I’ve completed my trip across in the USA in three ways today. #1: I’ve met up with the final friend in the USA I wanted to visit; #2: I stood in the water of the Atlantic at Viriginia Beach, after starting out with my feet in the Pacific off the coast of San Diego; #3: I’ve reached Washington DC with the car I brought with me from Los Angeles. I’m going to give Washington a quick look and then I’ll be on my plane back to the Netherlands. Continue reading Wrapping it up, mission success
Tag: usa roadtrip
Good news bad news
The good news is that I keep running into interesting people to talk to. The bad news is that it leaves me precious little time to keep my blog up to date. For the curious: I’ve only three more days left in the US. Today I will be traveling to Chapel Hill, North Carolina to meet up with an online buddy. From there, tomorrow I will travel by way of Virginia Beach to Washington DC, my final stop. I’ll spend all Friday in DC, getting ready to get on my flight and at 21:40 Eastern Time I will be on my way back to London, Amsterdam and ultimately The Hague. Continue reading Good news bad news
Hurricanes hurt the interwebs
It’s not exactly the first thing you expect to go out when a hurricane strikes, but it turns out that wireless internet becomes pretty hard to come by. I drove south from Arkansas, into Texas where I stayed in Dallas and then Houston. In Houston I ended up in a shabby motel that had everything -except- internet. From there I went across to Louisiana and I visited New Orleans. Continue reading Hurricanes hurt the interwebs
Pickle shots and Mexican driving skills
Unlike the northeastern and eastern bit of Arkansas, the central and western parts of it are actually a pleasure to drive through. The country is verdant, hilly and varied and if it weren’t for the lack of notable cities I could see people really wanting to move here. And from what I heard from aging locals, that used to be far more so. Right now, all the really beautfil lakes and woods are slowly turning into log cabin parks, but many of these used to be diamonds in the rough as little as 20 years ago. Continue reading Pickle shots and Mexican driving skills
Gustav is going to pieces
Heading farther south and passing through Illinois, Arkansas and even some Mississippi and Tennessee, I ran into a lot of bikers. Not literally, and that’s a good thing too, since motorcyclists in the US – at least this part – seem to view wearing a helmet as anything but a neccessity. I guess natural selection doing it’s work on this group because I haven’t seen as many bikers as I had expected and the lack of headwear explains it. Ofcourse, wearing a helmet and pretty much nothing -but- a helmet (ok, he was wearing shorts and slippers) isn’t going to do you a lot of good either, when you hit that pavement at 70 mph. Continue reading Gustav is going to pieces
McCain and all that jazz
Before you read on, you need to realize that what you’re reading was written by someone who closely fits the profile of the anti-christ. All I need to do is go into politics and pretend to be a Christian and I’m there, 100%. Or so I am informed by preachers on local radio, driving from Kansas and Missouri to Illinois. All political views held by my personal party of preference in the Netherlands (D66) are immediately identified with the Prince of Darkness by these extreme right Republicans. Continue reading McCain and all that jazz
Fast forward
The best part of traveling – perhaps even the reason for doing so – is seeing new things and if you’re on a roadtrip, one of the things to see is landscapes. Most of California strongly reminded me of parts of Spain and Portugal. Driving in Colorado, northeastwards to Denver is a lot like driving around Austria. In fact, in both cases I would prefer their European counterparts for their look, though the American landscapes tend to be a bit more spacious and empty, which has its own charm. Continue reading Fast forward
History in the making
It wasn’t easy, getting there in time, but I managed to squeeze through traffic fast enough to be at Denver’s Invesco Field at the Mile High Stadium to see Barack Obama accept his nomination as presidential candidate for the Democrats. It was electric. I wouldn’t have missed it for the world and neither would 84,000 other people apparently, since the entire stadium was sold out. Continue reading History in the making
Like driving on the Moon and Mars
Considering the trouble I had getting through the gutbuster of a breakfast that is Denny’s Lumberjack Slam, I was amazed at seeing some old geezers at the next table do the same. Obviously, they had a wasteline to match, quite unlike mine. But still, making your way through a stack of pancakes, a pile of hashbrowns, a couple of poached eggs, a honeyed and grilled slab of ham, some strips of bacon and a bunch of linked sausages isn’t something you should be doing every morning, in my opinion. Continue reading Like driving on the Moon and Mars
Rolling down Route 66
While driving around, I mostly listen to public radio and local radio. It’s interesting to see how little attention foreign news gets. Sofar, I’ve only heard some tidbits about Georgia and the Olympics and even then mostly to report on what the US government was doing in the matter or what the US athletes managed to achieve. I’ve actually looked for radio or TV reporting on outside events, but it seems that the American (or at least the Californian) with an interest abroad needs to rely on news papers and even then, you have to pick the right ones. Continue reading Rolling down Route 66