Sunday 30/10/05
Have arrived at Maggie Valley in the hart of the Great Smoky Mountains where I shall stay for a few days, time to eat and sleep...

Monday 31/10/05
Well, I’ve just reviewed Sundays entry and although I did spend most of the day driving I shall drop it into the box marked “shouldn’t have bothered!” anyway moving on, have been chatting to the people who own this site, and in conversation it came up that they have been trying to find a local youth to spend a day or so helping out, a bit of strimming and general lifting type stuff around the place in preparation for the winter, as they are both getting on a bit, so I suggested that I did it (Ok I’m a little bit past the title of youth but I can still graft when I need to) and rather than pay me (something banned under the terms of my visa and a deportable offence) they offered to lend me a car for a couple of days, excellent! Bartering alive and well in North Carolina! Spent the rest of the day getting settled in.

Tuesday 1/11/05
A bit of strimming and general lifting type stuff!

Wednesday 2/11/05
A bit more strimming and general lifting type stuff!

Thursday 3/11/05
A bit of strim… Only joking! Decided to go up into the mountains for a couple of days and spend a night under the stars as the weather forecast is good and have also borrowed a little two man bivvy (that’s a tent) from the oldies. Hopefully won’t get eaten by bears.

Friday 4/11/05 (evening)
Now then, I’ve struggled a bit to think of how to put this down not ending up with the classic primary school essay on “what i did on my holiday” which goes; I went to the... and then I went to the…. and then I went to the…. And so on and so forth, so I have written a simple narrative which I hope covers it!

“THE DESCRIPTIVE BIT!”   
Driving through mountain roads that climb and camber with edges that seem to drop away to infinity, then down to the valleys that twist and turn, bent to a rivers will, escarpments of hard granite forming overbearing faces of men who have lived many life times, where small deciduous plants cling as if for their very existence, the mountain sides covered with thousands upon thousands of trees  their canopy’s bound together like broccoli tops in close order, with a hundred shades of green, gold and rust bursting forth announcing the onset of winter and the bright autumn sun setting them ablaze. Then, stopping to rest and setting a small camp fire, watching that bright autumnal sun set over a view not changed for so long to the symphony of crackling firewood sounding clear and clean in the stillness and peace of the evening, and laying back at darks fall, gazing up to black, diamond studded skies with the “whys?” and “what ifs” of a single mortal existence cast into mediocrity, as slumber, takes us.

Waking, to discover a world” newly born” thin smoke from the rekindled fire catches the nostrils and ground laid wet with dew dampens the feet, a walk to the stream, and, with a splash of icy mountain water to the face, time to begin another day...

Moving on up and up, ears popping, towards the mountains highest point with the last mile and a half taken on foot, the sides of this peak giving evidence of the twisters that form and dissipate during the high season with patches of forest laid to waste, trunks almost bear as telegraph poles with just the hint of their former glory in the guise of stubbled bows, then to the summit and pausing to view this magnificent sight, it is as if the whole world sat at your feet mile upon mile of forest clad peaks stretching away beyond human sight and comprehension.

Off again driving north to the Tuckaleechee Caverns once arrived being led down and down into the belly of the mountains and viewing with wonder these unreal structures beneath the earth, caves as big as two rugby pitches and half as high, glorious underground waterfalls and streams where the water is so clear and cool it is a crime not to stop and take a drink, oddly shaped crystal formations, that, in places appear to have been carved to represent a familiar face or well known object, these pointed out by our guide. Two hours later we emerge to another bright setting autumn sun and thoughts of heading back to camp a hot shower and steak fill the mind accompanied by the knowledge that sleep tonight will be sound and sure...

There hope that covered it

One thing I found a bit strange, was that part of the Smokies is a Cherokee Indian reservation, now over the past few years negotiations have taken place as to give native American Indian certain rights, which is only fair, anyway one of them is that no one is allowed to open or operate a casino or betting shop within a hundred mile radius of the reservation , now you might think this is due to the tribal elders attempting to keep their young people away from being corrupted, not so, in a crafty move they have secured the monopoly on gambling for a 200 sq mile radius and so your driving through this beautiful natural valley and as you turn a corner your confronted by a massive 15 story Casino/Hotel complex its completely surreal. Conversation on the subject uncovered that on average each tribal family receives upwards of $100 thousand dollars a year from this enterprise and other associated interests, betting on horse racing, American football etc but this has also meant that numbers amongst the tribe for alcoholism and other social problems have gone through the roof . Simple people need simple pleasures, and money rarely brings true contentment…

Saturday  5/11/05
As am heading out tomorrow decided to have a slobby day so spent from lunch time till late watching American football eating nachos on which I had placed hot chilli and  grated chesse and not forgetting a side order of  jalapeno’s washed down with ice cold beer! Hoora!

Sunday 6/11/05
Have set up in a wildlife preserve some 60 miles south of Nashville and talking to a ranger have discovered I’m the only one here in this 830 acre preserve of forests and lakes,

after a little thought have decided to stay for a week and just be totally alone and walk and think with the radio my only contact with the world, and plan food , oh “plan food” perhaps I should explain , as people we all have our little foibles and some might say I have a few more than most, anyway I have always taken much delight in food , its planning, its preparation and of equal importance its consumption , setting a table for friends and spending a few hours sitting around eating and drinking has to be one of the best things we do, but also for me, the planning as this is filled with glorious anticipation.
With regard to food I think the Romans would be pretty hard to beat they had feasts that lasted weeks and they enjoyed the pleasure of food so much that small pots of mild poison were always set along the centre of the banqueting table and (you’ll like this bit!) as they reached their fill they could consume one of these retire to the vomitairium “unload” then return to begin again just for the pleasure it gave the mouth!!! But vouchsafe I shall never head to the Bulimic side of town. So with a week of solitude ahead that planning, preparing and consuming thing will possibly be the highlight of the day, with regard to “what to eat” have discovered during my time so far that steak here is very cheap and very good, and in truth have had to stop myself from moving to a diet which exclusively contains steak and red wine (which is also cheap and carried by me in 5lte boxes) anyhow as my onboard freezer (very handy) also contains Catfish and pork chops as big as a side plate, I can create and experiment to my harts content.

Thursday 10/11/05 9pm
Well my little cherubs its been 5 days without site or sound of another human being, accept for the occasional wave from a passing ranger whilst out walking, consequently not much to report on things external, but had some interesting time with things internal, thoughts and feelings being given their proper time without the distraction of everyday life in all its facets, a poet, author and song smith named Shel Silverstien once supposed that our lives were like a pieces of rolling cheese with a segment missing and that for some the journey to find the missing segment was more rewarding than the completed cheese. Hmm… Does make you wonder.

Anyway as an aside the people I’ve talked to over the past few weeks have all frowned severely (especially Miranda’s Jeff) when I’ve mentioned picking up the “other” Jeff Mr alcoholic bank robber  it would seem that the country is teeming with dodgy drifters and have been advised that this course of action should not be taken again. Well this just poses a whole new thing, I’ve always been a fairly trusting human being believing that everyone is entitled to the benefit of the doubt and infact if it was me trying to hitch a ride then I’d want someone to pick me up ! When mentioning this to one of the oldies he replied “yes but you wouldn’t stab somebody and rob them, would you?”  I suppose that comes under the heading “fair point well made” So have decided to refrain, but I still think it’s a shame and a sad indictment of our world, still nothings perfect.

Sunday 13/11/05 4.30pm
On Friday night I was joined here by a few weekenders, one of whom was a local man Henry and his family, I probably forgot to mention that over the last couple of weeks the old girl has been a bit sick not firing on all cylinders (it’s a technical engine thing, apparently) this had been re-mentioned to me by the ranger I met last Sunday and I had decided that it would be good to get it sorted  before breaking down “on the road” which would be bad, anyway Henry had been talking to the ranger who mentioned my sick van ,as Henry is a mechanic and has worked on RV’s he knocked at my door and introduced himself. So we removed the 3ft square panel between the drivers and passengers seat to reveal the engine and after 20 mins or so of starting, stopping and poking about we established the problem, some of the plug leads were not working, he asked when it was last tuned and I obviously said I didn’t know as I had bought the van “as seen” accept of course for the basic safety checks that revealed the LP problem(see post “Adventure begins”). He said he could sort it out but not until Wednesday as he was busy until then, so I’ve decided to stay until then, he was though very complimentary about my engine in general the Chevvy 454 is an upgrade and not the original engine which was good as this means the108k miles on the speedo is not accurate, for the engine at least  and he said there was no better petrol engine on the market for this purpose and once he had fixed it and tuned it up I would really notice the difference.

On Saturday afternoon there was knock at my door and a lady named Sandra introduced herself and explained that she was my neighbour as her and her husband were one of those who had pulled in on Friday night, anyway they were expecting guests that night who about lunchtime had had to cancel, the upshot was that the large pot of chilli that she had made was now to big for them to handle and would I like some, my answer in the affirmative lead to the presentation of a lovely bowl of chilli! an hour or so later I dutifully returned the bowl all washed and clean and was invited into there 5th Wheel and met her husband Bob (they live in northern Mississippi and had travelled up for the weekend) , well we started to talk and they were delightful  just good kind people who were as interested in me as I was them we exchanged views on politics, religion and many other topics and i got an opportunity to wow them with my ipod and itrip(see previous post “Adventure begins”) I stayed talking and drinking beer and a very healthy cup of scotch till late at night, it made a lovely change to my solitude, but subsequently their parting along with the other weekenders has left me here alone again tied to a need to be here by the van fixing, and am frankly a little low , with no signal on either mobile or internet and 30 miles from the nearest pay phone,  but I know that in a few days I’ll be off again which is good. I have discovered, that, like all of us I suppose, I do need people even if their not my dear loved ones. Time spent with Bob and Sandra was one of the reasons I m travelling ,ok there the sightseeing the bars the aqueducts and all that, but for me meeting new people I just find so bloody interesting and I could spend many years just meeting and talking to people from different places and cultures I just find it really stimulating.(ok, gone on enough about that Mr Jarvis!) anyhow I have their address and have promised to pop in and see them in Mississippi sometime in January as I will be heading back across country about then. Its funny you know but now, right now, my spirits have been lifted just talking to you all, thank you very much x.

Wednesday 16/11/05
I’m still here with all my solitude and Henry is coming to fix my van this afternoon Hoora !! but let me tell you about last night so it was about 5.30pm and as previously mentioned I have only the radio as company, so all of a sudden this storm starts and when I say storm I mean proper, proper storm the likes of which I have never experienced with continuous claps of thunder that made the whole van shake and lightning that lit the sky as if it was daylight, anyway all of a sudden there’s this high pitched  squeal on the radio that has an increased volume then this voice comes over the radio “This is the Doppler weather centre Nashville we have tornado warnings for the following areas Marshall county etc  until 9.30pm, if you are in these areas go to you basement  or if you do not have a basement lei on the floor and cover yourselves with mattresses and anything that will help protect you “So I thought SHIT!!” right get my map out and find those areas after a few minutes another warning giving other areas, now, at that point something kicked in and I don’t know why but I suddenly thought “I’m an Englishman and if I’m going to get screwed by a bloody tornado I’m gonna go down drinking!” and reached for a large bottle of red wine, anyway picture if you will me, 3 hours later the storm still raging, completely bollocksed trying to follow the course of these tornado’s. Sufi’s to say I survived with the only casualty, my head in the morning. But listening to the radio today there were 8 or so in all, all of which caused extensive damage to property and sadly two fatalities.

Sunday 20/11/05 10.30am
DISASTER STRIKES! so driving down the old interstate towards Texas when suddenly lots of banging and clattering and thick smoke streaming from the exhaust, well as you can imagine I was a little concerned so pulled over immediately. Right then what to do next, now on glancing at my mobiles one had no signal the other had just 7.5 units left on it ,so what to do as was several miles from nearest gas station etc. Did the old mental thing “do I leave it and start walking, but if I do what if someone comes?” so sent a text too Miranda who called me and I’ve given her my details also sent lynne Hearsey a text and e-mailed my details to her (as I know Sunday is a sacred “at home” day), unfortunately my call to Miranda used the last of my air time, so I thought, ok, ill just start the old generator sit tight and watch a bit of  TV so sitting waiting for a reply to e-mail or some roadside assistance thought I just pop for a wee, came out of the toilette to find my TV smoking for all its worth!

Well that’s just great!

11.45am
Still no news, but a kindly soul stopped to see if I was ok sadly not in possession of a mobile but he did offer to call someone for me at the next exit (about 8 miles) so gave him $10 and Mirandas number and hopefully he’ll let her know more precise location as I was rushed before my last few seconds of time ran out, thought about having a look myself but then remembered my stupidity in all things mechanical, and I recalled a time about 20years or more ago ,I had bought an old brown Avenger from Kelivin Gardener (an old rugby club member) and had just picked up my lady of the time Diana Hayes from stonegate station, June, the mother figure had come along for the ride, anyway about 1½ miles into the return journey smoke started pouring from the bonnet, so I popped the hood, got out, opened the bonnet and peered in, as I looked back in the car June and Di were creased up laughing, when I irritatedly asked what was so bloody funny they simply replied through their laughter that I hadn’t a clue what I was looking at despite all my manly posturing! Well I guess another time for “fair point, well made” and brought a smile to my face also.

1.45pm
Spotted a few figures working on a partly constructed industrial unit across the interstate and simultaneously remembered my $10 energancy any provider top up card, so with no further ado and dodging motorway traffic, skipped across the 6 lanes, over the fence, across the field and hailed them, Oh great 8 mexicans digging a ditch! Well after a few minutes of pointing speaking loudly (always a surefire move when devided by two different lauguges!) and a lot of shirrard type stuff finaly got to borrow a mobile phone (which I offered to pay for but a smile and a “no worries” in pegion English made me smile graciously and thank with sincerity) made the call to the insurerers and am now waiting for… Hold on a godam minute the biggest f_ck off tow truck has just pulled up on the hard shoulder… gotta go!

5.45 pm
well, what can I say, got towed to a local repair centre who are approved by the insurance company, the good news is that the roadside recovery is covered by the insurance, the bad news, yes the very bad news is that I have a broken crank shaft which will require a NEW ENGINE! Hoora!!!

They will ring me tomorrow but a ball park figure was, now wait for it, between $5500-$7500 dollars!!!! This is obviously not covered and will completely wipe out my emergency fund (the money I planned to go wild on in Vegas) this coupled with the obvious 8 nights in a budget hotel (from where this is written), eating out, transportation etc,  now the thing is it’s a shame, sure.. but theres no point in getting down or frustrated you have to be ok about it, for a start I can count my blessings that I had an emergency fund and also I’ve always thought theres no point in getting down etc about something you have no control over, weather it’s a traffic jam or problems at work or whatever because all you can do is give your whole self to a problem, work through it calmly and once you’ve done that, that’s it, theres no more you can do. I was once told a little saying that I have never forgotten “It doesn’t matter whether you’re an optimist or a pessimist the outcome is all ways the same but the optimist has the better journey” my only slight sadness is that I shall not be in Houston for the thanksgiving which is obviously huge here and promised much fun. Well will finish now and find a burger king or the like. Bye.

Monday 21/11/05
THE WAITING BEGINS
Woke up in the old motel quick wash and brush-up and across the parking lot to Sonic for a sausage and egg thing and coffee, looking through the telephone book found company that offers car hire for $10 a day plus $0.10c a mile so I think I’ll give them a call and think about what to do, still waiting for the repair people to ring with price and how quickly a new engine can be sourced.

Wednesday 23/11/05
Spoke to the garage who has ordered my engine which will hopefully arrive tomorrow, with a projected completion of sat/sun. Picked up a visitors map of the town only to discover that there’s not really anything much here, as an example listed under “attractions” are The Town Hall, The Central Post Office, Bi-State Justice Building etc etc. However one thing is the towns strange geographical position as the centre is smack bang in the middle of the state boundary between Texas and Arkansas hence the name Texarkana  this gives rise to a few oditties but the most apparent is the alcohol rules, so your driving down State Line Avenue if you pull into a supermarket on the right hand side there is no booze for sale but if you pull in on the left you can get as much as you like!

Anyway as I shall be here for thanksgiving have decided to had a Christmas dinner dry run by attempting to create a lunch of proper quality using the microwave, obviously when I’m back in the van I’ll have the cooker at my disposal also, so off to Wall-mart for some premium micro beef, pre-mashed pots, peas, carrots the old favourite Mr Broccoli and instant gravy granules with an astounding cherry pie and cream for pud! and of course a nice bottle of new world Shiraz, apart from that not much to report so ill probably fill you in on my triumph or disaster on Friday.

Friday 25/11/05
Well what news? Lunch was a roaring triumph, flavoursome and oh so wholesome with horseradish and English mustard, the engine however is not due until Monday what with  Thanksgiving and all, so hopefully will be out of here Weds, today is called black Friday which is the biggest shopping day in the country with some stores opening for sales at 5.00am. I have e-mailed some of Julian’s fiends in Vegas and received a delightful reply which has increased my anticipation of good times ahead.  Done a couple of bars with not loads of success, you see people seem to be very friendly but if you don’t have an “in” mutual friend or interest they are happy to say “hello” and spend a few minutes but that’s really about it, I discussed this with Bupster who’s feelings on the subject are pretty much the same, we did however conclude that the general response in England may be the same, and I must say the people I’ve spent time with I have had something in common, namely travelling in the van.

Sunday 4/12/05
Well what can I say, still bloody here and its been two weeks, done the whole talking to garage thing everyday and have been promised that I’ll have it tomorrow which is not a moment to soon.

Have decided to post this now as in review the last 4 weeks or so have been rather dull and want to start the next with something good as I’m heading to San Antonio for a look around the Alamo and some cowboying.

Time for another little verse, this by Peter Falks who describes the onset of winter and has one of my favourite opening lines:

“WINTERS COMING”
When autumn fell without a cry
And swift and swallow had to fly
When cow was locked behind closed gate
And tortoise chose to hibernate
When bright Jack Frost came to stay
And things got darker every day
When woollen mits appear in shops
And on the mouth those cold sore spots
When wellies in the garden shed
Are lifted from their summer bed
And pipes are lagged and doors shut tight
To shield us from the cold winds bite
And for the first time collars raised
That once laid flat midst summer haze
When balls of snow and sledge appear
Within the minds of children dear
And stocks of wood are piled up high
For fired nights when lovers sigh
Then house proud Jone’s have a fit
And rush to buy a bag of grit
The smell of egg and bacon fried
Makes you want to stay inside
You can be sure and have no fear
That winter time is almost here…

12/4/2005 6:15:22 PM (GMT Standard Time, UTC+00:00)    Comments [2] 

Thursday 6/10/05
Arrived in Niagara Falls at about 6.30pm, parked the van and checked into a hotel (I had decided to do this as there were no places for me to hook-up the van).

Friday morning, up early and out! into the bloody rain, had checked the weather before I left the hotel and indeed it was due to rain for the next 2 days with dryer times forecast for Sunday & Monday which was also Canada’s thanks giving day, I strode down to look at the falls and yes they were very big and very impressive, on Sunday did the whole tourist thing “Trip behind the falls” “Maid of the mist voyage” etc etc

These pics don’t really convey the power of the thing with 34 million gallons of water going over the falls every minute, of every hour, of every day, of every year. One more geeky fact . the only person to survive an unintentional trip over the falls was in 1960 when a 7 year old  boy fell in the water upstream while on a fishing trip luckily he was wearing a buoyancy aid which kept him afloat but heaven knows how he survived. On one part of the walkway by the horseshoe falls you get to within 15 ft of the edge and I couldn’t help getting that “I could just jump over” feeling that I’m sure we’ve all experienced when on a cliff edge or crossing a high bridge but I managed to restrain myself but did have to walk away quickly ! What of Niagara Falls itself? Hmm… How can I put this ? It was completely disappointing! a little piece of Blackpool on the Canadian/USA border.

The main town consisted of 50 or so hotels and motels and 4 main streets each one with it’s own generous supply of amusement arcades, fast food joints, “Kiss me Quick” shops and delightful attractions the “Guinness book of records” museum 2 casino’s the “WWF” experience “The museum of horror” outside which the amplified pre-recorded voice boomed “it’s cold, dark and very very scary !!” well, what did we expect from the “Museum of horror” a warm, friendly atmosphere with a host of kindly fairies enjoying a nice slice of Victoria sponge with Poo bear and his friends !! A warm Mrs Beaton’ esc kitchen feel, full of hot tea and crumpets! These main 4 streets were contained within an 800m square block and there were 5, yes 5! Bloody waxworks museums!! Madam Tusaurds , Luois Tusaurds, The Hollywood wax museum, the Giants of Rock wax museum (with Ozzy Osborne in the window) and most surprisingly and especially with the under 12’s in mind “The wax museum of serial killers !!!!” OK I’m beginning to babble its just I don’t know why it had to be here, ok, yes I do, money  the power of the dollar still sadly is mightier than reason or  good taste ,just 3 minutes walk from one of the most beautiful natural occurrences on earth, could they not have built it a mile away with perhaps a frequent mono-rail serving the site and left the surrounding area as a natural “lead in” to the falls. One of the most striking things for me was the amount of Japanese tourists mostly between 55 & 65 yrs old they contributed at least 85% of the people in the town and the hotel, on more than one occasion I stepped into a lift with just enough room for one more, with all the other occupants barely 5 ft tall, this gave rise to a few giggled words in Japanese and though the language was foreign the intonation was very familiar. As for meeting people spent a few hours at the Spicy Olive a bar recommended by a friendly waitress at the hotel, when I say “a few” hours I actually mean 1.5 as the “trendy” bar was full of holiday makers who I can only presume had taken advantage of some late season offer on a “two for one package” I was until that point oblivious that the shell suit was still in existence and apparently formed part of expectable  evening attire ! Nuff said !  My advise to anyone ever considering a visit would be that 2 days is enough.

On crossing back into the USA I  have been informed by immigration that even though I have been granted a 10 year multi trip visa I cannot remain in the US for more than 6 months in any 12 month period (it would have been nice to be told this by the embassy official in London!) so have decided to return to the UK for a brief visit  at the end of Feb, then spend 4/5 months doing central/south America before returning to the US to do the west coast.

Thurs/12/05
Arrived at Ellicote city a small town between Baltimore and Washington DC and have hooked up with Miranda who is living here with her American fiancé, another Jeff. One of my life greatest regrets was hurting “Tweeter” she has true beauty within and consequently one of my life’s greatest thankfulness’s (if that’s a word) is that she allowed me to be part of her life again which I cherish greatly. Nuff said.

Monday 17/10/05
Jeff phoned me to ask if I was up for some “man time” as Bupster was at a girly party and of course I said “YES PLEASE!”  As we got into his car I asked if we could go to a “proper bar” but I think he already knew that ,we ended up at a right good watering hole, a real red neck spit and sawdust joint, music playing loud and American football on a couple of screens “Oh yes ! I was home!” we sat at the bar ordered a large portion of buffalo wings and talked bloke shit all-night, drinking bottled beer interspersed with shots of something called Guegmiseter (I think) a sort of  slightly sweeter Sambuka, had a few words with a few girls but as so often is the case by the time the opportunity arose I was completely shit faced, anyway got back to Jeff’s place ,collapsed on the floor only to be woken a few minutes later by the sound of violent vomiting, and, moving towards the bathroom discovered Jeff slumped over the pan speaking to god on the big white telephone, as a side note wherever I go I am sure of being able to hold my own or indeed excel at the old drinking “GOD SAVE THE RUGBY BOYS!”   

Tuesday 18/10/05
Set off for a day trip to Baltimore with Miranda, Baltimore is a harbour town sitting on a large water inlet called Chesapeake Bay the region is famous for shellfish especially crab. We decided to drive into town and set off following one of the smaller roads as we thought there would be less traffic, this whilst initially seeming a good idea turned into a slight worry as we entered a very dodgy part of town with many houses boarded up and groups of men out on the street, it was all to reminiscent of scenes from movies where unsuspecting characters stumble into the wrong part of town! Luckily we were driving a 1992 Buick with tinted windows, which I had earlier christened “the pimp mobile” so our pasty faces were well hidden, Now you might think I’ve possibly oversold the whole dodgy area/danger thing just for effect, but, to put it into context Baltimore is just a little bigger than Brighton and recently on the local evening news there was a report that crime figures were improving with only 219 murders so far this year compared with 234 at this time last year!

Once safely parked took the short walk onto the harbour, its got that cool look, the one where you look across the water and tall modern office buildings stretch up from the edge,

moved around the harbour area via water taxi which number many its been a nice change to look at stuff with someone, especially someone with such a happy sunny outlook who I am very fond of and am so pleased she has found good love with Jeff, who appears to be a decent human being.. During my time here I have had the luxury of the car (that Buick) lent to me by Mirandas friend Peggy a delightful lady whom I enjoyed a dinner and conversation with on sat night (14/10/05) as J & M were away for the weekend. On the Friday night(13/10/05) another of Mirandas friends Heidi took me into Baltimore for a night out a nice girl but bats for the “other side” or should it be the “same side” Hmm… anyway we met up with some of her friends, their was a married couple 30’ish the bloke  Eric “top man” was studying to become a professor of history at Johns Hopkins university, some of you will recognise the name Johns Hopkins (his first name of “Johns” and was a family name)  he was a very successful merchant who, on his death left his considerable fortune to a committee of local business men with the express instruction to create a university of quality and that dream has certainly came true but more for the teaching and research into things medical than anything else. Anyway  went to a part of town called Falls Piont it had cobbled streets and a sort of Camden lock feel, very fashionable and cosmopolitan with bars selling “dark” beer that’s bitter to you and me,  it was a good night and got completely faced, their dark beer is very yeasty  and a couple of the bars even had pint glasses,  also in attendance was a couple of Heidi’s “friends” one of whom was already fairly drunk a skinny enimic looking girl called Sarah, in doing my duty to God and the Queen (no pun intended) I thought it proper to get a round in, on asking the thin bloodless one what she would like she replied “vis duzzn’t mean you can tek me home” to which I promptley replied “off course not ! I have a penis you know!” like many of my mates I have met many lesbians in my life they’re usually very very very attractive and can be found  late at night in clubs and pubs, well… they must be lesbians?!!!

Woke up on Heidi’s sofa with a cracking hangover and after a sausage and egg McMuffin (essential in such hangover cases) drove back to the van avoiding the Baltimore marathon which had started at 8am that morning , spent the rest off the day being good to myself (no lads, that not a metaphor for masturbation!). 
 
Thursday 20/10/05
Drove into Washington DC for a days sight seeing with Bupster (Miranda) found a dodgy rough roadside car park for $15 a day (about £8.50) which is pretty dam good for the capital. CHRIST! have I sunk into middle age without noticing and feel compelled to mention the price of parking (note to self: always be on guard against onset of middle age!) Well, I have to hand it to the yanks they do have the old monument thing really sorted not only in their stature but also proximity, imagine if you will looking at a crucifix from above, well at the bottom of it you’ve got the US capital building, in the centre the Washington monument at the top the Lincoln Memorial on the left hand end the Jefferson memorial and on the right the White House, and on the edge of each side of the main stretch are the museums.

Whilst outside the White house we watched as a cavalcade of  police motor cycles , 4x4’s and semi-armoured vehicles sped into the gates the outriders stopping traffic as it came, and it was “HIM”’ ol’GW (confirmed by a mounted cop standing guard, but that wasn’t the end of it about 2 hours later as we sat by the Washington monument one of those big presidential helicopters appeared in the sky and set down on the lawn in front of the White house, where it sat for a few minutes rotors turning, we then noticed two more of these whirring monsters circling the skies above, a few minutes later the two airborne copters flew a pattern that brought them to either flank of the White house coming straight at us, and, as they passed the presidential building the one carrying “HIM”  lifted into the air and moved out forming a skybound triangle passing no more than 100 ft directly over us, excellent! I got that whole Dan Dare/Boys own feeling!

Monday 24/10/05
Was taken to Annapolis by J&M another smaller harbour town on Chesapeak Bay  the main purpose of our visit was to sample crab , we went into a restaurant and ordered 24 crabs , 1lb of steamed shrimp and 2 dozen oysters (oysters if you didn’t know are always served in baker’s dozens, that’s 13) well the oyster has never been my favourite fare but obviously had to do the whole manly thing and I must say they were very good, especially if accompanied buy a little horseradish sauce. As for the crab, now don’t get me wrong crab meat is nice, I like it, but what I found pointless was the whole business and work involved in getting to it! Cracking off the legs, smashing and twisting claws, holding the main body of the creature between the palms and forcing it apart then scraping out the guts (I love that word!) then cracking it in half and then! cracking each half open to reveal a piece of meat no bigger than your thumb! I guess of the 10 or so crabs I ate the total meat would barely fill an empty backed bean can! But as Jeff said it is a very social way to eat with a big tray of steamed crabs in the middle of a table with everyone just dipping in, and I am great full that he took the time to let me have the experience.

Wednesday 26/10/05
Will be leaving here in the morning and heading off for a few days driving south towards Nashville and on southwest towards Texas where warmer climes await as Autumn is well on the way with the forecast for frost in the northern areas of Maryland. I’ve had a great time here and its been nice to have had company, I do feel like I’ve been a bit of a tourist for the last 3 weeks or so and am looking forward to being back in the countryside again, also haven’t worn shorts for 4 weeks which really wont do…

Friday 28/10/05
Arrived at a site on the shores of the Piankatank River, this site belongs to the group that I signed up for when I purchased the van, it has all the usual stuff but also a spa , had only intended to stay for 1 night but on my arrival was handed a “Halloween Weekend Events” flyer which included an item entitled “Pet costume contest” well I just had to stay! how could I miss the opportunity to see at first hand this plunge into canine insanity.   Now then, the whole Americans and their “dog rat” thing, they’re obsessed by these little yapping pieces of fury pointlessness, with every conceivable breed in evidence from Deusthound to Shiatsu they’re everywhere, and for 85% of the time the owners carry them, they don’t even get to use there legs, possibly for fear of getting dirty, heaven forbid!  Anyway as show time neared I made my way to the pavilion full of expectation, and I was certainly not disappointed there were about 30 contestants each with their pooch dressed in various getups, as I walked amongst them the general hubbub and excitement was nearly to much for me! I had brought my camera to take a few snaps of this fury rat fest, but initially  I found myself trying very hard not to laugh out loud as these icons of the simple minded were paraded around in front of 3 judges the owners doing there level best to make little Mitsy etc walk nicely. Anyway after much debate and another 3 walk rounds the head judge stood and announce the 3rd and 2nd place with people cheering and applauding rapturously! Then, the moment had come the winner was… Birty! Yes little sausage dog Birty had done it! As his owner moved forward (Birty tucked neatly under one arm) I noticed something rather odd, our little friend Birty was dressed as a cowdog, with his little cowdog trousers a small gun belt with 2 miniature 6 shooters, waistcoat and cowdog hat perched at a jaunty angle on his head. Now, forgive me for being a bit picky but wasn’t this a “Halloween” fancy dress contest? with every other contestant got up as a witch or at least something proporting to be a little scary. It was, for me at least, the perfect absurd end to a perfectly absurd event!

Halloween here is equal to the 4th July the whole country really gets into it with people decorating their houses and stuff , on the site it was much the same chatting to a few people they confirmed that quite a few groups of friends and family congregate at  sites such as these for the weekend and indeed this could be seen, as walking around at night camp fires blazed with people sat around drinking beer and talking it had a bit of a music festival feeling and was really nice.

Not withstanding the dog rat thing my 3 days here have been very cool and the river and surrounding area are very beautiful indeed, and so tomorrow (Sunday 30/10/05) will head for the Great Smoky Mountains for a week of natural stuff.

God was that it! October come and gone, oh well they do say time flies when your having fun, till next time take much care x.
        
Poem of the month

As Mary Oliver’s piece was possibly a little heavy (but good) thought I’d lighten it a bit, this is a little ditty from Anthony Sykes who describes me, (or rather a man like me) while out drunk with Jeff trying to pull while shit faced! And aptly called…

“NO CHANCE”

That letching look
That gaze of lust
That need for someone
That need or bust
The incoherence,
Control misplaced
With time elapsing,
He’s losing the race
His speech is clumsy,
His text unfound
Involuntary swaying?
He’s run aground
His time is passing,
He’s losing the thread
His time is passing
His intention near dead
But his jokes are unfunny
With a tumbleweed pause
And his drunk execution
Is so full of flaws
He’ll smile to please her,
But he’s really a fake
He’ll do just about anything
If shell give him a break
Perseverance his watch word,
He’s tied to the cause
But she’s leaving his presence,
With no sound of… Applause

11/19/2005 3:55:29 PM (GMT Standard Time, UTC+00:00)    Comments [0] 

“THE ADVENTURE BEGINS”

Greeting and welcome to the first of my” reports from across the pond” Firstly thanks to Julain for this Blog (whatever that means?)

Ok so lets go back way back to the departure lounge at Gatwick arrived at 6.30 am bought a copy of the Times, ordered my full English and waited for my departure time happy in the knowledge I had an emergency exit seat with lots of legroom, sitting their I plugged in the ‘ol iPod  and flicking through came across Vivaldi (the four seasons) and the opening movement appealed to me as it has always engendered a feeling of new and bold beginnings full of the promise of adventure. Ok so that’s probably a little anal but frankly I don’t give a toss. Its funny how you think of stuff at times of change, I have always believed that we do not take enough time to properly value the people we love and so over the past few weeks I have tried to remember this and at times when in the company of those “loved ones” I have taken a moment to quietly stand back and watch and savour those people, the conclusion of my observations is (and I have always known this) that I am so very fortunate to have those people and their love, I know sometimes its difficult to remember to take the time, its like trying to remember to drink less tea or eat less pies (Bradders!) but we should all try to remember now and again as it is such good food for the soul. So, sat in the departure lounge of this very English airport, home of the economy airline, the chav and the stag party where the fun begins on arriving for a 7.30 flight to Dublin (or some similar destination) for a few days and heading straight for the bar for that early morning out of the ordinary pint which brings the promise of much fun, and later, vomiting.

Newark international airport

Have just arrived at my transfer destination was waiting for that assumed grilling at immigration but the best thing happened, the bloke in front of me who I think was Egyptian or something didn’t speak very good English and there seemed to be a problem with his papers so the official asked for the man to follow him to a supervisors area well the bloke patiently didn’t understand as he walked straight up to an adjacent door and opened it the door being labelled “Maintenance personnel only”  he was shouted at by the official and led to the correct area, perfect, so as I approached the area I opened my greeting with “Has he come to fix the heating” now this comment was obviously designed to give me and the official some common ground even if it was wholly unfair on the Egyptian, but I was tired and it worked so I sailed through and even got a “Have a nice trip” for my trouble.

Orlando

Landed at 8.30 US time 2.30am UK time went to motel and slept, the following morning I picked up my hire car and drove the 80 miles to lazydays which is the biggest RV (Recreational vehicle) centre in the world with a 150 acre site containing row upon row of coaches (the US for camper) with my trusty salesman Lee Perella showing me the way, after a little time I scored myself a 29ft Coachman with back bedroom ,bathroom and galley kitchen that can sleep six, ok so perhaps my estimation of how many US women I can talk into it at any one time maybe a bit on the high side but a blokes got to have dreams & to be honest my first intention is to travel and see stuff and not just go on a USA shagfest not to say if the opportunity arrises that I shant be taking advantage of it ! So there’s me and Lee out for a test drive when he pulls over and says “why don’t you take her for a while?” now appreciate if you will, that this thing is not only 29ft long and 10ft high but 9ft wide. But in the true tradition of the bloke bullshitter I gave him the ol’ line about having driven similar sized vans in the UK whilst straddling the beast, any way off we go, hmm, yes, not to bad, starting to get the old trucker feel, just me and my rig on the open road, chatting with Lee in a very relaxed “It’s ok everyone I’m in control” sort of way. Then with a combination of overconfidence and cocksureness drifted to the right and wiped out 3 mail boxes, at about this time Lee had also seen me heading for the boxes and hurriedly said “mi ou bos mr Ja “now what he wanted to say was “mind out for those mail boxes mr Jarvis” but as we all know when your trying to say to many words for the time avaiable you cant really rely on anything that comes out. I must however give Lee his due; he was obviously concerned about 1. The mail boxes 2. Damage to his product & 3.making a sale, he managed to craft his tone from a mixture of worry and frustration into an “Oh you rascal, Ha! Ha! “ sort of feel, later trying to reassure me that to mend them would be an easy job and that it “happens all the time” consequently he got a deal!

I’m now waiting for the whole money thing to be sorted and have taken a room in a motel for a few nights. I’ve started to wander around the local Wallmart superstore which apart from a plug adaptor for UK>US sells pretty much everything and starting to consider my first trip which I think will be up the eastern seaboard (east coast) on interstate 95 (it’s a motorway) the plan is to drive the 1800 miles or so up towards the great lakes then work my way down and around following the warn weather, I’ve got to say that although I’ve only been here 3 days the people are really friendly, even if your just wandering round Wallmart and you meet another shopper in “your isle” they smile and say hello not even knowing I’m a pom. Have always had the theory that attitude is directly attributable to climate these are, in the main happy sunny people with a fairly good outlook on stuff. I am wondering if this will change the further north I get, we’ll see.

Tues 6/9/05

Arrived back at Lazydays to pick up my RV just waiting for all the final bits & pieces to be finished off, when there ready I will apparently be given a walk through so I can become accustomed to all the stuff that goes on ie how to “hook up” and “visit the dump stations” Hmm… dump stations I think it sounds like it means ! Been shopping this morning for all those things a good “home on the go “ should have, in all truth I did use this to speak to a rather attractive women in Wallmart by marching up to her and announcing “I need a woman !” I then went on to explain that I had to kit out my RV and thought she could help me form a list and shop for those items falling under the heading “Domestic supplies”, she obliged but no action as within 3 mins she’d mentioned a husband etc and I thought it might be a little harsh to ask her to find me an attractive single assistant. Well any general observations to report? Yes the whole “fat American” thing, I know iv only been here just under a week but from what iv seen there are quite a few fatties but there are also a good covering of thinnies I think the difference is that the fatties are quite a bit fatter than those in the uk so there proliferation appears greater.

Weds 7/9/05

Woke up in the motel again this morning, while doing the routine checks the dealership discovered a leak in the LP (Liquid Propane) system, so they quite rightly kept it for another night to make sure all was safe. Hoping to finally get on the road today, but watching the weather on the TV there would appear to be a tropical storm (Ophelia) approaching the east coast of Florida which is not only directly in my way for heading north but may turn into a hurricane ! Hoorraah !!  By purchasing a vehicle from lazydays I get to spend a few free days in a site of my choice so I can at least get a handle on the whole way of life thing and finally properly rub shoulders with some real Americans. I am as a you might imagine straining at the bit just to get on the road. Oh well hopefully next time I write I would have achieved that at least. Still Weds 7/9/05 but sometimes having the odd delay is very beneficial you see as iv been stranded waiting and iv had time for another look through the gumf they gave me in exchange for my purchase not only do I get a few free days at a camp ground but also 3 months free at a group called Thousand Trails 152 sites, plus for $478.00 I get all year membership plus a rate of $8.00 per night at Royal Park International parks and there are over 350 of those, this basically means I can probably just about afford to stay on proper RV sites for most of the time and yes these sites are close to all I want to see and also are on shorelines and in mountain ranges etc  the good thing is it still lets me be free if I want a few days/nights just alone somewhere, by the way the one off initial joining fee for these resort companies amounts to over $8500.00  which is covered by lazydays, this might seem like a big benefit to me who only paid just over that for my vehicle but there are a lot of coaches here that are upwards of $500,000.00 and they sell between 350-750 a month dependent on the season so I guess iv got the big spenders to thank !!  So my only concern leading on from my free RV sites is that they are probably designed for the serious RV’er with the plush new coach, my rig as you might expect somewhat follows the line of myself , a little older and a bit knocked about around the edges, still hopefully when they hear the old accent they’ll move there opinions from trailer trash to English eccentric , and do you know what, I think they will ! just sitting here iv hatched a great plan “Behold the majic of the iPOD/iTRIP” as the IPod is still relatively new I can wow them with its massive memory and then for my piest de resistance the ITrip (with love and thanks to BK & CB for both technologies) this piece of modern witchcraft allows me to play my ipod music through my vehical radio (yes Claire you would have been impressed, as I down loaded and set up all on my own obviously confirming that necessity is indeed the mother of invention !) the thought of it returned my mind to an old film “A Kenkucky yankee in King Aurthers court” starring Danny Kaye where he was transported back to medieval times and just as he was about to be beheaded worked out that there was an eclipse imminent ,so he vowed to cast Authers kingdom into darkness unless he was released! Needless to say the plan worked perfectly, so with the same bedazzlement in mind in years to come we may see a sequel perhaps entitled “A sussex trickster does the yanks!”

Although I cant see Spielberg reaching for the phone ! god the old mind certainly ran away that time ,but I liked it! Just been told the old bus will be ready for me in the delivery site at 5 pm, I have, as previously mentioned already begun to assemble the belongings of a good camper and am hoping Wallmart will open until late tonight so I may finish my purchasing as this will give me more time tomorrow as the luxury of my hire car runs out.

Thursday 8/9/05 5.50pm

MADE IT! yes its 5.50 its Thursday and im finally sorted all provisions are stored away itrip laying down some Wild Wood in the van and im just contemplating my first “in house shower” I may however wait until the morning when I shall attempt my first morning exercise hour, the thing is that luckily I know myself fairly well and I always function the best when there’s a little routine in my life so what better routine than one of exercise . Will finish now and take that first shower then the old tuna salad ,you see I do like me ‘ol routine! Well that was it and I gotta say it was quite good plenty of  gushing water being carefull to just get wet then larther up then on again to rinse. I didn’t mention that today I had my “Walk through” where a member of staff takes you through the whole vehicle and iv got to say I was rather impressed by the old bus as its all designed to be really self sufficient it has its own water heater, water pump, the toilet flushes properly (this was one of my biggest concerns having had the pleasure of building site chem loo’s for some time, didn’t fancy the stench much!) fridge/freezer ,TV point and comfortable living space as well as a double bed at the back ! Must close now as I need to plan tomorrows first day on the road and possibly look at my next site, catch you later.

Friday 10/9/05

Finally on the road at 12.30 pm during my last few hours here have been perswaded to spend 3 days at a site near Orlando where I can be properly inducted to the RVing way of life, a motherly type at the dealership spotted I was a babe in swauthling clothes and sort of insisted ! My first drive on proper roads ! now I  would be lying if I said I wasn’t a little aprehencive. OK STOP RIGHT THERE ! what I mean to say is I would be lying if I  said I wasn’t  a little SCARED cm’on guys we all know that the word apprehensive is just used by us blokes because we don’t want to use the word “scared” (Woops avoid soap box moment at all costs) So off we go and on to I-4 (remember from earlier it’s a motorway) well the thing is my van is 29ft long, 9ft wide and 10ft high and just fitts into a single lane, what I had failed to consider is that due to the fact that it is built to live in all the fittings and bodywork are very light as to not impede, its speed, anyway the upshot is that your going along about 55mph just minding your own business when you get overtaken by a frigging great lorry doing 70mph and his slip stream literally blows you to the right ! Anyway after a fraught but by the end more comfortable 50mile jouney arrived at Thousand Trial resort Orlando, and I must say its quite good, swimming pools,tennis court, boating/fishing lake (proper big) , pitch & put  as well as organised bike rides around the preserve and nature walks, in there published weekly programme they advertise “Lakeside fireworks” but they actually mean gather by the lake and watch the Disney display for free ! Met a loud fat friendly American who sat next to me while waiting to sing up at dealership he said he lives on the resort and gave me his pitch number so I may look him up later. Anyway going for a shower now as they have this facility, excellent !. Have planned to drink some wine and eat ribs tonight, we’ll see.

Sunday 11/9/05

Well it’s Sunday afternoon the wine drinking rib eating thing of Friday night was a glorious success and in truth, intoxicated thoughts of you all brought a warm smile and a tear but as I have tried to explain on a few occasions its good to miss people it makes us appreciate what we have and the fact that iv gone for a while is a testament to the strength of those friendships , i have no insecurity about there value and strength on my return. (God !, I’m such a girl !!!) Starting the long haul up country tomorrow out on I-75 towards Unadilla a small town nestled in the heart of Georgia, have booked a pitch there for the old RV then Tuesday on up the 75 into Kentucky staying at a Flyin J’s truckstop just outside Walton, then by Thursday night will hopefully be looking out onto lake Michigan just outside the town of Mears were I intend to stay for a week or so and hopefully will be able to send this first instalment and some pics, before pushing on to Michigans upper peninsular which boasts miles of underdeveloped shoreline. Oh well all for now as its 5.22pm and I need to make sure everything is stowed away before tomorrows off.

Monday 12/9/05-Thursday15/9/05

 Set off early Monday morning hoping to get a good days driving behind me as well as the Florida heat, took the I-75 north up into Georgia ,once again had a few early scares but within an hour or so was quite relaxed and enjoying having the confidence to look about at the scenery had a while slipstreaming a fellow RVer he however was driving a 50ft bus with a car on tow, but I did get that sort of “Convoy” feel. After 6 ½ hours & 366miles pulled off to my booked site for the night set up, ate and sat in the early evening sun and played my guitar (badly of course)

Early next morning I was off again once more heading north along the 75 all had gone well until I suddenly realised that the I-75 takes you straight through the middle of Atlanta , so imagine if you will good old PJ Jarvy Jarvo happily going along on the old country motorway, then, suddenly being filtered into a 10 yes folks 10 lane high way, with all lanes moving at different speeds and all manor of junctions and off ramps each with there own set of signs all of wich are different depending on weather the filtering road is an Interstate, a US Highway, Avenue , Boulavard or bloody standard trunk road ! AND all the other drivers on this “Satan’s carridgeway “  were your typical London city driver, rarely out of third gear and oblivious to any other road user especially a poor bloody pom in an oversized camper van ! Well after about 45 seconds I ……….ly said to myself outloud “right come on concentrate  !”  There was the odd pause in the movement of traffic and I surprisingly had the presence of mind to reach for my camera (which I have taken to having at hand on the dash ) and take a few snaps of the skyline

, well the rest of that days travelling was fairly uneventfull but I did notice that the country side became a lot more rolling the other side of Atlanta, moving on up into Tennessee and just north of Knoxville  came to rest at the “Volenteer camp ground”

Now then ,up until this point I had only really encountered Americans who were pretty standard but old Bud and his little enterprise was something completely different,a real “Backwoods America”.

“Due to Buds lack of schooling he wasn’t quite sure when Christmas was , but was determined to always be ready !”

Whilst outside the camp store a woman (mid 50’s) asked me if I was staying and on my reply in the affirmative suggested that I might like to go to the dance that evening at the Old Oprey and pointed to a wooden building some 50metres away, and I thought shit yes lets get into it. Well on the stroke of 7.30 I left the van and walked down to the venue, I entered to be confronted by a group of  8 musicians, all of whom I later discovered were local towns folk, a dance floor about 25ft square and around this square were rows of chairs about 40 of which were inhabited by more local people not one under 50 and most ten years or so older ! Well the music began, what a bloody noise (now look I’m not country music’s greatest fan but I can appreciate anything played well, and this most definitely was not) anyway people began to get up walk over to others ask them to dance and begin the old, one step back two steps forward thing ! after fifteen minutes or so IT happened, despite my best looking down at the ground  between dances efforts a small women approached and asked if I would and of course I said yes. It turns out that Ruth (my parteners name) drove 60 miles every Tuesday night to go dancing she was mid 50’s and very nice and polite, talking to her while we danced I discovered the she’d only been out of the state 3 times in her life but didn’t seem to care. I found myself feeling a little sorry for her but later decided that I guess she did have a choice, and, that contentment comes in many different packages, anyway after the initial “breaking in the new bloke dance”  I was barley allowed to sit and had a few more encounters with ladies all of whom were delighted to have someone new to dance with, any way after about 2 hours I decided I’d done my duty to dance and the modern man and left. I considered taking some photos but felt doing so would turn these honest and decent people into tourist attractions, but I did do 12 seconds of secrect video which I hope captures the whole small town thing. (Please pay special attention to the multi-coloured gliter ball in the centre)

Click here for the video! [2.5Mb]

Wednesday drove another 350+ miles still on the I-75 up through Cincinnatti  and left onto I-70 and pulled in at a site in  the small town of Harmoney (PIC took off on my bike for the last few hours of daylight and came across an old abandend drive-in movie theatre it was abit eary but fun to actually see one, sadley had forgotten my constant companion Mr Camera so didn’t get a snap to show you.

Thursday drove a long haul 420 miles to reach Timberlakes on the east banks of Lake Michigan on my arrival met Josh, Rik, Tina and Tabby (blokes nice enough girls deffinatley do’able ! ) I asked about car hire for a couple of days as this area is quite away from anywhere and was told the nearest place was Muskegone (Muss-Key-Gone) a town about 35 miles away Josh was going down that way so he kindly offered me a ride down, got to the hire place and waved Josh off into the distance went through all the usual form stuff then placed deposit on Visa card and… ah slight problem card not authorised , so 5.30 US time 10.30 UK time $60.00 in my pocket SHIT ! well decided that the cab fare(around $60.00) back was a bit pointless so walked around to 5 motels and finally booked the cheapest one for $48.00, got some strange looks as booked in with T-shirt, jeans and little else. Any way got up at 5.30 the following morning and walked to a big 24hour supermarket and purchased a telephone card ($8.75), phoned my bank who confirmed that there were funds in the account but because I hadn’t told card services I was going to US and the card had been used a few times they had put a stop on it and requested that the retailer phone for authorisation, sadly it was , as mentioned 10.30pm UK time so nothing got done anyway enough to say we got sorted in the end. Spent Friday settling in and around 5.00pm decided to take my first walk across to the lakeshore (about 90 metres) and thought it would be cool to sit play my guitar (again badly!) and watch the sun go down, well, walking along for the first time I was struck by the ordinariness of the small wooded pathway it was like any other you’d find in many other parts of this or any other rural area, there was however the faintest sound of gently lapping water, which grew the closer I got , the wooded path dropped down and as I turned the last corner opened up onto the beach and the lake, to call it a lake is a massive understatement ,it’s like an ocean 80 miles wide & 260 miles long with waves and everything. I think the thing that struck me the most was how desolate it felt, how quiet and natural, it made me feel very small and insignificant like a single spec of sand on the beach itself. It’s strange but I think part of the feeling of solitude came from the fact that I have seen big bodies of water before but usually in the setting of a seaside resort ,where the view is always accompanied by the bustle of holiday makers or in winter the site of closed ice cream kiosks etc , but with this there was nothing.

As I watched the sun set over the lake its untouched naturalness was completely beautiful and made me feel totally calm and at home with myself

, if you care to look at the other photos you will see I took lots, I just couldn’t help it , I didn’t want to miss anything… The next couple of days were taken sorting out the last of the bits and pieces, a wireless internet provider (as the internet café is a dieing thing here and for a lot of the time I will be some distance from civilisation) and another “pay as you go” phone as the one they sold me in Florida doesn’t work in northern North America, great! On Saturday went to a SAND DRAG meeting this is basically the same as Drag car racing but along a 300 metre strip of sand cut out of a hill side it was fairly cool for a while and some of the Dragsters where pretty funky

but when you’v seen a few big fast cars going alone on sand very quickly there’s not to much left to hang around for anyway there are more pic’s if you feel the need.  Took a trip up to a small coastal town called Pentwater very pretty with quaint main street and stores selling all the usual stuff

then went up to the dunes on Silver lakes these are around 5 miles from from where I stopped and are completely massive, sand dunes up to 70 feet high running half a mile back from the shoreline and about 3 miles along it, and again this was totally unexpected just a left turn of a wooded highway.

Weds 21/9/05

tomorrow I head north again for 1 nights stopover in Mackinaw City then over the 5 mile bridge to the Upper Peninsular where the shoreline becomes properly rouged and wild...

Friday 30/9/05

Well it’s been 7 days since I last wrote the reason for this will unfold as we meander through the last week or so, as mentioned drove up to Mackinaw city to stay 1 night on the shores of lake Huron then headed over the bridge into the upper peninsular, for some reason or other missed my junction to travel west and ended up fast approaching the Canadian border so turning around at the last exit before Canadian soil spotted a hitch hiker on the ramp I was going down so decided to pick him up; Entre Jeff as he climbed aboard we discussed his destination of  Detroit and I mentioned that I wasn’t going that way until id been to Marquette further north (I had planned to drop down and cross Canada to reach Niagra Falls) well he said he was in no rush and asked if he could ride until I eventually got to Detroit area, I agreed. Anyway bear in mind if you will that this conversation  took place within 3 minutes of meeting, by minute 4/5 he had told me he was a homeless Vietnam vet and an alcoholic “ I’m just an old hippy from the 60’s man” (he was 52 about 6ft 3in had a beard and was never without his bandana and sunglasses)  I was about 3 hours from Marquette a university town on the shores of lake Superior and by the time we arrived he had also informed me that he’d been on the road for the last 2yrs as previous to this he had finished an 11yr stretch for bank robbery having previously served a further 8.5 yrs for 2 other bank jobs, and as we travelled I was give a rundown of the states correctional facilities as we passed signs for the towns in which they resided “ but I don’t steel from people” he said reassuringly, hmm...

On our arrival in Marquette we had our first slightly awkward conversation as I approached the subject of personal hygene as frankly he smelt pretty bad, he was surprisingly ok about me telling him that he smelt and was a little embarrassed which was a shame but the words had to be said, so armed with my spare towel and shampoo he marched happily to the bathhouse (most parks have these) on his return we discussed the issue of clean clothes and he admitted that all his clothes were dirty and hadn’t been washed for sometime, so the next point of call was a local laundry,  he travelled with two small holdalls and a ground sheet neatly folded on top of one, as I watched him gather his spare dirty clothes from these bags I noticed that the contents, a few cd’s, and personel bits and pieces were very neatly arranged inside, and this site gave me a strange confidence about him. His alcoholism, another point of concern was also quite ordered , he carried a half gallon plastic bottle of cheap vodka and every morning he would rise and decant 75ml into a small empty water bottle, this he sipped throughout the day usually complimenting his intake with bottled beer during the afternoon (provided by yours truly) but by 8 oclock every evening he’d sit back and say “that’s enough booze for today” I asked him about his drinking and he told me that he was trying to cut down. He had lived in Detroit for his formative years, was married with two children Billy & Brandy his wife Sheryle had died in a house fire started by her lit cigarette, he showed me the newspaper clipping reporting the death it was dated 1998. He had not seen or spoken to his children for over 2yrs and was trying to cut back on the drink so as he put it “when I see them I can take care of my business” meaning he didn’t want them to see him drunk and out of control this I found admirable. He was very into sport and music and was knowledgeable on both his cd collection contained all the old 60’s drug sounds, Janice Joplin, Jimmi Hendrix and the like. His favourite expressions were “Hey dawg what y’doin” and “that’s good look’n out my friend” (a sort of thankyou, when I fed him or dropped him a few bucks for beer/fags etc)  after our initial conversations I had an almost immediate trust of him, on our second day together I had gone exploring on my bike and returned to find him gone and the vehicle locked ,he returned about half an hour later telling me he gone into the forest to meditate and didn’t want to leave my stuff unlocked, I guess you could call that “good look’n out”  in conversation he had proper opinions and could convey them intelligently ,as long as you had them before 12’ish. The day before we parted we were watching the morning news, (this had quickly become part of our daily routine) and I noted to myself how much more whole he looked just for a few days of proper food and regular trips to the bath house. On our final morning I dropped him a few miles outside Detroit and as we parted he showed me a Chippawa (native American Indian) handshake. I hope he finds his children and ultimately himself...

Well then stuff about me… the drive to Marquette was pretty cool starting with the crossing of the 5 mile bridge which joins Mitchigans main body to the Upper Peninsular this was a bit of a scary ride as every other sign leading to the bridge warns of high winds and the caution required, this allied with my previous observations about the van and Jeffs helpful remenicences about vehicles being blown off and their occupants plunging to certain death did make for a slow and apprehensive drive but finaly reaching the otherside without too many problems then up running along the top of the UP through both parts of the Hiawatha national forest and coming to rest at our destination, took my bike out for a spin, this certainly was a student town with lots of them out on the streets and in the numerous fast food joints that accompany such areas with one particular group who had set up a sort of makeshift bar on the garden outside their house, on the edge of the road a sign read “You honk, we drink” and by the look of them quite a lot of honking had taken place ! The town was fairly pretty with a large sports dome

the shoreline was again rouged and unspoilt with bike trail crisscrossing the town, spent two days exploring including a morning at a craft fair held in the big dome, then with rain forcast for the Sunday decided to us the day to drive back to Mackinaw but this time using highway 2 on the southern edge of the UP that tracks the northern edge or lake Michigan this drive again had some beautiful shoreline.

Once back in Mackinaw city planned to take the short boat ride to Mackinaw Island this small body of land is noted for two things , the first that the only vehicles allowed on the island are one ambulance and one fire engine, this is born out by this picture of an articulated lorry wich was driven onto a boat, then when it reaches the island is unloaded by one fork lift without leaving the boat!

everything else ,people goods etc are transported by horse and cart or bicycle and secondly Fudge making. Arriving on the island I decided that the first order of business was to circum navigate the island on my bike as there is a shoreline road that runs the entire 8 mile circumference. The shoreline was dotted with large houses all of which had a colonial feel which was later explained by a visit to Fort Mackinac  built in 1780 to guard the straights of Mackinaw and captured by the British in 1812 during the American revolution whilst at the fort saw a riffle shooting demonstration the significance of which was that it was the first to use a breach loading rifle as apposed to a barrel loaded weapon letting a soldier fire 12 times a minute instead of 4 times, ok enough of the history stuff, visited numerous fudge shops where people were making and shaping the rich sweet confectionary, it was quite strange but no one I asked could actually tell me why fudge was the big thing,  spent the rest of the day just bumbling around doing the whole tourist thing and had a nice relaxing day.These pictures are of the main street, see no cars!

Weds 28/9

drove down to just outside Detroit where I am spending a few doing nothing days to chill and plan my trip into Niagra and down into Washington.

FOOT NOTE TO THE DAY; Just cycled 10 miles round trip to the local town, firstly confirmed to myself that I am physically incapable of walking , cycling, driving etc passed a big supermarket without going in , I love it ! I can spend ½ hour just wandering around looking at all the stuff and in this one they had an English section so I bought 1 can of Heinze baked beans just as a treat ( $1.59 that’s nearly a quid !) as I’ve promised myself I would not do that whole “a little part of England everywhere I go” thing plus they had no Marmite my only real food miss.

Hope you enjoyed “The adventure begins” will post more end of next month.

Thought I’d add a little feature called “poem of the month” this is aptly named “The Journey” by Mary Oliver

THE JOURNEY
One day you finally knew

what you had to do, and began,

though the voices around you

kept shouting

their bad advice-

though the whole house

began to tremble

and you felt the old tug

at your ankles.

“Mend my life !”

each voice cried.

But you didn’t stop.

You knew what you had to do,

though the wind pried

with it’s stiff fingers

at the very foundations,

though their melancholy

was terrible.

It was already late

enough , and a wild night,

and the road full of fallen

branches and stones.

But little by little,

as you left their voices behind,

the stars began to burn

through the sheets of clouds,

and there was a new voice

which you slowly

recognized as your own,

that kept you company

as you strode deeper and deeper

into the world,

determined to do

the only thing you could do-

determined to save

the only life that you could save.

10/17/2005 2:28:46 PM (GMT Daylight Time, UTC+01:00)    Comments [2] 

Welcome to Jarvo’s Blog…

Paul Jarvis or ‘Jarvo’ to his long suffering mates is having a bit of a midlife crisis. He has decided to up sticks and travel the world, sampling the delights of any foreign parts he can get!

Ranting after leading the vets to triumph in France!

We are hoping that this blog will enable Paul to keep in touch with all his mates, especially those at Heathfield & Waldron Rugby Club, letting us all know what he is getting up to.

So Paul, have fun and for anyone who meets up with him on the way good luck, as you will find out over the next few years he is ever so slightly insane, but great fun to party with…

Experimenting with flaming sambuca!!

Let the madness begin!

9/30/2005 5:43:33 PM (GMT Daylight Time, UTC+01:00)    Comments [2]