Sometimes you wanna go...where everybody knows your name

Today, I got up nice and late at about 11ish, and then decided to take a stroll around Boston. I headed down Commonwealth Avenue park, towards Boston Public Garden, with Chevelle's Wonder What's Next album beating a strong and steady dirge. (Incidentally, after having this album on mp3 for ages, I bought it on cd in Chicago :) ) it was a really nice walk, broken up by statues every block or so, then through Boson Public Gardens and Boston Common, which was part of the original mile and a half square peninsular that was here when Boston was founded. most of the rest, (Back Bay) has been made by filling in the Charles River since the 1800s, and as such was subject to city planning, which means all the roads are wide and square, whereas further into the old city as I would find the roads follow the old puritans footpaths and everything is rather narrower. I walked myself to the river and came back along the 'Freedom Trail,' a double line of red brick set in the pavement as a set walk to take visitors past all the main points of Boston and it's revolution, ironically to Rage Against the Maching and Mr De La Rocha Screaming freedom down my ears. Awesome. Finally, to end my tour of Boston, I had to do the only other thing you have to do...go to the pub that was the original basis for cheers. I only had one pint, (at $6.50 can you blame me?) but I can now say I've had a beer in the real life equivalent to cheers. And I feel much better for having done so! :)

Quack Quack!

Today I only had one goal, to go on the Boston Duck tour! Which is a 90 minute tour of Boton from an old WWII amphibious vehicle, sounds a bit over the top right? well, that's because it also goes down the river too. Oh yeah, two for the price of one baby! It was a cool and informative tour, loads of stuff that I'll probably foget or have forgotten, but it was good to know whilst it was still in my head, our driver/pilot/tour guide was called Ace Bandage, ad informed us you needed 4 licences to drive one of the ducks (Actually GMC DUKW 6 axle 2 1/2 tonne all-purpose vehicle - hence duck) truck, bus, hackney and masters, so yes, he was a captain and he could marry any of us at sea if urge took us. ANY of us, as we're in Boston and it's fairly liberal these days ;)
Hehe, it was a pretty cool tour, he told us about the four seasons of Boston, "Nearly winter, Winter, Still Winter and Road Construction." and about a thisrt he saw on a biker dude the other day that read 'if you can read this my wife has fallen off' We were informed this was cleaned up dude to the children on board and the fact that the speakers meant everyone around us could hear from the sidewalk (americanism) too. I really enjoyed the tour, and think it was well worth the $30, and if any of you ever come here, you must do it! I must also give a big thanks to Em for finding the tour for me online, else I'd have probably never know about it. ('I wanna do things out here that I can't do back home.') It's also given me a sight of where I want to go look in the next few days, including the actual bar that Cheers was based on! Offically! hehe :) Anyways, since then I've mostly come back chilled out and written up this little lot! I wonder what tomorrow will bring. In other news, I'm lovin' it, and today I actually got to talk to people for the sake of talking, not just because they wanted to sell me something. I haven't done this since Alana left, I'm not sure I've missed it. I think I can live without talking to people. THis does not bode well for future relationships with people in the world.
Anothe

Boston!

Woke up, went to wifi hotspot, still no money on card. Swore, called home, booked flight for 6 hours time on mum's card.
The rest of the day was pretty much spent getting ready to go, one last quick internet check, then heading to the airport on the subway, the subway ride took about 50 minutes and was totally painless, and only cost $2.25! Which was a totaly result. You can keep your $25 airport shuttles mate :) As we flew out of Chicago and I looked out the window back at the city, I finally realized how tall the John Hancock and Sears Tower really are, they were still level with us after take off! and they were above the cloud level at the top, Chicago really does look awesome fro the air, and so does the coastline stretching away from it. I then wished I'd had my camera with me instead of in the overhead luggage, and as we were stil taking off, I couldn't get up and grab it. :(
The flight was pretty straightforward and I read some more of Clarkson on Cars, then looke dout the window to see we were flying along the beach, rather low. It would seem, dear readers, that the runway in Boston stop/ends (depending on how you look at it) on the watherfront, and to get there you fly along the beach, then over maybe 500m of land then more water and then you touch down on the most buttock-clenching landing you can think of, as the plane gets lower, all you can see is water, you hear the engines pick up as the pilot levels, and wonder for a split second before dismissing it, 'is this right?' Of course it was and we landed all safe and sound. I then took the magical subway (again $2.25 and this was over two different lines) to the station by my hostel, then wandered around in circles, actually around the road with my hostel in for a while before I found it. walked in, checked in, card got declined, called the usual, told the money had not been put in, and that I should wait about 6 hours. I wandered out to the nearest atm, drained my nationwide account of all but $20 and finally checked in. (which reminds me, i'd best top that back up.) my new room is a 2 bed co-ed, where I'm sharing with 6 irish guys, one usa/korean guy and 2 english lads. I headed out to find the nearest Subway for dinner, and along the way my trusty mp3 friend picked Enter Shikari, excellent call, I nu-raved my ass all the way to subway, past the musical college centre of the world (literally dozens of buldings) past a very posh theatre with posh old people coming out, in my black hoody with the bright hot pink writing on. Oh yeah, I'm that cool, and past a musical instrument store, (i'll be checking that out tomorrow.) And finally, to bed :)

D'n'B and Museums

So today, for my last full day in Chicago, I headed on down to the Museum of Science and Industry. It was a bout a 20 min bus ride from the nearest bus stop, it was a good ride. Now, ladies and gentlemen, we are about to enter the Arron Museum technique zone...a I walked in and grabbed a map I could tell this was going to be a massive mueseum and would take a fair few hours of my time up! So...on went the mp3 for some serious museumage. The place had everything, a meagre collection of cars through the ages, though I'm proud to say they were mostly british (Aston Martin, Two Lolas, a Rolls) then into the ships section, where they had 1:75 and 1:200 scale moselds that were still over a metre long, these things were huge! Mostly British and American once again, one was even made by the guy who built the actual boat the model was of, which was quite crazy. I then headed to the U-505 an actual u-boat captured by the Americans in WWII. Now, as is always the way with these museum places, you could see all the exhibits around the outside, but to go in the sub you needed t pay extra for a ticket, and I'm not going to do that. Cheeky beggars, so I had Powder on the mp3 and wandered around looking and interacting with the exhibits, and taking pictures, (very difficult with the lighting conditions.) Anyways, moving on, there was plenty of stuff to see, many many exhibits, more space stuff, andother big Imax screen, some future stuff, basically, everything you'd expect to find, DNA, engineering and so on, and upstairs, Aeroplanes and trains. and actual 727, with some parts still working (flaps and airbrakes) a Stuka, a Spitfire and some stunt bi-planes, it was all very cool stuff, it was also about this time the mp3 decided it was time for me to hear Pendulum and then the new The Prodigy album, possibly the best museum music ever! I saw everything I wanted to and got out in a shade under 4 hours. I then wandered back through downtown one last time, just because I could and because I like it. Someone, unfortunately however, decided it was about time for it to absolutely chuck it down, so, on came the coat and wet got the jeans! I then went back to lé hostel, to try and sort out accomodation and flights for tomorrow and beyond until I go home. Needless to say the Halifax still hadn't put the money on my credit card account yet, so I decided I'd give them until the morning.

"Barry White, saved my life"

SUN! There is SUN! Bugger this, I'm off out...
...
...
...wel, that was awesome, the sun was shining, so I took a walk up the 'Magnificent Mile' and got myself a new phone charger, as mine broke in the motel the other day. I stopped off in various sports shops looking at the prices of replica bears and blackhawks tops and tees and hoodies. I promised myself I'd get a new replica jersey, but now I think I have to re-prioritize. As people have commented from my pictures, it would seem I need new jeans more, and I think I may need another, non black and bright pink hoody! Also, I think I've sourced somewhere I can get the jerseys when I get home and have some disposable income anyways. After that I wandered back, stopped off at subway for my breakfast/lunch it was 2pm) and had a $5 footlong (plus tax) mhmm oven roasted chicken breast, lush! then through Millenium Park, with it's weird amphitheatre/venue and a random super polished stainless steel ball thing, with which I took some pretty cool pictures, and generally just wandered round and enjoyed the weather as I headed to Soldier Field, home of the Bears, the one place I've wanted to see for like 15 years, the one main thing I wanted to do when I finally reached Chicago all those years ago. The bugger's don't do public tours unles for a group and booked by phone in advance! how totally unfair is that? they're missing a massive trick here, the money generated, the interest in the franchise, the not dissapointing me after 15 years. I felt gutted. So I wandered round what I could and took pictures to the 4th album of the day on my mp3 (two by vertical horizon, then half of the Presidents of the USA and half of somthing corporate (so that only counts as 1) then AFI - Live, I Heard a Voice, and finally Fun Lovin Criminals, 100% Columbian.) I eventually headed back to the hostel, and found out they don't do tours of the United Center either. So that's that idea buggered too. Ahh well, was still a great day, and lovel weather, and now I'm in the TV room watching game 2 of the Red Wings, who are sadly winning this game too :( but it's good entertainment! :) Night all!

lets go Magic

Today I had a lie in and got up about 9:30, went on the interent for a bit, tried to suss out my finances and plan for the next 14 days, gave up and wandered round a few blocked for food for the next few days, failed again and bought a subway. though it was a 5 buck footlong special, so that'll cover me 'til way into tonight, where I shall find a bar to watch the Orlando game. I then trundled back to my bunk to write up the last few days of the usa and all of Fiji. I managed the USA part! it's now 3pm, and I'm gonna post this online, sort out where I can buy food, and plan my trips to the united center and soldier field. I thought about seeing a baseball game, and although I'm sure I'd love the atompshere and experience, I'm not sureI can be bothered. I have better things to spend my money on! In the end I went to a sports bar called Junior's on Maxwell st. It was lush! Upon walking in I saw loads of screens, (I went so I could eat and see the Orlando game,) some local police sitting down for some food, it was mildly empty so i picked a booth and sat down, and by chance the booth happened to be showing the Red Wings - Penguins Stanley cup game on a small screen, result I thought! until I got asked to move to a hightop as booths were reserved for 4-6 people incase it got busy. This wasn't a bad thing as I ended up much closer to the Basketball screen :) I oreder a miller light, and an ace of jack burger and fries for $9. The fires were ok, but over fried. The burger on the other hand... better than anything I've had recently, burger, bacon, cheese, jack daniels bbq sauce, it was awesome. so as I devoured this burger, the place started to fill up, and more screens switched to the basketball, which was nice. lol. As the place filled up I noticed that I was most definately in the minority, not only was I one of only three white punters, but more notably, I was supporting the Magic, and pretty much no-one else was. The big dude oppostie me was very animated over his support for the Cavs, though I think it was mostly for Lebron James, we exchanged multiple glances and expressions of myrth and frustration at our teams as the game progressed, mostly laughing. By the end of the game the place was heaving, and they were clearing out the hi-tops to make space for i guess a dance floor, I don't know as once we won and I sank my 5th pint, (I had planned to go out and get to know people the saturday night I was in Chicago) and I headed on the 30 minute walk home, content that I'd had a great meal, my team had progressed to the NBA playoff finals, and I generally felt good about the world and loving Chicago :)

Chapter 4. Day off

Sat 30th
Today I had a lie in and got up about 9:30, went on the internet for a bit, tried to suss out my finances and plan for the next 14 days, gave up and wandered round a few blocked for food for the next few days, failed again and bought a subway. though it was a 5 buck footlong special, so that'll cover me 'til way into tonight, where I shall find a bar to watch the Orlando game. I then trundled back to my bunk to write up the last few days of the usa and all of Fiji. I managed the USA part! it's now 3pm, and I'm gonna post this online, sort out where I can buy food, and plan my trips to the united center and soldier field. I thought about seeing a baseball game, and although I'm sure I'd love the atompshere and experience, I'm not sureI can be bothered. I have better things to spend my money on!

End of Chapter 3, and continuation of chapter The Halfiax sucks Arse.

Today was Alana's last day, so with little time to do anything, we headed out of town to Aurora, to their version of MacArthur Glen, to see if she could get any last minute bargains, we didn't leave the room til about 11am (checking out time, due to last night's events taking us to about 2am! Alana bought a few items, I bought Ice Cream :) then we headed to the Airport (O'Hare) to drop off the car and see Alana off. In the end we notched up 3915 miles in that Sentra, with fuel pices ranging from $2.15 a gallon (US) to $2.85, (we did see $2.05 and $3.45) all in all, it served us well, as much as we'd have preferred to cruise along in a mustang or something old and chromed, it did the job, if without any of the power it should've had. After dropping off the car (and not leaving anything in it) we headed in, Alaa checked in, we grabbed some water and had a chat and a drink whilst waiting for her flight (it had been delayed for nearly an hour.) Once we'd gone our seperate ways, I grabbed an airport shuttle to the Hostel, it took a good hour or so to get to where it dropped me off, which kinda cool, as I got to see a different part of the city in a relaxed space. Also, as I was now bricking it about being on my own and what would I do if one of my cards ballsed up, it was a nice relaxing time as I was doing something, there was nothing I could do about it or to it or anything to make it any different, I could just tag along and enjoy the ride. Of course, this being me they dropped me off at a vey expensive hotel which sounded like my hostel, but it was ok, as my hostel was only round the corner and took all of 3 minutes to walk to. Then check in time. Interestingly enough I'd booked 2 nights in a 10 man dorm, and 3 in an 8 man dorm, as the 10's were all sold out on those dates, when I arrived, I fond out I'd actually been booked into a female dorm for 4 nights. Obviously I wasn't going to complain, but they did move me to a male dorm, drats, maybe next time. Next, I paid for my bunk and headed to my room. Or did I? No, of course I didn't, I bamk with the Halifax, and therefore, my card declined (now, I've lost count of the amount of times I've told them I'm away 'til mid june, and I knew I had enough money to cover it in there) so I asked the lad to try again, for a lesser amount, nope, declined again. OK, plan b, bit of a pain, but I want somewhere to sleep, so I wandered off round the corner to an atm to get cash out of my Nationwide account, except, there wasn't any in my nationwide account, because I'm poor. Fudge. So, slightly miffed at the card declining stil, I wandered back in and sked if there was a wifi connection I could pinch briefly, there was, so I jumped on that, logged into my account, and low and behold, there was more than the amount sitting in my account waiting to be used. So, we know what happens next, a 10 minute phone call to Halifax, who seem bemused I'm in another country, "have you told us you were going out of the country sir?" I resisted the urge to use expletives, as it's obviously not his fault that his company is entirely incompetent. Then he checked my activity and said there had not been any attempted transactions recently, and then tsaid, "oo, it might be because our computer card system has been off for the last 15 minutes, but Mastercard usually takes over from us." Sorry? You turn off your entire system once a day and hope someone else's system takes over? (it was explained it was daily maintenance, done at this time so to inconvienence as few people as possible - I lose again) that's a ridiculous way to run a credit facility, ever heard of a secondary?? Twats. Anyways, he then laimed to call "head office" to tell them any transaction coming through from chicago in the next 15 minutes would be me and fine to pass. (ANY??? I said the company name, their location, everything. I don't want ANY transaction you tit.) Anyways, eventually, I got in! and it's very nice, I had a quick look around and it is a lovely hostel, though right next to the L! (El - Elevated Train system) - Oh yeah, and my phone charger broke this morning too :(
But I'm all good :)

I can't find the keys....I'm turning into Dad!

Today, we went for the Adler Planetarium, which was very cool, 2 shows on those 360 degree domed screens you get for such presentations, some cool exhibits about space and the world, and the pod from Gemini XII which was awesome to see, it was tiny, with two unpadded seats and then a mass of switches, levers and gadgets around them, just to think, this is the space two men lived in for 2 weeks! how did they get any exercise or stretch their legs??? After this we wandered over to Sears Tower and went up to the skydeck, though the main skydeck is undergoing refurbishment (on the 103rd floor) we could go up to the 99th and look around, which was probably better as the visibility did end a few miles away, so any higher and we'd have just been further away from what was insight. The views were amazing, this place is massive we saw all the sports grounds, both airports, and more, before eventually deciding we should come down. We then started to head back to the car, and as we passed the Art Institue on the way had a look in there. We eventually got back to the car park about 7:30, paid for our ticket nly to find we no longer possessed the car keys. Which after being so damned careful for the last 2 weeks seemed impossible, also the reminder on the keyring that said min fee for lost key $250 was not helping. Fortunately, we're both pretty sensible when we need to be, so I called the Aquarium, and the skydeck, only to find that the aquarium was shut and the skydeck had no-one on the phone after 5pm. Then I called the shop I bought stuff in, and they were hepful and said they'd call back if they found them. we then headed to the planetarium on the off chance they'd have a security guard wandering around. they didn't. so we headed back to the art institute via the park where we stopped to see the floral sculptures made of car parts to see if we'd dorpped them, no luck, Alana ran on to the Institue as they were about to close, they were very sympathetic and gave her the number for the local police station. I called them, no luck. and again when hanging up the phone, like the shop they wished me a good day. good day? it's 8pm and I've lost my car keys you ****! we headed to the skydeck next, all the time I was trying to remember the roads the dunkin donuts we stopped at was on so I could call directory enquiries and get them as I was sure that's where the keys would be. Outside skydeck we got apporached by a man working for the local shelter (why he chose to approach two angry faced, power walking, crazy looking tourists I don't know, but I though for a bit of Karma I'd give him a dollar or so, allowing Alana to get ahead, as I walked into the skydeck, there was Alana facing the security guard who had made me empty my pockets earlier holding up our keys! yay! (we'd ha to empty our pockets for a metal detector, and somehow my wallet, phone and camera made it back out of the box into my pockets but the keys didn't. Though seeing as it was the same guard and he'd obviously noticed, how comes he didn't say anything? He could've saved us 45 minutes of panicked power walking! Though I didn't feel justified about the karma thing. My legs were now broken, as was Alana, but we had to power walk back as if I stopped for too long I wouldn't get started again, so much for the plan of getting back nice an early for the last night, having a KFC and chilling watching a film. I decided we both needed beer, so we made it a point to grab beer on the way home. also, to soak our feet in the bath, thus appeared the idea of kfc, beer and feet in right now isn't even as funny as the real image was! We got back to the car, got out of the car park, having to pay again for the parking as they're bloody useless too. then headed off for beer, check, petrol, check, taco bell for Alana, check, and, KFC for me, ahh, now here was the problem, I'd set my mind on popcorn chicken, (film, popcorn, worked for me) and we'd seen loads of KFC's everywhere on our travels, normally attached to a taco bell. well, in the end it took an hour of searching, finally giving up and using interent on my phone to find one, (bt the way, the KFC mobile site is exactly what you need from a mobile website, the first thing you have on the screen is an option to enter a zip code and it'll find you the nearest outlets and show them on a google map. the second option takes you to the menu. brilliant, whoever desgined that concept needs a raise, a promotion and to make everyone's corporate mobile sites. what else do you need??) eventually we got back, did said foot spa with a foam cup for a plug, as they didn't have one in the room, and drank the beers watching coupling 'til 2am. :)

It's dark, and we're wearing sunglasses

Today we got up, and went down to Museum Campus, which is by Soldier Field (where we had to park) and went to the Field Museum, where we bought a "City Pass" for $69 this gives us free entery to the Field museum, Aquarium, Planetarium, Skydeck or John Hancock Tower and the Science and Idustry museum. Bargain!The field mueseum was massive, loads and loads of exhibits from all over the world of all kinds of things, and Sue. Sue is the world's largest t-rex fossil/remains/skeleton whatever you want to call itand everything apart from her head sits in the main hall. She's huge, then you have to imagin all the flesh etc on top of the skeleton and the size is immense! the hea has it's own exhibit on the 2nd floor were it shows you how they restored the artifact, as it was filled with rock and partly crushed due to Sue's pelvis being ontop of her head, welding her jaw shut. It was very impressive. Next we headed to the Shedd Aquarium and saw many cool things, barely anythign of which saw in Australia, there was also apparently the chance to dive their fake caribbean reef, though I didn't see that. we saw some big white beluga whales, dolphins, sea otters, which are very amusing, penguins and loads of other stuff, it was great :) we then wandered toward downtown to see if we could find some food etc, afer a while we gave up headed back to the car and stopped off at wal mart on the way home! We got home at a decent time so I introduced Alan to the Blues Brothers film, as I'd brought it along to watch when in chicago. (sorry if you've been looking for it bloke! I've got it :P)

Bent Bridge

We left St Louis, took a minor detour by accident, but it did get us some grat picutres of the St Louis Gateway Arch, then we saw one end of the Cahin of Rocks bridge, and drove on the new bridge 3 miles to the other side, and walked back across most of it. (It's an old bridge that can't be used for cars anymore, but was part of the route, starting just after the chain of rocks canal and passing over the Mississippi, with a 20/30 degree bend in, and it just a mass of metal, we got some cool pics and it was nice to have a decent walk. this took us to gone 12 and we were on the border of Missouri and Illinois, there was stuff on the bridge to inform us of this. At the next rest area ALana took over the driving until we got to "memory Lane" and 8ft section of the original route, now blocked to traffic but preserved as a monument, it was cool, we then swapped over again and I drove the old (in some place very old) route to chicago, passing through Joliet, sparking off Blues Brothers memories, watching the film with dad, and seeing the tribute with mum and dad at the marlowe, it was awesome, we stopped by an ice cream parlour to take a picture of the jake and elwood they had on their roof and then proceeded into chicago. It was raining alot., by the time we finished the route, then tried to find our motel, we ate, and slept.

Toufer. (Two for the pice of one)

Sunday 24th
Today we headed to Joplin, our orginal intent had been Tulsa, but it's too close to Oklahoma City, and would make the next day unfeasibly long. Our route was mostly off of the interstates with route 66 being a fairly large way aways from the main roads, this being because when they made the new interstate, they were going to follow the old route, but Oklahoma wanted it to connect to their newly made expressway, so it detours. Still, it made for some nice driving, some cool sights, including a very old bit of road near Miami, Oklahoma. which was again very cool, as all these little old bits seem to be.

Monday 25th
Today was a straight driving day, with just one stop, at devils elbow, to see an old bridge and take some picutres, the first half of the day was mostly away from the interstate on the old route 66, at devil's we swapped over and i drove us to St Louis, using mostly the interstate as route 66 lies on it.

Dead bugs :)

Today was a bit of a strange day, we started of with the Bug Ranch, 5 horrible little Nazi Wagons (VW Beetles) Buried nose first in the ground, like the Caddys, best thing for 'em says I. All rusting and falling apart, and also being sprayed, one was even a pick-up! The target for today was to make Oklahoma City, we stopped next at the Devil's Rope and Route 66 museum. Who'd have known there was so much to know about barbed wire? Well, apparently there was, I'll be honest, I wasn't all that interested, but I had a look around anyways, it was like 4/5 times the size of the route 66 section! It was kinda cool in an odd way, and free, so it wasn't so bad. Then we carried on, trying to follow the route across Oklahoma state, which was a total mission, the road wasn't signed in most places, and our maps didn't really help when you weren't on it, the was alot of annoyance and frustration, aqnd some rather large detours, but eventually we got there, I drove the whole day as it wasn't a massive distance, but it did leave me pretty much dead for the night, so we went to Pizza Hut to grab a take-out, met the worlds most bored sounding worker, considering he did actually seem to really enjoy his job and be very enthusiastic (in a bored sounding way) about all of the offers and what they did and didn't have. (Seriously, this place still had the 80's branding on the outside.) But in the end we got very good pizza, part of which is about to make for todays lunch. Mhmmmmmmm good badness. Lunch was indeed good, and we did make it to Oklahoma City at a reasonable time, we drove round a bit looking for our motel, and for food, and had a bit of bbq cookin' hehe. I managed to have a total day off of the driving, which was nice.

Is this the way???

Today sees us on the "...way to Amarillo" which is mostly on the I-40 again, but somehow this 300 miles stretch is set to take us a good 5 hours? :S add to that the fact that we will stop places, (I'm eying up the Route 66 Auto Museum, just outside Santa Rosa, Adrian - the (contested) mid point of of Route 66, and the Cadillac Ranch just outside (Sha-la-la, la-la, la-la-la,) Amarillo. Which is a row of Caddies buried nose first in the ground as a tribute to Route 66. Can't wait!...The museum was awesome! about 30 or so old cars, in great condition, I ended up taking well over 120 photos, there were 5 mustangs, and I love mustangs. (Ok, so one was a gay 80's mach 1) 2 Sting-Rays (one early one later) a GTO, a Plymouth Roadrunner, and old school Ford Falcon Convertible, and some really old and crazy stuff, also, rather suprisingly, a 280z...in a horrible shade of umm, brownygold? we spent a long time in there, longer because my camera is still playing up, everyso often the screen goes white and to make it work involves some random mixture of pressing the side of the casing in, blowing through the back of the screen and shaking it about, so that'll be going back to the vendor when I get back. The museum also had a few engines on stands at the front which were pretty cool. Next stop was the midpoint of Route 66 in Adrian. THe owner of the Midpoint Cafe came out and took a picture for us, which was very nice of him, we still didn't buy anything from his cafe or shop though. (The whole road is littered with these kitsch souvenir shops.) then we headed to Amarillo, stopping just outside to visit the Cadillac ranch, which has been moved from it's oringinal site, due to Amarillo getting bigger! (development creep) The reason it's been moved is well, a load of cadillacs buried in the ground getting continuously graffiti'd isn't going to help property prices, AND, the guy that did it, did so as an homage to the route, and wanted to keep the background to it bleak to add to it's presence. It definately worked, considering it was just a few cars stuck in the ground, incidentally at the same angle as the choebs?? pyramids in Egypt. We got some awesome photos, I climbed up into one, and have left my marks with some blue spray paint I found lying around. (there will be pictures on facebook once I get hold of the ones Alana took too.) Eventually we made it to Amarillo, after what was essentially a very car centred day, had some food and drove round the town a bit.

this just coming in...

I hate my bank. They're crap.

In other news, I'll be in chicago until about the 2nd, as my hostel booking seems to have gone awry, I'm not going to the NHL playoffs as it's $125 a ticket, and I barely have $125 for the next fortnight! so if any of you owe me money, now's the time to pay me, else I'll be very angry when I get back. I leave new york on the 11th, and so don't want to really get there before the 7th, so not sure where to go in between, I'm tempted to go back to Toronto as I love that place, but not sure. I'd like to say a big thanks to MaD for their loan last week, it helped immensely, and to Lana who's just left for home with a h00j I.O.U. from me! to everyone else, I promise I'll post some updates of the last few days soon, and fiji, (I've not forgotten) I'm thinking of having an easy day tomorrow, so that should work perfectly :)

Arron's Blog...supplemental

Hi all, well, I'm currently in Chicago and loving it. Sadly, the Hawks just lost game 5 in OT to the red wings, which means the Stanley Cup Finals will be Detroit Vs Pittsburgh...which has led me to a musing...shall I go see game 4 of the stanley cup final in pittsburgh, leaving here on the 3rd, see the game on the 4th and fly to new york on the 5th until the 11th? I'm still thinking that may be too long in NY...I need some input guys, I was planning on staying in Chicago until the 2nd anyways...

In addition to this, a ticket to fly from chicago to new york, will cost me $160. To fly to Pittsburgh is $115 then on to New York is another $70, so $185...(tickets to the game don't go on sale for a few more hours yet so I can't factor that in.)

Day 8 in the big (brother) car

Thursday 21st
Today was the sector from Flagstaff to Albuquerque. (Yes, "Hot dog, jumping frog, !") it was an awesome drive, we drove past a place called "Two Guns" obviously named after Chuck Norris, and I did think about asking for tickets to the gun show, lol. (If you don't get those jokes, then, well, nevermind. :P) we then took a diversion to Meteor Crater, which is on the incredibly aptly named, 'Meteor Crater Road.' when we got there it turned out there was a $15 each admission fee, now, we'd seen the pictures on our special maps, and to be honest, we didn't feel it was worth it, so we headed back to the route, even though i would really liked to have seen it and al the other stuff they had there, it just didn't seem worth the money. Oddly enough, the center (as it is American) is pretty much the first brick building we'd seen! No wonder the slightest wind destroys their towns, they're made of balsa wood! (jokes) we then went through Winslow, definately a one road town, and Joseph City (not very city like) beore leaving the 66 again at holbrook to go down to the Petrified Forest and Painted Desert, again this is a national park area, so money to get in (25 for yosemite, 25 for grand canyon, 10 for here) and it wasn't very forest like, but that is only to be expected, a) in the middle of the desert, and b) it's caled petrified as the all the water here was replaced underground with silica which was then taken up by the tree's roots and slowly crystalized the tree from within! There are many chunks of trunk lying around with the most amazing colours in them where the silica has crystalized, and all the textures have changed, it really is an odd but very cool thing to see. The painted desert, is rumoured (though I doubt the legitimacy of this) to be the reason colour film was invented. The sand and rocks change colour due to the different types of rock, the silica content and so on, and again, it was very odd to see a hill that started white, went to a lavender colour, then a pale green, and then dusty red at the bottom, but again, very cool. After that we were back on 66, (still the I-40, as many sections are) or about 30 miles, then 66 seperated from the main drag and rang alongside as Frontage Road all the way to Albuquerque, this was the most fun drive so far, seeing all the cars flying along the interstate as you bounce and bump your way along a rollercoaster-like road, with corners and bends and everything. Just after a place called Laguna, we decided to divert down the pre 1937 stretch of 66 that goes about 20 miles south of Albuquerque (man am I getting bored of typing that word) as it was rumoured to be quite a view. We weren't disappointed, the first thing we encountered was a dust and gravel road for a few miles, with big bumps and lots of loose shale, which was incredibly fun to drive, then we hit the south route 6, and meandered through the wilderness for a bit right next to big rock formations with hairpin corners to get round them, it was a truely amazing drive, and we eventually arrived in Albuquerque, on the correct road (Central Ave) at number 4000, our hotel was 13317, so we decided to head to the longer end of the road, and were surprised when the numbers started to decrease. but it's ok readers, as once they hit 0, they started counting back up again. WTF?!? still, we got to our hotel all right in the end! :) and I was then rather allergic to something, possibly the coat that Alana had left in the room which was mostly used previously with horses, the one thing that sets my allergy off worst! doh. so i dosed myself up on drugs, she hid the coat away, I had a shower and went to bed.

USA ummm 7?

Wednesday 20th
After our little stop at Kingman, we headed off on Route 66 proper, heading toward Flagstaff, the longest continuous strech of Route 66 is here, and heads up off the I-40 (for a change) and toward the Grand Canyon, part in the Hualapai Indian Reservation, and we stopped at the "Grand Canyon Caverns" now, this is in no way connected to the National Park, but what it is is a massive set of caverns 21 storeys below the ground, the lift takes a full minute to get down there, and as you walk around, you see how well everything is preserved due to there being no moisture there, all bacteria etc dies within 72 hours, there is no life down there at all. Just a few remains of things that were unlucky enough to fall in, (like a bob cat) and some bouquets from weddings they have held down there, that are still in very good condition. there is also a US Government supply of food and water and medical kits etc for 2000 people, as at one point in the cold war, all caverns were designated fall out shelters. Now, I said there was no life down there, so how would humans survive? well there is breathable air, naturally, not pumped down, and at one point they were curious to find where it came from, so they set of red smoke flares and had people up top wait to see where it came out. They waited, and waited, and waited, and gave up, then 2 weeks later someone called to say they'd seen the red smoke coming out of the Grand Canyon! Hence the names, and also, the reason it would make a terrible fallout shelter, after two weeks you'd be breathing radioactive air! Doh. We also saw some great little route 66 shops with t-shirts, number plates, tin signs etc etc in, and even a specifc route 66 map, which we are now using rather effectively! (much easier than normal maps, it has route 66 and some of it's earlier adjustments clearly marked in red :) ) Anyways, we carried alon the 66 to a town called Williams, where we diverted off North, so we could go see the south rim of the Grand Canyon, as always, by this time we were starting to get a bit tired, (everyday seems like 9-14 hours in the car!) but the views were amazing, we took many pictures, and got some information on the area from the observation station, and some very cool elevated views from the watchtower in the Indian Reservation section, and then we headed back down to Flagstaff to find our bed for the night :)

USA nearly a week!

Tuesday 19th
We decided not to head out for a Canyon Tour, as we needed a relaxing day, nothing was booked, AND we couldn't find free

internet anywhere! We took a wander down the strip, which was cool, then up to the Outlet stores wher yes, we did spend

money, which hasn't helped my money situation any, but in my defense, I wanted everything I bought for me, and presents

are well, presents! (No, you haven't got any, you've not been good enough :P) we then finally found a hotspot in a food

court on the strip and trying to book and sort a place to stay in Kingman. For some unknown reason, neither of our cards

was working with lastminute.com my bank accounts had some missing money as halifax were being slow and dumb, this would

later end up in a not entirely pleasant toned phone to get them to put the money in my account that they'd had for the

last 6 days. I'm so closing all my accounts with them when I get back. It just looks good on credit checks when they ask

how long you've been with your bank to say, 'over 20 years.' Well, loyalty has got me nowhere but wound up, so they can

stick it now. Anyways, back on with the story, we finally got somewhere to stay, and the route to Kingman took us over

the Hoover Dam, which was one of the things we really wanted to do.
As we got to Hoover Dam, ( I was really excited, having seen a program on discoveryHD about it before coming out) we saw

that they were building a new section to the 93, the road that goes over the dam, and to do so are in the prcess of

bulding a massive bridge a little further downstream from the dam. It looks awesome, the whole site does, the Dam with

all it's art deco styling and big brass doors and plaques and oh so much stuff to see, I could've taken photos all night,

but sadly after sunset all pedestrians have to get off the dam, and it was about 15 minutes to sunset and we had a little

walk back to the car, crossing the Arizona state line too. I was very much impressed by the dam, and in awe of the fact

it had been built at all. let alone the fact that it's still a massive hydro electrc plant producing enough power for

well over 1.3million people! (That's American people too) and all this back before colour tv!

More America Day 5

Monday 18th
Time to leave and head on, undertaking a massive 14hour journey according to Google maps. We had an end point of

Stratosphere in Las Vegas, a room we grabbed through lastminute.com for $33! normally the run to LV is 8 and half hours,

but we wanted to try and see Yosemite and Death Valley, and had a good route all planned out, cutting across Yosemite,

then down into Death Valley taking in the view and Dante's Peak of the highest and lowest points you can see in one place

in all of mainland america, Badwater at -278ft, and Mount something or other at 14,400+ft. So we knew it would be a

mission. It was, it was a totally draining day we covered over 800 miles on roads that varied from interstate to windy

mountain passes, we spent most of our time at about 4000ft abot sea level, dropping down to 2000 and up to 6000+

typically, the pass across Yosemite was closed halfway along and there was no other detour than going back 137 miles and

going all the way around the top. Screw that mess, we ended up going down through the park instead, seeing some great

sites still and making many photo stops, then down to Fresno, where we took the 99 to Delano, and then across some more

winding forest/range roads to Lake Isabella, which was gorgeous, we took this route in the hope we'd get to a point we

chose as our descision point at a time to make it worth going to Death Valley and Dante's Peak before sunset, the point

was about 120miles from the peak, we got there at 6, wich sunset being at 8, and all the roads being so winding we knew

we'd only average 30 maybe 40 mph, so, defeated, we headed south and joined up the main route to I-15 and Vegas. We

Finally checked in at 23:20, having left San Francisco at about 8:00/8:30, shattered. Sleep was much needed and

gratefully recieved.