The Wahlfahrt Mobile wheels have stopped turning...

... 100 Days the road have finally come to an end, on the day America chooses its direction for the next four years.




Obviously as a non US citizen, I couldn't par take in the process of deciding which man is fit for the job as the leader of the free world... However my Travel buddy, Andreas is... So naturally he cast his vote...




I must say its been one hell of a journey of almost 15,000 miles across the 'greatest country in the world'*
There's been ups and downs, rain and sun, early mornings and late nights, beer and coffee, Romney and Obama, endless roads and state lines. But I've enjoyed it all, it's been an adventure which is just what I needed...
Earlier in the year before this trip had come to fruition, I was going stir crazy in my job and feeling like I needed a break. Thankfully I got the chance to do something I've always dreamed off, traveling.. I'd always thought I'd see Asia first.. But in some ways I feel like seeing America has really opened my eyes to the world in ways Asia might not have..




I'll be going back to Great Britain soon, and returning to the daily grind.. I'm sure there will be post-traveling blues, but I'm also feeling happy about being back in London.. And who knows, hopefully I'll be posting on this blog again, from another far flung location..
For now, I'm in California and watching the news coverage of the 2012 Elections.. Like most Europeans, I feel more aligned to the Democratic style of governance... But I have a better understanding now why people here align themselves to the various parties.. But the really outstanding memory will be that of how many people across the country feel fed up with both parties.. It really will be interesting to see how people vote today and what direction they feel is right for America..




Sadly my MacBook hard drive has gone kaput, so there will be a delay on posting all the pictures from the trip to Flickr... Check my instagram for my daily snippets of where and what I saw along the way..
Inoperable to get it fixed once back in the UK, I will ensure I publicise when they go up!
Thanks for reading,
Ady
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Location:Santa Monica,United States

The American Morning Ritual.... Coffee.

The coffee bean, a humble little seed but one that provides the average American a way to start their day.

I'd be lying if I said I wasn't aware of the American stereotype of requiring coffee in the morning, and without said 'cup of joe' the day would be a disaster. As i come to the end of this trip and having spent copious amount of time in Starbucks' all along the way, it's become evidently clear how bad the addiction is.

My travelling buddy on this trip is one such addict, who has almost without fail required that morning shot of caffeine induced elixir that allows him to start the day. I myself was never a coffee drinking until last summer.

I was introduced to coffee in the most crudest form. Nestlé instant coffee granules. This is pretty much a non existent substance in the US. However I was quickly shown the way of more authentic espresso coffee, and even invested in my own Italian style Percolator in order to make proper espresso.

I must admit however, that I'd take a proper cup of English Breakfast Tea (Made in a tea pot, of course) over coffee any day. Incidentally this is the reason that brings me to write this post...

So as I was saying, on this trip I've really witnessed the grip of the coffee bean on the American public. Having 'camped' outside many a Starbucks on the way (to utilise the free parking and free wifi mainly) we've witnessed the break of dawn coffee rush that happens across the country.

The main staple of the America coffee diet seems to be plain and simple black filter coffee... The addition of milk or cream generally isn't a high priority it would seem... It's also the most readily available drink I've come across in all cafés, diners, and restaurants.

I often wonder if perhaps the American coffee addiction started with the Boston Tea Party... Sure that event was more down to the protest of being taxed with no representation... But I find it interesting that Great Britain has remained pretty steadfast in its affection for the Tea Leaf, and yet the Americans are generally incapable of making a cup if tea properly.

For any Americans reading this, I feel it's my duty as an Englishman to instruct you on the correct Tea making procedure... Please see the below diagram...

Tea Making Instructions made with Skitch for iPad

For further reading, I advise looking at this: sub.spc.org/San/docs/BS6008.pdf


I have nothing further add.

Once again, thanks for reading my random thoughts and ramblings.

Adrian

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Location:Americaland, United States of Caffeine Addiction.

Detroit: From Boom to Bust.

Ask most people in the US and they'll all say the same thing about Detroit. once an opulent city, booming with the wealth that was brought here by the automobile industry. However now it resembles an scene from a film like 28 days later, where the streets are empty and the only human life you see are the old and homeless trudging along dormant streets.

Ok, so I'm painting a pretty desolate picture here, it wasn't quite that bad, but it lived up exactly the picture people had told us when ever we mentioned that we would be visiting there.


I had thought, it's not going to be that bad.. People are just giving it a bad name, because it used to be bad... Surely by now it'll be recovering.. That wasn't the case, this must have been the first time that a city had been the opposite to what I was expecting.

We arrived around midday on Saturday, and headed downtown looking for a bite to eat, thinking it wouldn't be too hard and the place would be a bustling hub of activity. It really wasn't the case.. Having found a place that was open ( in this case the American Coney Island Cafe) we got some food and decided what and where we should go.

The sky was heavy with battleship grey clouds.. Only adding to the overall bleak and depressing feel the city was greeting us with. The decision was then made to go check out the old abandoned Michigan Central Terminus Station. I'd noticed this large looming structure as we'd entered the city, which on the outset looked like an urban explores wet dream. Once we arrived at the old station it soon became clear that entering the building would not only be unsafe, but would also be a bad idea for a number of other reasons.



So while I was off taking pictures, Andreas had made conversation with the organisers of a church funded weekly event for the homeless. They could get donated clothing and a slice or two of hot pizza and something to drink. I retuned from my picture taking excursion and joined the conversation.

There was a number of characters there, who were more than happy to talk to us, being that we were from outside the US many of the questions being asked where about how we do things differently to the US.

The tables and chairs were soon all packed away, and we where left there stood talking to two homeless gentlemen with scarcely another soul in sight. That's when one of them took me aside, and began his plea for a handout.

Knowing full well the contents of my wallet, I tried to remain defiant in that I didn't have anything I could give away. The contents of my wallet being two $20 bills. More often than not, my wallet is empty as I prefer to rely on card payments, which had this been the case it would be an easy get out of jail card. So I relented, I made the mistake of getting my wallet out to 'check' what's inside it... Straight away the guy saw the $20....
"Oh, 20 would REALLY help me out...."
"Ahhh I'd love to help you out with a couple of bucks, but I could really use this 20 myself.."


After a little more two'ing and fro'ing I relented, and handed him the 20. I'd initially thought
"well, he'll be able to get a nice hot meal with that, maybe stay in a shelter tonight.. Perhaps make that money last for month.. Homeless people are resourceful"

So here's the But.

Having taken his picture (which turned out pretty awesome I though) I wondered off again to take some more pictures of things that caught my eye... Whilst doing so, Andreas and the two homeless guys were still talking. Then the older guy who I'd generously donated too, announced
"Well, I'm off to go get my drink on"

I returned and finally the onset of rain was enough for us to be able to end the conversation and head on our merry way.. It wasn't until I told Andreas of my philanthropic deeds that he told me about what the guy had said.

The rest of our time in Detroit was spent sampling some very good local bars and cafés. I had a very tasty Baby Back Ribs in a place called Slo's, some great coffee and Astro Coffee, some tasty brunch sliders at the Green Dot Stables and some tasty beer at Gussolines in Royal Oak.

The two short days we spent in Detroit really were an eye opener into what happens when a city effectively goes bust. I don't think there is any comparison to a city like this in the UK, perhaps in mainline Europe.

Location:Detroit, MI

The Daily Morning Shower: A Long Lost Luxury

Less than 3 months ago I would wake in the morning, have a stretch, yawn and roll out of bed and into the bathroom and have a shower.
This is a modern day luxury of life I took for granted, until the 29th of July this year. I always knew in the back of my mind that the hardest thing to obtain on this trip, would be the ability to start the day feeling fresh.
Over the course of 70 or so days, we've become increasingly resourceful in the methods we've used to get clean. The methods of obtaining running water (sometimes hot) to wash ourselves in has varied wildly.
We started off on our first night landing on our feet by staying with some family friends, who gave us beds, a shower and even a hot meal! The next shower ended up being a hole in the ground with water from a nearby hot spring...Which was surprisingly refreshing in the dry desert heat.

Vegas wasn't an issue, as we ended up staying in a hotel for two nights...
However that would be the last running water we saw again for some time again until Tucson, Arizona.
We stayed at an RV Park, and had the pleasure of clean showers, laundry and a swimming pool in which we sipped cold beers in whilst watching the distant thunder storm light the sky.
New Mexico would not grant us with a drop of water, and so it would be a Motel in Dallas when I could finally experience the wonderful feeling of hot water against my skin.Memphis resulted in a shower courtesy of a 'friend' that Andy made whilst there... But we would wait again till New Orleans before having the opportunity to wake up and have a shower...
At this stage I'm aware that I'm not really telling the most exciting story.. So I'll skip forward to Virginia where we got desperate and needed to find a new method to get a shower.
So apart from holes in the ground, motels, friends houses, RV Parks the other venues we've resorted to have been Gyms.
In Richmomd, we were having no luck with couch surfing requests, nor did we fancy shelling out for a motel.... That's when it occurred to me... Gyms have showers.
We rang around and found a gym, offering a 7 day trial membership. BINGO. After a quick tour of the place, and some paperwork, we were in and able to scrub off the previous few days of funk. Needless to say, this method of free showers, has been repeated more than once... Recently it didn't go exactly to plan, and meant that we paid $10 for a day pass.




I write this blog after having had a free shower at a service plaza on the I-80 where we spent the night on the way to Detroit.
There's still a couple more weeks to go, so who knows what other methods I'll end up adding to the list...

Location:USA

When 4 becomes 3...

Luck was on our side this morning... I think pictures will be enough to explain this...



So to recap. When you own a petrol station (OK, Gas Station) it's important to check you've set the pumps correctly each morning... For you see Supreme petrol isn't usually cheaper than Regular..... Unless you plan to operate your business in a style that generates no profit.



Well, we're having a very nice day as a result...


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Location:Exxon Gas Station, Providence - Rhode Island.

I've Come Full Circle.. Well, Not Quite..

New York, New York. So good they named it twice...

so for those of you that have been following this from the beginning might be thinking "Oh, he's back in NYC. The trip must be over".

Well. You'd be wrong. we are merely just over half way. You see the original plan was to begin here and head west like the settlers of old did those many years ago.

However due to difficulties getting an RV/campervan sorted on the east coast, we ended up starting it there.

So i've been lucky in that i've had two opportunities to visit this wonderful city now. As we were driving in back on Tuesday afternoon i had been thinking to myself.

Will i still be as excited about this city like i was when i first touched down in the states and began my adventure? would the other cities i have visited outshine this metropolis?

The answer: No.
Not. One. Bit.

This city is just one of a kind. Its probably the only US city i can honestly say that holds its own on an International stage. Theres so much going on, so much diversity, so many people. I had always thought the phrase "the city that never sleeps" was an exaggeration. Its really not. Getting on the Subway at 3am, and getting a seat isn't always a safe bet.

I've been asked many times these last few days a fairly similar slew of questions now:

Favourite City: see my top 10 post for this...

Favourite Food Dish: again see the top 10.. although NYC has not let me down yet with its food offerings

What's surprised you the most: many of my previous false convictions of Americans have been completely eroded and i understand the american culture far more now. 

Where are you going next: this always seems to differ from day to day, hour to hour...

How did you find 'the south': three words: Bar-Be-Que

Do you hate each other yet: lolz. No, we've been getting on just find... Laundromat antics always help lighten a dull mood. 

Looking back on the last two months, it really has been quite the adventure. i've really not written down as many of the stories and things we've been upto as i had planned to do.. but hopefully i can recall them all from my head before two many brain cells are desecrated on the next drinking session.

This is most likely to be the last day i spend here in NYC, and i'd like to perhaps go down and visit the famous Coney Island and see whats cracking there.. i've been slack lately with my fickr uploads and as we speak i'm only just uploading Baltimore.

I also need to get myself some business cards printed with details of my blog, instagram, twitter, etc so that i can direct more people to what we're doing.

If you are reading this and you dont know me personally or even if you do, please visit our website and although in german you can also follow us on FB and Twitter for more info and updates on the Political side of this trip.

Brooklyn Bridge. Gateway to Manhattan.

No Gym. No Tan. But boy, did we kick the arse out of the Laundry.

Jersey Shore. Home to many things.

But now it's shall ever be synonymous with Laundry. Well for me anyway.

You see, we arrived here without realising the season was now over. So that meant, No Fist Pumping, no debating whether girls are DTF... The only viable option was for some GTL...

However, the G's all seem to be shut, the T's didn't really appeal to us either.. So that left L.

We kicked the S**t out of the L. Almost literally at one point.




So here is Andreas, posing outside our chosen Laundromat... That place was deserted, so that left us with only one option... Get up to as much mischief as possible...

As you can see, SOMEBODY. Needed to wash all his clothes as he had no clean ones left... Hence the 'naked cowboy' you see here.

When I get a chance, Flickr will eventually have an albumen dedicated to today's tomfoolery.
I think it will raise a smile. It had me in tears today, just being behind the lens.


In other news: Next Stop NYC.... Via Philly again..... To retrieve my lost glasses from the gym...


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Location:New Jersey Ave,Wildwood Crest,United States

Lucky You! Lucky Me!

Another Sunday morning, another church service. I'm still a non believer in this whole religion thing, but it's providing some form of routine to the journey.

We arrived in Washington D.C on Friday, and spent Saturday recovering from the night before.

The plan today is to sightsee around the City on bike (kindly lent to us by Matt & Trang).

The pastor this morning said this quote, which I rather liked...

"as I kid I used to pray every night for a new bicycle. I then realised that God doesn't work that way. So I stole a bike, and prayed for forgiveness." - Al Capone

It's a Methodist church we're at this morning so no crazy Mega Church antics today..

In other news, I've finally come down with a cold... Just like clockwork.. My body just can't seem to handle the start of Autumn..hopefully with enough green tea, multi-vitamins and tissues I'll get over it in a few days..

Well that's all for now.. I'm going to make a better effort of blogging on the fly from my iPhone from now on out..

Thanks for reading.


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Location:Church St NW,Washington,United States

The Lone Star State.

Oil, Guns, and Cowboys.

Thats's basically Texas in a nutshell. Sure i could go on for hours about its rich and diverse history. But i won't.

I was excited to see one thing whilst i was in this state. A REAL LIFE FRICKIN' RODEO.

I was not disappointed.

Our only stops in the state were Midland (for a few hours) and Dallas. I know, i know... should have gone to Austin... maybe another time.. but we wanted to see the general demographic of Texas. The white republican.

What better place to go find such people than at a good old american rodeo.

i took 400 pictures at this event.. needless to say many weren't keepers.. but i witled it down to just 68 in my flickr album.

I think this one says it all.

This was saturday night, the next day we went to church... you can re-read the post i wrote about that here. 

The next place to visit was far less intense than Dallas had been.

A Picture Speaks a Thousand Words...

Hello again.. so you be wondering why my map says i'm in North Carolina, yet my last post was talking about New Mexico.

Well, that would be because of a few things:

1. I'm busy having fun and am being too lazy to write blog posts.
2. I'm a pictures person.. writing doesn't come all that easy to me
3. Internet access is infrequent and i spend more time editing pictures and uploading them when i do have access.

Now, i don't want to come across all whiny about this.. so i am going to try my darndest to correct this..

So here it goes, hold on to your butts as thing are about to get wild.

Having left Las Cruces we set course for the dessert.. in particular the White Sands Dessert. This place is home to a few different inhabiters. Firstly: The US Army and their missile research facility. 

We visited the museum they had their.. but there was a whole army base there for those who work there and do research. That was fun and all.. but they had a V2 Rocket there on display which got me angry about how very little was mentioned in the museum about the destruction this weapon brought to London.. and instead it was glorified, as the rocket that put man on the moon.

Next up was the White Sands itself.. an area of dessert that was composed of fine gypsum powder, and formed moving sand dunes.

We had fun jumping around on the dunes and somebody also had a lovely chat with the local park rangers about his driving style..

Needless to say we were dripping with sweat after all this frolicking around in the dessert, so as we drove further East it was quite remarkable to see how different the landscape became...

New Mexico - Lincoln National Forrest

We drove the rest of the day right the way across the ever changing landscape of New Mexico until we finally reached our destination for the day: Carlsbad Caverns.

Having got their too late to enter that caverns that day, we instead planned to stay the night in the van and gaze at the starts... for you see the sky was alive that night...

The next Morning was spent 800ft below the ground exploring the largest underground cave system in the western hemisphere.

After finishing up, we pointed the van's nose East again and entered the Lone Star State: TEXAS. 

The bits in-between..

So i kind of skipped ahead slightly when i posted last about the Mega Church we visited.. So heres the story from the Grand Canyon to Carlsbad Caverns.

Right then, so we left the Canyon early in the morning on the sunday to drive to Phoneix (again to get to a 'mega church') the drive was fairly straight forward.. i was asleep for most of it as it was an early start..

we got to Phoenix ahead of time, and then proceeded to rely on the old satnav to find us some breakfast... this resulted in many loops around the same roads, a visit into a Mexican place, only to leave straight away.. a couple more loops around the block, before giving up and relying on the hospitality of the church to provide us something to eat. they didn't.

As per usual we received a warm welcome to the church..  and found some seats. this particular place was no where near the same size as Saddleback (or The Potters House). There was a little 'meet and greet' part near the beginning of the service, where we got talking to this elderly couple in front of us who took great interest in the fact we were from Europe.

Anyway to cut a long story short, they offered to take us for lunch to hear more about our experiences in Germany & The UK as Maryanne had lived in both countries for a short while. We were truly grateful for the wonderful kindness and hospitality they showed us and for paying for lunch!

Another pit stop in a nearby starbucks before we left for Tucson. The Drive to Tucson was certainly a long one.. and one that greeted us at our destination with yet another storm.

We had found an RV park online that was only $19 a night, which included free wifi, pool, laundry, showers, 30/50amp hookup, and a fruit tree. We had a lime tree.

We basically used the time in Tucson for some R&R and for laundry and showers. The town it's self didnt have a great deal to offer.. upon visiting one afternoon almost everything has closed for the day.

Two nights was all we spent here in the end.. one of which we spent in the Jacuzzi drinking beer in the middle of a thunder storm... needless to say it was an interesting experience.. 

After a morning in the court house, watching the Trail of Jared Lee Loughner we finally left Tuscon and headed for New Mexico. 

New Mexico greeted us with storms on the drive in, but then as we got closer to Las Cruces the weather was more settled.

Another night spent in a Walmart Carpark as we arrived too late to check into a RV park. The following day we decided to check out a local Farmers Market. Lots of small stalls there selling all sorts of food, jewelry, plants, coffee, paintings and more!

After several long and indepth conversations with several stall holders we treated our selfs to a great Mexican style street food lunch.. 

The afternoon was spent in the old part of the town in Old Messila. This part of town is where Billy the Kid was tried and hung. A stroll around the town spending time talking to the local shop owners and also some visitors proved interesting. 

we ended up talking to these two old guys from Texas for a good hour or so, about life in america, politics, their time in Germany and everything in between.. Interesting views on their current government and president. 

Right, so i'm going to leave it here on this post.. i'll talk about the next stop in New Mexico in the next post.

thanks for reading!

Adrian

Sunday Morning Ritual.

Just gona start off by saying, I know I should blog about what I got up to in Arizona and New Mexico before talking about things I've done in Texas. But, I'm in the mood to do a quick blog post, so here it goes.

As part of the trip, Andreas wants to visit some churches along the way, every Sunday. When I say church, I'm not talking your little local chapel, steeped in history, adorned with pictures of Jesus and other saints.

No, I'm talking about the American phenomenon the 'Mega Church'. These places typically seat thousands (and that's no exaggeration) of worshipers into these almost stadium like buildings.

We've done two proper Mega churches so far, Saddleback and now The Potters House.

I myself do not like to say I'm atheist nor do I belong to any form of religion. I believe I can live my life without the need to pray, or place faith in a mysterious being/ force that 'has planned out my path in life'.

The experience so far has been interesting from the view point of someone who's not sucked into these mild cults. I use the word cult, only because I feel the way the bible is delivered to the people is done in a way that has people hooked on the Pastors every word.

I'm not writing this with the view to offend any who come
Across it. So far readership of this blog is probably confined to those I know and a few who stumble across it by chance.

I posted this picture just now to Instagram.



This was what I wrote below it:
"I believe in Science. That's not to say I'm against religion and those who believe it. I live by the saying "each to their own". This morning, we visited a place of worship. I'm hesitant to say 'church' because in America there are places some call 'mega churches' where thousands come every Sunday to celebrate god. My travel buddy is doing a dissertation on these mega churches, hence our visit.. Today's visit I found the most intense so far.. Ive never witnessed anything quite like it in my life. I'm doing my best here not to offend anyone, but in all honesty I can not find any enjoyment or reason to spend my time in these sort of places, or for that matter put so much faith in this all powerful 'God'. This post may well loose me 'followers' but at the end of the day I'm not asking anyone to give 15% of all their earnings to my 'feed' to say thanks for the enjoyment you may or may not get from my pictures.... This has turned into a rant I think.. Well I'd be interested to hear your views on religion as a whole. I'm not singling out Christians or American Christians in this post... Like I say, everyone is entitled to believe in what ever they please... But I personally think that I can find enjoyment, happiness, comfort, relief, and everything else that religion 'offers' in the way I live my life.... Ok I'll stop rambling now. Happy Sunday Everyone. Normal Service will now be resumed! "

That was aimed more at the Instagram crowd, but I think it conveys my thoughts on the whole idea of these places, and religion as a whole quite well.

Well that's all for now, going to try and get my pictures from previous destinations on Flickr then do another blog post.

Thanks for reading

Ady





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Location:N Bowser Rd,Richardson,United States

The Trip so Far...

I'm going to start this blog post of by saying, that for more up to date progress of what im doing, check out my google map here as its quicker for me to write little tid bits about what ive been up to and show the route we took on there.

So last time i wrote i had stopped off in Slab City... well i can tell you know, we're far, far from there!

After leaving the slabs, we headed for the desert mirage, otherwise known as Las Vegas! however we took a rather long detour via the Joshua Tree National Park..

(Clicking the Picture should take you to my Flickr feed for more pics)

spent an hour or two at  most stopping every now and then in the park for a few pictures.. then carried on our merry way on the Vegas.

As we drove into vegas a rather large thunder storm erupted in front of us, but luckily it was still a good way off and wasn't over vegas in the end.

we spent around a day and half in Vegas in the end.. having got a cheap deal on a hotel off the strip.. but the heat was intense. so most of the day was spent either in the pool, in the room, or in a starbucks!

the evening we went out for a walk down the strip to see what was going on.. my overal impression of Vegas was a rather seedy, dirty, tourist hot spot kind of city.. i'd maybe go back for a day or two to see more of the shows they put on.. but i didnt fancy losing lots of money there which will be sorely needed further along on the trip.

We left Vegas in the afternoon and drove down to Hoover dam, getting there just before closing.. but still to late to see the museum.

i wanted to get some pictures to show the sheer size of this structure, but even this doesn't really do it justice.. you have to see it for yourself.. and to think they built it in 4 years in 1934!

leaving the Dam in the late evening we set the SatNav to the Grand Canyon and carried on driving..


as we're getting close (we had set the destination to the skywalk... big mistake) the lovely paved road, stopped. "Rough Road" "14 Miles" said the sign.. rough was an understatement.

we were luckly to get more than 10 mph along that road, any faster and i'd be in a neck brace...

i should also add, it was around this point that yet again, lightning began to make its self evident in the distance.. as cool as it looked, neither of us thought that it could possibly be heading our way...

we finally got to a point where the road was paved again! (i nearly got out and kissed it, had it not been for the fact the lighting seemed to be getting closer). We drove toward the skywalk, hoping to be able to park there for the night and be the first on it in the morning. Thats when the rain started. its also when we saw flashing lights coming towards us.

"Turn Around!, the Skywalks Closed"

"Can we not drive down there and camp for the night?!"

"No. Follow me, and i'll show you where you can camp"

"OK."

we were back at the start of the paved road, end of the dirt road. but we'd driven back out of the storm. so we thought.

I managed to get a few pictures of the lighting before the rain reached us.

this picture only gives a very small glimpse into what we witnessed that night... after a few beers, wide eyes, and distaster theories later, we ended up calling it a night and going to bed.

The next day Andreas decided to go for a jog from where we were down to the Skywalk. thinking it was only 5 miles or so (according to the satnav... which we're sure is lying to us on a daily basis).

i stayed in bed.. however after what felt like hours, i decided i best get up and drive down the road to see where he'd got to.. a mile or so down the road i found him. Turns out now it was more like 9 miles one way... he'd spoken with people at the Skywalk.. a few things of Note: 1) it was $60 a person (rip off) 2) didn't look that good anyway. 3) he'd never have run that distance had he known it was 9 miles 4) according to a park ranger, that was the worst storm he'd seen in his lifetime.

We packed up, and made our way to the Grand Canyon Village, which was a long drive East.

we took a route via a section of the old Route 66. had lunch at a Native America Restaurant (the food was distinctly american.) and made it to the canyon ($25 later) just before sunset... oh not before old Gavin (The satnav voice that we blame for mis-direction) took us via some crazy dirt road again.. which somebody, decided to drive along as if we we're in a rally car... )

anway.. the view was breath taking..

We stayed in the visitor car park that night, and even ventured out at night to see the canyon, with the hope of a clear sky and no more, to try some more star trail pictures. sadly it was neither clear, or no moon, and was also rather cold, so after one test shot of a ten minute exposure (which came out rubbish) we retreated back to the van.

i'm going to end it here for now.. as i write this, i'm in New Mexico, but i'll save the next post for the journey south in Arizona and then on to New Mexico. Havent got the pics up on flickr yet either so you'll just have to wait!

Thanks for reading..

Ady

Day 98 - Laguna to Slab City

Well, i'm a few days late in writing this.. being on the road alot lately, and lack of wifi and power has its limitations..

So when i last wrote here, we were in Laguna Beach... it sure was nice there, being next to the pacific.. well, that was the last i'll see of the ocean for some time..

We set off with a destination in mind, called Slab City.. i wont go into to much detail about the place.. you can go here for that..

Having arrived just before dusk.. and were greeted initially by Salvation Mountain. And what a sight that is.

As we pulled up, there was an old guy named Earl there who we started talking to, who then introduced us to Adam. Adam had been given the task of helping to maintain the Mountain by 'The Trust'. The mountain is the work of Leonard Knight, who sadly isnt living in the Slabs anymore due to Alzheimer's disease. 

Still, we were shown round the mountain by Adam, who also explained how it was built and some of the ideas behind the work.

We were invited to set up camp right next to the mountain for the night, rather than venture into the Slabs as it was now dark.

A tin of soup and a few cold beers later, it was time for bed. However not before a spot of photography of course!

The next day we tried out the 'shower' which is essentially just a concrete manhole with a water supply tapped off from a nearby hot spring. The water wasn't cold, nor hot.. and was very refreshing in the morning heat.

Some pancakes and ice cold water later we then took a trip into the slabs to see if we could find some people to talk to and see what live was like 'off the grid'. We came across the Slab City skate park.. but couldnt find the local artist said to be behind some of the graffiti work inside the old swimming pool.

we ended up talking to an elderly gentleman by the name 'Red' and his friend (didn't catch her name). He knew a good story or two.. so much so that in my morning haze i had forgotten to put suncream on and ended up geting a nice pair of red shoulders...

we finally said our goodbyes and then hit the road again... this time bound for Vegas.. the SatNav saying it would be 340odd mile, was somewhat daunting..

i'll talk some more about that trip in the next post.

thanks for reading.

Ady

Day 99. Van Decals and Laguna Beach.

So we spent the next day having a rather relaxed one.. got up late and then headed back up to Huntington to meet the guy who had done the decals for Andy. After a couple of hours the Van was now complete with all the great stickers that Dave at Style Tech Vinyls did for us. I Must also Mention the great guys at Escape Campervans who did the awesome paint job and also arranged for the stickers to be added!

We then headed south after a quick picture stop at Huntington Beach, to Laguna Beach to check out the place the TV show 'The OC' was based on.

a quick tour around the town and then a little wonder along the beach later, we ended up talking to two girls who were visiting the beach from further up state..

Moijito's and a amazing sunset later it was time to part ways, and we set up the campervan bed for the first time to spend the night at Laguna, before heading out the next day..

Day 100 (pm)

So, after a rather religious and rather different way to spend my Sunday Morning, i spent the afternoon in an entirly different manor..

Thats right, i went down to Huntington Beach, CA to check out the Surf Competition..

Needless to say it was pretty freaking awesome.. people were out in force.. surfers were practising for the next rounds..

there was even a dude with a water jet pack..

the place was teaming with girls in bikini's, dude's in swim shorts and people all having a good time.

it really was a very Bi-Polar day..
















Well having spent the day there we then needed somewhere to stay... having looked for free overnight parking.. suddenly a phonecall came from Andy's Family Friend's in Camino de Estrella who were happy for us to drive over, feed us and let us stay for the night.. Needless to Say i'm incredibly  to Steve and Dona for their wonderful hospitality!

Well that was day T-100 over..

Day 100.. (am)

Today, is technically the start to the trip me and my friend will be taking across america..

It's 100 days till the US Election day, and we've kicked off the trip by making a trip to a Mega Church. That's right, I'm currently sat in a 3000 capacity church (that's a slight guess, but it's big!)



The purpose I guess to get an idea of how Americans chose to reach out to their chosen beliefs.

Now I'm no religious type myself.. But so far it's been an interesting day, seeing how people use this church as a community as well as a place of worship and prayer.


This is my view right now.. The service started with a live band playing a selection of religious themed songs.

I'm now watching a video link (this place is much more high tech than St. Paul's) of the Pastor Rick Warren.

Well I should probably stop using my phone, but I thought I'd take the opportunity to use the free wifi to do a quick post.

Stay tuned for an PM update, as the day is going to be quite bi-polar.. (i think that's the right word?!)

Thanks for reading.

Ady


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Location:Saddleback Pkwy,Lake Forest,United States

Planes, trains and Cable Cars...

So, I've been neglecting this blog slightly because I'm 'too busy' doing stuff.. Which is true.. But anyway I've got a spare 10 minuets before I board my plane to LAX... So here's an update..

I'm now leaving the very beautiful San Francisco... I arrive feeling very tired, hot and in pain from carrying 3 equally heavy bags... And was without anyway to stay initially due to my original host bailing on me last minuet.. After a check online I found the USA Hostels website.. And their rates were reasonable so I went and booked that..l would have been fun to have found a couch to surf on, but was short on time to find a host...

Anyway.l upon arriving at the civic centre BART station I was thrust into another new city.. With only a rough idea where I was heading, and determined not to hail a cab I made my way through the slightly run down part of town, where it seemed to be suffering from homelessness and in need of some cleaning... Anyway I finally made it up the hills to the hostel.

After dropping off the bags and reducing my back pack to the bare essentials... (iPad, all my camera lens and camera! And a few other bits and bobs) I headed off into the city to see what was what..

At this point I'd like to point out I'd had four hours sleep in NYC... Not much shut eye on the plane and I'd not eaten much more than a bagel. But still I ploughed on and found my self finally at pier 39 (tourist central) where I could wait no more and decided to grab a burger and beer..

I carried on further still and made it almost to the golden gate bridge... But the wind was picking up, clouds rolled in and having changed into shorts I didn't fancy walking much further..

Anyway Wednesday I had a full day in the city and the weather was much better.. So after checking out the Cable Car Museum.. And grabbing a few pics of the cable cars with Alactraz in the background I headed off to a bike rental shop..



After having the usual health and safety type briefing I set off with only one destination in mind... The bridge.

Following the usual tourist trails I made my way there and took plenty of pics along the way...




I stopped for lunch in the town on the other side of the bridge where i then caught the ferry home.. And handed the bike back..

I had then planned to take the cable car from the turn around point back to the other side of town.. But seeing as the que was longer than the total length of steel wire used by the cable car system I decided to head out on foot instead...





I finally found myself ready for food at Pier 3, and had been recommended I try out a place called the plant cafe. Needless to say the service and food was outstanding.. Although I now feel sorry for the people sharing my room last night as my farts were not exactly smelling of roses (sorry I felt that was important)







Right well the plane is boarding now, so I'll update again soon.

Ciao for now

Ady

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Ready to Taxi.

So, this is it.. I'm sat on the hard standing waiting to depart from this wonderful English summer (sarcasm alert).

Currently computers are being blamed for the current delay to the paperwork needed for takeoff.. Not being a seasoned flyier this is all new to me, but I can only assume they are using a windows based system.




Rather regret not getting a sandwich or something now before heading to the departure gate.. But I'll survive..

Well in around 7 hours I'll be on US soil and thrust into the beginning of an adventure that will hopefully last three or more months and cover over 10,000 miles of North American landscapes.

I'm no seasoned blogger, so if you do plan on reading this often.. Apologies if it's somewhat incoherent and poorly spelt.. It's just me putting my thoughts down on paper.. Well digital paper..

Adios and Bon Voyage

Ady

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Location:Inner Ring W,,United Kingdom

Time is ticking...

So its now 14 days till I leave, and if i'm honest i don't feel anywhere near ready to leave yet.. i've still got to get my visa approved (which as been with the embassy for over 7 days now) get an IDP (international driving permit) and get travel insurance... as well as move out of my current house and then pack what im going to take..

i've also now heard from one of my traveling buddies who is now over in the States already and will hopefully be able to start sorting out the things like finding and buying the trusty RV that will be our home for 3 months..

I've also created a google map with pins and rough travel times between cities... its no where near finished or comprehensive enough.. 

Well thats all of interest that i can really talk about for now... i would mention other stuff i've been up to in this blog.. but want to keep it more centered around my travel plans.

Ady