Oh Canada... to the Badlands of the USA

Dale and I are giving the Wolfmother symbol, White Unicorn is on the CD player........

The land is flat, real flat, like the land between Mt Isa and Tennant Creek, in the Northern Territory, Australia, but the land here is green, real green..... We're about 10 miles from Fargo, North Dakota.... We're on our way back through the United States after the weekend spent in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada where we stayed with my buddy and his folks... Good times all weekend, with Shrimps on the Barby for the Australians, Ice Skating Lessons with Woody (my friend) at the local Hockey Rink, and golf at the Meadows, a links course that chewed up my game and spat it back in my face... I told my hosts I'd hopefully only need one ball...... I needed about half a dozen!

We'd arrived in Winnipeg after a 22 hour drive from Lexington, Kentucky. We'd done the long haul, eager to head west after a few days of lost time, waiting in Atlanta (again) for the registration plates and papers for the van. Of course, America being the land of the free and the home of beauacracy we endured two painful afternoons of waiting in the Department of Motor Vehicles at the Tax Commissioners offices on the phone with forgetful car dealers and public servants with no concept of two Australians buying a car to travel throughout the USA.....

In the end we must have looked so disparaged that the kind lady at the DMV gave us another temporary license plate to last us another month... We figure when the papers finally arrive we'll just register the van in any town USA.... We don't care where it is, so long as having a real plate means the cops don't keep pulling us over like they did in Montreal about 2 weeks ago... I'm not sure what the French Canadian police officer was more surprised by... our dodgy registration plate and story about buying a car for traveling or the blank look on Dale's face when he greeted him in French....

Now there's some Jurassic 5 testing the acoustics in the van and Dale's trying to remember the last time he saw a hill in this state that wasn't man-made... We're also commenting on how far we've come in a few weeks....

The weekend we spent in Boston was fun, couchsurfing with Titto and partying with him and his mates in the funky area of Somerville... Ooh, except for the loser bouncer at the Irish bar who wouldn't let us in without our Passports! Who takes their Passport out at night time?? Maybe my Dolphin Trainer ID didn't impress him as much as it does the ladies.....

After spending a lot of time in Eastern USA including the big cities like New York it was refreshing to drive in New England, from Boston to New Hampshire and Vermont...

Luke Dale and I stayed in Gorham for a night before what was meant to be a short hike in the Mt Washington area near the Appalachian Mountain Club in NH...

Of course, Murphy's law usually prevails when you least expect it and a short detour turned into an extra 7 kms in the pouring rain along the main highway... no -one stopped to give us a ride though.... probably just wondered WHAT THE HELL three guys were doing walking along the interstate in the middle of the afternoon in the cold driving rain!!... Hot cups of tea back at the AMC and a change of clothes sharpened our mood and we trucked on to Burlington, Vermont.... my favourite place so far... Not sure if it was because of the exceptional hospitality shown by our couchsurfing host Brandon, the relaxed vibe of the town during Jazz Festival, the Burton Snowboard Factory, Ben and Jerry's Ice Cream or the fact that I got such great pleasure in telling all and sundry at places like the Vermont Pub and Brewery and the Vermont Teddy Bear Company that I was raised in Vermont, Australia... I could definitely live in Burlington, Vermont USA and if I did, I'd get a bumper sticker like the one I saw that said "I'm from Vermont, I do what I want!"

My first taste of French Canada was Montreal and the weekend of the F1 grand prix.... just another weekend of rev heads and bling bling as far as we could tell from the people walking around the Grand Prix events area, however our couchsurfing host Denis, showed us some great places in Montreal’s bohemian area of cafes, bars and street markets... more my thing when I'm traveling... to immerse yourself in the local culture is, I think, much more rewarding than hanging out with other tourists.... especially if you try to speak the language as well, then you feel like your really somewhere else... unfortunately my French only extends to Desole ju na paul pa Francais, which (if I've spelled it correctly) means "sorry, I don't speak French".... Of course the helpful bar tender taught us how to say things like, "I see the Universe in your eyes" but I thought that might have been going a little far... particularly if I mispronounced it and said something like "I see the world in your thighs!"

Toronto came and went in a flash, more of a stop over to catch up with a friend, take the obligatory photo of the CN tower and then on to Niagara Falls.....

We enjoyed a couple relaxing nights at a winery in the Niagara region of Ontario staying with the winemaker Phillip Dowell from "Angel's Gate" - winery of the 2006 Canada's Best White Wine..

Luke and I participated as guests in a wedding at Niagara Falls.. Well not really, just that the couple next to us on the Maid of the Mist tour at the falls, got married while the boat was making it's half hour journey to the base of the falls and back...

Glad to have been a part of such an occasion... as for the falls, impressive but touristy - I look forward to seeing Angel Falls someday as a comparison...

State College, Pennsylvania, we dropped Luke to hang with some homies, or rather to hang with some from home..... Shame to only spend one night there and listen to all the fun things that were planned... but we had to push on to Kentucky before the rego ran out........

So after the hassles in Georgia, we got the hell out of the south and headed West, the real road trippin’ USA…. 6 states in one drive… arrived in Winnipeg, Canada at 5am! Crazy… but fun, and plenty of time to get sick of all the CDs we’ve burned for the road….

Wolfmother is long gone now, and it’s official… There are no hills in North Dakota…..

Derbys, Empires, Bourbons and Miles, lots of miles.

The bitumen stinks.... Roadworks on the side of the highway, interstate 78 east, about 10 miles from Lebanon.... New Jersey, USA..

I sit in the back seat of Tomato Rex Sex Machine, the red GMC Safari Van bought in Atlanta about 2 weeks ago, and named by some random girl in a club in Atlanta. We call it T-Rex for short. It runs well, has done for the last two weeks. Air con, cruise control, power everything, style, class, and set to be a legendary vehicle for this road trip through the US and Canada.

Dale's driving at the moment, Luke's asleep in the front passenger seat, on the right hand side of the vehicle, Matt's back in Australia now after leaving New York the other dayI'm in the back for the first time to catch up on some photo uploads and write this blog.

It's Friday today, tonight we'll be in Boston, Massachusetts after spending the last two nights in Zionsville, small town Pennsylvania, with my friend Josh and his family. Today's a relaxing day of driving compared to our crazy week in New York City. Oh sure, we did the usual tourist attractions - Empire State Building, Central Park, Downtown Manhattan, Ground Zero, Staten Island Ferry, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York Subway, but it's always the random nights that make the headlines. Like the night we went to the comedy club for a show and the 2 drink minimum turned into a maximum and one of us got robbed by two hookers after mistakenly getting into the same taxi as a quick way to get to the next bar. Riding the subway at 4 in the morning is always fun, unless you go the wrong way, or express through your stop and you end up in Harlem at 7 am.

Washington DC was a little quiter, heavy on the legs after 12 hour days walking around all the Smithsonium museums and laughing at the irony of the Whitehouse Security in the land of Liberty.






Big cities are great for seeing the sights in a relatively small area, but it's the small towns that often make your travels memorable, like the historical town of Colonial Williamsburg, in Virginia, near Yorktown and the scene of the last battle for independence in 1781. A change of route took us there and to the Bed and Breakfast where we enjoyed some fine colonial hospitality in the quaint setting near the College of William and Mary (a prestigious law school among others).

The strawberries were tasty that night..... the ones we'd picked for $1 per pound outside of Carrboro, North Carolina, two weekends ago. We'd spent the weekend exploring the University town with it's Co-op supermarket, Sunday morning jazz and coffees in the park. It was great to chat to the locals about the culture and atmosphere of such a nice little place away from the hustle and bustle of the big cities. Of course it helps to know someone in a place you're traveling through and Mary, Jack, Mandy and Miriam were excellent hosts, particularly with recommendations from the 100 or so beers from the menu at the Milltown Bar or what to eat for a hungover breakfast afterwards at the friendly Elmo Diner.

Hospitality from friends is great to have when you'r on the road. A place to sleep or wash some clothes is always appreciated but it's the gathering that I like, the chance to do some grocery shopping and cook your own meal for once in a while. I think the Red Thai Chicken Curry was a hit, or was it the Australian wine or the cheese..?


Speaking of hospitality, I guess you have to be careful not to overstay your welcome and whilst I don't think that has happened so far, we certainly left imprints on the loungeroom floor at Holly St Atlanta where we parked ourselves while we searched for T-Rex. Of course we were told that it was no problem, but it may have been because at least while we were on the floor, there was less chance of Brittain receiving a knock at the door at 4 am from 3 Aussies fresh from the Caribbean having driven 14 hours straight in a rental car from Miami airport!

And of course, we cannot forget the exceptional hospitality shown by Nelda and Skinner, Brittain's parents, in Georgetown, Kentucky where we spent a week after the Kentucky Derby on the 5th May. Dale met the Governor of Kentucky, right before we hoed in to a breakfast of bacon, eggs, cheese grits, biscuits and gravy - obviously the health food section of the annual breakfast feeding a few thousand people at the Capitol in Frankfurt. Of course Dale informed the Governor that he would like to vote for him but that he was probably ineligible!

Luke and I nearly cleaned up on a horse at 50 to 1 but were, as always, pipped at the post. Dale's horse came first in the Derby, although I don't think I saw any of the winnings by way of bourbon after the race! We did all have mint julips though, and won't ever again!

And there were a few bourbons drunk later that Derby night with some Kentucky guys and girls. They drink it like water up there. We resisted the urge to show them how much Fosters we all drink and joined them in sampling the local cuisine and beverages. Of course we spent a good part of the next day in bed.


So Boston awaits and Vermont State after that, then into Canada for a break from conversions of gallons, miles and pounds.