What the f**k am I doing in Asheville?

23 April - Set off pretty eartoday in order not to be distracted by the offerings of Atlanta as I had destination In mind - zipped through South carolina and made it to North Carolina and Asheville by around 2:00. At a rest stop a very big group of very big black men and women assured me I was goingthe right direction - I think I was talking to the patriarch and every time one of the women came over they would check out my California plates and say 'Ooh, you've come a longway!' - ladies, you have no idea. Arrived in Asheville and was given a bit of a advice by the guy who runs the hostel and I have to say it was a bit disappointing. I didn’t want to see real hillbilly 'squeal like a pig!' type people but I wanted to see something a little more exotic than espresso shops and objects d'art stores. You can pretty much walk downtown without any trouble unless you get accosted by a jewish christian convert who wanted to tell me the Word. He asked me what I was and when he heard atheist he got a little defensive and I found myself defending evolution for the second time in three days - it's a good thing he used the classic 'find a watch in the field and you know it was built by something intelligent' argument because Mr Dawkins shredded that one in his seminal classic, 'The Blind Watchmaker' - I think i've got to reread him again to make sure I’ve got some more coherent ammunition should this happen again. There ar mountains around the area but none within the immediate vicinity and i'm not sure if i'll be able to hang around for long enough to check them out if i'm to complete my journey in my allocattd time. In any event, asheville is great but there doesn't seem to be anything that really drags me in. There ar a few american tourists around the town but hardly any internationls, which i suppose is a nice thing for a change (the reason for their absence is pretty obvious however). I keep on thinking that an interpol traffic cop should put up a plastic police tape line across the I85 and wave all potential tourists away, saying 'Move along folks, there's nothingto see here, move along, move along...'. Its not the thingthat your supposed to do when your exploring a new country but i walked past a movie cinema that was playing 'Thank You For Smoking' so i took a few hours out to watch that, which was pretty entertaining - very amusing to see a film all about smoking and have not one scene showing a person actually smoking a cigarette.

Capital of the country to the capital of the world???

26 April - Despite searching all of the visitors websites and speaking to various groups for the past few days I still had absolutely no idea of what I was going to do with the car once I arrived at my next destination. Washington was one of the most nightmarish driving scenarios i'd ever experienced and I could only dread what New York was going to be like. The phone at the hostel could only dial local numbers and I couldn’t use the two payphones at the local 7-11. I asked the prissy little f**kwit from the hostel if I could use the office phone and offered to pay him, explaining my plight but the c**t just said 'nobody uses this phone but office' and stood up and put the phone in his pocket to make the point. I probsably didn’t help my chances of getting him to change his mind by telling him to go f**k himself but he didn’t look like he was going to change his mind nyway. Drove out of Washington very apprehensive about how I as going to deal with the upcoming city and this wasn’t helped by the multitude of tolls that came up along the way but eventually spoke to a toa welcome centre lady whilst on the New Jersey turnpike who told me to park in newark and I could get train from there. Not sure if I did the most economical thing but found a 24hr parking lot that’s a bit expensive but definitely better than parking in Manhattan. Not too much trouble getting into town to check into the hostelwhere I dumped my bag and strolled off downtown to see what the city would offer me. First impression is that it's very overtwhelming but great to see all of the places I’ve only ever seen on tv or in the movies - but soon I realised that it was just a city, it certainly thinks of itself as THE city but great to be here nonetheless. Met a few couriers whilst walkingteh streets who were pretty friendly for the most part, certainly better than those san franciscans. Walked about 2oo blocksbefore deciding to get the subway back to the hostel where I met a nice young wa guy (he's moving to london next week wherhe plans to sell his body for medical research including getting a surgery student to cut off his pinky toe and reattach it - ahh, to be young and poor again!!!) who invited me out with four swedish girls (???) - didn’t make it out until about 1 o'clock when we went to a bar in grenitch village (spelled greenwich) okay night out, girls were wa bit alcoholic, headed back to hostel around 4 to find that someone had stolen my bed and my pillow and blanket - bit of a creepy hostel, too many old transients who are probably just out of jail (seriously) but what ar you going to do?

Capital day, just capital ...

25 April - I am so glad that I found the hostel before I found the interstat texit - managed to extricat tmyself from bed at a cent hour and me and Helen, the finnish girl from the hostel, got on the metro and headed in to the capital. As soon as we walked out of the station we came across about fifty police officers from a multitude of agencies including FBI, district and city cops plus a a mass of security guards all milling around - when we asked what was going on a very nice and jovial pair told us that someone was caught trying to put their name on a monument. Seemed like a bit of overkill so I presume that they were really thwarting a terrorist act or something like that. We were consulting one of our guide books when a very nice gentleman approached us and asked us where we wanted to go - the capital building - that was where he was heading so he took us there and it turned out that he was another of those plot devices that seem to pop up every once in a while in my travels - he gave us a very detailed description of all of the places where we should go and all of the places we should avoid plus a history of all of the buildings. Very well informed for a total stranger who just approached us on the street ... Almost too well informed now that I come to think of it. Did a very good walking tour of most of the sites during the day - started at the very ostentatious capital hill and then down the mall and saw the whitehouse where I had a little chat with one of the guards (So, the president is in California now, isn't he? (he had been yesterday according to NPR) - sorry sir, I cannot discuss the president's itinerary with you! It's a crazy world out there and ... Take car of your arm.), saw the very phallic national monument and the impressive WW2 and vietnam war memorials as well as the giant statue of honest Abe (i forgot to ask him a question while I was there). Checked out the incredible Smithsonian Air and space museum (apparently the most popular museum in the world) and quite rightly because they get first dibs on so many incredile artifects - on display they had the orignal Spirit of st louis, CHuck yeager's X1, kitty hawk and even space ship one as well as numerous other knick knacks and assorted objects d'art. I also bought myself a little present - the space pen that can write underwater, upside down and in just about any conditions ever - io- I think it will make a fine courier pen until I lose it one week into goingback to work if not before. Another beautiful place was the arlington cemetery which had the reamins of about 260,ooo servicemen - all of the graves marked with simple white headstones that seemed to go on forever. Possily the most moving place within the cemetery were the tombs of jfk and rfk which were simple monuments that had some of the more memorable quotes that these two men were known for. Hung around to see the mall again by nighttime before heading back to the hostel where we played a card game that nobody knew the rules for and seemed to go on forever - everyone seemed to be quite intent on getting very drunk so I turned in at the very early time of about 2am.

Hell hath no fury like Washington's streets ...

24 April - Woke up and was out of the Arthaus Hostel before 9 - didn’t see anybody at all in the morning - some guy had left his stuff on one of the bunks but I never saw him and the manager of the hostel wasn’t to be seen when I left so I skipped out with little trouble. Stopped at 'Granny's Kitchen' for a southern styled breakfast - not as friendly as they were down in Lousiana, despite laying on the aussie charm all the locals seem to be view out of towners with a bit of suspicion. The drive towards Washington was a bit longer than expected. I don’t know what route times I was looking at when I planned the route but it took the best part of the day and when I actually arrived in Washington that was when the nighmare started. I got off at a rest stop to try to book a hostel - the one I’d planned on staying at had apparently closed down and the other one I found was completely booked and I had to take a very expensive private room - also the guy at the desk had no idea how to direct me to the place and none of maps covered the area where the hostel was at. Absolute hell is the only was I can describe driving into Washington. The sun was glaringstraight into my eyes for most of the time, the visitors centre was closed (i couldn’t actually get to it anyway) and it was peak hour. I occasionally got directions from people which sent me in he complete wrong direction it seemed and I started screaming myself hoarse to relieve the stress of my predicament (if you're doing this kind of particular stress relief it helps to ensure that you've closed your windows). On more than one occasion in the 15 hours I spent wandering I decided I would just skip Washington altogether but the hours were getting later and I had my wanderings had made it impossible to find the exit to get out of the city. Admittedly, I did get a brief view of some of the highlights on my drive through the core so i could calim to have seen the white house even if I did get out of the city on that night. However, after almost losing my voice and my nerves eventually I turned a corner and found myself right out front of the hilltop hostel. Checked in and found that someone else had arrived who also wanted the final room available there so ... They charged us both dorm rates and everything worked out okay after all and rather than sharing a dorm with a dozen people i'm only sharing it with one.
Very nice group of people at the hostel - and a very sociable atmoshpere - ended up playing texas hold em (no money unfortunattly???) with a couple of germans, a new yorker, a very swet finnish girl, a couple of guys from las vegas and a smatterinof others who came and went as they pleased.

Wher was this 10 years ago???

Trial to shine a light on eye damage
April 17, 2006
A new treatment based on a good dose of light and vitamin B2 promises to save the eyesight of thousands of Australians.
The treatment will be welcome news for the estimated 10,000 Australians with keratoconus, a degenerative disease that can lead to blindness.
The State Government will help fund a clinical trial of the procedure at the Royal Victorian Eye and Ear Hospital over the next 12 months.
Keratoconus is a weakness in the corneas the front surface of the eyes and over time these thin and distort, gradually impairing vision. It usually affects teenagers and until now there has been no treatment other than corneal transplants for the most severe cases.
The new procedure involves removing the "skin" of the eye, applying drops of riboflavin (vitamin B2) and exposing the eye to UVA light to strengthen the cornea. It will not improve eyesight but it will prevent further deterioration and stave off blindness.
Tanya Wilkinson, a 26-year-old travel agent from Langwarrin, is an enthusiastic candidate for the clinical trial. Diagnosed with the condition as a child, Mrs Wilkinson was legally blind in her left eye by the time she was 21 years old. She had a corneal transplant but her right eye continues to deteriorate, raising the spectre of another risky operation.
However, the new treatment could provide a simpler, safer alternative something Mrs Wilkinson welcomes not only for herself, but for any children she may have. "It will be great for my children because if they do get the disease they will have another option," she said.
The trial will be led by Christine Wittig who pioneered the procedure in Germany over the past five years. Her tests on 250 patients have a 100 per cent success rate and there were no long-term complications, she said.
In Melbourne, 100 patients will take part in the randomised trial and the hospital expects the procedure to be generally available next year.
It is hoped the procedure will relieve the pressure on waiting lists for corneal transplants, which come second only to kidney transplant lists nationwide.
About 300 corneal transplants are performed in Victoria each year, half of which are for patients with keratoconus.

I've got Georgia on my mind ... And Missisissippi ... And Alabama ..???. And South Carolina ...

22 April - Later start than planned because of the previous night's festivities but struggled to get out of the hostel and had my last southern breakfast before driving Gerry, a very enthusiastic young Melbournian to the airport and then getting on the I10 West before I realised I was supposed to be heading east. My destination was Ashville in South Carolina but it soon became apparent that it wasn’t going to happen. Went Still managed to get through four states in one day though - left Louisiana after an hour or so and had a brief stint in Mississippi where I was sorely tempted to check out a free NASA tour but managed to keep on moving and then onto Alabama where I stopped for a lunch that left much to be desired. Felt very uneasy travelling through all those states and cities where so much of american history was made but they'll be there for a while and i'll definitely be coming back to this country one day to get a better look at all of the places i've missed or only skimmed. Saw a couple of smashed cars on the interstate which didn’t do much for my peace of mind but the heavy presence of state troopers did. I really don’t like how they set speed limits over here - injust about every state i've been in the maximum interstate speed is usually 70mph but the traffic moves at around 80 - i've coasted bhind a stat ttrooper for about five miles going 10m over the limit (along with all the other traffic including him). It would be much better if they just increased the limit and enforced it. That way I wouldn’t have the nasty feeling of doing somenthing wrong when i'm doingwhat everybody else is doing). Went through another timezone somewhere alongthe way wich meant hittingAtlanta around 9pm - felt very sore and very dirty from the driving so looked up the local hostel and headed there. There is aquite a bit to see in atlanta but there's also a lot of other things to see in this country so I don’t think i'll stay around too long. The crazy Japanese guy who’s in my room is heading to see the Coke HQ in the morning but i've got a schedule to keep and i'll always have better things to do than visit the modern relics of corpamerica.

The RV Phenome

I've decided I really don't lke RVs after all. A winnebago or campervan is one thing but the sher size of these Recreational Vehicles is just ridiculous. A vehicle the size of a touringcoach is just too much vehicle for the average two people that fill them. A lot of them tow the 'city car' behind them which is occasionally a sedan but more often than not its a big-ass SUV, which in itself is far too big for anyone in my opinion. I'm hearing a lot of bitching from the Americans on the radio as well as from people who I chat with at rest stops about the soaring costs of fuel at the moment - it is expensive, especially when you consider the number of miles that you drive on a longroad trip like me and the other cross country drivers ar doing. apparently its even hiked significantly in the time i've been on the road but US three bucks a gallon is still cheap when you compare it to australia, canada and especially europe. I do feel a bit uneasy about the fact that I’m undoing all good points i;ve eard from being mostly carbon neutral for the past few years but driving across America is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for me and is also probably going to be a once-in-a-lifetime event as well. Nonetheless, i'm going to have to plant a lot of trees afterwards tcounter this particular leg of my holiday.

India House

Whilst definitely not best hostel i've stayed in in my limited travels it the India House would definitely have to be one of the most interesting. It was originally part of a small cluster of hostels in the area but the others are still in the process of being restored after last year's floods. It's a pretty nice old building with the dorm quarters in a couple of sheds in the back - they only provide one sheet and a pillow, which is okay because its so hot but after my bb experience in Gastown in Vancouver i'm always wary about any place that doesn't have a very comprehensive sheet policy. The array of crazy staff and clientele are no worse than anywhere else I've stayed (I'll take an alcoholic over a crack addict any day). The security seems to be non existent - there's usually someone at the front desk but they have no keys and the doors are always open, however, this could be because there's absolutely noone in the neighbourhood since the floods washed them away. The presence of a very cheap beer vending machine ($1) means that quite a few of the people staying never leave the hostel including one bizarre old man named Morrocco (he has another name which I couldn’t pronounce and therefore can’t rember) who hangs around the hostel all day wearing nothing but a dirty pair of jeans and does nothing but smoke cigarettes and drink beer (which everyone keeps on buying him). Apparently he's a great traveller who's seen the world and run hostels around the world and he has a lot of interesting stories I almost regret not staying anoher day to hear more of them) but he NEVER leaves the hostel. When he helped someone take some things to their truck across the street he was freaked out because it was the furthest from the property he'd been in over a month. Another guy, the swiss night manager, who doesn't seem to like us smoking 'funny stuff' needed Katrina to get him to leave the city for the first time in 14 years I'd recommend anyone who wants to stay in a hostel in new orleans to go there but three's no point because it's still the only one there and probably will be for a little while to come.

Maybe this place needs another hurricane ...

21 April - The state of the city is still something that i m havin ga hard time dealingwith. In the daylight it looks a lot worse - buildings ar sealed and have industrial strength blowers drying them out, trash still litters the streets, donated car dealerships have sprung up, everyone is using mobile phones because the fixed lines haven't been replaced (i'm of the opinion that they should take advantage of this and make a push for the telephony to be completely wireless wireless city - its a bit of an opportunity - as it is, there are free wireless networks everywherer you go - even the city is providing one (although apparently if they keep it after the state of emergency drops it will be against the law). Watched a bit of tv last night and every second ad seemed to have something to do with Katrina - it will be a long time before this city puts this isn the past. Started the day with a breakfast at a local eatery cnsisting of eggs, bacon, pancakes and grits (ive kind of developed a hankering for them rits although I pretty much suspected I always would) which was delicious although the amount of butter and fat made my stomach seize up once I finished and then wnadered back to India House and got myself ready for a day's exploring. Public transport is free throughout the city until June (i wonder whether they realise that this is the way public transport should be - another opportunity) so I jumped on a trolley and bus out to the garden district. I walked into Lafeyette Cemetery and then the heavens opened up, sending me scampering to the nearest coffeeshop so I could protect Charley . Did a bit of a walking tour around the garden district before heading back to the quarter and strolled down the mighty Mississip and came smack bang into the middle of the French Quarter Festival. Most of the time when i've visited cities thus far it's been middle of the week or on a dunday and even though there is always something going so it's brilliant to come to a city and find myself at the start of a big festival. Watched a bt of big bangd jazz before a thunderstorm opened up again (hasn't rained for 7 months and it starts when I get here) so ran into an absinthe bar to hide (i could probably have run into a coffeeshop but hey, i'm on holiday and the greene fairy was beconing). Whilst there a local girl invited me to see a countrty band at an irish pub - have to say that it wasn’t the most apealing invitation I could have been given - don't like irish pubs and don't really like country but I assured her I would be there with bells on - - lets see her try to track me down! In any event it may have been preferable to have checked out the irish pub - wandered back down to the festival for a while which was quite excellent - really good big band music and all the restaurants had little stalls out (like the sydney food festival only with food that was, I hate to admit, infinitely better) and I had a shrimp po'boy, a barbeceue pork thing and finallysampled the mystery of sweet patata pie - I think i've realised what all the fuss was about. Back to Bourbon st to hook up with a bunch of Essex boys from the hostel who brought along andrrea, a niceish 19yr old ex-Nawlins native who was a completelete alcoholic. From the moment she arrived in downtown she was drinking, drinking, drinking. She dragged us to a place she used to work which was one of the most horrible bars i've been to in my travels - real meet market, full of hopelessly drunk tourits and music that one would definitely not associat twith new oreleans. Somehow a couple of us ended up at a strip club and then lost Andrea disappeared to go find a replacement nosering - went looking for her because she waas completely uff her face but had n oluck so returned to the hostel where the usual crowd of recalcitrants were boozing up from the beer vending machine. Stayed around to chat for a while and it turned out that andrea's boyfriend, a moronically dumb (as in nothing but grunts came out of his mouth) did have something to say when the subject of evolutkion came up. I never understand how fundamentalists think that the the third law of thermodynamcs has anything to do with a proof as to why evolution is impossible. Apparently Andrea got arrested at some pooint in the night but I later heard that it everythingworked out - I felt a little bit guilty but reminded myself that one can’t take aresponsbility for alcoholic women on a bender. Had my first little toke of a joint, which was nnice, although even though we did it two doors away from the hostel the night manager threatened to call the police on us with accusations of suspected looting of the abandoned houses. This place is strange.

The Demilitarised Zone

20 April - Upon the recommendation of several of the locals and visitors me and Val headed to Dwyers for an authentic cajun breakfast. We arrived at 10:50 and sat down and waited for the waitress to bring the menus. After 10m I went to the counter to get them bt was told that breakfast was over. You're kidding? We only serve until 11. it is 11. No, it was 11. We've been here for 10m. Well, so much for the fabled weezian hospitality. Did a little bit of town wandering and was taken to an Accadian museum and gift shop by Jackie who seems to be trying to get me to appreciate the wonders of the cajun music world (i don’t think its going to work). Steve, a native Floridian and Connecticutian (???) helped me plan out the next few stages of my trip, he's done a lot of travelling around the east coast of the country and gave me some great ideas. He came to Lafeyette to find work as a cook on an oil rig and apparently was pretty succesful today, which has gotta be a good thing. Eventually got away for the drive to New Orleans - got stuck in traffic for a while but it was a really nice drive - the highway is suspended over the bayous for miles - despite havingseen the devestation of the city on tv and being warned about it from other travellers i was still blown away by what Katrina has done to this city. There's trash all over the highways still and after a few wrongturns trying to negotiate my way to downtown (i always forget to plan how i actually should enter a city - unless its a small town there's usually dozens of entrances and its a maze to get to the bit where i need to get to) i was shocked at how bad the conditions of the city are. The French Quarter, being one of the biggest money earners for the town, has been restored and is working at capacity but even half a mile up the road the entire entire city is deserted. The street where the hostel is in is completely abandoned and still doesn't have any phone line and wont likely have one for months. There's water damage all throughout this building and just about every other building i've seen. The clientele at this hostel dont seem to be as friendly as any of the others ive stayed at but there's still the fair share of weirdos and ne-erdowells to make for an interesting experience. I took a trolley downtown with a crusty old driver wo was telling me and the other two passengers (a transient georgian and a philadelphia hooker with extraordinarily bad teeth) all about how bad the dmage to the city was and how the displaced population is holding back on returning to the city until they find out if the levees survive the next hurricane season. Wandered through the french quarter for a while which seems exactly like a bangkok's khao san road only its longer, had better music, more expensive drinks, more looters (black people) and salvagers (white people) and less thai people. Interesting, but wandering amongst drunken people was not what i wanted to be doing that night so i found a pub that served pretty amazing cajun food - ate gumbo, chickenand rabbit jumbalaya (new animal!!!), red beans and rice, creole sauce and fried chicken before wandering back to the hostel, which took a lot longer than expected and was probably not the most sensible thing to do but no incidents occurred so no harm done.

Cajun Country!

19 April - Struggled a little bit to get up because of the marathon chat session th previous night and had to shake off one of the hostelcrazies, Elizabeth (for some reason she was stuck in Austin because of her sister and the evil, evil people at the salvation army ... Will you drive me to Memphis? I will pay you? - thank god it wasn't on the way). Dropped Callum off at the Amtrak and then took about 30m to get on the right highway to get the hell out of town. Another pretty gruelling drive - going through Houston is terrible, even if you don't get off the Interstate. I had a hankering for IHOP pancakes but every time I saw one the exit was half a mile back. Eventuallystopped at an absolutely horrible chain called Waffle House where I listened in on some real hard core Texans bitching about the world - these guys weren't friendly. At a rest stop I picked up a youngguy who's tyre had blown out and took him down to the next gas station and before I knew it I was in Weezieanna. I could have probably made it to my original destination of Norleans but thought i'd drop off to see Lafeyette which had been recommended by Murat (who lived there for a few months) and Callum who'd been there a couple of days before. Took the exit and made my way to the tourisinfo place which was just closing - however, the lovely lady who worked there opened up again, got my a map, called the guesthouse to sceure my spot and then drove down there so I could follow her. I can’t imagine anyone from anywhere else being so out of their way helpful. Before i'd even put down my bag I was grabbed by Jackie, a jersey girl who was down here for an Cajum music immersion camp and introduced to a few of her friends and before I knew it I was being given waltz lessons to the cajun band that was playing at the hotel's salloon. After I got settled we headed down to Randals where I had authentic cajun crawfish (kind of like a yabbie only less muddy) and saw the most bizarre little subculture i've seen on this trip. Lafeyyettte is the heart of accadia in cajun country and literally everybody at this place was dancing cajun style to cajun music - from kids to pensioners on A-frames. I have to say that I don't really like cajun music very much but it sure is catchy - we saw a weddin between two seniors where everyone pinned money to the bride's veil and I was distracted by a crazy texan from waco who extolled the virtues of the cajun people - Salt of the earth man!! Salt of the earth!
After drinking raspberry beer we headed back to the Blue Moon Hotel (where I was staying) where there was a cajun jam session in the saloon with lotsa dancin and singin and drinkin. Real friendly like people down here although once again the people I seemed to chat the most with where from any part of the country but the city I was actually in. Val, a very nice girl from Michigan, extolled the virtues of how cajun music can change one's life but I don't get it.

Lllooonnnneeee Ssttaarrrr!!!!

16 April - Woke up reassonably early in order to get a bit of as start on the driving I had to do today. Said my goodbys to the nice people at the hostel and also to John, the surly attendant who wasn’t too pleased with me because I couldn’t tie the garbage bags to the bins properly because charlie prevents me from putting my right thumb and forefinger together but I was leaving so I wasn’t really too concerned. Made my way down HWY 285 south towards Texas which was a very nice drive that took me through Roswell, home of the 1947 flying saucer crash. I met one of the survivors at a rest stop just before the town, Steven Stevens, who, according to his drivers licence was born on the day of the crash and had a very pleasant brunch at the International House of Pancakes. I sat down and ordered and my accent piqued the interest of a family sitting next to me - Kerry, the mother was very friendly alhough her cowboy husband was a little surly but still very nice. We chatted about my plans and their son who was planning to head to Australia next year. After they left I went to pay the bill and found that they'd already paid for me. I don’t have to say something about the Americans I meet over here - occasionally some are rude and a little unpleasant but on the whole I don’t think i've met a more friendly and nice nation of people in all my travels. It's not the first time i've had people just buy me lunch or breakfast over here - it's a very novel experience. After that checked out the rther kitsch but very interesting ufo museum and research centre before getting back on the road and headin' for Texas. Made a small wrong turn that placed me near Carlsbad Caverns, which is supposed to be an increidble place to visit (largest underground caverns in the usa) but knew that would result in a couple of days delay and I needed to get to the home of GWB. Almost hit a roadrunner that scmpered straight across the road in front of me (and was also narrowly missed by the coyote that was chasng him on an acme rocket) - they're bizarre little birds - very cute but probably not very smart. Crossed the state line and another t.ime zone sometime around 2 (which made it 3) and drove on until it got dark where I crashed at a rest stop for the night - the good thing about this stop was that there was no sgns posted up saying that you had to pay to crash the night (not that i've done so whenever crashingthe car before) but there were trucks going by constantly and there was also a rather creepy looking guy hanging around the rest room (i can only imagine what he was doing there). Rocicante mk ii is more comortable than the first, but not by much. Another joyful night of twisting and turning resulted but in texas noone freezes inside their car which is a very good thing.

And the lloyd spake, go jump in a lake!

18 April - Another stupeously hot day of about 100 degrees (ive forgotten what the conversion factor is si i'm sticking with Fahrenheit and the Imperial system for the next few weeks) - which seems to wilt my new English companion, Callum, but it makes me feel like i'm right at home. Despite being told by John Paul English, a local alcoholic who inhabits the hostel, to wake him up so he could buy me a cup of coffee and teach me some of the haikus he's written (he's a very strange man). He was also very insistent that I go to Barton Springs and jump in it. I instead headed off for a run where I found mdriver's bum prevented me from stretching out my left leg so every time I tried to accelerate I yelped out in pain, much to the amusement of the surprising number of other runners out in the pretty serious heat. Upon my return me and Callum headed out into downtown to see what we could see. As we were in a reasonably sized city I thought i'd try to catch up with the local courier populkation - once they realised I wasn’t there to try to get a job and steal their work they were extremely nice. The town only has about a dozen servicing the entire city and all of them looked superfit - one of them told me to go to Barton Springs and jump in it as well. After this we headed out to the stat tcapital (slightlybigger than the nation's capital building) which was very beautiful and when you stood in the centre of it you could hear an incredible echo from even the slightest whisper. Had a little look around and sat in on a senhearingfor a while which was kind of dull but interesting to see noneheless - we left shortly after the governeor seemed to look me in the eye and tell me to go jump in Barton springs (a lot of people told me to go jump in barton Springs that day). Had a look at the university which was a pretty amazing campus (historically best known for being the site where some crazy man perched himself up in a tower and killed 14 students using a sniper rifle). The heat was getting us to by this stage so after some excellent slow cooked barbeekeyoo we eventually listened to the voices in our head and decided to check out the fabled barton Springs. Its a public pool that charges for the pool but despite the no swimming signs everyone seemed to just jump into the crystal clear river. With my hand in its current sttate I could obviously not get it wet but I still managed t to completely immerse myself (while holding my right hand in the air like an elephants trunk reaching for air) - having a free bathing area in the midle of a city is an absolute godsend - it reminded me of the artifical beach in brisbane - because the heat was really getting intolerable (despite my steadfast proclamation that I was loving it because it reminded me of home). After this we headed back to the hostel and kicked around for a while before a small group of us (half the hostel's inhabitants all seemed to leave that day - at least the sane ones) went out to the continental club to see another of the city's institutions, Toni price, do her stuff. She played a blusey country style of music which I normally don’t like too much but it was an incredible show with a very dedicattd crowd. She was completely wasted on stage and was prone to flashingher underwear to all and sundry which io was not objecting to in any means. Broke the heart of the Caifornaian bartender when I told her I was leaving the next day and we got caught in a massive electrtical thunderstorm on the way back to the hostel where me and Callum ended up chatting until the wee hours. I could live in this city-

Blue Spot In A Red State

17 April - Set my alarm for 7 but for some reason my phone was still on Mountain time (it updatts automatically but I must have been too close to the border for it to pick up the new time) so I slept in a little more than i'd like. However, got back on the road and made very good time along the I10 and eventually 290 all the way to Austin, Texas (the one blue spot in a very red state). Got there a little after 1o'clock and found that all the coops were full and the one hostel I had a listing for had no checkins till 5. Abunch of people at the hostel all needed to go to Walmart for various bits and sundries so having nothing else to do I gave them a lift. Walmart is a horrible place - pretty much like Kmart or Target but huge. It was an interestingexperience but not one that should be repeated anytime in the next lifetime or two. As with all hostels there ar a couple of strange ones - one of the most interesting individuals i've met on this trip so far is John, a native Foridian who used to work as a chauffeur and now seems to be supporting himself as a stripper - the purpose for his visit at WalMart was to purchase some earrings and a thong for his work that night. Got in touch with Stacey, the friend of the two Texan lasses from Santa Fe who was going to show me the town - we headed into town to the Saxon Club (nice name, nice race) where we wereentertained by monterey jack (apparently a bit of a local institution, he's kind of the big cheese so to speak ... Hrrumph) who was probably more entertaining to me in his banter than his music but still some pretty good music. Afterwards we drank some more American beer at another of the town's numerous saloons before realising that the Austin corporate world would not stop on my arrival in the city so headed back to the hostel and was entertained by a swede singing the blues (i'm not really sure what she had to be bluesy about but she had a nice voice).

Boom!

15 April - Last night's festivities made me late to do my chores and I was given a little bit of a reproval from John, the surlier member of staff here at the hostel but all was forgiven as I’ve decided to stay another day. For breakfast I had my first sampling of grits (not instant of course, because no self respecting southerner would ever eat instant grits - and they don’t come much more southern than a 'strine like me). Headed out to a place called Tent Rocks which was supposed to have some very good hikes and my route took me through Los Alamos, the birthplace of the atomic bomb. Dropped into the Bradbury Museum which had a very one sided view of the justification of dropping the two most devestating weapons ever deployed in the history of the world upon civilian targets but it was interesting nonetheless. I'm hoping that the lattnt radiation from the constant nuclear experiments which ar still going on there will give me some more superpowers to go along with static man's already impressive arsenal but only time will tell on that front. It turned out that the route to the Tent Rocks park would be over a pretty horrible dirt road and a guy who gave me directions suggested I should head back to Santa Fe and take another route from there. Not wanting to waste any time I decided to change my destination to Bandelier, a very pleasant national park about 20m from LA. Did a very easy 5m hike out past some waterfalls and to the rio grande river. It was nice - not nearly as spectacular as the grand canyon or yosemite but also not as many people either and a very pleasant way to shake off the lingering hangover I was still suffering from throughout the day. Lots of signs all over santa fe about the importance of conservation of water because it is a desert town but it seems that the drought has ended, which has got to be a pretty spectacular thing.

Aah, Santa Fe ...

14 April - Had a very needed sleep in before I did my chores at the hostel then eventually made my way into downtown Santa Fe. I was still a bit tired from the previous day's driving so I ended up spending a bit of time just sitting around in the plaza reading 'The Child In Time'. Despite the numerous tourists crowding downtown it seems a really relaxed quiet city, which was just the city I felt like exploring. Met a few interesting local characters including the man from the carnita stand who sold me a reasonably nice early lunch and a rather refreshing hibiscus flowers drink called a jamaica - also met John, a local hippie who's been selling newspapers from the middle of the street for the past 19 years - everyone in town seems to know him by name and he had a few interesting stories to tell about his travels (and his couch potato, television addict chronic fatigue syndrome afflicted wife). The town really feels like something out of the past - with most of the buildings still low and in the adobe style which hasn’t changed for hundreds of years. Did a bit of a tour of the hundreds of tiny art galleries that line the streets - some of the art was really quite beautiful - when I make my fortune i ll probably return to make a couple of purchases - until then, they'll have to stay on the walls or get bought by the retired wall street bankers who the town is famous for. Headed back to the hostel in the afternoon for a planned nap that never happened and headed back into otown after the sun went down to sample the city's nightflife. Found myself at a relatively cheesy themed bar called 'The Cowboy Hall of fame' that played both kinds of music (country AND western) and was full of a mix of families, cowboys and tourists like myself. Was feeling a bit lonesome before I was rescued by a couple of texan girls, amber - a pretty stunning redhead (you've always got to be a carful about those redheads), and niti, a very nice ethnic indian - here on a work assignment in town . One of them is a speech therapist (so, do you teach them how to speak english or texan???) and the other a physical therapist. Basically, amber talks the talk and niti walks the We soon abandoned the hick bar and moved onto a rnb club that had dancing and whiskey on free pour, which with the high altitude soon resulted in a a rather tipsy trio. Certainly one of the most enjoyable nights spent since my arrival in the usa and looks like I may have a contact or two in some of my upcoming cities.

I knew I should have taken that left turn at Albuquerque ... Oh, wait a minute, I did!

13 April - Rocicante Mk II proved to be slightly more comfortable than the first one sto sleep in, but not by much - and at the altitude we were at it was still freezing inside. In any event, we were up at 5 in order to catch the sunrise back at the canyon (and in order to skip out of the campsite without payingthe exhorbitant fee - we'd already paid for entry, what more did they want from us???). Headed back to the rim trail where the sun soon came up but we went to the wrong place and missed the actual sun coming over the crest by about 5m, which was a bit of a pisser. It must have been pretty inspiring because a couple asked me to take their picture with the canyon in the ckground and the girl revealed to me that they'd just got engaged. Oh really, just on this trip? No, just now! Awwww .... I bet the guy would regret his actions once he came away from such an inspiring view, maybe. Wanting to get a bit of a climb in before we left we headed down the Angel Bright trail which goes all the way to the bottom of the canyon but time was our enemy (they also warn against anyone trying to get to the bottom and back upin the same day - I bet I could do it though). Murat was fine coming down with me to the first checkpoint but couldn’t keep up on the return - chainsmoking all those camels probably didn't help. His next stop was San diego so I took him out to flagstaff where he planned to either find a ride or take the greyhound in a pinch and I got back in the car for another solid day's driving. Passed over into new mexico and hit Albuquerque, a place I was recommended not to stay in, so I turned left. after getting off the I25 to fill up with petrol it took me an age to find it again so I could head north into santa fe. Crossing into the new timezone (Mountain time) meant I miscalculated how dark it was going to be when I hit the town but eventually found the hostel, which was pretty amazing. Its a not for profit organisation and ty have free food (and good gourmet shit, not just wonderbread and margarine) ad you have to do a chore to earn your keep. I'm, not sure what i'll be getting but hopefully it won’t be too much of a strain on charlie (who also appeasr to be disintegratingslightly under the strain of travel). Was absolutely exhausted by the time I got there so after a little bit of a chat with some of my neighbours I crashed and burned (i probably shouldn’t have aimed to get so far after yesterdays canyon adventures but i'mhere there's nothing to worry about).

Ooh, what a grand sight ...

12 April - determined to at least try one buffet at Vegas I headed down to the Sahara for their breakfast. All in all, it was pretty average but my normally garguantua apettite was curiously muted upon the presentation of the multitude of comestibles. Despite my courier metabolism I could barely put away my money's worth and there was no way that I was going to be able to compete with the bg assed americans who were going back five or six times for plates piled high with saturated fats and hot fat and empty calories. Still, that's another one checked off the list. Did a bit more daytime sightseeing but apart the city really wasn’t doing much for me and I knew if I stayed another night to recoup yesterday's losses it would onlyresult in disaster so checked out and made my way south and east. At Sin City I picked up a rather interesting traveller, Murat from Turkey - he's 18 years old and has just done a bit of an exchange student program which didn’t work out to well so he's also doing a 30 day sojourn around the states with the plan to hitchhike most of it. He had some pretty interestingstories, especiallyfor someone so young and I found him to be a very hoopy frood who realy knew where his towel was at. Eventually got out of the maze that is Vegas and headed through a horrific traffic jam that was over the hoover dam (it's pretty big but I saw enough from the car). Soon after we made it across the arizone border I spied a couple who's car had broken down on the highway and they were trying to hitch. S there were two people already in the car I thought it would be pretty safe to pick them up so I did - they just needed a lift to Kingston so they could rent a u-haul so they could drag their car back to the Bisbee oa f**king long way when I looked at it on the map). Larry, Larry Jack and Blaze certainly provided entertainment for the next hour - they'd gone to vegas to celebrate blaze's birthday and the drive train of the car had fallen out on the way home. Blaze was a school teacher and larry jackj was an 'on-tray-pre-nyur' which translated to a mary-joo-ana smuggler (I live on the mexican border, what do you think I do???) - he had some interestingviews on the world but it was all a bit amusing really. After a few hours me and murat found ourselves at the grand canyon, apart from the mcdonalds and imax and hundreds of fat american families who kind of dampened the atmosphere I would have to say thtat this os one of the few times i've had a physical reaction from seeing something. It's just so big, I felt myself weak at the knees when I looked into it. Me and murat found a campsite and after scrounging wood from some of the abandoned barbecues (you're not allowed to collect wood in the park) we cooked up a little dinner and made a decent dent in a bottle of whiskey i'd bought in a small arizsone town before (the woman asked for both of our ids when we purchased it and then warned me that Murat was noto drink any or even touch the bottle ... We've got differedrinking laws in arizone, y'know? youu've got different drinking laws in the usa!) - as far as i 'm concerned he's m18 and he's old enough to rink in my country and his country so I wasn't going to lose any sleep over breaking a little state tlaw). It turns out that marat is obsessed with douglas adams, so I immediattly warmed to him and he also seemed to be a bit of a bright - getting a scholarship to the usa and then getting explelled fnot turning up then getting another scholarship to uni in turkey anyway - very interesting guy. It was full moon that night so we decided to head back to the canyon where we saw a very different view to the daytime - everything in silver tones and nobody around to spoil the atmosphere - pretty increidble sight.

Vegas Baby, Vegas!!

11 April - Woke up reasonably early and headed straight out towards Death Valley. Another pretty brutal drive along pretty heavy grades and very tight turns. My state of mind was not helped by the fact that the petrol guage went from 3/4 full to 1/4 in what seemed like the space of a few hours and I was also kicking myself for not getting the multi park pass when I paid for my park entry at Yose-might. However, passed through the lowest dry point on Planet Earth (which was kind of strange considering we were on Mars) and made it to Furnace Creek with enough petrol and I also found that I could upgrade the Yosemite park entry to the multi pass card for no extra cash. It was pretty warm but nothing like the killer summer heat that kills about a dozen people a year (its not called Death Valley for nothing). Because its springtime there were great swathes if greenery all over the valley (Red mars, green mars, blue mars???) which kind of spoiled my illusion of pretending to be on a different planet but it sure made the environment a lot prettier. - wanting to do at least one really good walk through the valley I as recommended to try the Golden Canyon walk which had a two mile, four mile or seven mile route. Once again, in the main centre of the valley there were heaps of tourists but once I got past the first section of the walk most of them disappeared. Met three splendid Oregonians, all originally from different parts of the country, Joey, bruce and ... Let's call him Jim, who were pretty serious hikers (Bruce leads trail walks for a living) and we climbed up to a small peak together where we got an xcellent view of the desolate surroundings. They were really interesting guys and were very curious about my story and were quite impressed with my ambition to see the country in such a limited time and they also offered me a place to stay should I return to oregon (i may do that on my return, not sure of the route i'll be taking yet). Did the full 7m with a great climb out to zibrowsky's point which had an excellent panorama of the valley and then went on to the gower gulch walk which was kind of scary because although I could still see footprints along the dried up riverbed there were no obvious trail markings. Eventuallywhen I was convinced that i'd gone the wrongway I decided to head back (there were lots of offshoost and alternative parts to explore on the way) but after backgracking about 2m I came across a family coming the other way and they convinced me to return the way I came (i was about half a mile from the end when I decided to turn back). A great walk, which unfortunatlely proved to be too much for my 10 year old bootses - I could have stayed in this place for days but the schedule forced me to keep on moving and the next stop was Las vegas. A reasonably pleasant three hour drive took me into the tackiest city in the world but it turns out that death valley was not only too much for my boots but also for my trusty steed, rocicnte. I'd checked the fluids prior to entering the national park and they’d seemed okay but shortly after entering the strip the heat shot up and smoke started coming out from under the bonnet. The coolant levels were dangerously low so I called the roadside assistance for some advice and after a little bit of a chat they told me to head to the airport to swap him out. I was amazed at how quickly and efficiently it was done - I was only about 15m from the airport and I was worried that he wouldn’t make it but when I got there they were expecting me and I was moved into rocicante mk ii, a silver pontiac with california plates (i'll need to swap him out before I enter canada again) who should hopefully be a bit more robust than my last steed. By the time I made it ito the sin city hostel and had pried myself free of a very talkative irishman it was about half ten but I headed into the strip to be confronted with a world that pretty much lived up to my expectations. On the façade it's a pretty amaiong place - the lights and neon can be pretty dazzling but i've been to casins before and they're pretty despressing places. These ar the americans you read about - loud, hyperobese, some pretty nice but most I just wouldn’t want to know. All the buffets were closed so I had a subsidised steak and then hit the tables. Blackjack is a pretty dull game and even if you know the game intimattly the odds ar stacked towards the house sp after a little while of playing that I went off in search of a high stakes poker game. Where was robespierre when I needed him/ in the first round I had a killer hand but was too nervous to bet high and you can’t walk awy after one round. Free drinks were sent in my directiond they helped to steady my quaking nerves.n everything I know about poker went out of my head while I was playing - everyone else on the table were pretty seasoned and despite winning a couple of more hands I didn’t walk away when I should have and I didn’t cut out of the game when I knew I should. In any event, any hopes of subsiding my trip with vegas winnings were dashed but I managed to walk away without loising too mtuch and and having a relatively cheap adrenaline rush. This city is a pretty horrible place when it comes down to it but at least I can now say that i'ev won and lost at vegas.

Get your ass to Mars ... Get your ass to Mars ... Get your ass to Mars ... Get your ass to Mars ... Get your ass to Mars ...

10 April - Got up reasonably eary and tried to vacate the room as quietly as possible so as not to disturb the overtly romantic italian couple sharing the room with me and an English guy. Broke my fast with a so-so pancake and said my goodbyes to Dennis (who it seems may not actually be called dennis if his email initial is anything to go by but I've been through so many names this year that I’m not really phased if I get them wrong). Headed back into Yosemite determined to see some giant trees and was directed by the ranger to go back to near where I initially entered the park a few days previously. The roads were completely snowed under but I took it very slowly and eventually made it to Tuolhome Grove, home to a few of the giants of the woods. As warned the path was completely covered in snow - most of the way there were tracks which had already packed it in enough to walk on but I was up past my knees for a fair swathe of the way. The walk wasn’t too gruelling and I eventually made it to the grove where I was confronted with some giant sequioas. Unfortunately I was alone so there was no way to get a photograph with me in it to impress the scale of these beasts but plenty of photographers far more talented than me have done the job. Tramped back towards the car and as I reached the parking lot I found a tour group making their way down there - all of them on snowshoes, which would have assisted the journey somewhat but i'm obviously of sterner stuff than them. Had my second encounter with the long arm of US law when a sheriff coming the other way stopped me and told me to put m chains on my car. I don't have any. Well, you can buy them at the gas station around tcorner. Thank you officer. Considering I only had about two miles left of my journey in a situation that would actually require them I decided to ignore his orders. Some some deer on the side of the road a couple of times - something about seeing deer in nature just puts me in a good mood - unfortuantely I was moving both times and didn't get a chance for a happy snap. Another serious day of driving resulted out through Route 41 and down to bakersfield before heading east towards Death valley. Unfortunately Route 120 which would have taken me pretty directly to the valley was closed for the winter so I had to take the much longer route but I was determined to go through the environment which to me will always be associattd with our red neighbour. Although antarctica is probably the most similar environmet to Kasei every film that's ever been made that was set on mars was filmed in Death valley. There was no way I was going to make it there by daylight and I was a bit wary of another night in the car so I stopped in a dingy little motel in ridgecrest, a couple of hours away, but it should all work out with my next destination. There was some pretty trecherous roads today and more spectacular scenery, which I could certainly wax poetic about, but, others have already done so and far more poetically than i'm capable of so i'll save my lengthy descriptions for something else. There's a lot of driving on this journey and I have a limited collection of music to entertain me (all of it kindly donatetd for the journey by my housematt, ahu) and despite enjoying the cds immensely the fourth time that I hear Down to the wire by neil young or alison by the pixies, i'm starting to grit my teeth a bit so i've turned to that stalwart entertainer of any traveller, talkback radio - the national public radio is usually pretty good but the reception always dips in an out and for the past week they've had a donation drive weby they guilt trip all their listeners isnto donating money to support the shows they like, threaten,ing to cancel them if they don't get the money they need. There's nothing wrong with that but their methods are very irritating and its almost better to listen to the ads on the commercial networks rather than be asked for money every five minutes. The other alternative for listening, which is often the only station that gets decent reception once one is out of the cities, is Christian radio - whih i've found myself listening to a fair bit - most of it is pretty inoffensive and can actually be very entertaining at times (although probably not the way they intended) but sometimes it is bizarre - a lot of these preachers ar convinced that the end of times is upon us and they work in urrent events such as the ferry sinking in egypt to support their beliefs, they're convinced that the homosexuals ar trying to corrupt their children and Europe is a godless wasteground that america should have absolutely nothing to do with. I presume that this is the only thing that a fair amount of the local population listen to and it scares me.