What to do ... 24th Oct

After Killington, I headed for Hanover New Hampshire to find a pub and contemplate my route. This place seemed a cool town - a college town - however I couldn't stay as by now it was coming apparent that I has to start taking my journey back to the west coast seriously as I was running out of time.

I needed to see Maine - apart from it being New England's frontier, I wanted to see a Moose. So I shot off (after a pint in Molly's) late in the afternoon bound for Bethell, a tiny place nestled north in the Maine woods not far from the NH border.

From my driving experience so far in New England, it seemed that MOST of it is woods - and apparently I am correct. The woods have crept back over the decades that the farming has moved to the mid west - a triumph of nature. This was the setting for my late drive to Bethell - into the dark woods, where I got a little lost at times and it all became a bit Blair Witch. I finally made it, after questioning what few locals I found that time of night, shortly before midnight.

My highlight of the drive - the road sign on State Route number 2 - Brake for Moose - it could save your life.

To New England...23 Oct

The weather was not so good as I headed east from Syracuse & made my way through the Airondacks, a mountain range in northern New York State. The small towns here, smothered in the bleak weather, seemed so remote and enclosed - by the woods, the hills & the dark lakes. Previously when you mentioned New York, I immedietly thought of New York City and not too much else, but I knew there was a whole state out there somewhere as well. This region put that into perspective as I truly felt that I was out in the sticks.

Having read Bill Bryson's A Walk in the Woods, I leaned that you could see 5 States and all the way to Canada from the top of Killington Peak, Vermont. Therefore, one of my goals was to hike up Killington on this trip & take in the fall colours from this all-encompassing perspective. Coming out of the Airondacks State Park on the east put me pretty close to Killington, & as it happens a reasonably priced hostel in White River Junction, Vermont. After checking in and settling into my room, I prepared for the next day's hike by drinking at one of the 2 bars in the town & watching Monday night football.

The fall colours in this region were probably past their most colourful phase due to the unseasonably cold weather that the Northern U.S. had experienced recently, however the whole drive over from Chicago to Vermont had been picturesque for me.

The weather the next day was awesome -perfect for this time of year, except that Killington seemed to be smothered in cloud. It was, because it was lightly snowing. At the base of the peak there was no one about & it was getting quite chilly. I now had a few doubts as to my venture, and the American breakfast I'd had earlier was weighing quite heavily in my abdominal regions, but I soldiered on regardless and was rewarded with what seemed to me like a hike through Narnia with the snowfall hanging on the branches like xmas trees. The higher I got, the more bloody cold it got, and the visability was almost zero. But it was worth it.

Niagra, NY State & a slight mishap ...

Arriving pretty late in the night, I was lucky to phone the Buffalo Hostel International & get a room. The New England Patriots were in town, so that meaned there was a fair bit of activity at the bars.

The weather was fairly grim (grey skies & constant drizzle - they'd just had a 4 day blackout due to a storm which had uproooted trees & scattered debris all over), so my stay at the falls was shortened somewhat. Nevertheless, they were still an awesome sight and I would have got wet from all the mist they produce anyway.

Leaving Buffalo in the afternoon, I floored it as much as I could across New York State to get to the Syracuse Hostel - which amounted to a bizzare night almost alone in a seemingly haunted old mansion...

An early start on the 24th Oct saw me finally come unstuck via my miscalculations involving the tempremental fuel guage on my van... I managed to coast to the exit on the interstate ...where I climbed over the barrier & walked the few hundred yards to a BP station ... the NY State Trooper who pulled up behind my van on the side of the busy interstate informed me that you're not supposed to do that, but "more power to me". (?)

Leaving Chicago ... to Cleveland Ohio

I stayed at my mate Adam's friend's Christof & Elizabeth's place in a nothern Chicago suburb the last 2 nights. Thanks guys for your hospitality. It's good to see a foreign city via a local's perspective.

... and Christof - keep up the good work in that public school - the education industry needs more people like you!

Toll roads abound on the way to Cleveland - which is by no means an indication of the quality of the road - more often it means you're on a road that needs repairs!

Cleveland - strange place, home of The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame - which I enjoyed, to my surprise. It was strange in that, it looked like an exciting city, some cool architecture & there was the lake front, but it seemed DEAD. There was a theatre district, with shows playing & a bit of neon, but NO theatre cafes or bars to be (obviously) seen in the vicinity. Hardly inviting. The bars were fairly quiet too. Maybe it's too cold (although it wasn't that cold the night I was there - Friday night) for an al fresco type of set up. It was mostly like a ghost town outside - I expected to see tumble-weed.

Currently in Buffalo ... will be off soon the see the Niagra Falls ...

GO - JERRY!!!!!!!

On my last night in Chicago I was in the audience for the recording of the Jerry Springer show in the NBC Tower. It was an experience, but at times I kind of wished that I wasn't part of the spectacle! They can now use our audience responses (whoopin & a hollerin) for ANY Jerry show - if we were good enough.

As it turned out Jerry was still in California - he's the American Dancing with the Stars equivalent of our Rodney Hide - he keeps getting voted back on. So the show was hosted by Steve - the big, bald, ex police officer that is usually Jerry's head of security on stage - the guy that throws himself in between the fightin hillbillys.

I was told to report at 4.30, whereupon I joined a queue for 30 minutes before going through similar security to that of an international airport. I guess there were around 100 of us. We were then ushered into a waiting room for another 40 minutes or so. Once in the studio we got to watch a whole lot of the Too hot for TV Jerry clips and then the stage manager instructed us on how we should chant, whoop & holler & bay for blood if that became necessary. (eg when Steve entered the show we were to shout out Steeeeeeeeeve!!! ; not Steve-Steve-Steve as they do for Jerry - quite specific(!)).

The show was about this woman who wanted her daughter to dump her loser boyfriend (ex jailbird, druggie, hits her, etc ...) The boyfriend turned up with a big bruise on his eye that he got from his partner, so she gave as good as she got, or better apparently. Steve lectured the guy on how big a loser he was, and the girlfriend on how ignorant she was & that she should get her baby daughter away from him & get a life. The mother occasionally took swings at the guy & the guy himself took swings at everybody - mostly because he was being goaded by Steve & the audience. He couldn't win - apart from Steve, a fair portion of the audience wanted to smack him over too. I don't know who was worse - the loser boyfriend, or the audience members baying for blood!

Were they faking it? Maybe, it was hard to tell; they were pretty good actors if they were. The thing is, I actually hope they were.

Newsflash ...

My departure from the Chicago area has been delayed ... an appointment at a certain TV recording studio has been postponed ...

The Truth is out there ...15th Oct

The Revolutioner War re-enactment at Cantigny Park just down the road from Wheaton was pretty cool. Decked out in all the original late 18th Century gear, those guys took their stuff pretty seriously & therefore were quite a fscinating lot to talk to & ask questions.

Had a most entertaining evening, hosted by Govert, the incredibly well informed & knowledgeable conspiracy theorest / philosopher (not sure if he would like this label - if you don't Govert, please correct me in a comment!).

Good food & home brew was had by all & we viewed 2 documentaries guaranteed to make you a little angry (provided you're not a blindly right winged sheep) : Iraq For Sale & Outfoxed: Rupert Murdoch's War on Journalism. Both highly recommended (by me at least!)

Speaking of blindly right winged sheep, I think 2 of the main shepherds over here are in the media - on Fox TV of course. How anyone can take the mad ramblings of people like Bill O'Reilly & Sean Hannity as serious journalism is beyond me! Take a look at their shows sometime & (I hope) you'll see what I mean.

Architecture & Piano Bars...14th Oct

Another sunny Chicago day, only it was bloody freezing! Which was brilliant for the visability on the Architectural river boat tour, but not good for my comfort levels given the thin jacket that I was wearing. It forced me to buy a thick hoodie from Gap on Michigan.

It was a hell of a lot warmer in the Redhead Piano Bar later on - earlier, I met 2 girls in from Nebraska (Josi & Lacey) at the train station & we all met up & went to a couple of bars. The Redhead may have been warm but it was hardly friendly - if you weren't shown your seat by a hostess, a Reserved sign was produced by the grumpy Matre-d bird resembling Bette Midler and you were kicked out over to cling to the wall or to sit at the seats at the bar. She was busy all night dragging people out of the centre of the bar & squeezing them hard up against the wall. The piano guy's renditions were, in my opinion decidedly average, so we moved on to the Kerryman Irish bar around the corner - much more inviting.

My Week & a bit at Olcott...

As I said before, I'm staying at the Theosophical Society's ( http://www.theosophical.org/ ) HQ in America (I'm a member of the Society in Auckland). The campus at Wheaton is set on 42 beautifully wooded (is there such a word?) acres and the HQ building itself is the perfect compliment to the grounds, reminding me of an English Stately manor. As well as the many staff members who live here, I have come across numerous other residents: squirrels; groundhogs; woodchucks; canadian geese; rabbits; and skunks - only I have smelled these at night, I haven't actually seen one yet.

I've been working half-days with the maintenance department (Mark & John - an army of 2) for my lodging & have therefore had ample opportunity to explore a large extent of the campus. Apart from the grounds & building itself, interesting feature include the labyrinth, the unique & atmospheric Olcott Memorial Library and the Quest bookshop - the main vendor of metaphysical & spiritual books for the Chicago area. Altogether, Olcott (the campus is named after the American co-founder of the Society Col Henry Steel Olcott) has been a welcoming, intriguing & very comfortable place to stay! A big thank you to all the staff here for making me feel so welcome & a part of the place. I hope to see some of you in NZ!

Chicago! 7th & 8th October

After negotiating a bit of slightly pre rushhour traffic in the northern suburbs surrounding Chicago, I arrived & was welcomed to the Theosophical Society's HQ at Wheaton. I awoke the next day to a free weekend (I'm working half-days here for my lodgings). Being excited at the prospect of venturing into the big city (USA'a 3rd biggest?), I set aside both Sat & Sun to journey in on the Metra train - a 50 minute ride to the east.

The weather was brilliant - crystal clear fall days, so the view from the 103rd floor of the Sears Tower (previously the world's tallest) was incredible. The usual queues to the skydeck weren't so bad, even including the obligatory security check that pervade most public locations today. The streets of downtown Chicago are remarkably clean - which make the numerous seemingly genuine beggars and apparently obvious opportunists scamming for cash seem out of place (!) The array of stores in the shopping district along Michigan Ave is VAST, although shopping was not on my mind - apart from the compulsory visit to the cool Apple Computer store to insert this blogsite onto as many stylish Macs as possible - I had some boozing to do - my friends Chris & Lydia from California were in town, so we sampled a couple of bars. I ended up having to run to make the 10.40pm train - they only run every 2 hours that time of night.

A Good Cup of Tea...6th Oct

Finally found one! At about the 1st decent cafe I've found too! (Not saying there aren't any, just it's been hard seeing the wood through all the (chain-restaurant) trees.

May I congratulate the Daily Grind cafe in Cambridge Wisconsin (a truly pleasant looking little town) for providing proper cups of hot tea, with milk!

I couldn't stay long tho, as I had to move on into Illinois.

The main news in the Wisconsin Journal that morning: America's Dairyland (according to the license plates), Wisconsin, is worrying that California may yet overtake it as the nation's top cheese producer. It was conceded that California captured the top milk producing position around 10 years ago, yet cheese hold's a special place in Wisconsin's history and pride. It's still a few million pounds per annum ahead, yet the West Coasters are rapidly advancing. The article then provided one of those inane yet 'fun' comparison lists between the states - you know like the ones that appear in NZ comparing Auckland with the rest of the country from time to time. It seems that California is the Auckland of the USA midwest, whenever these matters arise.

On the Road - of Motels & Hunting...

What I've discovered is that you can be fairly sure of the types of services provided at the various stops along an interstate for the travellers' convenience: you'll get the Holiday Inn, Comfort Inn, Days Inn, Wendy's, Arby's, Various family restaurant chains, gas stations, and of course the golden arches. After a while it can become a bit of a junk food/chain motel hell. I haven't yet used any of the chain motels, except for my night at the Day's Inn in Winnemucca, but that was only because of the casino voucher I received as part of the price. If I'm not staying in the back of my van, I've opted for a motel of the locally owned variety - thinking that these would be cheaper & not so sterile - a bit of character. This had led me to experience both friendly local hospitality & a basic but clean room, and also possibly the grubbiest motel in the Western world - I wont name it specifically, but it subsists in Minnesota somewhere.

In Sth Dakota at this time of year, the motels seemed to be populated mostly by hunters - who were all vacating their rooms by 6.30am. There's been a bit of a hunting culture in the mid west that I've seen - bumper stickers & t-shirts displaying phrases like: "Vegetarian: An old Indian word for Lazy Hunter" or "Wild Animals of the Forest ...belong right next to the potatoes & Gravy." There's even an entire cable TV station with shows devoted to showing you more efficient & fun ways to shooting wild animals. Seems the Elk, Moose & Deer don't stand a chance?

Americana & the Mid West ...4-6 Oct

Eventually, I got back on the i90 after Rushmore. I had to boot it as far East as I could. It was Wednesday & a made a committment to get to the Theosophical Society in America, in Wheaton Illinois (http://www.theosophical.org/ if you want info), where I am staying currently by 5pm Friday.

I had a late lunch at the Wall Drug Store, South Dakota. I couldn't help but check this place out as the billboards along the i90 had been telling me to for what seemed like 100 miles. It turned out to be an eccentric mix of cafe, drug store, western museum and tacky tourist trap. I availed myself of their free ice water, and the burger was pretty good. The adverts for this place have taken on a similar cult status to what New Zealanders know as the Bring Back Buck campaigne, with Wall Drug signs being displayed in unlikely places such as the side of London buses and in the military bases of Iraq (perhaps not so unlikelly there).

That night I crashed at a cheap motel in a place called Kennebec, middle of nowhere.


The next day - a classic piece of Americana awaited me in Mitchell Sth Dakota - The Corn Palace is the town's civic center, hall, concert venue, basketball court, & is redecorated every year with around 275,000 ears of corn. A true masterpiece of building decoration, which has been in the town since the late 1800's.

I ended up being pretty sick of driving by the time I got to a place called St Charles Minnesota late that night. I'm sure the Mid West has plenty to offer, but I had to get from A to B and that was the longest straight line I had ever driven. (I hit the 3,000 mile mark in my van somewhere in Mimmesota too).

PS - the state of the interstate in Sth Dakota & Minnesota is APPALLING. I hope my van's shocks recover.

Radioland...

I have come across some great stations to listen to when the driving days are long ... I have also been exposed to a hell of alot more country music than what I need ... although it has set the scene quite nicely in some of the towns that I have passed through. What I have not helped but notice on the radio so far is that there always has been at least 3 stations on the dial intent on introducing me to the Lord. I been preached at by all sorts of charismatic & outrageously enthusiastic sounding 'ministers' (there first names all seem the be Doctor...) on everything from how to conduct business in line with God's will to, to the Iraq conflict and it's inevitable parallel's with the bibical Armageddon. Of course, to really ensure that I connect with Jesus, almost all of these ministers have requested that I assist this through donating cash to their ministry via the supplied 1-800 number. Visa / Mastercard / Amex all accepted.

Cody to Crazy Horse to Rushmore 3-4 Oct

The Irma Hotel in Cody is just like an old style saloon of the West. Set up by Buffalo Bill himself, the beautifully carved wooden bar surrounds were a gift from Queen Victorie herself apparently. I had a great feed & a beer there after my descent out of the Yellowstone area.

From Cody (after spending the morning in Buffalo Bill's Museum - a must see) I began my hike East, arriving in the little town of Custer, Sth Dakota late in the night. This placed me perfectly to see both the Crazy Horse Monument and Mt Rushmore in the morning.

The only trouble was ... South Dakota didn't come to the party & put on some decent weather for me: the Crazy Horse monument (a work in progress monument to the native American people which apparently makes Mt Rushmore seem tiny) was shrouded in fog! I couldn't see a thing, so I spent the morning at the museum & visitor center. It was still worth going & seeing the story behind this hugely impressive undertaking.


Next stop - Rushmore - only a few miles up the road & the fog seemed to be avoiding the Presidents of old. Hooked up with a trucker called Craig who also did not want to pay the $8 & park in the official carpark, so we made a more interesting time of it and went a little cross country to end up looking directly at George Washington's nostrils.

I'm glad the weather let me see the Rushmore Monument, as it is quite a sight.

Thanks Emma & John ...

Now I'm back in front of a PC with USB capability ...
Thank you very much cousin Emma & John for your hospitality at you lovely home in SLC ... hope to see you again sometime ...

Cowboys, etc

Cody is named after Buffalo Bill Cody, and I swear I saw him the other day. Several times.

Seems there is a certain look some guys go for here that resembles the late 1800's Bill Cody style. For real!

I saw Buffalo Bill (Jeans, boots, denin shirt, thin wavy mullet & cowboy hat) ordering Subway, walking hand & hand with his missus & driving a 4X4 pickup. Yes sireee! Then again - I saw an ageing John Wayne in the Buffalo Bill Museum carpark with Hoss Cartwright from Bonanza as well...

Best be off ...

Will be uploading photo's, etc of Cody, its cowboys & so on ASAP, however I've decided that I better hightail it as much as I can this afternoon across Wyoming, East towards the Rushmore National Monument (& the Crazy Horse work in progress) ... see you soon ...

Dead Indian 2 Oct

On the way down the slopes of the mountain they call Dead Indian, I swear I saw the Marlboro Man, complete with smoking cigarette, watchin his buddys round up some cattle. It was a pretty scenic few miles into Cody out of the hills of the Yellowstone area.

GAS prices ...

Paid an exorbitant $3.10 a gallon today in Cooke City, Montana. Probably because it's just outside Yellowstone & they can catch people (like me) who are running low. Across the road it was $3.80! I just put $20 in - in Cody here, it's about $2.50. The cheapest I've paid so far is $2.55 - in Mill Valley, CA - however it's going to get even cheaper as apparently it ranges from $2.07 - $2.47 in Sth Dakota where I'm headed. www.gasbuddy.com - quite a handy site if you know you're way around the State you're in!

Wyoming ...home of Yellowstone

Got as far as Jackson Hole on Saturday ... decided to stay there as looked like a cool town & was getting dark. Drove through a variety of landscapes to get there - arid desert for miles & miles (with those rock formations that make you think you're in a western) to the mountanous scenery approching the National Parks. Got some footage of a local football (Gridiron) game in Kemerer on the way.

Then next morning it was onto Grand Teton National park (I was told Tetons is French for tits, & that's what the mountains are named after. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I like that idea). It was kind of like driving the Mt Aspiring region in NZ - alpine beauty. My $50 National Parks pass has already paid for itself, as Yellowstone is only 20-odd miles up the road. (The parks all seem to be $20 to get in).

Yellowstone is HUGE - 3,500 sq miles. There seems to be alot of some sort of bug or blight killing lots of the trees, but otherwise it is stunning. Plenty of big SUVs & RVs (read massive motorhomes) occasionally clogging the roads. Yellowstone is also a big thermal area - like Rotorua, only bigger apparently (according to the Yellowstone brochures). There's around 300 geysers, & I got to see Old Faithful go off - it regularly fires on average every 90 minutes.

Plenty of Wildlife - saw Buffalo, Elk, deer, but no bears. Had to observe all the stashing food rules tho, as it is Grizzly country. The bull Elk make a hell of a racket if you approach them with their cows - they were hanging around Mammoth Hot springs, where I camped in the van for the night. They can be quite dangerous - there were rangers keeping the public away from the bull that was hanging around Mammoth's visitor center. Heard coyotes at night around the campsite - cool!

Will post photos when I can - looks like this PC will do it - I'm in Cody's (named after Buffalo Bill Cody) public library - so will try tomorrow. Will check out Buffalo Bill's museum in the morning ...