USA in 80 Days

Day 24: Mobile to Enterprise, with a token trip to Florida

2009-12-03T07:46:00.000-08:00

This morning we headed into Mobile to see what there was to see. Unfortuatley it was Sunday and lots of things were shut. I wish we had more time so we could wait and see things on Monday, but we don't. We visited Fort Conde, a partial reproduction of a French fort, which was kind of interesting. There were some detailed dioramas of the war between the French and the British for control, but other than that there really wasn't much more to see. We drove around town some, to have a look, but as I said there really wasn't much to see as it was Sunday.

We decided to drive to Pensacola in Florida for lunch. This was really just a token effort to go to Florida to say that we have been to Florida, even though we won't be visiting any of the more famous parts like Miami or Orlando, or even venturing down the panhandle. Still, we got a skillet meal from Wal-Mart, and found a nice place along the coast to stop and have a little picnic. Alex was obsessive in her search for fire ant nests, to make sure that we were not in any danger at all of being stung. When she was satisfied we had a nice meal. We sat there until the sun went down and then started to figure out our next move. There was a tropical storm heading for the area, so we thought it best to start moving North, so that we would not get caught in it.

We headed back North into Alabama to a town called Enterprise where once again we found a Wal-Mart to spend the night it. The deja vu continues everytime we travel and walk into a Wal-Mart that looks exactly the same as the last one, but still it is a good safe place to park, and it has the advantage of an easily accessible toilet in the middle of the night (which would be horrible to otherwise try and track down in night time emergencies)

Day 23: New Orleans to Mobile, Alabama

2009-12-03T07:45:00.000-08:00

Today we went on a guided tour of New Orleans. The tour started with a trip to the Lower 9^th Ward, the area devestated by Hurricance Katrina in 2005. It was so incredibly sad to see houses in various states of decay, or only the foundations remaining, or eight foot high weeds covering entire blocks where houses used to stand. What was even more unsettling was seeing some of the Americans on our tour with us running around taking pictures and laughing like it was some tourist attraction. Made me sick and almost made Alex cry. The guide told us how houses were not properly searched when the waters subsided, so families returned to their homes and saw the markings on their house stating that no bodies were found inside, only to start cleaning up and find say, their mother buried under the fridge, or their daughter hanging from a fence post. Absolutely heartbreaking.

There was some reconstruction happening, although some of the houses seemed like wanky architechtural achievements that looked way too expensive for the area. We were told by the tour guide that for the same price of one of those houses (which can supposedly float) a whole row of the old style of houses could be built. The whole experience just made us wish there was something real that we could do to assist.

The tour guide thankfully took us to the Lower 9^th first so that we could finish the tour wish some of the more pleasant aspects of New Orleans. We visited the French Quarter, the Garden District and even one of the cities famous cemetaries, where all are buried above ground. There were lots of interesting old buildings to look at. In the cemetary we noticed that there were impossible amounts of people buried in some of the crypts. The tour guide told us that when more space was required, a large ram would be used to crush the remains already present and make space for new ones. Very creepy.

After the tour we left New Orleans and headed for Mobile in Alabama. We drove the 100 or so miles in the dark, actually passing through the state of Mississippi, which we will return to later. We found a Wal-Mart just outside the town and got some sleep, which I certainly welcomed after my activities the night before.

Day 22: Arriving in New Orleans

2009-12-03T07:44:00.000-08:00

Up at 5AM, it was time to say goodbye and continue on to our next stop: New Orleans. We drove almost straight through, only breifly stopping at a Waffle House to have some breakfast. The ground started to get very swampy as we drove into Louisiana. Much of the interstate was on pylons directly over swamp. Exactly what I expected Lousiana to look like.

After a time, we came to New Orleans. On Aunty Barbara's advice, we were going to get a hotel room for tonight. We made our way into the French Quarter around 4PM and started looking around for a hotel. We found a room at the Royal St. Charles near Bourbon St. and set off to find some dinner. It was a Friday night, so as we walked along Bourbon St, there were already many people walking around drinking and enjoying themselves. There are many little shops that sell beer to go, and alcohol can be consumed in the street so long as it is in a plastic container. We found a little resaurant and sat on a balcony overlooking the street. We had fried alligator, gumbo, jambalaya and catfish pie, all of which were quite delicious.

I was keen to spend some time out on the town. We were in New Orleans after all. Unfortunatley Alex had been feeling ill all day, and really wasn't feeling any better. She was adamant that I still go out though, so I took her back to the hotel and put her to bed. I then went back out and to a blues club on Bourbon. It was some goood music and I enjoyed it. Eventually I left there and visited a couple of other places for some live music. I would love to give more details about what I did, but I was drinking something called a Hurricane and something else called a Handgrenade, so you will understand that although I had a great time and had some good conversations with locals, much of the night is a little bit of a blur.

Day 21: Johnson Space Center

2009-12-03T07:43:00.000-08:00

Today we went to Johnson Space Centre in Houston. It was our fist trip without Ruby. We borrowed Zabby's Jeep, which for me was a fun change from driving a big van everywhere. We followed Uncle Malcolms directions and headed towards the Space Centre. Unfortunatley we had a double whammy of directional misfortune, which made it difficult to find the place. First it seems that the road we were supposed to turn down had it's name changed from NASA Rd 1 to NASA Blvd, I guessed as much when we saw the sign, but I wasn't really sure. It didn't matter anyway, as there were road works on the exit we were supposed to take. So we got a little turned around.

I pulled into a gas station to try and use our GPS to figure out the best way to get from where we were to where we were going. It turned out to be only a mile and a half away, which was excellent. Meanwhile, Alex had jumped out of the car to do some stretching on the grass. She was standing barefoot on the grass for about 10 seconds, when I heard screaming. She had been bitten five or six times by fire ants! What luck. Luckily the pain subsided after a minute or two. I think it was mainly the shock that caused her to scream, and for a second she was convinced she needed urgent medical attention. Thankfully she didn't keel over and ruin the rest of the day.

So after the Attack of the Fire Ants, we headed towards Johnson Space Centre. After some confusion with the GPS pointing to slightly the wrong spot, we found it hidden behind some trees. The first thing we did was go on a tram tour of the facilities. We saw historic Mission Control, where the moon landings were controlled from. It looked smaller that I expected it to, but funnily enough it looked exactly as I remembered from the movie Apollo 13, which is strange. We also saw the astronaut training facilities, which include full mock-ups of space shuttles, and the international space station. The most interesting thing I saw though, was some engineers pulling apart and rebuilding a future Mars rover. The final stop on the tour was to see a Saturn V rocket on its side. That thing is massive, we couldn't even manage to fit it all into frame for a photo.

After the tram tour we looked in their museum and got to see all sorts of memorabilia, including some Gemini vehicles, and Apollo 17. It is amazing what those astronauts achieved. It would have been so scary sitting in those tin cans far above the world. The museum also had samples of moon rock, including one that we could touch (spoiler: it feels just like a rock). It was a great experience, but before long the day was over and we had to head back to Kingwood.

Ruby was there waiting for us when we returned, with a shiny new roof. I am so grateful to Uncle Malcolm for getting that repaired. It is a huge weight off my mind especially as we head into colder weather up North.

Day 20: Resting in Houston

2009-12-03T07:42:00.000-08:00

Today was a well deserved rest day. We didn't do much of anything at all. Uncle Malcolm woke me early with an offer to fix Ruby's broken head, which I gladly accepted. We drove into Houston to drop her off. In order to fix her, the whole roof will need to be repainted. Hopefully the new paint will blend well with the old, so that it isn't blindingly obvious to the rental company that I have had repairs done. Oh well, deny deny deny I guess.

When we got back Aunty Barbara took us to look at some cowboy boots and to do some grocery shopping. While we find the idea of Cowboy boots and owning them very cool, I just know that will will never wear them more than a couple of times, so we passed on the opportunity to own a pair. After that we went grocery shopping at Sam's Club, which is like Campbell's back home. We got Alex 10 entire boxes of tissues, which I'm sure won't last very long, and a big tray of water. We also picked up a two litre bottle of hand sanatiser. Alex cannot help but observe that people don't seem to be too concerned about washing their hands here. I have noticed it too, I have to say I very rarely observe people washing their hands in public restrooms, so we will have to make sure we keep using the sanitiser to make sure we don't get sick.

That is about all we did today. Excellent ribs for dinner, and then another night of sleeping in a real bed.

Day 19: Houston

2009-12-03T07:40:00.000-08:00

Not a whole lot to report today, we woke up late and covered the distance from Corpus Christi to Houston. We were heading towards the home of a family who are old friends of my family. We spent much of the day on Interstates, where often there isn't too much unique scenery.

We stopped in a town park and had a little BBQ for lunch. We had hot dogs because in the USA they don't really have sausages like we do at home. The best taste approximation is sausage patties, and the best shape approximation is hot dogs. We were near some workers putting up a fence, and I think we were making them hungry, because they kept looking our way.

Owing to our incredible sense of timing, we managed to be crossing Houston during their afternoon peak. We crawled along at about 3 Mph which I guess made it easier to make sure we made the right turns and got off at the right exits, if I was going to find a positive to being stuck in traffic. We finally made it to Kingwood, on the North side of Houston, at about 7PM. The streets here are lined with very deep ditches to carry away water that make it look like each house is a castle with it's own moat.

A quick introduction too the family we stayed with. My mother and Barbara (who has always been called Aunty) did their nursing training together. Her husband Malcolm is an engineer and they have three children, two of whom (Zabby and Josh) still live at home. They have two beautiful dogs, Paddington and Scarlet, who were very happy to see us. We had a beautiful steak dinner and a shower, then before long it was off to bed. Finally a bed again.

Day 18: Corpus Christi

2009-12-03T07:39:00.000-08:00

We woke up outside the Love's this morning to a horrible smell. Alex was dry-retching as we opened the window and realised that we had parked right next to a sewer! I don't know how we didn't smell or see it last night, but we sure could this morning. We got out of there as quickly as we could and decided to keep heading South to the gulf coast.

We drove through some very nice Texas countryside on our way to Corpus Christi. Lots of German names in all of these towns. It's funny that, from memory, I can't remember being in a city that has a German enclave or section. Many cities have Chinatowns, or Italian or Vietnamese or Greek districts, but I can't recall a German one; the Germans always seem to choose to migrate to rural areas.

Soon we could feel the salt start to rise in the air as we got closer to the sea. We hadn't seen the ocean in a couple of weeks, so I was looking forward to it. Corpus Christi is supposedly the fastest growing city in the USA. That was semi-apparent in it's sprawling nature. There didn't really seem to be any centre or focus to the town. Although it is apparently a popular spring break destination, there really didn't seem to be much that was geared towards tourism. We headed towards Mustang Island, a long thin island that followed the contour of the coast and stands between Corpus Christi and the sea.

We took some ingredients to cook a meal, and planned to park near the beach and cook our lunch/dinner. After crossing the bridge to the island, we turned down the road to the beach. I expected a car park, but the road led right onto the beach. I was a little hesitant to pull onto the sand, but it looked quite compacted and solid so I thought it would probably be quite safe. We stopped just near the entrance and cooked some delicious garlic shrimp (prawns!). After we ate we walked along the beach. All along the shore like washed up seaweed were thousands upon thousands of dead moths. They were like a thick black line washing in and out with the waves. These are the same moths that started kamikazi bombing our windshield on the drive into Corpus Christi. I have never had such thick bug marks on the windscreen.

So as the sun was setting, it was time to leave the beach, so we went to turn around. We got about halfway. We didn't have enough speed up as we hit a particularly soft section of sand, and we got stuck. What a horrible thing to happen on a deserted beach when it is getting dark. I got out of the car and started digging around the tyres while Alex looked for wood that we could place under the wheels to act as a ramp. The wood was too old and the sand was too soft so that was not very successful. Starting to panic a bit, but not too much. My solution was going to be to camp on the beach and hope that a solution would present itself in the morning.

At this point our first helper appeared. He was a deaf guy driving a 4WD. We attached a cable to the back of Ruby and started to pull her out. She wasn't budgng and this guys truck was starting to sink into the sand itself. I sent that guy on his way, and thought perhaps I might have to call AAA to send someone to come and get us out, when the second guy appeared. This guy had a bigger truck and very quickly had us yanked out and towards the harder sand on the shoreline.

After thanking this guy, I gunned it down the beach, along the shore towards the next exit from the beach. I was slowing down for nothing and nobody. Not that there was anything to slow down for. When I saw the exit coming up, I pressed the accelerator harder and flew across the soft sand. FREEDOM! We had escaped the evil Corpus Christi sand. Our next stop was a carwash to vaccuum out the three tons of sand that had found its way inside Ruby. So now we have two things that we are not doing with Ruby again: underground parking lots and driving on sand.

Day 17: Austin part II

2009-12-03T07:38:00.000-08:00

What is the worst thing that could possibly happen when you wake up in a van, with a bit of a headache from the night before, and a fairly desperate need to use the bathroom? Flat battery. It turns out I somehow managed to leave the stereo on all night, or atleast in the “on” position. To make matters worse, we had used up our phone credit and had not bothered to recharge it yet. We quickly suited up and headed out in search of a payphone and a toilet. Luckily a short walk down South Congress found us the latter. The former took us a little while longer. The first payphone we came to didnt work, so we wandered down a street on speculation. Luckily after about 20 minutes we found a phone. I'm really glad I joined AAA when I arrived here. I had a towing service dispatched, and by the time we walked back to the car, the guy was already there.

This guy kept talking about all the tips he got the night before. I don't know if you are supposed to tip these guys, but I gave him $5 anyway. So glad I joined AAA.

After that, and considering it was lunchtime already, we headed to an Applebees for a steak. The waitress was really nice, and told us all about her plans to move to Australia. If she ever makes it she can look us up. \With lunch over, we didn't really feel like doing much. More sleep sounded like a good idea. I looked at the map and saw a park by the Colorado River in the city. It was yet another sunny day, and this park was definitely a nice place. You know how you see artists impressions of public spaces, with all the space being used by people engaged in various activities? This park was exactly like that. Joggers, canoers, people with their dogs, people kicking balls, people having picnics. It was kind of perfect really. I'm wondering what the downside to Austin is really. It seems like a nice friendly place to live. Still, two days in Austin was all we could really afford, and once we had read the paper and had a nap in the sun, it was time to have some dinner and continue on our way.

I had heard about a cool chain of theatres in Austin called the Alamo Drafthouse. They serve dinner during movies, and since I really don't know of anything like that in Australia (apart from the overpriced and totally not worth it La Premiere), we thought it might be a fun thing to do. Every other row of seats in the cinema had been removed and replaced by a long table. To order food or drinks you wrote it down on a little piece of paper and put it in a holder like a little flag. The server would creep along, grab the paper and bring what you wanted back. It was really nice food and the service wasn't distracting at all. The movie we saw was “Where The Wild Things Are”, based on the Maurice Sedznack picture book. It was a very engaging film, pulling off what many people probably thought could not be done. It's a movie that's really worth seeing.

I didn't really feel like driving too far, and after drinking the night before, we were due a shower. Checking our guide book, we located a Love's truckstop about 100 miles South in Luling. When we were about 10 miles out, Alex detected a burning smell. Soon I smelled it too. It smelled like burning oil, and looking down at the gages, it seemed that our oil pressure was fluctuating. Not two problems in one day! I nursed Ruby into Luling at about 10 Mph. Once we arrived, I popped the hood, but I couldn't smell the oil anymore. The levels looked normal. After our showers, we pulled into a parking area just near the truckstop for some sleep. Hopefully either the problem would go away by itself, or we could figure it out in the morning.

Day 16: Halloween in Austin

2009-12-03T07:37:00.000-08:00

It's hard to get to know a place in the dark. When we arrived in Kerrville last night, it was just after sunset. The town looked just like lots of others that we have already visited. When we woke up this morning, we were virtually on a riverbank. It almost looked tempting enough to dive right in.

We were on the road before midday, having taken some time just to sit in the sun. As today is halloween, we wanted to get to Austin by mid-afternoon to give us time to figure out where the place to be in Austin for halloween is. We drove through San Antonio on the way, and got lost on turnpikes and overpasses once again. We are too reliant on the GPS in those moments, I think. Maybe the better option would be to just figure out what road we want before hand and just look for those signs. The signage has generally been pretty good on the roads so far, so I thinnk it might be fairly safe to trust it.

We arrived in Austin vis South Congress Street. This area, which we would learn is nicknamed SoCo, is lined with antique shops, vintage clothing stores, bars and cafes. It is a nice wide leafy street, filled with people on what was an absolutley beautiful afternoon. We browsed through the shops for a while, finding out along the way that the place to be in Austin is 6^th Street. With that settled, we were off to Walmart to find a costume (this is our first and probably only halloween ever, so might atleast make some kind of effort).

Leaving finding your costume until the last minute at Walmart must be what everyone does. Over the last couple of days, I had noticed that Walmart had huge halloween costume sections, so I figured that we could easily find something on the day. This Walmart had virtually nothing left. Still, the lack of selection meant there was no way we could possibly blow our money on costumes. Always a positive. My costume ended up consisting of a hockey mask and a plastic knife (total: $3), while Alex managed to find some devil horns, a devil t-shirt and a pitchfork (total: $15). Atleast we made some kind of effort.

We drove back into town to the SoCo area, and pulled off into a nice green street. Since this was relatively close to our destination tonight, we decided to base ourselves here. A quick change, and we were on our way into the heart of Austin. We crossed the Colorado River, and walked the six blocks that took us to 6^th street. It was still quite early when we got there, only about 6 o'clock, but the police had already blocked off the street for the giant party that this area would turn into hours later. Having read that there were many very nice restaurants on 6^th, we decided to look for one and have some dinner. The funny thing was, we couldn't find any of them. There only seemed to be burger joints, a couple of Mexican places, and one BBQ house that was absolutley empty. After walking around for what seemed like an hour (and actually was), we decided to go to one of the Mexican places. The food was very delicious, and came very quickly, which was impressive for such a packed restaurant. I ordered a beer and Alex had a Mexican Martini, which was very strong, and she didn't like it, so I had to drink that too, which got the night off to a quick start for me.

After we finished our dinner, we went back out onto the street. Suddenly there were a lot more people, many of them in costume. Some were very elaborate. We spent the rest of the night checking out just about every single one of the bars along 6^th. Some were very nice, with a nice atmosphere, and cheap drinks. I don't remember the names of those places. Some weren't so nice, with very expensive drinks. I don't remember the names of those places either. By the time we headed back to the van, 6^th St was absolutley packed with people. It took us half an hour just to get to the other side.

Day 15: Into Texas, Kerrville

2009-12-03T07:36:00.000-08:00

Since there really wasn't much else to see in Roswell after we had been to the museum yesterday, we decided just to press on and head into Texas. On the way out of Roswell we had yet another challenge figuring out the time. It seemed that every different electronic sign had a different time posted on it. Some one hour behind, some one hour ahead, others just off by half an hour. It has just occurred to me that perhaps we were experiencing some kind of time-dialation aftereffect from being abducted by aliens. We were in Roswell after all. Or maybe not.

Out on the road, we crossed the border into Texas within an hour or two as we headed towards our eventual first goal in Texas, Austin. We decided that today would be a good day to just cover lots of ground, to give us more time in the one place later on. We passed through Ft. Stockton and continued for another couple of hours East on the I-10 before we decided to stop and have lunch. Alex found a rest area for us to stop at and have some lunch. Luckily, as we were both in need of a bathroom break, the rest area seemed to have a bathroom. It turned out to be not a toilet, but a replica of n old coach stop that used to be located there. We walked around the building, hoping that there was a toilet, but there wasn't. All we found were several stains of disappointment left by other travellers at the back of the building. How hard would it be to put a toilet in a building that looks like a toilet should be in it?

The landscape was really starting to change again. Lots of green trees populated these rolling hills. So far Texas is nothing like we imagined it to be. I guess we expected something more like what we were seeing in New Mexico, lots of desert and sand. We covered almost 300 Miles today, and as it got dark, we realised that we probably weren't going to make Austin without lots of night driving, which is something that would kind of defeat the purpose of driving. A quick search by Alex found a Walmart we could stay in a couple of towns ahead. We ducked around a few mountains, and a blinding strobe light on a truck (I don't think they have the same laws regarding lighting on vehicles – I've been almost blinded a couple of times at night), soon we arrived in a town called Kerrville.

In the dark this place looks just like lots of other places we've visited so far, and there is a little deja vu walking into Walmart, and having it look just the same as the last one we were in. I guess it's noo worse than staying in hotel rooms though, they all kind of look the same too. We wanted some ribs for dinner, but the BBQ place the GPS said we should be right near must have closed down, so we had some steak instead.

Day 14: Roswell

2009-12-03T07:35:00.000-08:00

Last night was the coldest night yet! We woke up to ice covering the windows on the inside. There were even little icicles forming on the rubber seal above our heads. It turns out we parked in a fairly industrial area, as we were awoken pretty early by trucks rumbling by. We got straight out on the road as we knew we had a fairly long drive ahead of us to Roswell.

Once we got on the road, our first order of business was breakfast. Hunger makes you do some funny things. Not seeing any rest stops for a while, I thought it would be a good idea to pull over and cook breakfast. Did I mention that I bit the bullet and bought a $30 propane stove? Well I did, and it works much bettter than the other one, lights straight away and everything. We had some bacon and some eggs and went about trying to cook them. There was frost on the ground and a bit of wind, which was apparently too much for this stove to combat in the cooking of our food. It took forever to cook the bacon, and I eventually gave up on the eggs. It was a lot of effort and frozen fingers for not much gain. The worst thing is, if we had of kept going a bit further, we would have seen that we came down out of the really high country to some warmer areas without the frost on the ground. If only we had topographical maps (it's always that bit of information you don't have isn't it).

We stopped at Santa Rosa, which isn't really on the way, being more East than we needed to travel. What Santa Rosa had was showers. These truckstop showers really aren't that bad. It's definitely a better alternative than booking into a hotel just for a shower. While we were waiting, we ate at the Carl's Jr. attached to the truckstop. The burgers are so big over here, it's a wonder people haven't starting evolving double jointed jaws to eat. You have to dislocate your jaw just to get it in in one piece.

After Santa Rosa, we headed straight to Roswell through some fairly bleak terrain. Still no trees, just some shrubs. The dirt has turned more golden from the red it was in the West. After a couple of hours drive we arrived in town. I don't know what I was expecting here, maybe more looneys running around the streets looking for aliens, or giant monuments or something. There wasn't any of that, it really was just a typical small town. We had already driven through dozens just like it.

We went too the International UFO Museum and Research Centre, which seemed to be housed in an old theatre. While it was interesting, there wasn't anything on display that could not be found elsewhere in books or in documentaries. Almost apologetically, the museum was filled with conceptual designs and drawings of what they intend their new purpose-built museum to look like. It looked maybe a little too ambitious, with giant flying saucer shaped structures, and several lecture halls and such, but I suppose if they can raise several millions of dollars, then it could be a reality.

My opinion of what happened in Roswell in 1947 is this: I wasn't there, so I don't know if any one persons testimony is true. Something happened, and it seems like there was a lot of military and government interest, followed by inistence that there was a perfectly simple and non-threatening explanation for everything. I'm not saying that there was a cover up, I'm just saying that if there was, this is precisely how it would look.

Day 13: Santa Fe

2009-12-03T07:32:00.001-08:00

This morning in Albuqurque, we drove the van back to the Old Town to have a look at two museums that we didn't get a chance to look at yesterday. The first museum was the Rattlesnake Museum. It was a bit hard to find, because you had to approach it from the right angle to see the signs, but eventually we opened the door. We were greeted by a python, a black widow and a tarantula. I didn't think Alex was going to get any further than that. We had no idea that spiders were going to be part of the deal but there it was, all fat and hairy and waiting. Alex pressed hard up against the door and turned white as a sheet. Eventually we got past the spider, paid our money and moved in the museum.

They had crocodile skulls, alligator skulls, hippo skulls, and lots of other little reptile skulls. There were about 15 different types of rattlesnake. I was surprised at how small they are. I was expecting much larger creatures, but in actual fact, most of the snakes didn't seem to be much longer than my arm, or thicker than my thumb. Scattered in amongst the snakes were various other scorpion, hissing cockroach, toad, and gila monster exhibits. Oh, and tarantulas. That meant that I had to walk first and check out every exhibit to warn Alex that she might not want to look into this or that display. I have to say though, that the Indian decorative tarantula was the biggest spider I have ever seen. This thing had legs as thick as my fingers, and a fat patterned body that screamed danger.

Once we had stared at snakes all we could, we crossed the road to find the Turquoise Museum. More homeless people asked us for money (there isn't a single place we've been yet, that didn't have beggars). I didn't really know much about Turquoise before I went to this museum, but it really is a pretty fascinating mineral. Every Turquoise source is different, not only in colour, but also in the way the rocks around it inflitrate the vein and create patterns within it. The thing we noticed was that there must be a big trade in fake turquoise, as the museum had lots of notices explaining how to spot fakes, and the exact questions to ask dealers.

It was still quite early when we had finished with the museums, so we headed North for an hour and a half to Santa Fe. Just like the guide book promised, there was a large section of the town made out of adobe brick. Parts of it were almost like being in a European city. We spent the afternoon wandering through the streets looking in the shop windows. This was much better than Albuquerque, where all of the old buildings had been converted into tacky souvenier shops. In Santa Fe, the old buildings were still, for the most part, a working part of the town.

I had promised Alex that when the Michael Jackson movie “This Is It” opened I would take her to see it. It wasn't a bad film about a rehearsal for a show, and you got the sense that the concert itself would have been pretty spectacular. The large audience actually clapped and cheered after every song, which was a bit different, but it did add to the spectacle.

After the movie, we found the Wal-Mart and settled in. Until there was a knock at the door and a security guard told us there was no overnight parking. So we were moved on from our first Wal-Mart (and I don't know why, the car park seemed the same as all the others). No matter though, as we soon found a street to park on, and we went to sleep.

Day 12: Albuquerque (pics to come)

2009-10-29T16:32:00.000-07:00

We slept in this morning, because last nights sleep wasn't that good. The Walmart in Flagstaff had yellow lights which were quite pleasant, but the one in Gallup had ones that made us think the sun was rising every time we opened our eyes. It was very confusing and made for some broken sleeep. When we finally arose, we drove the last two hours to Albuquerque, stopping to eat some cornflakes along the way. We headed straight down what will probably be our last section of Route 66 into the Old Town section. We headed into a beautiful tree filled plaza, lined with very old adobe houses, and found a little Mexican restaurant to have lunch. The corn chips and salsa they put on the table was very nice, but it had quite a kick to it. A couple of Casa Blanca beers and some Sangria for Alex helped soothe the burn.

After lunch we took a walk around town, and visited the Albuquerque Museum of Art and History. The first part of the museum was straight art gallery style, with some nice paintings, but no real context to appreciate them in. The second part was a history of Albuquerque from its roots as an outpost of New Spain to the American Civil War. There were so many artifacts, pottery, armour, books, guns, swords, a Model-T Roadster, I spent 2 hours wandering through, looking at everything. I really wish I could have taken photos.

After the broken sleep we had the night before, we decided to have a very early night, so we drove to the Albuquerque Walmart, rented a DVD (Whatever Works, a Woody Allen movie starring Larry David – very funny) and went to sleep.

Day 11: The Petrified Forest (pics to come)

2009-10-29T16:30:00.000-07:00

Our first night in a Walmart parking lot didn't go so bad. At least we knew where our toilet stop was in the morning. We slept in a little then headed East along the I40 for the Petrified Forest National Park. The excellent thing is that along the way we are still able to drive along parts of Route 66 as we go along. That will all end by the time we get to Texas. There the road will head North for Chicago, and we will head South for Houston, so we will make the most of it while we can and drive through every section we see signs for (because as I mentioned earlier, the route isn't necessarily shown on maps anymore).

One of the towns we came across was Winslow, Arizona. Right now you are freaking out, I know. Winslow, Arizona! Like that one line from that one Eagles song, “Takin' it Easy”! The lady in the vistors centre seemed a little offended that I couldn't quite remember that line, but she told me hundreds of Eagles fans come every year to be “Standing on the corner in Winslow, Arizona”. They had a guitar signed by Eagles and a statue of a guy with a guitar standing on the actual corner. Now I might be sounding a little sarcastic about all of this, but that's only because it's sad that it seems like little towns along the 66 are having to cling to things like this. Surely there is a way, at a national level, to revive Route 66. Make it the thing to do for tourists who come here. Giving them discounts for driving in hybrids or something. There is so much history on this road, it's a shame to see it falling apart. It's the strong and innocent America that the rest of the world wants to see again. But maybe you can't put that genie back in it's bottle.

Anyway, so we arrived at the Petrified Forest and payed our $10 entry. If we go into one more National Park we can convert to an Annual Pass (we've been saving the reciepts), which will mean no more entry fees. We entered at the Southern end, and checked out the museum. They had some very old dinosaur and pre-dinosaur bones. It turns out that millions of years ago this whole area was near the equator, wet and tropical, and over time lots of trees ended up in a floodplain where they were eventually covered by silt. Over time silica leeched into the trees structure and solidified, turning them to stone. Even more millions of years later, the stone around them eroded, and they were exposed once again. Some of these trees are 5 metres long, and weight something like 30 tonnes. They have some beatiful marble-like patterns inside.

We continued on and stopped at a couple more trails within the forest to take a look. Unfortunatley, many of the better specimins have been pilfered from the park over the years, meaning that places like Crystal Forest were not nearly as impressive as we imagined. It looked like the bones of time laying for eternity as the world around them changed, but they stayed the same. Frozen.

We continued through the park and saw some of the Painted Desert. The contrast between the different strata on the rocks was amazing; red, white, yellow, orange, brown. It's hard to imagine how some of these feautures stayed standing while the ground around it erroded away, but it it did.

After leaving the park, we continued East. Before we knew it, and with little fanfare, we had left Arizona and entered New Mexico. We didn't want to drive all the way to Albuquerque that night, so we stopped at the Walmart in Gallup. It's so much easier when you don't have to drive around looking for a nice quiet street to park in. Just a corner of a parking lot will do. We did have some trouble figuring out the time though. In Australia, when you change time zones there are signs on the side of the road telling you how it's changed. Not here, it's a local secret.

Day 10: Tuba City and back disappointed

2009-10-29T16:29:00.000-07:00

This will only be a short entry today, as not a whole lot happened. We made our way out of Grand Canyon, stopping a couple more times to admire the view. As we left the park, I saw a sign for a Navajo Museum in Tuba City, to the Northeast. We decided to go and take a look. The desert was really red now, with hills that looked like mini mountain ranges rising up out of the flat.

Unfortunately when we arrived in Tuba City, the museum was closed. According to their opening hours, they should have been there, but it was dark inside. Disappointed, we turned around and headed south for Flagstaff, where we would stop for the night.

We found a Walmart which is open 24 hours a day. There are lots of other RVs and vans at the bottom of the parking lot, so after giving them some business, and stocking up on some food. We are going to settle in here, watch a DVD, and go to sleep.

Day 9: Grand Canyon (pics soon)

2009-10-29T16:28:00.000-07:00

It's a short run from Williams to Grand Canyon, and we did it fairly quickly, arriving just before lunch time (we slept in). When we arrived and caught our first glimpse we didn't believe it. Surely, this wasn't it. This was a painting, a giant poster someone was holding up. It could not be real. But it was. The way the scale of it overwhelms the senses defy's description. The other side, so clear and massive, was five miles away! The different strata of rock, stretching back hundreds of millions of years back to the dawn of the Earth were incredibly well defined. We just stood.

Pretty soon, we decided that just looking from above wasn't going to be enough, we had to actually get down in there and see it from the inside. We walked to the visitors centre to look at the available hikes. We chose the shortest, not wanting to get into any trouble, a three hour round trip down the South Kaibab trail to Ooh Aah Point. Alex made sandwiches (I put them in the bags), we made sure we had enough water, and we set off around the rim to the trailhead.

It was a quick descent to begin with, with lots of switchbacks and stairs carved into the face of a giant cliff. By the looks on peoples faces coming back up, we knew that going down was the easy part. The view kept getting better and better, with different details and perspectives around every corner. This canyon never ended. Sometimes, below we could see just a sliver of blue. The raging Colorado river, 90 metres wide in places a major instigator of this landscape, was nothing but a speck. From little things, big things grow.

After about 45 minutes we arrived and sat on the side of the trail, which continued all the way down to the river, to eat our lunch. We could from some of the hungry eyes on us, that other people wished they had thought to bring sandwiches. They definitely hit the spot. A Raven was gliding around, doing loops and putting on a show for us as we ate. We finished and packed away our rubbish. After sitting for a while longer we started our ascent.

Alex struggled more than I did as we made our way back to the canyon, but it was still moderately hard slog. The biggest challenge was getting enough oxygen in. Being up over 5000 feet meant that the supply in the air was starting to get a bit thin. We slowly made our way back to the top of the canyon, which brought great joy to Alex, and decided to catch the free shuttle back to Mather Point, where Ruby was waiting. We are so glad we caught that shuttle, driven by the very nice Bill C. He slowed down when he saw some large Elk foraging by the road so that we could take some photos and have a look, they were huge and just right there. We saw about eight of them on the short trip back, and some Mule Deer, with the donkey-like ears. Unfortunately we didn't see a Mountain Lion, which Bill said would complete the set.

Absolutely buggered, we decided we didn't need to go very far, and drove to the Grand Canyon Cafe a mile or two away to get some dinner. Nice big, cheap portions. I had the Chilli, which was very nice, and Alex had the salmon. We were hungry. After dinner we drove to the trailer village next door, but it was full. Luckily, there was still a space or two available at such a late hour at the campground across the way. We fell asleep pretty quickly.

Day 8: Leaving Las Vegas, Route 66

2009-10-26T09:17:00.000-07:00

When we woke up this morning, I had the worst headache I have ever had. I wasn't feeling nauseous or dizzy, or any of the other things you would normally feel if you were hungover, just a sore sore head. Luckily we had already decided that one day in Las Vegas was probably all we needed. There are so many more places in the country that are worth more of our time than here. We also did a load of washing, so in our first week that makes four showers and one load of washing. I really didn't imagine we would be this clean, but it is definitely something I don't want to change.

As my headache slowly subsided, we pulled out and set the GPS for Kingman, Arizona. On the way, just a few miles out of Las Vegas, we drove across the Hoover Dam. Parts of it almost look like a castle on the water, especially seen from above on the Arizona side. Traffic was a bit slow, but a road was being constructed, with a massive flyover bridge, that looks like it will give an even more impressive aspect to the dam.

Hoover Dam looks like a castle.

As the road wound its way through some hills and into brown desert sands, I began to worry about gas. I only had a quarter of a tank, and we were heading into the wilderness. I guy from Connecticut I met last night said that there wasn't much in the desert. Lots of space with no one there. Maybe he didn't realise where I come from. In Australia, lots of space means hundreds of kilometres without food, petrol or water. You see signs on the drive to Adelaide like “Last Fuel for 240Km”, so I thought maybe I might be in trouble. Luckily there was a gas station only a few miles up the road. I don't think there are going to be big open spaces like at home. It's only 600 odd miles to the other side of Texas from here, and there are plenty of places in between. Still, if later on I report that I've run out of gas, remind me that I am an idiot.

Kingman, Arizona is a small town, some might say past it's prime. That's because they took the road away. Route 66 used to be known as “America's Main Street”, stretching from Santa Monica in California to Chicago, Illinois. Now it only exists in stops and starts. When I first started planning this trip I wanted to travel Route 66 from start to finish. It is such a famous road, I was so disappointed to find out that it hasn't existed in a long time. The Powerhouse Museum in Kingman gave an insight into the history of the road. It followed a very similar route to that used by the first Europeans to cross the country, and the train line that was it's partner across the continent is still bursting with life. I was excited to learn that parts of it still exist, and I've vowed to use it wherever possible, even if map makers only begrudgingly still include it on their maps.

All Pink and Blue and awesome.

We had lunch at Mr. D'z Route 66 Diner, which was a fabulous 1950s style diner just across the road from the museum and, after taking a short stroll past all of the “For Sale” signs in town, we continued on our way. Old Route 66 was going to take us all the way to Williams, the gateway to Grand Canyon. Parts of the road were fine, going through little hamlets long since forgotten by tourists, and winding its way through the hills. Two things about the landscape stuck me. The hills we all perfectly flat on top, looking like someone had just come along and lopped the top off. The other thing was that some of the hills were just made up of smaller boulders, as if they had been crumbled up and tossed away by some giant.

These hills were so flat they looked like a wall.

As dark fell, we arrived in Williams, which had a nice little neon stretch along 66. This was a larger town, still having a purpose standing outside the Grand Canyon National Park. We strolled the chilly street, before finding a nice quiet street to sit back and get some rest. We are going to see a big hole tomorrow.

Us in Williams. Me looking down the road to where we are heading, Alex... riding a statue of a bear.

Day 7: Las Vegas

2009-10-25T11:07:00.000-07:00

Las Vegas in the day looks kind of out of place.

I don't know what I expected Las Vegas to be like. Some kind of hyperreal wonderland for adults where everything happens perhaps? I have to say that on the whole, Alex and I were fairly underwhelmed by it. How could we not be by a city that is constantly talking itself up? That's not to say that we didn't enjoy ourselves, just that on the whole it wasn't the unique experience we expected it to be.

We arrived in town mid-afternoon, and after cruising the strip, we checked into a $30 hotel at the MGM Grand end. A hotel would be wise, given that apparently no one can go out in Las Vegas without getting absolutely blotto. We will see. The day almost turned bad when Alex twisted her ankle in the hotel parking lot. It's incredible that she made it this far without injuring herself (not counting constantly smacking her head on Ruby's ceiling). Luckily a little cry, some ice, and a nap made everything better. That and Alex planned ahead and packed an ankle brace. We were soon off to explore.

The very first thing we noticed as we walked out onto the street were newspaper boxes filled with “introductions” magazines. I can't imagine anywhere else in the world where that would be OK, but I guess we were in Las Vegas. We walked on and in the MGM Grand, where we came face to face with lions. Yes, real lions. The casino has three or four in a giant habitat like a zoo. To be honest, they didn't seem too happy, but the tens of people standing around taking pictures sure were.

We went out the front door and continued down the street. On the way into town we had seen an Outback Steakhouse, and thought we might give it a shot. I had been there before, but I wanted Alex to experience the cringe. So we began our way down the strip. Neon cities look bland during the day, and although we saw a replica of the Statue of Liberty, The Eiffel Tower, the Sphinx, and even Venice, none of those things were as awe inspiring as the real thing. It was all too much laid on too thick. Everyone was trying too hard to impress.

Alex at what I think is supposed to be the Trevi Fountain

The most uncomfortable part though, were the rows upon rows of southern immigrants lining the streets handing out cards for girls. I don't mean one or two. I mean literally ten or twenty at a time slapping their cards and shoving them in your face. I don't like this kind of advertising at the best of times, so I really didn't like this. In fact, it was the worst part of Las Vegas, and if I did happen to be in the market, I wouldn't be calling any of these on principle. Oh well, I guess it's legal here, and people can do what they like.

The same shot as above, but at night. As you can see, it looks a bit better.

Pushing our way through the throng, we made it to the Outback Steakhouse. I drank a kind of Coopers I hadn't seen before. It was a Lager made purely for export. Tasted like it too. The steak we had was absolutely phenomenal, the best steak I have had in a long time. Afterwards we went downstairs and had a look around. Really all it was, and this is true for every casino we visited that night, was row upon row of pokies, and a couple of table games. The gaming floors were generally pretty small too. Think of how impressive the interior of Star City in Sydney is, and imagine somewhere less impressive. That is Las Vegas. All style and no substance. The saving grace were the $1 drinks and the lack of bouncers. Responsible service of alcohol doesn't exist here, but that's OK because there are no tough guy bouncers out to prove something. You can wander in and out with your drinks.

Who do you think won this fight in Cesars Palace? We only lost $30 at this roulette table, but it took us half an hour.

From then on, the night got a bit blurry. We played to some roulette in O'Sheas, but of course we didn't win anything. We wandered in and out of Casinos for a while having a look before deciding to cut our losses and head back to the motel to get some sleep. Of course we got lost though, and headed in the wrong direction for about 15 minutes, before realising that our landmark of the Hooters hotel was behind us. Finally we got back, and apparently I snored my loudest yet.

Day 6: Yosemite National Park and driving to the border the long way.

2009-10-24T08:13:00.000-07:00

Good morning, USA

First thing in the morning we drove into the Yosemite Valley. We thought the views coming into San Francisco were good, but the scenery here was magnificent. The sheer scale of the Mountains, with giant, sheer cliff faces, almost glowing white in the morning sun rising up. The Merced river was flowing South next to us as we drove. The water was so clear we could see the stones at the bottom. Luckily for us, recent heavy rain meant that waterfalls which usually don't start flowing until the winter ice melts, were flowing. It was an out of season treat to see them. Unfortunatley something else out of season had happened. The Tioga Pass, our intended exit on the Eastern side of the park was closed early, it not being due to close for another couple of weeks. This meant that instead of being able to drive all the way through, we would have to make do with travelling down the Western side, and re-routing through Fresno.

Spectacular Waterfall in the background. I love Alex's tripod.

Before we did that however, we decided to stop and cook some bacon and eggs for breakfast. Ruby had come equiped with a little fuel stove, so we got it out and I tried to work it. Now I don't know if it is broken or I am stupid, but before long, not only would it not light, but fuel came leaking out of the top. As I am a fan of having all my fingers, I decided that maybe we should give that a go another day, and Alex made me a peanut butter & jelly sandwich as we drove out of the park.

I soon gave up.

On the way out we stopped at the Mariposa Grove to admire the giant Sequoia trees. I have never seen a tree that big before, and apparently they are over two thousand years old. The trees were filled with pockmarks where over the centuries animals had made there home inside the thick bark.

This tree was here during the Roman Empire.

We decided not to spend too much more time in California, as we might regret it and have too rush later on, so I decided to try and cover the 400 mile journey to Las Vegas. We made to to a town called Barstow by sunset, and decided to eat there. The visitors centre at the railway was made entirely out of old rail carriages, and joined together. To bad it was just filled with kitsch.

It was a long drive. Alex ate twinkies while we passed what is the largest wind farm in the world (that's what the sign said)

The country had turned to desert by this point and we decided to head a little way out of town to a rest area. Somehow we managed to miss all of them though, and we ended up a little lost in the desert. We had to stop at a rail crossing for a freight train which was easily twice as long as any that I had ever seen coming out of Port Kembla. I wonder how long it would take for one of those things to stop?

The country was getting drier, but still very hilly.

In the middle of nowhere, we found a little church with a parking lot. It was late and we figured they wouldn't mind if we just parked in the corner and went to sleep. So we did.

Day 5: The Golden Gate Bridge and the Escape from San Francisco.

2009-10-24T08:02:00.000-07:00

It was cold when we woke up this morning. Not frosty cold, but cold enough to let us know that despite the excellent weather we had experienced so far, this country was definitely heading away from summer. The first thing to do was get some gas. It was the second time we have filled up, but it's time to mention how different it is. Everywhere it seems is different, and there is no post-pay option. You have to walk in and guess how much you are going to need, pay for it, then go back to the car and fill up. The other option is to swipe a credit card. The only problem there is that they ask for my 5-digit billing zip code. That doesn't seem nearly as secure as a pin to me, but anyway, it means that gassing up is going to be a cash only affair (also some places look like they charge a premium for credit!).

While I'm on credit cards, I can see how identity theft can be a problem in the USA. As yet, not a single cashier has checked the signature on my card. Not at hotels, or supermarkets, or gift shops, or Disneyland. There is also no option at all to use a pin. I guess it just means I'm going to have to be extra extra cautious with my cards.

So we set out from Santa Cruz for the last little stretch in San Francisco, and if you were waiting for something to go wrong on this trip, you will not be disappointed. Just a couple of paragraphs to go. The scenery has really changed going into Northern California. There are a lot more trees, which are starting to turn in the autumn. Nice winding roads, with lots to see. Eventually, we came to San Francisco. It seems here like the city is built beneath all of the major roads. Overpasses going everywhere. Luckily, using our GPS it was quite easy to find our way to the Golden Gate Bridge.

What an impressive structure it is. Much wider and taller than the Sydney Harbour Bridge, it is also much more pleasant to drive across, as you can actually see over the sides as you drive. We stopped on the Northern side to use the bathroom and take some photos. We actually aren't getting too many funny looks from people seeing us brushing our teeth in public bathroom, although it gets difficult when they only have the little spray taps. We walked half-way along the bridge and admired Alcatraz in the middle of the bay. Although it seems like a hopeless place, I can imagine a desperate man crossing that stretch of water, as it didn't seem more difficult that swimming from one side of Coogee to the other (not that I have done that, but people do religiously).

These photos are going to have to be lightened at some point.

It was getting close to midday by this point, and we hadn't eaten. We had heard that San Francisco's Chinatown is impressive, and any impressive Chinatown is bound to be filled with equally impressive food. We drove through the centre of town, and were amazed be the size of the hills. They were so steep, and stretched for probably half a kilometre. At the top of the largest hill was city hall. I was afraid Ruby wasn't going to handle these hills well, but she did admirably, and got us over and down them without incident. We were getting close to Chinatown and decided to start looking for a park. This is where it went pear shaped.

I didn't want to park on the street, incase Ruby's E-brake gave out while we were off stuffing our faces with yummy Chinese food. We passed a couple of parking garages, but they had their heights clearly posted, and I wasn't confident we could duck low enough to get in (I have been assuming Ruby is 8' tall, to be on the safe side). Finally as we came to the bottom of the hill, we found a parking garage with a tall and inviting entrance. We went it, and suddenly the road dipped and went hard to the right. So far so good, but suddenly the sign stating the parking rates appeared and CRAAAACK! Why oh why would they put the rate sign right where a low hanging beam (painted the same colour as the otherwise high ceiling was)??? Needless to say, at this point we both wished we were wearing our brown pants. Had we completely ruined Ruby? We quickly backed up and got out of there as fast as we could, too scared to stop right there and inspect the damage.

A minute of two later we found a place on a flat street to park, and got out to inspect the damage. It wasn't nearly as bad as we had imagined, but still, we are less than a week into this trip and already we have had an accident. It looks mainly superficial though, so hopefully we will not be charged too much to fix it (and right now I am so glad we paid extra to get our fully comprehensive travel insurance – it covers stuff just like this, I've checked). And we are never parking in a garage that doesn't have the noisemakers at the entrance, ever.

Considering it sounded like the whole roof caved in. This isn't so bad.

The place were we did park was metered, and we didn't have much change, so we only had time to run and eat a BBQ pork roll (which was very nice by the way). We returned to the car and decided that after that scare, maybe it was time to cut our plans short and leave San Francisco. Maybe it's the cowardly way out, but when you get a bad vibe, you get a bad vibe. The roads had another idea. Like I said earlier, there were interchanges and overpasses everywhere. The GPS seemed to be getting confused and leading us in circles. The signs we confusing us and leading us around in circles. This city was not going to let us leave without a fight. Eventually we had to guide Ruby through back streets, refusing to go anywhere near a major road, until we found ourselves popping out of the north side of Oakland.

From there we headed West towards Yosemite National Park, where there would be no evil overpasses or parking garages. Alex wanted a shower badly (and so did I), so we decided to see how our plan of showering at truckstops would go. At the Love's Travel Centre outside Tracy, we lined up for our showers, and they were surprisingly good. The got a fresh towel and our own private little bathroom, which was clean. It was a good experience to end an interesting day. I'm glad that these showers are going to be a good experience along our way.

After the shower we continued in the dark towards Mariposa, just outside the entrance to Yosemite, and pulled into a very nice rest area. We would stop here, and we had a good sleep knowing that tomorrow would definitely be a better day.

Thanks For Your Patience. We will soon be up to date!

2009-10-21T20:04:00.000-07:00

Well, we are finally getting on our feet and getting this blog up to date. Stay tuned because we are currently on day 6 and on our way to Vegas. We are surviving off free wifi at Starbucks, and stolen wifi from our van. So thanks to our unwitting helpers. :-)

Day 4: Pacific Coast Highway

2009-10-20T07:04:00.000-07:00

The drive today took alot longer than I expected, but for very awesome reasons. The coastal highway that connects Los Angeles to San Francisco is absolutely stunning. It's hard to decide if the land looks like it is falling into the ocean or if it is rising up. Either way, it is spectacular. Sweeping turns, rolling hills, jagged cliffs, every kind of green you can imagine. I don't know why a bigger deal isn't made of this drive. The hardest part was keeping my eyes on the road so that we didn't end up in Bixby Canyon or any of the hundreds of other canyons and ravines.

Alex made sandwiches, and as we walked along the beach at Gaudalope, we asked a seagull to take our picture.

We set off from Santa Barbara a little late, having taken our time eating our sugar soaked sultana bran for breakfast, so we knew from the start of the day that we were never going to make it to San Fran by nightfall. Around lunch time, we decided to pull of in a small town called Guadalupe and have our ham sandwiches for lunch. There was a beach aways down a lane, so we thought it would be worth the drive. We stumbled upon a massive Dunes conservation park. Before long it was like driving through a desert, and all traces of civilisation slipped away. It was fantastic sitting and watching the roaring ocean and the hundreds of sea birds of all different varieties as we ate our lunch. The seagulls here are twice the size of the ones in Australia. They are also much better behaved and allowed us to eat our lunch in peace.

Halfway along the Pacific Coast Highway is Hearst Castle. It was a suprise when we came across the turn off for it, as I thought we had absent mindedly missed the turn off many miles before. Unfortunatley it was misty and raining when we got there a little after 3PM, and the tours were finishing for the day, so we didn't get to see thhe castle itself, but looking around the vistors centre at all the exhibits we got the general idea that it was a very impressive place.

It was like this for a hundred miles.

Continuing along the coast we stopped a couple more times to admire the view, though the sunset was eventually obscured by some dark clouds, before eventually reaching Santa Cruz, which is where we have decided to stop for the night. Just now we have come back from dinner at The Point Chop House, where Alex had ribs and I had the biggest baked potato I have ever seen with my steak. I also had my first beer in the USA, a Sierra Nevada Pale Ale. It was very nice, although I'm not quite sure why it's called a pale ale, as in colour and taste it was similar to a James Squires Amber Ale. I just hope now that no one comes a-knocking in the night, telling us we can't park in the little lane we found to spend the night it.

Day 3: A bit of a rest and Rodeo Drive

2009-10-20T06:54:00.000-07:00

It was a bit overcast, but still a nice drive.

The showers were right next to where I was looking yesterday! I hate it when you come so close but miss something entirely. Still, I'm glad we found them. We looked like bums having a shower at the beach, but you have to do what you have to do I guess. Today has been a fairly uneventful day, as it is Sunday, we decided to rest a bit and not put too much stress on ourselves. This afternoon we drove to Santa Barbara, as a place to start our drive to San Francisco in the morning. Of course on the way we had to stop back in to Los Angeles to see what Alex tells me is the most important part of the city: Rodeo Drive and Beverly Hills. Luckily we arrived just a bit after dark so there was no risk of Alex "accidentally" making some rather large purchaces in some very exclusive shops. It is a very nice, well looked after place though. Parts of it almost feel like they belong inn Paris or Rome.

The Piazza at Two Rodeo Drive was very nice. Lucky all the shops were closed...

I've figured out that you must be able to turn right on a red light whenever you want over here. I'd like to say that the locals have gently let me in on this secret, but their horns don't sound too gentle if you ask me.

The highlight of today was finally getting to eat at an IN n OUT. Their burgers really are as nice as I remember. All fresh, no freezers, microwaves or heat lamps. Very\nice. Even Alex agreed that it was the best burger she had had. So now we are settling in for the night on a quiet Santa Barbara street. Tomorrow, I am going to fill the car with gas, and we will drive to San Francisco, on what really will be the first true part of our journey.

Finally a double-double. And before you say it, yes I am...

Day 2: Disneyland

2009-10-20T06:50:00.000-07:00

Today was Dineyland day. We got up and drove straight there, stopping only for a quick toilet break. When we arrived, we set up camp in the car park and had some breakfast. We couldn't believe it when we poured out our Sultana Bran and found that the Sultanas were covered in sugar. Everything was going to be covered with sugar on this trip.

Me in Toontown... as you will see, I think we were having too much fun for photos.

We spent a good 10 hours at Disneyland, and would have stayed longer, but by this stage we need to pace ourselves a bit or we might find we crash and burn at some point. The first ride we went on was Buzz's Astro Blaster's. Which is like a video game, where you go around in a cart and have to shoot the targets. Alex beat me by a very sizeable margin. I maintain there must have been something wrong with my Blaster. Next was Space Mountain, which freaked Alex out but was a lot of fun, followed by Honey I Shrunk The Audience, the first 3D film I've seen that made me jump. After some lunch we went on the Finding Nemo submarine, which was nice because it was almost like being in water, which was good on such a hot day.

Alex is not King Arthur... neither was Mick

We lined up for 30 minutes for the Matterhorn, and just as we got to the front there was a lengthy delay. One poor lady was already in her bobsled ready to go, and she had to wait there in the sun. The Matterhorn isn't as good as the Big Thunder Railroad, which was the best rollercoaster at the park. I got soaking wet on the Pirates of the Caribbean, which had been changed to include more Captain Jack Sparrow since I had been there last time.

This is outside Pirates of the Carribean. There were people everywhere. All day. But Still we didn't have to wait more than an hour for a ride.

We definitely saved the best for last when we went on the Indiana Jones ride. That is so much fun and so lavish and well constructed. We got to sit right at the front of the car, so when that giant boulder came rolling towards us, we really did think that we were going to be squashed! After that, we were buggered and having had our fun, we decided to catch the tram back to the van and call it a day.

So many cupcakes, not a big enough budget.

We were intending to head due West and just sleep near the beach, but we got a little lost on the way and ended up quite a way south at Laguna Beach. Still, finding a spot was easier that last night, even if I couldn't find a shower on the beach to freshen up. We will have another look in the morning.

We were so disciplined we didn't even buy these mugs.

Day 1: Hollywood

2009-10-20T05:42:00.001-07:00

This morning we woke up in a proper bed for what will be the last time for a while. We arrived in Hollywood last night and had a bit of a look around the area. The whole thing is a bit of a metaphor for celebrity; all glitz and glamour from a distance, but when you get up close you can see it's all falling apart. It's all for show. Still, we walked along the Star Walk and stopped to look at handprints in the concrete outside the Chinese theatre. I really didn't like it, to be honest. It's all too confronting, and I can't just be an observer because there would be nothing to observe if people like us didn't come to look. Alex enjoyed it though, and if I hadn't been there maybe she would have stopped to talk with the terrible, terrible excuse for a Spiderman impersonator (don't worry Sean, the Batman wasn't much better). The highlight was seeing Toy Story in 3D at the El Capitan Theatre. Such a lavishly decorated theatre. We entered to see a Wurlitzer being played on stage, which lowered into the floor when the show was about to start. The one curtain went up. And another. And one with lights, then one with a cityscape. Then a silver one. Then another curtain. We didn't know when it would end, but it did. Buzz and Woody even came onto the stage and did a little dance before the show started. Definitely plenty of bang for our buck.

We were expecting 3D, but this is ridiculous

Maybe now our journey is about travelling back in time in America, from West to East, to see how this country culminated in a parody of itself here. As we cross the continent I hope we discover the real America, with real Americans. But first, a compliment, they have a much better public transport system than Sydney. We found that out on our trip to pick up the van in Agoura Hills. We didn't have to know the exact stop, or calculate the sections, or say the secret password when the stars aligned correctly. It doesn't matter where you get on or off, it is one ticket. If you change, just buy another ticket. It's so simple and it goes to show that someone must be up to something back home, because there is no reason this system could not be implemented in Sydney tomorrow.

Our van Ruby. May she always look this good.

One change and a short taxi ride later we arrived at Adventures on Wheels to collect our van. Luckily, as you can see, she looks exactly like the pictures we saw when I booked it. That is a good start. We have named her “Ruby”, so when you hear us talking about Ruby don't think we have picked up an extra friend, it's just our (hopefully) reliable travelling device. After kicking the tyres and signing some papers, we were off. Driving on the right (wrong) side of the road was a bit strange at first, but I think I have the hang of it now. As it was hot we decided to head to the beach. Our guide book said that Santa Monica had a pier, and it was fairly close by so we decided to give it a go.

Sunset in Santa Monica

I have never seen a beach as wide as Santa Monica. At its widest point it must have been about 400 metres from the sand to the water. Luckily, there was a wooden boardwalk most of the way. Otherwise the locals would all have grossly oversized calf muscles. The pier has rollercoasters and sideshows built right on top of it, going out over the water. It was a nice place to sit and watch the sun set over the ocean. It was the first time Alex had ever seen that, and with no clouds in the sky at all, it was absolutely perfect.

When we had towelled off we headed back into Los Angeles to visit Wal Mart and deck out our bed with sheets and pillows. We pulled into a McDonalds to fit it all and had our first bizarre moment. A guy in a pickup pulled in front of a girl who was parking and got out. The then proceeded to urinate all over her wheel and jumped in and starting grabbing her and trying to get her phone. We think they might have known each other, but we decided to leave, just in case he wanted to give us a cuddle too. So we went off looking for a place to stop.

Somehow we ended up in the Hollywood hills, looking for a level place to stop. The streets were so narrow and the cliffs were so steep that we really didn't have a hope. We did stumble across a lookout on Mulholland Drive with an excellent panoramic view of city. It seems like it stretches on forever. Eventually we found a level place to park, and settled in for the night.

TOUCHDOWN!

2009-10-15T23:18:00.000-07:00

OK, after illness and stress and lots of hours spent on a plane we are now in Los Angeles. Tomorrow we pick up our van and the fun really starts. Check back tomorrow for our first update.

Something to pass the time.

2009-09-03T00:34:00.000-07:00

I tend to be doing things in fits at the moment. Theres still the rest of the preview to come, so stay tuned. I also hope to tell you all a little bit more about me and Alex before we go.

Right now though, you might not know that I have a myspace page. I have 10 songs that I have recorded up there, so if you're interested, just go to:

www.myspace.com/michaelbrunomusic

They are fairly scratchy at best, but I enjoy making them. I really hope that this journey across the USA will give me an opportunity to expand a bit as a musician.

Chapter 7: The Windy City

2009-08-05T22:22:00.000-07:00

View USA in 80 Days: Likely Route in a larger map

And now for a little insight into the geekiness that is me. The biggest kick I am going to get out of Chicago is visiting the Dark Knight filming locations. I really like Batman you see, so if anyone sees a bearded man running around Chicago around the middle of November, don't worry. It's only me.

Now besides raising the ire of the locals by running around yelling "I'mBahmam" Chicago, and the Illinois area should be alot of fun. If there is any baseball still on when I get to the USA, then Chicago is where I would like to see it. I hear they make good hot dogs in Chicago too - and I am a fan of the hot dog. it will never overtake the meat pie in terms of being the perfect sporting food, but it comes close. I will have to compare their hot dogs to those I will inevitably eat in New York, the other American city famous for the hot weiner. I'm sure that Chicagoites (Chicagoers?) would be more interested in the result. Chicago is famous for being the 'Second City" to New York, so suppose their competitive attitude may be somewhat similar to Melbourne's.

Then there is the music. I know it might not be like it used to be, but still. Won't it be awesome to see Chicago blues in Chicago? Hehe I just thought of the moments where I will be appreciating a Batman location, and then suddenly having a flash of The Blues Brothers. What a team-up movie that would be.

After Chicago, we will follow lake Michigan into Indiana. i watched that movie Rudy a long time ago. Something about a hobbit who couldn't play football. I'm interested to go and take a look at Notre Dame in South Bend while we are in the area. Maybe there will be football on while we are there. I know they have big stadiums, so perhaps we can get a ticket.

The next part of my trip might just be the longest, as I will be going back to the place where I spent my time as an exchange student all those years ago.

On to the next part of my preview, Chapter 8: My Mid-Western Hometown

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Chapter 6: Graceland and the Gateway

2009-08-03T15:52:00.000-07:00

View USA in 80 Days: Likely Route in a larger map

So by now we will be approching the halfway point of our little drive. I think this section should take about 6 days. The first thing to note is that it's no great shame that if I don't really get into Tennessee in this leg. We will get a chance to get in as far as Knoxville later on as we snake back South. For now though, if we deviate in this part, it will be West into Arkansas.

The first major town in this chapter is Memphis. Now I would be keen to visit this place anyway for its name. There is something that goes well together between Americana and Egyptian mythology for me (Memphis being an ancient Egyptian city). Maybe it's just because I like that movie Bubba Ho-Tep, but that would make sense given the other reason we want to visit Memphis: Graceland. What American pilgrimmage would be complete without a visit to the shrine of the King? Maybe I can win some kind of Elvis impersonating contest. I will not buy any tacky souveniers. I will not buy any tacky souveniers. That's the biggest reason why I am only carrying the smallest bag possible, to remove the temptation to stock up on junk I will never use.

From Memphis, we intend to follow the Mississippi River as closely as possible all the way up to St. Louis. I'm hoping that we don't encounter much snow at all on this part of the trip, it will only be early November - but I know how things are. Hopefully lots of small old towns pop up along the banks as we go. This whole area is supposed to be the American heartland, so I'm looking forward to seeing what the people are like throughout this land. I hope it's not too cold to sit on the banks of the river.

St. Louis is a 19th Century town in my mind. I only really know it from old books and movies. I bet it's nothing like that now, so it'll be the perfect chance to really test how different the real America is from the America in my mind. Still, hopefully there will be lots of good food and good music here as we say goodbye to the Mississippi and head North toward Lake Michigan. Springfield Illinois is the last stop for now. Some history this state has. Abraham Lincoln and now Barack Obama both come from this state, so I'm expecting lots to see and do around the area.

Next will be Lake Michigan and Chicago in Chapter 7: The Windy City

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Chapter 5: The Mississippi Delta

2009-08-03T04:50:00.000-07:00

View USA in 80 Days: Likely Route in a larger map

Driving up the Mississippi River was one of the earliest concepts considered for this trip. Following a river seems like a perfect way to get to know a land intimately. Before that though, a jaunt across Louisiana. Lots of myths to bust here. Maybe that is what this trip is like, an American Cultural Mythbusters where we travel around measuring up this country against our imaginations. I'm expecting catfish and klansmen and good ole boys. Frankly the image thats been getting out about this place is pretty backwards. Hopefully I can report that the reality of the situation isn't quite the same. Still, I expect there to be some kind of Louisiana essence that will come across.

It's a great shame we won't get to experience pre-Hurricane Katrina New Orleans. It is one place that was always on my to do list, and if I ever get a time machine, I'm sure mid-20th Century New Orleans would get a visit. Still it will be interesting to visit the city now, and meet the people. There has been so much world attention placed on their situation, but what is it really like? Will it ever be the same again?

I know I said we would follow the river up, and we will, but first we have to steal across to Alabama to visit Mobile. Once again, it is one of those places that I have heard of and would like to check out, and it would be a shame to come so close to Alabama and not go in. I bet there is some pretty out-there delicious food along this way. Then it is a switchback West as we head towards the city ofHattiesburg inMississippi (one of the first long words I knew how to spell!), where we rejoin the river to retrace its steps North. I'm hoping to find a little history along the way here. Lots of signs of abandoned industry along the river. I doubt it will be as idyllic as my imagination.

What are the must see things around the bottom of Louisiana and up the Mississippi river? I don't want to just drive past anything, not realising until it's too late. My Dad and I did that in New York, walked right past Strawberry Fields and didn't even realise until later. Regardless though, there will be no time to rest or dally at this point. We aren't even half way yet.

Next up, something Alex is really looking forward to, Chapter 6: Graceland and the Gateway

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Chapter 4: Texas

2009-08-02T23:55:00.000-07:00

View USA in 80 Days: Likely Route in a larger map

Texas. The people who live here are supposedly real American people. I'm looking forward to finding some small town bars and restaurants and meeting the people who live here. After all, these are the people who called George W. Bush their own. How do they reconcile their will to believe in America and the Persident, with the evidence of the failure of those institutions so apparent. My guess is that they try not to think to hard about it, but I'm keen to find out.

Alex will be keen to go to a rodeo, or some other kind of southern pageant, and see some belt-buckles the size of dinner plates, and hats the size of... really big hats. I've heard Austin is a really cool place, so I'd like to check that out for a day or two. It's the home of the USA's largest university,, so I'm sure that culturally there will be alot to check out here (including the Alamo Drafthouse - I'm a big AICN fan).

Houston is pretty close to Cape Canaveral, which is conveient, because my mum has a friend there who we can stay with. I'm keen to check out NASA and see if they need any spur of the moment astronauts.

By the time We get through Texas I want to have eaten my fill of BBQ and Mexican food. One thing I've just thought about is that I want to drink local beer wherever possible, to add another layer to the experience. I only think about all of this because I'm expecting the Cajun food in the next chapter to be absolutley phenomenal.

On to Chapter 5: The Mississippi Delta

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Chapter 3: The Deserted Desert

2009-08-02T22:59:00.000-07:00

View USA in 80 Days: Likely Route in a larger map

As we head through the desert towards the East, I'm really looking forward to finding some very remote places along the way. This trip is supposed to be a holiday too, an unwind after some years of stressful, hard work. We might get some provisions and just spend a day or two in the middle of nothing. Hopefully we will run into some friendlly locals who can tell us the best spots.

Bugs Bunny always took a wrong turn at Albuqurque (that is the last time I mention that joke), so that really is the only reason I have for heading there. Still, that ties in to our idea of just heading towards places I have heard of one way or another. Hopefully this will allow me to discover many places that I haven't yet heard of. If I take a left from there we will next end up in Santa Fe. Now, originally Santa Fe wasn't on our radar, but I've been told it really is a town worth seeing. Hopefully we won't be disappointed.

Being science fiction fans, we couldn't possibly go to the USA and New Mexico without visiting Roswell. I'm sure it will be tacky and touristy now, though, so I'm hoping to find some "genuine" conspiracy/ufo sights or experiences. Maybe there are some museums or tours that show off this side of the American psyche.

Hopefully we don't miss out on any great experiences in New Mexico as we continue across the USA in 80 Days. Next up, because no other title could encompass its massive representation in the American image: Chapter 4: Texas.

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Chapter 2: Casinos & Canyons

2009-08-01T02:37:00.000-07:00

View USA in 80 Days: Likely Route in a larger map

The second chapter of our journey will be our first foray into some really unique contryside. The first really unique place that I am looking forward to is Las Vegas. What posessed some people to put some much neon in one place. Will it look grandiose and be absolutley awe-inspiring, or will it be a sad, tacky momument to greed and excess? I don't intend on losing too much money in the casinos. The trip wouldn't go much further if that happened. What is more interesting is what kind of culture such a manufactured environment spawns. Is anything original possible? From what I hear, finding places to park overnight won't be too hard to find. Many casino's have large parking lots full of RV's. One little van couldn't make too much difference.

From Las Vegas, we will head North and just touch Utah. It will always be a shame to come close to a state on this trip and not go into it, and even though I've heard all the more unique drives are further North into the state (not to mention the Mormon community in Salt Lake City), perhaps we can still see something going this way. Also there is a town on the way called Mesquite. One of the things that will probably attract me on this trip are towns that I have heard of before. I have eaten "Mesquite BBQ" Chips. Is there anything in this town to warrant that asscoiation? I want to line up the America that I have been shown in the media, with the actual America.

Even though this map shows us going around the Grand Canyon National Park, there is probably a more scenic and challenging route straight through to the Grand Canyon itself. Australia doesn't have anything quite like this, and I hear it is worth it to stay the entire day to watch the light on the rocks at sunrise and sunset. Also I'm hoping our late Autumn arrival will mean that the park is a little less crowded than it supposedly can get in summer.

From the Grand Canyon and Las Vegas, a natural and a man-made wonder of America, we will continue on, through the desert in Chapter 3. Also, don't forget to subscribe to my reddit to join the discussion of my trip.

Soon up, Chapter 3: The Deserted Desert.

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Chapter 1 - California Dream

2009-07-31T07:43:00.000-07:00

View USA in 80 Days: Likely Route in a larger map

As soon as we can get away, we will head towards San Francisco, stopping along the way for supplies. Alex wants to look at locations from the TV show charmed. I'm interested in seeing the Golden Gate Bridge. This website looks like it has some good ideas about things to do in San Francisco.

After a day or two we will head back down to Los Angeles, on the way we hope to stop at Neverland ranch. Could be interesting, if a bit morbid, to look around. Disneyland is an absolute must, I have been before but Alex hasn't. I want to go on the Indiana Jones ride again. Another theme park is definatley a possibility, but I know there are lots of them around. Which are the best?

Of course Hollywood and Beverly Hills are an essential visit. I'm keen to hang out in some Hollywood dive and chat with some locals. This site might be useful for finding more things to do in L.A. for free. Because it will be important not to spend too much too early. Once again, just a day or two of exploring, and it will be time to head East for the first time, off to become a millionaire in Las Vegas/

What else is there to do in Los Angeles, or California that you would consider a must do for any visitor? What best represents what California is about?

Next up, a preview of Chapter 2 - Casinos & Canyons.

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Promotion Policy

2009-07-31T04:27:00.000-07:00

I want to get the word out about this blog. Not in a major way, as I still expect my core audience to be my family and friends, but we do want to share our jouney. I am a fan of Reddit, and have been a member there for 4 years now. Currently my username is simpleanswer. I have started a reddit there to advertise what I am doing here, and to interact with the redditor hive-mind directly. In addition to posting my links there, I will occasionally cross-post in other reddits. I'm not trying to spam anyone. I'm just trying to let people who may be interested find out about us.

If maybe I get a bit excited, by all means let me know. I hate spammers as much as anyone else, but when it is you sometimes it's hard to tell. I trust redditors will give me a second chance if I ever slip up.

Anyways, if you don't use reddit, you really should, it is an amazing way to interact with content.

USA in 80 Days Preview

2009-07-31T03:22:00.000-07:00

UPDATE:
You know 15 seperate chapters really is a bit crazy. I'm going to cut that down a bit. It's down to 13 at the moment. I'll edit the entries below as I link to the individual previews. In the meantime, here is a link to a complete google map of the likely route. Obviously its general, the idea is to garner enough feedback in advance to make sure I don't miss anything on the way through.

As we approach 75 days to go, some of the peices of this puzzle are starting to fall into place. As a way of organising this, killing time/practising my blogging, and introducing you to some of the places we might be visiting, I will be previewing the journey. I have split the drive up into 15 distinct chapters, which may sound like alot, but hopefully these mini-journeys will serve to keep the whole endeavour on track by reminding us not to linger too long in one place.

A quick re-cap for those just joining. My girlfriend and I are flying from Australia, renting a van in Los Angeles, and driving across the continent to New York in 80 Days(details). Here is a rough sketch of the trip, with the chapters numbered:

High tech, I know. I will post a google maps link with every preview blog below (here is a previous post with a map). Following is a brief description of the major towns and attractions that will fill each chapter of the journey. Now of course all of this is subject to change. Some parts might get more ambitious, some parts less so. As I go, any feedback on places or activities I mention would be appreciated.

Chapter 1 - California Dream.

Hollywood, Disneyland, San Francisco. Neverland will hopefully be open to the public - just to say we've been.

Chapter 2 -Casinos & Canyons

I've heard they have casino's in Vegas... and if we lose all our money in one go, the Grand Canyon might be a solution.

Chapter 3 -The Deserted Desert

The Old West, probably less forbidding in winter, all the way down to border town El Paso

Chapter 4 - Texas

Who would have thought that both Cowboys and Spaceships would come from the same place?

Chapter 5 - Mississippi Delta

Down in New Orleans and over in Alabama, hoping to have a good ole' time with some good ole' boys down here.

Chapter 6 - Graceland and the Gateway

Memphis, Tennessee is going to be a central focus of our journey with the Mississippi up through the continent.Going backwards through the "Gateway to the West" marks the entry into a part of America that I am more familiar with.

Chapter 7 - The Windy City

There are gonna be some blues houses in Chicago that won't know what hit them! The home state of Barack Obama and Kevin McAlister.

Chapter 9 - My Mid-Western Hometown

If there is any part of the USA I could call home, it would be Traverse City, Michigan. This chapter could possibly be the most boring for everyone else. But super-fun for me as I see old friends all over the state.

Chapter 10 - Oh! Canada

Ok, not technically the USA, but what's a little border crossing between friends, eh? Besides, it's the quickest way to get to Niagara Falls - a place embedded in our childhood imaginations.

Chapter 11 - Appalachian Crossing

Down through Pennsylvania, Arkansas, Kentucky and West Virginia. We are hoping the cold air doesn't keep the banjo players off their porches.

Chapter 12 - Plantation

Charlotte to the coast and then North will give us a chance to visit some of the first European settlements on the continent.

Chapter 13 - The Capitol

The place where it all happens. Smithsonian museums on the mall, and the White House will be a must. Might invite Barry out for a beer.

Chapter 14 - New England

Balitmore and Boston. The Revolutionary War has left some impressive history behind.

Chapter 15 - The Big Apple

New York, New York, what a wonderful town! Seeing the ball drop in Times Square on New Years Eve will bean experience. So will finding somewhere to leave the van.

From there we will be flying accross to the United Kingdom for the next part of our adventure. Check back soon for the first of the USA in 80 Days previews, Chapter 1 - California Dreams.

Guitar Needed

2009-07-29T05:32:00.000-07:00

This our first test of the kindness of strangers. See, I'm a bit of a musician, and one of my great ambitions is to write a song or two on the road. I'll be bringing my recording gear with me, it doesn't take up much space, but the thing I will be missing is a guitar. I've looked around online, and I can't really find much in the way of music stores that sell guitars, even second hand, in my price range (about $50). I would love to have a guitar to use while I'm in the US, so here is where you come in: I would love a guitar when I arrive. Now you wouldn't be giving it to some musical genius (seriously, check out my myspace, I'm no genius), but you would be helping someone in need out. If you have a guitar somewhere gathering dust that would love to go on an adventure, give it to me! Even if it is all beat up and has no strings, I'll take it! Even if it is only 3/4 size, I'll take it! If you want money for it, I'll pay (remember my price range).

My only request is that the neck isn't too fat. See, I'm only learning and my fingers aren't so... stretchy yet. Other than that, so long as it is acoustic and makes sound I'm happy (Of course it could be electric, but you would have to help me out with a battery operated amp too). Ideally you would live in, or could get to Los Angeles or San Francisco, because that is where we are starting out from - but if you are anywhere else and can help, please offer.

In return, I will plug whatever you want me to plug on here, and write a song about you and our meeting and post it on my myspace, Also you will probably find your guitar features heavily in our travels. I would love to get a sticker from every town we visit on the guitar - or get in every photo. Either way, if you can help out it would be very much appreciated.

Our Doppleganger

2009-07-29T04:51:00.000-07:00

I just realised that I'm we aren't the first people to do "USA in 80 Days". There's another guy who did it a couple of years ago, and you can find his blog here. You should check it out, it's a good read.

Now I don't feel bad about using the same name as this guy, because we both idependantly stole it from Jules Verne. Still, it's like I showed up wearing the same thing as something else. Anyways, there are some big differences between what was done before and what we are going to do. That guy, Terence is his name, had a mission to visit the smallest town in each of the 48 contiguous states. That is a really cool idea, but we won't get to anywhere near 48 states. Maybe 20 or 30, but not 48. Our goal is simply to drive from CA to NY and see what comes up. There will be alot of time allowed in our trip for visiting old friends. Our goal also is to not pay for accomodation, and to see what kind of hospitality is offered to us everywhere we go. The other difference between "Across The USA in 80 Days" and "USA in 80 Days" (notice I dropped the across to keep the same rhythm as Verne) is that the former is more of a simple travel blog, whereas we would like to fill our blog with all of our problems and solutions to make a resource for all of those who follow us.

But the biggest thing he had that he had that we won't have is this awesome yellow convertible:

There is no chance our van will be yellow, and no chance it will be a convertible. A magnetic decal on the side though? I'd already thought about that. All day actually - we just started selling magnetic paper at work - so if anyone can help us come up with a name for the van, I'll make that into a decal and stick it on the side. Like I said, check out Terence's blog. but come back here.

The Van is booked, the weather will be nice.

2009-07-26T20:23:00.000-07:00

Today I booked the van that I dezcribed in the last post. Now everything is starting to concrete up (to say nothing of the preparations for our trip to the UK, which is still awaiting my passport information). We have to pick up the van from Agoura Hills, North-West of LA, the day after we land. Our first decision is going to be wether or not to stay at the airport and make our way to the pickup the next day, or to press on as soon as we land, find a nearby hotel, and have a more leisurely morning. At the moment the first option sounds cheaper, as we can get a free shuttle the next morning, but the second sounds ultimately more comfortable.

I've been looking for a good weather tool that gives general seasonal predictions for the USA, and I think I've finally found one this morning. The BBC Weather Centre gives a good prose overview of the climate for each of the USA's regions. I can also view the charts for different cities. Looking at Los Angeles, looks like the weather will probably be pretty nice, and the closest that we will get to summer for a while, since we are flying north for the winter. Don't mind the cold though.

The I5 Class Sleeper Van: Friend or Foe?

2009-07-26T05:29:00.000-07:00

Here is a picture of the van we are hoping we are hoping to rent from Adventures on Wheels(more at their site). It's supposed to be a Dodge Caravan, and I sure hope this picture isn't too far from the truth. Still, before and after comparisons will be made. It looks pretty sweet, with a big bed in the back. I'm sure it will get pretty cold in there though, so lots of blankets will be in order. How hard are these things to drive I wonder?

When we pick it up my first thing to do will be to deck myself out with a toolkit, just in case there are any problems we encounter that I could easily handle (I've handled problems before). I know I'll need tyre-chains, jumper leads, a torch, and some wrenches. Duct tape, blu-tak, WD-40 and cable ties are all on my LA shopping list. What else should I add?

2 Aussies, One Van: Welcome to USA in 80 Days.

2009-07-26T04:33:00.000-07:00

I guess this site is up and running now. Updates will be sporadic for the moment, but they will be more frequent as the trip approaches, and daily once it starts. This is my first blog, and you will be mostly hearing it in my voice. I'm Mick, I'm 24, and I'm from Sydney, Australia. I did a 3 year acting course and then got a job as a supermarket manager. Not the most sensible of career moves, but it has allowed me to save the money for this trip. My girlfriend Alex, also 24, is doing this trip with me. She is quitting her job in a pharmacy to come on the road with me. She sings and will hopefully keep me driving on the right side of the road. Her biggest challenge is going to be packing her life into a 55 Litre pack.

View Itinerary B in a larger map

This is a rough itinerary for my trip I made in Google Maps (if it doesn't work click here). As you can see, it's pretty long, especially for winter. But I lived in Michigan for a year in 2003, so I think I know what I'm getting myself into. Los Angeles is the starting point, and Alex definately wants to go to San Francisco, so I'm thinking we will head straight out of LA to there, before returning to go to Disneyland on our way to Vegas. Apart from that, I want to see the Grand Canyon, and drive up the Mississippi from New Orleans to St. Louis. Mum has a friend in Houston and Traverse City, Michigan is where I stayed as an exchange student so those two places are definates on the itinerary. I would like to snake South again after that, all the way down to South Carolina, and head back up through Virginia to Washington DC and finally New York.

It will be a difficult drive, but over 80 days it shouldn't be too gruelling. Especially if I do lots of driving while I'm eager and cross to New Orleans by about Day 15, that should give me plenty of time to stop with friends in the Mid-West and on the East Coast.

USA in 80 Days on Reddit

2009-07-26T02:58:00.000-07:00

Since reddit is my net of choice, I've created a reddit there to share our trip with them. If you are interested in extra content or discussion, I guess that is where it is going to be.

Here it is, the USA in 80 Days Reddit!

UPDATE: Since I just created it, kn0things spam filter has banned my reddit. Supposedly he's on holidays, so when he gets back I guess he'll unban it.

UPDATE 2: It's unbanned! Thanks keltranis.

The First Post

2009-07-26T02:53:00.000-07:00

Theres no content here yet. But welcome. Bookmark or subscribe or whatever, and come back soon!