up by planting large amounts of lilacs. So you pretty much smell corpses and lilacs. I enjoy it because I am creepy. People still love to be buried there so I guess they enjoy it too. It is the strangest graveyard I think i have ever seen. The cultural influences are spanish, mexican, native american, and of course whities. Some are buried really shallow so there are mounds. Then you see a hole dug that goes straight into the mound. lol! They also leave objects indicating things the person enjoyed, as most likely- a year round celebration of the "days of the dead". It's very festive with plastic flowers and random stuff everywhere. It's actually one of my favorite places. lol!
Yes. I am creepy. I like strange stuff. lol!!
That's gotta be a health violation.
Persistence and I both worked in kitchens for many many years,we're familiar with Health Violations and Felonies.That Cemetary sounds like good entertainment to me,She's mulling it over tho.That usually means 'no',until I get her good and drunk.
My plans have backfired badly.
Tonight in Hays,Kansas,we've conflicted badly.Booze has brought out several conflicts in our relationship.I was asked why I looked so serious,to which I replied 'I feel a bit of a fat bugger'.I got the response 'Oh well.At least you're not immensely fat.'.
Matters have deteriorated from this point.
I answered said point to be be greeted with the reply 'Excuse me?',which was repeated after I asked if she (Persistence) was either rude or deaf.
Travelling together is something of a journey in itself,I guess.And this after I was enjoying Kansas a lot.We journeyed to northern mid-Kansas today,and you know what?Almost everyone on the road waved at us.Such politeness is unheard of where I come from,and I returned it enthusiastically.
But at Hays,we've hit something of a bump in the road,and tomorrow,I fear for the communication in the car.We've had to adapt to communicating for practical purposes over the last month,but tonights exchanges have highlighted differences in viewpoints.I can only hope that Kansas,or what remains of it,soothes or differences before we hit Colorado.
Oh yeah, that shit happens traveling in close quarters for extended periods.
On the up side, the make up sex is great. :thumb:
Ahh, road trip cabin fever.
Can you go separate ways for a day or two? Just be yourselves, and hook up again soon. Even if you just stay in separate hotels/hostels/spas/brothels, the break might be what you need.
Woot!
Cheers for that,Bruce.I know it'll happen.Its just great to ride teh wild turkeh train until that occurs.
It satisfies my Brit sense of pertpetual (lesser) tension,until it happens.
But as British,we both have to have a sense of 'Eventuall Failure of Empire' until it occurs.(Damn you,you've condemned me to another drink before I retreat bedwards).
As Brits,we now possess a perpetual sensation of 'The Retreat of Empire.'.Its no bad thing,as the current richest nation on Earth,you too will experience the cost of maintaining an Empire,it doesnt come cheap (in blood or money-imperialism's days have come and gone.).
If this looks like a cheap shot at what America has accomplished,you're wrong.I admire what you stand for,and your principles,I despise the popularist competition your political parties have made of it.
Its the competition that still ensues that whcih has caused us to visit you...
As far as 'Forms of Government' goes,even Winston Churchilll said that Democracy is the worst form of Government.
Democracy ensures that almost nothing worthwhile is ever achieved,for long.
I dont look for critique upon this viewpoint.Its 'un-marketable' as far as moderm media is concerned,which ,if you accept that,makes tyranny almost acceptable.Its the changeable nature of 'democracy' that makes it ultimately a poor choice.A continual thread of change or effort is needed.
Must retreat to bed now,as I'm too drunk (in a British style) to draw conclusions from my rantishness,and objectionality.
Good Night,and God Bless.xxxx
Diminish3d
The complete quote is
Winston Churchilll said that "Democracy is the worst form of Government.
... except for all the other forms that have been tried through history."
How's the hangover, Dim? seems like you might need to learn to drive ....and fast :lol: Seriously though, find a lake/river somewhere nearby and just chill for a while The oppressive heat gets us all that way. if you live there you get to turn a special kind of crazy. That's why they're all so so inbred there, no-one will have them but their own kin ;)
Hey Dim - Why don't you and she come stop by "my" lake when you cross the CO border - It's big enough you can sit on one side, she on the other, and when you decide you've had enough time apart, come on over to my house for fish tacos, a beer or a margarita (or three) and directions to the Swettsville Junk Museum.
He must have one of those hangovers that makes you feel like a chitlin with the shit slung out of it.
hey yo, dwellars, these people are cool... if anyone can see their way to offering them a bed for the night, I'm pretty sure they won't steal the family cat and they'd have more $$ to experience the real weirdness that you Merkins have managed to throw together. or if not a bed, then at least a meal with veggies. I think they've had three vitamins between them since they landed -two when they can to see us and one by accident in a McDonald's salad for which the manager heartily apologised......
We're in Kansas City. We have a busy month, but do give a call if you need a flop for a night or two. 816-808-3226. We have a large backyard suitable for camping, indoor accomodations can be made, and the camper can be set up, so you have options. :-) KC has an art gallery that should not be missed - The Nelson Adkins Museum. Probably the finest Oriental collection in the nation, as well as a generous helping of Thomas Hart Benton and an impressive Modern Art and Impressionists collection. Located in a great part of town as well. Truman Presidential Museum is in a suburb of KC and is totally awesome, especially if you are a student of WWII and the immediate post war years.
I'm a bit worried about them... not a peep for days....
...and they prolly won't be available until next Easter season.
I hope they come back soon, I love this thread and their stories!
I wonder if Persistence is peeved that diminished chose to include their personal friction in this thread? I believe it was mentioned earlier that friends and family back home were following along.
Cheers folks :beer:, it's that American water, there's something in it that makes people drinking it get rebellious with Brits. Why we sometimes even say naughty things about the Queen's Swans.
I know from personal experience, being with only one person 24/7, on road trips of 6 to 10 thousand miles, will usually lead to some friction along the way. So there's a little flare up and it blows over quickly, that's cool. Part of the bonding process that makes road trips so memorable.
Nah folks,its all good now.We're in SW Colorado (Cortez) and have spent a couple of quality days at Mesa Verde,which is jaw-droppingly spectacular.When they eventually make me King over here,I shall make it a crime not to come to Mesa Verde.
We've had internet issues at the local Super8.We booked in for a couple of nights,but a couple of hours later,their net went toes-up
I went down to try and sort it out,but their desk staff on the first night were less than capable of flicking the power off and on on their wireless router,and on the second night the princess-embryo manning the desk rudely exclaimed that because her myspace page was working on the public lobby PC (which wasnt connected to their wireless network) then my machine must be at fault.Didnt I know how to work a computer?
Needless to say,we're now at a different Motel,and my machine connected to this network and the net,first time of asking.
I left the housekeeping staff at the Super8 a note, explaining that they wouldnt be getting the nice tip I leave everywhere (I dont,but hey,),due to their rude and incompetant desk staff.
I'd have complained to the management,but at no point did anyone seem to be in charge,despite a veritable library of 'Certificates of Excellence' behind the desk.I then thought about taking a c**p in the tip jars that were all over the Motel,and thrust into our lines of sight at every opportunity,but I didnt want to appear ignorant.
Glad to hear you're back in the groove. :thumb:
Cheers Bruce,it took 3 days of tense negotiations,but we agreed that Persistence may have been wrong,but that I was suffering from a man-period :o :blush: :D
Hey whatever it takes to get to the kissing... and stuff. :blush:
Oh yeah,another pro-tip.
Be aware of atmospheric pressure differences when opening a bottle of mustard at 10000 feet.When crossing the continental divide,we stopped to make lunch.I thought my sandwich needed a bit of jazzing up with condiments.The only place the mustard didn't go was meatwards.My hair and the car interior were quite tasty tho.
I'm starting to feel very guilty about not seeing that much of my own country.
Cheers guys! Enjoy.
Be aware of atmospheric pressure differences when opening a bottle of mustard at 10000 feet.
That's no joke. Last month, when my parents were traveling in Peru, my dad took an empty water bottle and screwed the cap on really tight as they went over a mountain pass. He's a retired physics professor, but will still do an experiment whenever he can. Over the rest of the day they descended down to the Pacific ocean, and he took this picture of the sealed empty bottle next to a full one. I had no idea the pressure difference would be that great.
If you're headed Denver way let me know! Case & Clan are in Fort Collins (even further North) too! HLJ is somewhere above 14,000 feet or something.
yeah we had fun with inflated packets of chips in Santa Fe. they never actually exploded, though.....
my ears are popping just looking at that.
We've found ourselves tonight in southern Utah,we've positioned ourselves for a dash to Monument Valley tomorrow,although we're taking the cheap option of the self-guided drive through tour,the guided stuff looks a bit pricey and doesnt look great value for money,unless anyone can add any info (before tomorrow morning.).
And seeing as we've unintentionally ended up in Utah,we're discussing taking a look around Canyonlands NP,with special emphasis on going to Horseshoe Canyon,to see the ancient pictograms there (7 mile hike,hope it wont be too hot.).Then we're breaking back east into NW Colorado,to resume the plans we made about 10 days back,which in turn were a departure about 3 times removed from what was originally planned so long ago now :D
The mileage count is now around 7500,the photo count is now around 3000.
I believe Monument Valley is a very rough road. Take it real slow to avoid vehicle damage. If it starts to rain, get the hell out because the road is impassable when wet.
Canyonlands is hot and dry, but cool.;)
There are so many awesome places in the south west. I love Capital Reef. There are all these tiny little twisty back canyons you can hike around in. Just don't do it in the rain. Bryce is spectacular, and Zion is pretty damn good too.
Monument Valley was astonishing.You can be very cheap,and view it from the Highway for free,but its so worth the $5 per person for the entry to do the 17-mile self-guided loop,and you'll see a lot more.I'd have happily paid 5x the entry price,and still have thought it was excellent value.
From what we saw,we think we were right about the guided tours.Many open-backed trucks bounced past us at speed with a lot of very uncomfortable-looking people in the back of them.We stopped to take a lot of photos over the 3 hours or so we took to get around,but at no point did we see any stopped tour trucks.The guided tours get to see more stuff,true,but I wouldnt fancy my chances at taking many good shots from the back of one of those vehicles going at speed over that road.
Having said all of that,I turned to Persistence and asked,'How on Earth are we meant to explain this place to people back home?'.It was an astounding day.
Thats awesome to hear! So glad you guys are having such a good trip.
A little too much adventure for us today.
We went to Horseshoe Canyon,to see ancient pictographs,which were astounding (there are 4 panels of them,culminating in what is called 'The Great Gallery',a 200 ft-long freize of figures estimated to be between 2000 and 8000 years old).
But foolishly we took rather less water than was recommended (about half of what we should have carried).We didnt realise that when the sun finally burned through the clouds that the termperature in the canyon would pick up so quickly.
We made it back to the climb back out of the canyon with only about 500ml left between us.The climb back out was interesting (in a horrible way),and we staggered back into the car-park with nothing but empties,and throbbing headaches.
Our own stupid faults,of course :headshake :( ,but next time we do anything like that,we'll pay more attention to the suggested safety rules.Fortunately we had more water back at the car.
It was a moderately strenuous hike,but I'd tell anyone who was thinking about doing it to go for it.
you pillocks. don't eat a big breakfast, unless you fancy revisiting it. Dehydration can have that effect....it's sort of lke excessive boozing without the fun the night before.
ooh I can't remember that last time I called anyone a pillock ...what fun! :lol:
Bloody dopey pommie tourists.... so many anecdotes .... ;)
I refute the fact I'm dopey,I've been without long enough to pass a urine test now :p :D
We passed a drug testing agency place the other day,I was tempted to go in to prove my cleanliness :blush:
I'll concede to pommie and pillock,with an occasional limey on the side ;)
We originally thought we'd be a bit Lewis and Clark on this expedition,but we're more Lewis and Martin I think.
Monument Valley was astonishing.
~snip~
Having said all of that,I turned to Persistence and asked,'How on Earth are we meant to explain this place to people back home?'.
Show them John Wayne movies. ;)
Today,we've made it as far as the Aspen (CO) area.Carbondale,if my memory serves me right.We're obviously entering an expensive phase of the journey,as its the first time we've been asked to pay over $100 for a night's stay,and I just forked out almost $15 for 12 cans of Bud Light.
Never mind.Tomorrow,we're going up to Woody Creek to drink Margaritas and eat fine food.I'll be raising a glass to the memory of Hunter S. Thompson,one of the finest scoundrels this country must have ever produced.
There's not much to Woody Creek,other than the Tavern,I've read,but I'm hoping to understand him better with a visit to his old stomping grounds,and maybe I'll get lucky and drive past Owl Farm.
Meanwhile,I'm watching 'Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas' in preparation.Here's to you Doc,for getting away with it for so long ;)
*burp
It won't work, Thompson's mind was twisted in CA... CO is just where, after he could afford it, could stay far enough from polite society to not be arrested or killed.
Yeah,Woody Creek was a bit disappointing after all,and we moved along pretty quickly.Luckily tho,coming back down the valley,we ran into the 'Strawberry Days' festival at Glenwood Springs.I managed to indulge my fetish for native food and sampled a CornDog and a Philly Cheesesteak (both very good).
We stayed in a really bad motel around Golden (both the motel and surroundings were like a damned maze to get around,the motel was expensive,dirty,and had no breakfast on offer other than at the restaurant next door,to which we got a 'discount coupon' for being a motel guest--mighty 10% off :( .),and set out quite grumpy the next day,which we shouldnt really have,as it turned out quite nice.We paused outside Morrisson and snapped a few shots of Dinosaur footprints on the side of a hill,after having a giggle at a related but quite dubious gift shop at the foot of it,then dove into Denver to take shots of a model of a big blue bear which peers into the second-storey window of the Denver Conference Center,and of a statue of a massive dustpan and brush nearby (plus some statues we happened across en route.).
We then blew north to Fort Collins,and spent a good couple of hours nosing around the 'Swetsville Zoo',a pretty good junk-art collection east of the town,free to enter,but we left a donation.
I also tracked down a damned fine tobacconist in Fort Collins itself,and had to be physically dragged out of the place by Persistence,as she felt our budget was threatened by my prolonged presence.
Clipping Wyoming,we proceeded into Nebraska,and stayed at a fantstic motel at Ogallala,which we'd planned to call at anyway,in order to get pics of the town's water-tower,which is painted up like a UFO.
This morning,we headed out for the North Platte Classification Yard.In simple terms,that translates as 'The Biggest Trainset in the World',8 miles of trains,which if it doesnt sound that exciting to you,didnt to me,either.We climbed a purpose-built observation tower,and after about 20 minutes,I got Persistence to nip back down to the parking lot to grab my binoculars.I'm not that mad-keen on trains,but I spent a happy couple of hours watching incoming trains being split up and sent down a hill to a holding yard where they were shunted about and attached to ongoing trains.It was all a lot more interesting than it sounds :D
This afternoon,we played 'hunt the ghost town' around Hastings,NE.We eventually tracked down 'Spring Ranch' after a spectacular navigational effort,only to find that its all gone,and only the Graveyard remains.It was frankly odd,even in bright sunshine and hot weather,to wander around the place,it had something of an atmosphere,but was interesting too.
We tried to get a motel room back in Hastings,to no avail,and I had to drag Persistence away before unpleasantness occurred.The desk-clerk at the last place we tried must have something of an issue with English folks,but we jacked some free wifi in the carpark,to search for somewhere else to stay while she stood at the door and glared at us.
The heat remains blistering,even at 11pm(we're confused today,we've lost an hour having come back east out of Mountain time,back onto Central),and now the humidity has ramped right up too.Persistence shall have to climb over my dead body in order to turn off the aircon tonight.
Yeah,Woody Creek was a bit disappointing after all,and we moved along pretty quickly.Luckily tho,coming back down the valley,we ran into the 'Strawberry Days' festival at Glenwood Springs.I managed to indulge my fetish for native food and sampled a CornDog and a Philly Cheesesteak (both very good).
[SIZE=5]NO[/SIZE]....you
didn't have a Philly Cheesesteak in Glenwood Springs. When you get back out East, come stay at Undertoad's house for a night, and we'll take you to Pudge's.
then you will be able to say that without being wrong.
they not coming back... one way trip :(
We're so jealous you got to North Platte after the tower was built.... well hector is anyway....
Yeah,lumberjim,the Cheesesteak did seem a little thin on meat-content,but its a sound food principle :D I missed the genuine article whilst in the east,and was surprised to see it offered as far west as CO,but I thought better to try it,than not....The stall selling it touted themselves as having appeared on the food channel,so it seemed a good chance.The guy working the queue was quite entertaining too.
Careful of that tower,monster,apparently they have a pet trainspotter who virtually lives on the top-deck...the door staff referred to him as a 'real mine of information' whilst she rolled her eyes....;) We stayed one deck down from the top,and enjoyed the almost balletic performace of engines and cars.
I spent a happy couple of hours watching incoming trains being split up and sent down a hill to a holding yard where they were shunted about and attached to ongoing trains.
Called "humping". Occasionally you'll see a picture of a sign or placard on the net that reads "Do Not Hump". Those are attached to RR cars they don't want rolled down the hill and making sudden stops, because of the weight, how it's packed or cargo(explosive, acid, etc).
Hehe...a tremendous night here in Sioux Falls,SD...we've been treated to another jaw-dropping thunderstorm,which took enough time to get over for us both to shoot video and time-exposed stills,and for us both to get absolutely soaked (and looked at like total lunatics by most people in the motel.).
I would have posted up today that we visited the Corn Palace in Mitchell,but I can still see a fragment of that thunderstorm passing south from the room window.
Persistence made the error of parking in the sun whilst we visited the Corn Palace,which is quite splendid,we arrived back at our car to find the temperature indicator showing 105...I took a slug of my soda and found it to be more like fizzy tea :D Nevermind,at least I bagged myself a corncob pipe.Now I just need another decent tobacconist.
Currently,we're back in Alliance,Nebraska.
The morning after our last entry,we went to see the Porter Sculpture Park,outside of Montrose,SD.It was a morning and $6 each well spent,as we found it everything Art should be. Thoughtful,witty,provoking,happy and sad.Whilst strolling around looking at the exhibits,we ran into a couple of young ladies who seemed slightly appalled at the sculptures,much to our delight.We even had a bit of time to stop and chat with the sculptor,Wayne Porter,who is an all-round good-egg and a great laugh,and a good deal more intelligent than first impressions might suggest.
The smile didnt wear off our faces for the rest of the day from that experience.
Since then,amongst other things,we've visited the Badlands National Park,where despite my sun-tan I managed to get pretty burned on a 40 minute hike through god-awful heat.And we stopped to feed some Prairie Dogs at Cactus Flats,which if you're not familiar with them,are entertaining little creatures.Leaving the Badlands,we'd been obliged to visit Wall Drug,as we'd been seeing advertising hoardings trumpeting its virtues from the other end of the state.Its an amusing and unapologetic tourist-trap,so we took the opportunity to buy a couple of gifts for the folks back home,and sample our cup of free ice-water (which was probably the most unpleasant bit of our visit there.).
The Cosmos Mystery Spot,near Mount Rushmore was a pricey but worthwhile side-trip.But the highlight of the last few days was probably visiting Mount Rushmore itself.We decided to go to the lighting-up ceremony,on the recommendation of the tour guide we had back at the Mitchell Corn-Palace,at about 9pm on Saturday night.We were initially horrified at the piped patriotic music,as we walked up from the car-park and through the (quite pleasant) gift shops and concessions.We thought we were going to feel quite awkward and out of place,suspecting that the whole shebang was going to be terribly cheesey.It was a pleasant surprise then,to find the ceremony tasteful,and very respectful.I've seen less devout crowds attending church to be quite honest.'Patriotism' is something of an anathema to us Brits these days,as it tends to carry ominous overtones of nationalism/racism back where we come from,but we have to say,it was very refreshing to see it celebrated,and particularly touching to see members of the US armed forces invited to come down to the stage,and to be introduced to the audience.I may not have been able to join in the national anthem,but I couldnt help but joining in the applause to honour braver men than I.
We overnighted in Custer after that,and took a stroll around the town the next day.The town is currently hosting an art installation,there are around twenty model Buffaloes stationed around the place,which have been painted up by what I assume to be local artists,and there is a particularly good rock and fossil shop at one end of the town.As it goes,we found it to be a very pleasant town,it does cater to tourists,but not in an over-the-top kind of way in contrast to a place called Keystone that we'd stumbled over earlier in the weekend.It had assaulted our sensibilities with great tackiness and false bonhommie.
We also paused by the roadside outside of Custer to grab a couple of shots of the Crazy Horse Memorial.We thought the entry fee of $10 each to be a little rich for our tastes,but nevertheless,its an impressive bit of scultpure.
We then proceeded into Wyoming,and visited the Devil's Tower National Monument,which is a stunning lesson in why nature will always be a better artist than man.For film buffs among you,its the mountain featured in 'Close Encounters of the third kind' movie,and its a lot prettier than it looks in the movie.Sadly,there wasnt much to do around there tho,we chatted to a couple of the locals,and a couple of visitors and moved along.
This morning we went to the town of Lost Springs (WY).Officially,its the US's smallest incorporated town,although the population is 3,not the 1 which the road-signs told us.The lady in the post-office was very nice,and once again we took an opportunity to shoot the breeze and sent some postcards that we'd been carrying about for a week or so.
We're now holed up,waiting for the weather to get a bit cooler,so we can scoot back to Carhenge,and put to some use the paint we bought earlier today.We're not entirely sure as to whether its allowed to decorate the cars or not,but dammit,we're not going to get much other opportunity to paint stuff.That $10 will not be wasted. :D
Car henge -you'll be able to paint unless it changed recently. After all the travel tips, please may I give you a posting one? hit a double return between paragraphs -it's a hell of a lot easier to read :) thanks -it's worth reading, but normally i would skip read a post all bunched up like this (usually indicates psycho/obsessed/ranting/raving poster)
I agree, if it was anyone else I wouldn't bother figuring out how to break it up, but your reports are very much worth the trouble. :thumb:
Point taken,must use Enter more :D I must have been late with my meds the previous night ;)
Indepenence weekend is upon us.Down with the British!
Sod that,we're hiding for the weekend,having already being subjected to vast volleys of fireworks going off nearby for the last couple of nights.Rock Springs,southern Wyoming seems a fairly safe refuge from gunpowder happiness for the next few nights.
Its been a bit of an odd one,today has.We started the day with great promise.We'd been too short on time the day before to visit some petroglyphs at a place called Castle Garden,near to Riverton WY,so we'd resolved to turn back on ourselves and remedy the error.
I was quite excited,as I'm becoming something of a prehistoric art junkie.There's a lot of it about,back where I'm from,and although many thousands of years may seperate my local carvings from the glyphs I'm encountering out here,I'm spotting common themes and shapes.
We made the requisite trip out into the wilderness,Castle Gardens being some 40-50 miles from the nearest town of any note.Its not a formal site,there is a trail of sorts around the canyon,which is quite beautiful in itself,but we decided to head straight off the path and explore the site from right to left,following the canyon wall to ensure we didnt miss much.
So it was quite disappointing that the first carvings we encountered were no more than a few years old,some grafitti from some kids out having a bit of fun no doubt.We were not discouraged,and kept going.Our enthusiasm began to wane by the 3rd or 4th panel of recent rubbish scrawled upon the walls.I looked more closely at the latest panel we'd found.I was absolutely aghast.
The modern scatchings had been done straight over the top of old petroglyphs.And so with the next panel.And the next.And so on.My amazement turned to first horror,then sadness.....then bitter fury.I very much doubt that,in all the time I've been interested in stuff historical,that I've ever seen any archaeological site so thoroughly and deliberately trashed.Admittedly,some of the 'modern' damage did date back as far as the 1940's,but I did spot some which was dated as late as last year.Not every panel is spolied.But certainly in the region of half.One of the last we encountered was an absolutely stunning frieze of several shield-type petroglyphs,which were the first I'd seen outside of books,and that cheered me up a bit.
But frankly,that kind of deliberate damage baffles me.There was plenty of open rock to etch inanity upon....why the hell do it straight over the ancient work?And why track so far out into the back country to do it?I feel the culprits should be tracked down,and I'd love the opportunity to etch a few messages of my own,on their faces.Most of the vandals seem to have been good enough to leave their names.
Persistence decided it was probably a good time to push on,and get me more distracted.She'd slipped a little something of her own onto our list of activities.We'd been a little disappointed with our last effort at finding a ghost town,and she'd been puzzling over the web looking for something more substantial.She'd found it though,in the shape of Miner's Delight (also known as Hamilton City),a 19th century boom-and-bust gold mining town,which was conveniently close to where we were passing by.Unfortunately,she'd also forgotten to write down any kind of directions for it,other than a vague splodge on our maps.
For a good 45 minutes or more,we ploughed up and down the highway between Atlantic City and Lander,until just short of the former,in desperation we turned down a BLM dirt road.20 minutes later and dustier,we got lucky,and spotted the old cemetery from the road.I thought it was going to be like the first one we'd encountered.An overgrown graveyard and very little else,but as we came over the top of the hill beside the cemetary,a signpost pointed us down a path into some woods.
Expecting a fool's errand,we followed it through the trees,and across a bridge.A bridge.That seemed to me an awful lot of trouble to go to,if nothing was at the end of it.But after today's earlier disappointment,I wasn't going to raise my expectations.So it was a pleasant surprise to be greeted on the other end with the sight of a derelict cabin.We excitedly ran forwards,to inspect it.Derelict it may have been,and braced internally with a steel rope to prevent collapse,but to me it was as good as discovering an ancient tomb.For the next few minutes,we paced and clucked around it,with an air of fake intelligence,discussing how it was built,who could have lived there,what things they might have seen....Until Persistence spotted another,and we ran towards that one,like excited children.Then she spotted another...and another.It became a mad,joyous paper-chase.
We paused under the verandah of the fourth building we found,a sizeable house,and examined a table of artifacts someone had thoughtfully laid out.Broken bits of this and that,an old shoe-sole,splintered pottery...as good to us as chunks of gold.
A flash of lightning split the air,and a peal of thunder broke our excited mood.We'd failed to notice an approaching thunderstorm,and the rain came down hard.But it didnt matter,we are,after all,British.And well we know that rain will only soak through as far as the skin.We spent far too long investigating the increasingly soggy scene,and it was with great reluctance that we dragged each other back to the car,in tired triumph.
Excellent, glad you found your ghost town and free shower.
Oh, and much easier to read, too... thanks.:thumb:
No wonder she's called Persistence. excellent work. be sure to document exactly where it is and let us know so we can go next time we're out there, thanks :)
Oh, and pictures.
Now.
If you wait until you get back home to share with us, it'll take you months to get them all posted.
You may laugh,but I've just had to sort over 900 images from the last few days :3eye:
I sorted a few into a .rar for another m8 back home last week,they're not that recent,but should be enough to give you a flavour.
Find them here
http://www.filefront.com/13927705/tripfotos1.rarWell, I tried, but now I look forward to you posting them in an accessible form ;)
Excellent! There's a reward for you in IOtD. :D
Those are great pics, thanks :D I want to go....
I think we upset the guy at the fireworks caravan earlier,either at our modest purchase (which is probably more fireworks than either of us have detonated this decade),or with our Britishness.I will say,tho,that caravan we went to had enough gunpowder products to un-nerve a British Parliament.
Then its taken us 3 tries to find a Beer shop.
Luckily theres some waste ground behind the parking lot at our Motel.The festivities will commence later.
Bravo, I admire your spirit of when in Rome. :f207::beer::f205:
Awesome pics, and the last one is very dramatic (but also makes me wonder, exactly when did you notice the weather? :eyebrow: )
I'm mildly surprised there isn't a bunch of hippies trying to renovate that place as an organic commune.
The last of the Hippies moved out in the '60s. The Federal BLM (Bureau of Land Management) owns it and I doubt they would let anyone move in for long. :headshake
Yeah,we noticed the weather more or less when I took that first shot,far too late.We sheltered under that verandah for at least an hour,but the main part of the thunderstorm eventually skewed away from us.
Likewise,because of the BLM rules we didnt remove anything from the site,although there was a lot of quartz on the ground (the original Gold Strike which boomed the town was found about 1/4 of a mile west of the place,on a quartz outcrop.).Also there were some rocks which seemed suspiciously heavy for their size.I did mention to Persistence that we could well be walking over a King's Ransom,but taking stuff just didnt seem like Cricket.In fact,we found a few bits and pieces and added them to the table of finds within the verandah.
Tonight,we also had to cool it on the fireworks a bit (tho not the beer).We're left with a pack of 3 big firecrackers,and a string of around 1500 little ones.We blew off a few rockets,but then saw a family of feral cats cowering in the corner of the parking lot.We remember how much our cats at home hate fireworks,and so ceased and desisted our gunpowder frivolity.Scaring animals = not cool.
Ha, those are American cats, they were just waiting for a chance to run out and scarf a finger or two off the ground. :haha:
I strongly suggest getting rid of the rest before you cross any state lines. The laws vary greatly and you could find yourselves in deep shit.
There's a local and rather unimpressive ghost town around here called Winton,which is extensively vandalised by the local teenagers.We'll just head out tomorrow morning and set them off there.Cheers for the tip tho,I had my suspicions about that.
Y'all win the Cellar.org photo thread so far.
Great ghost town pics. I've stomped the same grounds you've recently been through a couple of times. Great country, cool history, beautiful vistas.
Anyone who follows failblog.org might recognise this vehicle.
I was absolutely thrilled when we pulled into our motel for the night and this car followed us in.
Business name fail.
By
diminish3d, shot with
DMC-TZ5 at 2009-07-05
Business name fail.
I wonder how many times they get "No thanks, we'll just put ours to sleep."
I can just imagine some the the feedback they get on their website.
Sorry all,been a bit of time since our last update.
We've been through Yellowstone Park now,and I've got a little advice for anyone going that way.
Firstly,dont think that by staying further away from the park that you'll save a bit of money on accmodation.We tried that the first couple of days we were there,and quickly realised that time spent travelling to and from the park really cuts into time available for seeing stuff.
If you shop around a bit,cheaper accomodation may be had.Our reccommendation is the Evergreen Motel,just outside of the center of West Yellowstone village,which is ran by a very pleasant young couple.The rooms are a bit small,but well decorated and have what I describe as my Holy Triumvirate of facilities (Fridge,Microwave and Coffee-maker,Amen).There's also a good,if a bit pricey,restaurant next door called 'Kiwis'.They sell meat pies,and proper fish and chips..a bit of a thrill for us slightly homesick Brits.
We used West Yellowstone as our base mainly because its more or less the same distance to everything in the park from the west entrance.
Word to the wise tho.The earlier you can get into the park from that side,the less time you'll spend queueing 5 miles or so inside the gate,where a Bald Eagle has set up nest next to the road.We lost nearly an hour the first couple of days because of that.
We didnt encounter much wildlife to start with,spending the first couple of days in the south end of the park,admiring the geysers and other geothermal phenomena...we must have seen 'Old Faithful' spout a good 7-8 times before our time in the park was done,but its also worth checking out the others.Castle Geyser is particularly good,and spouts away for ages.
Third day in,we took a wrong turn,and ended up going towards Mammoth Springs in the north.I'd just turned to Persistence to point out our mistake,when I was struck dumb,and ended up pointing out of the window making odd noises.We'd just trundled up about 5 metres from a Bison,who was quietly breakfasting by the roadside.
It turned out to be the first of many we saw,and I found them endlessly impressive creatures.It should be noted however,it doesn't do to disturb them too much,as apparently many more people are hurt by Bison in the park every year than the other large wildlife.
We did see a bear too.I'd more or less given up hope by the middle part of the 4th day of seeing one.In a last shot to encounter bear,we'd headed down the Hayden Valley in the east of the park,and we just happened to notice a couple of cars pulled up by the side of the road,and people outside of the cars with binoculars.
'Ah well,another Bison,' I said,as we pulled up for a look.Its worth noting,that if you're a bit crap at spotting stuff like I am,watch for cars pulled up at the roadside,but not in the provided turn-outs.Its usually an indicator that theres something worth looking at.
Anyway,I grabbed the camera,as Persistence scraffled in the back seat for the binoculars.I jumped out and trotted up to a couple of ladies chatting in a low and excited tone.
'There's a Grizzly up there,' one of them volunteered to me.I spent a desperate and fruitless couple of minutes scanning the tree-line,and was joined by Persistence,who pointed it straight out.And there it was,a good couple of hundred metres away,but definately a bear.
I went snap-happy,wishing I had a much better zoom function.I was however,absolutely thrilled.
The spell of the moment was only broken when we all realised that much,much more traffic had now parked up,and we were witnessing a truly bizarre spectacle provided courtesy of the human animals :)
Much like in Saknussem's thread in the quality images forum,I could hardly believe my eyes.There was a cavalry charge of parents carrying children up the slope towards the bear.It was like watching some sort of twisted,macabre game-show,the parents charged forth it seemed in an attempt to get their kids eaten by a bear first,with a vigour that suggested a large cash prize was at stake.Or at least an appearance on 'Americas funniest videos'.
I was particularly impressed by a plaid-shirted and baseball capped gentleman who burst through the front of the field,with a toddler stuffed under each arm.
Luckily,a Ranger appeared to stop the madness,although plaid-man must have got to about 10 metres before he was halted.
The bear,I have to say,was remarkably un-phased by all the ruckus.He was having far too much fun pulling bark from felled trees,looking for bugs I guess.He shuffled back off into the woods,hopefully very unimpressed.
We've moved on quite a bit since then,I'll update this thread more tomorrow.
I witnessed a woman painting her kids face with honey. She explained to the apoplectic ranger, she wanted a picture of the bear licking her kid's face. :rolleyes:
How unfortunate...I'm very close to St. Louis and could have directed you to the Piasa bird. Did you go to Grafton? The City Museum in St. Louis? St. Louis has a bad rep, really...not my favorite city ever, but better than it's rumored to be, and not nearly as scary. If you stay away from certain parts of the city, of course.
What town are you in, Pensive? I grew up in STL.
I lived in Collinsville a long time ago when I was first starting out. I liked Edwardsville, though.
That's cool. I didn't grow up here, but we really like Edwardsville.
All,well,we found the Piasa bird anyway,but thanks Pensive Monkey.
After we'd been up the Arch in StL,we didnt hang around the town much.Persistence doesnt like driving in cities,and we didnt much fancy spending the night there.
Anyway,its late,and been a bit of a day.We're having an on-going fight with the car rental company at the moment,as they keep hitting Persistence's credit card for cash,despite the fact that we have multiple valid rental agreements and vouchers.
That,and we've picked up another ding in the windshield,its a big one this time,and its going to need professional attention.
Have a few pics of our time in Yellowstone tho.
By
diminish3d, shot with
DMC-TZ5 at 2009-07-17
By
diminish3d, shot with
DMC-TZ5 at 2009-07-17
Our little bear :D
And our surprise Bison
Nice shots, the ones on the Yellowstone river are especially clear. :thumbsup::thumbsup:
I've seen a lot of bad shots of that river/valley, for some strange reason, people seem to have trouble with that.
Thanks Bruce,you didn't see how many I had to delete :blush:
For some reason,I'm absolutely awful at getting shots level,even with a guide on the display.I'm considering taping a spirit-level to the bottom of the camera ;) I'm the most fallible component in the whole setup :o
I thoroughly recommend the Panasonic DMC-TZ5,its the best bit of kit we brought with us.
Oh, we so need to go there. next year, maybe.
If you're after a cheaper tourist-free (Yellowstone rapidly fills up after about 10am,the Upper Geyser Basin containing Old Faithful is truly hellish by about 2pm) alternative,we're recommending the drive south from Hamilton MT to at least as far as Arco ID,along US-93.As you approach the Idaho border,the road rises along the Lewis and Clark trail,then descends into the Salmon river valley,through the Salmon-Challis National Forest.
The scenery is pretty spectacular,every turn in the road (and there are plenty) opens another page of picturebook perfect views.
Before you reach Arco,looking left (east) as you're heading south,you'll hopefully see a 21-mile long fault line,caused by an earthquake in 1984 (I think).
The valley flattens out a lot towards Arco,but its worth going on to that town to see the conning-tower of the SSN-666,a decomissioned attack sub,erected in the roadside park.(Also a memorial dedicated to US Submariners).
Also,just behind it,is the Arco 'Number Hill',succesive classes graduating from the local High School go up there and paint their year number onto the hillside.
Take the opportunity to eat an 'Atomic Burger' at Pickle's Place,just across the road from the park.My butt didn't stop glowing or emitting noxious gasses the rest of the day :P :D
If you've gone that far,its worth going on to Blackfoot to visit the Idaho Potato Museum,which is more fun than it sounds (and you get a free packet of dehydrated potato if you're from out of state).
Between Arco and Blackfoot,you'll find the World's First Nuclear Power Plant,the EBR-1,which is quite interesting (admission free,open between Memorial Day and Labor Day).In the car-park there,you'll find the engines from,and story of,the nuclear powered jet-bomber which the U.S proposed to build in the early 60's.
I like Idaho.Lots to see and do.
Yellowstone, and most everything else for that matter, is less crowded before Memorial Day and after Labor Day.
By the way, you have my permission to use my comments in the book and/or documentary. :haha:
I could write a book about the crowds in Yellowstone alone,but I want to make sure I'm in a country with no extradition treaty with the US first.
Bah, the more to upbraid them, the more copies they'll buy for their friends and neighbors... along with the videos of themselves on the TV show Cops. :haha:
Hey dim, if you'll link some of those pics in their larger resolution, I'd love to have them for desktops! Pretty please?
Awesome pictures, they make me want to go there.
And they make me want to swim in that lovely colourful mineral pool. I acknowledge this would probably be more stupid than hugging a polar bear, but I want to do that, too.
No problem Pie,which one(s) would you like?
Its bad form to reply to my own posts,I know,but well,some things are worth mentioning.
We visited the Big Dog B&B yesterday
http://www.roadsideamerica.com/tip/385 . (Cottonwood,Idaho)
We thought it would be a simple 'stop and shoot' job,and then we'd move along.
Whilst I was sneaking about trying to line up a decent pic, the owner, Dennis, came across and had a bit of a chat with us. A bit of a chat turned into a major chin-wag and breeze-shoot, and we departed 3 hours later.
But what a pleasant, intelligent and wise guy he is. If you should ever be in the area, I'd definately encourage you to go and spend a bit of time chatting with the fella. I can honestly say, I've not met a person who is happier doing what they're doing. Our envy of his happiness was only tempered by the pleasure of his conversation, he's an absolute mine of information on every topic we broached with him, and surpassingly wise.
And we were even allowed inside the Big Dog for a look around.(Its a pretty damned nice place to stay in too, by the look of it.).He's planning to make 'The World's smallest Coffee-Pot Museum', and 'something involving a giant wooden toaster'.
As we were Brits, he asked us if we knew of the comedian/writer Dave Gorman, who had stayed there on a trip he'd taken across the 'States as the basis for a book he wrote. When we replied that we'd seen the documentary that resulted from that trip, we spent quite a while chatting about that too.
I cant recall spending such a pleasurable waste of time with someone I'd never met before. Here's to you, Dennis, may you continue those things you do for a long, long time.
Other highlights of the last couple of days included visiting a damned fine shoe-tree in the very northwest of Idaho (we left a hat there as we couldnt spare any shoes,we hurriedly scribbled cellar.org onto it before pinning it up), dancing with a dust-devil, and tonight we're staying in a motel hosting a Creationist Conference. Why is it that we can never find a 'Darwin Rules!' t-shirt when we need one? :p
Oh yes,I knew there was something else.I've recently been noticing that Motels have been cutting off my net access for the duration of my stay,as soon as I fire up my torrent client.Its damned frustrating!(But understandable I guess <grumble>)
Its bad form to reply to my own posts,I know,but well,some things are worth mentioning.
Just pretend you're replying to
my post.
Thanks Bruce
It was on your recommendation we went there anyway :D
11.30pm,5 beers and I've went outside for a smoke.
Unsurprising,but then I witnessed some behaviour I just cant fathom.
There was a chap,about 20 yards or so away,acting very strangely.
He appeared to be trying to stamp at a bush,whilst using his mobile phone to attempt to record what he was trying to do.
He stamped 2-3 times,shouted 'Shoot' a couple of times,stooped to pickup a handful of dirt twice,threw them at whatever he was trying to stamp on,and then ran away and ducked behind some other bushes when he noticed I was watching him.
Now I'm thinking a couple of things.One of those is 'Meth-Just say No.'.
Thats probably my preferred option.
The other is that he was attempting to film himself stamping a snake to death,and possibly failing.
Either way,I wasn't going over to check to see if there was a pissed off,possibly hurt snake,or a meth-head hiding in those bushes.
I quietly finished up my cigarette and came back indoors.
That's just the friendly locals trying to make sure you have the complete American experience, I guess.
When I thought a little more about it,it got even more alarming.
Motel full of creationists,and a guy outside trying to stamp a serpent to death.
What the hell were you smoking??? :haha:
Only tobacco.That may well have been the problem.Never mind,in 2-3 weeks I should get to California :D
But you'll have missed the Rocky Mountain High. ;)
Centralia,Washington.Tonight,I was in a mood to celebrate,as I've had some long-awaited news from one of my online games.I wont bore you all with the details,but its something I and others have been waiting to happen for over a year.
Centralia has failed me on an epic scale.I wanted booze.Not beer.So first we went to Wal-Mart,to get some groceries,and liquor.Groceries were bought,but liquor wasn't available (odd,since they sell Margarita Mix-Just Add Tequila!).Never mind,my gps indictaes at least 3 liquor stores in a 10 mile radius.
Number 1 didnt exist.Neither did number 2.Number 3 closed as we pulled into the parking lot.
I can get a car-lube,tires,flooring,lumber,a vibrator and/or a butt-plug.But not a bottle of bevvy.
As a Brit,it would be unheard of to drive for over an hour and not be able to get a bottle of spirits somewhere.Damn you Centralia.Damn you all to hell.
poor lamb. you need to learn to carry more supplies.
Its dangerous for me to carry liquor m8,it can have unpredictable results.Its better to be a spur of the moment thing.
I'm eating jerky until I calm down :D
Aren't the bars still open?
Washington State (Oregon, too) is one of those states - bottles of hard liquor can only be purchased in state-run stores. At twice the price. And rarely on Sundays.
If I'd only known before I moved here... :headshake
Here's what you do: Head south on I-5 toward Vancouver. Take the La Center exit. Drive into town and stop at any of the casinos (there are four). Then call me and we'll party.
;)
I can get a car-lube,tires,flooring,lumber,a vibrator and/or a butt-plug.
That should be enough. Improvise.
It's not safe to combine any of those things with alcohol.;)
Yabbut all of those things together would make for a wild night.
Finally,a week later and we tracked down an open liquor store on a Saturday night.
Does anyone know the difference between Jack Daniels Green Label and the usual Black Label ?
We've just spent half a bottle trying to work it out :D
In general, we're a little underwhelmed with the pacific northwest so far. Its not bad on scenery,but we've had to resort to more conventional touristy attraction type stuff.
We visited the "World's Smallest Harbour" at Depoe Bay in Oregon.To be honest,it seemed like a bit of a cheat.As experienced seasiders,it looks more than a little too small to be practicable, or navigable.
We also found more shoe trees, which are a wonderful phenomenon.
And a Bear living in a cage by a Gas Station (no complaints here,he seemed more than happy to be honest,if a little thirsty-but it was exceedingly warm.). He was so impressed at our arrival,he demonstrated it by making toilet in a corner of his cage. Interesting fact:fresh Black Bear poo seems to be bright orange.
Today saw us experience a 50 degree shift in temperature.At about 4:30 pm our in-car temp gauge read 113 degrees fahrenheit. About 3 hours later, approaching Bend (OR) it was 63, under a quite impressive thunderstorm.
Persistence asks of you American types a question: A few times now, for motel breakfast, we've been offered some sort of grey glutinous liquid in a bain-marie. To us,it looks reminiscent of a badly-made cream-pepper sauce.....it seems to be offered in combination with 'biscuits', what us Brits might call 'scones'. We readily accept scones, and treat them as such, with lashings of butter and jam, but it seems to get us odd glances at the breakfast tables.
Are we seeing your American interpretation of 'Gravy'? If so,its far and away from how we'd interpret it as such. I volunteered to Persistence that it might be the foodstuff known as 'Grits', but I'm not altogether sure. Answers on a postcard,or a forum post please.
My apologies for not keeping this thread up to date,or snuff,but meh,I'm a little worse for wear.
On a more serious note.
I'm sorry to Glinda,and others who have been offering us hospitality on this trip. I have to make a confession,which may also come as something of a surprise to Monster,who graciously introduced me here.My non-comments or non-acceptances of these offers have been playing upon my mind, and have started to strike me as if I'm being rude in not accepting them,or at least commenting upon them.
I (Diminished) suffer from something of a 'social disorder'. Basically, I'm still receiving treatment for my 5th breakdown, and I dont really wish to inflict my neuroses upon pleasant strangers.
My 'official' diagnosis is acute clinical depression, but thats probably inadequate to clearly explain the problem, as I also get elements of illness which may be considered something akin to bi-polar syndrome.
The 'ups' are slight,but dramatic,the 'downs' are much more dramatic, and much longer lasting.
Upon my last presentation of my condition to my Doctor, (the first recurrence in 10 years,I believed I was 'over' my problems-denial is a wonderful thing) he informed me that I would have to consider it a life-long condition, and would need appropriate treatment at appropriate intervals. That hit me pretty hard,after 10 years of being 'problem free',even though I knew I'd been struggling against it hard the past couple of years.
The good news is, that due to advances in drug treatments over the years since I last presented the problem, apparently the drug therapy has come on in 'leaps and bounds'. Its true that I'm tolerating my session of therapy much better (this time around) ,but I have to take the pills for much longer this time. To be honest,I'd be happy enough to take this course of treatment that I'm on,permanently, if they gauranteed the condition would not reocurr.
Hell,to make it over here,I had to have a Medical Examination,and be issued a Medical Statement that I am 'no longer a danger to others,or myself'.
I did not confess this to Monster and Beest,and I'm sorry for that.You may both have noticed that when we both came back to your house in the evening,I may have been a little more subdued.Thats the effect of my medication,I take it because I need it,and its for the best I take it. (indeed,I'm happy to take it).
Persistence has been with me for the last 4 'occurences' of my 'illness' (I blush to call it so,its a pitiful condition to refer to as an illness in the light of the problems of others.). She has experienced the heights and depths along with me, and she takes it. She accepts it as part of me. And for that,I'm grateful beyond words. It upsets her,and when I see that, that inspires me to try and straighten myself out. But it is,all the same, very difficult.
It is from the fear that I act not like myself,that I bypass these kind offers of friendship and hospitality. The last thing I ever want to do to people is cause offence by my words and deeds, but sometimes I do, I cant help it, and I regret it bitterly.I ask your indulgence and forgiveness.
So, you're fucked up and taking drugs. Well so are half the people on this forum... hell, half the people in America... and we've got guns. :haha:
Those of us that are in the same boat have enjoyed the hell out of your trip, without having to go out and deal with people, like you have. For that, I thank you very much. That said, don't feel you owe us regular reports or anything else, it's we that owe you for your enrichment of the forum.
The bottom line is take care of yourself first and foremost. When the spirit moves you, we'll be here to welcome you with open arms. :thumb:
Persistence asks of you American types a question: A few times now, for motel breakfast, we've been offered some sort of grey glutinous liquid in a bain-marie. To us,it looks reminiscent of a badly-made cream-pepper sauce.....it seems to be offered in combination with 'biscuits', what us Brits might call 'scones'. We readily accept scones, and treat them as such, with lashings of butter and jam, but it seems to get us odd glances at the breakfast tables.
Are we seeing your American interpretation of 'Gravy'? If so,its far and away from how we'd interpret it as such. I volunteered to Persistence that it might be the foodstuff known as 'Grits', but I'm not altogether sure. Answers on a postcard,or a forum post please.
That motel slop is supposed to be sausage gravy. No real American will consider it such though. If you find a little diner and they have "biscuits and gravy" it will change your life. I prefer butter or peanut butter and jam on my biscuits though.
And the biscuits they serve in motels are shit. It's like calling a Starbucks scone a scone -- It's not quite right. Real biscuits are dense and buttery. The BEST biscuits are called "drop biscuits."
You probably won't find decent biscuits and gravy unless you try the lower midwest.
I did not confess this to Monster and Beest,and I'm sorry for that.You may both have noticed that when we both came back to your house in the evening,I may have been a little more subdued.Thats the effect of my medication,I take it because I need it,and its for the best I take it. (indeed,I'm happy to take it). .
Oh please, you must have worked out that I attract nutters! ;) You were under no obligation to confess anything. I'm very practiced at assessing "danger". :lol:
One thing I have found is that Americans are much more open about discussing mentall illness and the drugs they take for it, and it's way more common than you'd think. Don't apologise and don't worry, just cope the best you can and people will take you as they find you. :)
Now. MORE PICTURES!!!11!1
I'm sorry to Glinda,and others who have been offering us hospitality on this trip. I have to make a confession,which may also come as something of a surprise to Monster,who graciously introduced me here.My non-comments or non-acceptances of these offers have been playing upon my mind, and have started to strike me as if I'm being rude in not accepting them,or at least commenting upon them.
I (Diminished) suffer from something of a 'social disorder'. Basically, I'm still receiving treatment for my 5th breakdown, and I dont really wish to inflict my neuroses upon pleasant strangers....
It is from the fear that I act not like myself,that I bypass these kind offers of friendship and hospitality. The last thing I ever want to do to people is cause offence by my words and deeds, but sometimes I do, I cant help it, and I regret it bitterly.I ask your indulgence and forgiveness.
Everything Bruce said. No worries, no need to apologize, nothing to forgive. :)
But I do always get a chuckle showing off "my little town" (which I'm actually
miles from) - 2500 people and
four casinos. No grocery store. No hardware store. No barbershop. No liquor store. No hotel. No movie theater. No fast food joints.
But
four casinos.
And it's almost
La Center's 100th Anniversary! Hot time in the old town!
Thanks for your messages,the matter had been preying upon my mind for a few days,it seemed time to clear it up.
But I approach you tonight,as a man who has been wronged!
I have been denied a very special cultural experience,unique to the US,and I've been sulking about it for the last couple of days.
Saturday,as we passed through Lebanon,OR, we noticed that there seemed to be something of a summer faire type affair happening.(Indeed,this sort of thing seemed to be happening in quite a few places last Saturday.).
It was with great enthusiasm,that I spotted a Cheerleader Carwash being offered near the roadside.Its not like our car didn't need a wash,it is positively filthy (but with good dirt,which has accumulated throughout our journey.Maybe I should collect it up,and make a collage.Or something.), but Persistence seemed immovable on the negotiations,which had to be conducted at speed as she accelerated through town.
I did see the local Fire Crew offering a similar service,and I am an equal opportunity lech...I was quite prepared to let the Fire Crew wash half the car,if only she'd let the Cheerleaders do the other half.
Or even if she'd have been prepared to let the Cheerleaders rinse it off.
Hell,I'd have settled for her letting me watch Cheerleaders washing other peoples cars.
She even had an opportunity later to rescind her harshness,as we passed through Sisters,but even the possibility of 'Soccer Girls' soaping our vehicle up seemed unpalatable.I even tried to appeal to her sense of pity....as it all seemed to be in aid of charity.
'Think of the Kittens!' I cried,but she remained unmoved.
She is a harsh,and merciless woman.
a word to the wise... it's ain't 'free" lol -those girlies papas are in the parking lot and they will make sure you pay. Of course, the are also registered with thie anti-ho league. go figure :lol:
I have decided I hate taking my car to the carwash -beest has to do it. and if he goes with the cheerleaders, well, that's a good load of paintballs ho coulda bought. or he can drive it up the ramp at the $3 place.....
$3! Wow! What do you get for that? Our auto-wash is $7-$9. I did it at the do it yourself place last time and spent $8 but that included the vacuuming.
I live at the end of a dry, dusty gravel road that's at the end of a dry, dusty gravel road. In winter, the endless wet means dirty, misty crap gets flung upon my car by others on the road. Car washing is futile.
Oh, FYI - about the black vs green label Jack? From the website:
Jack Daniel's Green Label is a lighter, less mature whiskey with a lighter color and character. The barrels selected for Green Label tend to be on the lower floors and more toward the center of the warehouse where the whiskey matures more slowly.
As for your earlier message Dim, I admire your candor, problem is, you just made yourself even more invitable! We're all nutters here! Thank you for allowing us to travel vicariously through you, wthout having to leave the comfort of our keyboards. I will drink a toast to you and Per tonight, and you can consider it as all three of us having a drink together.
Cheers QotR :D
With reference to the JD...The label thing only ever seems to be interesting during ingestion.A JD hangover is consistent, the colour of the label is irrelvant by morning, its overpowered by that awful feeling that somehow the world isn't quite the same as when you left it there a few hours earlier.
What could account for all those broken crackers distributed over the motel table?And where did all the snacky chocolate bars go?
The weakened condition I found myself in, left me in poor shape to answer such mysteries.
We moved back to the coast from Bend,after checking out (another) shoe tree to the east of town.
Then we decided to drive 170 miles to see the model of a giant fly, perched atop a restroom.At least it afforded me a chance to have a nap or two on the way, which annoys Persistence no end.
I've adapted myself to sleeping in the car quite well, to the extent that my head remains bolt upright, and its very hard for Persistence to tell whether I'm awake or asleep.Its a shame to do it, as I do miss watching the countryside go by, but I'm claiming it as navigator's privelege. Serves me right for staying up late to watch cartoons most nights.
The southern Oregon coast is quite scenic, but would be more so if the sun ever managed to punch through the mist that seems to cloak everything, making it even harder for myself to pick out the horizon for photographs.The lack of heat was welcome tho, it was a shame to turn back inland, but we may be becoming hardened to it, we happily endure 95+ now without air-con.
I was awakened from one of my periodic naps by a panicked Persistence as we reached the California border, as there seemed to be something of a roadblock/toll both ahead of us.We approached the consternation on her part,and confusion upon my own.We'd forgotten that in order to enter we first had to be checked for concealed fruit and hidden vegetables, which was something of a relief.
Later, we hooked back north into Oregon, to find our funky fly,then moved on up to Grant's Pass, to check out a statue of a big caveman. The locals seem to have a tradition of dressing up as such to greet visitors, although we seemed to escape umolested.
Then we moved further back up, to Medford, where we've been based for the last couple of nights, and went to see a big Blackbird statue which the town has at a local shopping mall, a hangover from the 60's.Its quite sizeable,and delightful.The town dresses it up from time to time, and changes what it grips in its wings (a fishing rod for our visit.).We stayed the first night at the local Days Inn (we had a coupon,although the place is rather cheap enough without it.), which is run by a thoroughly nice fella called Charles, probably the most professional desk-staffer we've met during our stay.(Unlike 2 out of the 3 motels in Bend we tried,where we had trouble making ourselves understood, and that was before any drink was consumed.).The building is a bit old and shabby on the outside, but the rooms are very clean and pleasant,putting many more expensive places we've stayed in quite to shame
We also took the chance to take a gander at Crater Lake.For a National Park, its actually rather quiet,and the views across it are spectacular, although they were a little marred by the smoke from a couple of forest fires, which were triggered by the tremendous lightning last Saturday night. At lunch we also had a close encounter with a curious Black-tailed Deer,which was quite happy to get within 5 feet or so of us, and seemed happy to beg for food, although all she got out of us were photographs, so she soon got bored and went to molest others at neaby picnic tables.
Persistence then insisted we climbed a nearby mountain for a better view of the lake.I grumbled breathlessly in her wake as we made the ascent, but once I'd got my breath back at the top, it did seem to have been worth it, and we also met a nice couple at the top, and we exchanged couples photograph duties.
I'll post up some more photos soon, and if I can,I'll post full-size versions of those nice ones I took in Yellowstone for anyone wanting to use them as desktops.I've been a bit lazy sorting through my snaps, letting them build up on my memory cars, I'll be paying the price for that shortly :D
Ah, you got to see the troll under the bridge, good show.:thumb:
Question here for the Lady Cellarites.
Persistence needs a dress,as we'll be attending a wedding within 24 hours of returning home. As we're not very well up on which American chain-stores stock decent dresses,do any of the lady dwellers have any suggestions?
On short notice like that, I'd say your best bet is to go to a mall. There you will find several chain stores all together in one place, so she'll have a few more choices.
Well,Las Vegas has come and gone.
We were very much less than impressed with the place, cutting our 2-3 day planned stay to less than 24 hours.
When people ask me about visiting places, I often give them the advice to 'look up', so that they dont see the mundane stuff at street level, and that they'll usually spot some interesting or at least some historic architecture.
I'd say that 'looking up' in Vegas is almost a must, if you want to retain any kind of sense of awe about the place.
For at street level it has to be one of the dirtiest,greasiest and sleaziest places I've ever been.
Firstly, we made a bad choice of motel.Not from the point of view that the staff were awful (moderately), the place was under reconstruction (and the noisy carpenters started work around 5.30am) or that the breakfast was poor (coffee only.And I scalded my hand on the machine).It was more that it was a block off from the strip.
A block in Vegas seems a lot further than a block anywhere else.Particularly when Persistence decided that we must sally forth to the strip at 1pm, when the temperature had only reached 105.
Once we'd dodged the hoboes, the pan-handlers, the traffic and then yet more hoboes, we were more or less continually assaulted by Latin men and women offering me the sexual favours of their sisters/cousins.Who, strangely, according to the cards they were giving out by the handful, all seemed to be white and blonde.
A tip, however, for these purveyors of the flesh trade.Dont offer me a hooker double-act for $100, when you're also offering me solo ladies of ill repute for $35 each.
The MGM Grand seemed like a fair refuge from the pimps, and indeed we spent a pleasant hour wandering the malls, and feeding the slots.We lost money, of course, but not a lot, and it seemed worth it for the air conditioning and the mere moderate levels of overcrowding and jostling.
That was more or less the last pleasant hour we spent in Vegas.Its probably an OK town if you're going to spend your entire vacation within one of the many splendid casino resorts, but its hell on earth out on the strip.I took a few snaps, then gritted my teeth for the next 4 hours of endless sweaty trudging hell.
The horror of the experience was compounded by going dress shopping.Indeed, we (I) finally did find a dress for Persistence, but only after we'd been through 70+ shops.
Of course, she denied it had been that many, until I pointed out that she'd visited around 50 in the 'Miracle Mile' shopping arcade, most of which had not merited a second glance from her.And the dress we (I) finally selected (to put a stop to the endless charade/parade), she had already walked past 3 times without giving it a look.
"Could you stand it if we look for some shoes now?"
Answers on a postcard, please.They would likely be more polite than my reply.
You've just reinforced my instinctive Vegas avoidance. Thanks for that. Go see something attractive now.
Instructions received and understood.
After a very wet day wandering the southern rim of the Grand Canyon, we've just booked up a helicopter trip for the morning.
Persistence is bouncing around the room like a bouncy thing, as she's been wanting to do this since we first talked about this vacation.Now we just need the weather gods to be ungrumpy.
Reminds me of some language lessons we had to do in Japan - booking overseas tours. I did them so many times I got bored as hell and got mischievous.
Where I was supposed to say "I'm interested in your Grand Canyon Helicopter tour", if the student was an sexy woman (as they often were) I would insert a little pause: "I'm interested in your Grand Canyon .... helicopter tour."
Not enough that anyone could notice, but enough to amuse myself.
As you were.
Shoulda listened to us -we told you four hours tops for Vegas! :lol:. Sorry it was so awful. Hope the Heli tour was fantastic :)
Yeah, I even had to give up going to the 'Pinball Hall of Fame', our need to escape Vegas was so bad.That, and a big chunk of one of my teeth dropped out....can't decide if it was from cultural outrage or fear and loathing.
The display of fountains outside of the Bellagio was pleasantly noteworthy.That accounted for about 5 nice minutes, in addition to the hour spent in the MGM Grand.
The Heli ride over the Grand Canyon was very much worth it. Flying over really does add a lot to the place, which was already looking pretty damned fantastic in today's lightly cloudy weather.
Persistence surprisingly suffered from a digestion malfunction, and had to make use of the in-flight little paper bag, which amused the 4 Italians we were flying with, no end.Even with that happening,she was still grinning ear-to-ear at the end of the flight (even with a few flecks of lunch left upon her chin).
We took the 50-minute tour which came out $388 for the 2 of us, but then found an online coupon which reduced that to $350.Also, at the end of the flight, you get the option of buying a photograph of you and your significant other/partner/spouse/fellow jihadist which is snapped in front of your sky-chariot seconds before the ground crew loads you into your seat...that's another $20, which I got Persistence to fork out for, she was in that good a mood.
I was frantically hammering away with the camera for most of the flight, I think I accumulated about 200 shots before we were done.I did stop to look at some of the scenery, but found myself getting a bit teary-eyed because it was just that damned beautiful, so went back to hastily lining up more shots, which I'll post some of once I sort through my backlog.
The pilot, sadly, remained silent throughout the entire experience, and I had to keep half an eye on him for evidence of a forthcoming psychotic episode. Instead, we had some music piped through our headphones interspersed with a fairly bland commentary in English, then repeated in Italian for our fellow passengers.
Also, I must ask...is anyone aware of why Arizona appears to have been invaded by many many French?'Twas most amusing watching all the miscommunication betwixt them and the staff of a McDonalds earlier tonight.
Ugh, I'm in danger of breaking into Shakespearean...it must be time for bed. :D
Vincent: Yeah baby, you'd dig it the most. But you know what the funniest thing about Europe is?
Jules: What?
Vincent: It's the little differences. I mean, they got the same shit over there that we got here, but it's just – it's just there it's a little different.
Jules: Example?
Vincent: All right. Well, you can walk into a movie theater in Amsterdam and buy a beer. And I don't mean just like in no paper cup, I'm talking about a glass of beer. And in Paris, you can buy a beer at McDonald's. Know what they call a Quarter Pounder with Cheese in Paris?
Jules: They don't call it a Quarter Pounder with Cheese?
Vincent: Naw, man, they got the metric system, they wouldn't know what the fuck a Quarter Pounder is.
Jules: What do they call it?
Vincent: They call it a "Royale with Cheese".
Jules: "Royale with Cheese".
Vincent: That's right.
Jules: What do they call a Big Mac?
Vincent: A Big Mac's a Big Mac, but they call it "Le Big Mac".
Jules: [in mock French accent] "Le Big Mac." [laughs] What do they call a Whopper?
Vincent: I don't know, I didn't go in a Burger King.
[YOUTUBE]iwuSGvfN0T4[/YOUTUBE]
I was gonna ... but then..
Undertoad beat me to it.
Then Jinx beat me to the next one.
Ahh, I luv youse all. :lol:
Finally sorted through 900+ images.I really should learn that the longer I leave it, the more of a pain in the ass it is to do.
We're holed up in Cedar City,UT today.It seems to be one of those free weekends at the National Parks, as we found out yesterday when we visited Zion, so we're waiting until tomorrow to visit Bryce Canyon.
In the meantime,have some sceneries.
Check out my highly trained attack squirrel moving into position to mug Persistence.
Hawthorne NV finally finds a sensible and happy use for bombs.
The Museum of Kinetic Sculpture, at Ferndale CA.Every year, the residents of Ferndale hold a mad 3 day human-powered multi-terrain sculpture race.The best of the surviving vehicles/sculptures make it into the Museum.
We spotted a Marmot basking in the sun at Lassen Volcanic NP.We took a quick vote and decided we like Marmots.
Finally, a pic of Las Vegas, which Cellarites have my permission to use on relatives, to save themselves the horror of having to visit there themselves.
excellent. And I'm not buying the squirrel excuse for that pic..... :lol:
When do you hit LA? Need any suggestions for things to occupy your time on the left coast?
You'll like Bryce, unless it's too crowded. The terrain is spectacular in any weather, and unlike the Grand Canyon, on a less mind boggling scale. Bryce is like the top third of the Grand Canyon and Zion like the middle third. I'm talking depth not length.
Well,Las Vegas has come and gone.
We were very much less than impressed with the place, cutting our 2-3 day planned stay to less than 24 hours.
For at street level it has to be one of the dirtiest,greasiest and sleaziest places I've ever been.
I can't agree more.
Bryce was as excellent as Zion was disappointing.
Not that I really think Zion is a bad NP,it was just badly overcrowded.Also, save yourself a couple of hours if you go there by missing out the 'Emerald Pools' hiking trail.
Persistence and I slogged up and down hills to see 3 pools, of which we could easily find a dozen as good/better at home.
Bryce more than made up for it.It delivered jaw-dropping scenery by the truckload.
We spent our last night in Utah at Kanab, having spent a couple of nights there a couple of days previous.Last night was by far the best tho.
We found a terrific hidden gem of a motel, the Sun-N-Sand, which from the outside looks like Norman Bates' dream home.Inside, its a bit worn, but very clean.
The owner, Wayne, although he looks like an extra from a Pirate movie, is an absolute hero.We mentioned we preferred beer to tea, and he suddenly said 'Dont drink any beer you've bought in Utah, its swill.'.
He explained that they have under-strength beer for Utah, and that suddenly cleared up a problem I'd had the night before.No matter how many cans I drank, I couldn't seem to get drunk.
'Yep,it'll just give you a headache and make you need to pee.'
We went and settled into our room, and 20 mins later,there's a knock on the door.Persistence opened it to find Wayne holding a couple of cold bottles of Bud which someone had sneaked over the border for him :3eye:
We sat out on the doorstep, journalising and emailing the folks back home, and he trotted up with another couple.We retired to bed quite happily.
The breakfast he laid on was similarly heroic, ranging from fresh water-melon to a beautiful carrot-cake an admirer had brought him, and had the most excellent coffee I've had over here.(And in proper mugs too, none of yer plastic cup rubbish).
I've never seen anyone work as hard and as cheerfully for our cash,$45 had us covered for the night.He has single-handedly put almost all other motels we've stayed at to shame.
Before we left, we gave him a pack of Tetly Tea-Bags, explaining that that is what British people call 'Tea', and it is what empires are built upon :) , and instructed him in proper tea-making procedures.
The guy is an absolute gem, and if you're ever in need of somewhere to stay in southern Utah, I commend him unto all Cellarites.
Today has been a long drive, down from Kanab to Tucson, where we'll be visiting 'The Boneyard'
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aerospace_Maintenance_and_Regeneration_Group
- the USAF's storage facility for aircraft they're not currently using.
On the way into Tucson, we happened to pass Pinal Airpark, a similar facility for commercial airlines.
We're down to around 16 days left over here, and we're starting to face some hard choices about what we can do versus what we want to do, with the time remaining.
PS: Must mention, we hit a new high temp. for us today.As we passed through Phoenix, the car thermometer hit 115.
I just read, in July Death Valley had 20 days over 120 degrees F. :sweat:
Today has been a long drive, down from Kanab to Tucson, where we'll be visiting 'The Boneyard' http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aerospace_Maintenance_and_Regeneration_Group
- the USAF's storage facility for aircraft they're not currently using.
If you find yourself with extra time in Tuscon, Sabino Canyon is pretty. It's a narrow canyon in the foothills of the Catalinas and a stream (which is probably a trickle or dry now in August) winds its way from pool to pool in the canyon with nice views of saguaro cacti all around. Probably my favorite place in Tucson.
Also, a drive up to the top of Mount Lemmon might cool you off by about 10 degrees. You'd be at 105 instead of 115. There are some decent views from up there.
The old historic mission San Xavier will take you back in time.
The Desert Museum is a zoo that contains desert animals. When I was a kid we used to get the coyotes going absolutely bananas by howling in front of their cage. That would stir up the whole zoo. Good times. But it's just a zoo.
If you like astronomy at all, you have to take a trip to nearby Kitt Peak and get a tour of some of the huge telescopes there.
I wish I hadn't got myself banned from the motel's network last night.
Then I might have seen glatt's post this morning...I'm a closet astronomy enthusiast...it never occurred to me that I might be near the Mt.Lemmon observatories.
All that needs to happen to make that mistake complete is to check the BAA website in a couple of days and find they discovered a comet there today. :thepain:
We're now moving in completely the wrong direction to visit those, and after dragging Persistence around 'another' Air Museum all day, in the scorching sun, she's not in a mood to turn back.
Oh well.
The PIMA air museum was interesting, and for once, since most of the aircraft are stored outdoors, I didn't have much bother taking photos.
The Boneyard tour was pretty good too, although I was so intent on looking out of the bus windows (we weren't allowed to stop or get off, the AMARG facility is still an operational base) I failed to notice the aircon had broken down.More heat for poor Persistence to endure!
Unfortunately,it was well towards museum closing time before she was able to drag me towards any kind of exit, and we had to set off again.
West again, back into southern California next.We'll try not to smuggle fruit.
Time for an update.
We entered California after ditching our stash of bananas, that we might not attract attention to ourselves.
Initially, we made for L.A, after a little visit to the town of Joshua Tree, to have a quick look at Myrtle the Turtle (roadside statue of a turtle).Persistence called a halt around Perris (site of some smashing boulders painted up as apples), as she was finding the traffic more than a little intimidating.
We bounced back, towards Death Valley, overnighting in Barstow.Whilst there, we read a few things online about the town, which had us more than a little worried to step outside.Especially as the bolt on our motel room door had been torn off at some stage.
Next day, we headed for Death Valley, where things began to go wrong.
I take this opportunity to remind myself, that it is not an especially good idea to run off into the desert when the temperature is 122f, even when you have water stashed about your person.And that water is all well and good, but only tends to be useful when it is drank.
The Mesquite Dunes did look very photographically appealing however.And it did seem like a good idea at the time.
I began to have a little trouble keeping co-ordinated about halfway back to the car, I'd been feeling quite smug about some of the photos I'd got.Things got progressively more difficult the closer I got to the car.I just about crawled up onto the roadway.
Persistence had spotted me stumbling about, and brought the car alongside and helped me in.
It was probably less dramatic than it sounds, and I felt (slightly) better after the application of a couple of litres of water, which I promptly sweated back out.
I dozed for the next hour or so, as we headed towards Stovepipe Wells, with the intention of heading up to The Racetrack, to see Death Valley's mysterious moving stones.
I was required to make a navigational decision, which in my confused state, I really should have taken more time over.About an hour later, as we pulled up at the western entrance about 100 miles out from where we should have been, the error was realised.
We immediately set off back for The Racetrack, arriving at the entrance to the 31 miles of rough road about 6pm.
We should have known better than to set off down a very rough bladed earth track with around 90 minutes of daylight left.That road surely has to be the worst we've encountered in just shy of 24000 miles of motoring we've done over here.
We both called a halt an hour in, and around 9 miles short.There was a very real danger that our trusty vehicle was going to become crippled if we continued.Persistence gingerly backtracked along that crappy road in failing light, and we slowly realised that it would be at least 3 more hours before we got anywhere near a motel which would be of any use to us.That fuel would be marginal, and we didn't have much in any way to eat (although plenty of water).It also became apparent that our vehicle suffered from the little adventure.
The suspension is now considerably looser than it was before we set out there, and we get a much bouncier ride now.
We eventually made a motel, but if we'd continued on to our original goal, things could have been hairier.The deity that protects all naive fools pulled overtime that day.
Suitably self-chastised, we set out the next day on something of a curious mission.
We went to a forest in order to find a tree.
At once, a simple sounding thing, but when you're looking for one tree in particular, can also be a quite complicated thing.
We went to the Ancient Bristlecone Pine groves in Inyo National Forest, to search for the Oldest (non-clonal) living Thing on the Planet, the Methuselah Tree.
Methuselah is estimated, this year, to be 4500 years old.The problem searching for it, is that it's not marked on map, and Forest Rangers will not tell you where it is (with good reason.When they had a sign indicating which tree it was, it was vandalised) .Its also located between 10000 and 11000 ft above sea-level.
We went to the local ranger station, and found that there is a trail around the Methuselah Grove, and the Ranger informed us that the tree itself is between two of the numbered markers, but gave us no more information than that.
We'd done some research the previous night on the net, but that had just proved confusing.We'd turned up a set of GPS co-ordinates, and 4 different images purporting to show the tree itself.
The GPS co-ordinates we immediately discarded, on the grounds that they're in the wrong grove of Bristlecone Pines (Methuselah is reportedly in the Schulmann Grove, our co-ordinates indicated the Patriarch Grove), and when you're hiking at altitude and speed, one tree looks very much like another.
We did, however, find a group of big and old Bristlecones, in the area the Ranger had told us to look.Searching off the trail, I also found another very poorly defined and seldom used track that lead up to a group of 4-5 trees.These trees had metal tags attached to them, unlike the others we'd looked closely at, and we decided that if none of them were Methuselah itself, they were probably among the older ones of the grove.We left, breathless, hopeful, and reasonably satisfied that we probably have an image of the correct tree somewhere amongst our shots.
Bristlecone pines are quite interesting things, I think.I'd seen a documentary about them several years ago, and to refresh my knowlege, I bought a book when we got back to the ranger station (after crocking my ankle on the trail back).
I read that simply, these trees do not die of old age.They only die when something kills them.I also read that, to my chagrin, Methuselah is not the oldest amongst them.There is at least one older, known to a couple of researchers, who will not give out the location.
There was indeed, an older specimen, up until sometime in the 1960's called Prometheus, who was felled in an unfortunate incident by a scientist (he was taking core samples for dating, his coring-tool broke and he sought permission to cut this particular specimen down, which surprisingly the Forestry Service granted.They're apparently a lot more careful with their permissions now.).
Anyway, onward, and in conclusion.
Today, we set off with the intention of visiting Bodie, a ghost-town on the border between California and Nevada.To some extent, its not really a ghost town, in as much as that there are still a few residents, and that the town itself has been declared a State Park, and is held in its state of decay as a showpiece.
The last several miles to the town however, are across our old friend, bladed dirt road.After our previous experience, Persistence called a halt several hundred yards on from where we'd left the tarmac, and turned about.
As an alternative, we instead headed for Yosemite National Park, which we had intended to look at tomorrow.
I've got to say, Yosemite is quite spectacular, but very challenging to capture in photographs.More challenging yet to photograph in crappy weather.And by the time the weather clears, more challenging again becuase everything is smothered in people.
It was a shame to visit at the weekend.The sheer volume of people more or less ensured that the possibility of encountering large furry, or even medium-sized fluffy wild-lifes was at a minimum.
I think to get the best out of Yosemite, its more or less essential to go hiking out on the many trails around the place, which we weren't able to because of my crocked ankle (and today I seemed to be handling the altitude a lot less ably).
We left slightly disappointed, but at the same time frustrated, because we knew we hadn't been able to give ourselves the opportunity to experience the best that it could offer.
Time to sign off.My typing fingers are becoming tired, as are doubtless some of your eyes.I'm taking some Jack Daniels and shortbread cookies for my conditions.Find your own medecines :D
Now you know why they call it Death Valley. ;)
At Yosemite in season, and on the weekend, it's tough to get away from the maddening crowds without mucho hiking. At least you got to see the scale of Half Dome and Yosemite Valley, which is all the majority of the tourists see.
Yeah, its a pretty good reminder that Death Valley is an extreme environment, and that most stories leading to stupid deaths there (and other extreme places) begin with a bad decision that leads to several more bad decisions.Its was better to realise that we'd made bad decisions, and to let it go.The charging off into the desert thing was abject stupidity on my own part, although there were other people about at the roadside, and Persistence had positioned herself to be able to see me.
We found it pretty hard to deal with the out and out damned rudeness of visitors to Yosemite.
At one point, on the way out of the place, you get the opportunity in a big turnout to take the 'money shot' photo down the best part of the valley.
Light conditions had been pretty rubbish all day, and I'd waited for a good spot to take photos from, to open up.
When I finally got my turn, I was taking multiple shots, and playing with filters and exposures to get the best snap I could, when some bird positioned herself right in front of me and her boyfriend behind me, and began complaining loudly about me.
I was able to feign foreign-ness and incomprehension, and refused to move, although I was tempted to take her photo and ask the guy for $10, or remark that she had 'beautiful t*ts'. :o
Half the battle getting a good photo in the Parks is managing not to get anyone else in the damned shot. ;)
Time for an update.
We were somewhere around Barstow on the edge of the desert when the drugs began to take hold.
The heat was brutal, and we had to stop for drinks. Finding the bar through the drug haze was an ordeal.
My persistent attorney and I got lost in a car park and went over the same set of speedhumps 37 times.
I had to get out to take a leak, and damned if I could find a tree big enough. I swear by the time I was done a thousand people were staring straight at me...
For ZenGum :)
Quick update: we've killed another rental car.Looks like the shocks are shot to bits on this one.Its a pity, because this car has been a real trooper, and deserves to make it to the end.
But going any speed over 55mph is now a hazardous experience.
Rentals, love 'em and leave 'em. ;)
Yeah, we're now in possession of a bright blue PT Cruiser for the last week of our jaunt, after assuring the rental people that we had no idea at all how the fault had developed :D
It seemed to cause quite a stir, the appearance of a Mass. plate in their lot anyway, and most of their staff came for a rubbernecking session at the foreigners who had been mad enough to drive across the country.
We've been hanging out on the Monterey Peninsula last couple of days.Its a really nice place, seems to have a bit of something for everyone.
I've convinced Persistence to buy her sister a nice pair of earrings (and a Silver Dollar for myself), then convinced her to keep hold of said earrings and change them out for the cheaper pair she bought earlier in the trip.
We even managed a sunny day today, so I decided that we'd head for the beach.I had a fine day watching the wildlife, human and animal, and hunting sand-dollars.I'm now sporting a glowing red face and Persistence has been tanning nicely for the wedding we're going to when we get back home.
Home.Now there's a word that is starting to loom large in our reckonings.
I've been quite happy, many times, on this junket to forget all about the horrors of the 'summer season' on the northeast coast of England.At other times its often been to my great surprise that we aren't there as I've wandered out of our motel room for a smoke.I'm suffering from pretty mixed feelings about going back there.
The BBC news website has been outlining events for me during the course of our journey, although the damned thing seems to be written mainly by ex-Daily Mail journalists, and designed to arouse contempt in my heart for our funny little island.The only good thing that seems to have happened in my absence is that we won the Ashes (Cricket test-series, between England and Australia, for the non-comprehending).
The prospect of our return seems to have triggered a general malaise in us, and we dont seem to be making much forward progress.Its true, that we dont have much left to see on our lists of attractions, but its almost as if we can delay the inevitable by not moving onwards.
Meh.I'll busy myself tonight sorting through more photos, also something that I've been putting off doing.Although there may yet have to be alcohol involved.
Yeah, we're now in possession of a bright blue PT Cruiser for the last week of our jaunt, after assuring the rental people that we had no idea at all how the fault had developed
The kid was about fifteen, and none too bright.
"This is a terrible town for driving around in convertibles" I told him "They beat the shit out of it..."
Man, you ARE going all Hunter S Thompson. Awesome. Check the trunk. (You know, the boot.)
No Epic Suitcase.
Got some Adult Robitussin cough gels (tried them earlier in the trip, for the DXM content, didn't rate it very much), Equate sleep aid liquidcaps (diphenhydramine, intend to knock myself out for the flight home rather than endure nicotine withdrawl), still quite a bit of Citalopram (my AD meds), a nicorette inhalator (always have a backup plan, in case the diphenhydramine doesn't work) and an empty bottle of Jack Daniels.
I'll hopefully be turning that empty into a full, later on.
Judging by the shenanigans at last nights motel, and the interesting and familiar odour on the wind outside, I could have probably bolstered my substance count with something pleasantly herbal.
But its been almost 4 months with nothing other than tobacco to smoke, might as well wait until I get home now.
We're certainly going to miss your reports on the state of the nation, hopefully you'll keep coming back to the Cellar if not the states. :notworthy
btw, how do you like the PT?
Cheers Bruce.
Its been my great pleasure to be posting up my stuff here, as all but one of the people back home seem to have forgotten we exist, the one who remembers does so because I keep badgering him about our cats :)
We've just been calculating some preliminary stats for our journey.All numbers are current as of....now.
Miles travelled : 25601.3 (hitting our primary goal of over one Earth circumference)
Rental Cars defeated : 2
Photographs taken : 11601
Cats Petted : 1
Dogs Petted : 4
Swivel Chairs swivelled upon : 3
Roadkill counts
Birds : 7
Kangaroo Rats : 4
Prairie Dogs : 2
Squirrels : 1
Bugs : Lots
No Otters
Cheapest Gas (/Gallon) : $2.09 (Somewhere in West Virginia)
Most Expensive Gas (/Gallon) : $3.99 (West Entrance, Death Valley)
Highest temperature endured : 122f (50C) Death Valley
Highest elevation attained : 11158ft (Eisenhower Tunnel, I-70, Colorado)
I've always liked the way the PT Cruiser looks, but it feels heavy and underpowered compared to the Rav4.Its a rather jolly shade of blue tho.
I offer my thanks for your posts, Diminished. I have not (yet) been to the USA, and you've shared some awesome places with me, from the "visitor" perspective. Thanks. It has been a great trip, even vicariously.
So, is there any chance of a sequel? Diminished and Persistence Down Under?
you didn't pet both of our cats? no wonder Atomic has been pissy since you left......
Your cats wouldn't let me anywhere near them, Monster.Although I think I managed to get one of them to stop running away whilst I was in the area.Without resorting to Crazy Glue.
And ZenGum, if economic circumstances had been slightly better, we should have been moving on from San Francisco to NZ, then on to Australia.Bloody global economic crisis.
The Antipodes are however pencilled in for a forthcoming journey.There's some debate between us on the order forthcoming journeys shall be in, but we've definately been bitten by the travelling bug.(Or at least Persistence has, I just like not being at home.She's the one with the earnings potential and lack of vices,)
From something I remember from years ago, do they make 'pie floaters' in your part of Australia?That delicacy cannot go unsampled by me.
We've been in SF long enough for Persistence to become extremely worried by Oakland.We stopped there under a bridge, to photograph some scrap-metal figures and a slightly mad, but quite attractive community garden.It was only after we'd got out of the car that we noticed the RV shanty-town we'd parked next to.
We also passed by the Oakland Raiders stadium, just as I was mentioning how much I'd like to visit Candlestick Park (home of the SF 49'ers).
'Oh,look' said Persistence.
'There's a football game going on in there,'
I had to explain to her the difference between the Raiders and 49'ers in 'soccer' terms.
We also attempted to visit the Pacific Pinball Museum, but it didn't open until 6pm, and Persistence, still rattled by Oakland, didn't fancy hanging around Alameda until then.(Rightly so, as it was barely 2 o'clock).
We've still got stuff to do, and about 4 days left to do it in.We simply have to holiday harder :D
I had to explain to her the difference between the Raiders and 49'ers in 'soccer' terms.
I'd had loved to be privy to that conversation. :haha:
It was a relatively easy one to do to be honest, Bruce.
As a native of the Northeast of England, all I had to do was mention 'Newcastle' and 'Sunderland',two 'soccer' teams from the northeast with a history of desperate rivalry.
Eerily, the recent history of my favourite NFL team, the 49'ers, is somewhat mirrored by the recent history my favourite football team Newcastle United FC.(Newcastle, with a lot less actual success than the 49'ers...lol).
I recall with a lot of fondness, the 49'ers of the 80's.In the UK, I had to stay up very late as a young teenager (who had just been given his own TV for his bedroom!) to watch Bill Walsh, Joe Montana,Jerry Rice et al righteously stomp all who opposed them.
It was with a lot of sadness that I read of Bill Walsh's death a couple of years back.
I try to watch the NFL when I can these days, but it somehow just isn't the same without the big characters from my youth.People like Tom Landry, Don Shula and a (then) up-and-coming Mike Ditka.
I have a publishable map of our convoluted travels.Unfortunately, its produced using Microsoft Streets & Trips, and I can't find a way to remove all the tags for each stop necessary to keep track of our progress, they somewhat obscure things, especially once we get into the northwest.
If anyone knows the package better than my passing familiarity with it, please tell me how :D
At least there's some sort of numerical progression going on :D
I could have probably bolstered my substance count with something pleasantly herbal.
But its been almost 4 months with nothing other than tobacco to smoke, might as well wait until I get home now.
You blew it by not coming to La Center, dude! :joint: :fumette:
Darn...I missed you in Colorado. And somehow you managed to avoid all the other spots I have been in- in the past 2 months. :)
If you are ever planning a trip to Santa Fe! pm me!!
That is an awesome route!
Bit of a strange encounter today.
After converting a full bottle of Wild Turkey into an empty one, we were both a bit hungover this morning.There was terrible confusion over what we should do next, the previous evening had wiped away any memory of plans made.
We eventually came up with the idea of heading to San Jose, with the aim of waiting long enough to check into a motel, and cooling our heels for the rest of the day.
We did have a target to visit there, there is a giant Monopoly board in a park beside a children's museum.So it was elected time to cross that one from our lists.Had I purchased a Top Hat, Small Dog or a Racing Car, I would have brought them along.
We searched around the park,and eventually found what we were looking for.
I'd just pulled out my camera and was lining up a shot when a shout came from behind us.I didn't pay it much attention as it didn't seem to be particularly aimed at us, but after it was repeated 2-3 times, I turned around to see an olive skinned gentleman gesticulating at us.
I couldnt quite make out what he was all in a flap about, and being a little deaf, walked towards him to see what all the fuss was about.
It seems we were 'pale-skinned m*therf*ckers' and we should 'get the f*ck away' from him, as he didn't appreciate the presence of 'dumbass pale-skins'.
A puzzling attitude, I thought.Surely the best way to ensure his solitude would be to not shout loudly at passing strangers.
I decided to amp up the weird.Feigning deafness, I wandered over to him, a hand cupped beside one ear.
He extended his hand to me, and as I reciprocated, he withdrew his hand, starting to explain how he 'dont like no paleskin m*therf*ckers', when he halted mid-sentence.
'Your face.... you've got like, psoriasis all over your face'
'Oh that, dont worry about that,' I said.
My crumbling-skinned sunburnt face beamed broadly at him, and he confusedly shook my hand, which was still offered.He seemed rather at a loss as to what to say next, so I turned and walked away.We took our shot of the Monopoly board, and skedaddled with him still remonstrating about our whiteness.And how we'd ruined his lunch with it.
Persistence was quite upset, but I was still sufficiently hungover to consider the pain behind my eyes to be more of a problem.
We considered our racial handicap whilst I smoked a couple of cigarettes at the other end of the park.It had been a pretty odd encounter.
We elected to deny San Jose our tourist dollars, instead making use of the interstate back to Gilroy, where shopping for the perfect handbag happened to happen.And we had fun calling each other 'paleskin m*therf*cker' the rest of the day.
Olive skinned? As in Latino, rather than Italian/Greek? :confused:
Yeah, his accent seemed to lean that way.
It always confuses me, matters of race.
When questioned on it, I always put myself down as Episcopalian.
I go for the "last" option.
That route is amazing. You sure did go the long way, didn't you? I can't follow that map line without the Benny Hill Kazoo music sounding.
I prefer to select "other" when I can. That always confuses them.
oi, diminished, I see you online. I second Bruce's sentiment, please visit regularly once back in the UK. Oh and don't tell my mom you saw me.
Will do, Monster, and wont do the other :D
This forum is more interesting and way more active than the ones I frequent anyway, tho I'm more known for lurking than posting.
Today we visited SF's 'City of the Dead', Colma.Wikipedia lists Colma's official living population as 1191, but if you count the residents in Eternal Repose, the number rises dramatically.
We hit 2 of the 4 targets we went for, and considering the size of the cemeteries within the place, I think we did pretty well.
We located the Monument to the Showfolk of America with quite a bit of ease.The giveaway being the clown-face on the front, as you dont tend to find many monuments sporting such adornments.
Next up, we paid homage at the grave of the Emperor of the United States (and Protector of Mexico), Norton I.An unusual fellow, in as much as that he spent his reign in abject poverty, yet was still referred to as 'eccentric' rather than just 'plain old mad', (if often find that a plentitude of money gets you the former title, whilst an acute shortage usually merits the latter.).
We did, however fail to come across Wyatt Earp and Levi Strauss's graves, spending a good hour in the wrong section (as it turned out) of a massive cemetery.
From there we've headed back south, to Palo Alto to visit an intriguing statue of a car with legs.Which turned out a good deal smaller than I'd hoped.
Persistence poses a question, as we're currently talking logistics for the flight home in a couple of days now.
Can a cooler be checked-in as hold luggage?And if so, what is the best way to secure it?
We were thinking of packing the cooler with clothes, the accumulated souvenirs/gifts being packed into our suitcases instead.Oh yeah, we've had to make an assumption that since we're allowed 2 pieces of hold luggage each, that we'll be allowed 23kg on each piece, rather than split between them.Any transatlantic travelling experts out there? :D
Can a cooler be checked-in as hold luggage?And if so, what is the best way to secure it?
YES
best way to secure? need ro know what type of cooler. we have done this a few times, tho' ;) We used to bring wine from france to UK this way
use a luggage strap to ensure closure, is probably the best way. or a belt. or duct tape.
weight allowance depends on airline AND transfers. if you land in London then fly up to newcastle, you may be fucked depending on airline
diminished, thanks for your commentary on our great big country. It has been a pleasure to have you here and it has reinforced to me how much more there is to be seen. Thanks again.
Pleasure being here, on the whole, its busted quite a few preconceptions I had about the US, and provided quite a few surprises :)
My tip to anyone travelling over here tho, is forget about the big cities, travelling in the smaller towns and rural areas is far more interesting :D
... and remember, it got called Death Valley for a reason.
Well, we've finally made it home and managed to catch our breath long enough to tell the tale of the end of our odyssey.
There was nothing left to do.We'd ticked all of ur remaining boxes, and seen the last of the sights we'd wanted to see.We'd even spent an afternoon doing a lap of San Francisco Bay to run off some of the excess fuel in the car.
Thursday morning, we hung out at Bayside Park, not far from the airport, just killing time and watching the jets landing and leaving.
Little did we realise we'd be seeing more of San Francisco Airport than we'd care to.
About 1-30pm, we headed for the check-in desks, a reasonable a time we thought, considering our 4-55pm departure time.
It was a little disappointing then, when we arrived at the airport to find our departure already delayed to 6-40.Not a problem, not really.Surely things would then progress smoothly, and this would be our only hiccup on our way home.
We boarded according to the new schedule, and things were looking great, until we left the tower and taxied for the runway.
At which point, the pilot didn't much fancy the look of the number 3 engine.One his 'everthing is ok' lights was not playing ball, could everything not be ok?
We returned to the tower, and hooked back onto the stand.
After an hour or so of bafflement, the pilot informed us that he'd had a chat with an engineer back in Heathrow, who also seemed less than happy about the situation, and suggested that it merited further investigations.
Another hour later, they'd agreed that there was a problem.
Another hour later, they'd decided that the engine needed tested.
Another hour later, they'd decided that they needed a spare part, which was currently residing in Heathrow.
Another hour later they managed to get hold of a part locally, but that it probably wouldn't work, but that they'd spend an hour trying to fix it onto the engine.
By this stage, the passengers are getting a little fractious, having been stuck in an un-airconditioned hot metal box on the tarmac for several hours.
After being told that it was not possible to disembark (for immigration purposes, because we'd unhooked from the stand to taxi out, we had apparently left the United States,) we were fed, but no booze was forthcoming (for customs purposes, we had not left the US, and no alcohol could be provided.)
After another 90 minutes, the cabin crew ran out of hours they could work, so it was thus elected to send us to a hotel overnight, which only took another 2.5 hours, as we queued for luggage being returned, queued for shuttle buses, and queued for hotel registration along with all the other passengers in a 747.
We were told that the mighty beast that was our aircraft would be feeling better tomorrow, would we mind awfully coming back at 11am to check in for another go?I was thankful at least for the opportunity to have a cigarette,.
We were of course, thanked innumerable times for our displays of patience (to which I was frequently heard to mutter "Its not patience when you're locked into the aircraft.").
In an attempt to box clever the next morning, we set out at 9am for the airport, hoping that we'd beat the queue for check-in, which would be a long process, as most passengers had onward connections to re-book, the previous nights' farce having caused a cascade of failures in many many travellers plans.
We almost beat it, only 2 hours worth of fellow passengers had boxed cleverer than us.It was however, far less time than those following us would spend in the queue.
Persistence and I sat munching some lunch, and watching the check-in queue lengthen at the end much faster than it was shortening at the front, and groaned inwardly as we watched our departure time slide another 30 minutes into the future.
We trudged wearily through security, past duty-free, and down again to our departure gate to join the rest of the inmates of BA 284 (Now BA 284D ), and boarded.
We were held up again, as it became apparent that several passengers had done a bunk, and held up further when it was realised that one of the bunkists had checked-in luggage, necessitating the unloading and re-loading of all baggages.
This, of course, caused yet another delay, as we'd cleanly missed our take-off slot, but take-off we did.
And 9 hours later, managed to land at Heathrow Terminal 5, with around 45 minutes left to make our final connection, from London to Newcastle.
We made the gate with around enough time to go to the toilet before we were shuffled forth onto our plane, but as we entered, a steward tunred to a slightly more senior-looking steward and said 'Oh, thats them...', to which the Senior Steward turned to us and said 'Would you mind stepping over here Sir and Madam, we need a word with you..'.
It is frankly quite amazing, the capacity of the human brain to take inventory of 6 pieces of luggage in around half a second, as we contemplated what customs/tax/health and safety violations we had now fallen foul of.
'There is a problem with your seats', good news it seems, that I had not managed to secrete something potentionally terrorism-capable into our luggage.(Persistence had been stopped briefly at US security, attemtping to smuggle a bungee-cord onto the aircraft, with which we could have obviously caused a dangerous amount of mischief.).
'We've had to give your seats to someone else.'.As I juggled the potential for being imprisoned for assaulting a British Airways Head Steward, Persistence deftly intervened before I managed to engage my mouth into a War-Cry, and engage the Steward's head with my fist.
'We dont care...are we on this flight or not?'
'Yes, there is this woman you see, and she cant walk very well...'
'Just tell us where we're sitting.'
'The poor woman, she could hardly drag herself onto the aircraft...'
'Thats fine, just take us to a seat.'
We were both roundly beaten by this point.It had been a very long couple of days, not improved by a lack of sleep, fresh air, a change of clothes and mounting nicotine withdrawl.I would have gladly lashed myself to an airline toilet if it had meant not waiting another 6 hours.
We slumped into our designated slumping place, safe in the knowlege that only a couple of hours seperated us from home.
It was with at first great alarm, that the Head Steward appreared beside us 5 minutes later, but it turned out that as we'd been good sports (by this we assume he meant that by not making a fuss, in reality we were in no condition to do so) about changing seats, he thought we looked like we could use a couple of bottles of wine, and as he took the time to listen to our tale, he added another couple, which was about as close as we came to any form of customer service from British Airways.
Thankyou, Georges-Frederick, you (almost) single-handedly redeemed your company in our eyes.
Its hard to be angry at British Airways for our homecoming saga, the pilot was of course right not to fly on a dodgy engine.And it did make the end of the whole event a lot more interesting, but at the time was a major trial we could have done without.
We're home now.Persistence made it to her friends wedding with around 30 minutes to spare, and all's well that ends well.
Home itself is something of a challenge, as we've spent the last couple of days in some kind of post-travel malaise, but more on that later, gentle readers. :D
Wow. Just wow. I'm glad you finally made it home.
I'm glad it was BA and not one of ours. :haha:
What an ordeal. I absolutely hate to fly anymore.
There are two Touchdown Jesuseseseses.
Oh yes,and Touchdown Jesus is remarkable,well worth a visit if anyone finds themselves around Monroe (OH),pull into the church he's out in front of,(for some reason they have a very large parking lot),and you can get pretty close.Watch out for the Geese as you approach tho,they're stroppy.
Not any more
So... Jesus isn't invincible after all. I always suspected as much. :D
[SIZE="1"]Seriously, WTF? That's got to be the lamest-assed statue I've ever seen. Who decided to depict Jebus calling a football game while taking a bath?!?[/SIZE] :eyebrow:
One of the radio shows said that there was a porn shop right next door in a small mall, but the lightning hit the Jesus. That was pretty funny. Maybe there is some truth to that idolatry thingy.
A couple people were crying in the local paper that god had forsaken them because the lightning hit the Jebus but not the Hustler store sign. :mecry:
Well, the Hustler store sign probably wasn't a giant lightning rod made out of steel, wood, styrofoam, and resin, and set into a lake then attached to a building.
Bwaahahaaaa...where is your god NOW?
Bwahahaa it just gets better and better.
Next time someone tells you the sin de jour causes natural disasters ... remember.
