On Tour in the USA

[xoxoxoBruce]

We're certainly going to miss your reports on the state of the nation, hopefully you'll keep coming back to the Cellar if not the states.

btw, how do you like the PT?

[diminished]

Cheers Bruce.

Its been my great pleasure to be posting up my stuff here, as all but one of the people back home seem to have forgotten we exist, the one who remembers does so because I keep badgering him about our cats

We've just been calculating some preliminary stats for our journey.All numbers are current as of....now.

Miles travelled : 25601.3 (hitting our primary goal of over one Earth circumference)
Rental Cars defeated : 2
Photographs taken : 11601
Cats Petted : 1
Dogs Petted : 4
Swivel Chairs swivelled upon : 3

Roadkill counts

Birds : 7
Kangaroo Rats : 4
Prairie Dogs : 2
Squirrels : 1
Bugs : Lots
No Otters

Cheapest Gas (/Gallon) : $2.09 (Somewhere in West Virginia)
Most Expensive Gas (/Gallon) : $3.99 (West Entrance, Death Valley)

Highest temperature endured : 122f (50C) Death Valley
Highest elevation attained : 11158ft (Eisenhower Tunnel, I-70, Colorado)

I've always liked the way the PT Cruiser looks, but it feels heavy and underpowered compared to the Rav4.Its a rather jolly shade of blue tho.

[ZenGum]

I offer my thanks for your posts, Diminished. I have not (yet) been to the USA, and you've shared some awesome places with me, from the "visitor" perspective. Thanks. It has been a great trip, even vicariously.

So, is there any chance of a sequel? Diminished and Persistence Down Under?

[monster]

you didn't pet both of our cats? no wonder Atomic has been pissy since you left......

[diminished]

Your cats wouldn't let me anywhere near them, Monster.Although I think I managed to get one of them to stop running away whilst I was in the area.Without resorting to Crazy Glue.

And ZenGum, if economic circumstances had been slightly better, we should have been moving on from San Francisco to NZ, then on to Australia.Bloody global economic crisis.

The Antipodes are however pencilled in for a forthcoming journey.There's some debate between us on the order forthcoming journeys shall be in, but we've definately been bitten by the travelling bug.(Or at least Persistence has, I just like not being at home.She's the one with the earnings potential and lack of vices,)

From something I remember from years ago, do they make 'pie floaters' in your part of Australia?That delicacy cannot go unsampled by me.

We've been in SF long enough for Persistence to become extremely worried by Oakland.We stopped there under a bridge, to photograph some scrap-metal figures and a slightly mad, but quite attractive community garden.It was only after we'd got out of the car that we noticed the RV shanty-town we'd parked next to.

We also passed by the Oakland Raiders stadium, just as I was mentioning how much I'd like to visit Candlestick Park (home of the SF 49'ers).

'Oh,look' said Persistence.
'There's a football game going on in there,'
I had to explain to her the difference between the Raiders and 49'ers in 'soccer' terms.

We also attempted to visit the Pacific Pinball Museum, but it didn't open until 6pm, and Persistence, still rattled by Oakland, didn't fancy hanging around Alameda until then.(Rightly so, as it was barely 2 o'clock).

We've still got stuff to do, and about 4 days left to do it in.We simply have to holiday harder

[xoxoxoBruce]

I had to explain to her the difference between the Raiders and 49'ers in 'soccer' terms.

I'd had loved to be privy to that conversation.

[diminished]

It was a relatively easy one to do to be honest, Bruce.

As a native of the Northeast of England, all I had to do was mention 'Newcastle' and 'Sunderland',two 'soccer' teams from the northeast with a history of desperate rivalry.

Eerily, the recent history of my favourite NFL team, the 49'ers, is somewhat mirrored by the recent history my favourite football team Newcastle United FC.(Newcastle, with a lot less actual success than the 49'ers...lol).

I recall with a lot of fondness, the 49'ers of the 80's.In the UK, I had to stay up very late as a young teenager (who had just been given his own TV for his bedroom!) to watch Bill Walsh, Joe Montana,Jerry Rice et al righteously stomp all who opposed them.

It was with a lot of sadness that I read of Bill Walsh's death a couple of years back.

I try to watch the NFL when I can these days, but it somehow just isn't the same without the big characters from my youth.People like Tom Landry, Don Shula and a (then) up-and-coming Mike Ditka.

[diminished]

I have a publishable map of our convoluted travels.Unfortunately, its produced using Microsoft Streets & Trips, and I can't find a way to remove all the tags for each stop necessary to keep track of our progress, they somewhat obscure things, especially once we get into the northwest.

If anyone knows the package better than my passing familiarity with it, please tell me how



At least there's some sort of numerical progression going on

[Glinda]

Originally Posted by diminished

I could have probably bolstered my substance count with something pleasantly herbal.

But its been almost 4 months with nothing other than tobacco to smoke, might as well wait until I get home now.

You blew it by not coming to La Center, dude!

[Cicero]

Darn...I missed you in Colorado. And somehow you managed to avoid all the other spots I have been in- in the past 2 months.

If you are ever planning a trip to Santa Fe! pm me!!

[glatt]

That is an awesome route!

[diminished]

Bit of a strange encounter today.

After converting a full bottle of Wild Turkey into an empty one, we were both a bit hungover this morning.There was terrible confusion over what we should do next, the previous evening had wiped away any memory of plans made.

We eventually came up with the idea of heading to San Jose, with the aim of waiting long enough to check into a motel, and cooling our heels for the rest of the day.

We did have a target to visit there, there is a giant Monopoly board in a park beside a children's museum.So it was elected time to cross that one from our lists.Had I purchased a Top Hat, Small Dog or a Racing Car, I would have brought them along.

We searched around the park,and eventually found what we were looking for.

I'd just pulled out my camera and was lining up a shot when a shout came from behind us.I didn't pay it much attention as it didn't seem to be particularly aimed at us, but after it was repeated 2-3 times, I turned around to see an olive skinned gentleman gesticulating at us.

I couldnt quite make out what he was all in a flap about, and being a little deaf, walked towards him to see what all the fuss was about.

It seems we were 'pale-skinned m*therf*ckers' and we should 'get the f*ck away' from him, as he didn't appreciate the presence of 'dumbass pale-skins'.

A puzzling attitude, I thought.Surely the best way to ensure his solitude would be to not shout loudly at passing strangers.

I decided to amp up the weird.Feigning deafness, I wandered over to him, a hand cupped beside one ear.

He extended his hand to me, and as I reciprocated, he withdrew his hand, starting to explain how he 'dont like no paleskin m*therf*ckers', when he halted mid-sentence.
'Your face.... you've got like, psoriasis all over your face'
'Oh that, dont worry about that,' I said.

My crumbling-skinned sunburnt face beamed broadly at him, and he confusedly shook my hand, which was still offered.He seemed rather at a loss as to what to say next, so I turned and walked away.We took our shot of the Monopoly board, and skedaddled with him still remonstrating about our whiteness.And how we'd ruined his lunch with it.

Persistence was quite upset, but I was still sufficiently hungover to consider the pain behind my eyes to be more of a problem.

We considered our racial handicap whilst I smoked a couple of cigarettes at the other end of the park.It had been a pretty odd encounter.

We elected to deny San Jose our tourist dollars, instead making use of the interstate back to Gilroy, where shopping for the perfect handbag happened to happen.And we had fun calling each other 'paleskin m*therf*cker' the rest of the day.

[xoxoxoBruce]

Olive skinned? As in Latino, rather than Italian/Greek?

[diminished]

Yeah, his accent seemed to lean that way.

It always confuses me, matters of race.

When questioned on it, I always put myself down as Episcopalian.

[xoxoxoBruce]

Heh heh heh.