Annmaries Take on the Trip

December 5th, 2006 Warrick, Myself, Sweetie and La Poo set out for greener pastures. Our blog was titled USA or Burst. We left Las Vegas with a car full of suitcases, dog food, dog toys, computers and cameras. Our first destination was The Grand Canyon, Arizona. There wasn’t a whole lot to see on the way to the Grand Canyon it was a mirror image of Vegas to California so we waited until morning to see the spectacular hole in the ground that has everyone has talked about. I didn’t sleep very well the first night because Sweetie kept snoring ( I knew it was going to be like this but I lover her anyways) so I was a bit cranky when Warrick woke me up at 6am like a child on Christmas morning saying “lets go see the Grand Canyon!” bless his heart, I was cold and so tired but gathered myself and we set out for what was to be the best vacation ever and when we arrived at that “hole in the ground” it was the most amazing site I have ever seen. There it was this spectacular wonder that was so breathtaking words cannot describe it, you have to see it and it will speak to you in a way that only you can understand. I know that’s sounds ridiculously deep but what can I say. Mother Earth knows how to put on a show. After two days we left The Grand Canyon and drove to Meteor Crater City and there was nothing out there for miles and it was great, just prairie land with flowing wheat colored fields. We arrived at the Crater and all you could see was this wall of dirt and rock. We paid our admission and entered the building which led you out to another “hole in the ground”. This one was a bit different, this one looked liked a big rock slammed into the ground, it was round and deep! Not much else to say about it but I loved it! It is wild to know that a rock the size of an SUV could cause so much damage. We kept on that day and cruised through “The Petrified Forrest”…We saw some Petrified stumps and trees that fell and split into pieces but there really wasn’t a whole lot unless we missed a road or something but hey it was neat to see up close at the ones we did see and Sweets finally pooped next to one so we were quite happy the strike was over so we plugged along to “The Painted Desert” and wow, colorfully simple with a vortex feeling. That was the first day I felt I could finally slow down, relax and unwind and I knew I had to grasp it because I knew New Mexico was next and I knew that “nothing for miles” feeling would be soon filled with the City once again. I have heard a lot about New Mexico so I was really looking forward to seeing Albuquerque. On our way we saw tons and tons of Indian Jewelry stands, empty, due to the season except for Chief Yellow horse he was having a year end clearance! We were not able to see much of New Mexico, we arrived at night so all we saw was the Starbucks the next morning which was always a good thing. Well, this was our three in one day, New Mexico, Amarillo, Texas and Oklahoma. We had plan to stop off in the Panhandle of Texas but as two Vegetarians it wasn’t the best idea and the way Warrick was feeling I didn’t want to end up on the 11 o’clock news. I think Warrick cracked at some point and assumed all of Texas was like this and refuses ever to go to Texas and I know for a fact that Dallas, Houston and San Antonio are great places…Amarillo is small and all livestock farms and when you are driving on the 40 highway you cannot expect to see the best of the States because the well known Cities are usually in the center. Amarillo was unfortunately disappointing and the billboard which read “Home of the 72 oz Steak” didn’t help. Although Amarillo had the Cadillac Ranch, a bunch of Cadillac’s sticking out of the ground in a row and they encourage people to come by and put their own graffiti on them. Amarillo also offered the largest Christian Cross in the Western Hemisphere and it was huge! Ahhhhhh, the Bible belt begins! Oklahoma, Oklahoma, what to say about it???? Pretty flat, it was the first time I noticed Water Towers! After that I noticed really unique Water Towers all over our trip thanks to Oklahoma! We also found a restaurant that we haven’t stop talking about not because of how delicious everything was but because to us it was just down right poofy! It was called the Waffle House and they are everywhere like Water Towers! They offer really cheap grub and are open 365 days a year even Christmas and New Years…Our bill came to $4.80.….! Something like that. It was right next to our Hotel so it sufficed. At this point on our trip we did notice one thing in common with the States we had traveled through…each entrance to each State is unique. Each State has a big “Welcome” sign with their own special saying which was really cool. I mean I have seen them going to California and all but not like these. We entered Arkansas which announced “Welcome to Arkansas” “the Natural State”. Oh my Gosh it was so gorgeous! We stopped off at a rest stop where we let the dogs play for a bit and La Poo took to Arkansas like a duck to water! She found out that sticks are way better then tennis balls and trying to pry one from her she knew she would not let go of her new found toy. We have pictures of Warrick trying desperately to get it from her because we needed to get on the road but no way the stick came with us and was chewed into toothpicks by the time we reached our destination, Little Rock Arkansas which we only stayed the night. The next morning took us to Memphis, Tennessee, home of the late King Elvis Presley. We set up at the Days Inn across from Graceland. Warrick and I were not too impressed with Graceland at first, the area was so run down and I guessed I expected it to have been kept up like Hollywood or something . The tour was nice but it just seemed downright haunting. I expected Graceland to be bigger then it was and I thought his Home was in a better place but then again he bought it when he was 21 and the world has changed so much since then. Instead of carrying on to Nashville and getting more excited to get to the Gulf Coast to see our friends Mark and Bonnie, we headed out to Alabama. We drove through parts of Mississippi which looked just like a picture out of the Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn Novels driving over the great Mississippi River. After passing through Mississippi, we had our longest driving day which was about 6 hours and it was long so we would stop more often which leads me to this funny story. I was in line at a “Piggley Wiggely” Grocery Store and I heard a man and his wife having a conversation that went like this….(the husband) “why you don’t like him? Whad de ever done to you? (the wife) “he lies like a yeller dawg” it was a crack up, you had to hear their heavy Alabama accents to get the whole gist of it. That was also the day I found the “Alabama Pickle”, it was a huge Dill Pickle you could buy all packaged in its juice and it was good! Alabama was gorgeous, very lush with Churches everywhere on every corner and no exaggeration. The competition was Methodist and Baptist. They were on every single corner! It was a beautiful thing because my whole life I heard of the Bible belt and when I saw it, it was truly amazing! Some Churches were small and some had huge steeples and when you were stumbling upon a Methodist Church you would see a St. George Cross Shield about a block before the Church. “Jesus Loves You” Jesus Saves” Jesus Cares” you name it he was the salvation to the South and I mean that in a good way. One thing Alabama had on their side and they were not going to back down from was when you walked up to them they were just downright friendly and when you walked away it was “MERRY CHRISTMAS” they will not say Happy Holidays! They are people with strict Christian values and they don’t mess aroundJ We liked Alabama, we learned things like “Sweet Tea”, Sweet Tea is just sweetened tea. I laughed at first like “we already have that its called Arizona Tea” but no, Sweet Tea is a Southern Tea, and it comes with sugar not like they make it in California…o.k. can’t argue with themJ From Cotton Fields to Florida Oranges we made our way through to Lakeland Florida. Lakeland Florida was a bit bleak but we were able to catch up with some very close friends of ours Mark and Bonnie who had moved there over two years ago. It was great to see them but we really wanted to keep moving so we left after two days and went to Sarasota Florida and met up with friends of ours Brandi and Nick who are from Las Vegas and had moved to Sarasota over two years ago and they seemed to love it. We had dinner with them one evening and then the next morning we went to Siesta Beach which has the whitest sand and it was very bright on your eyes. The consistency was like flour, you just wanted to eat it! As we walked along the Gulf Shores we saw schools of baby stingrays going back and forth, they were very sweet. Well, although Sarasota was nice we set out to Cocoa Beach and this is where Warrick found a new Wave Ski, he is having it designed and sent out to Las Vegas when ready. After two days in Cocoa Beach we drove up to St. Augustine. Apparently St. Augustine is very haunted so we took in the tours at Ripley’s Mansion and then the Castillo De San Marcos Fort. This town was filled with History and they had a Pub that served Castle Lager ( a South African Beer) which Warrick loved. Christmas is getting closer so at this point we are trying to get to New York by New Years Eve so we had Georgia on our mind and on our way through Georgia we stopped at the smallest Church in the US and it was tiny! It was “deeded “ to Jesus Christ himself, took some photos and ended up driving through the grandest entrance a State could have made and it said “smiling faces and beautiful places” Welcome to South Carolina! And it was! Warrick and I were amazed how beautiful it was, We ended up in Hilton Head Island…it was so clean and the beaches and bays were gorgeous! Its where we saw our first Alligator, he was just lying in the sun hanging out. They are everywhere and they will eat your dog! Not really funny! It‘s Christmas Eve, December 24th..Heading up to North Carolina was a lot of fun, we stopped off at Myrtle Beach for a couple of rounds of Miniature Golf. Christmas Day, December 25th, it rained all day really hard so we spent Christmas on another Island named Morehead Island, a very, very small island, you could hear the waves right outside your door. We had a “Christmas Story” dinner down at the local Chinese Restaurant and we were glad because everything was closed. The next day was sunny so we took a ferry to the Outer Banks right off of NC. It took two hours and the ride was smooth. When we arrive at the other end we noticed that the Outer Banks was a two lane highway with the Ocean on both sides. It was eerie, kind of like Morehead Island. We got to see Kitty Hawk where the Wright Brothers flew their first plane and it wasn’t anything like I thought, I thought it would have been right on the Ocean but it wasn’t it was inland a bit. The Carolinas by far were the prettiest States, driving through North Carolina was everything I thought it would be, trees lining the towns and very pretty scenery. Arriving in Virginia you can see why it is for Lovers. The Colonial Homes and Brick Banks are so gorgeous it sends you back in time. We decided to go straight through so we could drive over the Chesapeake Bridge during the day, which sends you through a tunnel underneath the ocean and then we drove 20 miles on the bridge over the ocean to get to Maryland which we stayed for the night. The next morning it took us about 6 hours to get to North East Maryland which was basically a truck stop for truckers and hunters so it wasn’t one of our finest moments on our trip so we left the next day and headed through the New Jersey Turnpike and for the next couple of hours I watched Warrick’s blood pressure rise. There were a lot of toll roads and we must of paid up to $30 by the time we reached Connecticut. Going through the New Jersey Turnpike was interesting, you could see the change of pace starting to take place. People were driving faster the rest stops were full of people and it started to get very crowded. So crowed by the time we hit New York and looked over at Manhattan we knew where everyone was going. We sat in traffic for the first time in 25 days. The Manhattan skyline was breathtaking to say the least. We made it out of New York within an hour which brings us to Stamford, Connecticut. We only had one night so we were not able to see it really but the Homes were amazing! Mansion City! Most of the homes started in the millions. December 30th, New York, New York, we finally made it to the Marmara Hotel. Pizza guy’s walking the streets delivering pizza’s on foot…corner grocery stores with flowers and lots of different accents from all over. The place was alive and buzzing! Our room overlooked 94th street and below was a coffee house that sold the best Turkish Delights…Today is Saturday, December 30th , we walked down to the Metropolitan Museum and spent a couple hours there and then strolled through NYC to Trump Towers, Tiffany’s and Rockefeller Center. December 31st, New Years Eve…We have been preparing for this night for about 3 months. I remember Warrick and I in November saying “we couldn’t even think about New York unless we sold our home” and here we were. Warrick dressed in a suit and looked very handsome, I wore a long Purple, velvet gown and all I could think about how cold I was going to be. We arrived at Bob and Dolores’ 6 story Manhattan Home and we were greeted by a clown welcoming all the guests. Upon arrival our coats were taken and we were given a number and immediately given a glass of champagne and there was Dolores, she looked amazing and happy. The party was so elegant yet fun. They had 15 servants, a Palm Reader, a guy who would write your life story just by talking to him for 60 seconds and write it up like a news headline, and a Caricature Artist and what’s a party without a bit of drama? Dolores hairdresser (guy) dresses up like Elizabeth Taylor every year was as dramatic as they come and Dolores told me as long as he doesn’t drink we won’t have a scene! As the night went on we drank Champagne and chatted with people from all over and finally 12 midnight hit and most of us gathered around the television to watch the ball drop in Times Square. It was great, New York Style! (if anyone knows me of course all I could keep thinking is that it was really 9:00pm on the West Coast) I am fixated on my own time zone. Well, it was over! Just like that, 2007 was here and I actually made it through without shedding a tear. 2006 was a horrible year for me and a New Year sounded good. We stayed in NYC one more night and caught up with one of Warrick’s long time school South African friend named John Chappie. He lives in NY and was loving it. We went to a very swanky bar and then ate dinner at one of the best Indian Restaurants ever! After dinner we ended up at a cozy bar with candles and glasses of wine. January 2nd, 2007...we are headed to Virginia Beach so its time for a bit of backtracking and it took us 1 day and we found a Days Inn right on Virginia Beach’s Boardwalk. Virginia is so beautiful even in the winter. People were walking the boardwalk all through the day and night. Ships passing in the night and Cargo Ships that you cannot imagine can even float. Its January 5th and Warrick is going to head back to Vegas to get our things and when he returned home there was a change of plans. Edward Jones had contacted him, an Investment Company out of Hilton Head Island South Carolina and wanted an interview with him and it meant I needed to get back to Vegas because we wouldn’t be living in Virginia at this time. So after spending a week in Virginia I was able to drive around and spend some time getting to know it. I had a massage, Pedicure and went to my favorite Fondue Restaurant. I drove to all the Malls and then LaPoo came down with a bladder infection and we rushed to the Emergency Vet , she is fine now but later that night my Television flashed a Tornado watch for the VB Hampton areas and so I called the front desk only for him to say don’t worry unless it’s a Tornado warning which it did turn into a warning and then we were instructed to get into the bath tub with pillows….! I have been through plenty of Earthquakes and I had a feeling this was going to be different. Obviously it all worked out ok, I’m still here. January 12th I am ready to drive to North Carolina to meet up with Warrick. It was easier for him to fly into Greensboro and then drive home from there. We spent the night in Greensboro and headed on the highway 40 which takes you straight to the West. Through the extraordinary winding roads of the Smokey Mountains, waterfalls and rivers running below the huge grey mountains stopping off in Memphis for the night. One thing Warrick and I did on our trip was hit an Indian Restaurant every chance we could. Memphis had a great spot called Bombay. After leaving Memphis I had a different take on it. I guess we were so hyped up for Graceland in Memphis on our way through and having been able to stop somewhere else in Memphis it was a great town. Most of the pit stops we stopped at were just that…pit stops! You really cannot figure a place out in its entirety unless you have been able to enjoy driving around the whole State and being able to see their Metropolitan areas or what they have to offer. Just driving through an area is absolutely not a way to judge a place and its an unfair evaluation. There is so much to see here in America and so many beautiful places, despite bad areas or unkempt neighborhoods, there were a lot of gorgeous homes along the coastal areas and even Washington DC had unbelievable homes, not everyone in the world is as fortunate to live on the west coast or east coast where it is pricey and very alive and Im not saying the middle of America is bad at all Im just used to Coastal areas or living in Tourist spots. Most people are simple and work just to make a living. Its been raining all day as we drove through Arkansas and on our approach to Oklahoma we had stopped for lunch at a Subway only to notice an Ambulance with ice all over, the antenna was iced and there were icicles hanging off its sides. One minute it was raining and the next we noticed the scenery looking very glassy ahead and as we got closer to Shawnee Oklahoma there were icicles everywhere! The freeway was lined with ice and the grass was all iced over and there were power lines down and trees smashed down to the ground and it looks like we had just missed one of the worst ice storms to have ever hit Oklahoma. We thought it was so amazing we pulled over and took photographs and the most incredible thing to see was each blade of grass was iced over to the size of a pinky! It was a winter wonderland and one of God’s most amazing piece of work. The night was starting to set in and we found ourselves kind of sliding around on the highway and also a the freeway was a bit empty it was time to pull over for the night. The next morning we set out for New Mexico and took our time through Oklahoma and it looked like a scene out of a movie….cars stuck on the side, trucks jack knifed and some turned over. It wasn’t a pretty sight and at the end of it I think a lot of people got hurt. Driving a steady speed through lovely Amarillo Texas, Warrick’s favorite State so far….NOT! We saw the New Mexico border and took a deep breath and cruised on through at a mere 6 degrees F. The chilliest State so far but winter had finally arrived, Colorado got the worst of it. Actually, Amarillo wasn’t so bad, its just a very small farm town with lots of cows everywhere. Its not the whole of Texas, Texas has a lot of Metropolitan areas such as Houston, San Antonio and of course Dallas! We missed all of Texas but that’s why they call it the Panhandle, its just a little piece of this huge “country of it’s own”.It’s like driving through Alice Springs Australia and saying this is Australia without having seen Sydney. Warming up in a La Quinta in New Mexico we had dinner at Fuddruckers, a great al American hamburger joint that served every kind of burger even a Portobello Mushroom to Veggie and it was just the best! Well, the trip is coming to an end. Leaving New Mexico behind us and Arizona is all that is left we drove the last part of our journey through Flagstaff, pine trees and snow to Kingman AZ and finally the bright lights of Las Vegas. Its all good. It was a eye opening adventure with lots of new memories and a spiritual journey that will remain in our hearts forever. Throughout the trip, the people were pleasant all the way to New York. But to sum it up and make a long story short….We literally were on a mission to get to Florida for Christmas and we did just that and we liked driving so much we drove to New York for New Years. There is so much more to see not just the view from the rear view window and truck stops here and there. People were happy . The weather was great and we made it safely to all our destinations without any problems. 40 days and 40 nights, I’m homesick for America but not Las Vegas. Go figure! There is a whole lot more to see and many more States to conquer as well as a whole world out there beyond Great America. We drove from the desert through the Mountains to the Ocean it all a wonder at the end of the day its all how you take life in.
THE END

All Men Created Equel ???

Isn’t it funny how the more things change, the more they stay the same… I say that only because I’ve seen history being repeated in a wholly unnatural way recently. Consider the following…
When the Declaration of Independence was being drafted by Thomas Jefferson somewhere between June 11th and 28th in 1776 he included the statement “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” What’s interesting is that during the 17 odd days that it took him to draft the Declaration he kicked back in the comfort of his rather large home on a very large farm that was being kept by over 120 of his very own slaves. Slaves that cooked him sumptuous meals, while they ate meager rations. Slaves that he treated as commodities rather than human equals… at one time in fact Jefferson even used his Slaves as collateral to secure financing that increased his lands and the size and opulence of his home.
All the while, bleating about Liberty and the pursuit of happiness. It would seems to me that the poor British might have been just a little confused that the largest dealers of Slaves found the need to shout so loudly about equal rights. Its almost embarrassing then to consider that it took until January 1, 1863 just 13 years shy of a century later and many years after every one of the “Fathers of Liberty” had gone tits up before Americans figured out that “All men are created equal” included the word ALL that had apparently eluded them for so long. Democracy with out equality, Liberty without freedom and Respectability without respect for others.
Now in 2007, some 144 years after equality set off on its bumpy road across America two Democratic candidates vie for attention as real possibilities for the title “President of America”. Barack Obama the Black or African American Senator from Illinois and Hillary Rodham Clinton the female Senator out of New York. Funny thing about these two equally challenged candidates is that they both have to get over an American mindset that seems to feel that only white men fit the profile for Leader of the free world. In the case of Barack Obama, its not only white men and I suppose white women who seem pretty set in there ways when it comes to bias and exclusion on the grounds of race, but now it turns out that being just a little racist is a characteristic that effects both whites and blacks alike. Its no secret that a certain exclusionary privileges are granted to minorities… “Miss Black America”, “Black Entertainment Television”, “Ebony Magazine”, “Jet Magazine”, “Essence Magazine”, "The Congressional Black Caucus Foundation, Inc.”, “NAACP or National Association for the Advancement of Colored People” are just a few of the many many organizations and publications dedicated entirely to people of a specific race. There are no nationally accepted organizations or publications that centers around white or European interests… such things would be considered racist.
Something happened recently that is in my mind very telling of how equality is dealt out by those who shout loudest for equal rights… As a white liberal running in a majority African American district, Tennessee. Democrat Stephen I. Cohen made a pledge on the campaign trail last year that if elected, he would seek to become the first white member of the Congressional Black Caucus. Now that he's is a Congressman, Cohen has had to changed his plans. Apparently several current and former caucus members made it clear to him that whites need not apply. There had even been reports that former Representative William Lacy Clay Sr., a Democrat from Missouri, a co-founder of the caucus, had circulated a memo telling members that it was "critical" that the group remain "exclusively African-American." Other members, including the new chairwoman, Representative Carolyn Cheeks Kilpatrick, the Democrat from Michigan, and Clay's son, Representative William Lacy Clay, the Democrat out of Missouri, agreed. So when "Mr. Cohen asked for admission, he got his answer. ... It's time to move on," the younger Clay said. "It's an unwritten rule. It's understood. It's clear."
Representative Pete Stark, a Democrat from California, who is white, tried in 1975 to join the caucus when he was a sophomore representative and the group was only six years old.
"Half my Democratic constituents were African American. I felt we had interests in common as far as helping people in poverty," Stark said. "They had a vote, and I lost. They said the issue was that I was white, and they felt it was important that the group be limited to African Americans."
It is interesting to me that Cohen has won high marks for hiring African Americans. In fact a majority of his staff is African American, including his chief of staff… Its seems that once again inclusion is a one way street.
Please don’t misinterpret this last little piece of writing as my disappointment in the African American view of equality being somewhat skewed. I’m all for organizations that promote group interests, I think its natural and acceptable that “Birds of a feather stick together” I’m just curious why it is that there are not more organizations that seek representation for those of European decent on a larger scale. I would even be happy to offer my services as a judge at the first Miss White America contest, I‘m even happy to break it up into segments of Blonde, Brunette and Red Heads... Just because your proud of your heritage, doesn’t mean your against someone else’s. If I chose to watch a sitcom representing six white kids in Manhattan, New York over a sitcom representing a well to do black family in Flatbush, Brooklyn. It doesn’t mean I’m a raciest, it just means that I identify better with characters and situations in “Friends”. In exactly the same way, its simply unthinkable for me to vote a black man or a woman into the highest office in the land… very simply, I’m a white man and just like the members of the Congressional Black Caucus who will stick together for better or worse, my instincts tell me to go for the white dude… every time!

Warrick's Final Word

There is something you get in addition to new sights, rest and large expense when you take off 40 days and 40 nights to drive through America. That little extra something that you get which comes unplanned and without choice on a road trip is real unadulterated time to think. I certainly hadn’t realized prior to heading off from Vegas on the 5th of December that I would have over 130 hours to get into myself over the coming 40 days. You see, when on a typical holiday, relaxing and experiencing something new, what your really doing is Sunning your buns on the beach, wondering if you bought the right sun screen. Or shooting down a ski slope wondering if the tree that’s getting bigger and bigger in your peripheral vision has your name on it. Either way, what ever it is that you do on holiday, your not sitting on your butt watching miles and miles of black tarmac disappear under your wheals while you day dream, fantasize or solve the worlds problems telepathically... What I loved about this road trip more than any other aspect of the vacation was the huge value it gave me in terms of quality time with myself. I don’t think there are many opportunities that one gets just to zone into longwinded and detailed thought processes. Despite having Annmarie right next to me the whole way and the two dogs in the back seat, when your driving for 130 hours, you most defiantly have a lot of time to yourself.
Before I get into the mental portion of the trip, I must say that I would recommend a road trip to anyone looking for a somewhat different vacation. There are a lot of ways to do it well and many ways to do it very wrong. For starters I would suggest that there are at least two items that are an absolute must when your going by road. The first and most amazing little gadget is a GPS system, the one I bought for the trip was around $600 and I can only say that I am a total believer in my magic little LED screen… where ever it tells me to go… I’m there. Trust me, with 8500 miles under its belt and not a single missed turn its incredibly cheap at 600 bucks. The other little gadget is a police radar detector. The unit cost me $160 and saved me well over $1000 easily. I’m not sure if its legal to use these little miracles, but since I wasn’t stopped by a single cop on the way to NY and none on the way back, I never got the opportunity to ask any of the boys in blue if they minded me beating their system. One thing I can say with racing certainty is that every state is different when it comes to the amount of police presence on the roads. When the radar detector picks up a signal it emit’s a low or high “cheep” sound depending on the strength of the signal. For example if a cop were checking for speed along a curving highway, from about a mile away I would hear a quiet “pip” like a baby bird looking for food… but as I get closer to the radar, my little detector would get louder and louder until it sounded like a fully grown eagle screaming in for the kill on an unsuspecting field mouse. In some states like New Mexico and parts of Arizona my detector was almost dead silent. I could drive for miles and miles without any interruption. In contrast, Texas and Oklahoma was like being caught in an Avery during mating season. I’m guessing that either the cops in those states are very keen on busting motorists or because their states offer absolutely nothing of interest they try to bring in lots of money from speed traps to buy themselves “entertainment”. Having said that however… since the only things that come out of Texas are Steers and Queers…. Owning a radar detector when traveling through can be a life saver, from what I’ve heard - no one wants to spend the night in a Texas jail - the prison guards aren’t Steers !
Another good thing to consider when planning a road trip is the time of the year that your going to be going. One of the best things for us on this trip was that we didn’t have to wait for anything or book in advance or get turned away or wait in line or come back later or check down the road or….. Well you get the idea. There is something kinda special about having a hotel to yourself. Sure its nice to be on holiday when everyone else in the country is on holiday with you… there is a lot to be said for public and anonymous frottery. But given the choice I have to go with a little space between me and the next holiday maker. I think if your going to spend much of your time on the road… go when the roads are going to be the least busy, and if your going to be traveling with dogs, go when hotels actually need buts in beds, not when they are in big demand. During this trip we experienced temperatures as low as 6 deg. F or -14 Celsius and we also enjoyed some days where I swam to keep cool. This is a big country so its not like your going to miss out on the beach just because it’s the middle of winter. Despite its size however there are some constants that amazed us in their reliability. We know from doing real estate in Las Vegas that there are some places where you simply do not show homes when its getting dark. In Vegas the area too dangerous to be come sundown is Martin Luther King Boulevard or MLK as we “affectionately” call it. We noted with some interest that without fail every town that we went through on our trip had an “MLK” street, Boulevard , road etc…. and I swear… every single MLK was exactly the same as the MLK in Las Vegas. They were so consistent in fact that we obeyed one simple rule throughout the trip… avoid all Hotels within a couple of miles of an MLK street. Although we only covered 22 of the 50 states, I would say from a safety first stand point, if you like breathing as a part of your daily routine, just avoid any and all roadways with the words “Martin Luther King” in the title. Another thing we found to be very interesting on this trip was just how different each of the states were - from a geographic stand point. We went from hilly and forested surrounds in Arizona Eastern border to plateaus in New Mexico just within 20 or so miles of the border. Then from New Mexico to flat grassy Prairies in Texas, then within 20 miles of that border there were soft undulating hills, streams and tall trees in Oklahoma… it was genuinely interesting to see states change as if mother nature intended them to be separate.
Of course each place we visited was met with a variety of positive and or negative reactions. It goes without saying that amongst my worst three states was Texas (a resounding worst) it stood alongside Oklahoma and a surprising Maryland (though DC was probably the real culprit). My three worst towns were Amarillo (in Texas), Memphis (Tennessee) and of course Washington DC.
Getting my top honors is Virginia, it really sails into the top slot by a long way…. I can’t pin point what Virginia has that other states don’t, save to say that Virginia is special just because it is. Falling into my second and third possession are the Carolinas… lets go with North Carolina in second place and South Carolina in the third slot. Although we didn’t see the full length of Connecticut, it was definitely pretty enough to secure my vote for forth possession. I have limited myself to only five top choices so as difficult as it is to pick the fifth place spot I’ll have to settle on a combination of New Mexico and Arkansas. As far as the top cities go…. Its easy to pick them in order of preference…. (1) New York City, New York (2) Virginia Beach, Virginia (3) Hilton Head Island, South Carolina (4) Stamford, Connecticut (5) St Augustine, Florida. Of course sometimes cities are not enough by themselves so the top five destinations and by definition places that I would like to visit again are: (1) The Grand Canyon in Arizona (2) New York City in New York State (3) Virginia Beach in Virginia Beach (4) The Outer Banks in North Carolina (5) Albuquerque in New Mexico… I would like to visit Albuquerque again because besides looking like a fun town… there is plenty to fill an action packed week with outdoor activities.
Now, as far as what the trip and the value of time, travel and temperament goes. I need to put in my little disclaimer by saying that I had rolled out of the drive way in Henderson looking for a little piece of heaven (perhaps like John Denver suggests, I should have gone to west Virginia) Unfortunately from that perspective the trip was disappointing. I didn’t get my sock’s knocked off, there was no promised land and I’m sad to say that the WOW factor I experienced almost immediately in Australia wasn’t repeated even marginally in comparison. Unfortunately in my eyes there wasn’t a great surprise from West coast to East and back again. I remember times in my life, when standing by a river in Wales I almost had to steady myself I was so flawed by the beauty. There have been places in England where I honestly felt I could put down roots there and then and never want to leave. I remember standing on the headland over looking Warriewood Beach in Australia thinking that I was within sight of heaven. There are places in South Africa like Kysna, Cape Town, Hilton, Nottingham Road and Golden Gate that make every single place that we saw look quite simply second rate… well with the exception of the Grand Canyon perhaps… but lets face it, who would want to live 24/7 and 365 on the Northern Rim of Americas greatest vista… not me ! I am then sorry to report that in at least one set of eyes America does not have it all.
Now having said that I’ll go into what I personally discovered on this trip in the mentally stimulated portion of the trip. I think I can probably be pretty sure that at least half of the people who have followed this Blog till now may well chose to skip reading from hear on out.
I believe that America and its citizens are in big trouble ! I’ve had the opportunity to see first hand what at the very least is a portion of how the other half live… and its not great ! Mediocrity definitely exists on a different plain in the USA when compared to the commonwealth countries that I have had the pleasure of visiting and living in. Residing in Las Vegas for such a long time has skewed my view of America on the whole. What I have learned and then in turn had the opportunity to glimpse at from afar is that the gap between the rich and the poor is akin to the gap from South Rim to North in the Grand Canyon. The have’s have a lot (almost everything), and the have not’s would be better off living in some of the poor nations of the world. This by its self is not a seal on the coffin of a once great superpower. I think the real problem facing America today is the terrible lack of leadership exhibited on the ground floor where the basic principles of right and wrong on which this country was founded have all but left the building. The freedoms that so many American’s shout about are almost non existent. Instead a puritanical dictatorship seems to have taken hold. But the dictatorship is not the standard accepted type of dictatorship abhorred by American history. Instead of having one man standing up telling everyone what to do, the propaganda machine that is US politics actually gets American citizens to vote away their own rights thus empowering the powers that be to uphold restrictive new standards on their already overly controlled lives. The cost of living in comparison to standards of living are very disappointing. Of course because most American don’t have a yard stick to measure life here against other countries, the continued message that “this is the best place to live” is all they hear and all they will ever hear. Unfortunately what they are missing out on is the fact that their lives are only as good as they believe it is as per the American propaganda dream machine. The same machine that tells them to work 360 days a year, pay incredibly high taxes and get just about nothing in return. The medical system is a disgusting embarrassment, but the governments ability to hospitalize people is just shy of spectacular. The freedom’s shouted about are only enjoyed by the very rich or very well connected, the Governments involvement in the average citizens income is historically, currently and destined to continue on a path riddled with incompetence and waist. I would say that the only real certainty left in America today is that it will fall much further before it shows signs of real improvement. The once strong mansion that was America is now showing signs of wear and tear. While the foundation was once strong and secure, the damp has seeped in and its crumbling the concrete to dust. Its walls are weak and the windows broken. With a roof that is full of hole’s and the inhabitants inside are forced to group closer together to avoid the rain dripping in. The closer the group, the harder it is for them to see outside and throwing stones out of the already broken windows won’t keep the wolves away for long. The competition in the form of China, the European Community and India are all doing the things that Americans once did, and soon enough the privilege of having the biggest buying power along with the deepest pockets won’t be Americas anymore.
Ouch…. and all that for just 40 days on the road ! I guess we look through the eyes that we chose to open. I was on the look out when I started off on this little adventure and I saw the things I chose to see. It is with sincere interest and hope that the next trip I embark on will give be a better view of things to come.

The Big Apple

I remember when I was 10 years old... Dad, Mom, Brad and myself traveled into New York city for a three day stay. After one day we took a vote to stay or move onto our next destination early... the vote was unanimous and we left the big city in a hurry...

Man have things changed, New York is amazing... what a city, talk about impressive ! Eight years ago or so Mayor Rudy Giuliani took a no tolerance stance on crime, and boy did it work ! we have been walking all over the place.... at 10 o'clock at night we walked about 20 blocks from a restaurant to our hotel and felt as safe as houses... the city is clean... well as clean as a city of 8,000,000 can be and there are kids and old ladies walking around as if they were in a church yard. I like this place, it is abuzz with life and energy and the thing I have found most noticeable is the shape of most New Yorkers... they are all thin... no fatties anywhere, its as if all the Americans left town ! Its not surprising really though, everyone seems to walk in this town... we took a stroll down to Central Park and there were literally hundreds of people jogging or speed walking through or around the park.

We only booked into out 2nd Avenue, Manhattan hotel for three days, its a real bummer because I don't think you could touch sides of this city in a month of Sundays. Either way though, we'll try to get up early tomorrow to get a start on the four museums that I would like to see on Fifth Avenue on our way down to the Rockefeller Center for outdoor ice skating and to see New York's biggest Christmas tree.

Just by the by, we spent last night in Stamford, Connecticut... unfortunately we didn't get to see to much. Although what we did see while driving in and out was very nice. We picked up a home buyers guide and Annmarie joked that Connecticut was a state full of mansions... I looks like a very well to do State.... we were chatting to people today who said that the people who work on Wall Street in New York all have homes in Connecticut.... go figure !

Tomorrow we have a big New Years bash just off Park Avenue, to ring in the new year.... The party is being hosted by some long time friends of Annmarie's... they are having it fully catered in there home with 15 waiters, 10 entertainers and about 100 invited guests. Interestingly enough Park Avenue is probably the most expensive Real Estate per Square Foot in the world... Woody Allen used to be their neighbor..... I suppose we ought to behave our selves !

Politically Incorrect

“IF” taxation without representation is Tyranny, I call fowl on Washington DC.

We were really looking forward to our day in the Nations Capital, but what a huge disappointment the political center of the “free world’ is. Since I’m pretty soured by today’s experience there is a chance that the tone of today’s Blog may come across as exaggerated. But let me assure you, there in no need to over play the downside of Washington…. Its disgusting !
There was a point on one street where if suddenly a blind fold I was wearing was removed… there is no way I would know if I were in Harare, Zimbabwe or in Washington DC. There were five homeless beggars staggered along the street at roughly 100 foot intervals and the ransacked buildings were either derelict of just owned by long gone absentee slumlords. There were obviously no trash cans… or if there were there were hidden under the trash strewn around the place. All this in the same place where the highest elected official in the world lives. Like I said… if taxation without representation is Tyranny then there is something seriously wrong in America. The village idiot, aka George Bush has found a way to piss away billions and billions of dollars in Iraq, but obviously isn’t interested in looking after his own back yard.
Let me close my little Washington DC rant with an analogy. If you take a pint glass and fill it with raw sewage and then add a spoonful of Coca Cola… that pint is going to taste like shit. In the same way if you take a pint of Coca Cola and stir in a spoonful of raw sewage…. Guess what its going to taste like !
Having said that, I don’t care if Washington is home to a spotless White House, I don’t care if the Smithsonian is spectacular or the Lincoln memorial, marvelous…. When you stir in the ghetto, that’s the only thing I see, and that’s Washington DC.
We, got in and crawled out… the traffic was hideous and lets just say I understand why the President fly’s into DC instead of going by car like the poor tax paying idiots that fund his party. I was especially keen on having to slow to a stop every so often to pay for toll roads that look like they were built in the 60’s so I can’t figure out why there is still a toll required on them. But in the last day I have contributed $19 to the East Coast road ways…. Someone remind me again why we pay taxes ?
Anyway… enough’s enough… I’ll bring today’s Blog to an end by saying that as you know I love a good metaphor… and in the spirit of creativity I’m going to ditch my “Chalk and Cheese” metaphor and change it to “ DC and Sydney”.

December 26th & 27th

The day after Christmas saw us on board a ferry with car and dogs intact and headed to the Outer Banks of North Carolina. After a seriously windy and rainy Christmas. "Boxing Day" was clear and mostly sunny. Compare this to a tornado that damaged buildings, cars and even an airplane in Dayton Beach, Florida on Christmas day... we had driven through Dayton just a few days earlier on our way to St Augustine's. Since it was a two and a half hour trip, Annmarie had been worried about hurricanes, tidal waves, tsunamis and all other manner of potential natural disasters... instead it was just a very smooth ride across the water at a comfortable 13 miles an hour.

Once back on dry land we speed across a very dramatic little spit of land that looked like a seen out of the future on a lost island. Sand lined and in some cases covered good portions of the road, there was next to no traffic coming towards us and other than the others on the Ferry ride, the island was ours.
The Ferry trip was a two part journey, we had met a great couple from South Carolina on the first leg and spent the second 40 minute trip chatting and getting to know our new friends. Hopefully we'll get the opportunity to visit them in Augusta on our travels in the future.

By the time we got to Nags Head I was pretty sacked out. I settled down to write the Blog and guess what... I'm writing yesterdays update today because I got called into a meeting or something like that...... riiiiiight ! (it bears mentioning that since it was going to be a long day we woke up at the crack of dawn... )

NAGS HEAD - KILL DEVIL HILLS - KITTY HAWK

Today was great, we started early again and went directly to Kill Devil Hills... 'No kidding" that's the name of the place. I'm not sure what or where Kitty Hawk comes into play but the name of the town where the Wright brothers took the first powered flight is called "Kill Devil Hills". Anyway we went to the spot where Wilbur and Orval reshaped mans future...

This picture shows La-Poo and I standing on the mark that saw Orval Wright complete the first ever flight on December 17th 1903. Annmarie shot the picture from the launch mark.

Annmarie poses for a 1903 photographer who momentarily is distracted from recording history. In the background is the Wright brothers memorial and hill that overlooks Kitty Hawk.

After an hour or two with the history of flight we headed off to Virginia Beach to see how we felt about it compared to all the other spots we have seen over the past three weeks. I don't know what it is about Virginia, but there is something special about the place. I was convinced that I would feel differently about Virginia after seeing places like Hilton Head and Nags Head. But this place is really amazing... Virginia Beach still takes the Cake. Our plan was to get to Richmond Virginia and do a few historic battle fields and possibly get to Williamsburg. But for some reason I made my first navigational error. Funny how one can travel over 3000 miles before getting it wrong... but long story short is I took the Chesapeake Bay bridge instead of going up the Chesapeake bay.... for anyone familiar with this part of the world... the Chesapeake Bay bridge is 20 miles long... over water with the exception of two tunnels which disappear into the ocean and then reappear a mile or so later. Once your on the bridge your committed... 20 miles later your on the others side of the Chesapeake and heading towards Maryland.

(Light at the end of the tunnel - Annmarie very relieved to be out from under the sea) So as I was saying, we were headed to Maryland... the trip from the bridge to where we are now - Salisbury, Maryland is no where near Richmond. The road trip to get here was very pretty. Red roofed farm homes, small towns, tree lined roads and all in all very calender picture perfect. We got to our hotel after dark so there isn't much I can say about Salisbury. Tomorrow we will head up to Washington and just see how the day plays out from there.

“The best thing one can do when it's raining is to let it rain.”

Today is Christmas and to save Santa the trip, I decided to be naughty. Not really of course... instead we drove from Myrtle Beach to Morehead Island on the beginnings of the Outer Banks or Barrier Islands - depending on who you talk to.

We left a very rainy Myrtle Beach at a little after 11:00AM and its still raining now as I watch the Miami Dolphins play the New york Jets on Monday Night Football. We are of course on Morehead Island as I mentioned... and I'm watching drenched football players in Miami... apparently this rain covers a pretty decent stretch of land.

Unfortunately there isn't much to report on as far as the transition from South Carolina into North Carolina is concerned. The rain kept my focus on the road and for the most part we couldn't see that far into the distance. I can say we took the coastal route and with that came some of the typical coastal scenes... some interesting lagoon crossings, lots of vegetation and the somewhat small but rinky dink towns who's main industry seems to center around fishing or at least fishing boat sales.

Once we arrived in Morehead we discovered that we were in the town that Black Beard (The Pirate) called home... no doubt due to its remoteness... its kinda out there a bit. Its easy to close your eyes in this windy and rainy weather and turn back the clock a hundred or more years... the ocean today is rough and menacing, the cold rain gets through your clothes without much of a fight and suddenly its easy to see how only the really tough and rugged sorts would be attracted to these remote shores. Page through the glossy brochures in the lobby of the hotel however and suddenly Morehead looks like the ideal summer escape.... the beachy town looks reminiscent of "sea side" towns in England. Colourful beach side homes, sandy parking lots and ice cream shops that only a kid could find inviting. our experience though very pleasant has been anything but beachy... the only eatery open on this Christmas Day was a little Chinese hole in the wall... I was reminded of the "Christmas Story" movie where Ralphy and his family sat down to Christmas dinner in a Chinese restaurant after the next door neibors dog ate their turkey. "jingle brows, jingle brows".

Tonight we need an early night... tomorrow we have a date with a Ferry at 10:00AM and its a good one hour drive away... for the Price's that's the equivalent of waking at the crack of dawn.