Road Trip USA

Bodie (and no Doyle)... to Meadowcliff RV Resort and Concentration Camp

2011-06-24T09:08:00.000-07:00

Yes. Today was an interesting day. As I said, we headed out this morning for a trip to the gold-mining ghost town of Bodie, which is set above 8300 feet in the isolated hills near the Nevada State Line. The first 10 miles or so to Bodie is normally a paved road, but they were busy ' putting your tax dollars to work', so the entire stretch was a series of stops for roadworking crews and one-way sections. Eventually, the paved road gave way to a rough section of compacted ground, which is only available in the summer. This went on for about 3 miles up switch-back roads until reaching the town of Bodie.

For me, Bodie is one of the most interesting places we've ever been. History frozen. Looking through the windows of any of the 100 abandoned buildings reveals discarded beds, tables, clothes, cars, piles of gold, food and drink (just testing that you're reading every word). An astonishingly raw understanding of life in a late nineteenth century gold-rush town.

The old hotel is there, the bank (complete with safes), a school, general store, internet cafe, church (again...). Even the rusting relics of wagons, mine lift-engines, and a few cars:

I loved the place. If you ever get the chance, don't miss it, before it rots away forever.

Fair enough. Done Bodie. So to speak. We now had to face the drive back out of the mountains, dealing with all the roadworks etc. However, as we drove out of the car park at about 12.30, the track continued to a different park exit gate, and a sign declaring that the State Line was 6 miles away, and a place called Hawthorne 20 miles away (or so, I forget...). Applying our usual theory of ' never go back', we decided to continue on this new route.

Very quickly, the gravel road started to get a bit more bumpy and stony. We had to slow down, especially as at the same time the road was becoming narrower, until it was unquestionably just single-lane. Just as we started to worry about what would happen if someone was coming the other way, it began to dawn on us that perhaps no-one would ever come the other way.

We arrived at a stream crossing the road (lets call a spade a spade... it was a track by now). The stream had cut deep gullies into the track, effectively cutting it in two. This meant that we should stop, and figure out a way to back up and/or turn the camper around (turning 11m of camper around in a track 3m wide was always going to be something of a challenge).

So I floored it. Hanging on to the wall of the mudbank bordering the track, and letting the tail of the RV slide behind. We were through!! Hooray.

For the next thirty minutes the road became narrower and narrower, and there were few places to attempt a turn-around, and even if I could, how could we cross the river again (I know, it was a stream, but after crossing it successfully it became a river).

In the next hour the track closed to high-sided rock-canyon walls, and little more than the two wheel-ruts. We were in trouble.

I must admit to becoming somewhat concerned at this point. I even got a little angry that Sarah wanted to go and take photos of the stream that dogged our wheel-tracks :).

Still, never mind, we all thought together, lets just check the map and see where we are.

Oops. This was the only road/track for 40 miles. Lets see, 40 miles at 5mph, means we might get out of here by tomorrow morning. Oh shit.

Right, good. Let's not panic. Phone someone for help. Ring the bloody Rangers,

"Hello, I'm a female human being, can you help me? Breasts."

But..... no network coverage.

Shit again. I think at this point we were all seriously concerned. We couldn't turn around, the track was more or less vanishing beneath us, we had no telephone, and we had run out of Coca-cola.

We decided to keep looking for a place to reverse, despite the risk of the river-crossing on the return, and within the next 5 minutes we all shouted at once. A car in the distance, at the bottom of this valley! There was a car--a pick up truck, surrounded by lots of cattle. Thank goodness, someone who could at least direct us!

We crawled forwards, a bit like the unmistakeable sense of bowel-loosening in my abdomen. As we got nearer, things became clearer. Yes, there were cattle. A lot of them. And yes, they were surrounding a fairly new-looking pick-up truck. But hopefully there was no-one who came with the truck. It was shot-up; scarred by hundreds of bullet holes and ricochets. The windows were smashed or crazed. The doors were left open, as if the occupants had attempted a quick escape.

It's amazing just how well an 11m RV does fit into a 3m track surrounded by cattle when you really need it to. And even more amazing just how fast it's possible to complete a three point turn if you delete two of the turns.

For all of these reasons, we do not have photos of the pick-up truck, nor the cattle. Though, for the record, as we turned around in a hurry, we noted that the track disappeared into a serious river-ford, and a slightly tardy sign that (mostly) read,

"4 WD vehicles only. Progress on minimum-maintained roads at own risk.
PS. Love you. Park Rangers."

Gee, thanks for the advice. Even without the freaky shot-up pick-up and the 'biggest cows Lewis had ever seen' (he quickly added a caveat to exclude school-mates), further progress was impossible.

We started our way back up the road, wondering just how we were going to get back, and considered our situation again. The last message we sent by FB, the day before, was that we would be out wild-camping in bear country, near Mono Lake. When would anyone start to miss us? Even when they did, they were unlikely to be looking in the wild hills of the California/Nevada State Line!

As stupid ideas went, this was one of the most exceptional. To quote Baldrick again, "Stupidee, stupidee, stupidee."

An hour or so of slow and hazardous driving brought us back to within sight of the river crossing (okay, shit, its a stream) - and we were not alone. We stopped short, and walked up to where a pick-up with horse trailer was stuck in the stream bed where we had narrowly escaped. There were another 6 vehicles and trailers behind, all waiting to cross.

In turns out this group of cowboys and cowgirls were from a company providing horse-riding adventures in the wilds. And they hadn't expected to get stuck! Using jack-lifts, wooden beams and an enormous pile of gathered rocks, we finally managed to shift their stuck trailer, accompanied by a great whoop of cowboy happiness! And the cowboys were quite pleased too.

Using the rock-bridge that we built, the remainder of the trailers crossed, and then the wranglers walked the horses over. Now it was just our turn. The boss of the crew kindly offered to wait as we attempted to go back in the opposite direction. Of course, after the caravan of trucks and horse-boxes, the track was in a worse state than the first time... and this was uphill!!

I'll post a video of the escape later, when we've got it available, but (obviously) we did get out (after roughly 5 hours all tolled!) and we did head out of Bodie and to an RV resort 50 miles down the road near Coleville. I have rarely been so relieved... and we promised each other to never do that again!

In the end, the only damage was a broken rubber strap on the generator's exhaust pipe, which happened when I squeezed the RV up against the fence to allow the wranglers' vehicles to get past. It could have been so much worse.

But then ....it became worse after all! When we met Hitler's long-lost cousin at Meadowcliff RV Resort and Concentration Camp....

Bearly Legal

2011-06-24T07:59:00.000-07:00

So, apparently Mammoth Lakes was expensive because they hiked their prices for a national moto-cross competition locally. Couldn't we just promise not to look whenever we hear a motorbike and pay the normal rate??

We did though find an organic/veggie shop within walking distance, and spent another small fortune resupplying ourselves with vegetarian ready-meals!! At about lunchtime we headed out of town, still totally unsure about where we were planning to go... although all options seemed to lead North for the moment (no way through the mountains). A bit of a shame to miss out on King's Canyon, but the only way back around would mean a 150 mile detour. Anyway, King's Canyon?? Reminds me of Baldrick in Blackadder...

"The Kings's carrier-pigeon? Nah, that pigeon couldn't carry the king, it hasn't got a basket or anything..."

We stopped shortly after leaving Mammoth Lakes at a place called June Lake (seemed appropriate). A beautiful glacier-fed sweetwater lake, with the colour of topaz. Although the water was cold, we had a swim and enjoyed the peace there for a while.

On our previous trip, we had been particularly impressed with Mono Lake, and since the 395 passed right by it as we continued North, it seemed churlish not to stop there again! The whole area is in the middle of a massive volcanic caldera and earthquake zone; and as well as seeing the strange beauty of Mono Lake again, Sarah wanted to continue her search for evidence of geophysical activity. In fact, every crack we pass in the road now elicits a cry from the back somewhere; "Look Mum! A fault line!" followed by much sarcastic sniggering.

So, we stopped at the Visitor Centre for Mono Lake, and talked to the Rangers...
...an interesting experience in itself--if you want and choose to spend 90% of your life wandering around the hills with only dumb animals for company and the scream of the wind in your ears, how 'normal' do you think that you would be when it comes to social interaction?

"Hello, fellow human! Be careful when you breath; as you inhale you might ingest a poor little bug. Oh, and look... you've got breasts! Oh my, how exciting..."

Yes, I know, I exaggerate horribly, but ask the girls--these guys can be a bit 'special'.

...where we discovered that there is an area on the other side of Mono Lake where you can wild camp. Sounds like a good idea.... not.

We drove around to the other side of the Lake, following the instructions from the Ranger (or at least parsing the monologue delivered to Sarah for relevant data).

"Drive down the 395, until you reach the 120...breasts....turn left, then head about...female....for about 5 miles until you reach a bushy... sorry, forested area... and camp anywhere you like. I like you..."

And backed off the road into a small gravel area. Beautiful place, with a view down the hill over Mono Lake, and the backdrop of the volcanic rubble of ash, rock and obsidian behind us. We decided to go exploring, and very quickly found significant signs of bears! Ripped up fallen trees, paw prints by the dozen. (Incidentally, in the morning I even found the paw-prints of a large cat :) I know, the picture is hardly scientific proof, but I think you can just take my word for it. Breasts.)

See? There...!

We carefully packed up all food and rubbish that night, and hid it in the shower cubicle. I know, i can hear you, what on Earth is the point of that? Apart from potentially keeping food fresh? No, I've no idea either, but it seemed like an appropriate level of caution at the time. Perhaps its the American way seeping into us? Like levelling a city because allegedly there is a guy in a pub in the city with a funny hat who has anti-American views. I digress. Marginally.

We went to sleep after an engaging game of cricket with a baseball bat and pine cones that was designed to tire us out. Unfortunately Sarah didn't play, so she spent half the night waking up, grabbing my arm and shouting,

"What the hell was that?" Not just a quote from the Mayor of the above-referenced city, but genuine fear. "That bang? What was that?"

(What could I say in answer? I thought she was asleep).

In the end I had to go outside in my boxers armed with a flashlight. The theory was if I came back without claw marks across my back, all must be well. (?) Sounds like a recipe for any successful marriage. Sorry, I digress. Again.

We woke early, still tired, and broke camp (well, it was broken when we got there).

Ever since last time we were away and in this area, I wanted to visit the ghost town of Bodie. That's where we were heading today.

The view from the road to Bodie.... ...and that is another story...

Mammoth mistake

2011-06-21T15:31:00.000-07:00

Diaz Lake is a beautiful place; that first night we sat outside, around our own campfire, inventing zombie apocalypse scenarios and ways to escape into the wilderness :). We even cooked marshmallows in the flames, while the Milky Way throbbed overhead! Sounds idyllic? It is.

So nice in fact that we stayed there. We swam in the lake in the morning, and read and sunbathed the rest of the day, even if it was a bit warm! Beth even managed to burn herself (again). In the afternoon we went into the town of Lone Pine, made famous as the place where they made lots of TV films and series (John Wayne films, High Chapparal, Bonanza etc). A one-strip town, but interesting anyway. We went to eat on the main strip at the ' Magic Roundabout' restaurant; a Chinese!

We went back, sat around the campfire again and played games before planning our mission for today (Tuesday). Of course, the plan didn't turn out as planned :). We had clearly decided that we would go back around to Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks on the other side of the mountains... but ended up heading further North up the 395 to the hills around Mammoth Lakes. The RV struggled a bit on the hills as we passed thru 7000 feet, but we made it here in good time. We employed our newly acquired poop-pipe and emptied the tanks at last. They were starting to ferment basic forms of intelligent life. Lewis even managed to communicate with the less advanced of them.

The site now (the imaginatively named Mammoth Lakes RV Resort) is up in the snowline (I know... crazy isnt it?? Snow on the ground!), and costs a bloody fortune ($65- hence our mammoth mistake) but it'll do for tonight.

What to do next though? No real idea. Lassen Volcanic Park looks interesting, but it's a long way North. Otherwise we might head East into Nevada....

No Airco means no Blow

2011-06-20T15:53:00.000-07:00

So, a quick end to the last missive as I was busy trying to negotiate with the RV rental company to get the roof a/c to work again! After some intervention from Shalini in the UK, we were directed to a place 90 miles away where Camping World had another shop. A bit boring for 3 hours waiting for them to fix it, but then they corrected a few other things at the same time. Finally, we got away again, and, since we had been forced to change direction, decided to satisfy Lewis's desires, and head for Santa Clarita and Six Flags Magic Mountain.

We were up early the next morning, and headed over to the Park (minus Sarah and Beth) where we went all out and bought Platinum Fast Pass tickets! I am never going to a Park again without them; yes, at first sight expensive, but we got on 17 rides in a day! Compared to the normal queue wait of 1.5 hours each. The longest we waited was 15 minutes. Awesome. And you get to stay on for a second ride if you want. Man, does that annoy the people that have waited all that time for their turn. Almost makes the price of the Pass worth it in itself!!!
For the record, Tatsu, Superman and the new X2 are 'awesome'.

On the way out Lewis decided to waste some money on a stall where you have to get the baseball into a carefully-deliberately-oh Im soo sorry its too small-milk churn. And guess what? He won. And he chose a Cartman-effigy-toy thing. Cartman will probably feature a few times in the future episodes....

We decided to try to get back into some sort of a route plan, circling around through Northern California then out to Utah and back. Initially, we headed for Lone Pine, underneath the tallest mountain (nearly 15000 feet)in the contiguous states. On the way we stopped in Mojave for some food at a little cafe. We parked out back, and when we came back from our grits n beans we made some piccies...

All very amusing you might think. So off we jolly old went... arriving in Lone Pine, underneath Mount Whitney at about 5pm. We had a look first at a ' posh RV resort', and when I got out and walked around the back of the RV......

......I discovered that the rubber ends of the hollow bumper were missing. This is the usual storage space for the sewer pipe (an extendable pipe attaching from RV hose to sewer at location). Otherwise known as the poop pipe. Now, particularly interesting is the fact that at the Camping World place I mentioned to them that the pipe had pinprick holes in it, which helpfully sprayed manure around like living in Moorveld. Being determined to make a good impression, they exchanged it for a new one. But where was it??

It is remotely possible that one rubber seal could have fallen out, allowing the poop pipe to fall out on our journey. But the odds that BOTH spontaneously fell off? Allowing the poop pipe to slither away behind us, seems highly improbable. My only conclusion? When we stopped at the redneck cafe, somebody pulled the ends off and stole the new pipe! But why? Why did someone steal my poop pipe? I mean, how desperate, how deep is the recession when you are reduced to skulking around remote desert towns on slightly bizarre and certainly unhealthy missions to steal poop pipes??? Whoever you are, I hope you enjoy it.

We spent the night at the location below, where we didnt need a poop pipe.... :)

Beach to Borrego

2011-06-17T09:07:00.000-07:00

After no problem picking the others up from SD airport, we returned to the beach to sit outside and share a cake for Laura that Beth brought with her! Was great to be together again.

However, sadly, a site withhout electric or showers was deemed inappropriate :) and we set off out into the desert, east of San Diego. Very quickly it turned from the 70 deg heat of the coast, to 105 deg of the Borrego area. We found a campsite (eventually) called the Oasis Palms Resort. Swimming pool, pool table, tv, tennis courts, all set in an orange, date and lemon fruit orchard (complete with fruit flies by the million), and absolutely no one else there (this is the off season; most sane people come in the winter when it is hot but not exterminatingly so). Not to mention that the owners and managers were lovely people. One of the best places we've ever stayed (and all for $22 per night).

http://www.oasispalmsrvpark.com/

So nice that we spent two nights there (see location below) relaxing and trying not to burn to crisps, whilst still trying to clear the Gandalf Tank (grey, magically always full of crap; you get the idea).

Yesterday, we left for a drive intitially South around the Salton Sea. The San Andreas Fault (although we reckon guilt has not been firmly established) lies just to the edge of the Salton Sea, and Sarah was determined to see if we could witness or perhaps influence some kind of earthquake. Sarah's crazy idea :)

Weird drive around the Sea! A huge body of water in the middle of the desert. It's just wrong. (Michael, jelly??)
We didnt find any earthquakes, but perhaps something will happen in the next day or two :)

Once on the eastern side of the sea we drove close to the shore. Half way along we got stopped at a border patrol check. Lots of cars trucks guns dogs gherkins orange cones and men in green uniforms (I made up the gherkin bit). We pulled over and a guy with a dog wandered around barking (the dog barked, the man wandered). Another friendly patrolman came up to the window.

I was just thinking 'oh shit, did I put on clean underwear' in preparation for my rubber glove experience, when the guy asked,
"Hey yall. Where yall from? What nationality are you?"
Fortunately none of us were Welsh, "Emm, we're British,"
"What, all of you?" he asked, craning his neck in the window to look around the inside. I wasnt sure about this question. Was he surprised that there were more than 4 British people available, or was he expecting us to break under the harshly surprising blend of interrogation?
"Oh shit, you're right," tears welling in my eyes, "there's three Mexicans and a Saudi guy calling himself Alan Kaieada hanging onto the chassis! I'm so sorry! But how did you know?"
Instead I simply nodded, and he and the dog seemed satisfied. After some friendly local tourist tips (yes you can get to the beach on the sea further up the road, and no its not a good idea to pick up Mexican hitchhikers) we were on our way again. Sure enough, we stopped up the coast a bit, and tried to get down to the waters edge. Basically the shoreline is a disgusting fish soup. Thousands of rotting or stripped carcasses of fish line the shore, and stink accordingly. Lewis got his feet in it, and spent twenty minutes screaming "Its all dead fish! Its all dead fish!" as he ran around trying to wash it off, eventually throwing himself into the shower in the RV. Bloody funny from everyone elses point of view.

We drove on, and up away from the sea around dusk. We headed into a box canyon (on a road imaginatively called Box Canyon Road). We then entered the Joshua Tree National Park through dusk and into the dark. Awesome place. We drove 100 miles without seeing another car or person! Eventually we found our way through, and to Twenty-nine Palms.

And the airconditioning failed....

The Second Coming

2011-06-15T12:21:00.000-07:00

Sheeet. As they say in these parts. Here we are again! How did that happen?

Well, let me go back a week or so first, and tell you that I joined Laura in Sacramento, with Tommie and Tom's fantastic help, and we spent a few days driving from Sacramento, around the Napa valley (Laura got a marriage proposal from some 70 year old guy), and around the coast before driving down through SF to LA to collect the RV (slightly early--thank you Shalini; but more on that below)!

...I know...I'm rushing that bit. This was the pre-holiday, which was a chance for Laura and I to spend some father-daughter time!!

On the way Laura took this amazing picture of the Golden Gate Bridge through the fog.

Anyway, we got to LA, picked up the RV, and went to Disneyland!!! (Poor qual photo proof...)--

Laura's special birthday request!

The next day we travelled down the coast to San Diego, where en-route we stayed a night at a State Beach campsite at Carlsbad... ...no hook-up, and we were struggling to get battery power in the RV, so no electric at all that night! The next day we went looking for a solution, in the end driving over to San Marcos where we were ignored for an hour at Camping World. The technician who eventually helped us was a nice guy, and after some trouble searching he found the problem and resolved it. Auxiliary power! Hooray. Hooray; except I got stung by a bee while we were waiting...... (I hear you, I hear you).

By this time I had discovered that despite barely using the toilet (so-called black water tank)--and even then only for 'number ones' (!) not 'number twos', we were also full (the tanks, you understand? :)) and needed to empty both black and grey tanks!

Arriving in San Diego, we found our own unique new version of 'Evil Creep RV Resort'. Was just outside San Diego, called Los Coches. Not dreadful all-in-all, but we had another skirmish with sewer issues, and an over-helpful neighbour.

Solved the sewer problem by buying special solvent to deal with the solid elements of the black tank. It seems that although the tanks may have been dry when we picked it up in LA, they were not empty! Lets just say that the dried solid contents in the hot sun became an embarrassing issue. (Still haven't manage to sort the grey tank a week later! It wont empty!! But obviously grey-solids are not quite as intimidating as black (and here I mean brown) solids, if you follow me....).

Tried to find a similar solution for our neighbour (who had lived there for 4 years). Unfortunately bio-chemical technology is still apparently too primitive for some types of effluent. I kid you not; at one point he was so insistent that he wanted to explain the way to his favourite restaurant again that, as I pulled away (desperately trying to pretend I hadnt seen him and accelerating hard), he ran in front of the RV waving a map.

"See, its here! Best restaurant in town, I tell you. In Little Italy; Best Italian you'll get outside of... outside of..."

"Italy?" I offered, slamming on the brakes to avoid wearing him as a new type of windscreen accessory.

"Where's that? No, outside of New York!"

Anyhow, we complained to the site manager about the smell coming from his rig, so accidentally we got our revenge for the punishing boredom of conversation with the man.

We drove back into San Diego the next day, now Monday morning; Laura's birthday!! After a bit of extra shopping (more sheets, pillows etc for the guys) we headed out over the Coronado Bay Bridge (nice views for the passengers; a little disconcerting for the driver), and onto the Silver Sand State Beach.

Guess what you find on the Silver Sand State Beach??? NO... you're wrong. GOLDEN sand.

A lovely place to camp (except no hook-up) right on the ocean. We spent a short time preparing the RV space-wise, and then headed off for the airport. Tom had warned us that it was small; and he was right! But we managed to squeeze into the kerb at Terminal 2 to meet the others!!!>>>&gt

Boy, had I missed them all.

We hit the road......

Blighty

2009-09-04T06:10:00.000-07:00

A quick one to say that we have arrived safely in Blighty. Arrived about 9.30am (4.30 am for us) and got a taxi to Sarah's parents.

Rosie is good to go; serviced, MOTed, taxed and ready for another epic journey home. Plan to be back about 8pm local !!

Lots of love all

...the final curtain.... all together now!

2009-09-03T04:42:00.000-07:00

New york, new york

Start spreading the news, Im leaving today
I want to be a part of it - new york, new york
These vagabond shoes, are longing to stray
Right through the very heart of it - new york, new york

I wanna wake up in a city, that doesnt sleep
And find Im king of the hill - top of the heap

These little town blues, are melting away
Ill make a brand new start of it - in old new york
If I can make it there, Ill make it anywhere
Its up to you - new york, new york

New york, new york
I want to wake up in a city, that never sleeps
And find Im a number one top of the list, king of the hill
A number one

These little town blues, are melting away
Im gonna make a brand new start of it - in old new york
And if I can make it there, Im gonna make it anywhere

It up to you - new york new york

New york

At the very nearly end, last, final, time

2009-09-02T13:17:00.000-07:00

Dumped the rubbish. Cleaned all the cupboards, fridge, cooker, bathroom, cockpit, escape chamber, garage, missile launch command centre, ahh... the anesthetic and strangely narcotic pine aroma of cleaning solution is starting to get to me.

We've also booked a taxi from where we drop the RV off to JFK via Manhattan. I hope he turns up...

Need to be underway by 8am tomorrow to get there in time; meaning we may not have internet connection after tonight (it's nearly 4.30pm now).

So----- can I ask all of you to leave us a message for the return trip???

Flight due to leave JFK at 8.30pm tomorrow, due in Heathrow 9.25 am. I hope we can sleep on the flight....

Love from us all

Last Day

2009-09-02T10:15:00.000-07:00

Oh what joy. We have so far spent 4 hours packing bags and cleaning the RV. And we don't seem to have scratched the surface yet! (Naturally, the surfaces aren't scratched, and we don't plan to scratch them... I know, it's complicated.)

By God it's boring.

Anyway... oh, bin person here. Gotta go.

Curiosities

2009-08-30T07:38:00.000-07:00

Some of the curious/amusing signs we found:

Borrowed; but we saw plenty of these. And they mean it...

.... ouch.

Yep. I now entirely support deer-hunting.

..even if you know them...??

No, you.

Texans mow apparently.

Yeah, you try backing that up...

I wonder what constitutes improper flushing? Or does it depend upon content?

American legal system.

Err.. can I go straight on. Please...?

Lol

Correct.

I guess they didn't want to stop..??

Yes. Yes.

Still one of my all-time favourites. Sums the USA up. Polite, if a little over the top!

You can even see the smoke...;)

We'll bear that in mind. Freaky.

Damn. Have to leave my bazooka outside.

Message from robber: "Thank you. I'll be gone before you get back."

No, I just tried it and it worked fine.

Watch your butts people!

Emm. Okay, I apologise.

From Cape Cod...

On a road? No! Can't be. Deeply shocking.

Cape Cod

2009-08-27T16:41:00.000-07:00

We just spent a couple of nights at a place on Cape Cod without internet; a place called Horton Camping Resort. If you feel like having a laugh google it, and see what people have said about the place. Essentially the owner is a lunatic, well known locally. Apparently his wife is divorcing him because he is an alcoholic, and he's a bit put out about having to sell his campsite, which has, we're told. been in his family for the last century. As a consequence, he does have a bit of an attitude problem ;)

Having said that - a lovely site ($3.5m if anyone is interested), which backs on to the coast. We walked over there the night before last (about 1/2 mile), and there is a lighthouse at the top of the cliffs. (I say cliffs; hardly Cornish, but a good 150feet up). Very pretty place.

Anyhow, we're now about 1 mile down the road at the North Truro campsite. Obviously we have internet, there's a shop, and the staff are friendly! There's even a path that winds it way down to a local beach. Again, not really as we may be used to from Cornwall, but a nice beach nonetheless.

Tomorrow we get up early to go whale watching. We met some guy in town today who is the owner and master of a 100 year old schooner that sails out of Provincetown. (No, we're not going whalewatching on that!). He told us that right now is the best time for whalewatching in living memory; we can expect to see multiple species of whale, very close.

So we decided to go tomorrow; there's another hurricane on its way to these parts, so the weekend may well not be an option.

We plan to stay here for the next 5 days, giving us a couple of days to get over to New York, sort the RV out, and then fly home from JFK. Flight leaves 2145 local, should get us back 9ish in Heathrow.

Don't know what the status is with Rosie yet, except that she has passed her MOT again. Hooray. Just getting some repairs to the oil/lube seals.

Hopefully have some photos sorted for tomorrow. Take care.

Coast to Coast

2009-08-24T14:59:00.000-07:00

We made it. Pacific to the Atlantic.

We reached the shore at York, Maine. After enduring nasty mosqui's in Vermont, and nasty prices in Maine, and beautiful lunch on Hampton Beach, New Hampshire - we have reached Essex (Massachusetts). Very similar to the real Essex. Okay, this is real too, but you know what I mean. The olde one.

Still planning to edge our way down past Boston to Cape Cod; maybe tomorrow. Going for a walk now towards the Atlantic Coast....

(PS. The Atlantic SMELLS right, do you know what I mean?? Like home.)

Silly signs

2009-08-21T18:07:00.000-07:00

I've mentioned silly signs before; I do intend to reproduce a collection at some point. But this one today made us laugh. A bit.

Viagra Falls

2009-08-21T17:24:00.000-07:00

Well, we survived the storm. And we spent another day doing absolutely nothing in the middle of Aimless land.. sorry, Amish. The main reason was the Tolkien-Shire outlook and a very big, nice pool! To be honest, we could have been anywhere, instead of nowhere (if you see what I mean).

The only time we lef tthe campsite was actually when WE didn't; Sarah went on her own. She met a scary dog, scary people with funny hats, and scary stores. She recounts that she saw a 'farm shop' which was up a dusty track with no-one else there. She decided against it! Instead she went into the bustling metropolis of Shreve (population 5), in a desperate attempt to find and buy coffee. Whilst there she met the Shire (no, I'm serious, that's what they call it) Sheriff, but got away with it.

Eventually we left today, after me and Lewis spent 30 mins trying to clear and flush the 'black water' tank (definition: black water = turds and other floaters). Something, or perhaps someone, was slightly stubborn. Fortunately Lewis is still small enough to fit up the pipe.... and his hair is pretty long now, which helps.

So, we set off East, but of course ended up going North. I truly hate Esmerelda now. Even her short cuts end up taking us through roadworks with lanes 3 foot wide and bridges just high enough to avoid decapitating ourselves. B____.

Cutting across the beeped out parts of the day, we reluctantly decided to go to Niagra Falls, from the Canadian side. Yes, I can confirm that it is another big hole, this time filled with water and mist. Awesome. Plus about 28 million tourists like us, horrendous prices, and not a lot else.

Actually, I should say what happened at the border on the way into Canada - you know that you're not supposed to lie to border staff? That they can read every emotion in your face? That they track every muscle tic and drop of sweat dripping from your unfaithful forehead?

Well, this guy asked me how long we were planning to spend in Canada. What could I say?

'Oh about 30 minutes, because we only want to see Niagra Falls from the Canadian side because it's supposed to be better and we've heard that the rest of Canada sucks?'

So I lied. 'Emmm. About two days. Maybe three.' He looked at me funny. 'Okay, four. Tops.'

Phew. I think I got away with that.
"So where are you going in those four days?"

Shit. Think quickly. 'Emm. We thought we might go to Alaska?'
"Okay sir. But that's in the US."
Shit again.
'Emm. Yes, but there's lots of Canada between here and Alaska, isn't there?' (I asked hopefully).
"That's right sir. Just one more question. Do you, or do you intend to speak French?"

Shit on a stick. 'Emm. Yes. Of course. I mean, oui. Senor.'

"Good. okay then. Enjoy Canada. And Alaska."

By this time I was wiping pools of sweat off my face with a beach towel.
'Yes. Thanks.' Then I had a brain wave. 'We might go to visit Celine Dion's house too...'

"I see. Please step out of the v-hical."

Alright. Alright. Not all of that was true. I didn't need a beach towel.

In any case. We saw Niagra Falls. Both of them. Didn't buy the t-shirt.

Eventually we managed to get back out of Canada again, and into the US of A. A few miles outside of Buffalo, we happened across a KOA campground, which are generally crap, and this one is no exception.

We should stop for the night, before heading off towards the east Coast again in the morning. Although I feel a night drive coming on... maybe....

PS. Thanks Jen for the extensive tips. Very useful. I must say that I have taken the opportunity to lubricate my hinge.
(What Sarah? No, that's okay. That's not what I meant. Listen....)

Lightning and RVs

2009-08-19T20:27:00.000-07:00

Just wondering how safe rvs are in a storm??.... Sitting here in the dark, under a bunch of trees on top of a hill, and the mother of all thunderstorms with quite incredible lightning show is going on around us.

Hmm. Wow.

That was close and big.....

Everyone is going whooo... wow... oh my/......

Ow. Hurts my eyes. Where's the storm shelter in this thing???

19th August

2009-08-19T04:51:00.000-07:00

Would you believe it's the 19th August? Me neither. We have decided to extend our stay for a month, so should be back 5th October. Just have to convince work....

Okay. Not possible. Still, nearly 3 weeks left!

We left the middle of nowhere (?) for the Great Lakes area - did another all-nighter to drive to Sandusky, between Cleveland and Toledo in Ohio. Nice little harbour town, and entirely coincidentally rollercoaster capital of the world. Oh come on, don't be like that. You can't come to the USA and not go on the 'coasters somewhere, surely?

So, the night before last, that's exactly what Lewis and I did at Cedar Point Amusement Park. Sarah and Beth stayed in the RV in the car park ! Anyway, it rained very heavily when we arrived (about 2pm), so we went to the water park on the site (with Beth), which is a bit of a disappointment. We returned to the RV to dry off and get changed, and then the heavens opened once more. Nearly everyone else, it seems, decided to give up and go home!! Once the rain had stopped, they re-opened the rides, and we more or less had the place to ourselves. Having said that, for the best rides that still meant about 15/20 minutes queuing; but that is better than the busy time when it can be 1 hour!

Of course, going in the evening means... yes, you're right. It gets dark. Rollercoasters in the dark is SUCH fun. Oh my goodness, you should have seen and heard Lewis screaming. I laughed so hard my sides hurt.

To give him credit, he did manage to control himself as the evening wore on, but it was a bit of a struggle for him! Although, not entirely surprising. If you ever get the chance to come here (it is the rollercoaster capital of the world), make sure that you try Millenium Force and Maverick in the dark. MF climbs over 300feet, before dropping at 80deg and up to 150 km/h. Lewis just kept yelling 'Mama! Mama!' All you can see are the lights of the park far below!

Maverick just pips MF as our favourite ride; the start drops through 95 deg (i.e. greater than vertical). We sat on the front row for the last run of the night. It's other-worldly. Not a disappointment at all!!

Since then we have moved just 100 miles or so East; to Amish country, South of Cleveland Ohio. I think we plan to explore a little bit today; see what the Amish do for kicks. Apart from making furniture.

In any case, this campsite is lovely. The area could have been used for the Shire in LOTR, and the site has a very large pool, a fishing lake, pretty views etc etc

Still plan to move on to the coast soon. We want to spend a bit of time chilling on the beach if possible; especially now as all the American schools seem to have gone back, so should be relatively quiet.

We'll let you know; we can't afford to go wandering too much anyway, because we have nearly used up the mileage allowance (4100 miles compared to 4800 miles allowed!).

Let you know...

Thanks for all the comments; especially Steve for fighting your way through! Take care everyone

Wrong Turn...

2009-08-15T06:03:00.000-07:00

As some of you might well have noticed from Sarah's blog, we're going the wrong way!

Here's what happened. With our usual planning we got up one morning and said, hey, where shall we go? Okay, let's go to New Orleans! That's where everyone says that we should go. So we opened up the computer and looked at the weather: 97deg, 97% humidity. Hmm. Let's just skirt the edge of the heatwave, and reach the coast slightl North of Savannah. Good plan.

We started driving, and as the heat increased the more we pulled left slightly. And ended up in Nebraska... now Iowa !!! Oops.

Emm. Long way back to New Orleans. (Bloody long way to anywhere from here.) Some beautiful storms and lightening shows, but no tornadoes yet as we drift East along tornado alley.

We are now in Des Moines. You know? Yes, everybody knows this place, right? Famous for....

...cows?... boredom?...corn fields?...

I feel a change of plan afoot. Me thinks we make for the Great lakes now (and on the map Canada's only about four inches away). We'll let you know.. Now which way is the wind blowing....?

We're on a road to Nowhere...

2009-08-14T18:57:00.000-07:00

Guys,

Thought that it was about time that I spoke up and told you how the trip is really going. I thought that you might have been missing my input in any case.

So, I got to Santa Fe and it was amazing. A little art haven high up in the desert. Full of our kind of people and lots of tourists...

Beth had an amazing birthday experience that I managed not to ruin with my fear of water. I must say that when we stopped on the white water rafting day for lunch, I very nearly joined the guy who was following us in the van for the rest of the afternoon. You know what, you get to my age and you think to yourself:

A What the hell happens if Robin cannot drive the million miles to New York?
B. What happens if I do fall out of the raft and the guy has to push me under the water and I am
pulled out and I panic? Plus my hair gets wet and then I start to cry in front of my children.
C. What the hell did I get myself talked into?

But, I swallowed and bit the bullet and promised myself the hugest coffee when we made it to the other end. A good tactic that seemed to be the carrot that I needed. Then, Lewis took every rapid backwards with a huge grin on his face and I thought to myself, Sarah, you are an absolute idiot as I clung on for dear life. Phew. Glad that one is over and done with and I can come home and tell everyone that I went White Water Rafting and that it was super COOL.

Anyways, we had to get on the journey again and drove and drove. First to Texas (bear in mind that I cannot remember the names too well) and stopped in Armadillo for the night. Damn, those people have a lovely accent. Luckily they seemed to like ours and we had a most amazing night with the most fantastic shower so far on the whole journey, the next day. .....

( Note to self. Why did I think that I would actually get a decent hot shower with enough water pressure to get the soap out of my hair on this holiday?)

Oh yes, next day we got up at the crack of dawn and set off towards Oklahoma. I must say, what an interesting place. From what I could see from behind the wheel (I drove all the way through it) it was very very pretty. Never knew that they had oil and the largest amount of lorries driving cows to get slaughtered that I have ever seen. Then we came out in Kansas. You be thinking that the Nav machine woman got us driving in the wrong direction and between you and me there was a time when I thought to myself that we must be mad.

I got my time as the co-driver. Opened up the Lonely Planet Guide to North America and then read the two pages on Kansas and nearly cried. After that I looked at the map, you know on the big picture and saw that we were in one of the biggest states yet. How was it possible? Determined not to get side tracked into a Veggie Protest outside a meat factory or arrested at a traffic light for letting the cows out of a truck in front of us at a red light , I picked up the other guide that we had brought with us and dug in there. Low and behold.... A glimmer of light. A place to see. A slim hope of something that would be a life saving adventure. ...

So that's how we ended up leaving the main road. It said in the guide Monument rocks and so we went to check them out. We turned on to some very doggy dirt roads I must say when Robin mentioned the barbed wire and notices on either side of us saying in red not to trespass I thought ,umm! In the back, Lewis was having a great time watching the dust behind us and then it occured to me that we were leaving a trail that some guy sitting on his porch a hundred miles away would see and I thought ,oh bugger! But there was of course no way but forward and it was far too late to get back to civilsation.

I know what you are thinking. They watch far too many movies... but, what you have got to take into account is that when you drive on these roads in the backwaters of Kansas you are lucky if you see a car coming in the opposite direction once in an hour. Eventually we arrived ( and guess what, there was absolutely noone there but us) . As they say in China careful what you wish for. Or something! What an adventure.

But, we were safe, with the distinct advantage that we were on a hill and could also see them coming as well. (Damn why didn't we stop back in Texas at that gunshop?) Incidently the place was worth it. Totally awesome.

We stayed and looked at it for a while and then turned back. Thinking we were out of danger and that we would be back trundling along on the 281 in no time. But, of course, we took a wrong turn at the only crossroads on the tracks and ended up totally and utterly lost. As far as the woman in the Nav box was concerned we were in the middle of nowhere driving on a field. She was not a happy Irish person.!!

I sat there next to Robin thinking... maybe we should stop and knock on one of those farms and ask. Stupidly (not the first time this week )I mentioned it. To which Beth shouted from her seat behind.., Mum, are you crazy, you never get out of the vehicle and ask, didn't you watch bla bla movie? I of course hadn't. But, I got the gist and in anycase I got us into this so would have to get us out of this. I turned to the trusty map (thanks Tom) and found that we were in fact on a white road and that if we drove thirty miles, and I am not kidding, north we would eventually meet the big blue road and we would leave Barton County. I can say that we made it and kept the doors and windows locked the whole time. SOrry Kansas!

After that.... what does a family like ours do? We drive to the next town. Hit the shops and buy a TV and a Wii. Nothing like a bit of retail therapy to remind you who you are.

You should have seen us smiling when we left Walmart!

11th August Leaving Santa Fe

2009-08-11T08:59:00.000-07:00

Hiy'all.

Dang, it's hot. Reeaaall hot. It's hotter than a Buffalo's jockstrap, so it is.

We're mosying on outa here, to the land of the Lone Star, Texas. Yeehah. Still don't know where the trail will take us; Lord only knows. But we're gonna get us sum fried beans and country fried steak and we're just gonna keep on ridin.

I say, it really is rather hard to write that way, old beans. So, don't know if and when we will have internet again. Groovy baby.

We're feeling a bit loney here though guys; more comments please!!

The Posse

Beth's IGCSE Results!! - 10th August

2009-08-10T07:56:00.000-07:00

They arrived!!

This is what Beth got:

Geography A
History B
English Language B
Biology B
Art + Design C
Maths C
English Lit (previously) C
Dutch (previously) C

Fantastic results :) Well done to Beth!!!

The previous post-vote is finished (thank you). It seems likely given the votes and the BoDy (Bird of Destiny) that we will head towards New Orleans ! Meanwhile this afternoon, Sarah is going to a private art tutorial in Santa Fe, and the rest of us are going to look for cowboy boots and hats! ;)

Bethy's 17th Birthday

2009-08-10T07:39:00.000-07:00

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BETHY !!!!!!!

What a fun day! We spent a whole day on the river, in inflatable kayaks (Funyaks). Beth bottled it in the afternoon (the more serious rapids) and joined Sarah in the raft, but Lewis and I stuck it out 'going solo'.

Good fun. I'd like to do more next time though, with scarier water!! We didn't capsize (at least not accidentally), and had a lot of fun. The guys that took us were really terrific, and we had a good laugh with them.

When we got back, they joined us to share a bit of Bethy's chocolate cake and sing Happy Birthday:

They were Rob, Sean and The Driver (;), from Los Rios Riverunners (no commission received nor anticipated). They were excellent, really.

We arrived back in Santa Fe (it's about 90mins drive) rather tired! We had a 'family dinner' while Beth opened her cards etc, and then tried to stay up for Beth's results (Due approx 10am Dutch time which should mean 2am our time!) but eventually gave in and went to sleep. When we woke up, they still weren't there!!

August 8th: Satur-Fe

2009-08-10T07:19:00.000-07:00

We like this campsite! Sits on a hill looking towards the centre of Santa Fe and the mountains.

We had a lazy day for the most part; in the afternoon we went out to do some shopping and have dinner. We finally managed to find an IHOP (International House of Pancakes) so that we could fulfill our objective of eating blueberry pancake! It was OK, no better than that. Not helped by having to try to ignore a family in the booth next to us, who seemed to find our accents (or lack of them ;) ) highly amusing. Oh well. First negative experience of people in America. A better track record than anywhere else I've ever been!!

Obviously when we had finished eating, we headed outside for a smoke. We stood by the side of the RV, and Sarah decided to hang her handbag over the aerial (handbag contains passports, IDs, credit card etc etc). We finished our ciggies. And drove away.

Notice anything missing?

We drove off, and found a Borders bookstore and some other shops. As we went to get out, Sarah turned in total horror..

"Where's my handbag? Oh no. I left it on the outside...."

We all rushed to look out of the window (I thought for a moment that Sarah meant that she had left it on the bonnet or something). We couldn't see it. Running outside...; it was still there, happily swinging away!

Phew. That could have been awkward.

So, having recovered from that excitement, of course we over-reacted and spent a small fortune in Borders. Always great to get new books!

Beth spent the rest of the day trying to find out when her results were out, but nobody had a clear idea. We went to bed early, in preparation for an early start to drive up north into the mountains for our rafting/kayaking expedition.

August 6th and 7th: Santa Fe

2009-08-07T20:55:00.000-07:00

Arrived Santa Fe tired after a very long day! And a very boring drive quite frankly. Grubby little towns, and uninteresting landscape for the most part on the route across.

The first campground that we had looked up and found looked pretty horrible too (in Santa Fe itself though), so we decided to move 10 miles out to the SantaFe Skies RV Park. Lovely place, great people who run it, and it very quickly lived up to its name on an atypically rainy, balmy evening:

We went into town today to see the Old Town of Sante Fe. Very charming, quaint place. Really like it here. We also went to the Georgia O'Keefe Museum, which was fascinating....

and we're probably staying here for two more days at least. On Sunday, we're going rafting/kayaking on the Rio Grande (heehee), and Monday Sarah's got an art course, and I'm going to try and buy a cowboy hat and boots. Yeehahhhhhhh.

August 4th and 5th: Grand Canyon and Monument Valley

2009-08-07T19:58:00.000-07:00

As I said, we tried to get up very early, run the gauntlet of the deer/coyotes (one crossed in front of us on the ET Highway)/cattle/bears/elkses (not sure what the plural of elk is; the collective noun is probably one of those strange ones like a murder of crows. A suicide of elk perhaps?)/bicyclists, and get to the Grand Canyon in time for the sunrise.

Failed.

A slight incorrect assumption meant that we got up at 5am instead of 4am, and eventually arrived at the Grand Canyon after the sun was up! We arrived in the Park/Forest itself at about dawn, but then the approach road is about another 60 miles to the North Rim. You really don't go there for anything else; the drive to the South Rim (5 miles or so across the gorge as the chipmunk flies) is 220miles !

Never mind. With the best will in the world, the Grand Canyon is a very big hole in the ground. I must admit, having seen photos of it in the past, I was slightly underwhelmed. I think you probably need to go down into the canyon itself to really appreciate and enjoy the scale and grandeur. Nevertheless, these are our pictures from the North Rim:

And, much to our surprise, these monsters:

So Grand Canyon? Check mark. Time to move on. Which by the way, we have added another bit of science to. Now that we don't have the SoD, we have decided to supplement your advice with cloud-reading. This one is a bird, which is plainly flying East. We took the hint, and headed for Monument Valley on the Arizona border.

The drive to Monument Valley from the North Rim took us all the way through the Navajo lands, over the Colorado/Rio Grande, and around Vermillion rocks. A very pretty drive, probably more satisfying than the Grand Canyon itself.

We wound up at Monument Valley latish, and found an excellent campground within the reservation area. It is set up a bluff canyon, and it was hot!

The next day (5th), we booked ourselves onto a tour at sunset to watch the moonrise amongst the monuments and mesas of the Monument Valley. An amazing experience, as perhaps just a few pictures should show. We all really loved the Navajo (Dineh as they call themselves) area. Fascinating, and slightly sad history.

On the other hand, it wasn't all sombre and mystical. I did actually try to make a joke about one of the butte's, called Elephant Butte, refering to the size of it's trunk, and it's butt. Only to be met by a blank expression. 'Butte' pronounced 'but' in England, is apparently pronounced 'boot' in America, so any vaguely humourous references to trunks and buttes is wasted. Shame.

Earlier on, we had been trying to simulate a sandstorm for Lewis: this is one of my favourites!

We got back to the RV late, due to a serious accident on the road on the way in to the campground. Lots of police cars, ambulances, and even a helicopter. A sad way to end a great evening.

But that was the end; the next day we had decided to keep following the Cloud-Bird of Destiny, and make a long jump to Santa Fe.

August 2nd and 3rd

2009-08-04T18:02:00.002-07:00

Wow, this was a crazy day and a half.

We left Mono Lake, having decided to head East into Nevada. Straight into the desert! It is such a beautiful area, not nearly as barren as the term desert suggests. Although it was a long drive, it was interesting! We headed East of the USAF Test Area, and round onto the Extra-Terrestial Highway. More on that later, but first a bit more about what happens whenever Sarah drives -- ;)

Remember I told you about the madness in the dark and fog coming into SF? In addition, Sarah drove yesterday on the way out of Yosa-might thru all the windy little roads and (very) close rock walls and tunnels too low at the edges (so you need to drive in the middle of the road). And today, Sarah was driving down these very straight roads in Nevada, and we had been watching and photoing sandstorms/whirlwinds that seem to have a life of their own.

Suddenly, with traffic coming the other way (rare enough), we saw a whirlwind approaching across the desert from our right, then WHAM, it hit us as we drove straight through the middle of it. For the sailors amongst you, it feels a bit like being knocked down by a strong gust in a sailboat. The whole side of the RV lifted as it caught us, and we were blown into the other lane accompanied by a huge roar from the wind.

Just as it passed, Sarah managed to swerve back over, and we missed the oncoming traffic (which hadn't braked nor swerved out of the way) by a few inches. Seriously scary stuff. Sarah couldn't stop swearing for about 5 minutes, in between apologising to the kids for her language!!

The rest of the way, we were on sandstorm watch, needless to say.

Next stop was the famous Inn on the ET Highway. A very strange little place, really kitschy Americana! We (Lewis and I) had an Alien Burger for lunch (which was quite possibly responsible for giving me a stomach ache and Lewis explosive diarrhoeah (OK, more info than you needed) the next day. A bit more yodel down the great white telephone than phone home).

After that we drove further down the road, by now virtually empty, and decided to have a bit of fun on the deserted desert road. Included is a photo of us screaming as loudly as we could. There is ZERO echo out there, and no-one to hear your screams. (Remember The Hills Have Eyes? We freaked ourselves out and cancelled a plan to camp out in the middle of the desert ; ) ).
Very strange. A futher stop later as the sun set, near to the edge of the official secret area, and we got these amazing images, including the possible sighting of a UFO.

After all the fun and games, and canceling the mad idea to stay in the desert, we made an even madder plan to continue driving until we got to the Grand Canyon.

As somebody might say. Epic fail.

Not for want of trying though; we had a few hours sleep in a rest area, and then continued on through the middle of the night. Now, note the two following signs:

Now, in Europe they put these signs everywhere, just because there happen to be a few trees or a field.

But in the USA, they mean it, and they're accurate!

I must have narrowly missed 20 deer that night, and 5 cows. We ended up travelling at 40mph on an open road, just so that I could spot them coming out of the dark as they tried to steer themselves under my wheels. The deer seem to be a. extremely stupid and b. suicidal. When they could just as easily step off the road and on to the verge, what do they do? They look up, staring at you. The expression 'deer in the headlights' says it all. Eventually, while I am slamming on the anchors and trying to veer to the left to avoid, they seem to wake up, dance across the road Bambi-like in the wrong direction, change their mind twice, and then do a bit of a skip and a dance before finally heading for the trees. Stupid just doesn't sum it up.

Suffice to say, we got within about 90 miles of the Grand Canyon before giving up at 5 in the morning and pulling into a KOA campground. We slept well, and had a lazy day on the 3rd, with a plan to get up super-early the next day in order to get to the GC in time for dawn and the sunrise. We tried to get the times right (different states, general confusion with day of week, time of day, no internet, no watch between us), and ultimately just failed. But tht's tomorrow's story.

I'll leave you with a photo of one of our friends. Beth is convinced that they are really aliens in disguise, who are just trying to piss us off.

PS. We need more travel advice... and we have no SoD (Stone of Destiny), and we are trying to work out the days/time to get us back to NY in time. Which leaves us some choices:

a. Nashville
b.New Orleans
c. Cape Canaveral

August 1st

2009-08-04T18:02:00.001-07:00

Another bit of indecision this morning in terms of our next steps. We had given away the stone of destiny, and couldn't contact Tom. And by now, I suppose you are used to us ignoring your route advice???

Well. As advised on the blog-vote, we should now turn back to the coast and head down towards San Diego. Or same, but delayed following another day in Yosemite??

I got up early and made another fire to think about our options. And then I got offered coffee by our neighbours who had arrived rather tired in the early hours of the morning. By and by, it turns out that Tim and Byron are two of the loveliest people we've met yet, and there's been quite a few.

We had a lot of fun chatting with them and drinking more and more coffee; and everyone was even more determined to stay put as a consequence.

But in the end, we said goodbye to the guys, and made a fundamental decision - we are not making enough easterly progress!

So we decided to set off East....

We drove through the whole of Yosemite Park, to the Eastern exit, and then toward Mono Lake; which is a bit like Salt Lake. i.e. very salty and a bit weird. Weirdest of all are the 'tufa' which have grown from the salt mineral deposits from underground springs. As the water level dropped in the lake due to water extraction (now being reversed), the tufa became visible. We went down to see the lake shortly after arriving in Lee Vining (??), just the other side of the Yosemite montain range.

Here are some photos of the ride over, (which Sarah drove most of without hitting anything or being involved in some bizarre incident - more later), and the Tufa at sunset.

Mono Lake and the tufas at sunset.

And an odd one of the flies! The lake is a unique ecosystem where the brine flies and birds have evolved to adapt to the conditions. These flies line the shoreline, and feed on the nutrients from the salt water... or at least they did until Lewis got there and spoiled their whole day.

Monoflies:

July 31st Yosemite

2009-08-04T18:01:00.000-07:00

We reached Evergreen Campsite (a National Forestry Service site) last night; about 5 miles from the West entrance to Yosemite.

It looked a bit like this;

and in the dark, under a nearly full moon, a bit like this:

To begin with, we might have been a bit disappointed to have not been able to get on to Yosemite itself, but in the end this place was one of the best. Nearly nothing there; no water nor electric, (as usual with the state/forestry service campgrounds) and what can only loosely be described as a toilet if you were brave (the doors were made of heavy metal, with a rock in front of them to stop the bears getting in).

Although I really don't understand all that effort to stop the bears getting in to the toilets! I mean, can't they just sh.., sorry, defecate, in the woods? And can they flush properly?

Anyhow. That evening, because we were late to get a spot, we managed to share with a couple of bikers, Jim and Adelle. They were from Oklahoma (or thereabouts). Such nice people!

We had a laugh as they warned us about earthquakes (Adelle lived in San Diego) and tornadoes (in Oklahoma)!

Today we went back into Yosemite Park, and bought some goodies (I even bought a jumper - I look a bit like a pregnant lumberjack in it).

Then on the drive around the valley loop we saw our first (and last!) bear. It crossed the road right in front of us. Fortunately it did use the Green Cross Code (stopping and looking before venturing across). If you do manage to hit one, I would imagine it takes a while for the crows to clear that roadkill.

Then Lewis and I went on our big hike, and Sarah and Beth stayed with the RV by the river and did some art.

Our hike was a bit of an adventure....

We decided to go serious, and attempt the 4 mile trail from the valley floor up to Glacier Point. All in all the round trip walk would be 12 miles!

Starting from where we parked the RV on the wrong side of the river (: , we walked across the meadows and then waded the main river (killing my phone in the process; isn't it strange how rivers always seem shallower and less strong from the bank?). Then we met the 4 mile trail and started our trog up the mountain...

The route is described as 'moderately strenuous'.

Who for? Prospective SAS recruits preparing for Selection? The trail climbs nearly 4000 feet over 4.5 miles, and in 95F conditions, that is hard work!!

Even Lewis at one point said that he was too tired to talk. Can you believe it?
Anyway; we got as far as Union Point (about 1 mile short of the summit) before deciding a. time was short to get back on schedule. b. we were knackered. c. we were very thirsty! (Despite taking enough water to bath in).

These are the photos we took of the view from Union Point - Yosemite is impressive!

After a bit of a breather and lunch, we started back down again; which is quicker, but kills your thighs and calfs as you try not to go too quickly back down the 3000 feet. Not long after we had started back, we crossed over with a lady and her two grandsons whom we had earlier passed when we were going up and they were going down. The lady told me that she had asked for a horse to come and get her - I thought she was joking before I saw her face. The three of them had attempted the walk down from Glacier Point - the lady's husband would collect them from the valley. However, Margaret had been slightly over ambitious! Her legs just wouldn't take her any further, and she was using her phone (apparently she wasn't stupid enough to immerse it in a cold river) to get help.

So I left her there and went on my way.

No, of course not.
She didn't know exactly where she was, so I told her that there was a stream a little bit further down, and that I could help her get there so that the mountain rescue would know where to find her. I only told a white lie about the stream being a 'little bit' further.

Suffice to say I helped support her on one arm, and then found a stick that she could use as a walking stick until we finally made it to the stream, while Lewis took the boys (14 and 11) ahead.
By the time we reached the stream we were behind schedule, and had used up the last of our water on the slow descent, so after making sure help was on its way, and leaving Margaret with her feet in the cool stream, we started back.

On the way, we met the mountain rescue team, who tried to ignore us, thinking that we were just meddling probably ! But anyway, in the end we persuaded them that we needed some drink, and that the lady was ok. I hope that turned out to be true.

At the bottom of the valley we met Margaret's husband (Rod), and managed to grab more water off him! The last two miles back were very hot and tiring indeed - but we got home happy!

Later on Beth and Lewis went swimming in the river right in front of where we parked the RV for the day. Such a beautiful spot!

Suffice to say, we all liked Yosemite! We went back to the campsite tired but satisfied, and had ourselves a bbq over a wood fire. No marshmallows this time. I think we've given that one up as a bad job.

Where was I? Version 2

2009-08-03T10:45:00.000-07:00

Gosh. A bit to catch up with. Still struggling with poor or non-existent internet connections!
Currently we are in Utah near Zion and Bryce National Parks - the site has an internet connection, but it is only available in the reception, so I'm sitting on a stool listening to an arcade game in the background, hoping that I can generate the patience to catch up on all the days!

'Pl-pl-pl-pl-play, play-- pl,pl, pl, play, play".
Sorry. Just thought that you should share in the annoying noise behind me. Anyway, back to the journey...

Wednesday 29th July

So we went out for dinner again with Tom. This time in Old Sacramento (after we spent 40 mins trying to find the area! Just a tip for you; next time you want to find an address such as 3rd Street in an American city - remember that they ALL have 3rd Streets, and Esmerelda (the stupid cow GPS system) is not actually smart enough to tell you that she is trying to take you to 3rd Streets in some of those other cities rather than the city you specified!).

Dinner was in a Mexican restaurant upstairs on a balcony looking out on the old 'western style' streets. Nice meal, and Tom was fun (and educational !). Which reminds me about the Pheasant Club.
It's rather a nice restaurant, kind of an old hunting lodge; the food was excellent. And although you couldn't say the service was bad, it was slightly eccentric. We were served by a dumpy little middle-aged woman whose first introduction went something like this.

"So, can I get y'all some drinks?"
... various drink orders followed...
"So, where you guys from?"
... we explained...
"OK. So what miniatures you all into?"
Silence.
"Emm, I'm sorry, what miniatures?" (There was I thinking she was referring to an aperitif or something.)
"Miniatures. All you English people collect miniatures don't you?"
Further stunned silence. Tom squirming in the corner!
"You mean like models? Ornaments ?"
"Yah. Which ones you in to?"

More silence and confusion. Then two classic comments to fill the silence, first from Lewis.

"I collected model soldiers!"
"OK. You see."

Then from Sarah, a backhanded accidental insult;
"Oh. Miniatures. I see. In previous generations they did perhaps, but not ours. Do you collect any?"
(Middle-aged lady suddenly looking uncomfortable! ;) )

Oh well.

Thursday 30th July

So, that was pretty much Sacramento; Tom came round to see us the next morning to deliver all sorts of goodies and advice.

In return we gave him the Stone of Destiny - this is a special stone that we had been using to provide route/directional advice instead of Esmerelda. (Plus supplementing it with your advice!)

Tom also gave us a back-route into Yosemite National Park. He'd never taken the route himself, but as he said, anything should be better than the standard Route 99 down a hot dusty valley.

Well Tom, to tell you that you were very right! A winding, hilly but excellent route through the Sierra Nevada. Old gold-mining towns and plunging hairpins - a lovely drive. Still hot... around 98F, but interesting.
One of the towns on the way was San Andreas itself..

.... and a picture from a two-thousand feet climb up the Sierra Nevada on the way to Yosemite.

We arrived eventually at the Yosemite National Park border (forever known by Sarah now as Yosa- might by the way), to find all the campsites on the park full. But we were directed by the Rangers to a Forestry campsite about 5 miles away. Very pretty and isolated... more next.

For now, some photos of the few days in Sacramento with Tom. Thanks again Tom, it was fun, and lovely to meet you and spend a bit of time together. See you next time, or in Europe!

Tuesday - off to Sacramento

2009-07-29T18:18:00.000-07:00

We arranged to meet up with Tom in Sacramento for Tuesday... so we set off from San Francisco. Took a little while longer than planned; I am so fed up with the silly cow on the GPS that I don't believe her any more. As a consequence, we tend to go a bit wrong sometimes.....

Not much to say about the drive- easy and peaceful enough! Arrived in Old Sacramento and pitched up at a KOA site that Tom had found for us. Nice place- but HOT (although Tom promises this is cool (only 90 instead of 100 F).

We agreed to go out for dinner at a place that Tom knows; the Pheasant Club. Amusing story from there- gotta go now (meeting Tom for dinner again), but remind me to tell the story if I forget!

PS Keep forgetting to say - this van has two DVD players, a TV and a radio. NONE WORK!! (Shalini??)

PPS Gracie. Gracie honey. Stay off the road. Gracie honey, please. There's a big truck coming. Come on Gracie. Please (much more from Lewis on this....;) )

PPPS So, San Diego won the route vote! Thank you everyone. Need more help for tomorrow though! URGENT... please fill in the vote to help us!

The Streets of San Francisco: Series Two

2009-07-29T17:52:00.000-07:00

Had a bit of a scare first thing in the morning Monday; I woke up and noticed that Sarah had two sunspots/moles under her eye. It must have been the sun that we had the day before?

I told her, and rubbed them a bit to make sure that they were moles. Certainly seemed to be. Sarah went to the bathroom, and of course was a little worried. As I tried to go on the internet to look up the sudden appearance of face-moles, Sarah went to examine them in the bathroom.

When she came back, she wouldn't look at me at first. Eventually she turned around and I noticed that they weren't there. Relieved, I asked her what happened? Looking very embarrassed she confessed that she went to bed with a packet of chocolate chip cookies, and must have been using one as a pillow to embed bits of chocolate in her face like that!!

So, Monday was more of looking around SF. We walked around quite alot, and saw most of the Downtown, Financial, North Beach, Chinatown areas. We didn't get as far as Golden Gate Park, which is a shame.

We did go on an open top bus tour though. Followed by more curry at another restaurant (huge piles of food, and extremely cheap and delicious). The day looked a bit like this:

And a little bit like this...

The Streets of San Francisco

2009-07-29T10:48:00.000-07:00

This is the Candlestick RV Park (I'll let you make up rhyming slang for this rip-off place). By the way, that is not us parked in a car park - that is our place for three nights ;)

Sunday was a day looking around San Francisco - or not:

In fact Sarah went to the SFMOMA (San Francisco Museum of Modern Art), to see the Georgia O'Keefe exhibition. She enjoyed it very much. Meanwhile I had to endure 2.5 hours of Harry Hotter - the 23rd film in the series. I really enjoyed it. No-o-o-t. But Beth and Lewis did!

This is our views of the city.

Anyway. In the evening we found ourselves a restaurant in downtown SF:

Not bad food. A bit poncy (and mild!), but a nice restaurant nevertheless.

Went back to the Park late in the evening on the Park's shuttle bus (where we are charged 12$ each !), and spent the rest of the evening chasing around after skunks and raccoons that apparently make the Park home too. The first time we saw the raccoon, from behind in the dark, it looked like a small bear. We went to the security station (a small hut by the entrance) to tell them - the female security guard was (probably) Russian, and didn't speak particularly well English (;)), so the conversation went like this (I wish you could hear the accent/tone of voice too!)

"Hi. There seems to be some strange animal out there. What is it?"

"Allo. It pwobably 'coon."

"A raccoon?"

"Yah. 'coon."

"Are they dangerous?"

"I no know. I fink so."

"Oh, can we come in the hut with you?"

"No. No 'llowed."

"It's not allowed?"

"No. Me no like animal."

"But you can just shoot it!" (Says Lewis)

"No, me frighten too. Me no got gun. Me no got gun." (Looking very sad).

Saturday

2009-07-29T10:04:00.000-07:00

Again, a few days since we've had anything that remotely passes for an internet connection. But we can catch up now;

Saturday, we left the upper Redwoods, and decided to make a run for San Francisco. A long drive!

We passed through Humboldt Park, which has some trees. Quite big ones!

Sarah drove some, and managed to get her shift as we approached the city - in the dark, in the fog, on a six+ lane freeway with roadworks and very narrow lanes, being overtaken on both sides (when we weren't narrowly avoiding the concrete walls of the roadwork areas) by multi-trailered trucks. Fun.

We crossed the Golden Gate Bridge in the dark, and still in the fog. So we have some excellent pictures of it:

Maybe my hands were shaking slightly too.

Anyhow, much relieved, we finally negotiated the Streets of San Francisco. Once the silly cow on the GPS directed us up a small road which went uphill at about 40deg. We would certainly have grounded at the back if we had attempted it. Fortunately we all yelled 'noooooo' at the same time, and diverted around. Silly cow caught up with a revised route of course; I'm sure there was a laugh in her voice the next time she spoke.

At about 10pm we reached Candlestick Park RV site - just a few miles from the centre, and next door to the 49ers stadium. The place made the record for price - 84 dollars per night! Run by the local Chinese, who were a friendly bunch.

Of course, as you know, the internet barely worked. Very annoying.

Route help

2009-07-25T12:14:00.000-07:00

We dont know where to go after SF and LA... so we decided to let you all pick for us!

Route 1: South to San Diego, then East (Arizona, New Mexico, Texas)
Route 2: Up fro LA to Salt Lake City, and the Utah area (Canyonlands).. then Colorado
Route 3: Somewhere between the two routes, to Santa Fe (although we will go there in any case ... its just how direct/indirect!)

Back on radar

2009-07-25T11:31:00.000-07:00

So... missed us?

I seem to be losing track of time/days/dates. I suppose that must be a good thing ?...

Forgot to say before that we met these guys at one of our cigarette stops:
John and the Unknown Rider. They are bikers going in the opposite direction. We had a bit of a laugh with them;

After the bluff campsite over the Pacific, we ended up at a nice campsite right on the beach at Rockaway Beach (3 correct answers ;) ). Shorewood, I think it was called. If you're ever passing by, pop in there. Not bad.

Anyhow.. at Shorewood we watched a helicopter rescue in the fog (and then the dark) of a motor cruiser just off the rocks. Quite fun (for us, probably not for those involved). We turned back on to the US101 on Wednesday morning, and hacked South to the Oregon Dunes area. Big, big sandpits.

We stayed the first of two nights in the area at Honeyman State Park. We had a site right amongst the trees, and a short walk to the dunes (here they were about 150foot high; in other areas they get up to 500 feet! Man, are they tiring to walk up). They sell firewood at the Park, so we made ourselves a campfire, and sat around trying to tell scarey stories. Beth, naturally, not even slightly scared. Damn.

The next night (must be Thursday) we made it to a super little site (another 'State Park', hence again no internet) next to Marie Lake, at the foot of more sand dunes just off Highway 101. We tried going for a walk across the dunes, but after nearly getting run over twenty times by ATVs, we gave up (actually, we were given a lift by one of the ATVers on his dune buggy/cart) and went back. Tried to rent some ATVs nearby, but they were sold out. (Quietly relieved; Lewis on a quadbike??).

That night we had another campfire amongst the trees. Even grilled our own bbq, and roasted marshmallows!! That was a disaster. Certainly not as easy as it sounds. We ended up (I say we, but mostly Lewis) with about twenty bubbling marshmallows in the fire, and only about two cooked properly and consumed. More practice required.

A view of the dunes area from the top of US-101 (700foot up, for perspective!).

We left the last State campground yesterday (Friday), and the state of Oregon, and reached the redwood forests in the North of California. We travelled around the back roads a bit, looking for more and bigger trees, before heading for this place - Hiouchi (??) RV Campsite.

Today? Who knows. Still waiting to actually be ready to leave (it's 1200 lunchtime!). Can't post much, especially not pictures, because the internet connection is bloody awful and it makes uploading frustrating. ....

Trivial question.. and more

2009-07-21T22:25:00.000-07:00

Chewing out a rhythm on my bubble gum
The sun is out and I want some.
Its not hard, not far to reach
We can hitch a ride
To....

Any fans of the Ramones? So where are we?

Anyhow. We were offnet yesterday, because we chose not to go back to La Push:

After a short drive to the rainforest up the Hoh Chi Minh Trail, we took a walk amongst the trees (calling them trees is a disservice. More like Ents). These three hundred foot monsters are shrouded in hanging mosses and lichens, and the light filtering down through the canopy has a strange effect at ground level. Quite impressive if you like trees.
We don't.

No. To be fair, it was extremely interesting. If you like trees. And moss. Being honest, as soon as you start thinking of these trees as something part way between Tolkien's Ents (complete with beards) and the birthchamber of the 'mother' in Alien, it tends to remove some of the natural awe that it probably deserves. Oh well. Here's some pictures of the Hoh Rainforest, including what I think is my passable impression of a Tree Hobbit.

The Hoh Rainforest is in the middle of the Olympic Park in Washington - the drive up there is very attractive (if you like trees (I must not be...)). But having driven 40 miles to get there we didn't fancy going back towards La Push, so we got back on the US-101 and headed South along the coast. We didn't have any idea where we would be stopping for the night; but a few hours later we came across a State campground on a bluff right on the beach. Very cool. Essentially there are about fifty sites on the beach; taken on a first-come first-served basis. We arrived with a handful left, and stuffed our ten dollars in the numbered box for one of those, and pitched up. Very hippy.

We even started up a campfire with driftwood off the beach (shh, don't tell anyone; I don't think you're supposed to use the diftwood!). Of course, this place meant no internet, but we watched the sunset over the Pacific instead! Hence we're a day behind with the blog.

Still, I don't know where we were (somewhere on the Washington State Coast in Indian country), but it was pretty special.

Went to sleep early - with no idea what the date, day or time was (great, eh?). Then woke early and headed South still on US101 toward Oregon. More on that next time.

I'll just leave you with another one of my favourite signs so far; this one visible at the exit of a car park as you approach the main road:

Port Townsend and La Push, Washington State

2009-07-20T10:17:00.000-07:00

We left Evil Freak Park early morning and drove North (perversely) to Port Townsend. Aptly named, Port Townsend is about as far North as you can get in the 48 states. It is a city that once had aspirations to be the logging centre of USA; back in the day the prevailing winds meant that it was difficult to sail around it. The early settlers planned to set up a big port, with railroad access to transport timber south - rivalling Seattle.

Unfortunately, powered ships arrived, the railroad didn't, and Port Townsend was left much as it is today.

Of course, it's a bit more oriented to the tourist trade now. We found this little 'soda fountain', and had ice cream and shakes;

Nice. I like.

After a couple of hours looking around and meeting a few friendly locals (damn, they're all friendly - I'm kind of looking forward to the next time we come across a rude waitress or shop assistant. Might have to wait until we get back to Europe), we continued into the Olympic National Park. Tight windy roads, but I'm getting used to the monster - haven't hit anything yet. It manages about 6 mpg ! And ticks along at a max of 2500 revs. Sounds like a tortured tank (I would say drives like one too, but it drives more like an oil tanker).

Anyway. Beautiful drive West. We stopped a few times, especially by Lake Crescent:

After a few hours driving we passed through Forks, and left the US101 to head to the coast, and La Push; the Indian Reservation of the Quileute (Spelt something like that; sounds like kwil-low)

It has to be said that La Push is a slightly dejected looking Indian fishing village. Nevertheless it has a special charm. The weather is strange here. Even though it's 30+ degC everywhere else, the rolling banks of Pacific fog make it about 15 deg C here. Anyway; we like it, and will stay tonight as well. This afternoon we will head a few miles up the road to the Hoh Rainforest; one of the world's few temperate rainforests. More about that later.

La Push:

And some pictures of the beach and our site:

I even made friends with a few of the locals (I hesitate to say natives) this morning. I saw the sign below, and thought that it might be my first indication of a lack of openness/friendliness in this country. I saw some guys outside, and asked them if I could take some pictures. Of course, they were only extremely polite and friendly...

Oh well, mustn't complain. Several people have already told us that all changes South of SF !

Tell you about the Hoh Chi Minh Trail later. I am also putting together a special collection of stupid signs (particularly road signs). They seem to specialise in them here! I saw one yesterday while I was driving around Lake Crescent (so no photo) that said:

"Bicyclists !
Important Notice.
Please read bicyclists notice in 1/4 mile."

LOL

Just as a start, here's this one from Port Townsend at a road construction site:

Hinternet

2009-07-20T09:03:00.000-07:00

Hello...

Couldn't post last night, because the wireless access is more hinternet than internet. So just dropping this post to let you know....

Meanwhile I will try and keep the connection long enough to put a longer one together..

Jeff Vader

Bonus Post

2009-07-19T04:10:00.001-07:00

Just a quick one.

Obviously we have been discussing where to go next and subsequently. We agreed that some of the best places are not necessarily the 'sexy' ones - so Lewis insisted that we go to Viagra Falls ;) ;)

Smartass.

Lewis' Seattle Pics - just cos they're good!

2009-07-18T21:00:00.001-07:00

Awake In Seattle

2009-07-18T19:49:00.000-07:00

Oh what a cunning play on words. Not. (That was a Not joke). Must be almost time we left Seattle.

But before that, our story of today.

As I told you yesterday, we're staying at Evil Freak RV Park (sorry, Eagle Creek). We made an early get away this morning, and drove the RV ten miles down the road to Bainbridge Island, where there is a ferry to Seattle. We left the RV in a car park (hoping we'd be able to get it out again), and went as foot passengers across the Puget Sound.

(By the way, we took lots of pictures today (mainly Lewis); I'll use some here, but then post another blog just with the pictures because some of them are just so good).

Here are a few pictures of the ferry and the approach to Seattle. This has really got to be the best way to be introduced to the city. Amazing.

And closer... ... and closer

Ahh. Here we are. Seattle:

We happened to arrive on the day that the Seattle Sounders (?) , Bounders ?, Suckers? (can't remember, but anyway the local football team (soccer !)) were playing Chelsea FC in a friendly. Was kind of tempted to get tickets... ! But then came to my senses. Pay? To see Chelsea?

Anyhow, met some ex-pats who were on their way to the game, and the streets were heaving with the green shirts of the local supporters (Seattle Psychos?), although I have to say the American take on the great game is a bit different. For a start, families go (can you imagine?). We only saw a few cars upside down burning, and there was very few running battles with riot police. Quite a nice surprise.

So, we did the offbeat tourist thing; just wandering around, finding interesting places by chance. A very nice city, with the financial district with all the skyscrapers built on the hill, and steep streets leading down to the waterfront. Did you know that the centre of the city used to smell so bad that they eventually decided to bury half of it and build a whole storey higher? I can only say that they probably succeeded with their primary aim. It didn't smell too bad at all.

We had a really good lunch at the bar/cafe where Frasier was filmed. (Craig's Cafe?). It was recommended by the proprieter of the 'Interesting Shop' that Sarah discovered. We bought some great stuff there, including an Indian/(as in Red)/Indian (as in Asia)/Indonesian (as in another part of Asia) (we don't know in the end what he told us ;) ) bedspread, and a Washington Redskin's baseball cap from the 1980s with little red LCDs that light up the Red Indian mascot on the front. So cool :)

Here are some photos from our experience of downtown Seattle.

And more on the next post.

We took the ferry back mid-afternoon, and headed out in the RV to a quiet spot on Bainbridge Island to enjoy the peace before heading back to Evil Freak Park.

Just had dinner; a HUGE chunk of sirloin steak with jalapeno peppers and Portobello mushrooms plus salad. Emmm.

We also managed to book ourselves in for the next two nights as well (by the way; I used my phone which seems to work ok). We have booked at La Push, a site on an Indian Reservation on the western side of the Olympic Park. Apparently they are having some kind of celebration at the moment, with traditional dancing, feasting, pipe smoking and scalping.

Our plot should be an Ocean View too... looking out over the 'real' Pacific. By the way, for those vampire fans, La Push and the area (especially Forks) is the setting for the Twilight series. Should make life interesting.

Thanks to all for the mails and posts. Really enjoying them. I especially have to repeat some of one from Michele because it made me laugh:

Quote:
But a short lexicon...

hooptie - (crap) motor car
trunk - boot
hood - bonnet
hood - (also) one's home area
homie - friend from one's 'hood'
candy - sweeties
candy ass - gay person
buns - buttocks
fag - gay person
pissed - cross
Whiskey Tango - Chav
White - right
Trash - rubbish

Unquote.

Til next time.

Sleepless Near Seattle

2009-07-17T18:03:00.000-07:00

This is day one of 48 days of our tour ! Enough to visit each of the contiguous states of the USA at a rate of one per day! Although I don't think that matches our ambition...

Before I get on to today though, a quick look back at our trip over here. We started at dawn with the taxi to Heathrow...

And in fact the driver was the same guy as on the phone, and he was alright (i.e. at 5 o'clock in the morning he barely spoke).

We arrived two+ hours before the flight, which gave us enough time to check-in, get coffee, smoke X number of ciggies, and otherwise relax.

We also took the opportunity to afix Nicotine patches! We had a horrible moment during that exercise. The box of patches was inside a plastic carton; one of those cartons that is a bit like a chastity belt, i.e. specifically designed to resist penetration.

We had already passed through security, so were therefore completely without sharp objects. The sharpest thing we had was Lewis' wit, and that wasn't as sharp as we needed it to be. So I'm trying to bite through the carton with my teeth, rip it, headbutt it, anything. But it resisted. Imagine, we are sitting there about to endure 18 hours without a smoke and yet the nicotine patches are so tantalisingly close, but totally unavailable.

Eventually we persuaded someone in a coffee bar in the departure lounge to cut through with a pair of scissors. You should have seen her expression when I initially asked the waitress for a pair of scissors ;)

Anyhow. We got in, and tacked on a few patches (I chose my arm, but Sarah and Beth decided to put it over their heart, reasoning that was the quickest way to the bloodstream!). This is a picture of me when we had got in the box; and when I was reading the instructions AFTER already attaching the all-important nicotine patch (Sarah would like to know why men only read the instructions AFTER. I don't have a good answer).

Anyhow. We got our 24hr fix. Just to prove how effective the patches are, here are before and after photos of Sarah:

OK. I think I'm going to suffer for that one ;)

So. We then had a fairly pleasant flight to Detroit. By the way, even though we had paid for a seat for Laura, the flight was overbooked, so they gave the ticket away! I'm sorry, but how is that possible? I lose money on the ticket, and the airline effectively sells the same seat twice. How is that legal/fair?? Naturally we had a little moan at the customer service chap for Delta, but as Lewis says he was good at his job.

"How is that fair?" I asked.

"Well I'm really sorry sir, but that is airline policy. They can overbook up to 20% to avoid the consequences of no-shows."

"What consequences? I've already paid for the ticket? The only consequence is the airline needs to haul 100kg less to Seattle."

"Well, I'm really sorry sir, but that is airline policy."

"Can I get my money back? A rebate? A voucher? A cuddly toy?"

"Well, I'm sorry sir, but...."

"Oh save it."

At the end of the day, the flight was good; except for the fact that Lewis' inflight entertainment system had no sound. They tried rebooting it several times, without success. I quote the cabin crew:

"OK, we've tried rebooting the system. It didn't work, so we know what the problem is."

"Yes??"

"It's broken."

"Excellent. Thank you."

"You're very welcome sir. Is there anything else I can do for you today?"

"***unrepeatable***"

Instead of rebooting the system, we rebooted Sarah out of her seat, and kept Lewis happy. Sarah, perhaps predictably, slept most of the way anyway (when she wasn't playing Patience).

Eventually we wound up in Seattle, and stayed overnight in a fairly dingy Holiday Inn. Managed to sleep until about 6 in the morning local time, which has put us pretty much into the right timezone.

We took a taxi from the hotel this morning to the RV place. The Armenian taxi driver didn't have a clue where he was going nor how to use his GPS on his iPOD - it was a direction oriented map, not a north-oriented, and the guy drove around in three circles saying

"See? Now vee turn to za right."

"Emm. I don't think so - we need to turn left."

"Vait, vait. You see. Ahh. Vait. Now we need to turn to za left."

"Yes. Right back to where we were. You're going in circles."

"Yes. Yes. Vait, vait. You see. There; 54th Street East."

"Exactly where we were 5 minutes ago."

"Yes, but vait, vait. Now ve need to turn right!"

"OK. Vatever."

Suffice to say we got there eventually. It took a while to get everything together, but they got there. Apparently they had forgotten the bikes, but they did a quick job of adding them. We got the tour of how it works, and what goes where, and left at about 12.30 to go to find a supermarket:

During our shopping stop, I also phoned around for an RV park. First four places were full, and as a result my search moved further out from Seattle. I managed to find that last spot on 'Eagle Tree RV Park', in a town called Poulsbo - just across the Puget Sound from Seattle.

Now, I may not know alot about eagles, but I do have issues with this place calling itself Eagle Tree Park - surely eagles are fairly solitary creatures? I mean, how many times have you been startled in the evening by a flock of eagles? Or been at the beach with your sandwiches and been bombarded by a murder of eagles?

Thought not. Then how do the owners rationalise this place:

That's us squeezed in the middle....

And this is a view up-sight from us....

I'm not convinced! Anyway, we're here for two nights. We intend to go on the ferry from nearby Bainbridge Island to Seattle (on foot) to see the sights there. Let you know....

Arrival Seattle

2009-07-16T19:16:00.000-07:00

Hello all

Made it! Just checked in to the Holiday Inn near the airport. It's 1920 local time, and 0420 Dutch time. So I'm a bit confused (more than normally).

Not a bad trip, particularly the first longer part from Heathrow to Detroit. We passed through immigration in Detroit incidentally; which was fast, easy and polite! I know. Against all that we had heard - but really, took about ten minutes from queuing to us all being processed. And the officers doing it were extremely polite and pleasant; even offering us tourist destination advice!

The part from Detroit to Seattle took us by surprise though; 41/2 hours! On a bucket seat A320. Tiring and boring! Man, this is a big country.

Anyway. It's nearly 90F here (I dunno in answer to your question; about 35C??). Falling asleep. Talk to you treiwn[ov . ..

Last Few Hours

2009-07-15T08:07:00.000-07:00

First of all, as promised a few photos from yesterday's adventures:

This is actually a visual record of the conversation recorded yesterday between Sarah and the Eurotunnel guys. Honest.

Next one is our subsequent stop at a petrol station. Best caption I think of is, 'now where the hell does this go...?'

Any other suggestions by chuntering?

Today has been a reasonably quiet day, fortunately. Sarah and Beth went shopping for nicotine patches ;) Sarah's threatening to fix the patch to the middle of her forehead in protest, which could be very cool indeed:

Otherwise I ordered a taxi for tomorrow morning. I was advised to shop around and get the best price, so of course I rang the first number and booked a taxi! The guy sounded amusing, and it was 75 squid which doesn't sound too bad either. The bad news is that we have to leave here at oh- five hundred. I say it like that (oh- five hundred), not because I'm anal. Cos I'm not. But because the guy I rang at the taxi office insisted on repeating it like that.

"So, we need to be at Heathrow Terminal 4 at about six o'clock, what time will you pick us up?"

"Heathrow at oh-six hundred?"

"Yes, six in the morning."

"Oh-six hundred?"

"Yes. Six. The number after 5 and before 7. If possible?"

"Understood, wilco. We shall meet and greet at oh- five hundred then, affirm?"

"You're telling me you'll pick us up at five?"

"Oh-five hundred."

"For f... I mean. Yes. Five o'clock in the a.m. Great. How much is that?"

"Seventy-five point oh-oh pounds sterling."

"OK. See you tomorrow. Thanks."

"Oh- five hun...."

Click.

See, sounds like a dude.

Note that I have also solved the internet problem. One of the neighbours has an unsecured wireless network, so by balancing the laptop on my head and operating it from the front of the house, I can get a good connection. So thank you 'little acorns' network whoever you are. Maybe it's the local children's nursery (they're often called little acorns, no?). There's probably a bunch of three year olds running around screaming and crying right now because they can't get onto the Michael Jackson appreciation website. Shame.

Otherwise, Lewis and I went for a run. Managed to get lost in the fields around here and now I have got the most annoying itching from the stinging nettles that we had to force our way through. Great preparation for an 18 hour journey; I'll spend the majority of my time scratching and moaning (Sarah points out that I didn't need the stinging nettles for that). Sarah also suggests that the best solution is to pee on the itchy area. Unfortunately the stinging nettles were rather high, therefore that solution would be a physical impossibility, if you get my drift...

So. Just the bags to repack. Then sleep, then up at oh-four hundred for an oh-five hundred pick-up. The taxi guy must have been ex-military thinking about it. I hope he's not the driver... hmm. Where's that phonebook...?

Day 0.5

2009-07-14T09:29:00.000-07:00

Only half a day because we're not actually there yet (yes, I know, I'm being anal again). But we are in the UK, at Sarah's parents. Was quite an eventful trip; Rosie decided to have a moment on the Eurotunnel Shuttle. With a huge queue of cars behind us on the train, she refused to start !

Bummer. The rest of the team had to push whilst I steered (someone's gotta do it), until they parked us out of the way. Summoning up all my technical skills and experience, I popped the bonnet and sprayed half a can of WD40 around the electrics (the car was turning over, but not firing)... and lo and behold.....

It made no difference whatsoever.

Within a few minutes though they had a recovery vehicle there to help us (well, get us out of the way). They towed us off the terminal area via the exit ramp (oh the ignominy, the shame, the treachoury). Sarah made the mistake of asking one of the guys in the recovery vehicle what he thought the problem was.

"Why won't it start?" She asked.

He just looked at her. That sort of look that says, ' am I talking to a real human?'
"Emm. Becuase it's a Land-Rover?"

Much laughter all round.

Anyway, when we got to the top of the ramp, I dropped it into second and bumped it, and after a bit of coughing and sneezing Rosie roared back into life (well, spluttered along).

So that was our first adventure (pictures to come... not my PC (and a bloody stupid Windows machine to boot) so can't upload anything yet.

The rest of the journey was surprisingly uneventful. The car was running very hot, despite the overflow coolant being topped up - so I just added directly to the radiator and it seemd to take care of it for now. Arrived in Befordshire just before 4pm local; and I left the car at a local garage straight away! I'll worry about that in 7 weeks ;)

Otherwise, very happy to be here. Always great to catch up with Irene and David. Tomorrow is a matter of organising the taxi to Heathrow, plus (re)persuading Sarah that actually balancing three bags on top of each other and using the one handle does not constitute only having one bag.

Wish me luck; or Sarah patience (see the reaction buttons below). Cheers!

The Day Before Tomorrow

2009-07-13T13:40:00.000-07:00

Mental note: I must not be anal. Repeat 100 times.

I must not be anal. I must not be anal. I must not be ...

You know what I mean? Apparently I've been so rude about everyone else that it's time I extracted the Michael out of myself. So here you are:

Yes, I'm measuring the size of Sarah's bag with a tape measure. Go ahead and laugh. I must not be anal, I must not be anal....

So, we leave for Blighty tomorrow morning. We are pretty much ready, thanks to a last minute repair of my jacket by Sylvia. Thanks Sylvia! Lots of love from us all. (I must not be anal, I mu..).

Otherwise, did my last day of work today. Sarah too (she had to write reports for the kids ! She must not be anal, she mu...). Admittedly I did a short day today; about 6 1/2 hours! I reckoned that the longer I was there the greater the chance of getting a new task - so I hid in the toilet for 6 hours (only joking Boss). I must not, I must not...

Came home early to sort Rosie out; fuel, water, oil, air added. She drinks almost as much oil as fuel, which is amusing when you ask them at the garage if they have a barrel rather than the stupid little plastic flasks that pathetic modern cars need. Good old metal barrel with a hand pump (oops, I must not be anal, I must not...).

Sorry. That was marginally out of order.

Anyway. Bags just about packed:

Toothpaste, toothbrush (for the halitosis), haemorrhoid cream, (I must... oh for goodness sake).

Lots of people to see us off. Even saw our Laura in the daylight, so the rumours are not true. Also Sylvia and Rochee (and the other Laura - well done with the results!), and Marijke and Dirk, and Uli, and Nikki and George, and of course Nadine, who will be holding the fort here.

Therefore this is the last post from home. The last post before we join the millions before us who have travelled across the Pond to the Americas, seeking their fortunes and freedom from the evils of religious persecution in Europe and beyond (like France). Of course, that's about where the similarity ends. We will be flying along with 30 stone halitosised Sumo wrestlers for 8 hours, not spending weeks or months in a leaky ship trying to create new and nutritious meals from ship rats and a handful of corn. And we won't be seeking our fortune, more like depositing one (I must not be anal.. ).

Old days (Bush years)... .... Today (well, Thursday)

OK. Enough riveting history. It's late, and we need to get up early (ish).

Here we go...

Sunday Bloody Sunday

2009-07-12T10:17:00.001-07:00

Well, what a busy day! Non-stop action here today.

Woke at about 8am, had a cup of tea (of course) and checked the news. Went and got dressed at about 10am, and packed my clothes into a rucksack. That took at least 5 minutes.

Then did some weeding in the drive and moved the rubbish around to make room for Sarah's car that we're leaving behind (i.e. locked in behind the gates.... shh.. don't tell anyone). Not that the weeding had any great impact, mind you. But Sarah was going out to meet her friend, and I knew what she would ask when she came back.

"Hi Robin, are you alright?"

"Sure. A bit tired; I've packed all my stuff and have weeded the drive!"

"Oh! Thank you. You are so sweet."

Don't I know it. In the meantime I could settle down in front of the screen and watch the first Ashes Test, and then the Formula 1 at the Nurburgurgurg ring (spelt something like that).

But all that I can say is: Karma. What is worse than watching Australia beat the living daylights out of England at cricket? Easy; Watching an Australian win the German Grand Prix at the same time. Karma.

Oh well.

Rosie is prepared and ready to go too. For those who are wondering; this is Rosie:

My beloved 27+ year old Land Rover during last year's holiday in sunny southwest of England. (Thank you to her previous owner who rebuilt her).

We're returning to England in Rosie on Tuesday, so that we can take all the bags and team (semi-) comfortably. Then Rosie is going for a service, MOT and a well earned holiday on Sarah's parents' drive.

Other than that, I apparently initiated a debate today with Marcel as to whether my statement concerning the redundancy of the extra baggage rules was correct. Marcel was quick to point out that the rule said 'approximately' (see his comment), so both rules were needed. Of course he's absolutely right, but I think I managed to get away with it by speaking fluent BS in a return comment. Don't tell him though.

Otherwise I went for a run and managed to half kill myself running up the local hill. I looked like a pregnant beetroot my the time I came back. Are you sure this is good for me Jen? ;)

Zep is apparently doing ok at Theo's. Still rather 'excited' by the presence of girl dogs apparently - I hope that dies down (please excuse the unfortunate image) within a few days.

Oops-- being paged. Gotta go.
Later.

Actually packing

2009-07-11T12:34:00.000-07:00

Started the process of packing today. We borrowed some huge bags (literally big enough to fit Lewis - we checked, much to his amusement. At least for the first hour anyway) and are trying to work out who gets what. Perhaps predictably Lewis and I have the least amount of clothes; certainly the least amount of shoes.
I took a photo of Sarah's shoe and clothes collections as she was trying to work out which ones 'went' with which clothes:

Seriously, it was impressive to watch. Like a modern day Moses parting the Red Sea. Just drier.

On the other hand, here is my shoe collection:

Hmm.

After a couple of hours, we got as far as this:

And this is just Sarah's. Beth hasn't even started yet.
In complete contradiction, trying to convince Lewis to bring enough stuff is next to impossible. He's managed to scrape together three pairs of underpants (and the word scrape is not used accidentally. He had to use the chisel to get them off the floor from under his bed). One pair is still attached to a breakfast bowl which he claims is from a school science project from 2003.

The washing machine has been running since dawn. (Well, a Hickson dawn. i.e. about 10am). The drier has been competing with the weather so see which can dry more. It's now raining, but it's only Lewis' clothes left outside, so no harm done. In fact, pack them like that and he'd happily put them on without noticing. To say he's a scruffy urchin is a bit like saying Michael Jackson had a mild skin complaint.

Meanwhile I took Zep over to Theo's. To say he was a happy dog when he arrived is a bit like saying Michael Jackson may be dead.

Just a quick shout for Theo, Marjan, Annaloes and the crew at their ranch. Hello! And thanks! Anyone interested in riding lessons, horse training, or just fans of the old TV series The Good Life should check out the Hendriks Stables... (small commission).

Talking about Felicity Kendall, err.. where was I?

Yes. Preparation. I printed out all the travel documents that we need. Looks more like a Tolkien novel than a folder. (Beth suggests an IKEA assembly instruction manual - but I don't think there's anything missing in my folder). It would be smaller, but for immigration I had to print out Lewis' criminal record. Phew! Actually reads like a Tolkien novel, just with less talking trees.

Now though we're all chilling out and chatting in the kitchen, listening to Muse, Foo Fighters, Eminem (God knows why), Cypress Hill etc etc. Part of the debate this evening has been ' the ultimate wish-list' - some very curious proposals from the girls !! Can't repeat them here, but let's just say that the word envy and another word that rhymes with 'pea' and 'Ness' could neatly describe some of the wishes. Odd.

Anyhoo. Tomorrow we complete bag-packing. We each have 22kg per checked bag, and 18kg for carry-on for the flight. Which means I get 2kg, and the coffee machine's coming.

Slightly anally, I went as far as checking the dimensions that are allowed on Delta,... hang on. Sorry. But now we're listening to Justin Gingercake. Why? Pre-flight stress.. ? Cry me a river? I'd bring him to tears given half a chance. Anyway...

Delta baggage rules:

Carry-on Baggage

All Delta passengers are allowed one carry-on bag and one personal item that meet the criteria below.

Size and Weight Restrictions

If your carry-on bag doesn't meet these size and weight restrictions it must be checked, and all checked baggage rules will apply. Your bag must:

Weigh less than 40 pounds (18 kg).
Not exceed 45 inches (length + width + height).
Fit easily in our SizeCheck® unit (approximately 22"x14"x9").
Fit in an overhead bin or underneath the seat in front of you.

Now. Why? If the SizeCheck unit (what a poncy name for a box) is 22 + 14 + 9 (=45), why oh why would you additionally and completely redundantly say that the linear sum of dimensions must not exceed 45 inches?? (Anyone who says their baggage exceeds 45 inches is clearly lying anyway).

A few more important messages from Tom today, trying to acquaint us with the unfamiliarities of the USA in a worthy effort to reduce the trauma! Although Tom is threatening to stop messaging; please don't !

(By the way Tom, we know what artichokes are. Just loath them ;) )

OK. Gotta finish. The girls want to go and play Halo. Hey ho, it's a hard life.

Ready for sleep

2009-07-10T12:46:00.000-07:00

Well, just the weekend and then Monday at work to come. Which is just as well; I am absolutely knackered!

Although I don't mind so much; I assume that means it'll be easier to sleep through the first 8 hour flight. Except for the possibility of having a thirty-stone neighbour with halitosis, offensive body odour and undiagnosed cases of haemorroids and Tourrettes Syndrome.
(Lewis has been brushing his teeth more lately though).

Of course, with Laura not coming with us, we have a spare seat, which could be useful. For Sarah's handbag for instance.
According to subclause 3.1.5.6.8 of Annex 22.7 of the airline's Terms and Conditions, I cannot recover any of the ticket price, sell it back, or otherwise dispose of it. I can change the name of the associated traveller, but only if I pay an administrative charge equivalent to the price of a first-class upgrade plus ten euros per changed letter that the administrator needs to type into the booking sheet.
Of course, the biggest problem will be deciding who sits where. One of the criteria would have to be safety; which of our four of five seats offer the highest survival probability?

Well, it kind of depends upon the nature of the accident.

The seating map above (thanks to seatguru), illustrates the truth behind the old adage - aircraft tend not to back into mountains. However, it doesn't really help us; if we have five seats in a row (a distinct possibility on the B767 400 Emergency Room), which of those five are the most survivable four?

After some debate we propose the following solution, but other proposals are welcome:

We shall constantly rotate seats every thirty minutes. And just hope the handbag gets it.

Apparently I'm not doing much for the motivation of the team, so perhaps it's time to move on?

So, we arrive in Detroit (hopefully), and then hang around trying to find somewhere to smoke for three hours. Then it's a shortish 3 hour drop (I use that word in the colloquial sense you understand) from Detroit to Seattle, arriving about 5.30 pm local (the same time zone as the blog publication clock incidentally. I think).

Then we face the charm of the US immigration staff that so many people have warned us about; including Tom today who apologised on behalf of the US immigration service ;)

Andy Singer has a take on it:

I realise that Lewis is about eight years older, but I hope we don't have a repeat of a previous incident. About eight years ago (oddly enough), we were about to leave on a flight from Maastricht, and were going through security. Just as we were about to walk through, Lewis approached the security officer and calmly announced,
"My mother has a gun."

I know that several images flashed through our minds at that point: e.g.

Fortunately Maastricht International (spoken without a hint of sarcasm) Airport is staffed by security who are just so thrilled to have a few people pass through and give them the chance to use the machine that goes bang (to paraphrase Monty Python), that they just laughed and gave Lewis a quick ruffle of the hair as if to say 'ahh, sweet boy'. Whereas I was considering wringing his bloody neck.

Anyway, suffice to say that Lewis will have strict instructions and/or duct tape to prevent a repeat. Although I fear that could go wrong too. A bit like Blackadder's instructions to Baldrick;

"Baldrick. Deny everything!"

Court prosecutor: "Are you Captain Blackadder's batman?"

Baldrick: "No!"

Court prosecutor: "Are you Private Baldrick?"

Baldrick: No!"

Maybe just the duct tape after all. Will do wonders for the halitosis too.

Be Four Today

2009-07-09T10:13:00.000-07:00

Be four today, before today? Get it? Oh never mind.

Hello my fellow virtual travellers.

I have to report a slight crisis in our planning:

Sarah has reminded me that we will be unable to play Halo on the Xbox for 7 weeks. I have contacted the emergency support line at both Bungie and Microsoft in an effort to discover what options there are for gamer-centres in the Boondocks of USA. So far the response has been somewhat muted. And I mean that literally. Nothing. Whatsoever. Just silence.

Naturally we considered taking the equipment with us, but try as I might I cannot get the projector to fit in a soft bag. Sadly, we may have to entertain ourselves in the evenings by doing other stuff - campfires, staring at the mountains or ocean, perhaps even weirder stuff like talking to each other, heaven forbid.

So, the Xbox has to stay at home. But as a memento I will publish Sarah's medals from her overkill moment:

Of course, we can spend our down time blogging too! Which comes back to you, our faithful readers; it would be nice to keep the comments coming in. Especially from those back home, we're going to miss you :(

As far as communication is concerned you can reach us on the normal mac address, or by comments on this blog. Our mobiles will not work in the US, and quite frankly that will be a treat that we do not plan to correct by getting pay-as-you-go 'cells'.

I have also been asked to publish a picture that we (Sarah and I) can actually be recognised by. So here you are:

5 day week

2009-07-08T11:22:00.000-07:00

Is it really 5 days now? (Finger counting.. Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday, Monday and 29 in each leap year). Yep. 5 days to go.

Kind of getting worried now by the way. Sarah has been talking about packing. I told everyone that we could only take soft bags (easier to store in the RV), and now I'm bombarded with questions.
What size bag?
How much weight can we take?
Can we take four bags each?
Can I take the coffee machine?

Which is worrying. One of the coffee machines looks like this:

Which, you may argue, is bad enough. I mean, what do we say at immigration?
"Anything to declare?"
"Well.... about 1kg of Colombian ?"
"Ok. Thanks. Just take a seat in the little room over there. No, it doesn't have windows."

But the other one looks like this:

What do I do? Take the built-in microwave with it? The whole cupboard unit?

Oh dear.

Also got some lovely hints from Tom today (thanks mate). Seems that snakes, scorpions, bears, spiders etc are dangerous.

On a more positive note, I contacted a campsite in Sequim (pronounced Skwim apparently) in Washington State, inside the Olympic park; our first destination. I'll reproduce the whole email:

Full hoop-ups are full but do have dry/tent sites with water and restrooms available. The rate is $30.00 per night. Thanks! Don
----- Original Message ----- From:
To:
Sent: Tuesday, July 07, 2009 12:29 PM
Subject: Feedback from web site 07/07/2009

Which in itself is hugely interesting. Full-hoop-ups are full! Well I should hope so. You don't pay for a half-full hoop, do you? Anyway, the good news, I presume, is that although sadly they don't have any hoop-ups left, hook-ups (by a process of elimination) are presumably in plentiful supply. So that's good. I'm still left marginally confused by the second half of the message however. Dry sites with water???? Something of a contradiction n'est pas?

Emmm.. this American adventure promises a whole new culture ;) Hooray.

Meanwhile Tom has been providing us with more invaluable information. e.g. A reminder that it will be hurricane season in the South. Thank you Tom. Apparently it's not just the wildlife that can kill you in the land of the free.

Incidentally - it's not ACTUALLY free. In fact, some of it can be quite expensive. Naturally I've made a budget (for those who know my love of detailed planning, please stop laughing). Looks like about $50 per night on an RV park. But for that you get electric hoop-up (?), waste water (sewer to you and I), a good sized portion of Nevada, Cable TV, WIFI, hot and cold running maids, and a beautiful vista.

On top of that there is of course food. We may get around to testing out the hobs when desperate, but otherwise the plan is fire-pit, bbq, or eating out. I have no idea about the price of food in the US, (they traditionally just ride out and lassoo dinner), but I reckon at Dutch prices that'll be about $50 per day too ?? (for 4).

Fuel - well, I won't even bother counting that one. I think it'll be about $2.70 or so per gallon (US Gallon= approx 3.8litres). It's probably cheaper than the water.

So as you can see, an accurate, careful and reliable plan.

(Please no-one refuse to accept a reverse charge call if you get one mid-August).

Ok. Til tomorrow.

Mug shots and dog shots

2009-07-07T11:13:00.001-07:00

So, some promised 'who are we' pictures. First, is Zep (Led Zeppelin). He is going on holiday, but of course he isn't actually coming with us!

I came back from work today and he'd already packed. He had heard that he was going to Theo's house, where they have another (girl) Jack Russell, two other dogs, a cat, four kittens and five horses. Fortunately they've not long said goodbye to a snake, a rat and a vicious Uli-hating cockatoo-thing ;)

Anyway. We had to disappoint him for a few days.

Talking of animals, I was reading today in Lonely Planet guide to USA about spiders, snakes, scorpions and bears. Apparently there are various anti-venoms available for the snakebites, but not for a bear bite. I was also told a story by a colleague at work today about a friend of his who went hiking through Utah (?) and was followed by a bear for 3 km. I'm told he walked through a stream for another 2 km until he was sure the bear had lost his scent (the guy was French).

I digress. The rest of the team;
Sarah: my beautiful wife-cum-teacher-cum-co-driver-cum navigator. Too much cum maybe but you get the idea. Naturally I exaggerate anyway. She is beautiful, she is a teacher and she is a co-driver, but she couldn't navigate her way out of a paper bag. On the other hand, I don't have to worry about her driving on the ' right' side of the road; generally she confuses left and right in any case.

The next one is a tricky one. Trying to get a photo of Beth is like trying to pronounce 'prison' in Dutch ('gevangenis') without covering yourself in phlegm. This is the best we could find post-6 years old, and has the added advantage of indicating Beth's communication skills.

Lewis is easier to get a photo of. Perhaps you'll understand that from the photo (believe me, this is one of the least embarrassing ones).

Then there's me of course. Nuff said.

And the team member who's decided to stay at home and 'chill' (roughly translated as party), Laura-jane:

That's it for the day. A quick thank you to Tom for giving us some directions and hints! Thank you.

What the hell am I talking about?

2009-07-06T03:20:00.000-07:00

Seems I forgot to mention some details.... (thank you for pointing that out people! Not.)

Little things like:
We start in Seattle on 17th July. We finish in NYC on 3rd September.
That means about 48 days altogether on the road.

The plan initially? Well, you can't really plan these things (or shouldn't). But we intend to head South first from Seattle then hang out in Californ-I-A for a bit; aiming to get down to San Diego (we're considering loaning Lewis to the Zoo). Then we head east - somewhere!

We want to see:

The Pacific Ocean
SF
Northern California coastline
The Mojave desert (especially Joshua Trees)
Yellowstone/Yosemite (don't know which one's which any more, but I guess they're close ...;)
Roswell
A Shuttle Launch
Maybe Kings of Leon in concert
Art galleries
The Deep South
Supersize MacDonalds
Blueberry pancakes
Cowboys and Indians
Route 66 (get our kicks on some of it)
Koala bears
Clear skies

8 days a week

2009-07-05T07:17:00.000-07:00

So. 8 days to go. We've made a list. We're checking it twice.
No, wrong season.

Still, nearly everything done:
passports - check
tickets - check
travel docs - check
driving licences - check
family - err. All but one.

So, Laura has decided to stay. I trust everything will be ok ...;

Meanwhile, I've been trying to book seats, and check the flight details. Seems that we are flying on a Northwest ticket, operated by Delta. Which is not too bad. They might be using the newish B767 400ER. ER stands for Extended Range, by the way, not Emergency Room. Which nevertheless makes me wonder. What happens if you fly across the Atlantic without an ER aircraft? Extended Range does seem like an awfully good idea.

What else? We've been reading up about where we might want to go on this 50 day adventure. We (read Sarah) have decided that we are going south from Seattle to California first, taking in the Oregon coast and the northern California area. Looks awesome, sick man (see, I can already speak the lingo).

We've got some friends we'd love to see - Marshall, John and Reid in SF, and Tom R in Sacramento. Beth's best friend Astrid of course, who is somewhere in Orange County.

Otherwise, we are footloose and fancy free (damn, returning to Anglo-speak).

So. What do you wanna know?
We leave sunny Moorveld on the morning of July 14th, to drive to the Eurotunnel. Arrive at Sarah's parents that night, to leave Rosie there ready for service and MOT.

Very early on 16th, our flight leaves Heathrow Terminal 4, and we pick up the RV the next day at 0900 on the 17th. Then it gets really scary...

For those with a vivid imagination, the pictures give an idea of where the 4 of us will be spending our days: